0:22 Now, let's join Cami, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:35 Good evening, and welcome to the GPL Podcast, number 53 tonight. 0:43 So we're getting up there in numbers. 0:46 Well, we actually have a guest for the first time this season. 0:49 Well, not the first time, I guess, but for the first time this season, he'll be making his appearance, Jess Myers. 0:55 How are you doing? 0:56 I'm doing great, I was going to say. 0:57 If you haven't had a guest at all this season, it's been a long season. 1:00 Yeah, well, we had Dave Schwartz on a couple weeks ago. 1:04 Oh, yeah, and you could have him on live from Sochi right now. 1:07 I was actually thinking about doing that sometime, but by the time we do this, he's probably really stressed out about doing some kind of live broadcast or something like that for the 10 o'clock news, so I didn't want to stress him out. 1:18 But that would be pretty cool. 1:20 It's 7 a.m. 1:21 there right now, so I'm guessing he's having something involving eggs and some kind of really heavy sausage right now, whatever they have for breakfast in Russia. 1:29 Good luck, Dorothy. 1:30 Vodka. 1:31 Vodka. 1:32 That's his breakfast. 1:34 Ugh. 1:35 Don't know if I want that kind of breakfast. 1:37 Well, boys, two goals this weekend. 1:42 Swept by the BADgers. 1:43 Hammy, that hurt. 1:45 And it was not good. 1:49 Well, I mean, when you only give up four goals, you know, two goals a night, you kind of expect to at least win one of the games. 1:56 You know what I mean? 1:58 So yeah, this wasn't a good weekend. 1:59 I think that I was thinking about it. 2:01 I really believe that, you know, when you play a team like Wisconsin, you know, kind of what you're going to get out of the Eves type of a system. 2:07 And I think it's just really important to jump out to a lead against those kinds of teams. 2:12 And especially you have to be effective on the power play. 2:15 I mean, you really have to make them pay when you get those opportunities. 2:18 And we just didn't do a good job. 2:19 When you're one for eight on the weekend, including a major, and that was the only goal we had was on a major. 2:25 And then, you know, they only got two opportunities. 2:28 It just, you have to make them pay and we just didn't do it. 2:31 Well, Jess, you know, the key word there that he said was, Eve's style of hockey. 2:36 I hate his style of hockey. 2:38 It's killing hockey. 2:39 And I know that you kind of feel the same way. 2:42 Well, you know what's interesting about that? 2:43 It's not just us, okay? 2:45 It's not just folks in Minnesota who follow the Gophers, who follow NCHC teams, et cetera, complaining about the BADgers. 2:54 You know, hey, it's fun to hate the BADgers. 2:56 Everybody does it if you live here. 2:58 But here's the thing. 3:00 Folks who cover Wisconsin have looked at this, and you know, their attendance has dropped like a rock in the last five years. 3:07 You know, and our good friends at the Capitol Times, who are by no means, you know, I wouldn't call them BADger homers, but there are guys who cover this team on a day in and day out basis, and they're next to Mike Eaves. 3:22 They've written about this, you know. 3:24 Andy Baggett, who's covered Wisconsin for 25 years, wrote a thing last year saying, one of the big problems is, the style of hockey they play is just not interesting to watch. 3:36 I'm not saying it's ineffective. 3:38 It's just not a great thing to, you know, settle in and pay 40 some bucks a ticket and pay for parking and head over to the Cole Center and say, oh yippie, let's watch another two to one, slog it out, clog the middle kind of game. 3:51 It works for them. 3:52 They win a fair amount of hockey games that way. 3:54 They are the defending WCHA Final Five champions. 3:57 Don't forget, they won't be back to defend that title, just for the record, but yeah. 4:02 So it's not just Gopher fans or non-Wisconsin fans griping about Wisconsin. 4:08 It's a well documented fact that this is the style they play and not everybody likes it. 4:13 Are we just going to have to live with this, Vegoe? 4:15 We're going to have to live with this boring hockey or? 4:19 What are we to do? 4:20 How are we going to break through this crap? 4:22 Well, it doesn't feel like Yves is going to be going anywhere. 4:26 He's pretty stable there. 4:27 He's had a little bit of a shake up in his coaching staff and that situation, but he does win. 4:34 And he gets his team into the NCAA playoffs. 4:37 And they played that pretty soft non-conference schedule, but it doesn't look like it's going to hurt them. 4:42 It looks like they still have a pretty good chance to get an NCAA tournament. 4:46 And as long as a coach can do that, he's going to keep his job. 4:53 You know, pretty soft. 4:54 We know the schedule is soft, but... 4:58 That's like being real kind, especially when you look at that December schedule. 5:04 It's pretty soft. 5:08 We're talking like Wonder Bread here. 5:11 It was pretty bad. 5:12 What did they have? 5:13 They had Alabama in there, CC, which in a normal year wouldn't be so bad, but they're just terrible this year. 5:22 Didn't they have one of the Alaska teams in there as well? 5:26 Anchorage and they had Penn State. 5:27 Of course, that's a conference, but nonetheless, I mean, that's four weeks in a row right there. 5:32 I mean, it's like, wow, you want to talk about picking the softies out, but there you go. 5:36 I mean, they're still top 10 pairwise. 5:39 I mean, they took care of their business. 5:43 Which is a sad thing that, you know, you kind of would hope that you could punish them a little bit for having such a weak schedule, even if they're winning the games, I guess, but still, it's pretty bad. 5:53 But isn't this what the administration there wanted to get away from, playing these piddly little teams? 5:58 You know, one of the reasons they pushed the Big Ten is they don't want to play the little mancados and sisters of the poor. 6:04 And that's all they did this year. 6:07 That's a fantastic point. 6:08 I mean, you know, the rumor for years and years and years is that Wisconsin was the ones pushing for big time hockey because, you know, supposedly, this is allegedly, I'm just talking out of my rear end, which I do a lot. 6:21 But supposedly, they didn't want to sink so low to have to get on a bus and go to Houghton, Michigan or go to Mankato. 