0:09 This is The GPL Podcast, the production of gopherpucklive.com. 0:22 Now, let's join Tammy Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:37 All right, people, turn off the State of the Union, and listen. 0:42 No one cares about politics anymore. 0:44 It's all about crap. 0:45 That's all it is. 0:48 It's all crap. 0:50 Yes, of course, here we are again, just like last year, recording while the, is the president still speaking? 0:55 Anybody know? 0:57 Is he still yammering on? 0:59 I don't know. 1:00 I didn't even turn it on because, well, I just don't care about who's talking, and I don't care about the response, and I don't care about anything, so. 1:08 But I do care about our Gopher Hockey team boys, and I know we took last week up because I wasn't feeling great, but let's quickly go over the previous weekend with a sweep of Ohio State. 1:19 Vegoe, you were there for the outdoor game with me. 1:22 It was cold. 1:23 It wasn't good hockey, but you know what? 1:26 It was still fun. 1:28 Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good crowd. 1:30 I mean, I was a little worried at the start of the game. 1:33 It looked like people were not showing up, but then as the puck dropped, the crowd really started to fill in. 1:39 I thought by the end of the first period, they had a legit 40,000 in there, and Minnesota took care of business. 1:45 I thought both teams played extremely cautious. 1:48 It was two of the top scoring teams in college hockey, and I thought that dictated it almost more than the ice. 1:55 Hammy, one to nothing. 1:57 It was not an exciting game. 2:00 Yeah, I mean, I've been pretty well on record for a while that I'm not a big fan of these games in particular because you never really see a well played game. 2:08 I mean, you have rare instances where you do, but for the most part, you know, whether it's ice conditions or wind or, you know, whatever it might be, just the game typically isn't well played. 2:20 So I'm glad that the fans had a good time. 2:23 And I'm glad that there's good memories for all involved. 2:26 But I'm also glad that we're not going to see this kind of an event for the Gophers for a little while now. 2:32 I agree. 2:33 I mean, I'm kind of sick of these outdoor games. 2:36 You know, it's happening everywhere now. 2:38 We got it done. 2:39 Let's not do it for a while. 2:40 I completely agree. 2:43 Being down at ice level, it didn't seem like the ice was that bad. 2:45 The ice was very hard. 2:46 The puck seemed to move well. 2:48 But, you know, there were these just little ice chips all over the place that they had to keep shoveling up because the ice was a little too cold. 2:56 At least that's what I was told. 2:59 But, Veegs, they were playing cautious, even though I thought the puck was moving pretty well. 3:05 Yeah, I mean, I think it was just, you know, the moment where both coaches kind of had this in their mind, that, you know, outdoor game, you have to change your style. 3:14 You need to play the 1-2-2. 3:16 Your defensemen can't jump into the rush. 3:19 You can't, you know, take any chances at the offensive line. 3:22 And it showed. 3:23 And if you play that style of hockey, that's basically, you know, Jacques Lemaire wild hockey of the olden days, where there aren't going to be very, very scoring chances. 3:33 And the scoring chances that were there, you know, Ohio State definitely didn't capitalize on. 3:39 And I thought the Gophers didn't, you know, capitalize as much as they could have because they were so focused on just throwing pucks at the net. 3:46 And both goalies played pretty well. 3:49 Well, the atmosphere is fun. 3:51 It was obviously cold. 3:52 There was plenty of drinking going on, including a few people in the press box. 3:56 A little pregame drinking, I do believe. 3:58 I won't name names. 4:00 But otherwise, you know, I had a great time. 4:02 I was dressed warm enough. 4:03 I kind of wandered around at the beginning of the game and then stayed down close where I could actually see the game. 4:09 Veegs, I know you were up in the press box for most of the game and the atmosphere in there was even worse because you couldn't hear a thing. 4:17 So you decided to come down third period, correct? 4:19 Yep, I brought my winter gear so I could make it down for the third period and up in the press box you got that window and you just can't hear the fans and it looked like they were into it and you could kind of hear it a little bit so I wanted to get more of the atmosphere so I went down rickside with a bunch of the other guys and a couple of us made it through the whole game, the whole third period at least and I was glad we went down there because it was a cool atmosphere and you could see the players were into it even between the breaks they'd be looking up at the crowd and I thought it was fun. 4:53 It's something I think that the players would want to do once every four years. 4:58 It might be a way to keep a recruit interested in staying longer than the typical two or three and I think it's good that Minnesota has the power to be able to do stuff like that. 5:08 Well, I do get the impression that like Lucia said at the post-game news conference that it's time for the wild to do one and let's take at least a few years off from this because I think he's not a big fan of him in the first place. 5:21 I think he just kind of went along just to get it over with but I agree. 5:26 I don't think we're going to see this for a while. 5:31 Hammeh, any other thoughts on the outdoor game? 5:33 No. 5:34 Did you go? 5:36 No. 5:36 I had previous engagement. 5:38 You had a date, didn't you? 5:40 Did I that night? 5:42 I might have. 5:43 I can't remember. 5:45 Memorable date. 5:47 I've had a lot of first dates lately. 5:50 I'll leave it at that. 5:53 It could be. 5:55 Sorry. 5:55 That was just too easy. 5:58 I've said plenty about what I think on these games, and I'm just not a big fan, but I'm glad that people enjoyed themselves, and I'll just leave it at that. 6:06 Well, then the next night we moved over to Mariucci, and the game was a lot faster, but didn't start out so great. 