0:22 Now, let's join Tammy Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 1:08 This is how we do it, oh yeah, oh yeah. 1:12 This, that's a real school song, oh yeah, oh yeah. 1:16 Good evening folks, and welcome to The GPL Podcast. 1:19 As you can hear, we're playing a little Duluth music there in honor of, yes, he's back, the drunk hockey guy. 1:26 What's going on? 1:28 How you doing, kid? 1:29 I'm good, I'm good. 1:30 Your team's pretty good this year. 1:32 Well, you know, it started out a little hairy, but we're finding a way. 1:36 We found a goalie, so that's a win. 1:38 I don't know, wasn't it like three straight shots and three straight goals against you guys the last time we played? 1:43 I'm pretty sure you could have drove a truck through that five-hole, the goalie was leaving out there. 1:47 Well, as you can hear, there's our guest drunk hockey guy, but always with us is Mr. 1:53 Eric Vegoe. 1:54 Veegs, how you doing? 1:56 Doing quite well tonight. 1:57 Doing quite well while not making it tonight is Mr. 2:00 Hammy, and as drunk hockey guys convinced, Hammy is avoiding you, right? 2:04 Yeah, he's dodging me. 2:06 He did it last time, too. 2:06 It's cool. 2:07 I mean, it's tough to dodge billions, so. 2:10 Wow, could the ego get any bigger, dude? 2:13 It's getting there. 2:14 Yeah, I know. 2:15 Well, before we get to your series and Duluth, took the week off last week. 2:21 I didn't feel like talking much, blah, blah, blah. 2:23 I wasn't feeling great. 2:24 But since the last time we had a podcast, the Gophers lost to St. 2:27 Cloud, beat St. 2:28 Cloud, and then swept Notre Dame. 2:31 Vegoe, first loss. 2:33 That game at St. 2:34 Cloud was pretty pathetic. 2:36 Yeah, it was definitely one of those games where you could tell they were getting frustrated. 2:41 And it's a little bit with this leadership group, they get a little chippy sometimes. 2:47 And in that game, they started getting chippy and undisciplined. 2:51 And when you're playing good, talented teams with good, talented skill players, that's gonna get you in trouble quick. 2:57 And Wilcox was off his game as well, so. 3:00 Oh, he was definitely off his game. 3:02 Hey, are you guys talking about St. 3:04 Cloud? 3:05 We'll get to you in a minute. 3:07 Just chill. 3:08 But I agree with that frustration. 3:10 It was pretty obvious when Wilcox decided to throw out an elbow or whatever he did because of his frustration. 3:16 Yeah, I mean, you saw Wilcox lose his cool. 3:18 You saw Raul lose his cool. 3:20 I mean, it was not a good display of upperclassmen leadership in that one. 3:27 You start giving Brad Zinski power play chances and he's gonna get the puck on that. 3:33 Unless you're Duluth, right? 3:37 First time in 15 years, right? 3:39 Hey, it was a great night. 3:44 Well, unlike Minnesota who split with St. 3:47 Cloud, obviously your dogs did what last weekend? 3:51 They swept the vaunted three and five St. 3:54 Cloud State Huskies. 3:56 Oh yeah, that's why you were bitter this week, weren't you? 4:01 You were bitter, because they were ranked, in one of the polls, St. 4:04 Cloud still ranked ahead of you. 4:05 Yeah, it was more just kind of laughing about how clearly people don't pay attention at all when they vote polls. 4:12 I mean, how do you sweep a team and they have a losing record now and they're ahead of you, but all that matters is the pair-wise and that's all that matters at the end of the year. 4:22 Yeah, I think I would agree with that. 4:24 That's all that really matters. 4:28 Can you hear this? 4:29 Yes! 4:29 This is his. 4:43 Yeah, we could thank Ryan Cardinal for that. 4:46 Isn't that correct? 4:47 Yeah, but I thought it was a little alcohol-induced. 4:51 You know. 4:51 You, alcohol? 4:53 No! 4:54 You know, it was a good time. 4:55 We had to hit up St. 4:56 Joe's first in honor of our crippled friend, Fire Helmet Guy. 4:59 Ooh, yeah, well. 5:01 How's he doing, by the way? 5:02 Oh, well, he's pretty excited for the Toga, I mean. 5:07 He's excited for the lap dances coming up? 5:10 Well, you know, hey, listen, when you only got one leg that's fully functional, why not? 5:14 And we know it's not his regular legs. 5:16 Oh, thank you very much. 5:19 So it was a good weekend for your dogs against, you know, St. 5:22 Cloud. 5:22 Well, as Minnesota, we swept Notre Dame, Veegs. 5:27 Pretty good series. 5:28 Sorry, I didn't show up this weekend. 5:29 I didn't see you, sorry, man. 5:31 Yeah, you're getting it from the stats crew pretty hard. 5:34 Yeah, I know, but they're jerks, too. 5:36 Yeah, but yeah, Friday night, that was back to dominating hockey. 5:41 So that was fun to watch. 5:43 Looked totally in control most of the game. 5:45 Wilcox looked smooth when he had a couple of his defensemen make mental mistakes at the offensive blue line. 5:51 That seems to be happening a little too often. 5:54 Yeah, I mean, it's gonna happen. 5:56 And I remember last year, the first half of the season, whenever that happened, Wilcox just stepped up and made big saves. 6:03 And he's an athletic goalie and he reads the play really well. 6:08 People are asking him about the 2-0 after the game. 6:11 And he's like, well, I saw Legio and HL knock the net off. 6:15 But he's like, I felt pretty good because they both went to the same side. 6:19 And so he's like, they totally took away their options. 