6:28 And, you know, hey, we're Wisconsin. 6:30 Why do we have to play these little piddly teams? 6:32 We should be playing Ohio State in front of 6,000 people at the Cole Center. 6:38 Well, actually, for the first time in a while, they sold out the Cole Center Friday night. 6:42 But, you know, Thursday night, it was under 9,000. 6:47 And as you talked about earlier, you know, we've been tracking their attendance and they've been dropping about 1,000 to 2,000 fans on average per year. 6:58 You know, I mean, their totals, they were around average of 15, then 13, then 11. 7:02 Now they're averaging under 10. 7:04 I mean, it just keeps going down and down and down. 7:07 And it's not like they've had a terrible team in those times. 7:12 But I think you're right. 7:14 People are getting bored with this lame ass hockey. 7:17 I mean, Badger Hockey used to never be that way. 7:20 Tell me this, guys, because I honestly don't know this. 7:24 Gopher Hockey, when you buy season tickets, is it for every game, both nights of a weekend, et cetera? 7:31 Yes. 7:32 Yes, the main season tickets. 7:34 Because I know one... 7:36 Okay, I know at Wisconsin they split it. 7:38 You can buy Friday night season tickets, you can buy Saturday night season tickets separately, or you can buy a full season package. 7:45 So that's one reason for the discrepancy, is they've always sold more Saturday night season packages for folks who just want to do one game a week. 7:54 And it makes sense. 7:55 Friday night, you're getting off work, you're going home, you're relaxing a little bit. 7:58 You don't maybe necessarily want to rush over to a hockey game. 8:03 Granted, Madison is not a heavy traffic city like the Twin Cities is, for example. 8:08 So you're not dealing with rush hour and at least as much of those things. 8:12 But that's always been a factor at Wisconsin. 8:14 Well, the only thing that Minnesota splits up is they do split up to sue the student season tickets. 8:21 That is a Friday, Saturday type of thing, but that's about it. 8:27 I don't know. 8:27 Their attendance is hurting. 8:29 Obviously, their attendance has been up a little bit recently with the Gophers in town this past weekend. 8:35 But they are not leading college hockey anymore like they did for year after year after year. 8:41 Apparently, that's what Barry wanted. 8:44 More emphasis on football and basketball. 8:47 Screw hockey. 8:49 You know, it's amazing too. 8:50 And I'm going to date myself a little bit here. 8:52 But when I was in college, well, I and I used to be much younger just for the record. 8:57 But when I was in college in the late 80s and in the early 90s, two interesting factors. 9:02 Number one, Wisconsin played at Dane County Coliseum, which had about, I want to say, 8600 seats and was sold out every night. 9:11 It was a fantastic atmosphere. 9:12 It was off campus. 9:13 They could serve beer there. 9:15 You know, it was just kind of a fun and kind of intimidating place to go because at the time that was the biggest rink in college hockey and, you know, arguably the best atmosphere in college hockey. 9:24 The other thing in that era, late 80s, early 90s, keep in mind, Badger football had been horrible for about 20 years. 9:32 Badger basketball was playing in a 7000 seat field house and was terrible. 9:38 So hockey was legitimately the only thing they had to cheer about in Madison. 9:42 And, you know, fans in that part of the country have always been good Badger fans. 9:48 They've never necessarily been great hockey fans, but they showed up because that was their one shining star winning team. 9:54 You know, Jeff Sauer had them in the NCAA tournament most years. 9:58 He had them competing for a national title most years. 10:01 So it's changed dramatically on campus in the fact that they're playing in a rink that's about double the size of their old one, and suddenly they're definitely third fiddle on that campus. 10:11 Oh, what a shame. 10:13 Let them die. 10:15 I just... 10:15 It breaks your heart, I can tell. 10:17 Well, there's no fan base dumber than them. 10:20 I mean, I've said this on Twitter and whatever. 10:25 I think the people just show up just to show up. 10:27 They have no idea what they're watching. 10:29 They get excited on a one-on-three coming into the offensive zone. 10:32 They're like a high school crowd. 10:34 They're like, hey, screaming over the dumbest things. 10:37 They're BADger fans. 10:38 I mean, they sieve a goalie when he makes a save. 10:44 What the hell is that? 10:47 I got to tell just quickly my best ever dumb hockey fan story or dumb fan story who doesn't understand hockey. 10:55 And sadly, it was at the Cole Center. 10:57 I'm sitting in what they excuse for a press box there, which is a bunch of tables set up in the crowd. 11:04 It's fine. 11:04 You have a good view of the ice, whatever. 11:06 But there are fans all around you and right in front of me, delayed penalty coming up against Wisconsin. 11:13 I believe they were playing Denver. 11:15 Denver's goalie sprints for the bench, and the fan in front of me stands up and screams, shoot the puck, the net's open. 11:25 How long should I spend explaining this to this guy? 11:28 No, why bother? 11:29 Yeah, well, what can you do? 11:30 What can you do? 11:32 So, Hammy, one win in the last five games. 11:36 You know, a win surrounded by a couple ties, and now a couple losses. 11:40 Are you getting concerned yet? 11:43 Well, I mean, obviously you want to be winning games, and we certainly, the last four games haven't been scoring to the usual clip, so, you know, you don't want to turn that around. 11:52 But, of course, you have to look at the opponent. 11:54 We already talked about, you know, Wisconsin style, and Michigan State is sort of in that same kind of vein. 11:59 They're not exactly an up and down the rank type of a team. 12:02 And once again, that's kind of where you, I think the common denominator, you know, for me, when I look at those games are, you know, how are we doing early on? 12:12 You know, we, where I think we're behind in, I don't know if it was everything except for that Michigan State, the second one, in those four games. 