6:13 Gophers down early in the first period, two to nothing. 6:16 And obviously we came right back and scored, and boy, it was a big night for you know who, Hammy. 6:27 Mr. 6:27 Warning, oh boy. 6:29 Yeah, I mean, it was kind of nice to see him kind of break out. 6:33 I mean, he's been, you know, he had that hot start, and he kind of cooled off for a little while, and certainly it's important to have some of these guys that are upperclassmen, you know, kind of start to contribute pretty heavily as we headed in the second half down the stretch, so it was nice to see him get the hat trick. 6:49 What do you think, Veegs? 6:51 Yeah, I mean, he was really just filling in to the right spots at the right time. 6:55 Yeah, he was, yeah. 6:55 And putting the puck in danger spots. 6:58 I think some of the times he gets into trouble when he's trying to do a little too much because he's known as a bit of a dangler. 7:06 And he even said after the game that it's not just the coaches who have been getting on him about shooting the puck, the players have been getting on him too. 7:15 So everybody's been noticing it. 7:16 It was good to see him just fire the puck a little bit quicker and get some goals. 7:21 Well, the most positive part on the weekend is what, we got six points and increased our lead in the Big Ten standings, which is obviously to coach Lucia, you know, after all the hoopla, that's the bottom line on the weekend is that they got a full six points, Hammey. 7:35 Yeah, absolutely. 7:36 I mean, it's, we haven't, you know, we got some important series. 7:41 And so you kind of have to capitalize on these games at home against teams that you probably should sweep and league play. 7:46 So it was, it was a nice way to get that weekend taken care of. 7:51 And then when after that weekend, we had a weekend off from the Big Ten and had the North Star College Cup at the XL Energy Center and kicked that off with a pretty decent four to one win over St. 8:03 Cloud. 8:04 But Hammey, a win is a win. 8:08 They might not look great, but boy, are you getting down on the fans over these wins? 8:14 Oh, I see. 8:14 We're going to go this way. 8:15 Well, I just thought we will because I'm with you. 8:19 I don't understand all the negativity. 8:21 It was a four to one win over a number five ranked team. 8:24 They may have outshot us, but you know what? 8:25 It's the final score in the end. 8:27 We have two losses on the season, and I know that this frustration has been building up in you for the entire season as it has gone along. 8:38 Well, there you have it. 8:40 A four to one win over St. 8:41 Cloud. 8:41 That's not bad, is it? 8:42 Well, okay, here's my thought on the game, first of all, okay? 8:47 St. 8:47 Cloud, I mean, they were there, probably in their eyes, their biggest rival, and they've had kind of a slump going on recently, and so it's no doubt they're going to be jacked up for that game. 8:56 And they came out, and they had a very good first period. 8:58 You know, they did outplay us in that sense. 9:00 But the way you have to look at it, from my point of view, is we came out of that period with a one-nothing lead, okay? 9:06 And you can't underestimate the psychological impact that that has when you know you haven't played anything close to your best game, okay? 9:15 And they've played, they've executed, other than scoring goals, they've executed their game plan very well, and yet you've got the lead. 9:22 And now, when you look at the second period, from that point onward, okay, we play them pretty evenly. 9:27 I mean, it was a pretty evenly played game. 9:29 We took advantage of some things at the end of the second period. 9:33 The third period, you know, you have to look at the strategy at that point. 9:36 We're up two goals. 9:37 We don't need to press, you know? 9:38 I mean, you can take your chances when they're there, but especially as the period goes on, you don't need to take your chances. 9:45 And so, it's, you know, when they get, you know, ten more shots than us, to me, that's misleading because you're looking at what's the strategy at a particular point in the game. 9:53 So, that's what I would say about that game. 9:55 I'll let Veegs talk about it, but I'll go on my rant after that. 10:02 Go ahead, Veegs, what are your thoughts on that St. 10:04 Cloud win? 10:06 Well, I do think that the team this weekend got away with a little bit of shaky play. 10:13 Adam Wilcox played very well on Friday night against St. 10:16 Cloud. 10:17 He was a big reason why they won that game and why it wasn't really that close down the stretch. 10:22 It's helped that their power play came through for them. 10:26 Definitely. 10:27 I think you look in a lot of games against top teams, special teams are going to make a huge difference on whether or not you're able to succeed or not. 10:35 Because teams can coach their defensive side of the game so much easier than the offensive side. 10:42 So when teams are trying to slow the game down, take away open space on the ice, if you can draw penalties and get on demand advantage and make them pay, that's going to make the difference in most games. 10:56 I think five on five, college hockey, if it's even strength the whole game, it's usually only a goal or two difference. 11:02 But if you can start pumping in two, three goals in the power play, you're going to pull away from teams. 11:07 And I think that's what they got away with this weekend. 11:10 Well, they got the big win over St. 11:12 Cloud. 11:12 And then Saturday, we ended up with Minnesota Duluth, I almost said North Dakota there. 11:22 Minnesota Duluth, which we've beaten, we've lost to, and this weekend we tied them, beat them in a shootout. 11:28 But Hammey, they seem to play really well against us, but you know what, I think they're fun games with the Duluth Bulldogs. 11:38 Well, I mean, it's one of those things where you have a lot of guys that have played each other over the years, because they have Minnesota players, and obviously we do. 11:45 So I mean, I think a lot of it's going to be that. 11:47 Duluth's another team that probably sees us as their top rival. 