0:22 You Now, let's join Hammy, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:36 Welcome to the GPL Podcast. 0:38 We're back here for another week in this town that's nothing but negative right now. 0:43 Everyone's losing, but we have to keep going on. 0:48 We've got a guest tonight. 0:49 We've got Nate Wells from SB Nation College Hockey. 0:53 Nate, how are you doing? 0:55 I'm doing good. 0:56 I don't know why you guys keep having me on after Michigan Weekends, but I'm glad to join you. 1:00 Was it last year we did that too? 1:02 Yeah, I looked it up, yep. 1:03 After Michigan and pre-BigTen tourney. 1:07 Oh, that's okay. 1:10 We're hoping to get some beer talk from you tonight. 1:13 All right. 1:15 Well, you keep asking questions about beer, and I'm not the big beer guy. 1:19 Vego is the beer guy, aren't you, Veegs? 1:21 Yeah, I like to try a lot of different kinds of beer. 1:34 I didn't think that they played particularly bad on Friday. 1:37 I mean, it wasn't a great game, but then in fact, I don't think either team necessarily played great on Saturday. 1:43 I think it was kind of a brutal all-around game, and just who was going to make more mistakes than the other team, so it wasn't a well-played weekend, and obviously it just kind of continues the negativity trip that we're all on. 1:56 Yes, the negativity is pretty bad. 1:57 The Wilds just got a touchdown scored against them. 2:00 I think the Gopher basketball team is losing right now. 2:03 The Timberwolves won tonight, so the negativity is not complete, because I know a lot of us care about the Timberwolves. 2:11 There's always the Gopher women hockey. 2:13 They had a win and a shootout win against Wisconsin. 2:16 You were there, weren't you? 2:17 I was, yeah. 2:18 I covered both of them. 2:19 Aren't you lucky? 2:21 I don't get to too many games. 2:22 I go over there once in a while. 2:23 You know, if it's pre-Gopher game, but that's about it, who knows. 2:27 Yeah, I recommend anybody if you get the chance to go out to Ritter. 2:31 You know, watching a game from the press area in Ritter, I don't think there's a better place to watch a game. 2:37 No, I love it. 2:38 The sight lines are second to none. 2:40 You're close to the ice. 2:42 You could hear all the communication because you're above it. 2:46 It's a fine place to watch a game. 2:49 Bitco thinks he wants to know what your guys' favorite color is. 2:52 So Bitco is listening. 2:56 Idiot Bulldogs asking favorite color. 2:58 Typical. 3:00 Well, Nate, what do you think is the problem going on with the Gophers here? 3:03 There are one... 3:06 Is it too many things? 3:08 Yeah, how much time do you have? 3:11 If it was one thing, it would be kind of easy. 3:13 I don't know. 3:15 I was just thinking about what the biggest frustration coming out of the weekend and as Hammy said, it was two different games. 3:24 But I think for me, the biggest frustration was the fact that they scored first in both and just weren't able to hold it, and especially throwing that together with the fact that Friday's game was a game that, for the most part, is a game that normally you expect Minnesota to win. 3:38 I know Michigan is doing really well right now, kind of coming off of this great home stretch at Yost, and it's a hard place to play. 3:46 But you get the five-minute major with Andrew Cobb getting kicked out for the horrible hit from behind on Rao. 3:54 You score twice on the major. 3:57 It kind of feels like the Gophers had a game against Alaska Anchorage a couple years ago, where the same thing happened, where they were down by one, they scored twice, and they go on to win. 4:07 It kind of felt like that. 4:08 And then just to come back the other way and give up the tying goal, and then losing overtime, just as the play did. 4:16 Veegs, I think personally that it's not just the defense that's having problems. 4:22 It's the whole team defense. 4:24 Forward's coming back, the defense playing bad, Wilcox not bailing him out. 4:29 It's kind of a group effort that I think is failing here. 4:31 What do you think? 4:33 Well, I think the goal is against, definitely. 4:35 Wilcox is not playing as well as he's played in the last two years. 4:40 If you want to be an All-American goaltender, you've got to come up with more saves than he's coming up with. 4:45 And while that's not happening, he is getting a lot of chances to make saves on odd man rushes, transition all the time, because it seems like there's a lack of back pressure. 4:56 If there's a turnover or puck battle loss, basically from the dots out, Minnesota's in trouble because they're not having the discipline to pick up a check, take it all the way back to the net, wait until you get the zone established before they kind of get back in that traditional wings high on the points coverage. 5:16 They're just lazily coming back, not getting body position, and it's costing them game after game, because they can out shoot whoever, but if they give up these easy goals, they're going to be in trouble. 5:29 Well, for me, it was... 5:31 I don't remember quite who pinched Friday night on that game-winning goal, but I know that Ambrose didn't stay with his man, and I made him the go-to-the-game because of it, because he has done nothing so far this year, and the fact that he didn't stay with his man and it contributed to the tying or the winning goal, that really pissed me off. 5:52 Yeah, it's frustrating. 5:53 I mean, these are guys who have the ability to do it. 5:57 It's not a talent issue. 5:59 It's not a system issue. 6:01 It's just an effort and discipline issue. 6:04 And unfortunately, I think Minnesota hockey fans are seeing this out of both teams, with the Gophers and the Wild, whereas guys just aren't finishing plays. 6:14 And until they start to pick that up, every little mistake is going to be magnified. 