12:19 So, I mean, we haven't been as effective on the power play. 12:22 I mean, we've had a goal here or there, but it hasn't been, you know, they need to really get that rectified because I think teams are starting to look at, you know, well, we'll just slow them down, clog the middle, play that kind of style of hockey and, you know, kind of make them struggle a bit five on five, but if we're not going to punish them on the power play, then you're going to have problems. 12:42 Well, Vegoe, we actually have a question that I'll point towards you about the power play from Gopher Golfer. 12:48 I'm not going to pronounce his name because I don't think I could. 12:51 What do you think of the power play formation? 12:53 It seems like it's two one-dimensional, one-timer or rebound, no high low. 12:57 I mean, do you think it's a little stale? 13:00 Well, I think they focus on getting those one-timers from the top of the circle. 13:05 And at times, you saw them trying to work the puck more out of the corner and the side boards, but I think they're so uncomfortable doing that. 13:14 Even when a team like Wisconsin comes out with a diamond kill and puts real pressure on the spots where Minnesota is trying to get to, they don't adjust and get into those two on ones out of the corner or two on ones coming into the slot area. 13:27 And that's something they need to be able to do against these teams because when they get the man advantage in these games, they need to convert. 13:36 Well, what did you say earlier this week on the podcast? 13:38 Were they one for eight, Hammey? 13:40 Yep, and their only goal was on that major that Wisconsin got. 13:45 So, obviously, you have more time on that one. 13:48 Yikes. 13:50 Well, not much we can do. 13:52 We just got to move on, you know? 13:53 I mean, you got to forget about it or maybe get mad about it. 13:58 You know, you got Michigan coming into town this weekend, and now I think Michigan is my favorite team for the Gophers to play since the sewer gone. 14:06 I've always enjoyed... 14:08 Well, no, seriously, I've always enjoyed the College Hockey Showcase games. 14:13 We've had a lot of great games between those two teams, and we haven't played them in a few years now, so I'm actually looking forward to that. 14:20 But Jess, I think Michigan might be a little pissed off coming in this weekend after getting shut out at Penn State for Zip Saturday afternoon. 14:33 Well, at least it was them and not us. 14:35 I was worried that it was going to be... 14:37 I bet you all the rest of the teams are breathing a sigh of relief that they were not the first team to lose to Penn State. 14:43 Well, you know, Red Barrenston's hung around long enough. 14:46 You know, you knew he would make some more history eventually. 14:50 Some way, but no, hey, somebody was going to lose to Penn State eventually. 14:54 It had to happen. 14:56 And to the Nittany Lions credit, you know, they've hung in a lot of games there. 15:01 And this was not a fluke. 15:03 And if you look at the stats on this one, they put 40 shots on goal. 15:07 You know, they came out and basically said enough is enough. 15:11 Jumped up to a 3-0 lead and then, you know, hung on a little bit. 15:15 And, you know, good for them. 15:17 And, you know, they've worked hard. 15:18 They deserve it. 15:20 I did note the starter goal from Michigan got the hook after he was down 3-0 and he had faced, I think, nine shots and stopped six of them, which is not a great record. 15:34 So yeah, I mean, you know, we talked about this a little bit Friday night when I saw you guys at the gathering to watch the Wisconsin game. 15:41 And thank you again for the invite, by the way. 15:43 That was a good time. 15:44 Yeah, you should have hammered. 15:45 What was that? 15:46 I wasn't hammered. 15:50 Not until much later that evening. 15:52 Yeah. 15:54 No, you know, it was fun, except for the hockey, let's face it. 15:58 We've covered that part of it. 15:59 But you know, we talked at that time that, boy, could the Gophers be any colder with Michigan coming down. 16:05 And then Michigan turns down the temp just a little bit farther themselves the next night and manages to lose to Penn State. 16:13 So now it looks like two pretty desperate teams that are going to meet up at Mariucci Arena, which just kind of adds to the intrigue, if you ask me. 16:20 Vegoe, does this kind of wake up the team, you think, this sweep at Wisconsin? 16:25 Is this something like a kick in the ass for them? 16:28 Wake up. 16:29 It should. 16:30 I mean, the defensemen were pretty much being counted on to score, you know, every weekend, you know, and get lots of goals. 16:37 I think they've got nine games without getting a goal. 16:39 So they need to find a way to get involved in the game again, whether it's, you know, moving the puck around the point a little bit quicker and moving to the side of the ice to get some shots to the net, you know, for, you know, rebound opportunities or something. 16:52 But I think that's the big keys. 16:54 You know, they've had issues on defense with injuries and suspensions and not being able to play their full, you know, six guys or have competition for spots back there. 17:04 And I think that's part of the team that really needs to pick it up for this team to be successful. 17:09 Well, Hammey, one thing that I've always enjoyed earlier in the season is Minnesota's speed. 17:14 And it just seems like we're not seeing that speed to get past the trapping hockey like we probably saw earlier this year. 17:22 Are they losing some of their speed? 17:23 They're just not going back to that game? 17:25 They were doing so well with that. 17:27 And they were beating teams with their speed. 17:29 They couldn't keep up. 17:32 Well, I don't know that you're losing speed, really. 17:34 I think it's just a matter of teams adjust to how they want to play against the Gophers. 17:38 And of course, it's also going to depend upon who the opponents are and what their game plans is for their talent. 17:46 So, I mean, it's going to be a variety of factors. 17:49 I think that recently, of course, it's like I mentioned earlier, I think it's partly because of who we've played. 17:55 You know, both Michigan State and Wisconsin are not exactly high flyers. 