11:51 And also they're going to, from their perspective, have a lot of energy coming in to those games. 11:56 So I mean, you kind of expect that it's going to be a pretty high intensity game. 12:01 And you can kind of, sometimes, we've seen it over the years. 12:03 You can kind of throw the records out, even if one team is not playing all that well in the season as a whole. 12:10 They tend to kind of get jacked up for those games. 12:12 So I think that it's kind of a game that you would expect to see. 12:17 What were your thoughts, Veegs? 12:19 Tie game, you know, we ended up winning in the shootout. 12:23 I thought it was a fun game. 12:25 No, I thought it was definitely a fun game. 12:27 I thought the Saturday game against Duluth earlier. 12:30 I think it was a Saturday because they did the Saturday Sunday. 12:33 I thought that was a fun game, too. 12:35 I think both teams were able to generate some chances. 12:38 I think Minnesota Duluth has some fun offensive players. 12:42 I think the thing that was the difference in this one was definitely the power play. 12:46 The officiating for this game was really a yo-yo situation where the refs didn't want to call anything for a long time. 12:55 You could see the game was starting to get out of hand. 12:58 You could see Farley and Rao and Marshall, everybody was yapping out there, as Seth Ambrose would say, jaw-jacking. 13:07 And it was getting out of hand. 13:09 And then the refs started calling penalties. 13:11 And then down the stretch, the Marshall ejection from the contact at the blue line where he was trying to run Farley. 13:20 And Farley sold it as a contact to the head. 13:23 And then he's gone. 13:24 And that's his third game misconduct. 13:26 So he's going to sit Friday this weekend. 13:29 And it was just kind of an out-of-hand game officiating wise. 13:33 And I think Brian Hill and CJ. 13:35 Burlain had a tough time with that game. 13:37 And that was frustrating to see. 13:39 I didn't recognize Hill. 13:41 I don't remember. 13:42 He must be from another league from before. 13:43 But Burlain has been around for a few years. 13:47 But I think you're right. 13:49 The officiating just got out of control. 13:52 And, you know, you let it go crappy like that for so long. 13:56 And then you start calling these BS calls. 13:59 Fans tend to get a little angry. 14:01 But the thing is, they have reason to. 14:03 The marshal hit, I think, was interference. 14:06 He was trying to hit him. 14:07 But he certainly didn't hit him in the head. 14:09 He wasn't even close to his head. 14:10 But he played it up and he got the call. 14:13 I wish there was one, you know, there's no rules out there that say, you know, let's go look at this to see if it is a misconduct or not. 14:20 But one thing I don't like is why can't the league come back and say, you know what, we made the wrong call. 14:24 He paid for it. 14:25 He should not have to serve a game suspension after this. 14:30 It's like they're completely oblivious that they can never go back and do that even. 14:34 Obviously, there's no rules in the game. 14:35 But I'm wondering if there's rules to go back and change things later on to not penalize a player like this, which clearly he shouldn't have been. 14:43 Yeah, I mean, there's rules in the NFL, NHL, FIFA to go back and look at these kinds of suspension things. 14:49 And there's the video review. 14:51 It doesn't make any sense to me why you wouldn't allow that for the league to do that. 14:56 Because it's going to affect them. 14:58 You know, Marshall is a key player for them, and they're going to miss him this weekend. 15:02 What were your thoughts on that bogus call, Hammeh? 15:06 I think it will... 15:07 Look, my feeling is... 15:10 I'm not going to complain a lot about the refs this year, because you know what? 15:13 The reality is, I think most of the refs, or the games that we've had have been pretty well refed. 15:18 And I always feel like when you start complaining about refs, it's sort of a cop-out excuse for your team not playing as well. 15:25 I mean, I'm not saying that the refs aren't ever a reason to complain, but we don't want to turn into North Dakota fans. 15:31 I've seen other fans complain when their team loses, and they complain about the refs, and to me, it's a cop-out. 15:38 But now, that being said, I think it's very clear that this game was poorly refed, and certainly that Farley hit was a joke. 15:48 Okay? 15:49 I mean, we all saw the replay. 15:50 I understand it's hard in real time for a ref to see everything clearly like you can on a replay, but I thought it was disgusting. 15:57 I think the embellishment is out of hand. 15:59 That was, you know, a couple of those plays we saw in that game were about some of the worst examples of embellishment that I've seen. 16:07 And I'm not here to say that the Gophers never embellish, because that would be disingenuous, but the reality is that that was disgraceful. 16:14 I mean, when you get a shot like that, because you're essentially minimizing when guys actually do take shots to the head, because it was clear he never got hit in the head. 16:23 And if you watch that replay, his stick goes flying one direction, and he couldn't have been on that ice a millisecond before he grabbed his head like he got destroyed, you know, like his head took some wicked shot, and he never hit the, his head never hit the ice, Marshall never hit his head, and the guy's acting like he got shot. 16:40 It's disgraceful. 16:42 I mean, it is. 16:43 Well, I completely agree. 16:45 And I really hate it when Rao does similar things when he's interfered with, you know, he kind of flails around a little bit, and he gets called once in a while, but I, I'm just sick of it. 16:55 You know, I completely agree. 