0:34 Tami's favorite song. 0:44 Issue of The GPL Podcast. 0:47 It was a good week for the Gophers, and it's a good week for the podcast. 0:51 We've got Frank Mazzocco back on the program. 0:55 Frank, how you doing? 0:56 Doing great. 0:57 I appreciate you having that long rope to haul me in here. 1:01 It took me a while. 1:03 And of course, we've got Hammy here as well, and Vegoe is going to join us in a few minutes. 1:08 He's dealing with his kid and whiny stuff, and that's just the way it goes. 1:13 But in the meantime, Hammy, a big signing last week and it wasn't for Minnesota. 1:20 What happened? 1:22 Yeah, everybody was worried about what was gonna happen with Brock Besser and he ended up selecting North Dakota. 1:28 Boo. 1:30 Yeah, and a lot of people were kind of up in arms about it and wondering what's going on with that. 1:34 And I think that people need to keep it in perspective. 1:38 First of all, we probably wouldn't even be discussing the kid if Wisconsin was even halfway decent this year because he always wanted to go to Wisconsin. 1:47 And when you're like... 1:49 Well, I mean, the thing is, is that he's got family there and that's, you know, what is it? 1:53 His cousin that went there, Dan went there. 1:56 So, you know, it's just one of those things where that was his number one choice. 2:01 But when you're as lousy as Wisconsin has been this year and you don't know what's gonna happen with Mike Eaves and you're a kid who's talking about joining a program next fall, it's not a year and a half from now, it's not two years from now, it's next fall. 2:15 You have to look at what you see in front of you right now. 2:17 And obviously Wisconsin's a mess, so he was not gonna pick there. 2:22 And from a Gopher perspective, you know, I think, I mean, Frank, I know you acknowledge this on Twitter and I've talked about it a month ago. 2:30 And I know, I think Chorsky even mentioned it on the radio the other day, the Gopher program, there's been some issues behind the scenes, you know, earlier this year. 2:39 And I think that when you have those kinds of things going on in the short term, and a guy's gonna make a decision, it's gonna have an impact on that decision. 2:47 So I think people need to just kind of realize that that's some of what's gonna be playing into these decisions. 2:54 Yeah, I agree. 2:54 And it's kind of a shame, the timing of the thing, if that was it, if that was the determining factor. 3:04 But I think everything is cleared up in the room now. 3:08 I think the room is, from what I've heard, from what I've seen, from the way that I hear the players reacting and talking, I think that's cleaned up now. 3:17 But yeah, it's too bad if that's what the decision was based on, too bad. 3:23 Yeah, well, and I think the other thing that people need to realize is, what was it, 15 years ago, we lost probably one of the most heralded recruits in Minnesota history to North Dakota, and Zach Parisi. 3:35 He played two years of college hockey. 3:38 North Dakota won a McNaughton Cup in his time in college. 3:43 In the meantime, the Gophers won a national title and two Broadmoors in that same span of time. 3:49 And then you fast forward, what, three years or so into the future, the Gophers land Phil Kessel over Wisconsin, and Wisconsin ends up winning the national title in his only year in college hockey. 4:01 So people need to realize that just because you lose a recruit, it doesn't mean that you're not gonna win big and that just because you land a recruit doesn't mean you're gonna win at all. 4:09 So keep it in that perspective. 4:12 Well, one theory that I went with just a little bit is the facilities. 4:17 If I'm a player and I compare facilities from North Dakota and the facilities of Minnesota, North Dakota has got it all over Minnesota, boys. 4:29 Well, yes. 4:31 I mean, it's downright sparkly up there. 4:37 It's gauche. 4:40 But you know what? 4:42 That's a big seller on the kids. 4:44 No question. 4:44 You see all this glass and high end marble and then you look at Minnesota, Marriott hasn't really been touched since it was built, except for the suites and stuff that was added later on where the player areas hasn't been touched. 5:01 And they're pretty much a joke compared to what a lot of schools are doing now. 5:06 Well, let me throw in at least just to mention his name, the Paul Martin sauna, which does not compare. 5:15 The sauna. 5:17 But I just want to give a shout out to Paulie more than anything else. 5:20 His heart is big and it's still in that locker room. 5:26 So I mean, yeah, but is that a difference maker? 5:29 No, not necessarily, but yeah, that was a thing. 5:32 Boy, I don't know. 5:35 Do you want a guy who wants to choose the glitz over the history and the program and what it means to play here? 5:45 You know, that's true, but North Dakota's obviously got a pretty darn good history, too. 5:50 And then when you add those extras, it could be something that could sway a kid. 5:58 You know how selfish these kids are these days. 6:00 Absolutely, and I'm not saying don't change things down there or that they're good enough. 6:06 I'm saying they do have to change them. 6:08 They do have to dress them up a bit. 6:09 They've got to get modernized and whatever needs to be met, especially for the trading purposes, that all has got to get plugged in there. 6:16 And really, they don't even have a nice lounge. 6:20 They have a lounge at one point, but that got blown out a while ago. 6:24 So they need a place to hang out too. 6:27 Well, here's the thing that I will say. 6:29 I think some of the glitz stuff gets overrated because the reality is that especially you're not paying attention to most of that stuff when you're a player. 6:37 You do have the player lounge. 6:39 The things that you utilize, yes, those things are important, but how much marble is there and all that kind of crap? 6:46 It's sort of like when you, I lived in Arizona when I was younger and it's like after about a month or two, I didn't even pay attention to the weather anymore because it was the same all the time. 6:56 You don't really think about it at some point. 6:58 It's not that big of a deal. 7:00 And I think the same thing comes to how glitzy and fancy, if you have marble and glass and all that stuff. 7:07 Players just want a good place to hang out. 7:09 They want to have the facilities that are going to get them up to be a better player. 7:14 And they want the coaching. 7:15 And they want the education, at least most of them do. 7:19 And they want the media attention. 7:21 And there's a lot that goes into these decisions. 7:23 So how fancy your lounge is, that's just like a piece of the puzzle. 7:28 I think that that gets a little overrated. 7:31 You know one thing that you never hear, rated, and wonder how big of a factor it is? 7:36 When the kid comes there on his recruiting visit or when he hangs out with these guys, if they hang out summer hockey or at some various rinks here and there, or the camaraderie that happens away from that locker room, is the current team a good bunch of guys to hang out with? 7:53 I mean, that to me would be a real deciding factor. 7:56 If you walk into a room and you're on your visit and you don't feel like it's a fun place to be, I think that's more important than not having a sauna or a fireplace or a whirlpool big enough for 20 people. 8:08 I mean, I think the atmosphere of the guys would, well, I would hope that that would sell the program more than anything. 8:15 Well, and I think you also have to remember that most of the recruits that we're going to be going after are kids that grew up around this area, grew up with gopher hockey. 8:24 They're not going to have to, they're, you know, that's where you lay the foundation for a lot of kids. 8:29 We had this discussion on GPL about, you know, how much of an impact the kind of rotating TV schedule and having some shuffled times and all that. 8:38 Is that going to have any impact on gopher hockey compared to just having the games on FSN every Friday and Saturday at the same time? 8:45 And I'm like, no, because they're still on television as much as ever. 8:49 If anything, kids DVR the hell out of everything these days. 8:54 They're still going to be watching just as much hockey as ever. 8:57 And people need to grasp these things that really, that's where you lay the foundation. 