0:15 This is The GPL Podcast. 0:22 Now, let's join Tami, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:35 Hello, and welcome to the GPL Podcast. 0:38 We're back here for another week of another disappointing season. 0:42 I'm kidding, folks. 0:44 Well, yeah, it's disappointing, but that's just the way it goes. 0:47 Tonight, we have a special guest. 0:49 Joining us from the BigTen Network is Rick Pizzo. 0:53 Rick, thank you for joining us. 0:56 Gentlemen, it is my pleasure. 0:57 I am always blown away. 0:59 It's so impressed by the passion of Gopher fans. 1:02 And I think sometimes when seasons aren't going the way that most people expect them to be the passionate scene even more so. 1:09 And obviously, that's been the case this year. 1:12 To say the least, you know, they came in number one or number one for about the first month. 1:18 And since then, it's been all downhill, Rick. 1:21 Yeah, I got to tell you, I've been saying over and over again for about a month and a half that I think this team, the following weekend is going to get ready to turn the corner, whether it was at the Mariucci or whether it was a series against Wisconsin or whether it was Michigan or whether it was the North Star College Cup. 1:37 I mean, so many opportunities to kind of find that next gear and get back to being the team that made the national championship game a year ago. 1:45 And I try to keep putting my finger on it. 1:47 And it seems like every game, it's something different that doesn't work out the way that the Gophers needed to. 1:53 That is an understatement. 1:55 It's been getting ugly with the fans. 1:58 And I'm thinking it's getting ugly with the players as well. 2:01 Before we get any further, though, I need to thank you, though, Rick. 2:05 You know, last year, you came to my website and asked the fans, you know, what do they think about the broadcast and what are we doing right? 2:13 What are we doing wrong? 2:14 And the fans really appreciate that you have come to us asking, you know, for advice and tips and things like that. 2:21 So thank you from the fans. 2:24 Yeah, it was my pleasure. 2:26 I mean, listen, we know that we do not do anything or everything perfectly. 2:30 And the truth of the matter is, it was a new venture for us. 2:33 And we had carried some hockey games before, but we had never done it. 2:36 Like we tried to do it last year for the first time with the Frozen Fridays. 2:40 And, you know, we're bringing in some people that did not have a ton of familiarity with BigTen Hockey or with Gopher Hockey. 2:46 And so they made some mistakes along the way. 2:48 And we're just kind of hoping and my thought was reaching out to some of the fans that they could let me know when some mistakes were made and I can pass it along. 2:56 I mean, as I try to tell the people that I correspond with on the site that there are a lot of decisions that are made that are above my pay grade. 3:04 I'm the guy who just gets up there and talks about them, but I can pass them along and some of them hopefully will be addressed. 3:09 Some of them won't be. 3:11 Well, one thing that happened as well is obviously the BigTen Network kind of took over a lot of the television from what we used to get, you know, compared to Fox, and this also coincided with the end of the WCHA as we knew it. 3:25 So the fans were already angry in the first place, and then you kind of put the BigTen Network on top of that, and you know, us college hockey fans, we can get a little bit moody. 3:37 We've been spoiled. 3:39 Hey, listen, I know first and foremost, I'm a hockey player myself. 3:44 I've played through college, certainly not at that level, but I understand what the tradition of the game is about and how traditional hockey fans are about their sport. 3:54 Or crazy. 3:55 Or crazy, but crazy in a good way, seriously. 4:01 So you want to talk about crazy and superstition. 4:03 I mean, I never changed a routine ever heading into a game. 4:06 So I understand how hard it is to change routines, and not only do you leave the W, but you leave the voices and the channel that you're familiar with watching it on, and then you're told, well, not only are you going to go to a different channel, but you're going to play in a completely different league. 4:20 You're going to leave behind some of your greatest all-time rivals. 4:22 You're no longer going to be in a conference with a lot of the teams in your state and the North Dakotas of the world who you've loved to hate for so long. 4:30 And then on top of that, we're going to change the start times of your games. 4:33 We're going to move them back so we can have double headers. 4:36 We're going to move some on Thursdays, some on Sundays, now less than most people believe was going to happen. 4:41 But still, I understood every reason why people were concerned, and I just wanted folks to understand that give us a chance, and we'll have the opportunity to probably bring you more hockey than you would have ever seen before. 4:55 And in standalone windows where you're never going to compete, listen, we can't bring North Dakota back into the Big Ten. 5:00 We can't bring some of these Minnesota schools into the Big Ten. 5:03 All we can do is try to put the best product on the air that we can whenever the Gophers play. 5:09 Well, one thing I think the fans do appreciate is that there are a couple guys out there, like you, who are hockey guys. 5:16 College hockey guys. 5:17 I mean, you've got somebody like a Butcher Gross with ESPN. 5:21 Sure. 5:22 I mean, for the small hockey community, let me tell you, we appreciate our voice out there. 5:30 You know, and I appreciated somebody posted on your site on GPL last week after I got finished with the pre and post game with Paul Cappenegri, a guy who played at Ohio State in the early 2000s, how much they enjoyed watching Cappy because he's not a guy who's out there to be bombastic or make crazy claims or get noticed. 