0:09 This is The GPL Podcast, a production of gopherpucklive.com. 0:22 Now, let's join Hammy, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:45 I thought you thought I was gonna think that was funny. 0:48 Well, you know, normally I like the porno groove, but... 0:52 I wasn't expecting this. 0:55 We're goin to Philly, baby. 1:00 Oh, that was another fine tune from that garage band gives us for free, and I just had to use it today because, that's right, boys, we're goin to Philly. 1:09 But also, we have Frank Mazzocco joining us again. 1:12 For the third time in three years, Frank, welcome back to The Crazy GPL Podcast. 1:17 Hey, thanks, can I go to Philly, too? 1:19 You are going to Philly, so you just be quiet. 1:24 Me? 1:25 Okay, fine, you invited me, be quiet. 1:27 I can do that. 1:28 Some of us just went on a trip and can't afford to go to Philly, and some of us just, some of us, like Vegoe, just bought a house and can't go to Philly, and some of us just, we can't go to Philly. 1:38 I hear it's not cheap, though, either. 1:41 Not cheap. 1:42 I mean, people, I mean, hotel, everything, last minute planning, it is extremely expensive. 1:49 Union. 1:49 Yeah, it's a $1,200 trip, is what I'm hearing. 1:54 I think Tampa is 12. 1:57 For, yeah, charter tickets, hotel, car rental tickets, budgeting for some beverages. 2:08 I think Tampa was cheaper than that. 2:11 Well, yeah, but that's a, that's a vacation destination. 2:13 They want people down there. 2:14 Well, they don't want people coming to Philly? 2:18 None. 2:18 They want to, unless they want to get roughed up. 2:20 Yeah, I was going to say it is Philly, you know. 2:24 Okay, well, whatever, whatever. 2:25 Well, thanks for joining us, Frank. 2:27 How you been? 2:29 Fine. 2:29 Thanks. 2:30 You're doing fine. 2:30 But yeah, you know, it's, it's playoff time. 2:36 Got my game face on. 2:38 Nice to have a week off so I can relax a little bit. 2:41 Yes. 2:41 But then I get wired. 2:43 That's good. 2:45 That's good that you get wired. 2:47 We like, we like hearing that side of you during the broadcasts. 2:50 At least I do. 2:51 And I was listening from the Dominican Republic to you guys this past weekend. 2:55 How many times is he going to rub this in? 2:57 Damn right. 2:58 I'm going to do it. 2:59 What are the beaches like there? 3:01 The beaches. 3:03 It was so fun. 3:04 It was so good. 3:05 So good. 3:06 But I missed the best weekend of the year. 3:07 I was the only thing that I did. 3:08 Because I've always said that regional weekend is my favorite weekend, bar none of the year, because you've got do or die hockey Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 3:20 Well, it used to be, you used to find it all in these regional channels, all over the place. 3:23 Now it's not quite the same with ESPN, but, and they've condensed it a little bit. 3:29 It used to be, some of the games used to be earlier in, you know, 11 a.m. 3:32 on Saturday. 3:33 And we get to really kind of see most of the games. 3:36 But still, the best weekend of hockey, bar none, for the whole year. 3:43 No argument. 3:45 I wasn't sure if this was up for a vote or not. 3:47 You can do whatever you want, because that's just how I feel. 3:49 It's my favorite weekend. 3:51 And I missed it. 3:53 Well, I mean, I think it's exciting because you have some of these, nowadays, I mean, they're not even necessarily upset as much, because it seems like the entire field, anybody can pretty much beat anybody, you know. 4:05 So it's a little bit more exciting than maybe it was a long time ago, where you kind of felt like the first round for some teams was just going to be a cakewalk. 4:12 So it is a little more exciting, I think, these days. 4:16 I think it used to be you have maybe like the top nine or ten that you would consider favorites, and then the bottom six would be total underdogs and whoever. 4:28 They were going to lose no matter what. 4:30 But now I don't think you have that. 4:32 I think you go down to at least 14 deep. 4:35 I don't think we expected Denver to get blown out as bad as they did, but I think out of the top 14, anybody can beat anybody now. 4:43 Hey, you know what? 4:44 Robert Morris was good. 4:45 I just got to say that again. 4:46 I don't know why. 4:48 It does seem mad. 4:49 It was a 7-3 game. 4:51 They gave the Gophers a good game, and I think that was important. 4:56 Me being away and listening to you guys on the radio, you guys were praising Robert Morris a lot, but for me, I kept thinking, are these guys sugarcoating it? 5:05 Obviously, I couldn't see the game I was going off for you guys. 5:07 I was hoping you guys weren't doing the, oh, they're better than we thought type of thing. 5:11 But you're saying they were pretty good, and they did put a good effort. 5:14 It's a ratings month, baby. 5:16 We had to keep listening. 5:21 No, I'll tell you what. 5:22 They were good. 5:24 Hey, can I say, can I do a disclaimer first here? 5:27 Go right ahead. 5:27 Do whatever you want. 5:30 I have a difficult time doing, not difficult, I'm a little uncomfortable doing this show because I feel like, and I know this is true, everybody in the world hangs on my every word. 5:45 Six o'clock Friday. 5:46 Look at the ego now. 5:50 So I feel like everything I say, I've already said once or twice or three times, and I feel like I should come up with fresh material. 5:58 But I mean, I don't even think, anyway, no comic. 6:03 All right. 6:03 So that's a little disclaimer here. 6:06 Don't accuse me of repeating myself, but I do want to repeat myself on the Robert Morris thing. 6:13 They were good. 6:14 What blew me away was the fan reaction when that team skated off the ice after they lost seven to three. 6:23 Every maroon and gold piece of clothing that was left in the stands, and there were a substantial number of people in there, after the Gophers skated off and Robert Morris went to greet their fans in the corner of the rink, and then the Colonials were leaving the rink, every Gopher fan that was left in the building was on their feet giving them a round of applause, a standing O if you will, for the game they gave the Gophers. 6:48 I don't think I've ever seen that before. 6:51 So that attests to how well they played, and the good game I think that they gave Minnesota, and I think that the Gophers needed, because I did not want Minnesota to go into that championship game after a 10-0 victory the night before. 7:04 Okay. 7:05 Okay. 7:08 Well, Robert Morris kept it close, got out to 4-0, and then got to 4-2, and then a little back and forth, and the game was not sown up until very, very late. 7:20 So I think it may have put a little scare into the boys when they were playing. 7:25 What do you think, Veegs? 7:27 Well, I think Robert Morris was a one-line team that wide-o-linch combination. 7:32 I feel like if we had some time on ice statistics, they might have played 25-plus minutes at forward, and they kept the team in there, because when they got chances, they converted. 7:42 They got those goals. 7:43 It was 5-3 tight until the empty netter, and then that last goal kind of CNI shot that got through. 7:50 But I thought they gave them a good game. 7:52 I thought Minnesota came out, was playing a little bit tense, and then the Condon goal kind of loosened them up a little bit, and they got in the flow, and they got the lead, and I think that was important, because I think Wilcox was fighting the puck a little bit early. 8:05 Some of those rebounds that he was giving up. 8:08 And he obviously cleaned it up the next night, though. 8:12 Hammy, your thoughts on the crowds this weekend. 8:15 I heard quite a few people on Twitter and whatnot saying, Oh, state of hockey doesn't look like it. 8:22 Are the regionals ever really going to work at the X, or do you think they should be going back to campuses? 8:28 Well, I mean, it's just a matter of a combination of things. 8:33 Obviously, a lot of the fans, other than the local fans, they don't know who's going to be where. 8:38 So that's a part of it. 8:40 The pricing, it always seems to be an issue when you get to NCAAs. 8:44 A lot of people seem to complain about the prices of the tickets. 8:48 And I mean, I don't think. 8:51 Well, some of the problems with the prices of the tickets is that the prices at the regionals at the X are usually quite a bit more than all of the other regionals. 9:00 Right. 9:00 Well, and the other thing is, I mean, we've seen it in the past. 9:03 I mean, when you saw a few years ago with the North Dakota, Minnesota matchup, I mean, even that wasn't exactly a packed house by any means. 