6:22 That was kind of a goofy play. 6:24 Yeah, that was bad. 6:25 There were about four guys that lost their edge in that first period. 6:32 So Chris, how much gopher hockey do you watch? 6:35 Well, I live in the city, so you're kind of limited to your options. 6:38 Typically, I'll have my Bulldogs going on the iPad and probably pop a gopher game on when it's on. 6:48 When it's on, you mean every time it's on, of course. 6:50 No, I didn't watch Friday night. 6:52 I was watching the Dogs game because somehow we drew the FSN draw, so that's nice because you guys got your pretty little network. 6:58 But I did watch about half a Saturday night's game. 7:04 I've got a couple games, but not as much as you'd think. 7:07 You know, four and a half year old twins keep you busy. 7:09 Yeah, I'm sure they do. 7:10 You know, I did catch at least the end of your game last Friday against St. 7:14 Cloud, and from the looks of it, it looks like your goalie bailed you guys out big time. 7:21 And that's what you need. 7:22 I'm sorry, but it's just what you need this time of year. 7:25 Oh yeah, what's funny about that is following Twitter, Mr. 7:29 Oleksic, who played with Kenny Ryder, decided to troll his former goalie and tell him that at least somebody finally stole a game up in St. 7:36 Cloud because you never could. 7:39 So nonetheless, you know, I'll be honest, I don't think I've seen a goalie for us steal a game in two years, and when you get one that can do it, that's a good feeling to know that you got that back there again. 7:51 Cardinal wants to know if you have any good leads on a snowblower. 7:54 You know, I don't. 7:55 There's a guy that's got a podcast that's pimping snowblowers now, so I can actually get in touch with him. 8:05 Did we lose him? 8:08 Down here. 8:09 Whoa, you were making all this noise. 8:10 I'm like, jeez, dude, a little inappropriate right now, isn't it? 8:16 Well, you never know what's going on over at Vegoe's house. 8:20 Hey, he's got youngsters too. 8:22 Yeah, I got the seven week old girl and the two year old boy. 8:26 That's a little more work than your twins. 8:28 Sorry. 8:30 You have no idea. 8:31 Blind leading the blind, my friend. 8:34 I'm just glad I'm through that phase. 8:35 My kids are 11 and 13 and I've got much different worries coming up on the horizon. 8:42 Boys are coming around soon. 8:44 You shut up, asshole. 8:47 You think? 8:49 Really, really hoping yoga pants go out of style. 8:52 How come yoga pants weren't in style when I was in high school, damn it? 8:56 I asked the same thing when I was in college. 8:57 And low cut shirts. 8:59 Oh, it was grunge error when I was in college. 9:01 Grunge is going to come back. 9:03 It's going to be a big retro thing in about 10 years. 9:07 My kid's old enough to wear grunge. 9:12 So anyway, boys, our teams are going to collide this weekend again, you know, earlier this year. 9:17 Oh, who won? 9:19 Oh, that's right. 9:21 What was that? 9:22 I believe that was four to three. 9:23 Wasn't it, Chris? 9:24 Yeah. 9:24 Yeah. 9:25 Well, when we spot you a couple right out of the gate like that, it's, you know, it's an easy win for you. 9:29 You guys had to hold on there at the end. 9:31 I think. 9:31 So they got bored. 9:35 They did. 9:37 They got bored. 9:38 We've seen it quite a few times this year, haven't we, Veegs? 9:40 Good start, crappy finish. 9:42 Yeah. 9:43 You know, it's tough to play full 60. 9:45 And I think one thing about Minnesota that's different than some of the past year's teams is they are kind of a top-six team right now. 9:53 You know, they're getting goals from the row line and the clues line, and that's about it. 9:58 Ambrose isn't playing great offensively with Boyd out. 10:02 That really kind of hurts that third line. 10:04 So now Latterri is out, so Isaacson is probably going to slot into that third line. 10:11 Well, I mean, I'm not a big Isaacson guy. 10:15 I'm just not a big guy. 10:16 He just does nothing for me. 10:19 You know, as we were talking about, your conference is struggling mightily. 10:25 You think? 10:27 In fact, that was one of the questions we had. 10:30 I do concern, I mean, you guys, once conference play starts for you guys, it's going to be, you guys are going to get lulled to sleep a lot. 10:39 You better help your team bring it in the first round of the NCAAs because that week conference could really screw you guys. 10:49 What do you think, Veegs? 10:51 Well, it's not looking good. 10:52 I mean, these are games that Minnesota needs to take advantage of and get the wins when they can. 11:02 Usually, when you win your home games and split your road games, you're in good shape. 11:07 But I think Minnesota really needs to take care of business here through December. 11:11 They're going to have to do it without Boyd, without Shea, without Lattery, and so they are going to be testing their depth. 11:18 But at the same point, I think their power play has really come along right from the start of the year. 11:25 I think that's going to be a big key this weekend. 11:27 I mean, there's probably going to be a couple of embellishment penalties called on the Bulldogs. 11:33 They've already got three this season. 