5:48 He literally comes into the studio after working a Monday through Friday day job because he likes to talk about college hockey and he knows the game. 5:55 And to me, those are the guys that I hope that we're able to showcase a little. 5:59 Listen, I know that Andringa played at Wisconsin, but he knows the game extremely well, too. 6:05 And we try to put on as many people as we can that know the game. 6:10 And we try to get climber on there and we've made an attempt to get more Minnesota guys as well. 6:16 Darby Hendricks has worked with us for a while before. 6:18 He's obviously a little bit busier with some other ventures at this juncture. 6:21 But we just try to get people on there who know the game and who understand what the game means to fans. 6:27 Well, personally, I don't have a problem with Andringa because he does some of the Wisconsin-only broadcasts and he's completely different on those broadcasts. 6:35 So when I hear him on the Big Ten Network, I have no problem with him at all because he tones it down quite a bit. 6:41 And he's very fair, I think. 6:42 He tries to be very neutral. 6:44 And you think in some of those situations, a guy that goes to a school and then gets to do those school-only broadcasts, that's when you can be the alum. 6:52 But I think sometimes you even see those guys go the opposite way when they go on the national broadcast. 6:57 They're trying to be so careful to not show favoritism to their school that they sometimes go the opposite way. 7:03 I think Rob is terrific. 7:04 He calls it absolutely like he sees it. 7:07 You know, I'm not sure if anybody got a chance to see the Penn State game this past weekend against Northern Michigan and at a conference game that probably didn't draw a lot of interest up in your area. 7:16 But Jamal Mayer's, you know, former NHL guy jumped on. 7:20 Very similar. 7:21 A lot of NHL and college hockey background really understands the game. 7:25 So, we're trying to expand a little bit. 7:27 But, you know, for the time being, we're going to stick with the guys that we got. 7:31 Well, let me say, your broadcasts are getting better and better each time. 7:34 And that's all you can do is just keep getting better, listening to the fans, seeing how people react. 7:39 And we like that you adjust as you go. 7:42 Yeah, we're trying to. 7:43 That's exactly what we're trying to do. 7:45 And we're trying to do it week to week, honestly. 7:47 That's why we made some of the changes we made this year. 7:49 You know, last year we did a 30-minute pregame show leading into the Friday Night Games. 7:53 And truthfully, we just didn't have the ratings to justify it. 7:57 I mean, you know, a lot of times, you know, either Minnesota is in that game and it's a 530 Central game. 8:03 And really who in the Twin Cities can get in front of a TV at 5 o'clock on a Friday to watch a 30-minute pregame show? 8:09 You're lucky if you can get home to watch the puck drop. 8:12 You know, and when, and seriously, when the East Coast teams were playing in it, we just weren't drawing the numbers. 8:16 So they kind of dialed that back and we got the conference to agree to either a 538 or an 808 puck drop, you know, essential time, and we just do an eight-minute pregame show leading in. 8:26 And I think it served everybody better. 8:28 Everybody just wants to watch the game. 8:29 We'll talk about it afterwards. 8:30 Exactly. 8:31 Okay, well, enough about the broadcast. 8:33 Guys, let's talk about what happened this past weekend. 8:36 I'm going to bring Hammy back in here. 8:38 Hammy, that was an ugly North Star Cup. 8:41 You know, a fairly decent game against Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth, but bottom line is they lost both games. 8:49 Well, I mean, I think it's been kind of the story of the season. 8:51 It's one of those cases where they have stretches of good play. 8:55 You know, in particular, coming into mind as the second game against Duluth where they're doing pretty much everything they could in a third period to win that game, and all it comes down to is one bad clearing attempt, a guy cheating a little bit towards the corner, leaving the slot open. 9:10 Next thing you know, the puck's in the back of the net, and we lose. 9:13 And it's been those kinds of mental mistakes and just some of the chemistry issues that we've seen all season long. 9:19 It was just like the entire weekend, that was it in a nutshell. 9:23 Veegs, you know, bad weekend for Minnesota, but a good weekend for Bemidji State. 9:29 Yeah, I think when you came into the tournament, everybody was thinking, yeah, we got the number one team, the number seven team, the struggling Minnesota, oh, and yeah, Bemidji. 9:38 And they come out and win the thing. 9:40 And it just shows you, you know, if you have a team that plays really good team defense, gets the other team frustrated, gets ahead in the game, that it completely changes the way the game plays out. 9:52 Well, for me, another two losses, not good. 9:56 And if you look back, guys, since beating BC back on November 28th, to make them eight and three at the time, Minnesota is three, six and two. 10:09 Rick, it's getting ugly. 10:11 It is, and, you know, they better hurry up. 10:14 They got to get going. 10:15 Hey, listen, some of the competition they've played has been pretty good. 10:18 I mean, you know, this past weekend being the ultimate example, my issue is for a team that is as offensively talented as this team, why is this team having so much trouble in critical times scoring goals? 