9:10 So I mean, I just think it's kind of the nature of the beast with the way that they kind of have things set up. 9:16 And I don't know that going back to... 9:19 Yeah, there's a lot of different ways you can look at this stuff. 9:22 I mean, sometimes I feel like I wouldn't mind going back to that whole best of three stuff that they had so long ago, you know. 9:29 But then again, you know, sometimes the whole one-and-done scenario makes it a little more exciting. 9:32 So I mean, you can go both ways, you know. 9:35 So the crowds were okay, but we moved on to Sunday and, you know, I was actually just arriving back and I caught you guys in the first period and I was listening on the radio from what I heard from you guys, Frank. 9:49 The Gophers really stepped it up and it sounds like they may have played their best game of the season to this point. 9:57 No question, they did. 9:58 Well, let's put it this way. 9:59 I think they had their best weekend of the series. 10:01 Okay. 10:02 Best, probably best complete game, but two things happened there. 10:07 St. 10:07 Cloud State, that wasn't their best team on the ice. 10:11 They were throttled back a little bit and that's not to take anything away. 10:15 I mean, I suppose it does take something away from the Gophers' performance, but it wasn't that back and forth ferocity that we'd come to expect in a WCHA Final Five, or a Final Five Championship game, where it was just hell bent to get up and down the rink. 10:38 But on the other hand, I think the Gophers just took so much away from St. 10:41 Cloud that they lost their starts. 10:44 They lost their will to live. 10:46 Well, they did have the long game the night before, where they did not play well for most of the game. 10:50 I mean, what was that, that third period? 10:52 They had two or three shots and struggled mightily until they got to overtime, and then they finally started pouring it on. 11:00 But it sounds like they brought that first three period mentality from the Notre Dame game to the entire Minnesota game. 11:06 Because like you said, they weren't getting many chances. 11:09 No, they weren't. 11:10 Sure, and the other thing is that I mean, but Minnesota didn't let them have the puck either. 11:16 I mean, they did a great job of defending. 11:17 There's no question about it, but I don't think they quite got the pressure that I expected them to get from St. 11:23 Cloud State. 11:25 Definitely, definitely. 11:27 Well, who cares? 11:28 St. 11:28 Cloud's gone. 11:30 They're done. 11:30 We're going to the Frozen Four, and who else is going to the Frozen Four? 11:34 We've got BC, we've got Union, and we've got the fighting who? 11:38 Yes, North Dakota, who were generously led into the tournament by Wisconsin beating Ohio State. 11:46 I'm not sure how much they thanked them when they beat them Friday night, but the Sioux are back in the Frozen Four again, Vegoe, and how did they do it this time? 12:01 Smoke and mirrors. 12:05 They did not play a good game against Ferris State and they snuck out with a win. 12:09 I didn't get a chance to watch a ton of the other games because I was at Excel for much of the weekend, but the bits I saw, Ferris State was in total control of that game and Gothburg kept them in it. 12:22 And this is not your typical North Dakota team. 12:24 I don't see a lot of big physical players. 12:28 I don't think they play that tough game. 12:30 I don't think you're going to see them go over the first 10 minutes and try to intimidate their opponent because they can't. 12:36 I don't think they're that kind of team. 12:38 They do have some skillful guys and some speed, so it could be an interesting game, but I think it's a great draw for the Gophers. 12:46 On the other side of the bracket, Hammy, we've got BC back in the Frozen Four again. 12:50 It seems like they're winning it every other year now, but they manhandled Denver, Johnny Hockey, getting all the points. 12:58 What do you have, five or six points that first game? 13:00 And then they had a little tougher game in the regional final, but they are also back and they're ready to go. 13:09 Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because they lost, you know, what, three games in a row, not quite in a row, but three games to Notre Dame out of four towards the end of the season. 13:19 And it looks like I didn't get the chance to watch that game, but the UMass game, it seemed like that was a bit more of a struggle for them. 13:27 So it's not like they were exactly blowing their doors off. 13:31 I think UMass actually even outshot them in that game. 13:33 So I mean, it'll be interesting to see what happens on the other side because I don't think it's going to be, I think Union's going to give them a tougher go than probably a lot of people might expect. 13:44 I mean, what does a Union have? 13:45 Like how many games in a row have they won? 13:46 You know, quite a few, I think. 13:48 So I think it's going to be a little bit more of a challenge and probably a lot of people would consider, you know, just by looking at the name brands of the two teams, so. 13:58 Frank, your thoughts on Union? 13:59 This is what their second Frozen 4 in the last three years or something like that? 14:06 I think they were there a couple years ago. 14:07 Two years ago, yeah. 14:08 I think so. 14:10 In the, yes. 14:12 The Tampa one, I believe, wasn't it? 14:16 We talked to Don Luchy about the teams out east, and he said the team to watch, obviously, you know, BC, but beyond that is Union. 14:24 He said Union has got an incredibly good team. 14:27 They're deep. 14:28 They play a big man's game. 14:29 And I don't mean, you know, Broad Street bully kind of stuff, but they, you know, they play big boy hockey. 14:34 And so they wouldn't be the ones to watch. 14:37 That afternoon game could be just one heck of a hockey game. 14:40 Because the key seems to be with Boston College is to contain Johnny Goodshoes or Johnny Hockey or whatever. 14:50 You know, I mean, he had six points in their six goals against Denver. 14:58 Is that right? 14:59 That was a 62 win, right? 15:01 And then he got two points in the first two goals against Lowell. 15:06 So he had he figured in their first eight goals at the region. 15:10 Well, let's see. 15:12 Let's take him out of the lineup and maybe we got a chance to win this thing. 15:15 But anyway, just if you can somewhat neutralize him, hold him to two points, maybe in a game. 15:22 Only Minnesota and Notre Dame has held Johnny Godreau without a point this year, it seems like he, you know, when he got held pointless here at Minnesota, he went how many games? 15:33 20, 30, however many games it was. 15:35 30. 15:35 30 plus. 15:36 Until he went without a point. 15:37 So, right. 15:39 Obviously, I think the Gophers have the skill to shut him down. 15:43 But boy, the kid's a star. 15:45 It might be tough. 15:47 Might be tough. 15:47 No question. 15:49 But these guys are playing so well defensively and they got the goal turning. 15:54 That's got a real good chance of doing it. 15:56 I don't think he's going to free wheel like he would maybe against some other teams. 16:00 I just think the Gophers are defensively too good and their forwards are too fast coming back. 16:05 I think that was the big thing in the last matchup with BC is there is always back pressure every time BC tried to get in transition. 16:12 And their defensemen just couldn't join the rush because there are so many forwards going back that there was just no space for anybody to get open. 16:21 I think that was huge. 16:23 I agree with you, 100 percent. 16:25 Yeah. 16:25 I mean, that's one of the hallmarks of this team. 16:30 It's like they don't have three forwards and two defensemen. 16:33 They have three forwards and three defensemen because there's always a forward coming back, at least one. 16:38 All right, well, I'm feeling good from what you guys are telling me. 16:44 You know what though? 16:45 What? 16:46 We're sending you back to the Dominican Republic. 16:49 Oh, a bunch of jack bags, I swear. 16:52 Jeez. 16:55 Hey, if you want to pay for that, that's great because I can't afford it. 16:59 That's right. 17:00 I'll bet there's enough people online right now. 17:01 We could just start up a pool. 17:04 We'd have you down there in a, in steerage in a steamer. 17:08 We'll send you with some sun tan lotion and tequila and you'll be happy. 17:15 Okay, guys, we've got a few questions via Twitter. 17:17 Remember, you can always just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll see your questions on Twitter. 17:23 So, send it to us. 17:24 We'll put you on the air. 17:26 We'll tell you, we'll do whatever we can to get you on. 17:28 We've got Chad wondering, guys, who is the most underrated gopher this season? 