11:35 Wow. 11:37 What a bunch of cheap hose hats. 11:39 That's true. 11:40 Well, you know, you learn it from the best. 11:42 I mean, you got the best on your team and Mr. 11:44 Rao there. 11:45 Clearly not well enough because Minnesota doesn't have a single embellishment penalty this season. 11:51 Give it this weekend. 11:52 Give it time. 11:53 Well, Beer Song's saying that we're the fifth best conference in college hockey. 11:57 He's probably right, Veegs. 11:59 Besides Minnesota, there ain't nothing there. 12:02 I think Michigan will be okay. 12:04 You think? 12:05 Come on, they got swept by tech. 12:07 Hey, don't give me this bullshit. 12:10 OVC tech hasn't beat anybody with a winning record. 12:13 Let's pump the brakes a little bit. 12:14 Let's see what happens here in a couple weeks when the Bulldogs come to town. 12:17 In the pairwise, tech looks really good. 12:19 Oh, boy, the pairwise, it means nothing right now. 12:26 That's just beer song trying to get us riled up, but we agree with you beer song. 12:29 Our conference sucks, but at least we're good. 12:34 We've got a good team. 12:36 Hey, it's always nice to be king of the crap. 12:38 It's better than being king of nothing. 12:42 The thing is, there's nothing we could do about it. 12:46 Some idiot decided we should have a BigTen conference and kind of screwed the pooch on everything, didn't they? 12:53 I think in the long run, it'll work itself out. 12:56 You guys are going to be in pretty good shape, especially with the changes that are going on in the big conferences, but I'm surprised it hasn't caught up yet with the money. 13:05 Wisconsin is 0-6. 13:09 Veegs, when are they going to get their first one? 13:11 Maybe this weekend against a terrible CC team? 13:14 Yeah, it could come this weekend. 13:17 I mean, Wisconsin was going to be in big trouble anyway at the start of this year. 13:21 Yves was talking about having the puppy training as freshmen to get them to understand how to play college hockey, and they're just going through a rough stretch. 13:31 I don't think their schedule has been especially difficult. 13:34 It's harder than it was last year, but I do think over time, Ohio State, Penn State are going to improve. 13:43 Penn State's got that great facility. 13:45 Ohio State's got plenty of money. 13:48 Players like to go places they can develop, and if that power five comes together and college students in the Big Ten start getting stipends, it's going to make it easier for those programs to come up a little bit. 14:00 So this is going to be a tough year. 14:02 I don't think besides Minnesota, there's a shoe in for the NCAAs for sure. 14:09 It's going to be Minnesota and that's it, unless someone gets through the conference championship or something like that. 14:15 You're not going to see any other teams. 14:17 That's why they play those conference title games. 14:19 True. 14:20 What about the Nacho there, Chris? 14:22 Did you go to the Nacho Tournament last year? 14:24 I did. 14:25 We picked up a suite for it this year. 14:28 The last year- 14:29 Target Center, how was Target Center? 14:31 You know, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but again- 14:37 You're in a suite though, so that's not so bad. 14:39 Yeah, I mean, and my team wasn't there, so I got to take the time to basically antagonize North Dakota fans the entire weekend. 14:47 And let me tell you, when you're in a suite, you get away with a lot more than you do in a regular seat. 14:53 Oh, so you're being the full obnoxious you then. 14:56 Oh, absolutely. 14:57 I think I had at least a half dozen suit fans. 14:59 I got one guy that's still stalking me on Twitter. 15:05 He actually ran into me at a restaurant down here and made a point to come up to me and tell me that I didn't say nice things to him on Twitter. 15:13 And I said, he needs to stop taking his Twitter so seriously, but we'll leave it at that. 15:17 Well, he probably needs to take you a little less seriously too. 15:20 Well, that's the thing. 15:21 He really does. 15:22 People need to figure it out. 15:23 Yeah, well, some people just don't get it. 15:26 No. 15:27 Some of us like to have fun with it. 15:28 Absolutely, as you should. 15:30 I mean, you've been a pretty good sport over the last years, you know, when I do face your website. 15:34 But you got it. 15:35 You were having fun with it. 15:37 Hey, it's all good. 15:38 That's college hockey. 15:38 That's why we love it. 15:40 Well, that is true. 15:40 And I've always been treated pretty good up in Duluth. 15:42 So I've never had a problem with the Duluth people. 15:45 So speaking of Duluth, you end up this weekend? 15:47 I am not. 15:49 Oh, I know. 15:51 See, your kids are old enough where you should be able to do this kind of thing. 15:54 You know, like me, we can't go up to Duluth this weekend. 15:58 Yeah, my daughter's having a big sleepover Saturday night. 16:01 Oh, God. 16:02 Oh, daddy enjoys this. 16:05 Well, my wife's going to be in Puerto Rico with my other daughter. 16:08 You might want to bring somebody over this kind of stuff that gets you in trouble. 16:15 Yeah, it's going to be a long weekend. 16:17 But you know, I thought about getting some tickets and going up there, but I'm still bitter about the home and home BS. 16:28 Yeah, you know, it really does ruin a good weekend. 