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This is The GPL Podcast, the production of gopherpucklive.com.
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Now, let's join Hammy, Vego, and your host, Jupiter.
0:36
Good evening, and welcome back.
0:39
After we took a week off, due to too much crap going around in my house.
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But that's okay.
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We're back now, and we're ready for another week of The GPL Podcast.
0:51
Hey, Ami Vego, how you guys doing?
0:54
Pretty good.
0:55
Doing well, everybody's healthy in my house again, too.
0:58
You settling in?
0:59
We're getting settled in.
1:00
Most of the boxes have been unpacked, so.
1:03
What is wrong with you?
1:05
You got to have at least a few boxes last for a couple of years.
1:09
Well, they're in the basement, and they're going to stay that way.
1:12
I don't need to get my college sex books out quite yet.
1:16
My wife still has all her college books, and I don't know why.
1:20
That's just fun to have.
1:21
Big, thick accounting books.
1:24
I almost thought he said college sex books for a minute there.
1:27
I'm like, what the hell have you been reading, dude?
1:28
Well, that, too.
1:31
I didn't know he said sex books.
1:33
The liberal arts education.
1:38
Well, boys, obviously we took last week off, so we didn't get to go and discuss what happened, but obviously a sweep of Penn State, big whoop, yada, yada, yada, just like we thought.
1:48
A little close to second game.
1:49
Don't care.
1:51
Then we had to OSU last week, and four out of six points, Tammy, not exactly what we wanted, but it looks like we're still in good shape for the first Big Ten regular season title.
2:06
Yeah, honestly, I mean, we didn't, of course, have the podcast last week, but when I was thinking about it, I kind of expected to be, you know, my goal was let's get at least three points out of the weekend and make sure that we get some points going to heading into that last weekend with Michigan, so we wouldn't have some slight margin of error.
2:26
Now it's a little bit more doable, of course.
2:29
So that was good.
2:31
I didn't think it was like a badly played weekend.
2:33
They did pretty well in the power play.
2:34
They got out to leads early, which I think is going to be important in both regards down the stretch and the playoffs.
2:44
So that's certainly good.
2:45
Wilcox played really well.
2:47
So, you know, all in all, I think that it was a pretty good weekend, which is kind of unfortunate that they let that lead go late in the game and kind of blew out a little bit of face-off coverage and cost them.
2:59
Now, Veegs, one positive I'm seeing, obviously four points last weekend, six points previous weekend.
3:05
But one thing that I really like is that they've given up only five goals in the last four games.
3:14
And that's not just Wilcox either.
3:16
They're playing good team defense.
3:20
Yeah, I think they're selling out a little bit more, investing in the game and blocking shots and playing the body.
3:26
You notice that the back pressure is there.
3:29
Teams aren't getting three on two rushes and having that third guy be open for very long.
3:36
There are guys coming back and pressuring.
3:38
So I think that's key.
3:39
But at the same point, Wilcox is playing well.
3:41
I mean, they don't get a point against Ohio State in that Saturday game unless he's on top of his game.
3:47
So I think he's key.
3:48
And I think that's really the difference in this year's team is they've got a goaltender who can make those big saves.
3:55
Yeah.
3:55
Well, that's definitely a positive.
3:57
I'll tell you that.
4:00
What else you guys want to talk about for these past couple of weeks?
4:02
I mean, we didn't get to talk about OSU.
4:06
But like I said, Lucia has always said in the past that split on the road, do better at home.
4:14
And that's exactly what happened, Hammy.
4:17
Yeah.
4:17
Well, I mean, we kind of knew that Penn State would be a likely sweep.
4:20
I mean, they've been competitive in some games.
4:23
And of course, they beat Michigan a few times and whatever.
4:25
But we kind of knew that that was more than likely going to be the outcome.
4:29
Of course, you have to execute and still play the games.
4:32
But on paper, we felt pretty comfortable that those that was going to be a sweep.
4:36
And so, you know, ultimately, like we talked about a few weeks ago, you know, it was really going to come down to this stretch of four games against Ohio State and Michigan, you know, whether or not we were going to be successful in winning the league.
4:49
And that's, you know, what's coming down to.
4:52
And by the way, it looks like the recording has went to complete crap.
4:56
But that's OK.
4:57
We'll hopefully be able to bring back this podcast in the end.
5:02
Seriously, my whole recording just went to crap.
5:05
But people are listening live, and I hope that Mixler is also recording live, because otherwise, we've just lost the podcast.
5:12
Isn't that great?
5:15
Operator error.
5:16
I don't know what the hell is happening.
5:19
Don't panic.
5:19
It's early.
5:20
There's plenty of time to make it up.
5:23
I hope so.
5:24
Even for it to get worse.