9:02 Some of the recruits we get, they grew up going to Mariucci. 9:06 I mean, that's just the reality. 9:07 And you can't replicate that with fanciness or this or that. 9:10 You can't replicate the geography. 9:12 So I mean, there's a lot of things that go into these decisions. 9:15 And how much you are attached to that program does matter. 9:21 But where that TV package matters is where they're growing for an outstate kid or maybe a Canadian kid, and certainly for a European kid. 9:29 I mean, it would have been nice to be able to sell whoever on a 30 game. 9:34 Hey, look, we're on TV 30 games, 32 games. 9:38 Your parents can watch no matter where you live. 9:40 To now, we're down to about a dozen and change on Big Ten Network. 9:44 That gets a little harder to sell. 9:47 Doesn't affect, I don't think, the kid in state as much as it does. 9:49 Maybe that odd recruit, that big kid you want to get in from outstate or from out of the viewing area, out of state. 9:57 Well, I don't know how the Big Ten works because I, Jupe, you would know this better than I do. 10:01 I think they have a very large footprint, at least in the US I know that. 10:04 And I know in Canada they do as well. 10:07 I'm not sure how it works with FSN. 10:09 I know obviously you can get it on satellite if you have certain, you know, packages or whatever. 10:14 So I don't know if it's better or worse in terms of that, that I wouldn't know. 10:19 I don't think the total number of games is close to what we had on Fox back in the day. 10:25 I don't think. 10:26 I don't know, Jupe. 10:27 What is it? 10:28 How many is it this year? 10:29 Like 28, 30, something like that? 10:32 They're a little short than what they used to be. 10:35 And obviously I think, you know, FSN has really kind of gotten the shaft on this whole deal because the Big Ten network is picking all the primo games. 10:47 And the ones they don't want to go, they go, here you go, FSN, you want these? 10:50 And FSN, you know, is kind of left with the crap. 10:53 Yeah, but you can't blame the Big Ten network. 10:55 No, not at all. 10:57 The ratings, the ones that are going to get better ratings, at least that they think will get better ratings, you can't blame them for that. 11:02 That's true. 11:02 But first pick, you're going to go with what's going to make the money. 11:04 Exactly. 11:05 And you know, it's just a changing landscape. 11:07 I mean, that's just the way things are going to be, you know, with this whole Big Ten network and all this alliance and whatever it is. 11:15 We're not going to be going back to those days of 30 plus games on FSN and pregame, postgame. 11:23 Now, you know, you think FSN, FSN doesn't want to, you know, they lost money on it last year. 11:29 They don't want to spend money anymore because they know they're not getting the good games. 11:35 You know, they don't do a pregame anymore. 11:36 There's no postgame anymore. 11:38 They send their worst truck to Mariucci now. 11:42 They're using four cameras and they're going as bare bones as possible so they can try to make some money. 11:50 And I would guess maybe next year they might drop even more games, who knows? 11:56 But here's a thing that you have to point out is that it's still better than anybody else's guess. 12:02 Yes. 12:02 And so we can complain, but that's mainly because we had practically every game on before. 12:07 And now if you reduce it a few more, okay, fine, but you're still on more than Duluth, St. 12:13 Cloud, North Dakota, so on and so forth. 12:16 It's just, you know what I mean? 12:17 We can complain, but we're still on more than anybody else. 12:20 Well, I've told you, Frank, a few times that, you know, obviously it wasn't your choice to be let go from FSN, but you may have gotten out at the right time considering what's happened since you've left. 12:35 I mean, you consider Doug McCloud, he's coming in from Arizona, he's only got select games here and there, whereas you guys were every Friday and Saturday night. 12:45 It would have been a completely different deal if you were still there, besides the corporate problems. 12:54 Yeah, well, the 40 games a year, it's a really good part-time job. 13:02 Cut it down to 12 games a year and you're kind of just a hired gun and you better have... 13:09 I mean, I needed to have another part-time job constantly through that. 13:12 I mean, 40 was a good half-time job, let me put it that way, all right? 13:17 I always needed to have something else going on in my life to bring in some extra cash to make up the difference. 13:25 You cut down to 12, well, man, that becomes moonlighting. 13:32 You got to have something serious going on somewhere else and that's too bad. 13:37 The other part of it is that I have a hard time keeping my mind on the game if I'm only doing 12. 13:41 That's why I like doing this radio thing because I just fall into memories that are only a week old and I don't have to... 13:48 it's not as difficult as trying to remember a game that was three weeks ago. 13:53 Yeah, 12 games is difficult to do. 13:56 Obviously, TV's got some pretty good pay, radio's not as good, but you know what? 14:02 You were at the National Championship game last year and you were part of the broadcast. 14:06 That would have never happened if you were with FSN. 14:09 No, you're right. 14:11 You get to go a little further. 14:12 You and Wally, obviously it wasn't the greatest experience when they lost the game, but your job would have been over if you were on television at the final five. 14:25 Once in a while, you were doing some regional games, but that was it. 14:29 You've always been a big supporter of this team, but your job was over right when it was getting even more exciting. 14:38 Yeah, exactly. 14:40 For that standpoint, I kind of tended to lose a little bit of track of what was happening nationally. 14:45 I had that really, like, where was that final four, in what year was that? 14:50 Because I wasn't involved. 14:51 My spring started, and a lot of times I just started doing a brain dump. 14:55 The best part about doing the radio now is that every week we're there. 15:00 We're going to be in Happy Valley this weekend, or state college or whatever the official name is. 15:07 There will be plenty of opportunities to have those 30-second conversations in the lobby, those maybe five-minute conversations, waiting for a bus, those things that I never had the opportunity or never made the opportunity when I was doing TV because we were so engrossed with what we were doing that we would have a pre-production meeting on Saturday morning and Friday morning as well. 15:33 Well, there went the morning skate where we probably should have been there. 15:39 We weren't. 15:40 We were sitting around a breakfast table and planning and discussing this, that and the other thing and missed those opportunities to be with the guys. 15:47 Worst of all, most of the time, we stayed in hotels away from where the team was, which was beyond my comprehension. 15:55 I could never figure out why they booked rooms like that. 15:57 Well, it's got to be so much easier to prepare when you know you got two games that you're going to be calling. 16:02 It's not split up like these TV guys have it sometimes. 16:05 That's got to be a lot tougher to prepare, I would think, at least mentally for me it would be. 16:08 Yeah. 16:09 Absolutely. 16:10 Well, Climber seems to have gotten in on it. 16:14 Climber is doing color for both networks. 16:18 I think Climber is doing okay. 16:21 I think Climber could talk his way out of a Ziploc bag, which I was not able to do. 16:25 I mean, he could talk his way through anything. 16:30 But yeah, you're right, so more power to him because the more games you do, the better off you're going to be. 16:35 And I would say Climber has gotten better. 16:37 Well, you're forced to schmooze in the Carlson School, so, you know, trust me on that one. 16:45 Well, speaking of color commentators, Tim Hapke has got a question from Twitter. 