16:31 I mean, I think that's what the business owners think, you know? 16:35 With the new, with the old WCHA rivals, I think you are going to see home and homes. 16:41 It's fun, but it really does take away from a good weekend for a lot of folks. 16:46 It makes a lot easier. 16:46 I mean, you got guys like Cardinal and Keith coming up Friday night, even though the first game is down here just to make a weekend out of it, but I mean, it really does, it really does sour it a little bit when it's only one game. 16:58 How's the business community feel about this up there? 17:01 Well, they can't be too happy because that's kind of a premium weekend for them. 17:05 You know, I think that they're going to get what they can take at this point, and getting one game with the Gophers up there is better than getting no games, and you know, realistically, a guy like Lucia could just say, you come down or we're not playing you. 17:20 And you know, that's the one thing you've got to give Lucia credit for. 17:25 He's decided my non-conference games are going to be our in-state rivals versus, granted, you got your Notre Dame, but that's obviously, we know why that's going on, and that'll end soon enough once his boy graduates. 17:38 Well, honestly, I always loved the Duluth weekend because that was the time where my wife and I could get away from the kids, leave them at the grandparents, and just go up for the weekend and have fun. 17:49 But that's kind of taken away now, and I know Lucia just wants to go to the home and home because it's easier for him, but the fans, quite a few of them are not too happy. 17:58 Like you said, some of your boys are going up there Friday night to watch the game, but it's just not the same. 18:12 No, it really isn't, but I guess at the end of the day, it's better than nothing. 18:17 At least we get to see our teams continue to play, because as I said, he could have easily just said, ah, we're good. 18:24 Yeah, well, it means next year there will be another home and home as well. 18:29 Yeah, the one thing is I do think Lucia wants the Minnesota games to stay in the schedule. 18:35 Every time non-conference scheduling comes up, he talks about protecting the other Division One schools in the state. 18:43 And so I think you're going to see something. 18:44 I also prefer the two games in one spot, but at least for this series, the games are on Saturday at Toulouse, so it's a lot easier for fans to get up there and enjoy all those new tappers that are opening up. 18:59 Yeah, it's getting crazy up there. 19:01 If you like microbrews, Duluth's the spot to be. 19:03 I want my kamikazes. 19:08 You're the only one that wants them anymore. 19:10 Yeah, I know. 19:11 I have one of them and it's like a big gut bomb. 19:16 The Garden is not what it was 20 years ago. 19:18 I would say that. 19:20 You know, pregame, I think it's pretty good. 19:22 Postgame, no thank you. 19:24 There's nobody there anymore. 19:27 Saturday night is, you know, it fills up as it goes, but you go in there on a Friday and it's a ghost town. 19:34 Really? 19:35 I think last year when we were there, you know, we tried to go there after the game and it was just too crappy. 19:40 We went to old Chicago instead. 19:44 I don't know. 19:45 Yeah, no, when I was in college, it was a three night, you know, three night a week affair up there. 19:50 It was packed Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. 19:56 Well, those days are long gone, me friend. 19:59 Yes, sir. 20:00 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 20:01 So guys, we have actual games this weekend. 20:06 Home and home, I'll start off. 20:08 I think it's going to be a split. 20:11 Boy, really going off the limb there. 20:12 But I think, you know, Duluth is going to win in Minnesota and Minnesota is going to win at Duluth. 20:18 Chris, what do you think? 20:21 Well, coming in to the last weekend, I would have said that that was laughable. 20:27 UMD has been a horrible Friday night team. 20:31 Too many times they've had to come back on Friday nights. 20:34 But I'll also say that we can complain about roughing all we want. 20:39 The dogs are two pretty poor calls from, at the very least, tying Friday night games this year instead of losing them. 20:49 So, UMD has had a pretty good run down in Minnesota. 20:52 But typically it's because they played two games. 20:54 So, I see where you're going. 20:57 I think it will be a split. 20:59 But I think the games will be home game splits. 21:04 I think one of the games will go to overtime. 21:06 I can't tell you which one it will be. 21:08 If I had to throw it out there, I'd say it will be Friday night. 21:11 But I do feel it will be a split. 21:14 I'll be very surprised if a team sweeps it. 21:19 I could see a tie and a win for a team, but it would be pretty shocking to see a sweep. 21:23 Well, Duluth is the last team to beat Minnesota at Mariucci. 21:28 Yeah, really what it comes down to, to me, is our goaltending. 21:31 He was shaky, obviously, playing you guys at the beginning of the year, but we're also talking about a 19-year-old freshman who got thrown into a starting role against the best team in the country and got kind of blitzed early. 21:43 I don't think you'll see that goalie again. 