6:19 Hammy, do you have any thoughts? 6:23 Well, I mean, for me, the big thing is I thought that this weekend, I thought the defensive unit played poorly. 6:29 I thought Mike Riley didn't play particularly well, made some bad decisions. 6:33 I think some of the odd man rushes were, we get into our offensive zone, we turn the puck over, just above the faceoff circles, and then Michigan's not going the other direction on an odd man rush. 6:47 Just some poor decisions overall. 6:49 And of course, to make matters worse, Wilcox was channeling his inner Darcy Kemper. 6:59 It was one of those things where a lot of bad things were happening at once. 7:03 And even then, there were some bad bounces. 7:05 It was just a bad overall weekend. 7:08 I also think part of it is that last season, when those things happened, Wilcox bailed them out. 7:16 Obviously, he's not playing as well this year. 7:17 That's pretty clear. 7:19 I don't know what the issue is. 7:20 It's one of those cases. 7:23 We talked about it last week where guys return, but are their heads completely in that return? 7:30 Are they one foot out the door mentally because they almost left? 7:34 I don't know if that's the issue for him or any of the other guys that return, but I don't think that any of the guys that have returned that really had a chance to leave have been particularly great this year. 7:45 Nate, is this a coaching problem, you think? 7:48 I don't know if it's a coaching problem. 7:50 It's kind of hard to say on that end. 7:52 I do agree with the defense and I agree with Wilcox just not being that guy who's stepping up and making those big saves. 8:00 Minnesota this year is almost half a goal defensively more than they were last year. 8:08 But also, I can't think of the last big save that Wilcox has made. 8:13 I'm almost going back to that Bemidji one. 8:15 That's like what, third week of the season? 8:18 Yeah, like I said, he makes good saves, he makes good saves all over the place. 8:22 I tweeted that this past weekend. 8:23 But he's not making that key save at the key time when we need it. 8:28 Yeah, and it's almost to a point where we've kind of taken it for granted that he's going to step up and do that. 8:35 And you kind of wonder if the defense has done the same where they're able to take those extra chances and try to make something happen and know that Wilcox is there to stop the 2-on-1, the 3-on-2, the 4-on-2 or whatever that tying Michigan goal was on Friday. 8:54 Bidko thinks Rao's leadership seems to be pretty crappy. 8:59 Care to comment on that? 9:00 He's a guy, he's not really taking, he's not taking much. 9:05 I mean, even when things are kind of looking well, he seems like he's still trying to get him to play better and I don't know. 9:10 You know, one thing that I remember from the Rao of old is that he would go out there and crack some skulls a little bit, get a big hit, and I just haven't seen that this year. 9:19 Anybody? 9:20 Well, I mean, that's like I said, I don't know mentally when you return from almost leaving, you know, are you there? 9:27 Are you really committed to bringing everything you've got to that effort? 9:31 But I thought it was unfinished business, Hammy. 9:33 Well, I'm just saying, you could talk about it, but it's a matter of following through with how you're playing. 9:39 And I don't know, I don't think that any of the guys that had a chance to leave, you know, have come back and at least met expectations. 9:48 I don't think Riley has. 9:49 I don't think Rao has been great. 9:51 Certainly Wilcox hasn't been up to snuff. 9:54 I don't think, you know, any of those guys have really been great. 9:56 So, you know, Shade has been dinged up a little bit, so maybe it's not entirely fair to judge him. 10:01 But, you know, I just don't think that any of those guys have really kind of stepped up to the way we thought they would. 10:08 Another question via Twitter. 10:09 I'm not going to try to announce his last name, but GopherGolfer wants to know, how is it conceivable with Genzel and the talent of players, could their neutral zone coverage be so awful? 10:20 What do you think, Veegs? 10:22 Well, I think it's an attention to detail that they're just looking past. 10:27 I think in the first half of the season, I think a lot of the attention was paid to getting the power play going, fixing the penalty kill, and to score five on five. 10:38 I think that's where everybody was concerned were the initial issues. 10:42 And now this last stretch of seven games, I think, or eight games now, the problem has been attention to detail on decisions at the blue lines, decisions on the breakout, and then effort on the back check. 10:56 So I think it's probably gotten to the point where they just kind of got away with not paying attention to that stuff, and now it's raising up. 11:05 I do think Gensel is a great defensive mind, a great defensive coach. 11:09 He's proven that he's been able to develop elite defensemen. 11:13 I think the message is just still getting through. 11:15 I think you look at the defensive core of this team, you've got Mike Riley, Ben Marshall, Brady Shea. 11:24 They're experienced guys, but everybody else is kind of learning their way as they go, and I think that's hurting them. 11:31 And I see, this is where I think the team defense has been failing them, the back pressure, the forwards coming back, and like I said, Wilcox, it's not just the defense, Veegs. 11:43 Yeah, it's definitely team defense on a lot of stuff, where there's just not enough guys coming back, picking up checks. 11:49 I mean, that's obvious, but I do think it's a little bit of the youth. 