10:32 I mean, they've had games where they've outshot teams almost two to one in so many shots, even from scoring areas or hitting goaltenders in the stomach, in the chest. 10:41 I mean, goalies are not having to make tough saves. 10:43 You look at guys like Fashing, to me, as the perfect example. 10:46 I expected him to have a monster sophomore season. 10:50 If I'm not mistaken, he's got 10 points through 21 games. 10:53 I mean, to me, a guy of that size and that skill, it just doesn't make sense. 10:58 I mean, warning has also not been the guy this year that I thought, I'm just offensively, I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why these guys are not able to score the way that I expected them to score, especially after last year. 11:10 Yeah, we've talked about guys like Fashion and Warning and even more to the point, even Camerata with only one goal. 11:18 He is having a huge sophomore slump. 11:20 Hammy, are you getting sick of saying the same thing every week about these guys? 11:25 They're not stepping up. 11:26 Well, I mean, I think the thing that we've kind of colluded is the fact that we're not seeing guys that are really going to the kind of the bloody nose areas, you know, really being willing to pay the price. 11:38 You know, we have a little bit too much finesse. 11:40 We're not having enough guys. 11:42 We don't really built as a team that's going to really kind of get real gritty. 11:45 We have some guys like Fashion and Ambrose from a third line perspective, but we all know Warning has been inconsistent throughout his entire college career. 11:55 Cammy is obviously not going to be a physical player. 11:59 I guess Rao, you know, he's not a big guy, but he's certainly willing to kind of get his nose in there. 12:04 But, you know, we just haven't had enough guys willing to pay that price, and you're not going to score from those areas that are, you know, bad angle shots or from the far boards or from the point as often, or just not high percentage things. 12:14 So that's part of it as far as I'm concerned. 12:17 Vegoe, do you think it's starting to be a mental thing with players like Fashion and Camerata and maybe even Ambrose? 12:24 Well, I think it's definitely going to be a mental thing. 12:26 In the third period, Saturday, you had guys with great wide open looks, plenty of net to shoot at, and they're just squeezing their sticks too tight, and they're not coming through. 12:37 I think a bigger part of the problem is that there's so many players who are trying to pick corners and trying to make shots that they can't make because there's so much pressure that the Gophers aren't able to sustain a lot of zone time, and they're missing the net and it's clear in the zone, and they're having to regroup or play defense and get off the ice. 12:57 I think some of the most dangerous shooters, you don't see goalies freeze the puck on them. 13:02 If a guy's got a heavy deceptive shot, the goalie's going to give up a rebound. 13:07 I think we saw that in the second game against Wisconsin. 13:10 There was more emphasis about getting pucks on net that Rumpel wasn't going to be able to save and cover up, and they were getting some second chances because of that. 13:19 So you can go in the dirty areas all you want, but if there isn't a puck there for you to get, you're not going to get those easy goals. 13:27 Well, my biggest concern was this past weekend was a chance to at least jump up a little bit in the pairwise because they're dangerously close to not making it, and because of these two losses, they're at number 20, Rick, and boy, they're not going to have too many top-notch opponents for the rest of this way, except for maybe a Michigan, maybe a Penn State, but they really needed those games against Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth. 13:52 Yeah, you make a great point. 13:53 I mean, Wisconsin is the perfect example. 13:55 You can go in and sweep this weekend, and really, how much does it do for you? 13:59 Not much, probably. 13:59 They're 55th. 14:01 I mean, if teams in front of you lose, then maybe a couple of wins bump you up a spot or two. 14:06 Basically, what you now have to root for is you almost have to do what teams in the NCAA basketball tournament are doing late in the year, and you have to root for teams that you've beaten to play well and for teams that you still have on your schedule the rest of the year to play well. 14:20 So, for example, Minnesota needs to root for Michigan and Penn State to play really well until they play them again in their series. 14:26 So those two teams are high enough in the pairwise that if you go there and you have a four-point weekend against those teams, that it does you some real good, because I've gone through that pairwise and looked at 1 through 16 and those teams that are in there and tried to figure out a way that if Minnesota goes 500 the rest of the way or a game or two above 500, is there any way they jump? 14:47 I just don't see it. 14:48 I think this team, barring that automatic bid by winning up at the Joe, they're going to have to have a legitimately solid February where they're going to have to go at least a couple of sweeps in that month to jump into that top 16. 15:00 They're getting in the danger zone right now where you get to a point where you have one or two more bad weekends and it's win the Big Ten tournament or you're staying home. 15:08 Well, right now, obviously they need to just win for one thing. 15:12 Just getting a bunch of wins can help you no matter what. 15:15 But a loss against a team like Wisconsin right now, even if it's at the Cole Center, is going to be devastating for their pairwise, Hammeh. 15:24 What do you think? 15:26 Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't really see them making it via the pairwise anyway. 