21:46 I think you'll see more of what we've seen the past few weeks from him. 21:51 Saturday night in St. 21:52 Cloud, he really didn't get tested. 21:55 The defense stepped up in front of him hard. 21:59 To be honest with you, Saturday night in Brzezinski was invisible. 22:05 They were on him. 22:06 They stayed on him hard. 22:08 They basically made him fight for pucks in his own zone to the point where he had to line change every time he came out of his own zone. 22:14 You know, I think that first game also had something that really sucked, which was zero atmosphere. 22:21 There was nobody in the stands. 22:24 Yeah, it was pretty hideous. 22:25 I think there were more people on the ice than in the stands. 22:27 It was pretty pathetic. 22:29 And I hear the crowds weren't that great in St. 22:32 Cloud last weekend. 22:33 You know, to be honest with you guys, the crowds really aren't real good anywhere. 22:39 I joke around all the time taking the pictures of Mary Lou G. 22:42 It's loud because at the end of the day, you've got 8,000 people in there. 22:45 It holds 11,000. 22:48 And you've got a pretty good sized student section that when the puck goes in the net, there's a pretty good reaction from it. 22:55 But let's be honest, when you have 3 million people in your metro area and you can't fill a building, I know the seats are sold. 23:04 Why people aren't moving the seats, I don't understand it. 23:07 It's the same thing in Duluth. 23:08 You go to Duluth, you'll see Saturday night, there'll be an announced 6,800 sellout. 23:13 It'll be a soldout crowd. 23:15 I'd be impressed though if there are more than 6,000 people in the stands. 23:19 You know, the thing is the universities, both of them don't care. 23:24 They got their money, they got their seats sold, so they don't care if people aren't showing up. 23:32 Do they sell beer in your stadium in the General Concourse now that they're selling at TCF? 23:38 I do not believe so. 23:40 Cause I thought, from my understanding, that was coming. 23:43 And UMD has actually been working to get it to go with the deck and the fight's been over the revenue where the money's gonna go. 23:50 But because of your approval for TCF, we could sell beer in the seats at AMSOIL. 23:56 And I believe you could do the same thing at Mariucci if you wanted to. 24:00 Right now, I believe it's still in the club room. 24:04 That's the way it is. 24:04 It's surprising. 24:05 It's a good revenue stream. 24:07 I know, you're at TCF every week. 24:09 You know, the Gophers are there, aren't you? 24:11 Yeah, no, I usually sell beer there. 24:13 I'm not, I wasn't there last week in Amos Hills and St. 24:15 Cloud. 24:15 And I won't be there for the last home game this year, but I'll be there for the rest of the Vikings game. 24:21 And the beer sales, you know, they move. 24:25 I mean, they sell beer. 24:26 It's a different crowd. 24:27 I'll give you that. 24:28 Gopher football fans really don't start buying beer until the tailgaters get in right about kickoff. 24:34 Whereas for Vikes game, you got people in line before we can even start selling it. 24:38 Really? 24:39 Yeah. 24:40 Well, definitely different crowds. 24:44 Yes. 24:45 You do have a nice perch up there. 24:47 Yeah, yeah, no, it's, I like it. 24:50 It's a good view when I get those top seats, especially when it's slow, you can watch the game. 24:54 And you had a nice view in that big outdoor hockey game too, down below. 24:59 Oh yeah, that was. 25:00 Nice and toasty. 25:01 That was busy. 25:03 That hockey crowd's a lot different. 25:04 That same thing as a Vikes crowd. 25:06 It was, we sold a lot of beer. 25:10 I remember coming up to you that night of that outdoor game against Ohio State and it was just nonstop people for you. 25:16 Oh yeah, no, our line was constant. 25:19 Just amazing. 25:20 So Veegs, what are your thoughts on this weekend? 25:23 Pretty good tilt, huh? 25:25 Yeah, it's a good tilt. 25:26 I think you're gonna see two of the better power play units that you'll see all season. 25:32 I think both teams have a lot of veteran guys back there and I think Chris is right. 25:37 The UMD goalie situation is starting to settle itself out and that obviously helps them. 25:45 I'm a little worried with all the injuries that are coming into the Gopher lineup that they're having to put out Collins and Gopher maybe a little bit more than what you would like to. 25:56 You talked about how you can't really hide those guys when they're playing 20 minutes a game. 26:03 They're gonna be out there against the other Cameron Esi's, the Tornado's, Farley and I don't know if the foot speed for Collins and Gopher is quite there yet. 26:16 They've got long reaches, they're pretty sound positionally but their foot speed just isn't quite there. 26:21 So I think they could get embarrassed a little bit here and there. 26:25 So I do see a split coming. 26:27 I think it's gonna be a home and home split. 26:33 That's just the way it's gonna work out. 26:35 And talking about Gopher. 26:37 You're right on the power play. 26:38 And the killer is the amount of penalties the Bulldogs have been taking this year. 26:43 And that could swing the tide itself. 26:46 I mean, you look at Minnesota, their penalties are about right in the middle of the country where we're the top of the country. 