16:57 I mean, we all know that Rao does it, probably not as often, but, and he's been called for it in the past. 17:05 But when this happens, and you know, like the later in the overtime, when we had that flagrant flying duck guy, he was just flying out of nowhere, obviously we're going to get upset, but it's not just, just us, you know, when Rao, or I shouldn't say, it's not just against our team, it's players on our team doing similar things that I'm getting sick of. 17:26 I'm just getting bored with it. 17:27 I just, there's no need for it. 17:29 Well, it calls into question the integrity of the game. 17:33 When you do stuff like that. 17:35 And like I said, I'm not here to say, like we don't have guys that have, Yeah. 17:38 Like we're innocent. 17:39 I'm not here to make that plea here. 17:42 I'm just saying that in that particular game, to me it was disgusting. 17:46 I really thought, I mean, the whole Bobby Orr Imitation in the corner that we saw, that was a dive that you'd see off a dock in the summer. 17:54 That was how bad that was. 17:55 I mean, you could see Boyd had one hand on his stick. 17:59 And he didn't pull or anything. 18:01 And the guy acts like he got shot in the leg and he goes down in a heap. 18:06 But on one hand you say, okay, it worked. 18:09 So congratulations. 18:10 But at the same time, like I said, it calls into question the integrity of the game. 18:15 And I wish these guys would knock it off. 18:17 I don't care if it's our guys or the opponent. 18:19 It's just kind of disgusting. 18:21 I just say, even when I play, I played soccer. 18:24 I always just played as tough as I could. 18:27 If I started going down, I start, I tried as hard as I could not to go down. 18:31 I didn't do this flailing thing that somebody tripped me. 18:34 And it'd be nice if that would happen in hockey as well. 18:39 Well, we had a tie game, went to shootout, and hey guys, we actually won a shootout. 18:45 We're now one in three in shootouts. 18:46 Took home some hardware, Hammeh. 18:49 Yeah, I mean, I said on Twitter, I'm not, or I said on GPL, I'm like, I'm not gonna get all hyped up about the whole trophy thing. 18:55 I mean, it's nice, don't get me wrong. 18:57 I'm glad the guys got a picture opportunity and whatever, but I mean, it's nice to win the first one. 19:02 But, you know, to me, it's another weekend. 19:06 We played a couple teams that are pretty solid. 19:08 As of right now, they're both NCAA teams. 19:11 So, you know, whether that stays that way, we'll see. 19:13 But so I thought all in all, maybe we didn't play our best hockey. 19:17 But the way I look at it optimistically is we didn't get beat either night. 19:21 And we played two teams that are NCAA caliber as of right now. 19:25 So what does it tell you if we are playing at our best when it gets to the end of the year? 19:29 I like our chances. 19:30 Now, whether we're hitting our peak then, we'll see. 19:33 But I thought that, you know, all in all, I thought it was a positive, you know, that we came out of it with those kinds of results. 19:40 Any other final thoughts on the North Star College Cup there, Vegoe? 19:45 I like to, I think that maybe they could do some things with selling tickets or promoting it to get a little bit bigger building. 19:52 I know it's the first year, but, you know, attendance was still in the 14,000 range for both Gopher games. 19:59 And I don't know if it was that full. 20:01 So I think they maybe need to do some work to figure out how to do a better job ticketing it. 20:06 I know some Gopher season ticket holders were having some issues with where their seats were located compared to their season tickets at Mariucci. 20:13 So some things to consider. 20:16 Maybe the timing of the tournament would be different. 20:18 Maybe if that was a season opening tournament, that might get a little more excitement going. 20:23 But all in all, I think it's good that the Minnesota schools play and the ones that don't get to play, they get the Gophers visiting their building, which is nice for them. 20:31 Can we mix one thing here? 20:33 Let's not make this into, oh, they should play this on Hockey Day Minnesota. 20:38 The reality is, is Hockey Day Minnesota is going to be more about the outdoor high school games, which is going to be at least two of them, right? 20:46 There's only so many games you're going to fit in a day, number one. 20:49 Number two, you're not going to play that many games at Excel over the course. 20:53 You know what I'm saying? 20:54 You're just not. 20:55 Because the while they're going to be at night, I mean, they're probably going to be at home. 20:59 I don't know, has every game had been at home? 21:01 I think it has. 21:02 I think you're right, yeah. 21:04 You know what I mean? 21:05 So just knock off the whole, what am I should do with it? 21:07 No, it's high school, college, and pro. 21:11 I'm sorry to the rest of the D1 programs in the state. 21:14 It is FSN, it's Gopher's Channel. 21:17 So if you don't like it, too freaking bad. 21:19 Get your own channel. 21:22 I sensed a lot of like Viking fan type mentality there. 21:26 It's like the announcers hate us, the officials are out to get us. 21:30 It's all, you know, set against us. 21:33 It was frustrating to see all that. 21:35 That's very much like a Viking fan who's had too many lower lights. 21:40 Well, before we move on to Hammy's rant, we've got a couple, well, we have a couple Twitter questions, but it looks like we hit them up already. 21:47 You know, we talked about the, you know, should Marshall have been given a five? 21:51 No, he shouldn't have. 21:53 But one question on Twitter I noticed from Neil Elder, Hammy, what's the team's biggest weakness to overcome if they plan on winning the NCAA tournament? 22:06 Okay, my feeling, I mean, I think we're pretty obviously pretty strong in nets. 22:10 Wilcox, if he continues to play the way he has, I mean, that's an area I feel pretty confident in. 22:16 Offensively, we've been pretty consistent throughout the year. 22:18 I think our, clearly our power play is improving. 22:21 I mean, I told everybody at the beginning of the year to just chill out, that we have a lot of new faces that are going to be on special teams, especially power play. 22:28 And I think that we've definitely seen steps in the right direction this weekend. 