11:53 I think Mike Riley's trying to make a little too much happen this year. 11:56 He's trying to take that step from what he was last year to something more. 12:00 And I think it's creating some problems for him, managing his shifts and making the right decisions rather than trying to push himself. 12:10 And they've just got to figure out how to push their game. 12:15 Remember, you can always tweet us while we're doing this podcast. 12:20 You know, you say 9 p.m. 12:21 on Wednesday nights usually, but just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll see your questions and try to get them answered unless you're being a smartass like Bidco. 12:30 But that's just the way it goes. 12:32 Nate? 12:34 Yeah? 12:35 Are they going to make the tournament? 12:39 They're on the border right now. 12:40 The question you have to ask is kind of concerning. 12:44 They're dropping like a rock. 12:48 I always thought that this stretch was going to be a big one for them because they had two good teams in the Mariucci Classic, in Merrimack and Lowell. 12:56 They didn't play Lowell. 12:57 They're heading to Michigan, which is probably going to be the toughest Big Ten series. 13:04 You got Wisconsin at home, which I know we'll talk about Wisconsin later and everything, but they're still your big rival. 13:09 And then you got the North Star with another game. 13:12 You have Minnesota State, who right now is the top team in the nation in the pairwise. 13:17 And I guess I think they're in the rankings too, right? 13:22 They are for the first time, yes. 13:23 All right, they are for the first time. 13:24 But yeah, though, so you have that and Minnesota was possibly two tough games in that one. 13:30 And I feel like that's an anchoring stretch where you're going to find out much about yourself and you're going to find more about yourself. 13:36 And it's unfortunate for Minnesota and the Gophers that their Big Ten is down this year and they're not going to get as much help in conference play. 13:43 More than any of the six teams, they did help themselves out non-conference some, but I mean... 13:50 Well, it's going to be key next weekend. 13:51 I think they're on the border right now and if the season ended, they'd be out without the conference tournament is really concerning. 14:01 Well, like I said, that's going to make next weekend just huge. 14:03 You know, you're going to play number one Mankato, and if you lose that, that's going to kill you pairwise more. 14:08 And ideally, they want to play Mankato and Duluth next weekend. 14:15 Ideally. 14:15 And do well. 14:17 If they don't, they're in trouble. 14:19 No, right now, I mean, if they don't, it's the last games. 14:23 It's pretty much it's those. 14:24 And if Michigan continues to play well, those are the only two games against teams in the top 20 remaining. 14:30 So I don't I wouldn't say it's I wouldn't I wouldn't say that I'm concerned that they aren't going to make this tournament, but it is a point where you have to look yourself in the mirror. 14:41 Like, you're not going to know that this is rock bottom until after the fact. 14:44 If it is, in fact, rock bottom or continuing to go on. 14:48 But it's the fact that we're getting in fact, we're talking about the not making the tournament, which if somebody said this were to be doing this at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't believe them. 14:58 Hammy, do they make the tourney? 15:01 Well, if they continue to play like they've been playing, no, they're not going to make the tourney. 15:06 That's just the reality of it. 15:07 I think that you have some situations with players that aren't really living up to their past performance levels. 15:16 And I think that you have some guys that, the only guy that I really think has been above my expectations has been Connor Riley. 15:26 So, I mean, other than that, I don't know that anybody's really played particularly great this year. 15:31 So, I don't really think if they continue down the same path, they're not going to make it. 15:36 I would agree. 15:37 I would agree. 15:38 It's not looking good, Veegs. 15:39 The fans are getting pissed. 15:41 Well, they are getting pissed. 15:42 I mean, we're not used to seeing this program lose this kind of games, you know. 15:49 People have high expectations. 15:51 I don't think they've actually played any real clunkers this season other than that game at St. 15:57 Cloud and then that home game with Duluth. 16:00 I think those have been only the two nights where you've just seen really poor effort, really poor decision making and a total departure from the game. 16:08 I think in these recent games here, you know, you're seeing mistakes. 16:12 You're not seeing just complete bombs of games like the Wild against Dallas, the Wild against Pittsburgh. 16:19 You know, they're in these games. 16:21 So I think that there is something there for them to turn around. 16:24 I think having Boyd and Shea back in the lineup, I think that's going to help. 16:29 The long break probably hurt them a little bit and they got off their games. 16:32 I know they didn't practice a lot during that stretch and Lucia actually told the guys to stay off the ice. 16:37 Maybe that was a mistake, but I think they can turn it around. 16:43 Well, let's hope so. 16:45 I mean, it's not looking good right now. 16:47 And, you know, I put up that poll on GPL earlier this week, you know, should Lucia be canned if they don't make the tournament? 16:53 And it sparked quite a debate on GPL, Hammeh. 16:59 Well, yeah, I mean, I know you probably don't agree, but, you know, I'm just trying to go with the emotions here and see what the fans are thinking. 17:07 And they're pissed. 17:09 I'm sorry, but they're pissed. 17:11 Well, I know that you like to stoke things a little bit. 17:14 So, you know, honestly, for me, I just my big concern right now is I don't want any kind of conflict among the coaching to cost us Gensel. 