18:00 We'll see. 18:00 To me, like, you know, the week, you know, for the North Star Cup or whatever the hell it was called, you know, I mean, there's, you know, we had plenty of offense, you know. 18:09 I mean, that was a pretty entertaining weekend for Gophers. 18:12 I mean, we did fine against St. 18:13 Cloud. 18:14 We got four goals against UMD. 18:15 We got four goals. 18:16 I mean, it wasn't like, you know, that's crappy, so I just think that it really depends upon who you're playing and, you know, what they're going to bring to the rink for their game plan. 18:25 Well, elsewhere in the Big Ten this past weekend, obviously, you know, Michigan split with Penn State and Ohio State got a couple of shootout wins over Michigan State and after Michigan. 18:36 We saw part of that Michigan State game where they, the Friday night game, or I should say, yeah, the Friday night game where they blew a 2-0 lead and then lose it in the shootout. 18:44 Anything interesting with those games, guys? 18:48 Not really, huh? 18:50 Well, I mean, you know, it's... 18:52 It's just not the WCHA anymore, is it? 18:54 Well, it's not that. 18:55 It's just a matter of the fact that to me, there's really only three teams that are going to be battling for the Big Ten title. 19:03 And to be honest with you, I feel like it's going to come down to Michigan and Minnesota because, you know, Wisconsin's got six of their last eight on the road. 19:10 I mean, they've only had eight road games to this point this year, which is pretty pathetic, but... 19:17 How many have they won? 19:19 One? 19:19 Two? 19:19 Yeah, they've won one road game. 19:21 They are terrible away from the call center. 19:23 Right, and so I'm kind of like, you know, I kind of feel like they're, you know, even though one of those series is at Penn State, you know, and that, well, we would say it should be two wins, but you never know, I guess. 19:34 But I just, I feel it's going to come down to these two series between Michigan and Minnesota and, you know, who's going to outperform both of those four games against each other. 19:45 Well, for me, I just can't get that excited by a lot of the other hockey, so what am I to do? 19:53 One thing I did get excited about is, Jess, you saw it. 19:55 You were there. 19:57 We had our little Schwindig at Campus Pizza Friday night, took a picture, sent it to the Big Ten, and they put us on TV. 20:05 That was pretty cool. 20:06 It was pretty cool. 20:07 You didn't get to see it, Hammy, Vegoe, you guys are too busy, too cool to come down. 20:18 What, Jess? 20:19 BADgers, by the way, overall, one, six, and one away from the call center. 20:24 Oh, that's, I'm no expert, but that's not good. 20:29 Only eight road games? 20:31 Eight road games. 20:32 Well, I mean, you know, again, they make their own schedule, so everybody has to come to visit them. 20:36 Colorado College, Huntsville, Anchorage, you all come to visit. 20:39 Is that, you think Owens is in trouble at CC? 20:44 I don't think so yet, just because, you know, it's one year. 20:48 You can consider this a blip. 20:49 And again, consider the fact that, you know, they came into the WCHA Tournament last year. 20:54 They made some noise, you know, got to the championship game. 20:58 This is a lousy year. 20:59 But again, one year is a blip. 21:01 If he follows it up with another lousy year next year, then you might have some trouble. 21:07 Also, which tournament will you be going to? 21:10 NCHC or the Big Ten? 21:13 Well, you know, I do cover the Gophers for the most part. 21:16 But you know, we have the luxury. 21:18 I'm going to try to get to as much of it as I can in both sites. 21:22 But let's face it, if it's Ohio State playing Michigan State at the XL, and there's a North Dakota, Minnesota, Duluth game going on across town, you might see me riding the train down to Target Center. 21:35 I can't promise I won't. 21:37 Likewise, if it's Colorado College playing Miami over in Minneapolis, I don't think you're going to see me there. 21:44 Are you going to make an appearance at Mariucci any time soon? 21:48 Oh, I love Mariucci. 21:49 Come on. 21:50 You haven't been there much this year. 21:52 This year has been tough, covering every wild home game. 21:55 You just have to get all the wild. 21:56 Who cares about the wild? 21:59 That is boring hockey. 22:00 The guys who pay me care about the wild. 22:05 Boring hockey. 22:07 Very boring. 22:07 And the guys who pay me are the best people in the world. 22:10 Let me just say that. 22:12 You are such a suck up. 22:13 What's not boring hockey is this weekend, guys, or actually this week, Olympic hockey. 22:20 I enjoy it immensely. 22:23 Hammy, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 22:28 I mean, I do. 22:29 I still kind of, to some degree, kind of pine for the old days when it was the amateurs. 22:35 I mean, I appreciate the all-star country concept that they have going now. 22:40 And it is great hockey. 22:43 I kind of wonder how much gas some of these guys are going to have to really play hard and whatever. 22:48 I'm sure they'll find it, but all that travel and not a lot of time for practices and all that. 22:54 So we'll see if it's good hockey or not. 22:57 The one thing that sucked about the old days, though, sometimes it would take a player or two or three off of the Gophers. 23:07 Would you really want that these days? 23:10 Well, it doesn't hurt the lady Gophers too much, right? 23:17 I'm just kidding. 23:18 Y'all granted it's a lot different than women's college hockey. 23:22 I understand that, but at the same time, when I think back to the 1980 team, how Gopher-laden that team was, there's a sense of pride. 23:32 Granted, not all those guys were current Gophers, but I was looking at some old videos of that Miracle on Ice game. 23:41 Just that year, just a couple days ago, I started thinking to myself about how many Gophers were on that team. 23:47 And then, of course, Herb Brooks being the coach. 23:50 I felt a great sense of pride in the fact that our program is so well represented in such a historical team and event. 23:58 So, you know, yeah, it sucks to lose players, but at the same time, it's great to have that representation. 24:03 Veegs, you're looking forward to the Olympic Hockey? 24:07 Yeah, I love the Olympic Hockey. 