5:25
Well, actually, you know, in the past, I've screwed up the recording, and I've relied on the recording of the Mixler app to back us up.
5:34
So it looks like I'm going to have to do that again this week, just so.
5:38
Don't screw up, guys.
5:39
Don't screw up, because I already screwed up once.
5:42
Operator error definitely happening here.
5:46
I'm so excited about that.
5:49
Well, back to the hockey, guys.
5:51
We've got a ton of questions on Twitter.
5:56
Apparently, Nate Wells think we hate him, Veegs.
5:59
I don't know why he thinks that.
6:01
Well, I think he put out a subtweet that he wanted to talk more hockey this year, and we didn't invite him on.
6:08
We didn't pick up on it right away.
6:09
So, Nate, we are following you on Twitter, and he's a great guy to sit next to at the games up top, and he does good stuff for him.
6:20
You know, I wonder if Nate even has an identification on GPL.
6:24
Does he even go on GPL?
6:26
I don't know if he does.
6:28
I think he works, but I don't know how involved he gets.
6:31
Who knows?
6:32
Well, we got Tim Happ.
6:32
He's got a lot of stuff going on.
6:34
He is.
6:34
He's at the X right now covering the wild.
6:37
We got Tim Hapke wondering, guys, does the trade of fashion affect how long he stays?
6:44
Who wants it?
6:47
My personal feeling is it probably won't.
6:50
I think, granted, you know, we all know that Buffalo is a little bit more talented or less talented as far as their depth and their prospect pool, but, you know, he's not even going to turn 19 until the middle of the summer.
7:03
I mean, he's an 18-year-old kid this whole school year.
7:06
So, you know, he's sort of like Bukestad in that sense.
7:09
You know, there's really no need to rush it for him.
7:11
I mean, by the time he's done with his junior year, you know, he's going to be 20 years old.
7:16
I mean, you know, I just don't see the reason for him needing to do that, you know, to go too early.
7:23
So, I would suspect we're going to get three years out of him.
7:25
That's kind of what I always felt, you know, given he's a, you know, mid-round pick, and I guess we'll see what happens, but that's my feeling on it.
7:34
Any thoughts on that, Bigs?
7:36
Just the one thing is that the wing pool for Buffalo is a lot thinner than anywhere else, so, you know, there could be a spot where they would try to get him to go right to the NHL.
7:48
I think, you know, he's a young kid.
7:50
Big guys do take longer to develop.
7:53
I think he would do better to play the three years for the Gophers.
7:57
Okay.
7:58
Well, I mean, there's been a lot, I mean, there was a lot of discussion on GPL about early departures, which is, you know, we always kind of get into this guessing game.
8:06
And, you know, people were throwing out Ambrose.
8:08
And my response to that was if Ambrose was going to leave early, he should take a look at what Budish is doing this year, because Budish, I think, just got sent down to the ECH, you know, and I don't, he didn't have a great year, but he was better than college than Ambrose has been to this point.
8:24
So it just, you know, some of these guys, you need patience and people talking about Riley, I don't know that he's going to be ready for the physical part of the pro game.
8:34
You know, he's pretty stick thin yet, so we'll see.
8:38
We'll see what happens.
8:39
And the difference is, one thing about Budish, though, is he was done with school.
8:43
Right.
8:44
Well, I'm not saying he left early, but I'm just saying if Ambrose wants kind of a, you know, a benchmark of sorts to look at, look at Budish because they're both big guys, they're not great skaters or whatever, but they kind of play somewhat of a similar style.
9:01
And Budish has struggled, you know, when you're getting sent down from the AHL, I mean, you're not going the right direction, so.
9:09
Yeah.
9:10
I do think that Ambrose really worked on his skating, and it's night and day.
9:14
I mean, last year, he really stuck out with, you know, a deficiency there, but I think he's worked really hard to improve that, and he keeps up with his line mates really well.
9:25
And you could argue that's been their best line.
9:27
Him out there with his line mates.
9:31
Well, you should know, you go at every game.
9:35
I mean, he does keep up.
9:36
He does keep up.
9:39
Apparently, you need to be keeping up with the lines better.
9:42
Wow.
9:43
I'm just kidding.
9:45
Wow, what's with all the bitterness here?
9:47
Oh, I'm just giving him grief.
9:49
Trying to keep that.
9:49
I'm trying to, like, keep up that, you know, because when we had Dubay on, I mean, there was lots of that, you know, kind of high-intensity stuff, so we gotta keep up the intensity, you know.
10:00
Yeah, it was a little crazy.
10:02
Fake Don Lucia wants to know, who do you think is more likely to reveal himself as the Antichrist, Eves or Hackstall?
10:13
Definitely, Eves.
10:14
I'm thinking Eves.
10:16
I don't know.