16:51 He's wondering, probably pointed towards you, Frank, what's Doug Woog up to these days? 16:57 Does he still come into the rink and how is his health? 17:00 He's okay. 17:03 You know, it's a steady as she goes. 17:07 I've seen him a few times this year. 17:09 Yeah, he's around. 17:10 He gets in on game nights a lot. 17:13 He does, you know, he's in offices there. 17:15 He gets in. 17:16 I don't think he's nearly as busy as he was even two, three years ago, but they're giving him some stuff to do and he's going at it. 17:24 But like I said, I don't I think he's what I'd be most concerned to find out is if he's still running like he used to. 17:32 He might be just doing a walk or a long walk rather than doing the runs. 17:35 But yeah, I've seen it with Doug and I, Doug, Wally and I had a chat with him about a week or so ago about this, that and the other thing and getting his ideas. 17:43 And he's still got a real good feel for talent. 17:46 So, yeah, he's there. 17:47 He's he's Doug is Doug. 17:52 That is true. 17:53 Doug is definitely Doug. 17:54 All right, guys. 17:56 Well, we have been down on the team for most of the year with good cause because they stunk, you know, since November. 18:05 Well, and then I hear you talking a couple weeks ago before the game, Frank, you know, saying, you know, it sounds like the locker room things has been fixed and sure enough, they haven't lost since then. 18:19 And part of that is, you know, a big sweep over Michigan last weekend. 18:25 Obviously, Michigan is not the big, powerful Michigan of the 90s. 18:29 But you know what? 18:30 They were leading the country in offense. 18:32 Minnesota shut them down, reduced two goals on the weekend and come away with six points. 18:38 And let me tell you, Hammy, those were a big six points because now we're tied for first place with Michigan in the Big Ten standings. 18:45 Yeah, and I mean, I think that's kind of what I was hoping, you know, last week when we were talking. 18:49 I was like, well, to me, this is going to be kind of a make or break. 18:53 Is this team going to be really a legitimate, potentially make a late run? 18:57 Yeah, I was looking at this last weekend as kind of if that was a possibility because really, if you look at the schedule, at least in a regular season, Michigan was going to be the last major, major test. 19:07 Not that Penn State's, you know, having a bad year or is a bad team, but, you know, they're still not going to be quite as talented and as potent as Michigan is. 19:16 And obviously, we had some struggles with Michigan up there. 19:20 So you kind of needed to look at how were things going to be. 19:22 And if you look at our Achilles heel this year, it's been how well we played defensively and as Wilcox playing as well. 19:31 And so we had a team coming in that's leading the nation and goals scored and that was going to be tested. 19:36 And I think the greatest sign that we saw this weekend was how we played very solidly on defense. 19:42 And Wilcox seemed to be kind of like what we had seen the prior few years. 19:47 Doesn't get any bigger than that, Frank. 19:49 It could be a turning point on the season. 19:53 It'll be a key point in the season. 19:55 I'm really wondering where the turn might have come. 19:57 Did it come the week before? 20:00 Did it come in the Wisconsin series here with that little scuffle at the end when there were some punches thrown and things got nasty and guys came to the physical aid of their teammates? 20:14 I saw that, you know, that may not be a huge, we would call it turning point to go around the corner, but that was the first real sign that I saw that these guys were in it, not just for themselves, but for everybody else. 20:27 And just to go back, let me go back to the beginning of the season, so that I don't want a cloudy picture to be painted here, but early in the year, I don't remember if it was week two or week three, and I haven't gone back through the audio to find it, but we had guys on microphone would say, you know, we got to come together as a family. 20:47 You know, we've got to work together as a team, we got to play for one another. 20:50 And I just thought that at week two or week three, that was too early in the year to be hearing stuff like that. 20:57 And you still, in those first few weeks, you should still have the freshness of getting back together. 21:02 And you know, it's kind of like spring training and all, you know, and you get energized for it. 21:06 Well, when I, as soon as I heard that, I thought this doesn't sound good. 21:10 It really doesn't sound good. 21:11 And they played well, then ran into the Duluth series. 21:15 And from then till the end of January, I mean, it was about as bad as we have seen here in four or five years. 21:24 So, the Wisconsin series and the way they turned it around against Ohio State and they played pretty darn well at Wisconsin as well, coupled with a guy that I bumped into who is gonna remain nameless because we weren't talking on the record or anything. 21:37 But he has, he's outside the U, but he has regular contact with the players. 21:42 And he talked to me after the, was it the Ohio State, what was our last talk series? 21:51 I think you had mentioned it on the Saturday of the Ohio State Series. 21:54 Okay, so then I had seen him Friday night and he said, you wouldn't believe how much looser, together, chatty, friendly, these guys are among themselves. 22:10 And he sees them two, three, four times a weekend. 22:14 That to me kind of confirmed the way they were playing on the ice. 22:18 They had, he said, that's an unbelievable difference. 22:20 What I've seen in these guys in Thursday and Friday, leading up to the weekend. 22:25 Well, you know, one of the things we've talked about this year is, you know, people complain, it's the coaching and the players, blah, blah, blah. 22:30 But basically it does eventually come down to the players. 22:34 You got to want to play for each other. 22:35 You got to want it. 22:37 And it was pretty apparent, you know, whatever it was, communication, whatever the problems were that they weren't putting it together. 22:44 And like I said, a coach can just, he could yell at you, he could tell you, he can only do so much. 22:48 But if the players aren't buying in and the players aren't fixing their own problems, you're going to have problems. 22:55 There's 25, 26 of them. 22:57 They should have more mental strength than one coach or three coaches, you know. 23:02 They should be able to pull themselves together in situations and get themselves up to playing at their best abilities. 23:11 And why they weren't, I have no idea. 23:13 Yeah, well, I mean, I think, you know, we had been talking for weeks about issues behind the scenes and nobody wanted to believe it, but, you know, I think, and the newspaper says, you know, even the newspaper guy is asking them questions and it's like, well, you know, they're not going to admit to anything in the paper. 23:30 Come on. 23:30 Right. 23:31 It could have been a catalyst though. 23:33 Well, it could have been a catalyst that says, you know, the public's starting to figure out something's going on. 23:38 Maybe we need to get this fixed. 23:40 Well, I think that ultimately what it comes down to, we have talked about this earlier in the year. 23:43 It doesn't matter even if you necessarily like the coaches. 23:46 You have to like each other. 23:48 You have to look around the locker room and say, these are my buddies. 23:51 These are guys I, you know, in many cases I grew up playing hockey with, especially for the upperclassmen and the seniors. 23:57 It's like, this is your last go around with this group. 24:00 You know, do you want to have good memories or do you want to look back and say, God, did we have a lousy final season and have regret? 24:07 And they still have time to rectify everything, but they had to pull it together quickly. 24:13 And it looks like they have, but we still got a lot of season left yet, so we'll see what happens. 24:18 Well, Vegoe has also joined us here after his little dealing with the kids at home. 24:25 Vegoe, a sweep on the weekend. 