24:08 I mean, 2010 in Vancouver was just a terrific setup where the US got to play Canada in that great game that went OT. 24:15 I even enjoyed the World Cup of Hockey when it came here to Excel, and I saw the US play the Russians, and the Russians won. 24:24 And I remember walking up Cathedral Hill and these Russians running up to me going, the miracle is over. 24:29 I love it. 24:32 There's nothing like national pride. 24:34 So it's a fun event, and I'm glad to see the Angellers in it. 24:37 Well, Jess, I think Russia's going to have quite the home ice advantage this time. 24:42 Oh, you think so? 24:43 I mean, take away the fact that they're playing on their home ice, and they're going to have the crowd behind them, which the Americans and the Canadians have both proved is a formidable thing. 24:53 They're a really good hockey team, too. 24:55 I mean, you look at the depth they have, you know, starting with Ovechkin, Malkin, Pavel Dotsik. 25:02 I mean, it just is ridiculous how much offensive potential the Russians have. 25:06 So they're definitely one of those kind of top five teams and a team to watch. 25:12 And that's going to be fun. 25:13 I mean, you know, you need a... 25:15 In the old days, the Soviets were always the enemy. 25:17 Now they get to be the heroes on their home rink, and everybody else gets to be the enemy. 25:23 So that kicks off, the men kick off Thursday against the Slovaks. 25:27 Face the Russians Saturday morning, 6:30 a.m. 25:30 Wake up for that, guys. 25:32 It will be a great game, I hope. 25:34 And then they play Sunday against... 25:35 I'm not sure who they play. 25:39 Who do they play? 25:40 Czech? 25:41 Slovenia. 25:42 Slovenia, okay. 25:44 For some reason, I wrote down Slovakia twice. 25:46 I don't know why I did that. 25:47 So far, the women are undefeated with a 3-1 win over Finland, and a 9-1 win over Switzerland. 25:53 If you want to wake up tomorrow morning, they face Canada. 25:56 That's pretty much, you know, the best it gets for them. 26:01 Little stick taps to Slovenia, by the way. 26:05 Here's my complaint about international hockey. 26:08 Other than Sweden, pretty much everybody wears some variant of red, white and blue. 26:13 Oh my gosh, it's so lame. 26:15 And Slovenia, whose national colors are red, white and blue, decided to do something a little different this year. 26:20 They're going with the blue and green for the jerseys. 26:23 Just mix it up a little bit. 26:24 Why the heck not? 26:26 And you know, they're kind of cool looking. 26:28 They kind of got that Seattle Seahawks vibe going with them. 26:32 I don't think any of the jerseys. 26:33 Stand out. 26:35 I think all the jerseys pretty much suck. 26:38 Oh, come on. 26:39 There's some good ones out there. 26:40 Don't they have fake laces on them? 26:42 That, by the way, will be outlawed when I'm running hockey. 26:45 Oh my god, that is brutal. 26:47 And Cotton Eye Joe. 26:48 I've made that very clear. 26:51 Cotton Eye Joe will be banned from college hockey when I'm in charge, but the fake laces are just an embarrassment. 26:56 Well, it's something to look forward to. 26:58 I love the hockey. 27:00 The hockey's fantastic. 27:01 It'll be a little more interesting this time, too, because they will be playing on the big rink, which they did not in Vancouver. 27:09 We'll see if it makes a difference. 27:11 It could be interesting. 27:12 Absolutely. 27:13 I think it gives a big advantage to a team like Sweden being on the Olympic ice. 27:18 I mean, you look at their defensemen, who can get up in the rush and move the puck, and they're goaltending, I think it's going to be a big difference maker. 27:27 Well, could be. 27:28 Could be. 27:29 Jess, I see this weekend you came over to the dark side, and are now a Gopher fan. 27:37 You wore your little Gopher neck thing. 27:39 I don't know why you wore that, but you were captured. 27:43 You were captured. 27:45 Captured wearing a little Gopher mask with your face. 27:48 You've come over to the dark side. 27:50 We welcome you. 27:51 I know it was tough for you. 27:52 Minnesota, she was a proud Gopher, so it's a family thing. 27:56 It's got to kill you sometimes that you always have to cover the Gophers now. 28:02 Especially after seeing tears running down your eyes after your UMD Bulldogs took out Michigan in overtime a few years ago. 28:11 That was a good night. 28:12 Let's put it that way. 28:14 Even this year, we talked about this a little bit, how the Gophers have struggled to score goals lately. 28:18 How much fun was that game against the Bulldogs over at the Xcel Energy Center? 28:23 Great hockey, two teams that you can tell don't like each other, going toe-to-toe, throwing puck up and down the ice. 28:30 That's just fun hockey. 28:32 It's no chore at all to cover the Gophers, even though I'm a proud graduate of a different institution. 28:38 And there were some very good acting performances in that game. 28:47 You take that personally? 28:49 No. 28:49 That was pretty brutal. 28:54 It was brutal. 28:56 Well, this week, Michigan is coming to town. 29:00 We've got Wisconsin going to Ohio State. 29:02 They'll play in front of five people. 29:05 Michigan State is heading to Penn State. 29:07 That could be a little struggle for them. 29:09 Who knows? 29:11 Let's start off with the BADgers going to Ohio State. 29:15 Jess, Ohio State plays in this gigantic arena. 29:19 And they just have not accepted hockey there. 29:23 They're playing in front of nobody there. 29:27 I went to a Frozen Four there one time, actually. 29:30 It's a really big, really cavernous rink. 29:34 And it kills them. 29:35 It really does. 29:36 Even if you get 6,000, 7,000 in there, that still means you've got 10,000 empty seats. 29:42 And I like Steve Rolick. 29:44 I like Brett Larson. 29:45 I think they are building something pretty good at Ohio State. 29:48 But it's one of those schools where, we talked about this with Wisconsin, hockey is always going to be third fiddle at best, and probably fourth fiddle because women's basketball is really big at that school. 30:01 So that's a tough thing to do for them. 30:03 And unless it's Michigan coming to town, which is a historical rival for them, they just don't draw as well as you would like them to and create an atmosphere there. 30:15 Well, nobody cares anyway. 