10:17
I mean, although, you know, I paid so little attention to North Dakota this year that I might have to agree with you, because I don't even know what's been going on up there as far as coaching behavior or player stuff or whatever.
10:30
I don't even pay attention to him hardly at all.
10:32
So I might have to go with the Wisconsin bid.
10:37
Who's the Antichrist, Figgs?
10:41
It's got to be Hack.
10:42
I mean, he throws up the middle finger whenever he gets the chance.
10:44
Oh, yeah.
10:45
Eves is so much more composed and calm.
10:48
That doesn't seem Antichrist enough for me.
10:50
I think Hack, you know, just throws it out there.
10:53
He's mean-spirited consistently.
10:55
I think that's the way to go.
10:58
Fake Don Lucia also wants to know what is my greatest strength, my elite coaching ability or my stunning good looks?
11:06
Discuss, he says.
11:10
Well, you know, I probably would have gone with the looks about 10 years ago because he had the hair and all that kind of stuff going for him.
11:18
He doesn't have the Lucia pet going anymore.
11:20
Yeah, you know, and we all get older, so I think I'm going to have to go with the coaching ability.
11:28
Longfellow, fellow wants to know, and what's up with not getting many of these Zygdina kids?
11:37
I'm going to touch you on that one, Hammeh.
11:38
Why aren't they getting these Zygdina kids?
11:40
It's all your fault, isn't it?
11:42
Well, we all touched on that a little bit, and I don't know that I want to go down that road on the podcast.
11:47
So let's just say that I think that some parental units are a little biased towards the East Coast's IV types of edu-
11:55
which is fine.
11:57
I mean, obviously, it's a great place to go to school, but I don't think you can always blame the Gophers for not getting a guy when certain people are just sort of inclined to want to have that degree on the wall and the prestige and all that stuff.
12:12
You know, that's more important to them.
12:13
That's fine.
12:14
That's, you know, got to go to school for the right reasons, right?
12:16
So you do what you do.
12:18
When you wait next to playing limited minutes for the U of M, I mean, it's an easy choice.
12:23
It's go get that big degree and be a star on that small team.
12:29
I guess, you know, obviously, the one people have been talking about lately is Tyler Nanny going to Ohio State, blah, blah, blah.
12:37
We should have got him.
12:39
Well, that was more of, that was our decision to be frank.
12:41
I mean, if we had really wanted him, he would have definitely come here.
12:44
That was a decision that the coaches made that they felt like it just wasn't the right fit.
12:49
And you know what?
12:51
We don't have 10 million scholarships and roster positions to give out to every kid.
12:57
They have to make some tough choices.
12:58
And we know that there's so much talent in Minnesota that they're going to be spread out.
13:03
We're not always going to get every guy that does really well at college.
13:06
And some of these people who say we should have, I mean, the one talk about we needed the easy dying of kids.
13:12
It's like, well, OK, the last two years we had, I think the number one offense this year, we're top 10.
13:17
And we won the league title two years in a row in a WCHA.
13:22
And we're on course if we take care of business this weekend to win the first Big Ten.
13:27
It's like, can you really whine that much about it?
13:30
I mean, the NCAAs, it's a crap shoot.
13:34
You're not always going to have the best team winning.
13:37
So I don't look at that as necessarily what's the end results as far as if you're doing the right roster choices or not.
13:47
Statistician that works with the Gophers, Rob Scheele wants to know, barring injury, what are the best line and D combos for the remainder of the year?
13:56
Veegs.
13:59
Well, on the top line, I have Light, Cameron, Rao and Fashing together.
14:04
I think those guys have looked really creative.
14:06
I think they've looked good on the power play together when they've been out there.
14:11
I think the Boyd Sertori and Ambrose Line has been one of their top lines.
14:17
And the fourth line, I think Gertler, Lattery have looked good together.
14:26
I'm a big Isaacson backer, but he just has been putting a little bit.
14:32
He's been putting a little too much pressure on himself and I think he's taking a step back.
14:36
I think his confidence is a little shot.
14:38
I think you could see that in the Ohio State game.
14:40
He's just pressing too much and I think Connor Riley is taking that spot.
14:44
And Connor Riley, I think, could be that guy in that second power play unit.
14:47
I know Lucia has been shuffling guys around on that unit, trying to figure out something to work.
14:53
I think he might be out there.
14:54
I think we saw Brady Shea get a shot on that second power play unit.
14:58
I thought he looked pretty good out there.
15:01
So I think those things are kind of set.
15:03
I'm not sure what's going to happen with the injuries.
15:06
I know Warren's been dinged up a little bit here.
15:09
So we'll see.
15:10
Isaacson's killing me.
15:13
I'm sorry.
15:15
I've been negative on him all this year.
15:17
And I swear, somebody put up the team's record when he plays and all of our losses and ties have happened when he's played.