24:27 It seems like things are starting to come together. 24:30 Yeah, I think we noticed this weekend in Dance Michigan, guys played a lot more responsible. 24:35 I think that was part of the issue early in the season. 24:38 Some guys have talked about how guys are just trying to force plays and make plays and there's no one holding them accountable to play responsibly. 24:46 And you saw this weekend what happens when the team can do that. 24:50 Not very many turnovers at the blue lines in the offensive zone or defensive zone. 24:55 I think you saw defensemen make the smart plays a lot of time at the blue line, deciding whether to pinch or bail and play the rush. 25:03 I think you saw back checkers picking up players with good rush identification. 25:08 And Wilcox played steady. 25:10 He talked about after Saturday that he works on three things every practice. 25:15 And one of them is a narrow feet, narrow base. 25:19 And I think that really allows him to, you know, use his reactions to stop the puck. 25:25 And he looked very solid this weekend. 25:28 And you know what, that is one thing we've talked about. 25:30 You know, he seems to have been off his game and he hasn't made that big save in critical times. 25:36 But Frank, Saturday night, he made a big save with under a minute. 25:41 And that's something we haven't seen this year that we saw all of last year. 25:47 Yeah, last year was with great regularity. 25:49 He, but also in talking about Adam, I'm also gonna say he wasn't the only problem. 25:56 And I'm not necessarily even saying he was the biggest problem. 26:00 I'm not gonna go that far. 26:02 But he was one of a collection of problems that led up to a pretty miserable middle of the season. 26:07 But he has, you remember those rebounds that he was, those pucks that he was losing, the pucks that were shot right into his stomach, he would lose and they would dribble out his elbow towards the goal line. 26:21 Boy, that's not him. 26:23 That's not anywhere close to what his game is. 26:25 I mean, it was almost like there was an imposter in there, but boy, you're right. 26:31 Last weekend, he got the focus back and Don Lucia said on Friday night, after he saw him warm up for a little bit, he had to pull him out, pull him off the ice. 26:39 He said, you've had enough, you're ready to go. 26:41 Don't, let's not overextend, extend yourself out there. 26:46 And boy, he was sharp as a tack. 26:47 And you're right, we came up in a third period. 26:48 He made, I think he made a couple, three saves. 26:51 The one under a minute or 30 seconds or whatever that was, that was the huge one, no doubt about it. 26:57 In terms of a big save. 27:00 I mean, it still only would have made it two to one at that point, but I thought he made a save earlier in that third, maybe about five minutes in or something. 27:05 That was also one of those ones that would not only kick the goal away, but prevent any momentum from getting built up. 27:11 And he's back. 27:12 Yeah, we hope he's back. 27:14 You know, we didn't, you know, we thought, you know, here on the podcast that he wasn't the only problem. 27:20 I mean, the whole team defense from the defensemen to the forwards back checking, we felt that they had been letting him down as well. 27:30 But there was this, that little bit of, hey, when is that big save gonna come? 27:35 And we hope it's back. 27:37 Yeah, yeah. 27:39 Definitely hope it's back. 27:40 Go ahead. 27:40 I think one of the things last year was that Wilcox bailed out this team so often when they needed it and allowed Lucia to stick with Brodzinski and Bischoff in the lineup. 27:50 And I think this year he's trying to, you know, Lucia takes the long view with teams. 27:54 It's not, you know, what kind of team you have in October. 27:57 It's what you have at this time of the year. 27:59 And this year he's really been trying to develop his young players. 28:03 And, you know, they're going to make mistakes. 28:04 You know, it's a tough transition to college hockey. 28:07 And, you know, for whatever reason, Wilcox wasn't quite as sharp this year as he was last year. 28:12 And so it cost him some wins. 28:14 But it looks like he's found his game a little bit more and he could be that safety pin for them. 28:20 Well, how about that Friday night though, guys? 28:23 Kyle Rau with the hat trick, his shorthanded goal, I'm just gonna go with, is the furthest he's ever scored a goal from the net. 28:34 He was pretty far out and he's always scored his goals within five to 10 feet. 28:39 That was a good 20 feet out. 28:42 Must be his furthest how he's ever scored, not including an empty net goal. 28:47 Hammey? 28:48 Yeah, it is as far as I can remember. 28:50 The reality is, is that if you watch hockey, a lot of the goals are scored right around the net. 28:56 So the fact that he hasn't, I mean, he's not gonna blister one by him like Bukestad or whatever. 29:02 But you know what? 29:04 In four years, you would think he'd have a goal a little bit further away, at least once. 29:09 Well, that's true. 29:11 I guess the point is though, some guys, they know that they have to be around the net in order for them to score and he just has a nose for that area. 29:19 And hell, I grew up a North Stars fan and Dino Cicciarelli was one of my heroes and that guy was total Mr. 29:27 Garbage goal scorer. 29:28 So I mean, you remember guys like that and it doesn't matter if they're necessarily taking that 100 mile an hour slapper from the slot. 29:37 It's just a matter of are they scoring goals? 29:40 Frank, what can you say about Kyle Rowe this weekend? 29:42 Obviously he's never been a big vocal guy, but he sure did show some senior leadership, I would say. 29:51 Well, part of the- 29:53 On the ice. 29:53 Part of what bothers me about that, on the ice, is that he showed a lot of senior leadership, even through the drought. 30:01 And people, the teammates weren't picking up on it. 30:03 I mean, I don't know that he's playing any much different now than he was a month ago. 30:13 For whatever reason, he's got wingers now that are coming together with him. 30:18 And we had a talk early, I think Lucia and Wally and I, we were talking about which players have gotten better from last year. 30:27 That was a short list, very short. 30:31 Who are playing about the same? 30:34 And who are fading a bit? 30:36 Who actually are having worse seasons? 30:38 And that, unfortunately, was a pretty long list of a number of players, I got six forward on my list alone, worse than last year. 30:49 And we got around to talking about Rao and Don said, you know, I don't know that he's as good as he was last year. 30:55 And I said, but who's he playing with this year? 30:58 Or in other words, the guys that he's playing with are not as good as they were last year. 31:04 What does that leave them with? 31:06 I mean, if you have two thirds of a line going, you got a chance to do something. 31:10 But if you're the only third of a line that's doing anything, good luck getting points out of that. 31:15 And I think that's where Kyle was for a lot this year. 31:19 But I just, I think something has energized the line with getting wrist dead up there. 31:24 I think that's kind of a, that's still a fun and interesting combination. 31:27 I'm still not sure how great the chemistry is between the two of them or the three of them, but it sure has made that line more potent than it was whoever was playing with Raul and Fasching earlier in the year. 31:42 Well, I think that, you know, we have to look at these guys and realize that even if you're a leader, how the team is doing behind the scenes, it's going to impact you emotionally, mentally. 31:53 The one, I had one, I won't say who it is, but I had somebody that has known Kyle Raul for a long time, had a son that, you know, basically played a lot of hockey with him over the years, whatever. 