22:33 And was our best weekend of the year, I think, for power play. 22:36 So that's a good sign. 22:37 If I had to say, I would think that minimizing our mistakes, you know, by our blue liners, particularly, you know, on the offensive blue line and turnovers coming out of our own zone, I think those are the kinds of things that when we've gotten a trouble this year, those have been kind of the noticeable errors has been, you know, minimizing, we need to minimize our turnovers and the mistakes that we make in transition. 23:01 What do they need to overcome, Veegs? 23:04 Well, I think the power play is something that they've had to overcome over the season, and I think, you know, they were so reliant last year on getting the puck to Bukestad for the one timers. 23:13 And I think this year, you know, it's a totally different group that's out there together, and I think trying to find different ways to get the puck to the net, and, you know, we saw a couple of different goals this weekend. 23:24 We saw a Boyd one timer. 23:25 We saw a fast team putting back a rebound. 23:28 We saw Condon jumping down a loose puck. 23:30 I think that kind of variety is going to be key for this team. 23:33 And then the other thing I think they really need to be cognizant of is situations. 23:38 You know, when it's a one-one game, you know, you can't always pinch at that 50-50 puck. 23:44 So, you know, realizing the situation of the game, I think it's going to be key for this group, because they have the talent to beat pretty much any team in college hockey. 23:52 They've only lost two games this year. 23:54 So, just, you know, being in the game where they don't give it away, it's going to be key for them. 24:01 Well, elsewhere in hockey this past weekend, we had Michigan sweeping Michigan State, and Wisconsin splitting with Ohio State. 24:10 I thought that was a little bit of a surprise. 24:13 But, you know, right now, we've got Minnesota in first place in the Big Ten with 22 points, Wisconsin back with 15, Michigan with 12. 24:21 Michigan does have two games at hand. 24:23 Then we go to Ohio. 24:24 We've got Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State filling it out, the rest of the standings. 24:30 Things are looking good so far this year, guys. 24:32 But obviously, you know, Michigan's still got the games at hand. 24:36 But what are your thoughts so far? 24:38 We're kind of halfway through the season here. 24:42 Hammey? 24:43 Well, I think it's kind of what we expected. 24:45 I think we've been talking all year that we knew that the top three and the bottom three would kind of be kind of clear. 24:50 It was just a matter of the order of who was going to be where. 24:53 I mean, we knew that it would be a pretty much a three-team race with Michigan and Wisconsin and us. 24:58 So I don't think there's been any huge surprises in that respect. 25:02 But I think, you know, the conference and I think it's been pretty competitive. 25:07 And I like what I see. 25:08 I think Penn State, while they don't have necessarily this great record, I think they played some tight games against some good teams. 25:13 I mean, they just lost three to two to BC on there. 25:16 You know, on home ice and so BC. 25:18 And we saw how they did against Gophers. 25:20 So I think there's some good signs for the future. 25:23 And hopefully it'll be a good thing for them moving forward. 25:26 Any thoughts, Vego, on the season so far in the Big Ten? 25:30 Yeah, it is kind of shaking out the way we expected it. 25:33 I think, you know, the Big Ten title is probably going to be decided when Minnesota plays that Wisconsin one week and Michigan the next week. 25:40 I think that's going to be big for deciding who wins it. 25:43 I think Penn State's got a good future, though. 25:45 I think with their young goalie that they have, they're going to be a team that's going to give other teams a competitive game here next season. 25:57 All right, boys. 25:59 Hammey, I got a text from you this weekend. 26:03 And your text read, I'm done with GPL for a while. 26:08 That's correct. 26:10 Now, why are you done with GPL for a while? 26:13 Please elaborate. 26:15 The reality of the matter is, is when you have a team, okay, let's just go through the facts here. 26:21 Eighteen, two and four for a record. 26:23 Yeah. 26:23 Okay. 26:24 End of January, two losses. 26:26 In our last 12 games, we're undefeated. 26:29 Okay. 26:29 Three ties, nine wins. 26:31 We're number one in the paradise. 26:33 We're number one in the voting polls. 26:36 We have the number two ranked offense in the country. 26:38 We have the number three ranked defense in the country. 26:41 We see our special teams have gotten better. 26:44 And all of this is being accomplished against, as of right now, the number two toughest schedule in the country. 26:51 And yet you have these people on GPL, you know, just a percentage, but not everybody, but a percentage that are gonna whine after every game. 27:00 Win or loss, tie, whatever, about, they didn't do enough of this, they didn't do enough of that. 27:05 We lost this period, they outshot us, blah blah. 27:07 It's like these people are completely oblivious to the big picture. 27:11 And when you are trying to enjoy a season where your favorite team has got two fricking losses and you go to a site and all you see are whiners or a lot of whining, it's like enough. 27:22 If it's taken away from your enjoyment, it's like that's enough for me. 27:26 So yes, I am not gonna be on there for a while. 27:28 I do not need that. 27:30 You know, I want to enjoy the season. 27:32 I think these people should enjoy the season for all the reasons that I just named. 27:37 And, you know, considering the players that we lost last year, you have Bukstad, who is in the NHL full time, Howla, Schmidt have seen time in the NHL, Alt was a good defenseman, we had Buda, she was a good player for our forwards. 27:52 You're replacing all these guys with young players, and we have two losses despite all that. 27:58 And these people are gonna bitch and moan about being outshot for a period or maybe not playing up to their A game every night. 28:05 It's like, get a life, recognize, you know what I'm saying? 