15:25
I'm just negative on him.
15:26
So I'm just seeing all the negatives.
15:28
What are the positives, Hammy?
15:29
Are there any positives with Mr.
15:30
Isaacson right now?
15:33
Well, I don't think he's the best guy to have in there.
15:35
I mean, of course, a lot of times, it's dictated by the matchups of the team that you're playing.
15:41
So when I think of some of the defense of, we've been shuffling some of the freshmen on defense in and out, depending on the night.
15:51
I kind of like Bischoff a little bit better lately.
15:54
Part of it, of course, is Brzezinski was hurt and he's maybe, I don't know if he's a little rusty or not.
16:00
I don't think he's played bad necessarily.
16:01
I just think that I just feel a little more comfortable right now with Bischoff in there.
16:07
So I can't disagree.
16:08
I think that Veegs kind of came up with the best lines and the best guys to have in there.
16:15
Josh wants to know how likely is it that we'll be stuck with The Who in the West Regional again this year?
16:22
I think it's guaranteed, Josh.
16:24
I'm just going with it.
16:25
The Who will be at the West Regional and The Gophers will have to face them.
16:30
Bring it on, bitch.
16:32
Hammy, your thoughts?
16:35
I honestly have not.
16:36
I never pay any attention to that, you know, the what-if stuff every week that they do on NCAA pairings or whatever because to me it's just pointless.
16:47
I mean, I understand it's good fodder for the fans to talk about, but I don't get heavily into it because it's just, it's going to change from week to week and all that.
16:56
I don't look at the pairwise closely enough to say, well, how far could this team slip and if they slip, what's the ramifications of the regions and all that.
17:04
So I don't know that I have a great answer.
17:08
I'm sure that there's going to be at least one team that we're pretty familiar with in our region, whether it's a St.
17:14
Cloud or whoever.
17:16
I'm sure that that's going to happen, but I don't know if it's going to be North Dakota or not.
17:21
We'll just have to see.
17:22
I don't have a problem with it.
17:24
I mean, I like our matchups.
17:26
I think that we're a better team this year, and I definitely think that offensively, we're better.
17:33
Of course, they've had some good goal-tending from what I've looked at lately from Goth.
17:39
What is it?
17:39
Gothburg?
17:41
So, they'll have a puncher's chance simply because they have a good goalie play right now, but I'm pretty confident that we would match up real well with them.
17:51
Region of Death, Veegs?
17:54
Well, I don't think it's the Region of Death because you're going to be facing a good team if you get into that grade eight anyway.
18:01
You're going to be facing a good team in that second game.
18:04
So, I think for attendance reasons, we're going to see one of Wisconsin or St.
18:08
Cloud, and then I think we'll see North Dakota.
18:10
I think they're going to do it.
18:12
They've got the sky-high ticket prices for the Excel regionals higher than all the others.
18:17
If they want to sell some tickets, I'm sure they're going to try to get some Western teams in there.
18:23
I think it will be fun.
18:25
Isn't North Dakota right now would be a three seed?
18:28
So, how could they even play St.
18:30
Cloud?
18:30
You know what I mean?
18:31
Because St.
18:32
Cloud would be a two seed right now, wouldn't they?
18:35
Because we would be the one seed in our region.
18:37
So, I don't see how that could happen unless North Dakota dropped down to a four seed and St.
18:43
Cloud, St.
18:44
Oliver.
18:44
I think we'll see Minnesota Colgate and then I think we'll see either Wisconsin, St.
18:48
Cloud playing North Dakota.
18:51
Well, wouldn't you say Cloud?
18:53
Yeah, because they'd be in our conference play right in the first round.
18:56
So, they're trying to avoid that stuff still, right?
18:59
Yes.
19:00
Yes, they would.
19:01
They'll find a way.
19:02
They'll find a way because they just want to and they want the money and that's what's going to happen.
19:06
I'm just going to go with it.
19:09
That's why I don't get involved in those discussions.
19:12
It's going to change, you know what I mean?
19:14
Because it's fun to speculate and it's fun to bitch when things go wrong.
19:18
You know, it's just something to complain about.
19:21
You got a question for us?
19:23
Just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll see it pop up and we'll talk about it if you want.
19:30
Drew wants to know, he's concerned about the Gophers don't have any guys in the top 50 of scoring.
19:35
Are you guys concerned?
19:39
Bigs, take it.
19:41
I'm not concerned at all.
19:42
I think this is one of the most balanced scoring teams we've seen.
19:47
I think one of the concerning things is the defensemen haven't been scoring as frequently as they did earlier in the year.
19:53
I think the total goals per game have dipped a little bit as the season's gone.
19:56
But at the same point, the power play has gotten better.
19:59
So I don't think it's as concerning.