15:30 I mean, that's just my personal opinion based on the fragile nature of how they're playing, the mentality. 15:36 I just don't see a team that seems to have the mental strength to really kind of battle through all this stuff and just have a great streak of play. 15:46 So even if they lost this weekend, my feeling is they're probably going to have to win the Big Ten tournament anyway. 15:53 Which is going to be... 15:54 I mean, I'm usually the optimistic one. 15:57 But I got to be honest, I just don't see these guys pulling it together to that level. 16:03 Well, something must be going on over there, guys, because we know they've got the talent. 16:08 They played really well last season. 16:10 Obviously, they got to the national championship game, brought back a lot of the scoring, a lot of the people who made that last year. 16:18 You know, obviously, minus a couple of the leaders who are not big scorers. 16:23 But, Hammy, you know, we're hearing rumblings, you know, that there's problems in the locker room. 16:28 There might be problems with the coaching. 16:32 This is turning ugly pretty quick. 16:35 Yeah. 16:35 Do you really want me to go there? 16:39 I know plenty about I could just throw all that stuff out there. 16:43 But yeah, there's a chemistry issue there. 16:46 I mean, it's just not player to player or play to coach. 16:49 It's just all around. 16:50 There's just there's issues there. 16:52 And when you're, you know, I think the one thing that the season really teaches you is just how important the intangibles are. 16:58 You can have all the talent in the world, but the guys aren't on the same page. 17:02 If you don't have the leadership all pulling in the same direction, if you don't have the mental strength, you know, to pull through some slumps or whatever, you know, all that is really important. 17:12 You know, and it's not going to be smooth sailing. 17:14 And it's a matter of how you're dealing with some of these kinds of situations. 17:18 And I just there's issues there and I don't see them overcoming it. 17:22 Rick, you played hockey. 17:23 You've been part of teams. 17:25 What can problems in the locker room do to a team? 17:28 How does it affect teams? 17:30 Yeah, I think leadership is a great point, you know, and Kyle Rowe is obviously, I guess, would be kind of in terms of being the actual emotional leader of a team. 17:40 My guess would be that he's the guy inside the locker room. 17:42 He's a quieter guy when he's not with the team, when he's with media and when he's kind of he's a guy who just just plays hockey. 17:51 I think sometimes you need a guy who is more vocal in the locker room. 17:55 And I don't know if that was Condon a year ago or a guy that would stand up and say, listen, this is what's got to happen. 18:01 This is what's got to stop. 18:02 But whatever it is, they're not hearing it. 18:04 And at that point, it falls back on the coach and the coach's responsibility is if the players are not showing the leadership internally in that locker room, then that's where the coach really has to show up. 18:16 And, you know, I like Don. 18:18 I think Don's done some great things. 18:19 I haven't liked his demeanor on the bench over this struggle. 18:23 I just think he could have been showing some different emotions and a different way to get his team kind of over these rough spots during these games. 18:33 Now, I'm not sure if that's who Don is or if that's who Don can ever be. 18:37 But I think his team needs him to be a little bit of a different guy than he has typically been throughout his career. 18:43 It'll be interesting to see if he's willing to make that transition over the next six weeks. 18:48 Well, Vegoe, this is the weekend to do it. 18:50 You know, at the end of the last Wisconsin series, it got a little feisty. 18:54 I even took a stick myself since I was a little close with the action. 18:59 This is the weekend, Vegoe. 19:00 They need to get it going. 19:02 Yeah, after that Saturday game with Wisconsin, you could just tell that the energy was positive for ones coming out of the locker room. 19:09 Guys weren't kind of mumbling their way through the post game. 19:12 They were excited to be there. 19:13 They were proud of what they accomplished. 19:16 And you're kind of thinking that could be a rallying point maybe for this for this group. 19:21 You've got so many guys. 19:22 Yeah, you got so many guys who maybe are looking ahead to next season, you know, and aren't totally invested. 19:28 But you hope that a battle like that would get guys to buy in and play for each other. 19:34 And, you know, it was close this past weekend, but it wasn't all the way there. 19:39 So you'd hope with a, you know, a chance for a little more intensity this weekend that gives them another chance to give a rallying moment. 19:48 Well, Rick, one thing we have talked about this season is like is Will Cox. 19:54 He makes the saves, but he's not making the big saves at big moments like he was last year. 20:00 And probably bailing out his defenseman a lot last year with those type of saves. 20:05 He's just not quite there this year. 20:07 He's been better, though, I would argue, over the last couple of weeks. 20:11 I thought through the Michigan series, he really struggled. 20:14 I thought he was pretty good in the Wisconsin series. 20:16 I thought he was pretty good in the college cup. 20:19 I mean, I don't think I would blame any of those, either the shootout loss on the Friday night to Wisconsin or the Minnesota State or Minnesota Duluth games. 20:26 I don't think those could get pinned on him. 20:28 I've actually seen him be a little bit more confident. 20:31 He kept him in that Duluth game with an unbelievable blocker save early in the third period. 20:36 And then obviously they would go on to lose that game anyway. 20:39 But I thought that was one of the better saves he's made throughout the entire season. 20:43 You know, goaltending is such a psychological position. 20:47 I mean, when you start to struggle, it's one thing. 20:50 But when you see your team start to struggle in front of you and struggle to score goals, you know, the interesting conversation we had before is that guys are sometimes squeezing their sticks. 20:59 That can happen to goaltenders too. 21:01 If you know that you're in a situation where, you know, like some major league pitchers, you know, your offense is terrible, you got to shut them out or you can't give up more than one run. 21:09 I think Wilcox almost feels like right now he has to keep the opposition to one goal or shut them out to give his team the best chance to win. 21:17 And that can really be a confident shaker. 21:19 You give up a bad goal early, it is really tough to get back into the zone. 21:23 He obviously still has all the ability in the world, but as is the case with 99% of goal centers when they start to struggle, most of the issues are above the neck. 21:32 And I think some of it, you know, I would agree that, you know, he has been playing better these last four games. 21:38 He has made some of those big saves that we've needed. 21:42 But I think as a general throughout the whole season, you know, he sees the guys in front of him, you know, maybe not playing as well. 21:50 And then he's also not making that big save. 21:52 So the defense has kind of lost maybe a little bit of faith in him as well. 21:58 What they just need is just they all need some confidence because, you know, we kind of blame the defense for, you know, some of Wilcox's problems, but it's not just the defense. 22:07 It's the forwards too. 22:08 It's the team defense that has been struggling, not just Wilcox or not just, you know, just the defense. 22:14 So a lot of this just all has to come together. 22:17 And like you said, maybe this is a coaching thing where time for someone to step up and make the call or do something. 22:26 Who knows? 22:27 Yeah, it's interesting too, because when you mentioned, it's not just in the defensive zone with the defensemen or with Wilcox. 22:33 I think Mike Riley is a perfect example. 22:35 I think Riley's got 24 points, got four goals and 20 assists so far this year. 22:40 But I've never seen and I know how good an offensive defenseman he is. 22:44 I have never seen a defenseman with a larger percentage of shots coming off his stick in terms of the amount of time that the puck touches his stick. 22:53 And I know that Mike is trying to get things going. 22:56 He's trying to get the puck to the net. 22:57 He's trying to take shots, but he misses the net quite a bit. 23:00 I've seen that quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. 23:02 We're talking about not getting the sticks on the pucks inside the dirty areas. 23:06 Right, exactly. 23:06 If you're going to be there, your defensemen need to hit the net. 23:09 I think he's feeling extra pressure as well. 23:11 And he's such a good skater that he can get back a lot of times when he gets into the flow, when he takes those shots, but the rest of the team doesn't back check as well. 23:20 So then you have this thing where your defenseman puts extra pressure on himself. 23:24 The forwards aren't doing their jobs when the defenseman is jumping up into the play. 23:27 And we've seen some of those goals. 23:29 It really does go goal line to goal line. 23:31 And I think it's just an issue of finding identity. 23:34 Nobody, whether it's goal centers, defensemen or forwards, knows exactly what this team should be this year or what this team wants to be this year. 23:42 Well, one thing I know that you've said many times, Hammy, this year, you know, it can't be just the coaching. 23:48 These players need to wake up and do it for themselves as well. 23:53 Well, I mean, that's the thing. 23:54 You don't have, I mean, we've, you don't have to be the best friend with the coach. 23:58 You know, you guys don't even have to necessarily like the coach all that much. 24:01 But you look around the locker room, those are your buddies. 24:04 You know, those are the ones that, I mean, especially from a Gopher perspective, most of these guys grew up playing hockey together over the years, you know, if not against each other on the same teams. 24:13 And, you know, you would want to have good memories to build with one another. 24:18 And so if you're not playing that well, you have to look around at each other and look in the mirror and say, what can I do to really step up and help my teammates and let's win together? 24:27 And, you know, like I said earlier, I don't know from a leadership perspective, you know, just an overall chemistry perspective. 24:34 It just doesn't seem to be, you know, hitting home this year. 24:39 Well, let's move to this weekend. 24:41 Obviously, they make a trip to the Cole Center in Madison to play the Badgers. 24:46 Minnesota is 160, 89 and 22 all time against the Badgers. 24:52 Definitely a great record. 24:54 Rick, both games are on the Big Ten Network this weekend. 24:58 Eight o'clock Friday night, seven o'clock Saturday night. 25:01 Kind of your first Big Ten double header for Minnesota this year. 25:05 It is, and I think it's a series where Minnesota absolutely has to sweep. 25:08 I said the same thing when we did the hockey report earlier this week. 25:11 I know it's at Wisconsin. 25:13 I know this is a great rivalry. 25:15 But let's be honest, watching this Wisconsin team and what happened to them this past weekend against Michigan, yes, they had a good first two periods on Friday night. 25:23 I think Grant Bessey is a star in the making, obviously, a former Minnesota Minister of Hockey, a guy who's going to be a great player. 25:29 Other than that, this team has basically nothing. 25:32 And Joel Rumpel is not having the year that he wanted to have. 25:36 I mean, Minnesota goes into this series, and I stand by the statement I made earlier this week. 25:40 Anything less than six points is a complete and total disappointment for the Gophers. 25:46 They simply cannot go in there and afford anything less than two wins. 25:49 It's not going to do much for them in the pairwise. 25:51 Probably neither is the following weekend at home against Ohio State. 25:55 But those are four games that when you look at what has happened and now the level of competition and how much better you are skill-wise than the next two opponents you'll play on the next two weekends, you absolutely have to be looking at going four and over the next two weeks. 26:10 Vegoe, I'm guessing you feel pretty much the same, don't you? 26:13 Yeah, I think it's a good opportunity for guys to maybe get some good feelings back. 26:18 You know, Wisconsin's not an experienced or powerful group, and you know, they're going to bring some intensity after the way the last series ended, so it's a chance for them to get going. 26:28 But it's absolutely crucial that they don't drop anything here, not only for any last chance they have at the pairwise, but just to get some momentum. 26:38 Hammy, momentum, they need it. 26:41 Yeah, you know, I mean, I already kind of told you what my feeling is on the year, so I don't know how much the momentum is going to do, but, you know, I don't believe that they're going to go on the road and sweep. 26:52 I mean, I picked them two weeks ago. 26:54 I didn't pick a sweep when we were, you know, hosting Wisconsin. 26:58 I picked the tie and the win, and that's what happened. 27:02 You know, in these rivalry series, you can kind of throw the record out the window. 27:05 I mean, even if a team isn't as good, it just seems like that rivalry tends to raise the play of the team that's maybe not necessarily as talented. 27:14 And certainly on home ice, and we know that even though Wisconsin's fan base has kind of diminished in recent years, they'll nonetheless pack the place for the Gophers. 27:23 So it'll be a good environment for them. 27:25 I just don't expect a sweep. 27:27 Even though I would love to have one, I just don't expect it this weekend. 27:30 Rick, give us your thoughts on what's going on in Wisconsin. 27:33 Is Eves in any trouble? 27:35 You know, there's been a lot of rumblings. 27:37 Listen, if you want to complain about one thing with Mike, it would be not having that base of talent to replace the group he knew he was losing. 27:45 I understand you lose McCabe and Kurdelis early, but you also probably saw that coming a year or two ago. 27:51 But you lost those nine seniors, and not just nine seniors, but I mean, when you lose guys like Mersh and Zangerle and Ciminelli, I mean, guys who are stalwarts of your program, you have to have some guys coming in who are close to that level, who can get to that level by their junior and senior years. 28:08 So I don't necessarily think that the complaints about Mike's coaching ability are justified right now. 28:13 If people want to complain about his recruiting and not looking forward toward the future and not rebuilding, getting ready to reload when those guys left, well then, sure, I can understand that. 28:23 I think every team goes through down periods, and everybody knew this was going to be a down period for Wisconsin. 28:30 I just think when you're having this kind of year at a program that's had that kind of history, that reaction is to be expected. 28:38 I think the big thing that everybody I see from their fan base that complains about is that they don't plan out their recruiting classes, they don't balance things out. 28:46 It's like when you have, what, 12 or 13 freshmen or whatever it is this year, I mean, you can't, that might be great three years from now if they're all still around, but then you're going to have to basically start from scratch all over again. 28:59 And I think that the thing I've seen from their fan base is just that lack of balance from one class to the next class and it seems heavily, you know, always heavily on one class and then kind of piecemeal on the other three classes and that's just not going to get it done. 29:14 Well, Hammy, I mean, we've discussed this before, you know, their down season now is affecting their recruiting, isn't it? 29:23 Well, I mean, they had some decommitments. 29:25 Right. 29:26 I mean, we've talked about, you know, best there are plenty of times. 29:29 I mean, there's just, you know, obviously, guys aren't going to feel confident if they see these issues. 29:35 And I don't know what's going to happen with the coaching situation. 29:39 I personally would be surprised if they let them go. 29:41 I'm sure every Wisconsin fan, you know, at least that I've seen, they want them to be gone. 29:46 But I doubt that that's going to happen just because, let's face it, at Wisconsin, that's football and basketball driven and hockey's. 29:53 I mean, that's the way it is at most big time schools, but even more so at that school. 29:58 So I just think that it's not going to register right away. 30:01 Well, from what we've heard of the fans, the fans are starting to leave because they really don't like the style of hockey that Yves plays. 30:09 They miss the old high flying Wisconsin Badgers. 30:13 And, you know, their attendance has dropped by an average of 5,000 people over the last few years. 30:19 So they went from leading the country every year in attendance to now being second or third in the country. 30:27 I mean, that's after 30 or 40 years of leading. 30:30 So the fans are noticing that, you know, they don't really like the style of hockey. 30:35 And now you switch them over to the Big Ten and you start taking away some of these, you know, big games and WCHA. 30:41 And it's kind of all coming together at once, Veegs. 30:44 Yeah, I mean, they've got a big building to fill. 30:46 And, you know, I know a lot of Gopher fans who are looking for tickets can still get them this weekend. 30:52 They've been difficult in the past. 30:54 Yeah, I mean, anytime you're looking at Mariucci for a game against North Dakota, Wisconsin, Duluth, you know, those games are sold out and you're looking for standing room tickets and StubHub. 31:04 And it's amazing that you can still get tickets at the Cole Center for this weekend. 31:08 I think Yves does need to think of a way to try to balance his class, though. 31:13 I mean, it's just so much youth. 31:15 And we've seen, you know, these old teams come through the tournament and do really well. 31:19 But to have year and year and success, you've got to have some balance. 31:23 And he's got to really take a look at that, I think. 31:27 Well, guys, it's kind of a do or die weekend. 31:31 I have a feeling if the Gophers even lose a game this weekend, GPL is just going to blow up because they're going to be pissed off. 31:41 They just are. 31:42 I mean, there's high expectations. 31:44 They're not even coming close to living up to them. 31:48 And Rick, you know, the college fan, we're very passionate. 31:52 We love our teams. 31:54 And this is definitely disappointing so far. 31:58 No doubt about it. 31:58 I mean, as I've tweeted before, after being on your site on some game nights, it's always interesting to see the passion. 32:06 But what I will point out, though, is I never mind, and I think most people that follow the boards and the forums don't mind when people want to vent and want to pick a bone, but they understand what they're talking about. 32:22 And I think that's what makes the Gopher fan base so special. 32:26 I mean, there's some football fan bases out there like that. 32:29 There's some basketball fan bases out there like that, too. 32:31 But I'm not so sure there's a fan base in any major sport in the country, at any school in which a larger percentage of that fan base understands the ins and outs, the complexities, the intricacies of the game more than Minnesota hockey fans. 32:46 So, while the passion sometimes could maybe, you argue, go a little bit over the top, the knowledge is always there to go along with it. 32:54 And for me, that always makes it all good. 32:56 Well, the thing is, I know there's a lot of passion out there, and I try to get people's go on the GPL Twitter account. 33:02 I'll say weird things like Fire Lucia, and that gets them just riled up. 33:07 And I think I just more enjoy getting them riled up, because I love the passion. 33:13 And I'm just trying to have fun with it, too. 33:15 So, you know, that's just the way it goes, fans. 33:18 I'm going to tease you. 33:19 I'm going to have fun with you when they're losing. 33:21 You know, you start following the team like you'd have, you know, like Vegoe, you know what it's like. 33:26 We've been down there at Mariucci. 33:28 You start to become a little detached to the team when you're covering them. 33:32 Yeah, I mean, I've been going to games since I was about five years old. 33:36 I've been around a lot, you know, a couple different coaches and two arenas and all kinds of players. 33:42 And, you know, I went through my college years of being a fan. 33:45 And, you know, I enjoy college hockey a lot. 33:48 And it's tough to see them go down like this and have so many close games where, you know, it seems like every game it's the one bad play that they may cost them. 33:58 And it's hard to see these kids go through that because they are college kids. 34:02 You know, they're not professionals. 34:05 So it's tough to see it happen. 34:06 But you definitely become a little bit more detached. 34:09 You're not as so invested as you used to be when you're in your early 20s. 34:12 And you're going to the bar three hours before the game and staying out three hours after. 34:20 It's a little different. 34:22 I don't think you guys are talking about. 34:23 That's my plan for tonight. 34:27 I don't think GPL is going to blow up if we lose this weekend. 34:31 Oh, I don't know. 34:33 I tell you why, because they've been slowly stewing over the same stuff for two months. 34:40 And I think that they're not going to be shocked by anything that happens this weekend. 34:44 I don't think anybody is going to be shocked if we get a result that doesn't go the way that we would like it to go. 34:50 And I think most of the fans that I see on that site are in that mindset now. 34:55 They're already frustrated. 34:56 So I don't know that it's going to boil over significantly. 34:58 It's not like when you're number one, you're fighting for number one in a pairwise or you got something really that you're fighting for and you lay an egg one night. 35:07 That's when the fans go ape. 35:10 But when they're not doing so hot and things have been kind of going crappy for as long as it's been last month and a half or whatever, I'll be surprised if it's going to blow up the way you think. 35:21 Well, I just enjoy the blow ups because, like I said, I love the passion. 35:26 When people are angry, they're angry for a reason. 35:29 They love the team. 35:30 They usually get over it a little while later, but as long as the passion is there, that's all I really care about. 35:36 So that's probably why I egg them on a little bit more. 35:39 I don't know. 35:41 Guys, you have any last thoughts on this weekend? 35:43 Rick, obviously it's do or die for Minnesota, isn't it? 35:47 It is. 35:47 I just want to see a different attitude. 