32:04 And he mentioned to me like a month ago that he had never seen Kyle seem as demoralized as what he kind of felt from an effort standpoint than he had seen roughly around that time when the Gophers were kind of in flux. 32:20 And he said that he loves Kyle and he thinks that Kyle's a great player and an effort player, but he had never really seen Kyle seem so kind of demoralized in his mind than what he had seen. 32:32 He said that even he thought Kyle was affected by how things were going and that kind of surprised him. 32:37 So I think that we have to realize that just because he's a leader doesn't mean that he's not going to be impacted to some extent by what's going on around him. 32:47 Well, he sure showed up this past weekend with four goals. 32:51 I don't know what he did for assists, but you know what, who also showed up is Mike Riley. 32:55 This kid is, I swear, he's assisting on every goal. 32:58 And Veegs, I think he's also picked it up on the defense event as well. 33:02 Yeah, he talked about how all week that was his main focus was to stop making mistakes in the defensive end and turning over the puck. 33:10 And it really showed against Michigan. 33:12 He made very, very few mistakes, if any, against them. 33:16 And he benefited in the score sheet because of it. 33:19 I think one issue with him is he's trying to force the play so much because he's so talented that he skates himself into bad positions on the ice. 33:28 And if the puck gets turned over, he can get caught pretty deep. 33:32 So I think, you know, knowing that he's very conscious of his positioning makes a huge difference out there. 33:38 You know, I think the other thing that we need to point out is some of these guys that are younger, you know, are starting to step up and play a little bit better. 33:45 I think Bischoff has played a lot better. 33:47 Ryan Collins has played much better recently. 33:50 So some of these guys that are, you know, underclassmen, they're starting to, I think, show some, you know, signs that they're improving. 33:57 And that's going to be much needed, obviously, as we head down the stretch. 34:02 I think those are two key guys that you mentioned on getting the defense stable. 34:09 And, again, not that Bisch was too far off track, but I think there were the odd mistakes here and there that he's just getting better and better. 34:19 He's gotten to the point now where, as a sophomore, you're going to start looking to him, I think, a little bit more as an upperclassman because of his leadership. 34:27 He's smart. 34:30 He's grown into that position, and I think Gensel has helped him along a lot in that regard. 34:35 And then the same thing with Collins. 34:36 I mean, we heard maybe, was it three weeks ago or so, we had Mike Gensel, and he said, our goal here with the D now is to have Shea and Collins be together and get them to see if they can now become the combination that Shea and Hall were last year. 34:54 And get that, then we've got that great base to build with with those two on the D-Core. 35:01 And so far, Shea, Collins, Bischoff, all those three things are coming together pretty darn nicely right now. 35:14 And people have to remember with Bischoff, I mean, he didn't play any junior hockey after high school, he came right from Grand Rapids, so he didn't get quite as much attention as much ice time as we a lot of times see with some of our incoming recruits. 35:28 He didn't have that before and after USHL or playing a full season USHL before he comes to the U or like a Collins playing for the US team for two years and getting all that experience. 35:40 So for him, he's not quite as experienced prior to the U than a lot of these guys. 35:45 So giving him that time to kind of grow into that role. 35:49 I mean, everybody forgets that back in the day, we always used to say, you know, by the time they're halfway through their sophomore year, that's when you kind of expect them to start making an impact. 35:58 And that was sort of what everybody expected. 36:01 But nowadays, there's so much, you know, you almost expect them to make an impact right away because of junior hockey and whatever. 36:07 So people aren't quite as patient as they once were. 36:10 Well, with the results- 36:13 Oh, go ahead, Frank. 36:14 No, I just want to back up, Hamme on that one, because I think if you count the number of games post-high school, they didn't play a full season last year for us, as you said. 36:26 So he's just getting his game numbers up to, that'd be interesting to see. 36:31 How many Gopher games has he played total? 36:35 And what does that equate to in US. 36:38 Hockey League years? 36:40 Give me a second, I'm going to find out. 36:44 Well, he'd have to play 60 games to be a full USHL season because that's what, for a regular season at least. 36:51 And right now, he's got 53 Gopher games. 36:56 So he doesn't not, yeah, I realize these games are going to be more intense, higher caliber opponent, but he's still not reached the same number of games that he would have played in one year in the US. 37:06 League. 37:07 And his ice time is a lot different to playing for Minnesota. 37:12 Right, he's going to share a lot more ice time than he might at a USHL team where he's playing a higher role, power play and all that kind of stuff. 37:22 Well, that's a necessity, you know what I mean? 37:24 Sometimes coaches have to bring guys in because of roster necessity, so they don't have that luxury of waiting. 37:31 Well, the successful weekend by us and Michigan State has caused a logjam at the top of the standings. 37:37 And you got Michigan and Minnesota with 24 points, Penn State and Michigan State right behind with 22 points each, and the rest doesn't matter right now. 37:47 Sorry, Badgers, you stink. 37:49 It's just, they did win a game this past weekend, oh yippee skippee, but it was Ohio State, so and in front of like three people at Ohio State, so nobody really noticed. 38:01 That's their third game or win of the year, right? 38:03 Something like that. 38:03 I believe so, their first Big Ten win of the year. 38:07 So, way to go. 38:08 Do you guys realize now what that means? 38:12 You know how many total Big Ten games those two schools have won? 38:16 I mean, you think about this. 38:19 They've won four. 38:20 Yep. 38:22 Yeah, how about that? 38:27 Oh, you know, I would say most of us really don't care about Ohio State, but we're taking quite a bit of joy in Wisconsin, just being so terrible and basically causing them to lose, you know, the number one recruit next year. 38:44 I mean... 38:44 I still don't want this to go on for too long. 38:48 That's tragic. 38:51 Yeah, it's killing our pairwise. 38:55 Well, you know what? 38:55 I know that we take glee in it, but you know what the reality is? 38:58 Is that you do want your rivals to be at least competitive because it means more to the conference. 39:03 It means more intensity to the home games when you host them. 39:07 I mean, it does mean something. 39:09 And, you know, yeah, we don't want great things to happen to Wisconsin, right? 39:13 But nonetheless, it feels a little bit better when you're beating up on a team when they're pretty good, as opposed to when you know they suck and it's like, oh yeah, well, we would have swept them big deal. 39:23 You know what I mean? 39:24 It's, there is some meaning to that. 39:26 And as far as Ohio State goes, I think that we want the Big Ten to be better. 39:31 And so I don't really take any happiness in the fact that some of these teams are struggling a bit. 39:36 We need them to be a little bit stronger. 39:38 Well, I think if Grant Bessey doesn't take off for the AHL anytime soon, you know, in two years, Wisconsin's going to be a threat again. 39:46 Once those freshmen are juniors and seniors, you know, they'll be back in competitive again. 39:52 The question is, will Eves be there? 39:57 Everybody seems to wonder about that. 39:58 So I guess we'll see. 40:00 His contract is... 40:03 Through 17, I believe. 40:05 Yeah, it's like nothing so... 40:07 Yeah, I think he's there for a while. 40:11 I don't think he's going to get let go either, but I know a lot of Wisconsin fans are hoping he gets let go. 40:15 They have fans? 40:17 Well, they're dwindling, but they're still there around. 40:20 They are dwindling. 40:23 I mean, Frank, I bet you, when's the last time you were at Cole Center and it was, you know, one third empty? 40:31 Well, that, actually, that was a year ago on that Thursday night. 40:36 Oh, one third empty. 40:37 I mean, they're down 5,000 people on average. 40:43 Last year we went there, we played that Thursday night game. 40:46 It was two thirds empty. 40:47 I mean, it was, yeah, and it's gonna be interesting to see what we get here a week from, what, tomorrow? 40:55 Mm-hmm. 40:56 We played that Thursday night game. 40:56 Oh, the Thursday night game, yeah. 40:58 At eight o'clock. 40:59 Oh, yippy skippy. 41:01 Oh, man, that's, it'll be interesting to see how many bodies are in the seat. 41:04 Well, the weekend after that is even worse. 41:06 I mean, there's a 4 p.m. 41:08 game on Friday at Ohio State. 41:13 Oh, no, really? 41:14 Yeah. 41:14 4 p.m. 41:15 Friday, 5 p.m. 41:16 Saturday. 41:17 You know, these things change in the middle of everything. 41:22 So, I don't even look till two weeks before. 41:24 Yeah. 41:26 Well, you'll just be able to hit the bar early. 41:30 Yeah, you'll be able to have a nice, fine wine. 41:33 That was only a good thing when I could handle more than a couple of drinks. 41:39 Now, it doesn't matter what time we get to the bar. 41:43 I can rarely get to closing time anyway, so it just doesn't matter. 41:48 Let's think of another reason why we don't like early games, okay? 41:52 Well, again, I don't like late games because then you really don't get a chance to go to the bar by the time you get to the bar. 41:58 The bar food's already closed down like last weekend. 42:01 Yeah, you're right. 42:03 I'm looking at the schedule here. 42:04 Five o'clock Eastern time, that Ohio State game. 42:07 It's probably part of the Big Ten double header or something. 42:10 No, that game is on ESPNU. 42:13 No, no, no. 42:15 Which game now? 42:17 At Ohio State is on ESPNU and then the Saturday is on ESPN News. 42:23 Yeah. 42:25 Big Ten didn't want it and Fox didn't want it. 42:28 Is Butchagross going to be doing the... 42:30 I'm sure Butchagross will be doing the games. 42:33 Oh, good. 42:37 Well, let's get to this weekend's games, guys. 42:41 Obviously, Penn State has been the surprise of the Big Ten this year. 42:46 I'd say the three biggest surprises are how disappointing Minnesota has been, how bad Wisconsin has been, but how good Penn State has been. 42:54 Let's get to your initial thoughts, Frank. 42:55 Penn State, some of their competition has been a little light at home, but you know what? 43:01 They're winning. 43:03 And it shows. 43:04 They've been winning in the Big Ten as well. 43:06 So it's been a good build of this program. 43:12 It's been excellent. 43:13 And last year, after two days there, I came to a very strong opinion that they are the ones that are going to give Ohio State trouble in this league. 43:28 You know, Ohio State is going to have to worry about recruiting against Penn State first and then everybody else. 43:35 That program, Guy Gadowski, is as smart as any coach that I've seen in a long time. 43:42 He's polished. 43:43 He's got charisma. 43:44 He's got that, you know, I think he's a perfect fit for what Penn State likes to think of its coaches, unquote. 43:54 You know, he fits that mold of that integrity that they have liked to have had for a long time. 44:01 The building is great. 44:03 The building is full. 44:05 It's full of knowledgeable hockey fans. 44:08 You know, I remember going back when, more so in the Dane, when Wisconsin played, you'd listen to the fans cheer and I always thought they were cheering backwards. 44:23 They were cheering for the wrong thing. 44:24 They didn't quite get the game. 44:26 There was some... 44:28 I know exactly what you mean, Frank. 44:30 And I can't tell you what plays it is, but it's like they got... 44:34 There's like, man, no, no, you don't cheer now. 44:36 This is not good for your guys. 44:37 You know what? 44:38 The last time I was at the Cole Center, actually, so it was even more recent, I would hear fans around me screaming like high school girls when Wisconsin would be on a one on three coming into the zone. 44:51 I mean, the fans of Wisconsin, they cheer, they're loud, they're great in that sense, but jeez, I found out that not all of them, but many of them are very dumb when it comes to hockey. 45:06 But it sounds like the people at Penn State are picking it up pretty quick. 45:10 They know the game, and I'm assuming that the student body is primarily from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. 45:16 They certainly have been exposed to hockey for decades now, if not generations, and I just think it's a really good atmosphere. 45:23 Plus, basketball, both men's and women's now, suck big time, so that hockey team right now is golden for them. 45:35 You know, I would have to agree with you on competing with Ohio State, but you know, Penn State's got this brand new building, Ohio State plays in this gigantic place that looks worse than a girls' high school hockey tournament at the X. 45:51 I know, I'm picking on them, I know, but that's terrible for atmosphere. 45:58 It's hard to build a program like that at a huge school when you're playing in front of two or three thousand fans, but it feels like you're playing in front of three because of this giant building they can't fill. 46:13 So I think Penn State has done it right. 46:15 Well, and the thing that I've been saying since even before last year, I mean, a lot of people didn't have a lot of faith about Penn State being good, but when you've invested that much in a rink and trying to build a program like they had, you know, it's going to be just a matter of time because as we talked about earlier, facilities and things like that matter to kids. 46:36 And I always said that when Penn State starts becoming successful, they're going to be a pain in the neck for programs that are sort of that middle tier like a St. 46:46 Cloud and a Duluth and some of these programs that, you know, they have some success here or there because those are especially the kinds of schools that are going to start seeing certain recruits get stolen because they're going to see, man, Penn State's got a nice rink and they have a lot of, you know, they have TV presence and Big Ten Network and so on and so forth. 47:05 And those are the kinds of schools I think that are going to start to feel a little bit of the pain when Penn State gets much better. 47:12 You know, I also think they have a chance of denting, you know, the recruiting in other places, not just Ohio State. 47:19 I mean, the Boston area, Maine, New Hampshire, those are powerhouse schools that could start to be affected by a large school like Penn State being out east. 47:33 Well, you look at a lot of their current recruits and their USHL, a lot of them, you know, so that's that prime territory that a lot of these schools tend to rely on, especially, like I said, these middle tier schools that maybe aren't going to get that really high end elite guys. 47:49 So that's where I think the impact is going to be. 47:52 I, Deidre, I don't want to, if you want to jump in, go, but the other thing that Penn State's got is that there are more and more kids coming out of upstate New York, throughout Pennsylvania and that what we used to call the mid-Atlantic states. 48:08 There's a lot of kids that are coming out of there and they're playing in the USHL. 48:12 And if they have a chance to play at Robert Morris or Penn State or RIT or Penn State and Penn State's in the Big Ten and there's a big TV package that goes along with it and the Big Ten betters itself, they're going to have a huge recruiting advantage in Pennsylvania, upstate New York and in that mid-Atlantic area. 48:30 There's going to be a lot of kids there. 48:33 Well, I think one of the things with Big Ten programs is you have strength and conditioning programs that are, you know, a lot bigger than these other schools have, you know, people come to CalDeeds and they put on a lot of weight and a lot of strength and they develop and typically, you know, that's a strength of college hockey is you play less games than major junior, but you get the chance to build your body up a lot. 48:55 And you know, Ohio State may have a bad atmosphere for their games, but you know, the weight facilities, the training table, those are huge advantages for those schools. 49:09 Did you hear that? 49:09 They just got their home jerseys a week ago. 49:13 Who did? 49:14 Ohio State. 49:16 What? 49:19 I guess Nike was backlogged and they couldn't quite produce them in time. 49:24 So now we're gonna have these fresh pressed jerseys for the playoffs. 49:28 Yeah, they were busy manufacturing Gopher authentic jerseys for the football playoff game. 49:35 I'm sure that took their priority with those diamond decals on everybody. 49:40 Hey guys, Penn State, 47th strength of schedule. 49:47 Just give you that number. 49:49 But you know what? 49:50 They have to start somewhere. 49:54 And if they're winning on a weaker schedule and it helps build the program, I'm not as offended by it. 50:01 I just hope the boys come in this weekend and show them who's the real boss of the Big Ten. 50:09 Well, I think the one thing that if I were the coach, I would emphasize that, hey, it's not going to be an easy road. 50:16 They're a better team. 50:17 They're obviously going to be fired up that we're coming into their rink and don't underestimate them just because it's not a historical power and it's Penn State and whatever that you've got to go in there battling like you did last weekend against Michigan, a traditional power. 50:31 So if they do that, I think they'll be all right. 50:34 Frank, that rink is pretty hostile, isn't it? 50:39 Well, no, it's no St. 50:41 Cloud, it's no North Dakota. 50:42 I mean, it's lively. 50:45 I would say the folks were polite, whatever that is. 50:51 I mean, that's only 120 minutes of hockey from last year, but I think it's good atmosphere. 50:56 It seems like it plays like a small rink. 50:58 The seats are kind of compressed, compact. 51:01 It kind of reminds me like Amsoil, Penn State, Notre Dame. 51:07 I think they're kind of cut kind of out of the same cloth in terms of size and amenities. 51:13 Pretty similar. 51:14 Well, when you're comparing them to North Dakota and St. 51:19 Cloud fans, I mean, that's sort of like comparing them to Al Qaeda or something. 51:27 Of course, they're going to be nicer. 51:28 That's North Dakota. 51:33 Give me another rowdy group, I mean, I don't know that. 51:36 I'm just teasing you, Frank. 51:37 I know, I know, I know, I know. 51:38 But good analogy. 51:39 I like that. 51:40 Hey, all right, another number here. 51:42 What did I say? 51:42 They were 47. 51:43 Yeah, strength of schedule. 51:45 But in the pairwise, they're tied for 24th. 51:49 So they may have had a weaker schedule, but they've done something with it. 51:52 They won games and they're higher in the pairwise than they are strength of schedule. 51:57 So to me, that says that they've done something with that schedule. 52:00 They're not, you know, they're six games above 500. 52:06 All right, Veegs. 52:06 Yeah, but their winning percentage is 607. 52:08 Yeah, yeah. 52:09 They're winning. 52:10 And you know, unlike Minnesota this year, when they had some of those quote unquote, you know, easier games, we lost those games and it's killing us in the pairwise now. 52:19 I mean, you know, actually what is helping us right now is that Northeastern is 11 and won or whatever it is in the past few months. 52:27 But when we played them, they were terrible and we lost to them. 52:32 So you know, Penn State might be playing easier schedule, but they're winning. 52:38 So that's why they are higher in the pairwise. 52:41 Veegs, let's get your thoughts on the weekend. 52:43 Who do we need to worry about with this Penn State team? 52:46 You know, it's not a lot of draft pick guys, but they've got a couple of upperclassmen with Casey Bailey and Taylor Holstrom who have produced for them. 52:55 You know, these guys are the ones who have been passed over by the big programs and they have a lot of upperclassmen on their roster. 53:03 I think one of the interesting things is they've had all kinds of different guys in goal. 53:07 I know that McAdam was kind of their big prospect that they got signed for them, but he hasn't played very much. 53:13 I don't think he played last weekend. 53:16 So they've got a very up and down performance and goal. 53:20 I think it will be key for Minnesota to maintain the puck, not turn it over, try to get some power play chances and get that first unit to work. 53:32 Frank, I'm hearing this weekend that the Penn State women will be playing and there's kind of a relationship there with Mike Riley, his sister plays for Penn State. 53:43 So I hear the whole family is going to be traveling out to see Mike play at Penn State or against Penn State and Penn State women's program playing. 53:52 It's kind of a family affair this weekend. 53:55 I'll be most happy if I see Connor Riley out there with his skates and a bag. 53:59 I know that's not going to happen. 54:03 I doubt he'll be making the trip. 54:05 That's news. 54:06 Are you suggesting that there be an intermission feature or something on the Riley family? 54:10 I think you should do that. 54:12 I think you should call your friend Butchagross. 54:21 I can't rip on Butchagross because he's the only guy who even talks hockey on TV. 54:28 His national love for college hockey or college hockey, as he likes to say it, is kind of a boost. 54:34 No question. 54:36 I'm not a fan of his calling games, his little whisper thing. 54:41 But the way he supports hockey, I can't say anything bad about that part, definitely. 54:47 He's better at the desk, there's no question about that. 54:51 So what happens this weekend, Hammy? 54:54 Can we get the sweep? 54:56 How are you feeling about it? 54:58 Well, I think the one thing I was going to mention earlier is that when you have these new programs, usually you're able to find scores. 55:05 I mean, there's a lot of forwards out there that can score, so there's just that kind of an abundance. 55:10 But it's usually the defensive group that's a little bit harder to build because there's just so many high caliber guys out there that it's harder for these smaller programs or new programs to really get those kinds of guys. 55:25 So usually it's the defensive end of things that tends to struggle, I think, a little bit more a lot of the time. 55:30 From looking at Penn State, I just think that that's probably where we're going to have to kind of take advantage is maybe using our depth at forward and kind of trying to be playing more up paced type of a game, try to get the goals going early like this last weekend, score early, get on top and keep the pedal to the metal, so to speak. 55:49 So I think this weekend we'll probably come out of there with a win and a tie. 55:53 That would be my objective. 55:55 Of course you want to sweep, but I think that that would probably be a good weekend in my book. 55:59 And of course if it's a win and a tie, they definitely lose in the shootout, right? 56:04 Well, of course. 56:05 Because they haven't won one yet. 56:07 Did I even need that clap to clarify that? 56:09 I thought that was a given. 56:11 Yes, we know Minnesota is 0 for in the Big Ten under those damn shootouts. 56:17 Frank, you're leaving them, guess what, tomorrow? 56:21 Yeah, mid-afternoon, charter. 56:26 The boys are chartering this year. 56:28 Yeah, that's the Big Ten for you. 56:30 You get to fly with them and it's all nice, you know, beer and wine on the plane and everything, right? 56:36 Hello, this is not Barney's. 56:41 He's going first class. 56:43 B-Y-O-W, bring your own wine. 56:45 Yeah, bring your own wine. 56:47 So what are your thoughts on the weekend? 56:50 The hard part is that the Gopher team that's in my mind is the one that just swept Michigan. 56:55 Yeah. 56:56 I see a sweep. 56:57 I mean, I think they can do it. 57:00 If they come out with purpose, they're going to face a team that they're... 57:05 Hemme, you're right about getting the quality guys back on the decore, but I think they're the key to their defense is the fact that they put up 40 shots a game. 57:13 So they're an offensive minded team and want to keep the puck out of their zone. 57:18 But the way the Gophers played together as a team, the support they had, the coming back, the cycling, everything, the short passes, that all plays in to I think they can sweep these guys this weekend. 