20:01
They're definitely not a one line team.
20:04
When your third line is scoring just as much as your first line, they're in good shape that way.
20:10
Yeah, I honestly don't feel any major concern about it because I know that they have the kind of talent upfront that can take over games.
20:20
We've seen guys have really good games.
20:21
We know guys like Rao and Clues and some of these other guys have the talent to really step up and be that go-to guy.
20:31
But I think it's an advantage that we have that depth where we're, like I said, I think we were number six overall in scoring right now and played a very challenging schedule in the process.
20:44
So to have that kind of production and not have one or two guys carrying all the weights or a lot of it, I think that's a pretty good sign.
20:52
Can't focus on one line.
20:54
Yeah, he already says, how could we not be concerned?
20:56
Who do you send out there with two minutes left down one to BC?
21:01
I say you send anybody out there.
21:05
We shut Johnny Hockey down before.
21:06
We can shut him down again.
21:10
Well, I mean, you send out your top two lines.
21:13
I mean, I don't really know what else to say about that.
21:17
I don't know, first of all, it just depends on your matchups.
21:21
You know what I mean?
21:22
And we're going to have some opportunities if we stay where we're at right now to have that last change.
21:28
So I'm pretty confident.
21:31
And I don't know that, I mean, let's face it.
21:33
We didn't necessarily get as far as we wanted to when we did have the big guns like the Bukesteads and the Howellas.
21:39
I mean, we did get to the Frozen Four a couple of years ago, but we didn't last year.
21:43
So I mean, I don't know that that's necessarily, I mean, did Yale have any big guns really?
21:49
I mean, like guys that you really blew you away.
21:52
I mean, I just think it comes down to goaltending and performing on special teams and taking, you know, getting your, when you get your opportunities, taking advantage of them.
22:02
And to be honest, in that Frozen Four year, Buxteh was playing well until the end of the year, and then he disappeared.
22:10
I mean, he did nothing in the playoffs or the Frozen Four.
22:14
So like you said, if you got the big guns and they don't show up, what's the difference compared to if you're balanced?
22:22
So who knows?
22:23
Go ahead, Veegs, you were about to say something.
22:25
Well, yeah, and I think Mike Riley is the one guy who for sure should be out there at the end of the game if you're down one.
22:31
He's a defenseman who can recreate.
22:33
He's got that really low panic point.
22:36
He can make the last-minute moves, create some extra space, get pucks to the net.
22:41
I think he's been the most dynamic defenseman who's really stood out this year.
22:45
I think that's the big key down the stretch.
22:50
All right.
22:51
Well, we'll see, Drew.
22:52
He doesn't agree, and that's his right.
22:56
We'll see how the team does.
22:57
I mean, if they fall flat on the face, they fall flat on the face.
23:00
That's just the way it goes.
23:01
Don doesn't seem to be concerned about it.
23:03
He's been talking about that for quite a while, how they don't have any of the top scorers in the league.
23:11
He doesn't seem to be concerned, so I guess we shouldn't be either.
23:14
Well, you have to figure that we all know that a lot of times it's about match-ups, who you're playing, what's their style.
23:23
My feeling is that the Gophers are really going to have to prepare for what we saw, that stretch of games with Wisconsin and Michigan State, and that second Penn State game where the other team basically were determined to have that extra forward back and make the Gophers be a little more patient.
23:41
Some of it's going to depend on the team.
23:42
I mean, obviously, BC is not going to play that way, but I think a lot of teams are probably going to try to play that way against the Gophers, and it's just a matter of them playing that the right way and not getting impatient and clicking on the power play like they kind of did this weekend.
23:57
And I think we'll do pretty well if we do those things, get the goaltending.
24:02
So any thoughts on what else happened in the Big Ten this past weekend?
24:05
Obviously, Michigan and Michigan State split.
24:08
The Badgers ended up sweeping Penn State after Penn State got them to overtime.
24:16
Vegoe, any thoughts on the other Big Ten games this past weekend?
24:20
Not too many.
24:21
I'm just happy that the last series is going to mean something to Michigan.
24:26
I'm glad that that held up and that the trophy wasn't decided already going into the last week.
24:31
So I'm kind of looking forward to those games having something on the line.
24:36
I know those games with Michigan were getting a little feisty last time, so it's good that there's something on the line and it just doesn't turn into a goon fest.
24:45
What about you, Hammeh, any thoughts on this past weekend?
24:48
You know, I mean, I think what we saw, I mean, with that Michigan State, Michigan series, I mean, really, you know, I thought Michigan was going to sweep that, especially when they had that, what, like the 3-1 lead and they blew that one.
25:00
So it just kind of shows you the inconsistency that we've seen out of Michigan, you know, particularly the last month or so.