28:09 I know what you're saying, man. 28:11 I know what you're saying. 28:15 I don't really understand it either. 28:20 I don't post a lot about hockey on GPL myself because I don't know, sometimes I just don't feel like it. 28:26 But I see what you're reading and I see people just like you complaining about it saying, hey people, we have two losses and you're bitching. 28:38 Other people just keep on bitching because I don't know, they're just Debbie Downers. 28:41 They just want something to bitch about. 28:45 I know how you are. 28:46 I know that you see things that are not right with the team, but I know you're thinking positively. 28:51 You're like, okay, this might not be perfect. 28:53 This might not be perfect, but hell, we've got two losses. 28:57 I don't understand what the hubbub is about. 29:00 You have a guy on there who's like, the Gophers have slip walk, whatever. 29:04 They were sleepwalking for the last month. 29:05 I'm like, okay, they haven't lost since freaking November. 29:10 Hello. 29:11 I mean, yes, they didn't play great. 29:13 That first game back from the break where they hadn't played in almost a month. 29:16 Okay, yes, we all acknowledge they didn't play great against Colgate. 29:19 But you know what? 29:20 You have to give them a little bit of an excuse there when they didn't have their head coach there. 29:24 They were missing two key young guys and it's their first game in a month. 29:27 I mean, so you kind of give them a little bit of a pass on that. 29:30 And they've basically, other than this Duluth tie here, they've won every game since. 29:35 Okay. 29:35 And we're still going to say, I mean, it's like I said, I don't know if it was a couple of weeks ago. 29:39 It's like some of these people, it's like unless you like just run rough shot over the competition, it's like they expect you to win like by four or five goals every night. 29:48 It's like it's not like that anymore. 29:50 This is not like women's hockey, you know, where you're going to have like two or three great teams and a lot of mediocrity and so you're blowing everybody out pretty much every game. 30:00 It's not like that. 30:01 So I don't know what these people want. 30:02 And I think the Debbie Downers, as you say, sometimes I wonder if it's sort of a protective mechanism for, okay, if we don't win the national title, then I can come back and say, see, I told you that we had this problem or whatever. 30:15 It's like, look, I don't know if we're going to win the title or not. 30:18 But the reality is enjoy where you're at right now, enjoy the season, as Mike Tice would say. 30:23 And, you know, let's just have fun, don't complain. 30:29 Do you feel better now? 30:30 Yes. 30:30 That's good. 30:31 I still won't be on the GPL. 30:36 Okay, Veegs, what are your thoughts on his rant? 30:39 Do you agree with them? 30:40 Do you disagree with them? 30:43 I feel like Minnesota fans just have that protective mechanism. 30:46 I think that's the nail on the head right there. 30:50 You can't get your hopes up too much for a team because it's just so much pain. 30:56 But this team is playing great. 30:58 It's fun to watch. 30:59 I think it's a pretty colorful team and they play really nice hockey and I'm happy to see that the power play is starting to click. 31:09 I think it will be fun to get to that Big Ten tournament here at the end of the season and then with the regional in town, I'm starting to look at the pairwise and the bracketology each week and see who's coming. 31:23 Maybe St. 31:24 Cloud will be in the bracket with them. 31:26 That's what I'm looking forward to at this point. 31:30 All right. 31:31 I think we all feel better now. 31:33 Yeah. 31:34 Kumbaya. 31:36 All right, boys. 31:37 Well, we've got a full slate of games this weekend in the Big Ten. 31:40 We've got Penn State heading to Ohio State, Wisconsin heading to Yost in Michigan. 31:46 And we've got Michigan State heading here. 31:48 First, let's start off with Penn State heading to Ohio State. 31:51 And I don't really care about the hockey this weekend. 31:54 I care about the guy who's not playing hockey this weekend and pretty selfless act. 31:59 Sophomore, Penn State, David Glenn donating Bowden Merrill to an anonymous donor through bethematch.org. 32:07 And we talk about how important hockey is and all this stuff. 32:12 And what this kid is doing is a pretty special thing, Hammeh. 32:17 Yeah, absolutely. 32:18 I mean, you have to give them a lot of respect for that. 32:21 Or anybody for that matter that kind of puts themselves under that situation to help somebody else out. 32:27 So, yeah, you got to give them a lot of props. 32:28 And, you know, there's nothing much more I could say about it. 32:32 Just it's great for him to do. 32:34 Yeah, it's quite the story, Veegs. 32:37 Yeah, it's pretty impressive. 32:38 I read about it this week and saw some tweets about it. 32:41 And hats off to him. 32:43 That's a huge sacrifice to make for a college athlete. 32:46 And to recognize that kind of, you know, importance in the big scheme of things is nice to see. 32:55 And during the season, too, and he's not afraid to do it. 32:57 So props to you, Mr. 32:59 David Glenn. 33:01 It's really a great thing. 33:02 As for the hockey, and you guys see Penn State getting any of their first points this weekend at Ohio State. 33:09 You know, if there's any place they could do it, it might be there because that atmosphere is diseased, Hammy. 33:17 Well, it is. 33:20 At Ohio State, that's probably a place that Penn State could go and get some points. 33:26 Not saying they will, but it's a place they could. 33:31 Well, yeah, right. 33:32 I mean, I think that what you have is, you know, I don't know that they're going to have the guns, because, you know, Ohio State does have a good offensive team this year. 33:40 And, you know, it's not like Penn State has been rolling on the road. 33:45 So I think that you kind of have to give Ohio State the nod there for both games. 33:51 But, you know, I think that it's one of those, we mentioned it earlier, you have a goalie that maybe can rise to the occasion. 