17:23 I mean, to me, that's my biggest concern. 17:27 I think that if anybody ends up leaving, it would be him, you know, because I doubt Lucia is going to like suddenly lose favor among the administrators in the athletic department. 17:39 And, you know, Patoni is kind of tied to the hip of Lucia because he's sort of I mean, let's face it, Lucia essentially changed some of the job description and what the requirements were just so Grant could, you know, be an assistant coach at the U, adding that, you know, five years of playing experience in the pros or whatever. 17:58 You know, and it's no big shocker that in the past Lucia and Gensel didn't see eye to eye and I've heard, you know, some things behind the scenes that it's not all great this year. 18:08 And so that's my big concern because quite frankly, I have more faith in Gensel than I do any of the other coaches down there. 18:17 He's passionate. 18:18 He's, you know, a former player that's got a lot of coaching experience and to lose him and his ability to recruit, I think that would be a big blow. 18:29 So that's really my concern right now from a long term perspective. 18:33 Well, Hammeh, winning can solve a lot of those problems. 18:37 Well, I don't doubt that. 18:38 But the thing is, is that it's not up to the, you know, that's sort of the thing. 18:42 That's the thing I've been frustrated a little bit with the players is that it doesn't matter if your coaches get along or it doesn't matter if you like your head coach or whatever, you know, you might feel. 18:52 It's do you like your teammates? 18:53 And everything I've heard is that the guys get along perfectly fine, you know, they get along great. 18:58 And so to me, it's like look around the locker room. 19:00 Those are the guys you want to win for, you know, those are your buddies. 19:03 And when you're not bringing it, you're not just hurting yourself, but you're hurting your buddies. 19:07 And so that's what's frustrated me that they haven't really brought that to the table, you know, no matter what's happening elsewhere. 19:14 Yeah, I think that's a really key point. 19:16 I mean, these players need to figure out that they're playing for each other and for, you know, pride for being a part of the program. 19:23 You know, they don't have to light their coaches. 19:26 I mean, I had one of my coaches tell me I'm not here to be your friend, you know, and that's that's true. 19:32 They're there to win and get the best out of you and get the best performance. 19:37 Richard Sherman this week, he said, you know, if a guy's not performing, we make sure he gets the message. 19:43 You know, it doesn't always have to be the coach to get guys in line. 19:47 And I think one of the issues is maybe the leaders on this team are kind of quiet, lead by their action type players. 19:55 You know, there isn't a real vocal guy and, you know, someone's going to have to develop that voice in the locker room here in the next two months. 20:03 Well, I think the other thing is, other than Rao, the guys in the leadership roles aren't exactly kicking ass this year. 20:08 I mean, Ambrose certainly, he's been a disappointment to me. 20:11 Marshall, you know, I mean, he's been up and down. 20:13 He hasn't been great. 20:16 So, I mean, I just think it's hard to really be the Rao Rao guy if you're not yourself performing, you know, really great hockey out there. 20:25 Well, it's going to be an interesting few weeks, I tell you that. 20:27 I mean, you know, you've got a rival coming into town in Wisconsin that's been playing terrible. 20:34 I mean, we haven't seen this kind of bad team from Wisconsin in a long time. 20:41 And really, the expectations are, you need to sweep these guys. 20:45 Anything less than that, and it's just going to keep, pressure is going to keep mounting. 20:50 And you're going to start hearing more about those coach problems or player problems. 20:54 And why aren't you winning? 20:55 So we're going to find out pretty soon here, guys. 21:00 And it's going to start this weekend. 21:01 Nate, this weekend, Badgers coming into town. 21:05 What do you think? 21:06 Is it do or die for the Gophers? 21:09 I hate to say that you need to have a must-win, but they need to have a better performance than they did. 21:14 And I almost think that they have to win both games. 21:18 Just both for the sake of you can't lose more ground pairwise, and also they kind of just need those one-two wins that both Hammy and Vegoe were talking about to get that momentum rolling, to get that winning mentality back in. 21:32 I spoke with Coach Patoni for a piece on Connor Riley and his mental work that he was working on. 21:41 He's kind of been one of the few guys doing well, and he basically said something along the lines of that one guy can do well, can do important, and obviously having just a couple guys doing well and a couple wins will help for success. 21:54 And I don't know, I think it's fair on that end. 21:58 Well, I think this is a weekend for Ambrose to wake up. 22:00 He seems to have done well against the Badgers in the past, and Veegs, we need him to come back. 22:07 Pop in a couple goals this weekend. 22:09 Just get some of that confidence going. 22:11 Crack some skulls. 22:12 Do something, Veegs. 22:14 Yeah, I mean, we definitely need Boyd and Ambrose to find their game, because we need some veteran players to step it up. 22:21 And I don't know who's going to be on that line with them, if it's going to be Latterri, if it's going to be Bristad, if it could be someone like Fasching, but I think Lucia needs to find someone to get those guys going. 22:33 And back to Nate's article, I think Connor Riley needs to get that psychologist's phone number to everybody else on the team, so they can start getting some text messages to kind of bump up that confidence. 