26:58 You guys are taking about a 100 minutes of penalties. 27:01 We're taking about 20. 27:02 And that's a concern. 27:05 20 minutes a game, I mean, that's an entire period we're spending on the penalty killer. 27:08 Wow, Minnesota's power play is also at 32% right now. 27:11 So, you can't take more than two or three penalties or you're gonna get killed. 27:18 And I think that was a little bit the problem for the Gophers at St. 27:20 Cloud, you know, they started going to the box. 27:22 I think that was the most they went all season. 27:24 And they're missing a lot of penalty kill guys from last year. 27:28 So, besides the Rao-Fashing pair, you know, they've got all new forwards trying to kill penalties. 27:35 So, I think that's a big thing for them to stay out of the box. 27:38 And, you know, playing Duluth, you know, I think guys will get a little feisty and Duluth has a lot of those little slippery forwards that sometimes go down when a stick gets in their skate. 27:52 Those arms go up when that happens. 27:54 Yeah, they've also got five short-handed goals too. 27:57 You know, that's something that definitely needs to be recognized and they're real close to getting another one against St. 28:05 Cloud Saturday night. 28:09 That's the thing, the UMD is putting out their top forwards on the penalty kill because they're good at killing it. 28:14 By doing that, you really do open up an opportunity to score some short-handed goals. 28:19 True, but if you take 20 minutes of penalties against Minnesota, lights out, kid. 28:24 I don't know, it could be a problem and I'm sure it's being stressed in the locker room. 28:29 You know, I will say that I do hope they get to a point where they start reviewing these majors. 28:35 I think you would have found three of Duluth's majors this year would have been two-minute minors that obviously really tick up those penalty minutes with the 10 minutes you get on top of the five. 28:46 To me, I'll never understand that. 28:48 Why, if a guy's tossed from the game, why are you giving him 10 more minutes? 28:52 What is that exactly proving other than making a stat look worse than it really is? 28:57 You know, one thing I've noticed and I've heard from is a lot of times, these referees will go over to, near the penalty boxes and talk about it, but what they're actually doing is getting a quick replay on their monitor. 29:12 Looking at it from a distance and say, ooh, that looks bad, or maybe we should give them five, or something like that. 29:18 Nothing official there, I've just heard that they kind of sit there and stall a little bit so they can sometimes see the replay looking into the box. 29:27 Who knows, but. 29:29 If they're doing that, I think that's the right decision because it's such a game changing call that you want to be sure. 29:36 I think in college football, you see, they review those hits to the head to determine if they should throw the kid out of the game because I know that happened to the Gopher football player when they were playing Purdue, I think. 29:51 First series, contact to the head, the flight goes out. 29:54 Was that a different game? 29:55 I think it was Illinois, where they almost tossed him out of the gate and then they reviewed it and they didn't toss him, which was the right call for sure. 30:03 Yep, and I'd like to see that. 30:05 I mean, they've got the technology. 30:07 I don't know if the games at Western Michigan are gonna have enough cameras for that, so it's equitable, but you wanna make the right call. 30:16 I don't think the refs have any problem with taking the time to make sure they get it right. 30:21 Yeah, and easy there, you start to sound like the Wolf Family. 30:25 But I do hope eventually they do start reviewing these because it does happen at a very high speed and we are talking about refs that are, at the end of the day, mediocre. 30:38 I forget who said it to me, but he was spot on. 30:40 When was the last time you saw an NCAA ref become an NHL ref? 30:45 The good refs are in the AHL and the ECHL work on their way up that program. 30:50 And, unfortunately, college hockey gets the leftovers. 30:53 Yeah, you're probably right, but I agree. 30:56 I think they should be reviewing these plays. 30:58 If they think it's not so severe, and it was bad, boost the call. 31:02 But if it's the other way, do the same thing. 31:04 But these guys get a quick look at it, and at times it's hard to blame them because it happened so fast, and all of us are looking at replays on TV or at the arena, and obviously, we have a little different view on things than they do. 31:22 Correct. 31:23 So, that's one thing. 31:25 I don't know, if they're given the option to review things, I think they should do it. 31:30 There's no doubt about it. 31:31 I mean, I don't care if it's my team, your team or any team. 31:35 If your player's stupid, they're gonna sit. 31:40 And, unfortunately, a lot of kids still haven't learned yet that, you know, you hit somebody from behind by the board, you're gonna get five minutes. 31:48 Yeah, the disappointing part is starting to see players draw penalties intentionally on that. 31:53 Yes. 31:53 And, you know, it was pretty evident against Miami for our team. 31:58 Guy turns right into it. 32:00 Our guy's actually putting the brakes on, barely hits them, flops down, gets back up, and shown on the Jumbotron, high-fiving his coach and teammates, and I do think the conference needs a step in when stuff like that happens. 