17:35 Frank, who's the most underrated player? 17:39 Why do you have the invited guest take on the toughest questions? 17:43 Okay, I'll start then. 17:45 I'll be more than happy. 17:46 You know, I think Boyd has been. 17:48 Yeah, that's what my answer was going to be as well. 17:51 I talked about him earlier this season. 17:52 I thought he was going to have a big breakout year, and I think he's done pretty damn good in his role. 17:58 Go ahead, Hamme. 17:59 Well, yeah, I mean, I agree. 18:00 That's exactly what I was going to say. 18:01 I think that, you know, he certainly surprised me with his offensive production. 18:05 I mean, we always knew that he was, you know, pretty defensively responsible player, and, you know, he always had the ability. 18:12 But, you know, I think he came in, you know, he played his entire freshman year as an 18-year-old. 18:17 I mean, he was young coming in. 18:18 He was basically a high school senior playing college hockey. 18:21 So, I mean, but the way that he's kind of progressed offensively, you know, and started to contribute on that end of the ice, and like I said, he was always kind of a good, you know, two-way forward. 18:31 So I think that, you know, out of all the players, he's the one that surprised me the most this year. 18:36 Okay, Frank, now's your turn. 18:37 Thank you. 18:40 For those who listen to Gopher Hockey from 6 o'clock on Friday night until midnight on Saturday, they'd know that Travis Boyd is not underrated. 18:47 I think we've sung his praises quite a bit. 18:49 I definitely would hang the nameplate on him of most improved player. 18:55 Okay. 18:55 No question. 18:58 He's just been remarkably improved and a factor. 19:06 I guess there's not going to be much room up on the first or second lines even next year, will there be? 19:10 But I think he's become, in relative terms, he's become a really good second line center iceman. 19:18 He's really good. 19:19 Now, in terms of maybe people that we haven't talked about, if that's what underrated is, I don't know. 19:25 Maybe Justin Hall, is he playing a little bit in the shadow of Brady Shea? 19:30 But why would a tenor make? 19:32 Not a bad choice at all. 19:34 Last year he was thrown up at forward and defense all over the place. 19:38 He's come back and he's definitely been very solid. 19:41 We don't hear him making any big mistakes like we may have seen in the past. 19:48 So that's a pretty good choice, I think. 19:50 What do you think, Veegs? 19:51 Who's an underrated player? 19:53 Well, I think if you are looking for a guy who's underrated, I'm going to go with Connor Riley. 19:58 I think he transitioned that fourth line role and has made them a dangerous line where Lucia can roll four. 20:06 I think he kind of brings the straw to that drink and has added a lot to this team this year. 20:13 You know, he kind of disappeared from people's radar, I think, when he was the top rated recruit coming in last year and then lost the year to injury. 20:20 And he's just played phenomenal. 20:21 He can hop on the power play if they need him. 20:23 And he does a lot of things for that fourth line. 20:26 Everyone's going to come out and throw three, four hits and a shift and bring some energy. 20:31 And he can still get the goals. 20:34 All right, guys, another Twitter question. 20:35 This one's just- 20:36 Hey, can I ask one? 20:37 Oh, go ahead. 20:38 As long as we're on the same topic here. 20:40 We're not running out of time, are we? 20:41 We can do whatever we want. 20:42 It's my show. 20:43 We're not going to run out of tape? 20:44 Nope. 20:46 Okay. 20:46 Though we have had problems with recordings before, but that's another story. 20:50 I just want to stay on this under dog or under underrated thing. 20:55 I know Justin Kluze has 14 goals now, but he's only a freshman and the national picture, is he underrated? 21:04 I mean, would you? 21:05 I'm not saying most underrated on the Gopher team. 21:07 Would you consider him an underrated player? 21:09 He didn't even make the freshman team for the Big Ten, did he? 21:13 No. 21:14 I think he was an honorable mention, wasn't he? 21:16 Not for freshman overall, but no, no, I don't. 21:20 I don't think he was. 21:21 I remember his name being a little bit absolute. 21:25 No, he wasn't on the All-Rookie team. 21:27 He came down, I don't remember who it was, but it came down to pretty much. 21:31 Yeah, Comfort and Fashing I understood, but there was another player, I don't remember who it was for, but Clues had a really good argument. 21:40 I mean, he actually had more, I think he had more points in the league play than Hudson Fashing did. 21:46 And I mean, I don't know. 21:49 Clues to me, you know, he's been, I knew he was going to be a score, but I didn't really think that he was going to be quite as dynamic as he's been. 21:57 You know, that certainly that extra year in the USHL did wonders for him. 22:02 So, you know, we got to thank Bukestad, you know, in an inadvertent way for staying that extra year, because that certainly helped with Clues development. 22:10 Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think that part of the problem is that the whole Gopher freshman class has been such a contributor to the, you know, to what they've done this year that, you know, maybe it's a little bit more challenging to single out just one of them, because they've all, I mean, when you guys got, you know, three freshmen with 25 points or more, I mean, that's a pretty good freshman year, you know, for most guys, so it's kind of hard to single out one guy. 22:35 But I see what you're saying. 22:36 Yeah, he's definitely been great on, you know, on the second line. 22:39 Well, weren't they by far the top freshman scoring class in the country? 22:43 I mean, they have way more points than any other class, isn't that true? 22:47 I feel like BCs is kind of close with them. 22:51 Okay. 22:52 I think as far as goals scored, they might be the top, I know they're the top, I think. 22:55 I remember reading that somewhere, but I don't know how anybody else. 23:00 Somebody who's listening is gonna have a free monitor or a free pair of hands to go to College Hockey Inc. 23:07 What is it,. 23:07 com or.org? 23:10 I think you can get a break out there on their stats page on freshman scoring. 23:16 That'll probably be Minnesota State of Hockey. 23:18 He's always doing that kind of stuff. 23:19 He's probably listening. 23:21 He's probably listening. 23:22 He'll probably do it. 23:25 Well Tim Hapke has a question just for you, Frank. 23:28 He wants to know, what is your favorite road arena to call a game? 23:36 I mean, in history, since you've been doing Gopher Hockey, what's your favorite road arena? 23:40 Oh. 23:46 Sullivan Arena. 23:51 Not. 23:54 Oh dear. 23:55 The mounds are gorgeous. 23:56 Have you heard? 23:57 The mounds are gorgeous. 24:00 Yet, best arena atmosphere, back when they used to put people in the building, fannies in the seats, was the Cole Center. 24:09 Okay. 24:09 By far, best arena atmosphere. 24:13 Pretty good broadcast location there. 24:16 I tell you, I really fell in love with Penn State this year. 24:19 That's a fun place to go for hockey. 24:22 It did look like a very nice place. 24:24 I really like how they did their students too. 24:26 They kept them close and just went steep. 24:30 Straight up the back of the arena, just so the students could be right on top. 24:35 It seems like every arena allows the students on the glass, except for Mariucci, which is just the dumbest thing ever. 24:42 I enjoy when kids are on the glass. 24:43 Let them pound the glass. 24:44 They're not going to break it. 24:46 Let them have some fun of it. 24:48 It seems like Mariucci is the only goody-two-shoe place that doesn't allow the students on the glass. 24:53 Well, you got that moat there. 24:54 You can't... 24:55 They could do something. 24:57 They could do something. 24:58 They could figure something out. 24:59 Come on. 25:00 Boy, that sounds like a right-wing thing. 25:01 I mean, these kids lean over on the glass. 25:03 They lean over to just touch the glass. 25:06 The security guys are all over them. 25:09 Those guys in yellow, bad people. 25:12 Yoast has the history, but it's not a good broadcast location. 25:15 You're just too close and too steep. 25:18 That's not a real fun place to do it. 25:23 You know, Denver was nice, but kind of corporate and all. 25:27 Terrible to watch on TV, though. 25:28 Oh, you talk about dark shadows. 25:31 I mean, holy smokes. 25:32 That's like by far out of all the rinks I've ever seen hockey games on. 25:35 That's been the worst to see on TV. 25:38 It's amazing. 