22:46 I almost asked my friend myself. 22:48 It's working that well. 22:51 One thing that frustrated me is that you've got this speed line of camaraderie, clues and warning, Hammy, and it just doesn't seem like they're taking that speed to their advantage. 23:03 These guys should be flying out there and I'm just not seeing it. 23:11 To me, probably one of the biggest disappointments has been Hammy this year. 23:14 I mean, the guys... 23:15 He's not scoring. 23:16 Yeah, I mean, he's had a history wherever he's gone of being a scorer. 23:20 I mean, not just a setup guy, but also scoring goals, and it's just not happening. 23:25 And I don't know. 23:26 I'm not down in a locker room. 23:28 I don't know what's going on all the time with those guys, but I don't think that I've ever questioned clues in terms of his effort. 23:34 I think that he's usually not that he plays great every game, but I think the effort is typically there. 23:40 Warning, we all know, has been streaky throughout his college career. 23:43 So it's sort of, you know, that he is what he is in that sense. 23:48 I think they kind of miss, you know, Condon's effort and what he kind of brought to that line last year. 23:56 You got to adjust. 23:57 You lose players every year that are keys to your team. 24:00 This is when these guys like a warning, like a camaraderie, this is their chance to step up and take over those roles. 24:07 And it's just not happening. 24:09 Well, I mean, I think my point is that sometimes that upsets the chemistry that you have from one year to the next because, you know, guys just fit in better together. 24:18 I mean, I don't want to say it's warning's fault because certainly when Cammie hasn't played nearly as well, you know, it's not just one guy. 24:27 But I just think that there's something missing there. 24:30 I don't know if it's just mental toughness. 24:31 I don't know if it's focus. 24:33 I don't know what it is. 24:34 But it just he hasn't been bringing it for whatever reason. 24:37 Veegs, I think that nine line needs to put on the Rockets and just skate around these people. 24:42 Yeah, I mean, Clues, he gets so many goals in transition. 24:45 You know, you almost want them, if they don't have a good entry into the zone, just reset and try to get some speed to come back in the zone. 24:53 I mean, Camerata is not the shooter on that line. 24:55 I think he's averaging just barely over a shot a game. 24:58 You know, they're trying to get the puck to Clues and, you know, his most effective skill is speed and transition and getting guys flat footed and getting into the net. 25:08 You know, they need to find a way to generate some speed behind the puck on that line. 25:13 Well, I have heard Pat Michaletti say in the past that he really thinks Camerata needs to shoot a lot more. 25:19 Yeah, well, he's not. 25:20 He's got one goal in the air. 25:22 He's hardly got any shots. 25:24 So he's obviously not making an effort to shoot. 25:27 You know, a guy that's skilled on the puck, if he really puts his mind to it, there's no reason he can't have two, three shots every night. 25:35 It's frustrating, Nate. 25:36 It's frustrating. 25:39 It is. 25:39 Then again, it's still better than Wisconsin at the moment. 25:43 Well, everyone's better than Wisconsin. 25:46 I mean, Wisconsin had a nice break Friday night when their goalie basically scored an own goal for them to make it 3-1, and they still screwed the pooch and lost it. 26:00 Yeah, it feels like the Badgers, in some sense, they're starting to find themselves a little bit. 26:07 They got the win against Michigan Tech. 26:09 They played well the one night against P2. 26:11 After getting killed and embarrassed the night before. 26:15 Yeah, I did. 26:15 I spoke with Grant Bessey and Kevin Schultz for another story, and yeah, they both were not happy about that Michigan Tech loss. 26:26 They went out of their way to say that. 26:27 It was pretty embarrassing. 26:31 I mean, that's bad. 26:32 At the same time, for the Badgers, they're trying to reinvent themselves, have 2015 be a new beginning in the Big Ten play. 26:39 They're still trying to get the 13 or so freshmen in the lab to come together. 26:45 But I think if they're trying to get a new beginning, Minnesota just doesn't have to reinvent themselves, but they have to find themselves more than anything. 26:55 Hammie, who do we need to worry about from the Badgers? 27:00 Well, have you seen their record? 27:02 Do you really have anybody to worry about? 27:05 There seems to be always somebody who's a no-name that just does well against us. 27:10 Well, I will say that, I mean, they're a young team, so obviously it's kind of early to judge any of that. 27:16 I think that they do have veteran goalie, so I mean, I think that that's always something that you kind of look at as saying, well, that's going to be a potential equalizer, especially when Wilcox has been playing like garbage or at least not nearly as good as he can. 27:30 And, you know, is that going to be the difference? 27:33 Because I don't think that Wisconsin is going to be going around outscoring the Gophers, you know, as far as, or out-chancing them, I should say. 27:40 But, you know, you never know if the goalie is just going to stand on his head and be the difference maker that steals a game or whatever. 27:47 So I think that that's the one thing that I would probably look at most is, you know, are they going to have just an outstanding performance in goal and maybe we just get kind of the same of what we've been seeing of late in goal and that could be the difference, so. 27:59 A question just popped up via Twitter by John Reynolds. 28:04 They, meaning the team, seem to lack grit and role players. 28:08 Can you comment on that as well as what he perceives as the recruiting mix issue? 