33:56 And they have played some tight games against good teams lately. 33:59 So other than that, they did get blown out on the road by BC, but they played them pretty tough at home. 34:05 And so they've been pretty competitive lately. 34:09 What are your thoughts on that series, Veegs? 34:12 I think Penn State gets their first Big Ten win. 34:15 If there's one place where you can go on the road and not feel like you're on the road, it's Ohio State. 34:21 I think Joe Connor did his commentary of arenas around the country, and he said Ohio State was one of the worst he's been to for atmosphere. 34:30 And so that Penn State team is going to be looking, saying, hey, this is a game for us to win. 34:36 And no one likes to go through a season without winning one, so they'll probably get a little extra effort. 34:41 Well, not too long ago, Michigan went into Wisconsin and got swept by the Badgers. 34:46 Now, they're heading, the Badgers are heading to Yostvig's. 34:50 What are your thoughts on that series? 34:51 Does Michigan get the revenge? 34:55 You know, I don't think so. 34:56 I feel like Wisconsin, you know, they dropped a game to Ohio State here this last weekend, but I think their team has been playing generally better, and I think they come out with at least four points here this weekend. 35:10 Oh, okay. 35:13 That's pretty big, because they've traditionally not done so well at Michigan. 35:17 Hammeh, what are your thoughts? 35:20 You know, I watched a decent amount of that, you know, and I got grief for it by a couple of whiners on Twitter that I was watching the Michigan State and Michigan game rather than the North Star Cup, you know, the other game for the Gophers, or yeah, who was it, was whatever it was, Mankato and Duluth, I think it was at the time. 35:40 You know, I thought that it was, I think that Michigan is a pretty good team. 35:43 They seem to kind of pick their spots. 35:46 And considering Wisconsin's troubles, I mean, it's not like they've been playing the greatest comp. 35:51 They've been winning, but they haven't been playing great teams up until, you know, well, I wouldn't say Ohio State's a great team, but I mean, nonetheless, they haven't been playing great teams. 36:00 And so I would be surprised if they came out of that series of more points to Michigan. 36:05 I wouldn't complain if they both split, you know, or whatever, because it gives you a distance for both for us. 36:10 So, but I would probably say that I would expect at a minimum for Michigan to come out of it with four points. 36:16 I think we need to have them tie both nights and have one team, you know, win the shootout each night, because then they're stuck with two points and we could just keep the lead going and going. 36:27 Well, speaking of keeping the lead, we got to keep the lead this weekend, guys, because Michigan State's coming to town. 36:32 We split with them earlier this year. 36:34 Well, we sort of split, they beat us in a shootout, so they got the extra point, but they're coming to town, and Hammeh, we're going to be a little short on defense. 36:44 Yeah, unfortunately, because of the situation with Marshall, he's not going to be in there, and then Brzezinski. 36:50 So I mean, hopefully they'll be able to weather the storm a bit and handle some of that, particularly on Friday. 36:59 So hopefully it'll be a good series. 37:01 I think the Gophers should win both games. 37:03 You have to take advantage of these situations. 37:06 And certainly, I think that we have a better team. 37:09 When I watched Michigan State play Michigan this last weekend, I mean, I wasn't overly impressed. 37:14 I think that they have some holes that we could take advantage of. 37:18 And so I would expect us to sweep the series, but we still have to execute in the end. 37:22 So we'll see how it goes. 37:23 You think they'll play short on D and just kind of wing it on Friday night without them? 37:28 You know, I don't know. 37:29 I mean, that's an interesting... 37:32 I was thinking about that earlier, if they would have somebody move back, you know, for just a little bit. 37:36 Yeah, it's just the one game. 37:38 Yeah, I don't know if they will do that or not. 37:41 It's a possibility. 37:42 I mean, it wouldn't shock me if that's what they did. 37:44 I'm not sure who would be the best candidate off the top of my head, but you know, certainly they have some guys that might be able to handle that from a forward to a defense just for one game. 37:53 Thoughts on Michigan State, Veegs? 37:56 Well, I think the streak is going to go to 14. 37:58 I think they're going to get wins both nights. 38:02 I think, you know, with the 5D situation, they learned a little bit from the Colgate game about how to handle that. 38:08 And this team has been so reliant on their defenseman getting up into the rush. 38:13 I think that is going to be an issue, but I do see them just going with five defensemen and trying to get through the game like that. 38:22 They might have a forward who is ready to help out on penalty kill if they get into one of those situations. 38:28 But I think this is a good matchup for them. 38:31 They will be able to put the D on the ice that they want because they will have last change. 38:36 So it is fortunate that they get that home ice advantage with the shorthanded bench. 38:43 All right, we have a question from Eric Tollefson. 38:46 How many of the 12 remaining games do the Gophers need to win to clinch their first inaugural Big Ten season championship? 38:55 What do you think, Hammeh? 38:57 Half of them at least, which they will do. 39:01 You know what? 39:02 I don't know that I have a great answer because I would have to look at the standings and kind of calculate things out. 39:08 I was told there was no math involved. 39:12 Let me see. 39:12 We got two Michigan State, two at Wisconsin. 39:18 I think they got to win ten, don't they? 39:19 Because they only have a seven point lead right now. 39:25 Maybe a six point lead if Michigan already win both their four point lead. 39:31 I think the fact is that it's going to come down to how we play in those two series against Michigan and how we do on the road at Wisconsin. 