25:07
You know, and so that from a Gopher perspective, you have to feel, granted, Yoast won't be easy and it's not going to be like some cakewalk, but you have to feel relatively comfortable with the idea that, hey, we should be able to get some points out of that series.
25:22
So if the Gophers bring their game, you know, to Yoast and play as they're capable of, I think that we should get the kind of results we want to see.
25:30
You know, it's a little disappointing to see, you know, that Wisconsin game kind of the way that they kind of came back late and whatever.
25:38
Well, as far as the, getting the shootout, it was nice for Penn State to tie it late.
25:43
But, so I mean, but that kind of played out the way I thought.
25:47
And, you know, this weekend, I, I don't even know that, you know, I don't really suspect that Wisconsin is going to win both games at Michigan State.
25:55
I'm not convinced of that given their road record this year.
25:58
And it's not like they blew Penn State away, you know, especially at second game.
26:03
And, you know, Michigan State showed, you know, this last weekend, that they're capable of surprising good teams, and especially at home.
26:10
So we'll see how it goes.
26:12
Well, right now, you know, Michigan, I'm sorry, Minnesota and Wisconsin have locked up the two top spots no matter what.
26:21
Michigan pretty much has that third spot lined up.
26:27
Oh, great.
26:30
Great.
26:30
What a perfect timing for the smoke detector to go off.
26:33
Isn't that awesome?
26:36
This means somebody must be cooking something.
26:39
Holy shit.
26:44
Please tell me you shut the door.
26:45
Well, the door is closed, but I've got a smoke detector in the room I'm in.
26:52
Dude, my dog's going to start barking soon.
26:58
That's amazing.
26:59
Isn't that awesome?
27:00
This is live radio right here, people.
27:04
Take the battery out of that damn thing.
27:06
Oh, it wouldn't matter.
27:07
It would keep chirping because it's plugged in.
27:09
I know.
27:10
It's horrible.
27:11
My wife in the background here go, can you pause the show?
27:16
No, we can't pause the show.
27:19
Well, I could hear it coming too.
27:20
I could hear it in the far part of the house, but I could just hear the next one going and the next one going.
27:25
Oh, boy.
27:26
You guys talk for a few seconds about this weekend.
27:29
All right.
27:30
Oh, wait.
27:31
It just stopped.
27:33
Jesus Christ.
27:35
That's live radio for you right there, people.
27:37
Live Internet.
27:38
Let me tell you.
27:39
Anyway, like I said, Minnesota and Wisconsin have locked up.
27:42
Michigan looks like they got third locked up.
27:45
Minnesota would have to sweep and Ohio State would have to sweep for them to catch Michigan.
27:50
Oh, Michigan State is still in there.
27:52
Obviously, Penn State is stuck in the bottom.
27:55
But we pretty much know what's going to happen.
28:00
So let's just talk about this weekend, guys.
28:03
Minnesota, Michigan, we don't care about the other stuff.
28:07
It doesn't matter.
28:07
We just got to get one win on this weekend.
28:09
We'll have the trophy.
28:11
We could celebrate at YOS.
28:12
Let's go, Hammy.
28:14
Yeah.
28:15
It's like I mentioned early in the year.
28:17
I felt like the Michigan games would be the replacements for the North Dakota rivalry.
28:25
This is the situation that starts to kick that off.
28:30
I'm sure that Michigan is going to want to be the spoiler and want to ruin things for us.
28:37
Here's an opportunity for them.
28:39
Certainly, like I mentioned, they've been a little inconsistent, so you have to feel relatively, if we bring our A game, that we should be able to get some good points out of there.
28:49
But all it takes is two, and hopefully we'll be able to come through with at least one good effort and get that taken care of.
28:58
Biggs, your thoughts, are we going to celebrate at Yost?
29:03
Definitely going to be celebrating at Yost.
29:05
The things I'm going to be watching for, see if Michael Downing still has a bad attitude against the Gophers.
29:12
He was getting into it.
29:14
A couple headshots here and there.
29:15
I know that there are kind of two contact to the head type penalties in that last series with them.
29:21
So it will be interesting to see if it gets that way.
29:24
I know Michigan has a reputation for being a good starting team, but I don't think they really brought that to Marriott.
29:30
Maybe it was the big ice and they just got uncomfortable.
29:33
But it's going to be back on the smaller rink at Yost.
29:37
And that's the way Minnesota is going to be playing the rest of the way.
29:40
They have all their games on NHL size sheets the rest of the way.
29:43
So we'll see if they can play that physical game.
29:46
It seems like something that this team likes to do.
29:49
So it should be a fun series.
29:50
Just saw a tweet from USCHO, Lake State just fired their coach.
29:56
Jim Roque?
29:58
I don't know how to say it, but I saw that.
30:00
So goodbye, Lake State coach.