32:14 Oh, but you've got Don Adam running your conference now for the referees. 32:19 He just likes to make shit up, don't you know that? 32:22 He sure does. 32:22 Well, I definitely think embellishment's a problem in hockey, and it's something where the conferences need to take, you know, action. 32:33 Just like the NHL, though, if you get, I think, to the third or fourth embellishment, the coach starts getting fined. 32:40 And I think if you did something similar in college, you know, the coaches would probably start benching those guys. 32:46 You know, I have no problem. 32:48 Or even suspending a guy from a game if he has more. 32:50 Yes, you know, I would like them to see them do that. 32:52 You know, they might not see it during the game, but if, you know, why can't the league go back and look at things and say, gosh, that player really did take a dive, or did this on purpose, feigned injury, or something along those lines, or they can go back and say, you know what, you're out the next game, or something along those lines, but rarely do they do anything. 33:11 So to watch it. 33:11 No, I totally agree. 33:12 It's something that needs to happen and get that out of the games. 33:16 Yeah, yeah, well, we'll see. 33:19 Well, guys, a big home and home game this weekend, so obviously the partying is gonna be a little less, blah, blah, blah, but I'm looking forward to the hockey because your dogs like to play the same kind of brand that Gophers play, up and down, fast hockey. 33:34 Yeah, I mean, that's obviously always been, it's been one thing with Sandal, and I think we had maybe one or two years where it wasn't that brand of hockey simply because he didn't have the personnel to do it, but he's always been the guy that wants some transition defensemen, wants a lot of forwards that have some speed and can move, and it's kind of reflective of the way Blaze used to recruit in North Dakota. 33:56 I mean, it's a little different for him at UNO now, but he always liked the small, shifty forwards and the big defensemen. 34:01 Do you guys get to play Wisconsin anytime this year? 34:05 Not this year. 34:07 Well, aren't you lucky? 34:10 They tried to pull a stunt with, they were like, oh, we'll play you, but you gotta come here twice to our going to you once. 34:17 And Sandy obviously wasn't gonna have that. 34:19 We're not, unfortunately, we're not Michigan Tech. 34:22 We can draw folks to our building. 34:24 So from my understanding, it is gonna come back here in a year or two, they do have a, I think Wisconsin kind of pulled their head out of the rear ends and understood that they gotta start playing some good teams on the road for their pairwise situation. 34:39 Well, you know, poor Wisconsin. 34:44 You know, they went to Anchorage and or Fairbanks, whatever, to get those two extra games, then couldn't find a team to fill those two extra games. 34:53 That's pathetic. 34:56 I mean, that's just flat out pathetic. 34:57 I mean, that's the only reason Lucia would even go to Anchorage or Alaska these days. 35:03 He wants the extra games. 35:04 Yeah, I'm, to be honest with you, I'm stunned that- 35:09 They had a full two week break. 35:11 Can continue to survive with, nobody wants to go there. 35:16 Why would you? 35:16 You don't need to. 35:19 They go for the extra games because they do not count. 35:22 Any games in Alaska or Hawaii and NCAA sports do not count towards your total. 35:27 So, I mean, that's why five, six, seven years ago, I know Minnesota didn't go to Anchorage during the regular season. 35:36 And if you can sell 20,000 seats. 35:44 Who knows? 35:45 So, I wanted to ask you guys, kind of off subject here, what's with you guys struggling with these CAC teams? 35:56 I can't, I really can't figure out what your guys is doing. 35:59 Oh, boy, here we go. 36:02 I was a little bitter, yes. 36:03 I mean, seriously, you guys lost to union. 36:06 I mean, now I know how Michigan must have felt losing to UMD in a title game. 36:10 Oh, and the hits keep on rolling, boy. 36:18 Isn't the show over yet? 36:25 You know what? 36:26 It just wasn't meant to be last year. 36:29 I thought it was a poor game plan. 36:32 Oh, the defense was just pathetic. 36:34 I was kind of stunned myself. 36:36 I was stunned the sit back and let them come to you game. 36:40 You don't see that in Minnesota very often. 36:48 Hey, the handicaps back down where it needs to be. 36:51 The sandbagging, it only takes place for about a month. 36:55 So is your team gonna only lose less than 10 games this year? 36:58 Ooh, no. 37:01 Come on, that's what you said. 37:03 I saw you tweet that a couple months ago. 37:05 Yeah, I'll tell you what. 37:07 I'm gonna remind you of it too. 37:08 Those two games turn into ties. 37:10 I would still stand behind that, but a couple of calls went the wrong way. 37:15 No, here we go. 37:16 Blame the refs. 37:17 When, when, when? 37:19 Jeez, blaming the refs. 37:21 No, no, hey listen, at the end of the day, you gotta overcome that stuff, but a couple of those calls go the wrong way and you lose two games at a time, a couple of games. 