35:50 I want to see someone mentioned how in that second game of the Wisconsin series at Mariucci that the attitude looked a little bit different, that the guys had a little bit of extra jump in their step, a little bit of extra weight on their skates. 36:02 I want to see that this weekend. 36:03 Regardless of result, and as I've made it very clear, I think they need a sweep, and I think they can pull off the sweep. 36:09 I know what the season has been like, but I watched Wisconsin last week, and I think they can pull off the sweep. 36:14 And more importantly than that, I just want to see that kind of swagger and that kind of belief that the team had last year as they made that trip to the Frozen Four. 36:23 That, to me, will be most telling. 36:25 I think you'll be able to see it in the first five, ten minutes of the game. 36:28 What do you think, Hammeh? 36:29 Any last thoughts on this weekend? 36:32 I will say I think it's going to be a split. 36:35 Oh, come on, man. 36:39 That's my realistic view on it. 36:41 Believe me, I think if it came down to just a talent thing, there's no doubt the Gophers are the better team, but I just think from a mental standpoint, I just don't have enough confidence in these guys that they're going to be able to pull it together on a consistent basis right now. 36:53 And that's completely valid, unfortunately. 36:56 Vegoe, any last thoughts? 36:59 One of the things I've been picking up from Lucia the last week or so is that he's been talking about guys needing to take those three steps initially in a play before they know exactly what's happening and try to anticipate what's happening out there, and they haven't been doing that. 37:15 You'll see a lot of times when teams dump the puck in, guys are looking at each other, trying to read what the other person is going to do first, rather than just being aggressive and taking action. 37:27 So I think this weekend, you really want to watch to see if they have that jump. 37:32 I think we've seen it a couple of times, the second game of the Wisconsin series, I think we saw it in the third period against Duluth, where guys were anticipating the play a little bit better and getting the puck faster. 37:43 And I think that's what it is, it's confidence and playing with an aggressive nature. 37:49 And that's been missing. 37:50 And the guys need to stop looking left, looking right, and looking in the mirror and figure out if they're going to be the one that can do that. 37:59 Well said. 38:01 Rick, I assume we're going to see you this weekend on the broadcast? 38:04 You will, myself and Paul Cappenegger will be there for the intermissions and post games on both Friday and Saturday night. 38:12 That's great. 38:13 Remember, you can follow Rick on Twitter, at BTNRickPizzo. 38:18 Give him a follow. 38:19 He needs you. 38:23 And obviously you'll see him this weekend. 38:25 What else? 38:26 I mean, at Shows and You're, you do a lot of the golf, you do the men's hockey, you're covering here and there in football. 38:33 What else is coming up for you? 38:35 Yeah, right now we're focused mainly on basketball, obviously, on the non-Friday and Saturday nights. 38:41 Oh, basketball sucks. 38:43 I'll be with hockey. 38:43 Listen, every weekend that I get to do the Fridays and Saturdays, it is a wonderful thing. 38:48 We kind of get the office to ourselves. 38:50 There's not a full staff in there a lot of nights, so it's fantastic. 38:53 It's just the hockey crew. 38:54 It's a little bit of a smaller crew. 38:56 Everybody that cares about the game. 38:57 But yeah, in a couple of weeks, I do get to head down to Florida for the Big Ten Match Play Golf Championships. 39:03 They start their season. 39:06 It's a tough assignment, but somebody's got to do it. 39:08 And you're a big golfer, aren't you? 39:10 Yeah, I get out as much as I can. 39:12 Not as much as I used to. 39:13 As we talked about early 20s, those were the days for golf. 39:16 Now with kids at home, not so much. 39:19 Oh, but Florida in February, that's just going to be awful, isn't it? 39:24 And they pay me for it. 39:25 They're stealing money for that card. 39:27 I'm happy to cash the check. 39:29 The life, the life. 39:30 Well, I thank you for coming on our podcast this week. 39:33 Hopefully, we can get you back again sometime. 39:36 Absolutely, gentlemen. 39:37 I truly appreciate the invitation. 39:38 Lots of fun. 39:39 Rick, one last question. 39:41 What kind of beer do you have in your fridge right now? 39:44 Victory Beer Dirt Wolf. 39:47 Double IPA, fantastic. 39:51 It's out of this world good. 39:53 Usually also in my fridge, I always have Revolution Anti Hero, which is a local Chicago brewery. 40:00 That's my kind of go-to IPA. 40:02 It's in a can, and I always prefer beer in a can. 40:04 If I can ever get it, my sister just moved from Vermont, but she provided me a steady supply of Heady Topper for a long time, so that tries to find a special spot in my fridge as well. 40:14 There's your beer top, Vego. 40:16 Yeah, I just did a home brew of a Topper Clone about two months ago. 40:22 It's fantastic. 40:23 I'm going to do another IPA with the same yeast coming up here in the next month, and hopefully it turns out as well. 40:30 Very nice. 40:31 Out of this world, good. 40:32 And that is your GPL beer talk for this week. 40:36 Nate Wells said we had to bring it up. 40:38 Nate loves his beer talk. 40:40 We know you do, Nate. 40:42 Well, I thank you, Rick, for coming on the podcast. 40:45 We'll be back next week with a recap of this Badgers series. 40:49 Hopefully it goes well. 40:51 If not, it could be a complete meltdown for me. 40:54 If not, blame it on me. 40:56 We'll blame Rick. 40:57 We'll just go with it. 40:58 I'm with it. 40:59 Thanks for listening, everyone.