28:14 Hammeh, we don't really have these role guys. 28:18 Is this a recruiting problem? 28:20 Well, I mean, I think part of it is if you look at who we have playing in some of these kinds of roles, you have. 28:29 You have somebody like a Michelson who was. 28:33 These guys weren't really at least initially brought in to be those kind of grinder types that are real physical and whatever. 28:39 And they just sort of migrated in that role because of the fact that they've just been kind of. 28:43 Terrible. 28:44 Horse crap in other areas. 28:45 And so it's sort of like by default, you put the guys that maybe you think, well, maybe they can transition into that. 28:52 And some guys can, you know, they are capable of that, but other guys just are not capable of making that transition. 28:57 And I think that that's kind of what we're seeing with some of these guys is that they're just not, you know, wired to play. 29:02 I mean, we talked about it last week, even though, you know, physicality, it's just a mental thing. 29:07 It's not that you, you know, suddenly can't be a physical player. 29:11 I mean, it's just a matter of do you have the energy and the desire to be that kind of a guy? 29:15 And some guys just aren't wired that way. 29:17 And I think that some of these guys we have in that kind of a role right now just aren't wired to be that kind of a player. 29:23 Whereas, in the past, you had a condon or you had a serratory, you know, guys like that that, you know, could do different things. 29:31 But they, for certain, they could be physical and they could, you know, play some defensive hockey. 29:36 And I just don't really see that. 29:38 And I know that, you know, I don't think they really ever recruit guys other than maybe a rare occasion here or there to specifically play, you know, that kind of defensive minded physical type of a role. 29:50 I think that, you know, they try to find players that have that skill, but also maybe some of the flexibility to eventually end up in that if they need to. 29:58 And sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. 30:01 Now, Veegs, I think this physicality, grit and role players is a perfect position for somebody like an Ambrose this weekend to come out like he does against the Badgers and play well and show that type of play. 30:14 Yeah, I mean, he's done it before. 30:16 I just think it's been a little bit difficult for them because they haven't been in a lot of situations where they've been able to play a physical game either because they're a step slow or they're a step behind or they're trying to chip it out of their end and then get off the ice. 30:33 So I think it's definitely got to be a mindset for guys like Boyd and Ambrose. 30:38 I know Connor Riley can play that game as well. 30:41 He's shown it in the past. 30:43 You know, those guys can send the message and change the energy a little bit. 30:47 Nate, they're going to need that kind of grit this weekend because even though the Badgers stink, they still play a defensive game that frustrates the Gophers. 30:56 They do. 30:56 And the fact that they're playing at Minnesota and they're playing Minnesota. 31:01 I mean, that's not enough to get up and want to have a win. 31:05 I don't really know what is, but yeah, they're going to have to play. 31:09 They're going to have to get something dirty, going dirty, which I mean, they kind of started to have it a little bit in the Michigan series. 31:19 It was missing for the most part at the Classic, but if there's any weekend, they're going to have to try to get those dirty tip-ins or rebounds or whatever. 31:28 It's going to have to be against Wisconsin, just especially if they get the Badgers have to lead. 31:34 They're going to sit back. 31:35 They're going to do whatever they can. 31:36 We've seen that in the past. 31:38 Oh, they're going to try to put everybody to sleep in the arena. 31:41 It's possible until Nate Schmidt comes and wakes them up. 31:45 Sorry, Nate Schmidt's not here anymore. 31:47 This is why we need Ambrose. 31:49 He did it last year. 31:51 A nice overtime winner. 31:53 It's time for him to wake up. 31:54 Come on, Ambrose. 31:55 We need you. 31:57 That's basically what it is. 31:59 We need you. 31:59 You scored a goal on Saturday. 32:02 Keep it going. 32:04 We need you, man. 32:05 Now is the time. 32:08 Fashing needs to step it up, too, physically. 32:11 I mean, not that he's played terrible, but he's not producing the way that I thought he would this year. 32:15 Well, he doesn't have Larkin with him. 32:18 Yeah, well, one thing we can definitely say is that I don't really think that anybody's going to be rushing to sign him after this season, the way things are going. 32:26 Although he did have a good World Juniors, which a lot of people saw. 32:32 So the potential is there. 32:34 He did. 32:35 So you know what? 32:36 He's got to bring that to this game here and now. 32:39 He does. 32:40 He does. 32:40 Yeah, like he played great at the World Juniors. 32:43 I saw something in the Buffalo News the other day that the Sabres GM was praising his World Junior game, but at the same time, his game against the World Juniors and playing against people his age isn't the same that we've seen for much of the last few months at the college level. 32:59 Well, I still think the World Juniors is, you know, the team play is less there than, I would say, a team that's together all the time. 33:07 There's a lot more individual play, I would say. 33:10 Yeah, there's a lot of skill. 33:15 It's a lot easier to, if you want just 12 grade forwards, you can roll four lines. 33:19 You're not going to have that kind of depth at the NHL level to be able to do it. 33:23 It's very hard to do it in college. 33:25 Where, I mean, if you get a good top nine going, you're above most teams. 33:32 I do think the interesting thing with Fasting in the World Junior Tournament, though, was that they praised his entire line in the last two tournaments. 33:42 You know, it's not just him with his individual skill, like Eichel was getting praise for his individual skill, Auston Matthews' individual skill. 33:50 Fasting, it was his line that was being really productive. 33:54 And so that's kind of a unique thing coming out of that tournament. 33:57 You know, it says, you know, he's got potential to be on a line if his line mates support him. 34:03 Because he's going to be in the corner working to find pox and stuffing it at the net. 34:08 You know, I think he just needs a little more help from his line mates. 34:11 And that's what they mentioned that during the tournament, you know, saying that that's why he likes playing with Rao, because it reminds him of Larkin or I believe or something along those lines. 34:20 I'm like, OK, well, let's start seeing it, dude. 34:24 And in fairness, I do think that that line's probably been the best one recently for the Gophers. 34:29 Yeah. 34:32 Something's going to start happening. 34:35 That's all I care about. 34:36 You know, I mean, the fans are starting to get pissed. 34:37 This team is, you know, coming off a national championship game, bringing back the whole team. 34:43 Lucia's got to get these guys together, whether it's through him, through Gensel, through Patolny. 34:49 Get these guys together or something's got to happen, Hammey. 34:54 Yeah. 34:54 Well, I mean, somebody's got to light a fire. 34:56 And I don't know, you know, I'm not optimistic that something's going to magically just happen. 35:01 I just think that it's hard to buy into that, you know, there's going to be like this magical weekend that just turns everything around. 35:08 I just I'm not saying it's impossible. 35:10 But for me, you kind of have to look at the body language going on. 35:14 You have to look at the guy's faces. 35:16 You just have to see how things are. 35:17 And just the things that I hear, I mean, I'm just not optimistic that it's going to be a sudden turnaround this year. 35:23 I think that, you know, maybe we squeak into the tournament, you know, and you never know when you get those one and done situations. 35:30 Maybe you get hot and win a couple games and surprise people. 35:33 But, you know, and certainly this team has the firepower if they're, you know, hitting on all cylinders to do some real damage. 35:40 But it's just right now, the way things have been going, hard to envision that. 35:44 Veegs, I think we can get this turnaround started. 35:48 And it could be as simple as a couple big saves from Wilcox. 35:52 If that kid can get some confidence back, that team defense starts to get their confidence back, it could be a domino effect. 35:59 I mean, that's what we really have to hope for now. 36:02 Yeah, a shutout would be great to see. 36:04 You know, he's had almost as many shutouts as any go forever. 36:08 And I think if he can find that game and give them some confidence again, and now they're not second-guessing when to pinch, when to pressure, you know, maybe that will help their game a little bit. 36:19 Because they definitely do look cautious in trying to force the game lately, and that's been what's costed them. 36:26 Hammey, John Reynolds has another question. 36:29 Any updates on Brock Boser? 36:32 Besser? 36:33 Sorry. 36:38 That's all right. 36:39 All is quiet. 36:40 What's that? 36:40 All is quiet. 36:42 Yeah, I mean, I don't think that we'll hear something, I think, in a relative... 36:45 I mean, we're getting kind of late in the game, but we've got February coming up here pretty soon, and I'm sure that that will be a decision that will be made relatively soon. 36:53 It's like I said last week, everybody that I've talked to feels pretty confident that the Gophers will be the end, you know, will be the choice in the end. 37:03 That's not to say that I would etch that in stone, but I think that everybody feels pretty confident about that. 37:10 So, I mean, we are talking about a young guy, and you can never, of course, with teenagers, etch anything in stone until they write it on that LOI. 37:18 But I think that everything I've heard is pretty good. 37:22 Is he visiting this weekend? 37:25 I've heard that bantied about. 37:26 I haven't personally, I mean, I haven't asked that to anybody. 37:29 I mean, I could find that out, but I haven't asked about it, to be honest. 37:34 Do they do the official visits like they do for football, where they have special enticing visiting things happening, or is it more of an unofficial visit? 37:45 No, it's not quite obviously as glorious as it is for the football guys that probably get wined and dined because that's the big money sport. 37:52 But, you know, it's pretty typical. 37:54 You go into the game, go into the locker room, get shown around. 37:58 Certainly, you get some of the tour of the campus with, you know, I don't know what programs you might be interested in. 38:05 Like, if you went to the Carlson School, you know, you're going to get shown around that and, you know, talked about what opportunities you have academically and so on and so forth. 38:13 So, I mean, it's your basic stuff, but it's not like... 38:17 They're not going to Manny's and ordering two filets. 38:20 Well, I mean, you know, it's just one of those things where, yeah, these guys don't get kind of wined and dined quite like they do for football. 38:26 Well, you know, we do see it quite a few times a year. 38:29 We'll see Petonele come down with a young kid and he'll have his parents with them and they go down to the game, you know, the locker room after the game. 38:36 And so you do see it, but who knows what's actually happening. 