25:38 You know, if you're sitting there, your eye doesn't notice it, because your eye adjusts faster than a camera can. 25:44 But yeah, that's a horrid place. 25:49 And you know what, I think I only did two games out of Amsoil, so I'm not really sure what was going on up there. 25:55 St. 25:55 Cloud had great atmosphere, but terrible press facility. 25:59 That's because you had people literally right in front of you. 26:02 Oh yeah. 26:04 Yeah. 26:06 I always kind of like Mankato for some reason. 26:09 Especially in there. 26:10 Well, maybe not that much. 26:11 They're old, but when they updated, did some little press areas, it's you're close, you're right in the middle, and I think it works pretty good. 26:20 They have something that no other arena in the country has on the concourse. 26:26 White Castle sliders in one corner, scotch in the other. 26:32 I mean, what a combination. 26:34 You got eyebrow, you got it all right there, baby. 26:37 And then you got Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole. 26:39 Oh man, I hate that. 26:41 I hope they have a bathroom between those two things, man. 26:43 There's not many bathrooms. 26:45 Oh God. 26:46 The bathrooms at the end have- 26:47 Gut bombs and booze. 26:47 Oh man, there's sometimes a long line, trust me. 26:52 State of hockey, just like you said, Minnesota State of Hockey, BC has more points, Gophers have most goals. 26:57 Yeah, I figured it was something like that. 26:58 I knew he'd take care of it. 26:59 Yeah, well, he's always on top of things. 27:02 Always on top of things. 27:04 We had to prompt him though. 27:09 Should have just had that answer available right away. 27:11 No, who cares? 27:14 I can't sit there and type and think and do all this stuff at one time. 27:16 It's just too much for me. 27:18 Oh, what can I do? 27:20 So what else we got? 27:21 Another question. 27:24 Oh yeah, well, why? 27:27 Mark Erickson wants to know, we score more with Brodzinski in the lineup. 27:30 Does he really affect the team's offense much or is it coincidence? 27:34 What do you think, Veegs? 27:36 Well, I think he's definitely got more skill than some of the guys who get scratched when he's in the lineup. 27:42 He's got a great shot and he's got the mobility to move laterally and get pucks to the net. 27:47 I think that's kind of one of the unique skills that he brings to the lineup. 27:50 So it could be coincidence, but he definitely adds offense. 27:55 Boy, one thing I've noticed on Twitter is that his dad likes to talk a lot on Twitter. 28:00 And he likes to Tweet at GPL and at other places. 28:05 Boy, that, you know, in Brods against you, when he was injured and they thought he was coming back, he was publicly saying that he wasn't happy that he wasn't in the lineup that let him. 28:13 I'm like, dude, sometimes you just got to be a little quieter because he's quite vocal on Twitter, I should say. 28:23 I know that a couple years ago he got in a little bit of trouble, I think, at the playoff game for Blaine. 28:29 So I don't think he's the quiet type. 28:34 He's a proud father, obviously, which is understandable. 28:38 But he's got two kids that could play some puck. 28:40 So yeah, he's on the way. 28:43 Yeah, he shared a pretty nice picture of those two kids over the weekend. 28:47 That was a phenomenal photo, actually. 28:49 Yeah, that little man hug there between the two of them was great. 28:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 28:54 Okay, well, we... 28:55 Erickson, Mark Erickson, more questions. 28:58 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 29:02 I thought we were well-equipped to shut down a one-line team. 29:05 Then Robert Morris' top line scored easily. 29:08 Bad omen for the BC game, guys. 29:11 Can we shut down those one lines? 29:12 Because, you know, Robert Morris' top line was pretty successful. 29:16 What do you think, Cammie? 29:19 Well, I mean, I don't like to read too much into any one performance. 29:23 I think that sometimes, you know, just a matter of circumstances, I think that they've done a good job all year. 29:29 I mean, when you're the, what, second or third ranked defensive team in the country, I mean, it's kind of hard to really complain about any of that kind of stuff. 29:37 You know, going back to that St. 29:38 Cloud game, you know, I mean, St. 29:42 Cloud wasn't exactly playing on top of their game, you know, the last, I mean, they lost those two to Miami. 29:46 And, you know, I think that they were pretty well dominated by Notre Dame. 29:50 You know, that could have easily been a Notre Dame win. 29:53 So I'm a little bit, yeah, we played great against them, kind of like Frank said, you know, you don't want to take anything away from our performance. 30:01 And I certainly didn't expect us to be as thorough in that victory as we were. 30:05 But, you know, I think a little bit of that was just that St. 30:08 Cloud was probably a little out of gas, number one and number two. 30:11 I don't think they were playing as well as maybe they had earlier in the year. 30:14 Because, you know, we, I didn't not expect at all that kind of a dominating performance, you know, in the region final. 30:20 So, but I'm not concerned about the defense for me. 30:24 That's not really the concern at all with Wilcox there. 30:27 And I think that, you know, we've got a pretty mobile group. 30:31 The only time I ever get concerned is when they're not moving the puck quickly enough out of our own zone and doing it smartly. 30:37 But if they play like they did against St. 30:38 Cloud and, you know, that they're going to be in really good shape. 30:41 So we'll see how it goes. 30:43 What do you think, Vague's one line scare you from like BC or even North Dakota? 30:49 I don't think it's the one line that makes the difference. 30:52 I really think it's how dialed in is Wilcox. 30:55 He's admitted a couple of times that he, you know, wasn't focusing on his rebound control and he cleaned it up the next night. 31:02 And he kind of had that issue on Saturday. 31:05 He cleaned it up Sunday. 31:06 I would have a hard time believing that he won't be focused going into a frozen four. 31:12 Because he's been the difference this year for this team compared to years past is when they need a big save, he's been able to make them. 31:19 So I wouldn't worry about one line. 31:22 Frank, one thing that I've been kind of concerned about, it seems like, you know, the scoring's been spread out throughout the whole year. 31:28 But it seems like we don't have somebody to go to when you need that big goal, that separating goal, that goal that, you know, breaks the tie. 31:38 There's not that one guy. 31:39 Does that concern you at all for the Gophers? 31:43 Not anymore. 31:44 Not anymore? 31:45 At least I'm not going to let it because they're really, they haven't shown, all right, there have been a couple of games where they haven't shot enough and got, when that's been their offensive problem, when they haven't been offensive enough, you know what I'm saying? 32:02 But if they just know that they can shoot and if they keep their passes short, I'm not so worried about that because there's just too many guys in there that are weapons. 32:11 Sure, you want somebody who can be a backbreaker, but maybe it might be better to have three guys who are knuckle breakers and just go in there and pick you apart in little bits and pieces and then all of a sudden you're destroyed. 32:25 That's maybe a goofy analogy and all, but yeah. 32:28 So at this point in the season, no, I'm not going to worry about it because this lineup with this makeup has carried the mail pretty damn well. 32:37 And as long as they can get somebody to an open spot on the ice, doesn't matter who it is, they'll find them. 32:45 Well, I think part of it, it's a product of guys that are good puck movers, that you just don't have the one guy who's constantly shooting the puck. 32:56 Let's face it, we had Bukstad, from a top-end talent perspective, we probably had a better team last year, but they lose in the first round. 33:07 And I sometimes think that we overanalyze when we get to this time of the year, do we have enough of this or enough of that or whatever? 33:14 And the reality is that it's a team game and it's about how the team performs together as a unit. 33:19 And I think that what you see this year, it's like that third goal against St. 33:25 Cloud. 33:25 The puck movement on that was great. 33:28 And I think that what you see is you have a lot of guys that know what to do with the puck and they know how to hit the open man. 33:35 And they just don't rely on feeding the one timer to Bukstad on the one side on the power player or going the one timer with Schmidt from the blue line on the power player or whatever. 