30:17 We're just all rooting for Wisconsin to lose. 30:19 If they lose in front of 5 people, that's just fine. 30:22 But I guess it's got to be tough to play there for them. 30:25 I mean, they've got opponents coming in, there's no atmosphere at all. 30:31 It's like playing on neutral ice for them. 30:34 Yeah, it really is. 30:37 Hammy, Veegs, you guys got any thoughts on Wisconsin heading to Ohio State? 30:40 Can Ohio State pull out a win and just keep Wisconsin off our tail? 30:44 Hammy? 30:46 Well, first of all, they're just like Jess mentioned, their range is just way too big for that team. 30:53 I mean, if they had a 4,000 seat rank or whatever, I'm sure it would seem a lot different. 30:59 I mean, if they had the same capacity of what they kind of get for attendance now, it would be a lot different of an atmosphere, just be so much better. 31:07 But I guess at Ohio State, they think that bigger is better and whatever, so they have to figure that kind of thing out. 31:14 But anyways, they split in Wisconsin, I think it was a handful of weeks ago, so I would imagine that it's probably going to be a similar result this weekend. 31:23 I think that Ohio State will pull out one of the games. 31:27 Any thoughts, Veegs? 31:29 Yeah, I mean, I think it could be a split-type weekend. 31:32 You know, keep Wisconsin for backs a little bit. 31:35 I mean, Ohio State does have a great top line, great power play unit, and they do have the facilities there. 31:41 They have the cavernous rink, but everything else that goes along with being at Ohio State and the money that that football program brings in, I know when Tyler and Annie committed to them, that was the big talking point, is they've got basically a limited budget for meal table, equipment, training, whatever. 32:00 So, you know, Roy's got some good things going on there, and he's got the money and facilities. 32:06 They screwed up with Osiky. 32:08 They screwed up. 32:09 You think so? 32:16 I'm not saying that they're going to fail, but I just think that they were in a better track when Osiky was there. 32:20 He was definitely a guy that was pulling in some really good recruits, and obviously he had a pretty well-known background with Wisconsin. 32:28 I just think that was a big mistake. 32:32 Could be. 32:33 A little history lesson. 32:35 You want to know why Osiky is not there anymore. 32:39 Was it two years ago that they went into the holiday break ranked number two in the pairwise? 32:45 I'm pretty sure. 32:47 Yeah. 32:49 You know what? 32:51 I think we lost you, Jess. 32:54 I don't hear him anymore. 32:55 Dramatic pause. 32:56 Dramatic pause by Jess. 32:59 I can't hear him anymore. 33:01 I'll be ashamed if he was gone. 33:05 It's redialing right now. 33:07 We don't need Jess. 33:10 Well, Vegoe, let's get back. 33:12 Michigan State is heading into Penn State. 33:14 Obviously, Michigan's got that shutdown style. 33:17 But as we've seen, it's not an easy place to play. 33:21 No, it isn't. 33:22 Penn State really has a good atmosphere going there. 33:24 It's a smaller rink, but it's really nice, and everybody likes it. 33:29 You know the students will get into it, and they've got good goaltending. 33:32 I think the question is whether or not they'll be able to get enough holes against Michigan State, and I don't think Penn State has a great power player or special teams, so that can hurt them, but I think they'll get some points out of the weekend. 33:45 Pammy? 33:48 Yeah, I mean, I think the thing you have to realize is that Michigan State, they're pretty bad offensively, so it's not like the margin for error is huge. 33:58 Penn State doesn't have to be a great scoring team when you're not playing a great scoring team, so I'm imagining it's going to be a pretty low-scoring affair. 34:06 I think both teams are in the bottom ten of the College Hockey and scoring, so I would imagine it's not going to be the greatest offensive series in the world, but it wouldn't shock me if it comes out to be a split. 34:20 All right, still trying to get Jess back on. 34:22 He must just not like us that much or something. 34:25 Who knows? 34:26 Well, if he gets back on, he gets back. 34:28 He had his fill. 34:29 Yeah, he doesn't like us Gopher guys anyway. 34:34 He's restarting Skype, he texted me. 34:36 So we'll see if he gets back. 34:40 Well, that leaves us with Michigan heading in to Mariucci this weekend, guys. 34:47 Michigan hasn't been here in a little while, but I'm looking forward to it because I like the style of hockey they play, up and down. 34:55 It's usually fun games. 34:57 Hammy, kick it off. 34:58 What do you think? 35:00 Well, I've been saying it since we kind of knew about all the conference changes that I felt like Michigan was going to turn out to be sort of the replacement for North Dakota as far as rivals go. 35:10 And I think that it's playing out that way in the first year. 35:13 I mean, the reality is that this series and then the one in Michigan is looking like they'll be the key series in the Big Ten this year. 35:23 And certainly, they're generally a talented team that likes to play in all the style that we like to play. 35:29 So I would imagine it's going to be a fast, you know, puck moving kind of a series. 35:33 We like to see that kind of style. 35:35 We always appreciated that. 35:37 You know, when we have teams like BC or CC back in the day, you know, when we see that here at Mariucci, we have an appreciation for it, even if, you know, we might come up on the losing end on occasion. 35:46 Hopefully, that won't be the case this weekend. 35:48 But so, yeah, I think it's going to be a fun series. 35:51 And hopefully, the Gophers will bring their A-games both nights. 35:54 Jess is back with us. 35:56 Jess, we moved on. 35:57 We're talking Michigan now. 36:01 They head to Mariucci. 36:02 It's been a while. 36:04 Do you actually plan on showing up this weekend? 36:06 Absolutely. 36:09 Although, there is a battle for the top of the NCHC going on in St. 36:12 Cloud. 36:12 So, I might have to split it up a little bit. 36:16 I might have to make a trip up to the newly renovated National Hockey Center as well. 36:20 As long as it's Friday night. 36:22 Mr. 36:22 Mayessich is showing up Friday night. 36:24 I heard that. 36:25 You talk about deserving honor for the first true Gopher superstar out there. 