30:03
Couldn't win in the WCHA.
30:05
Bad season.
30:07
Okay.
30:08
Now that the smoke detectors have stopped going off and my hearing is back.
30:15
What else this weekend, guys?
30:17
I mean, go ahead.
30:22
Did you want to talk about the two new recruits that they picked up, the NHL guys?
30:28
You know, one thing is funny is Gonzalez tried to mention that at one of the post games for Penn State, which he is just like, can't talk, that'd be a violation.
30:41
I'm not sure why he even bothered asking him that, but I thought it was a little goofy that he was asking him about recruits there.
30:48
But we'll-
30:49
He's his first year.
30:50
I know, yeah.
30:51
Maybe the rules slipped his mind, who knows.
30:54
Yeah.
30:54
So who are the two new guys?
30:58
Well, I'm assuming, I mean, well, I don't know.
31:00
You're not talking about Sheehy, right?
31:02
Because did we talk about him already?
31:03
We didn't really touch on him.
31:04
We haven't touched on anybody because it happened.
31:06
Well, the ones they heard, I think, was right around the Michigan or the Penn State Series.
31:10
Right.
31:11
Well, Tyler Sheehy committed to the Gophers.
31:15
He's kind of a flex.
31:16
He could be 2014 or 15.
31:19
Very strong elite league season.
31:21
He was the leading scorer in the league, and then he probably would have been the favorite for the Mr.
31:25
Hockey, but he decided right after the elite league season that he was going to play at Waterloo.
31:30
He's done very well there.
31:31
He's averaging about a point a game, and he's been scoring goals and doing well.
31:36
I look at him as being, if he does end up coming in 2015, he could be another Justin Clues type of a player that's going to come in and be able to contribute pretty well offensively right away because he had that extra year in the USHL.
31:50
Hopefully, that's the case with him.
31:53
A couple other guys, Robin Hoagland.
31:55
I don't know a lot about him.
31:56
I, you know, he's kind of a bigger kid that's been playing in the NHL.
32:00
He used to be a Notre Dame recruit.
32:03
You know, I'm sure he's going to be one of those guys who's going to come in and kind of be a role player guy, not necessarily the type of guy that you're expecting to come in and be a top six type of player scoring a lot of points.
32:12
So, you know, kind of have to have that in mind when he's coming in.
32:16
And got the wild to screw the pooch.
32:20
Oh, is it tied now?
32:22
Yeah, it's tied.
32:23
Oh, jeez.
32:24
Frickin well.
32:25
I'm glad I don't watch that team.
32:27
The Men's Hockey Stars are always on my team.
32:28
But I've been watching the Twitter feed just, you know, slowly coming back.
32:33
Yeah.
32:34
Well, and then finally they picked up a goalie, you know, kind of to kind of take when a shibby is going to be done after this year.
32:40
So they picked up a goalie.
32:42
I don't, you know, he seems to have some pretty good numbers.
32:44
I've heard some good things about him.
32:45
I actually heard that he had some opportunities to go out east and probably be a starter pretty quick.
32:51
And but he decided he wanted to stay home and, you know, be a gopher.
32:54
So and he's from the area.
32:56
So I'm sure that his family is pretty excited about that.
32:59
I think it's Nicholas Slayer, I think.
33:01
I don't know how to say his last name for sure.
33:02
But but yeah, I think he'll be a good player, you know, come in and step in and hopefully, Wilcox will be around for at least another year or two.
33:11
And, you know, kind of earn his time and play a few games here or there and do well for us.
33:17
Veegs, I think the real question is, is will we have a live broadcast when the Gophers wrap up the title this weekend?
33:26
I think it's a definite possibility.
33:27
We might even be able to do it on Friday night.
33:30
Friday night?
33:31
I think that would be sweet.
33:33
I'll start the gin and tonics.
33:34
It'll be a good time.
33:37
I might be busy at least Saturday night.
33:40
You got a hot day, don't you?
33:41
I actually do.
33:42
So I can suppose I could get you on Skype on my phone.
33:48
So if it doesn't go so well.
33:50
With the background music going, bow and chicka, wow, wow.
33:53
If it's not going so well, then, you know, maybe I'll have to bring in, you know.
33:58
You never know.
33:59
You have to turn down the jazz flute music.
34:04
Yeah, right.
34:06
Right.
34:07
Exactly.
34:08
Well, boys, I'm really hoping that this podcast is recorded by our little mixler app, because I tried to start it up again on GarageBand and it just wasn't working.
34:17
Operator error.
34:18
I don't know what the problem is.
34:21
This might be a show that's only heard live.
34:23
We never will know.
34:24
You know, this has kind of been a cluster with first that and then your alarm going off.
34:28
It's like, what the hell is going on over there?