39:39 To me, that's going to be the key. 39:42 You should be able to get the points that you need out of the bottom three teams when you have those opportunities. 39:47 It's going to come down to those series, I think. 39:49 It's definitely looking good. 39:51 I'm not really concerned right now. 39:55 The league title is obviously right there for us to take, but I think keeping the rankings high and just playing good is little more important right now. 40:05 Just keep building, just keep building for the playoffs. 40:09 That's all I care about. 40:11 Yeah, I think after that Michigan series on the 15th, you'll have a better idea where things sit. 40:18 Definitely will. 40:19 I mean, I'm just hoping by the time we go to Michigan, we'll already have it sewed up, so it's not a big deal. 40:27 Anything else this week, guys? 40:31 Any more rants, Hammeh? 40:33 No, I'm ranting. 40:34 What are your thoughts on the Grammys? 40:37 I really only saw the Beyoncé thing at the beginning, and then I turned it, so I can't really even say one thing about it. 40:45 You were just hoping for a wardrobe malfunction, and it didn't happen. 40:50 Yeah, I... 40:51 And Katy Perry was covered up most of the night, so there was never going to be anything to see there. 40:56 So that was definitely disappointing myself. 40:59 Yeah, well, exactly. 41:00 I mean, she does have... 41:01 She's quite blessed, so I could see why he might feel that way. 41:06 Anything else for you, Veegs? 41:08 I'm excited about the Friday night Big Ten doubleheaders. 41:12 I think it's fun to be able to have both the Big Ten games on, on Friday nights. 41:16 I think that's fun. 41:17 I think that's something that, you know, in the WCHA, you just didn't have that kind of cooperation and uh, strategery, so it's, it's nice to see those Friday night doubleheaders, because you get to see all the teams. 41:31 Yeah, just. 41:32 That's one of the nice things this year. 41:33 And a reminder of that, you know, obviously Friday night's games at 8 o'clock folks, so don't forget about that, and then, and actually both Wisconsin games on Thursday and Friday of next week are on Big Ten Network as well, so actually, boy, one, two, three, four, five out of the next seven games are on Big Ten Network, folks, so. 41:53 And you know what, I think Big Ten Network has done a pretty good job, I think. 41:57 You know, they've improved, and it helps when they have, you know, somebody coming to, like, GPL and asking, you know, for feedback and whatever. 42:06 I definitely think that, you know, there's a lot of complaints that we saw in the past, and some rightfully so, but I think that, you know, you have to tip your hat a little bit to BTN, and, you know, for the improvements they have made, and are they, you know, is exactly the equal of FSN, after all these years, maybe not, but nonetheless, I think that they've definitely made some improvements, and I think it's headed in the right direction. 42:28 Yeah, Rick Pizzo, the studio host, has been coming to GPL and saying, hey, what do you think of this? 42:33 What do you think of that? 42:33 Give me your feedback, and that's really cool for him to do, just to do that. 42:39 It shows that he cares, and, you know, maybe he can communicate some of these changes and things to, you know, his bosses. 42:47 And like you said, I think the broadcast is getting better and better. 42:51 Yeah, and they've got Ben Climber helping out. 42:53 I think he was at the Ohio State Game the other night. 42:56 You know, so that's good to see. 42:58 I know the games that are going to be on ESPN News, they've got John Buchagross prepping for those games. 43:04 So that's nice to see that they're taking those games a little more seriously. 43:08 So, I think it's going to be a fun stretch. 43:10 You know, actually, the ESPN News is covering a game, I think the Ohio State Game this weekend, a 2 p.m. 43:16 game on ESPN News, or it might be classic, one of the two, and Buchagross is calling that game. 43:22 So if you want to see how much better they could do than they did when they were here, be sure to tune in at 2 o'clock, because nothing gets to be as bad as Mr. 43:32 Tennis who came here. 43:36 That was ugly. 43:37 And how about what Gary Thorne doing the high school hockey for Class AA? 43:44 You know, I'm not so sure. 43:45 That's cool, I think. 43:47 I was like that guy when he used to call him back in like an USA Network and whatever. 43:51 I thought that was fun. 43:52 I don't know. 43:55 I'm a little, I'm not as excited about that. 43:58 I think he's, you know, he's definitely doing it as a gig, but I've gotten the impression over the two times that I've kind of seen him and talked to him about, I mean, just a wee little bit in person, that he didn't really care about the frozen floor when he was there. 44:13 So hopefully he's got a different opinion now and does a good job because if he doesn't, people will hear about it because the high school hockey tournament, there's nothing bigger than that in this area, so it'll be interesting to see. 44:29 All right, boys, what else? 44:30 Anything else? 44:32 Should we call it a wrap? 44:34 Yeah, last podcast from the condo, so. 44:37 Ooh, that's right, you're moving this weekend? 44:40 This weekend, so. 44:41 I'll be in the house next week, podcasting. 44:43 Ooh, maybe the acoustics will be better. 44:46 Yeah, hopefully. 44:46 I'm kidding, you sound just like that. 44:49 I've got the 12-foot ceilings here, I'll miss them. 44:54 Well, good luck on your move. 44:55 We'll be glad to have you back on next week in your humble abode. 44:59 You'll have to do some videos so we can see it. 45:01 Yeah. 45:01 Just kidding. 45:03 All right, gang, that's it. 45:05 Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Twitter at Hammy Hockey, follow Vegoe on Twitter at eVegoe, and of course, we'll always take your tweets here at Gopher Puck Live. 45:16 We'll be back next week. 45:17 We'll recap the Michigan State Series and look ahead to Bucky Badger. 45:23 Until then, thanks for joining in.