36:31 First true Minnesota superstar, I would say. 36:33 When you look at what he did as a high schooler, then as a Gopher, then as a semi-pro player, and then on the 1960 Olympic team. 36:41 The nicest guy you would ever want to know. 36:45 Stick salute to John Mayessich and well deserved. 36:47 But talking about Michigan, I absolutely agree with what you were saying. 36:51 Kind of comparing them to a BC. 36:53 And if we could replay that Friday night BC game, that's some of the best hockey I've seen in a long, long time. 36:59 If we see anything approaching that this weekend, that should be a lot of fun. 37:04 Vegoe, early thoughts on Michigan. 37:06 I know you're looking forward to it. 37:07 Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. 37:09 I know my father thought that the Michigan rivalry was the one that was a rivalry before we got involved with North Dakota, and he's excited to see these teams go head to head every year four times. 37:20 And so am I, because I think these four games are going to decide the Big Ten title. 37:26 Michigan's got two young freshmen, Copper and Mott, who when I saw come with the UAT team last year, I was like, wow, those guys are going to be tough players when they come back wearing the maize and gold. 37:38 So I think it should be a great weekend. 37:40 I know Michigan has that high-flying offense, so they like to get in a foot race. 37:45 You look at some of their scores this season, you know, it's not two-goal games, you know, two-one, three-two type games. 37:52 It's got the opportunity to be high-scoring, and I think Jess is right. 37:56 I think it could be a lot like the BC game. 37:59 Well, I tell you one thing, I am looking forward to it. 38:01 Like I said earlier, Michigan was always my favorite rivalry behind, you know, the fighting who. 38:11 I was never big against Wisconsin. 38:13 Maybe I forgot about it or whatever. 38:16 It was just always Michigan because of the style they play. 38:19 And we always played every year for the last 20 years, or almost 20 years of the College Hockey Showcase. 38:26 And it was a big deal. 38:27 In fact, in the beginning, they were playing these games like at the Civic Center and at the bigger arenas. 38:34 So it was a big deal, and I hope it gets even more heated because Michigan has had a pretty good run over there in the CCHA, but Big Ten is going to be a little bit different. 38:48 And I hope there's some bad blood between these teams because it will just make the rivalry even better. 38:55 How many points did Minnesota get this weekend, Hammy? 39:00 I'm going to say they get 5 out of 6. 39:07 Jess, can Minnesota put away Michigan this weekend? 39:12 I don't think so. 39:13 And a month ago... 39:14 You're just such a bulldog guy. 39:16 No, a month ago I said yes. 39:18 But we talked about it earlier, the fact that the Gophers are suddenly struggling to score goals where they didn't earlier in the year. 39:27 What that's done, what Wisconsin did last weekend and what Michigan State did to a certain extent, has kind of given Michigan a blueprint of how to slow down the Gophers. 39:37 I don't think you can stop the Gophers, but you can definitely slow them down enough where I think we're looking at a split this weekend. 39:43 Veegs? 39:46 Veegs, last weekend you said sweep, but you're on the wrong end of that. 39:51 I know. 39:52 I couldn't get it last week, so I'm going sweep again this week. 39:55 I think I listened to Gensel a little bit this weekend on Beyond the Pond, and he talked about their defensemen changing their game and finding ways to get pucks to the net, and I think they're going to respond. 40:08 I think they're going to get back into a game that they're more comfortable playing. 40:12 I think it's difficult when you're a team that's used to getting up and down the ice, and all of a sudden you get to your blue line and you see four or five guys in the opposite color on the other side of the red line just waiting for you. 40:23 I don't think Michigan's going to be doing that. 40:25 I think Michigan's going to be putting pressure on the puck and trying to create turnovers that way as opposed to sitting back, and I think that's going to be good for Minnesota. 40:35 All righty, guys. 40:36 Any other thoughts on this weekend? 40:38 Anything to look for, Hammey? 40:40 Maybe the defense popping back up again. 40:42 Has anyone heard on a serratory? 40:45 Have you heard anything on a serratory? 40:48 I think the last I heard is that they didn't expect either he or Brodzinski to be back until after the bye week or whatever. 40:57 I've heard serratory thinks he's ready to play, but the medical staff isn't sure if they want to clear him. 41:05 Well, he can be kind of a spark at times, and I think they're kind of missing that little bit of a spark right now, so we'll have to see, I guess. 41:12 You know, one thing I will say about this weekend, especially from the Gopher standpoint, you look at where they are in the standings right now, this is almost a rear-view mirror game for the Gopher, a rear-view mirror series. 41:23 You know, one of those series where if you can win twice, if you're Minnesota, you can win twice, Michigan's in your rear-view mirror permanently. 41:29 I mean, they probably cannot catch you, you know, barring something catastrophic. 41:34 So a little extra incentive for the Gophers, and likewise extra incentive for Michigan, because they know that they've got to come in here and at very minimum get a split on the road, you know, to stay in the race. 41:46 And if they do that, it could make that last series of the year just a huge one. 41:52 Absolutely. 41:52 At Yoast, I mean, it doesn't get any better if it were to finish like that. 41:56 I mean, it's just what the Big Ten wants. 41:58 They want some excitement. 41:58 They want to be close. 42:00 And let's hope it's not. 42:04 Because I certainly don't need that. 42:06 You don't like drama? 42:07 Come on. 42:08 No, I don't like drama. 42:09 I've already ripped on the actors at UMD, so apparently you don't like drama. 42:13 Oh, come on. 42:15 We know you train them. 42:16 You support that kind of crap. 42:18 I know you do. 42:20 I didn't actually major in theater, but anyway. 42:24 Do you guys think we'll see any embellishment calls this weekend? 42:27 I know Rao drew one last weekend. 