33:46 They have guys that, I think it's a little bit more spread out. 33:50 And I don't think that that's a bad thing that you're, because you can't really necessarily key on one guy to stop and it makes it much more difficult to defend. 33:58 Well, you mentioned that third goal against St. 34:00 Cloud Sunday, but it was very pretty, great set up. 34:04 But I think that's one of the areas where there has been some frustration. 34:08 They got all these playmakers, they're trying to make that nice play. 34:12 And like on a power play and like, hey guys, you still got to get the puck to the net. 34:17 And there are times where I think that that has hurt them when they're trying to make that pretty play. 34:22 Instead of just, hey, we need a goal, get it on net. 34:25 You know, you got teams like when we're playing like a Wisconsin, or even the Ohio State game, that it seems like they were just trying to get the pretty play. 34:33 It's like, just get the damn puck on net. 34:36 Well, we got greasy guys down there that could put the puck away. 34:38 And it seems like it has cost them at times, especially at the end of the season, when their scoring was down quite a bit. 34:47 Well, I think that they did work, it could sound like, quite a bit after that Ohio State loss on kind of getting to the net, and kind of getting some of those uglier goals. 34:57 And I think that we saw some of the results, because some of the goals that we did score this weekend weren't of that kind of tic-tac-toe variety. 35:03 It's just that my point was simply that when you have guys that are really good at moving the puck, you're not necessarily going to rely on one guy, because they're always going to be looking for each other, and what guy has the best opportunity. 35:16 It's not just a matter of who's got the best shot. 35:20 When we got a bukestad out there, we better use this one-timer. 35:23 It's that kind of thing. 35:24 Yeah, Hammeh, that's kind of a little extension to what you were saying. 35:28 If you've got the one guy that you feel like you've got to get the puck to him, what happens if you can't? 35:33 What if that passing lane is closed? 35:35 What if you can't get it? 35:35 What if he's not catching pucks very well that night? 35:38 See, that's kind of the flip side. 35:39 Now you've got extra pressure to get it to him. 35:41 Well, if that's not working, you might have a bit of a problem. 35:45 Whereas the system and the setup that they have now is the deal is get it to the guy who's open. 35:53 And generally, the way they've been skating and the way they've been supporting each other, somebody's gonna be open. 35:58 To go off of that, that was probably what happened to them when they went to the Frozen Four in Tampa. 36:04 Towards the end of the season, they kind of squeezed by. 36:06 But I remember you, me and Wally, after they lost 6-1, whatever, to BC, one of the big topics we were talking about was, where was Buxted? 36:16 Because he had disappeared at the end of that season. 36:19 And they needed him and he wasn't there. 36:22 They weren't getting him the puck, or whatever it was. 36:25 And you guys are probably right, you know. 36:28 Maybe having this balance has kind of alleviated some of those issues that can come up. 36:33 Well, I mean, at this time of the year, these teams are good teams and their coaches aren't stupid. 36:38 Obviously, they know what your strengths are. 36:40 And if they know that, hey, we got to focus on this one particular guy a little bit more and give more attention because that really affects their offense, they're going to do that, you know. 36:49 And I, you know, when you see a team like the Gophers have this year, you know, you don't really have one guy. 36:54 You can say, oh, we got to shut that guy down. 36:56 Are we going to do that? 36:57 You know what I mean? 36:57 They just have that kind of depth now, you know, where it's just not one guy anymore. 37:05 All right, boys, North Dakota. 37:09 Haven't seen them. 37:10 Everyone's complaining. 37:12 Oh, the Sioux, they're not our rival anymore, blah, blah, blah. 37:15 All the people bitching, whatever. 37:16 You got your... 37:17 Not everybody's complaining. 37:18 Well, a lot of people, well, jeez. 37:23 Just saying. 37:25 Form your own league. 37:29 Bunch of hoesheads. 37:34 You know, I thought for sure if the NCAA could have, they would have put North Dakota in our region, but with the way the numbers came out, they just couldn't. 37:43 But I am looking forward to this. 37:46 I want to just kick their ass and put hackstall down so you got 50 other threads on Sioux Sports bitching about. 37:53 Fire hackstall again, because I want to see it. 37:56 I want to put them down. 37:58 Let's beat them seven zip. 38:00 Oh, yeah, that's right. 38:02 I'm calling it seven zip. 38:04 What kind of incense are you burning over there? 38:06 We are going to be, we're going to make North Dakota a little bitch next Thursday. 38:12 That's funny how you don't have to go out on the ice to actually do any of this performance. 38:16 I'm just going with it. 38:17 I'm just trying to have some fun here. 38:20 I want to get Goon all riled up because, you know, Goon's little blog, he'll get all moody. 38:26 No, I mean, I think it's going to be a good game. 38:28 I think, you know, people were talking about on GPL, of course, you know, I don't think there's much of a doubt to this point in the year, okay, that the Gophers have been the better team. 38:38 I don't think there's a, there aren't many statistical categories that were not better than North Dakota. 38:43 And we played, I think, we played a tougher schedule, at least by cratch. 38:47 I think, you know, the strength of schedule was much better. 38:50 So, you can't use that as an excuse for, you know, why the Gophers would have better numbers or whatever. 38:55 So, I don't think that, that's the question. 38:58 But, you know, But, Gothberg has kept them in so far. 39:00 Well, I mean, that's what I'm about to say, is that, you know, when you have these one and done scenarios, you can throw everything out that's happened to this point. 39:07 None of that matters anymore. 39:08 It's just a matter of how do you perform on that particular day. 39:12 And we all know that, you know, it could be a goalie performance, it could be a bounce here or there, or maybe just an off day for a team, you know. 39:19 And it can be all over. 39:20 So, I do feel confident that if we play like we did against St. 39:26 Cloud, and St. 39:27 Cloud showed to be a better team throughout the year than North Dakota. 39:31 If we play that way against North Dakota, I feel pretty confident that we'll move on to the final. 39:35 But, you know, we still have to prove it. 39:38 You know, it doesn't matter what's been done on paper to this point. 39:40 So, we'll see what happens. 39:42 You know, Frank, we say this every year. 39:45 We make fun of the, you know, fighting su, su, blah, blah, blah, but you know what? 39:50 Ever since they've had Haxdahl as a coach, that guy has got them to perform at the end of the year and he's done it again. 39:58 It is so regular now that you've got to wonder if it's not this part. 40:03 It's got to be part of his master plan. 40:05 I don't know how he, I don't know how that the turnaround is so great. 40:11 And in many of these years, there hasn't been a significant turnover in personnel. 40:15 They just, he just doesn't put, I don't know that he puts the whip to them, but whatever it is, he doesn't get them throttled up until after Christmas. 40:25 And it's just been year after year after year after year. 40:28 And I got to think there's a method to his madness, if there's any madness at all. 40:34 He gets them ready for playoff hockey and they're hungry. 40:38 I just think it's part of the system. 40:40 And you know, they needed some luck to get into the tournament, but you know what, they've made the most of it. 40:45 Well, for sure. 40:46 I mean, like I said, Wisconsin loses in overtime to Ohio State, North Dakota season's over. 40:53 Yeah. 40:53 But you know, just the way things go, and they snuck in, and that's all they needed. 40:59 They beat Wisconsin, they beat Ferris State, they may not have played well, but they're still there. 41:05 They made it. 41:06 And I forgot the numbers that I dug up. 41:11 They're like in the top eight or nine best records in the last 15 game segment of the schedule. 41:18 They're in the top eight or nine of the country. 41:20 Gophers are in the top eight or nine of the country. 41:23 There's no question that they're, you know, they're playoff ready to go right now. 41:28 I talked to a couple St. 41:29 Cloud people. 41:31 I'll just say some, because I don't want to name names. 41:34 We weren't talking for quotes or anything. 41:36 And they said, well, they can be beaten. 41:40 We were, we being St. 41:42 Cloud and North Dakota were close during the year as teams. 41:48 St. 41:48 Cloud, Hammy, as you mentioned, probably had the edge in a few categories over North Dakota during the year. 41:55 But the Husky people that I talked to said they can be beaten. 41:58 You gotta watch out for Grimaldi, because he's no question an offensive weapon. 42:02 And the Goaltender is playing really well right now. 42:05 Definitely. 42:06 Gothberg has gotten them there, I think. 42:09 What's that? 42:09 Gothberg has gotten them there. 42:11 I mean, he's come up big when they have not played well and probably didn't deserve to win. 42:15 I mean, like you were saying earlier, Hammy, you know, Fair State outplayed him the whole game. 42:20 Gothberg kept him in it, and that's all he needed to do. 42:22 And that's key at this time of year. 42:25 Vegoe, what are your thoughts on the Sioux? 42:27 The who? 42:28 The no names? 42:30 We know they did enough in the second half to get in, but at the same point, you know, you look at their schedule, I didn't get a chance to see a lot of North Dakota games, but they lost to British Columbia. 42:39 They tied up in Midgee. 42:41 They lost at Denver. 42:43 They lost at home to Omaha. 42:45 They lost at St. 42:46 Cloud. 42:47 They lost home to Western Michigan. 42:49 They were swept at home at St. 42:51 Cloud as well. 42:52 Yeah, earlier in the season. 42:53 And then they had to go three games, close games, against CC who is not very good this year. 42:58 So this is an inconsistent team. 43:00 You know, they've got some high end talent. 43:02 Grimaldi is electric. 43:04 He is fun to watch because those little guys, when they get going and he goes hard, they're fun to watch. 43:11 But this is an inconsistent team. 43:12 So I think if Minnesota just plays one of their steady games like they did against St. 43:17 Cloud where they don't make turnovers at either blue line and Wilcox is sharp, doesn't give up rebounds, I think they've got a great match up here. 43:26 I think one of their best weapons besides the two guys, Grimaldi and the goaltender we already mentioned, their next best weapons are going to be their will and their intensity. 43:38 You know they're going to bring both of those. 43:41 They always do. 43:43 Yeah. 43:43 Hack's quite the intense guy. 43:45 He is. 43:47 You know, but I think, I think actually for my, the way that I look at it is, when you have this kind of a rivalry game in the Frozen Four, to mean, you're going to have, it's going to be a good, I know, week and a half of preparation for this team. 44:02 You can't, you know, these guys know, okay, this is North Dakota, but not just that, but it's the Frozen Four. 44:08 And to me, there's no better position to be in as a coach than to have that kind of scenario, because you know, that your guys are going to be dialed in and listening to what your game plan is. 44:19 And I think that we kind of saw, that's what happened after the, you know, Ohio State loss, they were dialed in. 44:25 And I think that, especially on Saturday, and if they can replicate that kind of intensity from a Gopher standpoint, I feel pretty good about, you know, what they can accomplish. 44:35 Okay, boys, now the pressure's on. 44:36 We're not going to do a podcast next week, because there's no games being played. 44:44 Hammy, predict the Frozen Four. 44:47 What's going to happen? 44:48 For each game you're talking about? 44:50 Whatever, just give me your prediction. 44:51 Who's going to come out on top? 44:54 Well, I don't know. 44:56 No pressure. 44:58 I don't like to... 45:00 My belief is, if the Gophers play the way that they can play, okay, that they will win. 45:06 But being that I'm the superstitious type, I don't like to say this is what's going to happen, especially at a Frozen Four, because to me, that's just asking to be proven wrong. 45:17 So I am going to say, I'm going to couch my statement by saying, if the Gophers play to their capabilities, I feel good about their chances. 45:26 And that's what I'll predict. 45:29 If we play the way we play, when we play it. 45:32 Hey, it's like talking about a no-hitter. 45:34 You just don't talk about it when the game's on. 45:36 You talk about it afterwards. 45:37 And I'm not gonna, I don't want to be the jinx, so. 45:40 Okay, okay. 45:41 I feel pretty good. 45:42 I feel pretty good about them, but you know, we'll see what happens. 45:44 Well, let's throw that over to you, Vegoe. 45:46 What do you think? 45:47 Minnesota, right? 45:48 All Minnesota. 45:50 I'm not superstitious. 45:51 I'm not on this team. 45:52 I'm not going to go out there and play. 45:54 So I can prognosticate at will. 45:56 And I think the Gophers are one of the better teams I've seen coming out of Lucia's locker room in a long time. 46:03 This team is solid. 46:04 They're steady. 46:04 They're consistent. 46:06 They've got good goaltending. 46:07 They've got good depth. 46:08 I think at the start of the year, the special teams were a little up and down. 46:12 They seem more consistent. 46:14 I know they're not setting the world on fire like they were last year. 46:17 But as we saw last year, that didn't help them when they needed it. 46:21 This is a great team. 46:22 And I think, you know, even if they don't play well, Wilcox can keep them in the game and then they'll take over. 46:30 And so I think the Gophers will be there. 46:31 And I think BC will be there. 46:33 The Gophers are gonna take it. 46:35 All right. 46:37 Frank, you've been part of Gopher Hockey forever. 46:41 When you were doing television, your season was pretty much over. 46:46 Come the final five, you know, you did a couple regionals, but that was it. 46:49 So you never got to be part of those, those, those championships in 2002, 2003. 46:57 But now you're on radio and you had a little experience, you know, with the Frozen Four a couple of years ago. 47:02 Will you be part of a championship-winning broadcast? 47:08 This is how I'm going to get you to your prediction. 47:09 Come on, will you be part of it? 47:11 No, but honestly though, I mean, you've been part of the program and you know, when you did TV for so long, it was just that one thing you never could do. 47:21 But now on radio, you kind of have that opportunity to do it again. 47:25 Let's see, I'm going to get my calendar out here. 47:27 All right, I will, 15th of April, that's taxed Tuesday. 47:32 I'll still, that's it. 47:33 I'll put it in ink. 47:35 If you need me that night, I'll be here. 47:39 That's when the next one is. 47:42 Here's what I would, you know, hey, look, this is hockey, one and done, you're a skate blade away from losing, right? 47:50 We know that. 47:51 That's one of the things that I don't like about one and done in hockey, because as with basketball, you can't just say one shot, one off the iron and that cost you the championship because you had 100 opportunities to score that night, or 50, whatever. 48:06 You know what I'm saying? 48:08 Yeah, there were 50 scoring plays there. 48:10 You can't blame it on that one shot that one off the iron, whereas in hockey, you don't have that much. 48:15 Skate blade can really just turn things around. 48:19 I haven't seen BC since they were here, so this is tainted. 48:24 But I would rank the teams Minnesota, BC Union and North Dakota in that order, in terms of teams. 48:37 I don't know when or where I've seen a team that plays as a team four lines deep. 48:48 I'm not saying that Gabe Gertler is just as much a scoring thread as Kyle Rowe is or that Vinny Luteri is as impactful as Hudson Fashing, but when that line is out there, and Vede, you mentioned it, Connor Riley lifts that line, you've got to pay attention to that line when they're out there. 49:06 They're not playing against the other team's number one line. 49:09 They're playing against the other team's fourth line, usually. 49:12 Yeah. 49:13 So they've got opportunities there. 49:15 And they're really better than some team's third lines. 49:19 Anyway, so that's how I would rank them. 49:21 I'm not going to say that that's how they're going to finish because you just can't predict those kinds of things. 49:27 But hey, look, we're coming off of a pain also. 49:29 You're just not a rogue like me. 49:30 I'll predict it. 49:31 Sixth title coming this way, baby. 49:34 But no, look at this, though, I mean, think about it. 49:36 BC had a one goal victory against But no, look at this, though. 49:42 Not that that was that a better tune up than our 4-0 shutout over St. 49:46 Cloud? 49:49 Just, I don't know, she wanted for a while. 49:51 I don't know. 49:54 Do I like where the Gophers are right now? 49:56 Yes, probably better than any other semifinal that I remember seeing. 50:04 So, you're getting all the Sioux fans all riled up that you hate them. 50:09 Just having fun with you, Frank. 50:10 Well, here's the thing. 50:11 Everybody... 50:12 I'm breaking up. 50:19 Go ahead, Hammy. 50:20 I think that's everybody just wants to be careful because we... 50:24 I think we have a lot of people who... 50:25 We've seen some of these situations where we feel confident and the team just doesn't show up for one reason or another. 50:32 So, I think we're all just being a little careful because the reality is, is that when you have these... 50:37 It's not like a seven-game series, you know what I mean? 50:39 Where it's like if you screw up in one game, you can still recover because you still have to win four games to win the series. 50:47 Here, it can be, you know, you just have one bad period or even a five-minute stretch of play or whatever, and boom, you're done, you know? 50:55 So, I think that people are just being a little bit careful and not being too cocky about it. 51:00 And like I said earlier, I think that we have, you know, the kind of team that, you know, we should be favored, especially in our first game. 51:08 But, you know, you can throw all that out when you have a rivalry game and you have goalies that can play out of their head. 51:16 You just never know what's going to happen. 51:17 So. 51:18 Well, I just mostly wanted to have fun with you guys. 51:19 That's all that matters. 51:21 Trying to get you to give up something. 51:23 But you guys, you stick close to it. 51:27 Well, go ahead. 51:27 I'll give you a hedge here. 51:28 I'll give you a hedge. 51:30 At the beginning of the year, I would say don't ride your hopes on a freshman class. 51:35 Freshman class has done us pretty darn well this year. 51:39 But they're still, I mean, I know they're supposed to be playing like sophomores now, and I wouldn't trade one of them. 51:44 They're the best freshman class in the country, but they're still a freshman class, and I'll feel better next year when they're sophomores. 51:54 Well, they'll be pretty good next year too. 51:56 Well, we hope that people stay. 51:59 We hope if they stay. 52:00 Yes. 52:01 Well, and I think people need to remember, let's look before the season, let's go back and say, okay, we lost Bukestad, Howla, Budish, Alt, Schmidt. 52:13 You know, all these guys were big players, you know, big name players last year. 52:17 And if you had told your average Gopher fan back in September, okay, you're going to win the Big Ten, you're only going to lose what, you know, what we've lost seven games to this point, whatever it is, you know, and you're going to make the Frozen Four. 52:31 And a lot of it's going to be with seven or so freshmen in the lineup on a nightly basis. 52:37 I doubt many fans are going to complain too heavily, you know, no matter what happens. 52:41 I mean, you know, we all want to win the championship now that we're there, but no matter what happens in a week, you know, a week and a half, you know, they've had a hell of a year. 52:49 So it's something to be happy about. 52:51 And they have got, most of that team is going to be back. 52:53 So there's a lot to look forward to in the future as well. 52:57 Knock on wood on that. 52:59 Hopefully that most of the team does come back. 53:01 Well, I just always saw a question, I think, somebody asked. 53:04 There was, you know, there was a couple of them. 53:07 Todd Johnson, will we escape early departures? 53:10 Steve Swags, do you see any of the non-seniors on the current roster leaving after the season? 53:16 You just didn't want to kill the groove of the final. 53:18 I tried not to, but, because it's always a possibility. 53:22 You just never know. 53:22 I think, you know, Lucio, with, you know, recruiting the smaller type of forwards and your Clues and your Gertler and that, what have you, they tend to stay around a little longer. 53:35 Even look at someone like Kyle Rowe, small guy, probably going to play his four years. 53:42 But then you got big guys who could score, like Fashing, who's in danger of leaving early. 53:50 Or Shane. 53:52 Not this early. 53:53 Yeah, well, you have to remember with Fashing, he's only 18. 53:56 He doesn't even turn 19 until July. 53:59 So, I mean, he basically, he's very young. 54:02 And I don't think considering his family ties here, and he was already gone for a couple of years out in Ann Arbor. 54:08 I think part of the reason why he has such a resurgent years, he's back home, he's around his family and all that. 54:14 So, I don't think that he's going to be any rush to leave. 54:17 I think the people kind of think about Wilcox and worry a little bit. 54:22 But my thought process is that I trust the coaches on this. 54:25 And when I look at what they've recruited, because they have a recruit coming in to replace Shabrowski, but they don't have a backup plan for if Wilcox leaves. 54:36 Because the two other guys that they got recruited as goalies, the soonest that one could come in is 2015 and the other is 2016. 54:44 And so, trusting that the coaches are in communication with these teams, like Lucia seems to be, I don't think Wilcox is going to leave early. 54:53 I think that if they were really worried about that, they would have recruited for it. 54:56 And I don't, so I'll trust that they're going to be correct on that one. 55:00 Well, goaltenders are kind of a different situation anyway. 55:04 Unless things go bad, typically they don't leave early. 55:07 You saw somebody like Frazee leave early, because well, he had Kangas behind him, and he was starting to be what they would call a headcase. 55:15 But the thing about a goalie, go ahead, Frank. 55:20 One of the things about a goaltender, when they look at him for the next level, is how many pucks is he seeing? 55:27 You know, a 40-game schedule here might not be enough for someone to just, you know, somebody may want to see him play more than 40 games sooner rather than later. 55:39 I don't think he's leaving, but the fact that you can play more games in a minor league somewhere is a factor in a goaltender leaving, I think. 55:52 The other question I think about when a player makes, well, money is one, and then what the other team needs is another, and I'm not into quite reviewing what the New York Rangers need or what Tampa needs or anything, but those are factors. 56:06 But the other thing that I look at is, is the guy dominating at this level. 56:11 Is Hudson Fashing dominating games yet? 56:15 Not quite, I don't think. 56:17 Adam is, but let me ask you this, is Brady Shea, I think Brady is dominating, but does he have anything to gain by staying another year? 56:29 I don't know. 56:30 Well, I don't know exactly what the situation is going to be with Brady Shea and Mike Riley. 56:36 I think those are the two kind of question cases. 56:39 I think those guys would be well served by coming back for another year. 56:43 But if Minnesota were able to win a title this year, you know, Mike Riley's defense player of the year in the Big Ten, if they win the title, coming back, you know, Repeat, Hobie, those are the kinds of things. 56:55 I don't know if those are things he's looking for. 56:58 Brady Shea, you know, he's pretty NHL ready for his role. 57:03 Lucia talked a lot about his role on the World Junior Team and him finding that role and really embracing that and delivering that for that team at that level. 57:12 So he's had a real nice development here. 57:15 I think the biggest thing with Wilcox is we did see Lucia get commitments at the end of February and the start of March. 57:22 And if he doesn't sign with Tampa Bay this season, they lose him next year because he can be a free agent once the season is over and he doesn't roll in school and he gets to pick his choice. 57:35 So I think there's going to be a lot of pressure if Tampa Bay wants him to sign. 57:40 Well here's the one thing I would say to that. 57:43 People assume that the player, if he goes back for that year, that he's going to for sure try the free agent route. 57:48 That's not always the case. 57:50 You know, a lot of times these guys, they just play that extra year and they end up signing with the team. 57:55 So it's not always they look for that loophole to get out of it. 57:59 But I mean, I understand that thought process because it does happen. 58:01 But I don't think it quite happens as often as people assume. 58:05 You also have to look at depth charts when we kind of talked about that and I looked at Tampa's and they do have some other prospects in that position that they seem to have at least in hockey's future, which I don't entirely buy into their whole rating process because I don't trust the people doing the ratings. 58:21 But nonetheless, I mean, they do have other prospects, so you kind of have to take that into consideration. 58:26 And like I said, I believe that if the coaches really thought they were going to have a legit chance of losing Wilcox, they wouldn't have this Logan Halliday or whatever. 58:37 I think that's his name. 58:38 He's not going to be able to come in until 2015 because he doesn't get out of school until then, high school or whatever. 58:44 So to me, it's like they don't recruit a kid like that. 58:47 If they're really concerned about Wilcox leaving because you're going to get caught with your pants down, what are you going to have? 58:55 So I just really believe that he'll be back, just based on that alone. 58:59 I mean, I just trust the coaches that much with that. 59:01 Hopefully they're right. 59:02 I mean, I'm assuming they'll be right, but I think that's the way I look at it with the goalie position. 59:08 All right, boys, I think it's time to wrap this show up. 59:11 I need to go to bed, I'm tired. 59:14 Sally. 59:17 I'm just back from the beach. 59:18 I'm still on Dominican Times. 59:22 My skin is burning. 59:23 Well, now that is true. 59:25 Does that mean you need a genitonic staff? 59:27 Oh, man, they were so good. 59:30 So good. 59:34 All right, gang, Frank, thank you for being on the podcast again. 59:40 I just... 59:44 Whatever that was. 59:45 Yeah, you cut off right at the end there. 59:48 That's perfect. 59:50 Me? 59:51 Yeah. 59:53 Oh, boy. 59:53 Well, remember, you could follow Frank on Twitter, at Mazzpuck. 59:59 Frank, you got to use Twitter more often. 1:00:02 Oh, jeez. 1:00:03 You do. 1:00:04 You know, you ask a question sometimes and you're quiet a little bit and then... 1:00:08 I'm on the air, coast to coast, from 6 o'clock Friday till midnight Saturday. 1:00:13 I'm kidding. 1:00:16 I'm on coast to coast, midnight to the... 1:00:20 One last question for Frank. 1:00:21 Okay. 1:00:22 You had Jason Gonzalez on between the periods, I think on Saturday night, and I caught part of the interview, but I didn't get the whole thing because I was doing some other stuff. 1:00:31 But can you kind of talk about how that came together? 1:00:35 Did you do any pre-interview prep for that? 1:00:38 How did that go? 1:00:42 With Jason or with his story about Ben Marshall? 1:00:44 You were breaking up, but I wasn't sure. 1:00:47 Yeah. 1:00:47 But about the story of Ben Marshall and how he was trying to put that together. 1:00:52 No. 1:00:53 That was not a pre-discussed, pre-arranged question. 1:00:57 He did say that... 1:00:59 I asked him what was the reporting like that went behind the story, and he told me that during the year he had been talking to some guys and talking... 1:01:10 As a reporter, what you do is you try to get them to open up a little bit and find that you are not a threat to them in asking questions and would get some insight from the players during the course of the year on Ben Marshall. 1:01:23 I don't know that he actually nailed them with questions about the turnover in that semi-final game, but he did get some feedback as to Marshall's character and how they felt towards him and those kinds of things. 1:01:38 And then Ben Marshall at least publicly stated through the U declined the interview to talk about it, respectfully declined, and I'll trust him on that too. 1:01:50 I don't know if he was willing to and the school wasn't or what the roles were, but that was the stated thing. 1:01:58 And so then Jason said then he just went and talked to the coaches and got as many on the record comments that he could get and built the story around it. 1:02:08 Yeah, because it did seem Saturday and Sunday after both games that all Marshall's teammates were stepping forward to say how they were focused and how the upperclassmen had done a really good job of saying, don't repeat this and don't put us in a position where it's kind of a one-play game. 1:02:23 I think that really contributed to their focus. 1:02:26 Yeah, I think so too. 1:02:28 I think they had Marshall's back. 1:02:31 He's a really well-liked guy. 1:02:34 He's a class clown. 1:02:35 He's the guy that, if I'm in the locker room, I'm not turning my back on him because he'd be doing the prank or something. 1:02:42 So he had more ambros. 1:02:44 But anyway, he's that kind of a guy. 1:02:45 He's a great personality. 1:02:47 He's a good leader because he performs on the ice, performs in the room. 1:02:51 And I don't think any of his teammates wanted him to get any more roasted. 1:02:56 He took it bad enough last year. 1:02:58 I don't know that I've ever seen a player take it as bad as he did. 1:03:01 Of course, that was a pretty glaring error. 1:03:04 Well, the thing is, it happens to the best players. 1:03:08 Little things, it all takes a little thing. 1:03:09 I mean, it just happens. 1:03:13 And I certainly don't hold it against him. 1:03:16 Steve Smith, Edmonton. 1:03:18 I mean, isn't that the own goal? 1:03:21 That's the own goal, yeah. 1:03:24 I mean, crap happens, you know? 1:03:27 Crap happens, yeah. 1:03:28 It does. 1:03:29 And you know what? 1:03:31 You should always come back and say, you know what, you should not have been in that position in the first place. 1:03:35 Same thing can be said when they lost to Holy Cross or whatever it may be. 1:03:40 You know what? 1:03:41 Don't put yourself into a position where one small mistake that may not be a big deal in the whole game comes down and costs you in the end. 1:03:51 Yeah, I think that's the lesson they took out of it. 1:03:53 I think, yeah. 1:03:55 That's the attitude you have to take, I think. 1:03:57 You know what I mean? 1:03:58 That's the thing I always, we talked about it in other weeks that I'm the type of guy, keep your foot on the gas. 1:04:05 I don't give a damn what the score is, especially this time of the year. 1:04:09 Don't become conservative and suddenly play the prevent defense and not put the pressure on the other team coming out of their zone. 1:04:17 I still believe you keep playing exactly what got you there. 1:04:21 I think that's the lesson that maybe they learned last year, is not to get too conservative and keep your foot on the gas. 1:04:27 That's what they did against Robert Morris, and that's certainly what they did against St. 1:04:31 Cloud State. 1:04:32 Even though we've said St. 1:04:32 Cloud didn't bring their A game, the Gophers brought theirs and kept the foot on the gas till the final horn. 1:04:39 Yep. 1:04:40 That's what they got to do in the final four, too, in the frozen four. 1:04:43 That's what they have to do. 1:04:44 Well, we all hope that they do. 1:04:47 Well, like again, thanks for joining us, Frank. 1:04:50 My pleasure. 1:04:51 Love to. 1:04:52 I got the 15th. 1:04:53 I don't know. 1:04:55 If you open the 15th and we've won a title, you can come back and celebrate with us. 1:04:59 Did I just invite myself in? 1:05:01 Yes, you just did, and that's just fine. 1:05:03 Because we'll always take you as a guest. 1:05:06 Wait a minute. 1:05:06 What if they don't win the title? 1:05:08 Then you can come on and complain. 1:05:10 Are you going to do a show that night? 1:05:11 We're doing a wrap up show no matter what. 1:05:14 We're going to cry or we're going to celebrate. 1:05:16 Whatever. 1:05:18 As long as we don't lose to the fighting who, that's all I care about. 1:05:23 Because losing to them in a frozen fort, we've got to listen to their stupid fans forever. 1:05:30 That's the worst. 1:05:32 You know how their fans are, Frank. 1:05:34 No, we don't. 1:05:34 We don't have to listen to anything. 1:05:37 I don't want to listen to anything they do. 1:05:39 I don't. 1:05:42 Oh boy, here we go. 1:05:43 Just remember, the Red River flows north. 1:05:50 You can follow Frank on Twitter, at MazzPuck. 1:05:52 You can follow Hammy at HammyHockey. 1:05:54 You can follow Vego at Evigo. 1:05:56 And of course, you can always follow me at Gopher Puck Live, or if you want, my stupid personal account, FatPlanet. 1:06:02 Yeah, I don't really tweet very much, though, so oh well. 1:06:05 But we will return in two weeks' time. 1:06:09 Hopefully NCAA Champions, you never know. 1:06:13 We just hope for the best. 1:06:15 But until then, go Gophers.