37:30 Oh boy. 37:31 All right, Veegs, you got any final thoughts on this weekend? 37:37 Wow, Veegs has no thoughts on this weekend. 37:41 Kid probably came in there, bug him a little bit. 37:43 Could be, well, how about you then? 37:45 Oh, there he is! 37:46 No official signings for all the hockey teams next week. 37:49 Well, actually, we had a couple signings already this week. 37:53 Oh yeah, it was total dead air. 37:56 Okay, well, you know, I'm not out in my Civic this year, so. 37:59 Well, that's a good thing. 38:01 Yeah, so I don't have that huge. 38:03 Yeah, that's you owning a Civic, that's right up there with Fire Helmet Guy owning a Raptor, dude, you got to get your winter pack. 38:11 All I do is put gas and change the oil, it's a great vehicle. 38:14 Do you, are you going up to Duluth this weekend, Veegs? 38:17 Probably not, are you? 38:19 I'm not, you know, I'm kind of locked down on Twin Cities here for a while. 38:24 I'm passing up one of my college buddies, he's getting married in New Orleans, and I got to stay home with the kids, so. 38:33 Oh boy. 38:34 What about you, Chris? 38:34 Are you going to the games this weekend? 38:36 Well, I'll be at the Toga on Friday night. 38:39 So, that's great. 38:41 Enjoy that jazz music. 38:42 Oh, jazz is great. 38:44 I mean, there's nothing better than smooth jazz at the Toga, so. 38:52 Hopefully, we can hack the jukebox again. 38:55 Little House on the Prairie, I know that's Fire Helmet Guy's favorite song, so. 38:58 We should be able to get that going while the ladies are up on stage. 39:02 What, you didn't feel like paying the $55 ticket prices to go to Mariachi? 39:05 No, $50 bucks, no, no, no. 39:07 I'm gonna head up with the boys and then I'll be at Saturday Night's Game. 39:11 Hopefully, hopefully enjoying a nice win on Saturday night. 39:14 It's always more fun to win on Saturday. 39:15 Well, of course it is, cause it's a party night, that's why. 39:20 Correct. 39:21 Then you get all the young little kids, all the little teeny boppers and oh geez. 39:26 Well, that's just the way it goes. 39:29 Well, thanks for joining us, kid. 39:30 If people want to find you post-game, where are you gonna be post-game on Saturday? 39:34 Oh, there you go. 39:34 Why don't you announce it right now? 39:36 Oh, that's a good call. 39:36 People will track me down. 39:38 I gotta tell you, I try to avoid the garden now, like a hole in the head. 39:41 I'm a little too old for that place. 39:44 You're a little too old for every place. 39:46 Yeah, I'm getting to that point, but you know, we may go there for one. 39:51 I could see myself ending up at Old Chicago or the Toga again. 39:55 Don't you guys do your little pre-game, you know, bar room to bar room? 39:59 Our pre-game will be at the Anchor Bar. 40:00 We don't do the Drunk Hockey Walk anymore. 40:03 We've all graduated, unfortunately. 40:05 The years of that fun is over. 40:07 Wish somebody would revive it a little bit, but too many people puke and go home in calves before a face-off, so. 40:13 That just wrecks the whole thing. 40:16 So, but we will, yeah, no, we'll be out. 40:19 We'll be at the Anchor Bar, I'm sure. 40:28 Ooh, yeah, to the Curling Club? 40:31 Yeah, absolutely, are you talking to the Garden? 40:34 I've made it to the Garden. 40:36 That's your guy's thing. 40:37 We always went to the Curling Club. 40:38 It's actually, surprisingly, a little bit shorter of a move now, because you can go right through the parking ramp. 40:44 Yeah. 40:45 It's a little different setup there now. 40:52 Wow, you sound great, Veegs. 40:55 What kind of internet connection? 40:56 You got dial-up or something going on? 40:59 AOL, he's paying by the minute. 41:01 He must be, jeez. 41:04 Time to up the internet speed there, Veegs. 41:06 You sound terrible. 41:08 Well, we'll call it a night. 41:09 Yeah, I know. 41:10 We'll call it a night anyway, but we'll be back. 41:18 What? 41:18 We're talking to the common man? 41:19 I don't know. 41:20 I don't know what the hell he's doing over there. 41:22 Remember, you can follow Veegs at AVGOE on Twitter. 41:26 And what does your Twitter handle there? 41:27 At UMD penalty box. 41:30 Of course. 41:33 So I will leave you guys with a sweet rendition. 41:39 In heaven, there is no beer. 41:42 That's why we drink it here. 41:45 That's good enough. 41:46 Just kill me now. 41:47 Now we're playing the school song. 41:49 That's pretty pathetic if that's your school song, dude. 41:52 Why wouldn't it be? 41:53 Because it sucks. 41:56 Kidding. 41:57 They're not allowed to play that at Mariucci because it's politically incorrect and they're idiots. 42:02 So it's good times, not really. 42:06 All right, folks, we'll be back in a couple weeks because I'm not going to do a show next week because it's like a exhibition game or something. 42:14 So I don't really care. 42:15 So we'll see you in a couple weeks. 42:17 Thanks, Chris, for joining us. 42:19 Yeah, hey. 42:20 We'll get you back on again sometime. 42:21 Bad luck to the squad this weekend. 42:23 Oh, of course, of course. 42:24 Bad luck, always bad luck. 42:27 Thanks for joining us, Veegs. 42:31 He's, see, he's not even there anymore. 42:33 I think it's just, it's done for him. 42:35 So, oh well. 42:37 Goodbye, folks. 42:38 We'll catch you in a couple weeks.