57:32 Alright, Veegs, I guess, I don't know. 57:37 I'm going with it. 57:37 I went with sweep last weekend just to jump on the bandwagon and I'll go with it again this weekend. 57:44 But you know, Veegs, where are you at? 57:48 Are you on the bandwagon? 57:50 I feel like I've been leading the bandwagon because I mean, there's just been so much negativity on GPL the whole season. 57:59 I think that negativity has been justified. 58:02 Well, I think it's been justified by the fact that guys have been turning over the pocket and playing a little carelessly and they're not getting the goaltending they're used to. 58:10 But I think over the last two weekends, almost three weekends, we've seen the offense really start to click. 58:16 You know, even in the Wisconsin series, you know, you put up a lot of goals against a team that's usually pretty good defensively. 58:22 And then the last two weekends, the defense has been good. 58:25 I think they've held shots under 30 on the last four games and Wilcox has played well on those rushes where they've needed a bailout. 58:35 And I think this team is starting to roll a little bit and I don't see any reason why they don't sweep. 58:41 Well, let's hope that you're right. 58:43 Good time of year to get hot, isn't it? 58:45 Well, yeah, it's, it's, you know, it was almost too late. 58:48 You know, the problem is, though, is that if you lose a game, if you lose to like a game against Ohio State maybe or something like that, it really kills your pairwise because of how bad they've been so far this year. 59:02 So really, they have to just keep on winning to make sure they're within, you know, the top 13 or so by the end of the season because then they don't have to win the Big Ten tournament. 59:15 Because, you know, we definitely don't want to have that kind of situation. 59:19 It definitely feels like this is the last weekend of a real tough situation because they're playing at Penn State. 59:25 They get Michigan State and Penn State at home and then they play at the empty Ohio State building down the stretch. 59:32 And this shouldn't be a, not going to be anywhere close to the most severe test we've seen over the years going in there. 59:40 But yeah, it's going to be the toughest, should be the toughest weekend of the remaining. 59:46 I think that's a good point too. 59:48 And clean up on this one. 59:49 But you know what? 59:50 I don't think it matters who they, from here on out, who they win against or who they lose to unless it has something to do with the head to head. 59:58 But I just think wins. 59:59 They just need wins. 1:00:01 It doesn't matter who, who they lose to, just get more wins and I think their winning percentage will be enough to help carry them up into that, you know, that 11, 12 where we would be more assured of going to Fargo to take on North Dakota. 1:00:17 You know, there's been a lot of talk about that, but I am one of the few who is not convinced that Minnesota will be going to North Dakota. 1:00:27 And the reason being is that that regional is already sold out. 1:00:34 They are notorious for wanting to send teams to places where it might help attendance. 1:00:40 And I am thinking Minnesota could have a good chance of getting sent to South Bend. 1:00:47 Well, I had not thought about that. 1:00:51 I think they would rather see Minnesota, North Dakota in the Frozen Four in front of a national audience than in a regional in Fargo where it's 6,000 people, especially when it's already sold out. 1:01:05 So that's just my theory. 1:01:06 I'm probably wrong, but you never know what the NCAA is going to do. 1:01:11 Well, I don't think that they look that far ahead because quite frankly, given how many upsets there's been with number one seeds and whatever else, you can't even guarantee that it's not like number one seeds are all the ones that make it or whatever. 1:01:27 So I actually have been thinking that the fact that the Gophers, if they get into the NCAAs and that's who they play, it actually might be a psychological advantage for the Gophers in a sense, because first of all, North Dakota is going to be favored. 1:01:42 Despite the fact that we beat them last year, I think that in a way it helps because the pressure is on them because we slumped for a while. 1:01:50 They have had a good season overall and they're expected to win that game, and it's going to be in front of a lot of their fans. 1:01:57 So that's going to be a lot more pressure on them than it is the Gophers. 1:02:01 So I almost feel like that. 1:02:03 Yeah, so I might feel like it's almost in a way beneficial if the Gophers end up in that kind of a situation. 1:02:11 Interesting thought. 1:02:12 Well, guys, we've been talked for an hour. 1:02:14 We need to wrap it up. 1:02:17 Can I plug two things? 1:02:18 Go ahead. 1:02:19 Go right ahead. 1:02:20 I told you my price was high for coming on here. 1:02:26 Friday night, we're talking about guys who left and what a hole they left. 1:02:30 We're going to have Jake Parenteau on at our first intermission. 1:02:33 He's in town. 1:02:34 He's rehabbing shoulder surgery. 1:02:36 He's done for the year. 1:02:38 Had played at Iowa and then went down to Orlando. 1:02:41 So Jake will be on with us and we'll talk to him about those key missing ingredients that suddenly became really big holes. 1:02:49 That's the steam cook bill for a little while. 1:02:51 And then if the weather holds up, Adam Wooten is going to be on from College Hockey News. 1:02:56 He'll be in town and we'll try to get him on Saturday, first intermission, which will be in the middle of the afternoon, as I understand. 1:03:05 And we're going to try then, let's see what he thinks about the Gophers going to Fargo. 1:03:10 Well, four o'clock, you don't like those four o'clock starts? 1:03:13 Well, actually it'd be five o'clock your time when you're there, but. 1:03:16 Honestly, God, the best one was the weekend we were in South Bend and we were on the air with the pregame show and people back home were still in church. 1:03:24 10.30 in the morning. 1:03:25 I swear to God there were iPods with earbuds at Holy Name Cathedral or at the Cathedral in St. 1:03:31 Paul. 1:03:32 Must have been. 1:03:33 Well, Frank, if you get a chance to ask Jake about leadership, I'd be interested to hear his thoughts about how important that is to a hockey team. 1:03:41 You bet. 1:03:43 He's a man. 1:03:44 Yep. 1:03:44 He was. 1:03:47 Yeah, you keep hearing about how the guys last year did a really good job of holding everybody accountable and doing a good job with leadership. 1:03:54 It took a while for that vacuum to fill this year. 1:03:56 So I think it can't be stated how important that is. 1:04:01 I will bring it up and I will mention the podcast and direct people to the podcast for next week. 1:04:06 Well, that would be great. 1:04:09 Well, when you're on, our listenership goes up, Frank. 1:04:12 So we appreciate you coming on with us. 1:04:14 Well, thanks very much because we're bumping heads with the wild tonight and what else? 1:04:19 Yeah, we bump heads with everybody. 1:04:20 We just deal with it. 1:04:22 You can follow Frank on Twitter at Mazzpuck, M-A-Z-Z-P-U-C-K. 1:04:30 You haven't been tweeting as much lately, but you gotta get back on that, Frank. 1:04:35 I need an assistant. 1:04:36 You know how hard that is. 1:04:39 Haven't you noticed how much better the broadcasts have been now that I'm not tweeting? 1:04:43 The broadcasts are just fine. 1:04:46 All right, well I'll take that under advice. 1:04:49 Well, thanks for joining us this week, Frank. 1:04:52 Remember, we can always, you always have Vego and Hammy as well, at eVego and at Hammy Hockey on Twitter. 1:05:00 If you have questions for us, just use the hashtag GPL Podcast if you're listening live, and we'll try to get to those and. 1:05:08 Thank you guys. 1:05:09 Oh, well thank you, Frank. 1:05:11 We'll be back next week, and we're gonna recap a sweep, hopefully, of Penn State, and we'll preview that early Thursday, Friday, ugh, series of Michigan State. 1:05:20 Until then, thanks for listening.