38:42 So, Nate, were you at the media day today? 38:45 I was not because they have it tomorrow. 38:48 Oh, I keep thinking it's Wednesday. 38:51 Well, because Tim Hapke wants to know if anyone knows anything on Brudzinski's injury. 38:57 I listened to Lucia's radio show yesterday and it sounded like he was optimistic that Brudzinski would play this weekend. 39:08 It is something that either I or somebody else will probably ask tomorrow. 39:13 But I don't know. 39:19 We just don't know yet. 39:21 Or someone steals it. 39:22 Does anyone know what his injury was? 39:25 No, he left Saturday's game the first or something. 39:33 I watched Saturday's game after the fact because I was covering the women. 39:37 Yeah, I know. 39:39 I was watching that game too. 39:42 It was a very entertaining game. 39:44 It reminded me of the old days when you'd watch the Gophers on tape delay. 39:49 Oh, don't start that. 39:51 Don't start that. 39:52 It used to happen all the time. 39:55 Oh, I know. 39:56 It was quite often. 39:57 People forget. 39:58 I actually don't mind the weird times. 40:00 I don't know why people freak out about them. 40:03 So there are strange times. 40:04 Who cares? 40:05 We're hockey fans. 40:06 We yearn for the days of old. 40:08 I know, but jeez, this is not MSC anymore, people. 40:14 Things have changed. 40:16 All right, Veegs, this weekend, do they sweep or are we going to be disappointed? 40:22 I'm thinking sweep. 40:23 I think Yves has got a young group of kids who will be thrust into hopefully a Gopher team that's motivated and looking to prove something. 40:32 And I think they're going to pull out two sweeps. 40:35 I think we'll see a shutout this weekend, too. 40:38 OK, Nate, what's your call? 40:41 You know, I don't really want to say sweep, but I'm kind of leaning towards that. 40:45 I think one of the games is going to be really close and they're going to have to fight their way through it. 40:51 But yeah, I can definitely I can see him sweep. 40:54 I can see him sweep or win in tie and go to the shootout. 40:58 Are they going to win the shootout, though? 41:00 Oh, no. 41:01 Oh, I found out this weekend, but the Gopher women had the same issue with the shootout that the men do, which I'm kind of interested in. 41:09 It was the first time they won a shootout in like three years. 41:11 They lost about four or five in a row, too. 41:13 Ouch. 41:15 Hammy, will the fans be pissed off at the end of this weekend or won't they? 41:20 I think that they'll be unhappy because I believe that we'll end up with a win and a tie. 41:26 And I think that nobody likes to win. 41:28 You know, everybody is going to want to sweep because it's Wisconsin number one and number two. 41:33 They suck and number three. 41:35 Everybody is already frustrated. 41:36 So I think that, but I think it's going to be a win and a tie. 41:42 Well, I'm going to be Mr. 41:43 Positive. 41:43 I'm going to say sweep. 41:48 I just, we got to do something, guys. 41:49 Come on. 41:51 Time's running out. 41:52 We got to get this thing rolling sometime because if it, if it doesn't start rolling, it's going to start rolling downhill and it's going to get ugly. 41:59 So, you guys got anything else you want to talk about today? 42:02 I think we're going to spend a lot of the rest of the season bitching about what's wrong. 42:07 Oh, yeah. 42:07 Well, that's my personal belief. 42:12 You could be right. 42:13 Every week is going to be a different rant. 42:15 I didn't have a rant this week, but that's because we have a guest. 42:18 If we didn't have a guest, I'd rant. 42:19 Well, maybe you could save it for next week if, if, you know, they get split or get swept or something like that. 42:26 Can you imagine the complete GPL Maltout month if they get swept next weekend? 42:29 Whoo. 42:31 That's not going to happen. 42:32 Don't even go there. 42:37 Vegoe's famous last words. 42:38 Yeah, we'll see. 42:40 Although I will say Abrasive comes out this week for all the Surly fans, you know, to throw in some beer. 42:45 So it's not all bad. 42:48 Yeah. 42:49 And if they do get swept, I mean, necessarily Beer Hall is not that far from Mary Uchee. 42:54 And they'll probably have Abrasive on tap. 42:57 And it's an early game Saturday, so plenty of time to hang out there till 11. 43:02 Yeah, we tend to go to the bar on Hockey Day, Minnesota, and watch the Wild Game and make fun of, you know, Anthony LaPenta. 43:12 But that's just the way it is. 43:15 Nate, thanks for joining us again. 43:18 Well, thanks for having me. 43:19 It's always a pleasure to talk to you guys on this podcast and in real life. 43:23 Well, that's always great to have you. 43:25 Remember, you can follow Nate on Twitter, at Gopher State, and he's always writing for SB Nation College Hockey, right? 43:32 Yep, I'm there. 43:33 You're all over the place. 43:34 You are all over the place. 43:37 Yeah, it's probably best just to follow me on Twitter, because then you get all of it. 43:40 I have a piece coming out for the Minnesota Wild at some point this week. 43:45 I probably have other stuff. 43:46 It's probably negative though, isn't it? 43:49 No, actually it's about the Badgers. 43:52 Nate's selling hope. 43:55 God, we got to sell something. 43:57 Well, thanks for being with us anyway. 44:01 And you can always follow Vegoe on Twitter as well, at eVegoe, and Hammy's always talking about recruits, and tonight he's bitching about the wild, right, Hammy? 44:12 I'm not bitching about them because I just saved myself the pain of even watching them. 44:17 You can follow him at Hammy Hockey on Twitter. 44:20 We'll be back next week to recap the Badger Series and preview the North Star Cup and that big matchup with Mankato, number one Mankato. 44:31 Oh, things have changed. 44:33 We'll see you next week.