34:30
I don't know.
34:32
I took a week off and everything turns to crap, I tell you.
34:35
This kind of feels like that Sunday Duluth game at Marriott.
34:38
You're cheating right now.
34:39
A lot of things going on.
34:42
Hey, it's live, man.
34:45
We keep plugging along, we keep doing it, and that's why we do it.
34:51
We are the number one hockey podcast.
34:54
You have to mention that now.
34:55
Yeah, we are the number one college hockey podcast.
34:58
I looked it up, the other ones out there are all national stuff.
35:02
The only one that even makes the top of 200 of iTunes is USCHO.
35:09
I think last week, they were like 187 when we were 101 in all of college sports podcasts.
35:16
So we are number one.
35:19
So beat that USCHO.
35:22
101 for all college sports?
35:24
All of college sports, yeah.
35:26
So like football and basketball.
35:27
Football, basketball, any other kind of stuff.
35:30
It was on iTunes.
35:32
Interesting.
35:32
I think a lot of it has to...
35:33
Well, we're always seeming to be in the hundreds.
35:36
The low hundreds, 110, sometimes in the 90s.
35:41
We seem to be doing pretty well.
35:43
It would be nice if we had a sponsor.
35:45
That'd be great.
35:45
We could get paid.
35:46
You said you were gonna line it up, man.
35:48
I'm trying, nobody's listening.
35:49
They don't care, man.
35:51
Of course, the Dubay Podcast is gonna skew everything now, though.
35:55
It probably could, but that's just fine.
35:57
I'll just bring them on more often.
35:58
It's sort of like the rating sweeps for TV.
36:01
You have him on when it's gonna be podcast sweeps.
36:04
The thing is, we were still at that ranking last week when we didn't even have a podcast.
36:10
Is that right?
36:11
Yeah.
36:12
Things are going well.
36:13
Things are going well, and we're gonna keep doing it.
36:16
We've only got a few shows left this year.
36:19
Obviously, I'll be on vacation.
36:21
I'm leaving after the Big Ten Tournament, so maybe I'll just do a live broadcast by myself on Mixler and just leave you guys out or something.
36:33
Sorry.
36:34
You're gonna be gone for how long, though?
36:36
I'm gone Sunday to Sunday.
36:39
So I completely miss it.
36:40
Sunday to Sunday.
36:41
Yeah, I miss the regional completely.
36:44
Okay.
36:45
So I'll get back and it'll be all bad or all good.
36:49
Going to the Frozen Four or closing up shop that next Tuesday for the final podcast of the year.
36:55
So we shall see.
36:58
But we'll be back next week.
37:00
You guys didn't have anything else, did you?
37:02
This cluster of a podcast has got to be over by now.
37:06
No, I don't see any new questions or anything, so I think we're ready to roll.
37:11
I've got one more for Hammeh.
37:13
So I saw a tweet from Ryan Norman saying that he had 106 shot at the Hockey Expo as he was there at the tournament.
37:22
Do you have a hard shot?
37:25
Do we have the next Nick Bukstad coming up with a power play?
37:29
Well, I mean, it's kind of hard to compare somebody to like the Bukstad simply because he had so much damn leverage being 6'5.
37:36
You know what I mean?
37:37
It's kind of amazing when you watch some of these really tall guys that kind of weight they can put behind their shots.
37:44
What is it?
37:44
Zidane Ochara.
37:45
I mean, he was always winning the hardest shot being what 6'7, or whatever the hell he is.
37:50
So I don't know.
37:52
Yeah, I don't really know.
37:53
I haven't seen him enough to say a lot about his shot, but what I have seen, he's a good all-around player.
38:00
So I mean, hell, you never know with those damn guns, too, what they're going to be measuring.
38:06
It's like going out to Valley Fair and you think you're going to hit 80 miles per hour or something like that, and it ends up being like 60, and you're like, what the hell is going on here?
38:15
At least that's what they had back when I was a kid.
38:19
What do they have that kind of crap there now?
38:20
I would have no clue.
38:25
All right, boys, I think we're done.
38:26
This cluster of a podcast is over for this week.
38:30
Sounds good.
38:31
I'm just hoping we'll be able to put it on the air.
38:33
You never know.
38:34
I'm just hoping that my little app did its job and people will be able to listen to this cluster bleep again.
38:40
So well, thanks for joining me this week, guys.
38:44
Remember, you can always follow Hammy at Hammy Hockey on Twitter and EVEGO for VEGs.
38:51
During the podcast or even during the week, just use hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll see it.
38:55
And we'll try to get your question on the air.
38:58
We'll be back next week and hopefully talking about a Big Ten Championship and a little preview of the Big Ten Tournament.
39:05
Until then, hopefully things will go better and we'll be better next time.
39:09
Thanks.
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