42:30 Rao's getting good at that embellishment call, I think. 42:34 One of the coaches is going to finally set him down and say, stop. 42:38 Well, I think when the referee starts putting you in the box for it, I think that's a signal. 42:42 What's that, like two or three times he's been to the box this year? 42:44 Before that? 42:45 I think so. 42:48 I'm getting kind of bored with it. 42:49 I mean, you see his arms flailing or whatever. 42:53 I just get kind of sick of it. 42:55 If the guy's going to pull you down, let him pull you down. 42:56 But there's just no reason for embellishment. 42:59 Just keep trying your best and don't pull that crap because I don't want to see it. 43:03 Nobody wants to see it. 43:04 And then you hear the other teams complaining, oh, there's Rao diving again. 43:07 And sorry, but I agree with him. 43:10 I hate that crap. 43:12 I got to tell just a quick little anecdote here if I can. 43:15 Since you brought up Kyle Rao. 43:18 So, the Gophers closed out the season last year in Bemidji. 43:21 Remember that series where they, the night they clinched a share of the McNaughton Cup. 43:26 I took my son, who was 13 at the time, he and I drove up to Bemidji. 43:30 Wanted to see the rink there, wanted to see the last game of the season. 43:33 Last WCHA regular season game ever for the Gophers. 43:35 And plus you're a closet Gopher fan, so. 43:38 Oh, absolutely. 43:39 Plus I almost went to Bemidji State, truth be told. 43:42 But that's not why we went up there. 43:44 Anyway, had a nice father-son talk on the way up. 43:46 And you know, that was a fun Gopher team last year and a lot of great guys on it. 43:50 And my son's telling me, you know, I really like Bugstad. 43:53 You know, I really like Nate Schmidt. 43:55 How can you not like him? 43:56 He says, Dad, the only guy I don't like on this team is Kyle Rao. 43:59 He's just, you know, he's just kind of cheap and he stands in front of the net and he talks all the time. 44:04 He says, I can't stand Kyle Rao. 44:06 So we get to the rink and our friend Mark Barr has one ticket that I buy for him so my son can sit in the stands while I'm up in the press box and as luck would have it, he's down with all the Gopher fans, which is nice. 44:17 So I know, you know, nobody's going to razz him or anything like that. 44:20 I go down to see him between periods and sure enough, he's sitting between Mr. 44:24 and Mrs. 44:24 Rao. 44:28 I said, yeah, we were just talking about your son on the drive up here. 44:32 Boy, what a good player. 44:34 Did he know he was sitting next to the Raos? 44:35 Oh, yeah. 44:36 Yeah, they introduced themselves right away. 44:40 I don't know that it changed his opinion of Kyle Rao, but they all got along fine. 44:45 I told him how much I admired Chad as a player, so I was diplomatic. 44:49 Traded this week. 44:51 I know. 44:51 Nobody wants him. 44:53 Nobody wants him anymore. 44:55 Calgary wanted him? 44:55 Who wanted him? 44:57 I don't even remember. 44:58 It doesn't matter. 44:59 San Jose got him. 45:00 San Jose, that's right. 45:02 The wild's favorite trading partner, the San Jose Sharks. 45:05 Anything else, guys? 45:07 Any other topics you want to talk about? 45:11 Any favorite beverages? 45:13 Pammy, any thoughts on Bessie this last weekend? 45:19 In regard to what? 45:21 To his play and get moved up with the Curdillies and Zingerle. 45:26 Well, I thought it was kind of funny because I saw somebody commenting on, I don't remember if it was USCHO or whatever it was, but they were talking about how it would have been nice to have him on the Gophers or whatever. 45:38 I'm like, okay, look at the freshman class on the Gophers, number one, there's several guys that are, scoring-wise, are doing much better. 45:47 And secondly, if you looked at Bessie's performance this year, I think only two or three of his points have come against teams with a winning record. 45:56 The rest have been against those softies we talked about earlier. 45:59 So it's kind of like you have to put it in perspective. 46:02 I mean, yeah, he had a nice game, you know, but you just, you can't read too much into that stuff. 46:09 All right, boys, I think we're done here. 46:12 We're out of stuff to talk about. 46:16 Cheek, hear that awkward silence? 46:18 That means we're done. 46:19 Great hosting. 46:22 Yeah, I know. 46:23 I did that on purpose. 46:24 Jess, you're still writing for ESPN 1500? 46:29 That's your second job. 46:30 Obviously, you have a real job, too. 46:32 I do? 46:33 Oh, yeah, I do. 46:34 That's great. 46:35 At least you're not working down at the Capitol anymore, are you? 46:38 No. 46:39 Oh, jeez, all that politics BS has just got to wear on you. 46:43 I say now the only time I head over to the Capitol is when I need a haircut because that's where my barber is. 46:47 Your barber. 46:49 You can follow Jess on Twitter, at Jess Myers, that's J-E-S-S-R-M-Y-E-R-S. 46:59 Of course, you can follow Hammy at HammyHockeyVego at eVego and you can always tweet us here at GopherPuckLive at GopherPuckLive. 47:06 We'll take your questions during the broadcast at times and we'll see how it goes. 47:12 I don't know if there will be any back and forth between us and Superstar like there was last week. 47:17 She didn't have her date. 47:19 She was a little disappointed, it looks like, there, Hammy. 47:22 She was a little disappointed you didn't show up as her date last Friday night. 47:27 I was afraid I might get roofied. 47:30 Wow. 47:32 That would have been nice. 47:33 If I had a nickel for it. 47:35 Well, no, forget it. 47:37 Thanks for you to show up there Friday night, Jess. 47:39 I appreciated it. 47:41 Hey, anyplace they have pizza and beer, I'm there. 47:47 We'll be off next week. 47:48 There'll be no podcast. 47:49 The Gophers are taking the week off. 47:51 So we'll recap the Michigan series and preview the home series against Penn State when we return in two weeks. 47:59 So thanks for joining us, Jess. 48:01 Appreciate you coming on. 48:03 Always a pleasure, guys. 48:04 We'll try to get you on in another year or so, like we like to do. 48:08 Unless you want to come back next week. 48:10 I'm like the Olympics. 48:11 I come around every four years. 48:12 Yeah, that's about right. 48:14 All right, gang, thanks for joining us, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks.