0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source to throw back Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast. 0:43 We're back here for another week, and this week, for the first time this season, we have a guest. 0:50 Hasn't been with us for a couple years, but with us, writer for ESPN 1500, Jess Myers. 0:57 Jess, how's it going? 0:59 Hammy Vegoe and Jupiter. 1:01 Do I get like a code name at any point? 1:03 No, it's going great, guys. 1:03 Thanks for having me on. 1:05 Jack Wagon and Loser. 1:08 Wait, wait, wait. 1:09 Inch Killer. 1:11 There we go. 1:12 I was going to say Bulldog, but that'd be a little too happy. 1:14 Wait a minute. 1:15 Weren't you on last year? 1:16 I thought you were on last year. 1:18 I think it was late in the 13th season actually. 1:22 Okay. 1:23 Wow. 1:24 Time flies. 1:25 We took a year off from Jess. 1:26 We needed it. 1:28 That was a Frozen 4 ago. 1:29 Oh my. 1:30 Oh my. 1:30 Yeah. 1:31 A Gopher Frozen 4. 1:33 I was there. 1:34 I was in Philly. 1:34 I saw it. 1:35 I saw it happen. 1:36 Yeah. 1:36 We didn't need to see it. 1:38 Well, the semifinal was pretty cool. 1:40 Well, that probably was pretty cool. 1:43 Yeah. 1:44 I mean, it was one of those, oh my God moments. 1:46 Did that really just happen? 1:49 True. 1:49 It probably killed you at heart, didn't it? 1:51 Oh no. 1:52 I mean, I had flown out there with Coach Woog and with the Gopher parents. 1:57 So I was a proud Minnesota man. 1:59 Well, that's entertainment enough. 2:00 Anything with Coach Woog. 2:02 Absolutely. 2:03 Because boy, he is Mr. 2:06 Entertainment. 2:07 Quick story about that game and specifically the way that game ended. 2:10 So the shot goes in and I'm pretty sure they let the clock expire, even though it was obvious that the puck had gone in. 2:18 So the Gopher celebrate and then they have to review it. 2:22 Then there's another celebration when it's shown on the video board. 2:26 Then they start to celebrate again, but the refs haven't officially announced it. 2:31 So, then they officially announce it's a good goal. 2:33 Then they celebrate again. 2:35 Then they have to line up for the last.6 second faceoff. 2:40 They drop the puck, the horn blows, and then there's like a fourth celebration. 2:44 So, you know, not only do the Gophers win the game, but the North Dakota fans and attendants have to sit and watch four separate celebrations. 2:52 It's like endless replays. 2:54 Oh, so what? 2:56 I know. 2:56 Who cares? 2:58 It's the fighting who. 2:59 It doesn't matter. 3:00 It's my sister's a North Dakota grad. 3:02 And we have this tradition where I go to the Frozen Four every year. 3:05 Let's face it, they get there a lot. 3:07 Yes. 3:07 And she always says, can you get me a North Dakota t-shirt from the Frozen Four? 3:10 Well, I joked with her last weekend. 3:12 I love getting her t-shirts because by Friday morning, they're always on deep discount. 3:18 But we don't talk much for obvious reasons. 3:21 Well, obviously, North Dakota is in the news. 3:24 They're down to their last two names, fellas. 3:27 Fighting Hawks and Rough Riders. 3:31 Go Rough Riders. 3:34 I don't know. 3:36 Rough Riders would obviously be good because obviously, what would you do with it? 3:41 But fighting Hawks, I'm looking forward to calling him the Fox. 3:46 Okay. 3:46 I get that. 3:47 But it's like a cheap imitation of fighting Sue to me. 3:51 Who cares? 3:53 I know, but I'm just saying. 3:55 Show some imagination. 3:56 I want to call him the Fox. 3:59 Well, maybe they should be called that, but... 4:03 Anyway, our Gophers did play this past weekend. 4:07 They split out their Notre Dame, Luchia vs. 4:10 Luchia, the final episode, whatever. 4:13 The last chapter. 4:14 Oh, the last chapter. 4:15 Thank God. 4:16 Jesus. 4:17 I was getting sick of that crap. 4:19 Veegs. 4:21 Not that great Friday night, Saturday night much better, but I would say all in all, it was a good weekend. 4:28 Yeah, I think getting the win on Saturday was obviously very important for this team. 4:33 They have such a hard time generating chances five on five. 4:37 It was nice to see them do some of that on Saturday. 4:41 I thought it was probably the best game they've played. 4:43 Some of the guys who have been the whipping boys of GPL, like Taylor Camerata, made some nice plays. 4:50 He's only got one point, though, still. 4:52 Yeah, it was a big one, though. 4:54 And Lucia specifically called out that play today in media availability as Camerata winning a stick battle to create a play. 5:03 And I think those are the kinds of things that he's gonna need to do for this team to be successful because let's not kid ourselves, they need some offense and Camerata can deliver it. 5:12 Pammy, your thoughts on the split at Notre Dame? 5:16 Well, I thought that that Camerata making that play is kind of like Haley's Comet, comes around once every how many years. 5:25 We went there. 5:27 Well, I mean, the forecheck, I'll give them credit, I was surprised, in fact, I was a little bit shocked to see them on the forecheck and actually do something, but so, hey, more props to them, hopefully there's more of that coming. 5:37 But as far as the weekend goes, I mean, I thought it was a pretty solid weekend, I mean, I think the thing that I like is that the team seems to be generating more offense. 5:45 I mean, you look at the last four games, we struggled obviously those first three games and then the last four games, they put 15 goals on the board and granted, maybe the competition is an elite, but nonetheless, it's still pretty solid competition. 5:58 And I thought it was nice to see some of these guys starting to contribute, Bristedt especially, I mean, I thought that coming into the year that he'd be probably one of those guys that was going to really leap forward in their improvement. 6:10 And it's nice to see him score some goals this last weekend. 6:14 Now, Jess, as more of an outside viewer, Camerata has had that reputation for a reason, and that's why he's been the whipping boy lately. 6:24 Sure. 6:25 What are you seeing with him? 6:27 I'm just seeing a guy who notoriously starts slow, I think. 6:33 And he's a well-known name, he's a guy that people expected more from. 6:37 But, and you guys mentioned this already, another guy I put in that category is Bristedt. 6:43 He had high expectations when he came in, and I don't want to say failed to live up to them, but he wasn't the impact player that people thought he could be, at least not right away. 6:53 And to see him sitting there with four goals and getting recognized by the Big Ten this week, talking to reporters at Availability this week, I really think you're finally starting to see that step forward from him, and that's got to be an encouraging sign for, you're absolutely right, a team that needs to score goals. 7:08 And I will say this in Bristedt's defense, that was his first year playing in North America, North American Hockey. 7:16 I mean, I think we sometimes forget there is a transition for some of these guys. 7:20 I mean, it is the same sport, but we definitely play it a little bit differently here in terms of the physicality and all that kind of stuff. 7:27 So I can understand why maybe he didn't bust onto the scene and be a huge contributor right away. 7:33 And Veegs, he talked about a lot of this stuff we're talking about today at the Media Day, didn't he? 7:38 Yeah, I mean, it took him a while to adjust. 7:40 There's so many changes for him coming from Sweden to Minnesota. 7:45 One of the things was the time difference. 7:47 It's hard for him to talk to friends and family and girlfriends back home. 7:52 So he was pretty isolated, I think, on the team. 7:56 I think we've talked about this a lot where the team was kind of clicked up a little bit and there was a little bit of dissension in the ranks, and that probably wasn't a good environment for him either. 8:07 This year's team, it sounds like it's very much together in doing things as a team, and he's just a lot more comfortable. 8:14 He's playing with Hudson Fashing and Tommy Novak, and they've obviously found some chemistry. 8:20 The other part of his game is I think he's kind of learned how to be physical. 8:24 I remember last year a lot of times he'd be taking penalties trying to force some physicality into his game that maybe wasn't there yet. 8:32 And now he's applying his speed in puck battles in games. 8:38 You know, and another thing, Hamme, is that we had kind of talked about the first line not doing much, and they actually got on the board this weekend. 8:48 Yeah, it was nice to see Clu's kind of break through. 8:51 I think he's been kind of gripping the stick a little bit tighter. 8:53 And I think he's had a lot of pressure trying to take on that captain role and being the leader and trying to kind of change the culture a little bit from last year. 9:02 So I think that he's probably taken on a little bit more than what he was kind of ready for, and I think maybe he's adjusting to that now. 9:08 And hopefully we'll see him kind of stepping forward offensively. 9:10 And it was nice to see Sheehy kind of start to contribute a little bit more. 9:14 I mean, he's kind of an older freshman, and certainly he's got the ability. 9:18 He's shown the ability to score in juniors. 9:20 And so hopefully he'll contribute future in the future on that. 9:25 Jess, I have a question for you. 9:26 Have you ever dealt with overbearing hockey parents? 9:34 I just asked because one of my writers, Chris Ackes, was writing and tweeting last Friday night. 9:42 He might have said something about Brodsinski's play. 9:46 And boy, Papa started going after him. 9:50 Wow. 9:51 Yeah, Mike Brodsinski, proud Papa. 9:54 You know, he wanted to get us out of the rink to see how good we would do. 9:58 Wow. 10:00 You know, hockey parents are legendary, obviously. 10:03 And I am a hockey parent, you know, and I like to think I'm legendary. 10:06 But no, I won't name names, but okay, I'll go ahead and name names. 10:11 Here's a couple that come to mind. 10:13 We mentioned Doug Woog earlier. 10:15 He told me flat out during this gentleman's one year in Dinkytown, Doug got an earful after a game in St. 10:24 Cloud early in this kid's freshman season from a lady from Madison, I believe the last name was Kessel, about everything that was being done wrong in the University of Minnesota program and how things were being mistreated. 10:38 And at one point, told Woog to the effect of, well, you obviously don't understand things. 10:43 And Doug ended the conversation by saying, you know, I do know a little bit about the game. 10:49 That was kind of the end of it. 10:50 So, you know, I mean, you think of what these parents have invested in their kids' careers. 10:57 And it goes back to when they're three years old and you get that first pair of skates and you're driving them to the rink at six in the morning. 11:03 And, you know, a lot of us can sit back from a distance and say, hey, you made it. 11:09 You're a gopher. 11:09 You're playing division one hockey at one of the more renowned programs in the country. 11:13 You're getting your education paid for. 11:15 But I don't think you're ever satisfied. 11:18 And when you get to that level, you're immediately thinking, what's the next level my kid can get to? 11:22 You know, can he play the NHL hockey? 11:25 Can he do this? 11:25 Can he do that? 11:27 So that's where some of this tension comes from. 11:30 And especially at a program like Minnesota, where expectations are very high every year from the fans, from the players, from the alumni, all of that. 11:38 You know, any kind of criticism is dealt with pretty sharply. 11:41 And you know, I'm not saying it's right, but I'm not surprised by it either. 11:45 Well, one thing that really parents should do is not be paying attention to fan boards or fan Twitter accounts and things like that, because you know what? 11:56 Once they go after your kid, you're going to get defensive. 11:59 So it's best just to ignore it all. 12:02 Here's a true story. 12:03 This happened to me last year, OK? 12:06 North Star College Cup, first game, Minnesota Duluth playing Bemidji State. 12:10 I'm obviously close to the Minnesota Duluth program, know a lot of people there. 12:16 During the second, maybe third period, I went down and just sat in the crowd with some friends of mine from Duluth among all the bulldog fans and all that. 12:25 They're down for nothing to Bemidji State. 12:27 They've got nothing going offensively. 12:29 One of their players gets the puck at center ice and moves into the offensive zone and starts trying to dangle around guys. 12:36 Just one of those, you're down for nothing, shoot the puck for goodness sake, get it on net. 12:41 I said that out loud, I'm like, for God's sake, shoot the puck. 12:44 The woman sitting in front of me turns around to me and says, that's my son. 12:50 I said, with all due respect, ma'am, your son should shoot the puck. 12:56 That was it. 12:57 Oh boy. 12:58 Yeah, you got to be careful. 13:00 So yeah, I mean, parents are the biggest fans out there and they have a reason to be, because they've invested a lot. 13:06 But getting into a Twitter fight with somebody who criticizes your kid, get over it. 13:11 Come on. 13:11 Yeah. 13:13 I actually had Mike Carmen's father call me at home once because of what was being said about his kid on my message board. 13:24 Wow. 13:25 Well, you know what, they're- 13:27 No, wait a minute. 13:27 It wasn't being said by you. 13:29 No, it was by Handyman, which everyone on the GPL board knows. 13:34 He wanted to know who he was. 13:35 He wanted to know how he could get a hold of him so he could give him a piece of his mind. 13:39 I'm like, do you really want to do this? 13:42 Why didn't you sign up for the message board? 13:43 Oh, jeez. 13:46 You know, I mean, there's some, you know, Brzezinski's dad is, I mean, pretty well known for being a pretty passionate guy about his kids. 13:54 And, you know, I mean, I get it. 13:55 You want to defend your kids. 13:56 But I mean, you're right. 13:57 You're kind of I mean, look, I don't care what level you're on when you get to this level. 14:03 Or if he's going to be a pro, I mean, he's been drafted. 14:05 And if he has, you know, pro hopes, he's going to face that kind of stuff. 14:09 You know, and it's kind of like you can't defend them against everybody. 14:12 At some point, you're going to have to say, you're always going to have critics, and you just kind of have to blow them off and do the best you can. 14:18 And when you start getting in arguments with people about stuff, to me, you just got to let it go. 14:23 And some people just have a harder time doing that. 14:25 And there are some really good parents that I've known over the years. 14:28 I mean, I think like Pat Fairchild, Rick Patterson, you know, even some of the current players, you know, parents are some real good people. 14:36 And I think that a lot of times the parents get a little bit of a bad rap when you hear a couple of bad examples. 14:44 But I think in general, they've been some pretty good parents for the players over the years. 14:49 I do remember a governor of Alaska who won like, you know, 20 some states in the election one year by bragging about the fact that hockey moms are insane. 14:57 So you know, it's a crazy world we live in. 14:59 Let's be honest. 15:01 Oh, we know you love Sarah Palin. 15:04 Who doesn't love Sarah Palin? 15:07 Oh, boy. 15:08 Well, if you're listening live and you have a question for any of us, just use the old hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll try to answer your questions if we can. 15:19 Or we'll just make it up as we go because we do that too. 15:22 Who knows? 15:23 So, Hammy, we had a split this week. 15:25 We had the positives, the first line score. 15:27 That second line has still been doing the best. 15:30 Camerata finally got a point. 15:32 Maybe we need to get a little of the other guys going. 15:34 But all around, you see us moving in the right direction? 15:38 Well, I mean, you certainly can't feel too bad when you're three or four and they were actually, you know, they could have won that game on Friday. 15:46 I mean, if they hadn't botched a few things late, you know. 15:49 So, I mean, I think that they've been a lot more competitive, obviously offensively, they've done better. 15:53 I think we've always felt pretty comfortable about the way that Schierhorn's been playing. 15:57 I mean, you know, they seem to be doing a little bit better in terms of some of the defensive play. 16:02 And, you know, but they still have a little ways to go. 16:05 I mean, they're certainly not in a contending kind of a kind of a situation yet in terms of long term. 16:11 I don't see them really being a threat right now, but I mean, if they continue to improve and they certainly have some strong competition coming up and, you know, if they play well in the next few weeks, I think that'll tell a lot about what their potential is in the long run. 16:25 Veegs, Ryan Norman got his first ice Saturday night. 16:29 Did you see what he did or how he did it all? 16:32 I think he played a pretty simple game. 16:35 He got put on the fourth line, and that line has done a good job of just gaining the zone, grinding in the offensive zone, not turning the puck over. 16:44 And I think he kind of fit into that rule that was asked of him. 16:48 It was kind of interesting because I think there were a couple of people who had been tweeting, wondering what was happening with Norman and trying to figure out if he was gonna be a potential red shirt in case there wasn't a spot for him in the line up. 17:01 And it turned out that the coaches wanted him to lose a little weight before they'd let him play in a game. 17:08 Yeah, he came through on that and dropped a few pounds. 17:10 And the coaches said it made a big difference in his quickness. 17:14 And so it got him in the line up. 17:16 We'll see if he sticks there in the next couple series. 17:19 But he definitely fit in on that fourth line. 17:22 Man, how often do you hear about a hockey player needing to lose weight? 17:27 I mean, you know what I mean? 17:28 Freshman 15. 17:29 I mean, you hear it with basketball guys. 17:31 You hear about it with football players. 17:33 But you almost never hear like, dude, you got to drop a few before you're on the ice. 17:37 You know, you just don't usually hear that with hockey players. 17:40 That's it's kind of surprising when you hear that kind of stuff. 17:42 Too many Twinkies. 17:45 Not to pick on this guy, though, but I was watching Canadians and Penguins tonight. 17:50 You know, Phil Kessel is a guy who just looks like he's kind of chubby. 17:54 Yeah, but it doesn't seem to affect his game. 17:56 He's got the dad bod going or what? 17:58 Yeah, I mean, you know, he's just he's got kind of a full face, you know, and I wouldn't consider him overweight or anything like that because obviously, again, he's he's an elite offensive player and always has been. 18:08 But, you know, maybe he's just not the the prototypical hockey body. 18:12 You know, we do have guys like Jared Lorenzen, the quarterback from Kentucky out there who can, you know, play play quarterback at a pretty high level, weigh in about 325. 18:22 So, you know, sometimes you just kind of go with the body style you have. 18:25 And if you can make it work, you do it. 18:27 That's a huge bitch. 18:31 325? 18:32 Are you serious? 18:33 I'm absolutely serious. 18:33 Look him up. 18:34 Jared Lorenzen. 18:34 He plays at Arena Football now, but he was like, he was a backup for the Giants. 18:38 He was a starting quarterback at Kentucky. 18:40 I want to say three or four years. 18:41 Wow. 18:42 Huge kid playing in the SEC. 18:45 But just, you know, good arm and he moved and moved. 18:47 Huge arm. 18:48 Yeah, he's huge arm. 18:50 He could throw the ball through the uprights from the 50-yard lines on a knee. 18:53 Wow. 18:55 And he moved in the pocket well. 18:56 Like he just had that athletic ability to move in the pocket and still throw the ball. 19:00 Wow. 19:01 I think Kentucky had some big upsets when he was playing there. 19:03 And let's face it, if you're going to try to sack him, send a defensive end because a linebacker at T-back is probably not going to take him down. 19:10 That's why I thought he'd be successful. 19:11 He's too damn big to tackle. 19:15 He was in the news, not to get too far off topic, but he was in the news this year when the Cowboys had some quarterback injuries. 19:21 He was tweeting out, come on, you know you want to call me. 19:23 Let's go. 19:25 Oh boy, that's a little desperate. 19:29 All right, well, before we move on to Minnesota State Mankato, we'll have a little word from our sponsor here. 19:36 Vintage, Minnesota Hockey wants you to take a step back in time and keep the memories of Minnesota Hockey heritage alive forever. 19:43 vintagemnhockey.com features history from around the entire state of Minnesota. 19:49 One feature that I enjoy on a daily basis is the This Day in Minnesota Hockey history that is on their website. 19:55 They have tons of info on what's happening on any particular day in Minnesota hockey history. 20:01 One thing as a listener that you may be interested in is the store at Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 20:06 They offer all kinds of custom throwbacks from Minnesota hockey and local college teams. 20:12 And as a GPL Podcast listener, you just need to enter the promo code GPL Podcast, one word, all or case, to get a 10% discount on any order. 20:23 So visit Vintage Minnesota Hockey at vintagemnhockey.com. 20:29 Yes, Jess, we're the big times now. 20:30 We have a sponsor. 20:32 Can I give a shout out to our sponsor, by the way? 20:35 That's a fantastic website, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 20:38 And the best thing they have going, and I'm biased, but they do the uniform evolution year by year of the different collegiate teams, like what they've worn year by year. 20:49 I'll toot my own horn just a little bit here. 20:52 They didn't know about the one game in 1998 when UMD came out on the ice against Wisconsin wearing what looked like Gopher jerseys. 21:03 They had the big block M on the front, and then in small letters down at the bottom, it said Duluth, and they wore one game against Wisconsin. 21:11 It went over so badly that they destroyed them and never wore them again. 21:16 From what we can tell, there are no color photos of this. 21:20 Vintage Minnesota Hockey was able to find a Duluth News Tribune picture from that game, black and white, not real clear, but you can see here the Bulldogs wearing a block M on the front of their jersey. 21:34 They did it one game and never again. 21:35 Now, didn't Duluth have a block M on their shoulder for a season? 21:39 They did that as well. 21:41 That was kind of in that same era, late 90s, kind of the end of the Mike Sertich era. 21:47 They went with the block M. 21:47 Now, when I was in school there, that was what their letter jackets looked like. 21:51 They had the block M on them and then it said Duluth underneath it. 21:54 Now they've gone to a different logo and have kind of tried to establish their own identity. 21:59 As a UMD grad, I've been saying for years they should have a separate set of school colors and not go with the maroon and gold because again... 22:07 Well, a little late for that. 22:09 Be your own identity. 22:09 Well, you can change anytime. 22:11 You change tomorrow. 22:12 What's the difference? 22:12 I mean, that's just me. 22:15 Yeah. 22:16 Well, what can you do? 22:17 But yeah, they've got it all there. 22:19 They've got a history. 22:20 I swear, he's got every frozen four patch that you could put on a jersey. 22:24 But yeah, to the main point, great job by that site. 22:27 If you've got a couple hours to kill, go check it out. 22:30 It's great fun. 22:31 So wait a minute, so you see your boy Royce's birthday today? 22:34 Did I just see that on online? 22:36 Yes, I see happy birthday from Vanessa Lambert to Royce. 22:41 I was on the air with Pat for a half hour today and didn't know that. 22:44 Now I feel bad that I didn't wish it. 22:45 I wonder if it's, hell, it just says nine minutes ago, so. 22:49 Doesn't he talk about GPL all the time? 22:50 Come on. 22:51 I have heard him mention the site. 22:54 He comes to our site to see what the crazy Gopher fans are saying. 22:58 Yeah, cuz we're all crazy. 23:01 Absolutely. 23:02 Well, yeah, that's we're hockey fans. 23:04 We gotta go for a hole. 23:06 Yeah, they're a little crazy. 23:09 Yeah, it's a little different. 23:12 What was the one pride on? 23:13 Nice is that's no, that's that's going way back. 23:16 That's the good old days. 23:17 That is the good old days. 23:19 That's like 15 years ago. 23:21 Yeah, Matt and Kyle Baron. 23:23 There were the guys behind that. 23:25 I remember logging on there a few times for some, you know, that was the early days of internet chat rooms too. 23:31 Oh, God. 23:32 When trash chalk really became an art for the first time. 23:35 Oh, yeah. 23:35 There were some serious, serious wars. 23:38 And yours truly was usually in about 90% of them. 23:42 I spent half a lifetime probably arguing on that board. 23:45 Well, that's where a lot of us got our nicknames. 23:47 That's where I got Jupiter from. 23:48 I mean, you know, in the beginning it was early internet, so people didn't want to publicize their real names. 23:54 So, a lot of times we were going by our handles, and a lot of them just kind of stuck. 24:00 I thought that was your CB handle going way back. 24:02 I'm Breaker19, there's Jupiter on the line. 24:04 There you go, late 70s. 24:07 Oh boy, now you're making me feel old, dude. 24:11 Well, home and home this weekend, guys. 24:13 Minnesota State Mankato, or as I like to call them, Mankato State. 24:18 Well, you went there, so you can get away with that. 24:21 They were Mankato State when I went there, but this Friday, Minnesota heads down and then back up, and Mariucci on Saturday. 24:29 Veegs, big expectations for Mankato this year, but similar to Duluth, they've kind of had a little bit rough start. 24:38 Yeah, I think probably one of the big issues that jumped out at me was losing Palmquist off their blue line. 24:45 I don't think they have a lot of talent coming back at the D position. 24:49 I think that could be impacting their play. 24:52 I haven't seen a lot of Minnesota State games on the TV, but that's something I'll be looking for this weekend, is just how effective their D are at retrievals, getting in the rush. 25:03 Because right now Minnesota doesn't give up a ton, so Minnesota State is going to have to generate some kind of offense five on five. 25:10 Now Jess, I know you're heading down to Mankato Friday night, aren't you? 25:14 Okay, sure, let's go with that. 25:18 Have you been covering much college hockey this year? 25:21 Oh yeah, I've been to a few games and followed the games. 25:24 It's one of those deals like it's always been for me, where if I can get to a game, great, but I'm following everything as much as I can. 25:31 I've been to a game or two here, I had a nice conversation, and not just around this area. 25:37 I was fortunate enough to be in Duluth on business a couple weeks ago. 25:40 I was at the same hotel as UMass Lowell, had a nice conversation with Norm Bazin, and some of the guys from out east and get a little bit of a handle on what's going on out there as well. 25:49 No, I will not be in Mankato on Friday night. 25:52 I apologize, I would love to be there. 25:53 And frankly, they talked about this a little bit today during media availability, but they've made some changes to that rink and changed the dimensions of the ice and done some remodeling there maybe 15 years into the, or more than that, into the lifespan of that arena. 26:09 So, it sounds like it's a different experience down there now and I would love to see that. 26:14 It's always kind of a fun time when the Gophers come to town. 26:16 They always have the cowbells though. 26:18 Oh, jeez, I hate those things. 26:21 Can't stand them. 26:23 But yes, they have improved. 26:25 I remember the big Minnesota Mankato Series, WCHA Playoffs, you know, media basically we had tables, right? 26:35 Yeah, there was tables and they were kind of roped off. 26:38 And it was it was ugly. 26:41 Then they built in the middle part of the upper section, they built these nice little press areas on both sides of the rink. 26:47 And I tell you, ever since they did that, sitting there is a joy because you're up high enough, you see over the fans, you're still pretty close to the rink. 26:59 I love shooting from the press box because you're at a good level. 27:02 And there's great lighting in there. 27:04 I'm kind of looking forward to see. 27:06 They've changed the ice, they've changed some of the tight lines a little bit. 27:08 I haven't been down there since they've redone it. 27:10 So I'm kind of looking forward to getting down there. 27:12 So that's it. 27:14 Interesting situation for them too. 27:16 Last year was a dream year for them in a lot of ways. 27:19 Winning the WCHA, winning the WCHA playoffs, being the number one overall seed heading into the NCAA tournament. 27:24 And then choking it away. 27:25 Yeah, and they just hit a wall there. 27:27 No, that's a fair assessment. 27:29 But Stefan Williams was so important for them in Gophel, and now with Cole Huggins kind of taking over the number one goalie role, there have obviously been some growing pains there. 27:38 They started out 0-4, they scored two goals in their first four games. 27:42 Any of that sound familiar, Gopher fans? 27:43 No, not at all. 27:45 So kind of stumbling out of the blocks like that. 27:48 But they seem to have kind of recovered and righted the ship a little bit, went out to Ferris last weekend and won a hockey game, and that's important. 27:57 Hamme, your thoughts on Mankato so far? 28:00 Well, I mean, I haven't admittedly haven't seen any of their games, so I mean, I can't really speak to anything other than what I remember from the last year and the fact that they've lost some key guys. 28:08 And certainly, you know, Williams is a big thing for me when I look at what they did last year versus what they've done in the Nets this year. 28:14 I mean, obviously, it's a big difference. 28:16 And certainly, I think that they kind of, I have always liked Hastings. 28:21 He's a good coach. 28:21 She's always been known as a pretty good defensive coach. 28:24 And they've got some good players still on that team, even though they lost some key guys. 28:29 And so it'll be a difficult weekend. 28:31 I think that will certainly feel some pressure down there. 28:34 They're going to get on you. 28:35 And I'm sure that their crowd will be anxious like they always are for the Gophers. 28:39 So I think it'll be a fun series. 28:41 You know, I must say, I had the opportunity to meet Coach Hastings at an old Sweet Five, Jess. 28:48 Oh my, there's the way back machine. 28:51 Hastings came up to Sweet Five once at Mariucci after a game. 28:54 And boy, is he just an old fashioned hockey guy. 28:58 Yeah, just a guy you can sit and have a beer with and just tell great hockey stories. 29:03 Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed the year that he was there at Minnesota. 29:08 And it's great to see that he's turned the program around from what, you know, sorry, but the old mask guy was. 29:17 So you don't like jutting? 29:18 Come on. 29:20 I'm sorry. 29:22 You know, I used to love going on a man kid and watching him rush out in between periods to get a smoke. 29:27 Wow. 29:28 Well, how about how about the fact too, and you got to wonder how rarely this has got to happen. 29:34 But the fact that there was basically a trade at the end of this 2012 season where Omaha traded Mike Hastings to Minnesota State Mankato for Troy Judding. 29:45 I mean, they literally switched jobs. 29:47 You know, Hastings became the head coach in Mankato, and Judding went and took Hastings' old position as the assistant coach in Omaha. 29:55 And lo and behold, you know, Juddings gets to a frozen four first with the Mavericks last year, the other Mavericks. 30:00 Excuse me. 30:02 That was pretty humorous, but I think it's a good spot for Hastings. 30:06 You know, I think he originally wanted the Omaha job, saw it wasn't going to happen, and you know, it's a good fit for him. 30:13 Well, hey, don't kid yourself. 30:14 Three years down the road, if Dean Blaze decides to retire or step away, I know where the first call is going to be. 30:21 And, you know, the days of Mike Hastings in Omaha, I don't think are over by any stretch of the imagination. 30:27 Well, who knows? 30:30 So what happens this weekend, Jess? 30:33 What do you think happens between Minnesota and Mankato? 30:35 Home and home. 30:36 Is it a home win? 30:37 I'm going to be bold. 30:38 I'm going to be bold here. 30:38 I say they split. 30:40 Oh, geez. 30:41 Isn't that bold of me? 30:42 No. 30:43 You know, I don't know. 30:44 Come on. 30:46 Both teams are scoring goals right now. 30:48 Finally. 30:49 That makes for some exciting hockey. 30:51 What I kind of found interesting today at Media Availability, talking to Eric Schierhorn, never talked to him before, you know, and which I still think has that rule in place that you don't talk to a freshman for the first month, and, you know, here he comes out, and I'm, hey, lo and behold, we can talk to a freshman. 31:06 That's pretty cool. 31:07 Nice kid, and kind of noted the fact that it's all new to him, you know, so he doesn't get intimidated going into a place like Notre Dame or going into a place like Mankato where, you know, the fans are gonna be right on top of you. 31:20 For him, it's a new experience, and he's just gonna have fun with it, you know. 31:23 So I like that idea that they're going in cool. 31:28 I also like the idea that they're gonna head down there Thursday night, they're gonna stay overnight in Mankato, you know, have a morning skate at the rink, get a little bit used to it, as opposed to, you know, a lot of times with these closer series, St. 31:40 Cloud, Mankato, et cetera, you just hop in the bus that day and head over there. 31:44 Yep. 31:44 Well, Veegs, I know you've got some audio you sent me for today that we'll put at the end of the podcast. 31:51 I think some of that's Schierhorn's talk? 31:53 Yep, some of that's Schierhorn. 31:55 One of the big things I think that came out of his availability was talking about working with Justin Johnson. 32:00 It's the first time he's had a golden coach. 32:02 Who asked that question? 32:03 Somebody in the room asked that question. 32:05 I know. 32:06 I can't remember who it was, but I got really good audio of it because I was right by him. 32:12 Oh, jeez. 32:14 Enough stroke in the egos, guys. 32:18 But it was interesting to hear him talk about the things that he's working on because it's similar to the stuff that Wilcox was working on under Justin Johnson, staying calm with their feet, getting set for shots. 32:30 And I think we did see Schierhorn have his worst period when he got overly aggressive. 32:37 He started really challenging shooters a bit too much. 32:40 And, you know, that's something for him to work on as well. 32:45 Hammeh, your thoughts on this weekend? 32:48 Sorry, I got interrupted by looking at the hot chicks thread on GPL. 32:54 There are particular posts you got distracted by. 32:58 I know exactly what you're talking about. 33:00 I saw a chick with whose boobs were showing with some Fighting Sioux cheerleader outfit on or something like that. 33:08 And I'm like, God damn. 33:10 Okay, so anyways, this coming weekend, yeah. 33:14 Let me collect my thoughts here for a second. 33:16 It might take you a few minutes. 33:18 In any case, I actually feel pretty, it's going to be a split, I think. 33:23 I mean, the home and home kind of lends it to that. 33:25 And I think the Gophers are playing better. 33:26 And I'm not really sure. 33:28 You know, Mankato has obviously had some success recently, although I don't know that the competition has been particularly strong. 33:35 So I'll be curious to see how everything matches up. 33:37 But I think it's safe to go with a split. 33:40 I'm going to go with road wins for both teams. 33:44 That could be. 33:45 That's bold. 33:46 We like it. 33:46 Just something different. 33:47 You know, I haven't seen Mankato this year. 33:50 And, you know, one thing that I noticed last year is, you know, nobody was talking about Mankato. 33:55 It was pretty quiet. 33:56 But then they came in to the North Star Cup and kind of dispatched everybody. 34:01 And then from there on out, people were talking about them. 34:03 So they're a little quiet this year. 34:06 We'll have to see what happens. 34:09 That was obviously kind of a landmark win for Mankato last year. 34:14 They didn't win the tournament, but beat the Gophers. 34:16 And let's keep in mind, I believe that was their first ever win at Xcel Energy Center. 34:20 They were, they had had a, you know, lousy record there over the years. 34:25 Something like 0-7. 34:26 So they go in there, they win one game. 34:28 It's against the Gophers in front of a big crowd, obviously a pro-Gopher crowd. 34:32 And, you know, they come back a couple months later, they win the WCHA tournament there. 34:36 You know, that was, that was like you say, that was kind of when people started to take notice of the Mavericks, I think, last year. 34:43 Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens, guys. 34:46 Well, with that in mind too, I mean, you know, you got to think that this is a critical series for Mankato for, you know, a team that started slow is starting to gain a little confidence. 34:54 It's like, let's see if we're really for real, if we can win a game or two from a team like Minnesota. 34:59 I'm just hoping I run into Dan Meyers when I'm down there. 35:03 Because he's crazy. 35:07 We're not related, so you can go ahead and say it. 35:11 Spelled the same, but. 35:12 I actually think he blocked me, man. 35:14 Oh, I must be. 35:16 I know I'm crushed. 35:17 I don't follow him, actually. 35:19 Oh, I wasn't followed by him either, but I think I just like somebody had said something about something he said. 35:24 So I'm like, okay, I look him up on Twitter and it's like, you don't have access to this person's, I'm like, oh, he must have blocked me. 35:29 Though I must say GPL was blocked by Tim Brewster. 35:34 I saw that. 35:35 Oh, yeah. 35:37 It's an achievement. 35:37 I feel good about it. 35:38 That's a feather in the cap. 35:39 It is. 35:40 I put on a press release about that apparently. 35:43 Apparently, he's not too high on Gopher Nation now. 35:45 Boy, somebody from KFAN had a tweet with a picture of him about the art of blocking people on Twitter. 35:53 So I just quoted it and just added his name on the end of the tweet, so he would see it. 35:59 And boy, next morning, this morning, blocked by Tim Brewster. 36:03 What a shame. 36:05 Wow. 36:06 Gopher Nation! 36:07 What's wrong with UMD, Jess? 36:10 You know, here's a fair question. 36:13 You know, I know you're maybe trying to... 36:16 No, I'm not. 36:16 I was just curious. 36:18 And that's fine, but it's a fair question. 36:20 In mid September, when the poll came out, they were picked to win the NCHC. 36:24 You know, they started the season ranked first or second in the country. 36:27 You know, probably second. 36:28 I think BC was first at the time. 36:31 The question I asked then, and it's a question I'm still asking six weeks later or whatever it is, who's going to score all the goals for these guys? 36:39 They're very good defensively. 36:40 They've got a very good goalie in Cascasio. 36:42 They've got, you know, probably one of the top defensemen in all of college hockey, Andy Wolinski. 36:47 Who's going to keep putting the puck in the net on a consistent basis? 36:51 Because Mr. 36:52 Connolly doesn't work here anymore. 36:55 So that's proven, I think, in the early going, to be the Achilles heel. 37:00 And until someone steps up, if it's a Tony Anato or if it's a Jared Thomas or one of these young guys steps up and takes that mantle and says, get on my back, I'm going to put the puck in the net and I'll show you how, they're going to struggle. 37:15 Drunk Hockey Guy thinks you're a traitor for coming on the podcast, by the way. 37:18 I know. 37:19 And like I said- 37:20 And I know you really care. 37:21 Yeah, but he's been on the podcast. 37:24 If anyone comments about Gopher Hockey or UMD Hockey on Twitter and he doesn't respond to it within about 45 seconds, call 911 and send an ambulance to his house because he's obviously trapped under something heavy. 37:37 Yeah, he's been big on the Gopher football team lately. 37:40 Oh, he's all right today. 37:43 I will give him credit. 37:44 Kind of kind of a funny tweet he had today. 37:45 He said, giving a three year contract extension to a coach who's O and two is the most Gopher football thing ever true. 37:54 Did we give a contract to him? 37:55 Did I miss something today? 37:56 Yeah, it was three years. 37:58 Oh, I didn't know that is not a permanent head coach. 38:02 They extended his interim contract for three years. 38:06 It's a pretty budget contract. 38:08 He's only getting like a mil four, mil five, mil six, which puts him at the bottom of the Big Ten pretty much. 38:13 Yeah, it's an increase for him no matter what. 38:17 But you got to think that they are trying to save as much money as possible. 38:22 And if he does well, then I'll get the big contract. 38:24 So. 38:27 Well, he's been left the keys to a pretty nice car. 38:30 I will say that because the kill was having a very good recruiting year and starting to kind of turn the tide, keeping some of these top in-state kids in Minnesota, so, you know, pressure's on, you know. 38:42 The expectations are high and getting higher and he's got some shoes to fill. 38:48 How many pliches did I work into that set? 38:50 That was pretty good, wasn't it? 38:51 Almost as many as Leon. 38:52 Oh, yeah, is that some of the audio you sent me, Leon? 38:56 Yeah, Leon, once again. 38:58 Mr. 38:58 Pliche today? 38:59 Yep, he likes to bring them out. 39:01 I hate that. 39:03 Speaking of, by the way, speaking of Gophers who hail from the other side of the ocean, I think we got to give a tip of the cap to Thomas Vannick for the game he had last night and for the season he's having. 39:14 You know, the two goals he scored were two of the prettiest goals I've seen for the Wild this season and a nice kind of bounce back year for him. 39:23 He needed it. 39:24 Absolutely, absolutely. 39:25 And, you know, not to plug myself too much, but I'll go ahead and say, you know, take a look at 1500espn.com. 39:32 I wrote a nice little piece yesterday after the game about Thomas and kind of the renaissance he's having and good for him. 39:38 Yeah, and we were talking about it on GPL last night, how that second goal he scored reminded us all of that goal he scored against Ferris State in the 2003 NCAAs at Mariucci. 39:49 And very similar goals. 39:50 He scored the same, sniped in the same spot. 39:53 So it brought back memories from 12 years ago. 39:56 So that was kind of interesting. 39:58 Not to get too deep into the Wild, but it was interesting on that play. 40:01 And Mike Yo talked about this after the game. 40:04 You know, Vanik gets the puck with the head of steam, comes flying in, and you look at who he's up against, and it's Paul Postma, who's a defenseman, who was playing his second game of the season for the Jets. 40:15 You know, it wasn't Dustin Buffland, it wasn't Mark Stewart, it wasn't one of the guys you think about. 40:20 They're usual suspects on the blue line for Winnipeg. 40:22 It's an inexperienced guy. 40:23 And Yo said after the game, you know, Thomas is a guy who can play effectively against the team's top two lines against their top two sets of D. 40:31 But if we can get him out there against a third line or a fourth line and against a third D pairing, that's when he's really dangerous. 40:37 And that's what we saw. 40:39 Kind of kind of fun to watch. 40:40 Made him look pretty bad. 40:41 Yeah, which was very entertaining. 40:43 Absolutely. 40:44 So good for him. 40:44 You know, he was never, I don't think, fully healthy all last year. 40:48 He had the gambling thing hanging over his head. 40:51 You know, there was as much of it was cool for him to kind of come home to Minnesota. 40:56 There's still that period of adjustment that he went through. 40:58 So just, you know, a rough start for him last year. 41:00 And even though he wound up with a fair amount of points and was relatively high on the scoring charts for the Wild overall, just seemed like kind of a false start in a lot of ways. 41:10 And to see him doing what he's doing and, you know, a smile on his face is really a nice thing. 41:14 I actually kind of think it's nice that Howell is finally starting to find his game for the Wild. 41:20 Yeah. 41:21 I mentioned it today. 41:22 He had a bad sophomore year. 41:23 There's no doubt about it. 41:24 He did. 41:26 And, you know, obviously it was a big Gopher night last night, even with Wheeler getting in on the scoring, so. 41:30 Eight goals in the game, four of them from Gopher, so. 41:32 Nothing wrong with that. 41:35 Didn't hear from any Bulldogs last night. 41:37 Well, we got one, but he's injured. 41:40 What a shame that is. 41:42 Yeah, absolutely. 41:43 Jess, I want to thank you for joining us. 41:46 Always a pleasure, guys. 41:47 Call me anytime. 41:47 This is fun. 41:48 I know. 41:49 Well, you can follow Jess on Twitter, JessRMyers, J-E-S-S-R-M-Y-E-R-S. 41:57 You never know if they might misspell it. 41:59 You never know. 42:00 It's happened before. 42:01 Yes. 42:02 Remember, you can always follow Hammy at Hammy Hockey and Vegoe at E Vegoe. 42:08 We'll be back in a couple weeks. 42:10 We're going to take a couple weeks off because the Gophers don't play next week, but we'll be back to recap the Mankato series and preview the next series. 42:19 I think it's with the St. 42:20 Cloud stage. 42:21 Yes. 42:22 Until then, thanks for listening. 42:52 How do you think you, Hudson, in fashion are cooking so far? 42:56 Do you mean Tony? 42:57 Tony, yeah. 42:59 Pretty good, actually. 43:00 We have a good catch from Carolina. 43:02 We've got some push and bounces, so. 43:04 No, it's been pretty good. 43:06 Has it been easier for you this year with, you know, after a year adjusting to kind of the United States? 43:10 Yeah, definitely. 43:11 In all ways, actually. 43:12 I'm much more comfortable around the guys. 43:14 I'm much more comfortable at school. 43:16 I know how to handle, you know, all the stuff that was a problem for me last year. 43:21 Has it been much different on the ice for second year? 43:26 Yeah, maybe a little bit. 43:27 But I think that you got to feel good off the ice to be able to play good on the ice. 43:31 So when you feel good off the ice, it's easier to play good and, you know, focus on hockey and do what you want to do. 43:37 And I think that's what happened. 43:38 And then, like, the good feeling on the ice will come eventually. 43:42 What were kind of some of those things that were preventing you from feeling kind of your best last year? 43:45 You know, all small things you can think of, you know, the language barrier, being loaded up with school, it's like, you know, taking to school in another language, being away from home, being away from girlfriend and family, not being able to talk to them because of the time difference, you know, just not producing as much as you want in early. 44:08 A different way of coaching, a different way of playing, everything is different and that's something I thought I was prepared for, but I wasn't. 44:18 How do you see your role on that line? 44:20 You know, I'll play with energy, make plays, do some skill, skill plays down low. 44:26 I think we all can make skill plays. 44:27 I think we all can work hard. 44:28 So I'm just trying to get some goals and make some plays and, you know, have fun and contribute. 44:35 Did you see Vanec's skill play last night? 44:36 Oh, yeah, I did. 44:37 Can you try it? 44:38 I'll try it. 44:40 Yeah, sure. 44:46 What were some of your biggest takeaways from the series last weekend? 44:48 You guys dropped one early and then came back and kind of won another one later. 44:52 And what does that say about the team that you're able to come back and win the second game? 44:56 I mean, I think we proved to ourselves that we can win against good teams and that if we play the way we want to play, we will be up and fight against the best team in the nation. 45:07 That's where we want to be and I think it was a good step towards that. 45:11 I'm just going to make sure we can't be there every other game. 45:14 My every third game, we have to be there every night. 45:15 And that's our challenge right now. 45:18 That's where we want to be and that's where we're working on it. 45:21 You guys were able to win 4-1-3, third period goals against Notre Dame. 45:24 You play another tough team this weekend in Minnesota State. 45:26 What do you guys have to do to continue that? 45:30 You know, all the cliches, you know, work hard, put bucks deep, and do all the hard stuff, you know. 45:37 I don't really have the answer for it. 45:38 I just know that if we go out and do our best, we have a good chance to win. 45:43 Minnesota State graduated a lot of players last year. 45:45 Are they a different team this year? 45:48 I can't really tell. 45:50 I know they have some young guys and I know they have maybe struggling a little bit in the beginning, but they have a really good team. 45:56 We lost to them last year, so I think there's a lot of guys in our team that are coming down there and want to take a lunch. 46:02 The goal is obviously to win, but how much is this first half of the season just to get these younger guys a chance to grow up and feel comfortable on the ice? 46:10 It's huge. 46:11 I mean, without the young guys, we can't win, especially when we have eight or ten of them. 46:16 They're a part of a team, and in a team you're never stronger than your weakest link, and so we have to make sure that everyone is on the same page. 46:25 And we can't have younger guys that isn't on the same page as everyone else. 46:30 So, you know, it's a big part. 46:32 Sorry, you've already been asked this, but how much of that win on Saturday helped the confidence for the younger guys get a win on the road and even for you to keep this momentum going? 46:43 I think it's good for the younger guys to get some experience. 46:46 I think it's good for everyone, actually. 46:49 But definitely have some guys coming straight out of high school. 46:51 And of course, I know it took four months for me last year to adapt to, you know, use the college hockey. 46:58 So, I mean, I'm not expecting anything else for them. 47:00 I'm just expecting that we're all really trying hard and doing our best every day. 47:07 Has anybody tuned you in to a rivalry with Mankato? 47:12 You've only played one game against them. 47:14 You know, it was your first year in this country. 47:17 Has anybody talked about rivalry and, you know, what they might bring to try to beat the Gophers? 47:23 How important is this series? 47:25 I mean, we are the Gophers, and everyone's trying to beat us, and that's how it is. 47:29 And that's a good part with being a Gopher. 47:32 You know that you're playing for a good school, a school with tradition, and it's going to keep brings tradition. 47:38 So, yeah, it's a rivalry, and we're really pumped for it. 47:41 You know, we lost last year, as I said, and we're going to go down there and try to win. 47:48 Anything else you want to add? 47:49 No. 47:50 Thanks, Leon. 47:51 Thanks, Leon. 47:51 Yeah, thanks. 47:53 You know, like the defense you've got playing in front of you, and you guys seem to be kind of coming together as a unit? 48:00 Yeah, we're working in practice every day. 48:02 I think they've gotten better every day since the coaches have stepped out on the ice. 48:07 So I don't really have any complaints right now. 48:10 Why don't you feel like this team has grown up over the last few months, even last weekend with that big win on Saturday? 48:15 Yeah, last weekend was big. 48:17 I think coaches are preaching that we have to work harder and be more consistent day in, day out with our effort. 48:22 And I think that really hit home Saturday and we showed it on the ice. 48:27 How comfortable do you feel back there? 48:28 It seems like you settled in pretty quick. 48:30 Yeah, I feel comfortable. 48:32 The defense are doing a good job just allowing me to make the first save and then clearing everything else out. 48:37 So it kind of makes my job easier. 48:39 A month ago your coach was making a lot of the fact that you hadn't had specific goalie coaching maybe in a year or two. 48:45 What's it been like working with Justin and what has that contributed to your game? 48:48 Yeah, it's been huge. 48:49 We go over video. 48:50 He shows me things in games that, hey, work on this. 48:53 And I've been able to add to my game more than I think I have in past years. 48:57 And I can already see that this year that it's been a big help. 49:02 So it's huge. 49:03 What kind of little things is he working with you on? 49:05 Just kind of being more set on things. 49:08 And sometimes I challenge a little too much, you know, calmer feet, stuff like that on angle. 49:13 So as a goalie going, you know, a weekend like this one where you're going from a smaller rink back to your Olympic size rink. 49:21 How much work do you do on angles, positioning, that kind of stuff? 49:24 It's not a whole lot. 49:25 I mean, the angles are the same. 49:27 It's just everything happens a little faster. 49:30 So, you know, whether it's a shot and a rebound to the corner, you got to recover a little faster because Olympic ice, it's, you know, however many more feet away than on the smaller rink. 49:41 So it's just little things like that. 49:42 Not too hard. 49:43 Being from Anchorage, did you play it like Sullivan a lot? 49:45 I know that's got a big ice sheet. 49:46 Yeah, no, never really at Sullivan. 49:48 So I'm used to playing on the smaller rink. 49:51 Only played on big rinks a couple of times in the USHL. 49:53 So I'm comfortable in it. 49:55 What do you know about this rivalry with Mankato? 49:57 Last year, both teams were two of the top teams in the country. 50:00 Yeah. 50:01 Don't know a whole lot. 50:02 Learned today that they kind of had a chance last year to get on when they were the number one team. 50:08 And they didn't really come through. 50:10 So it's an in-state rivalry. 50:12 So we take a lot of pride in winning these games. 50:16 As an outsider, what do they tell you about these? 50:18 And is it hard to buy into them right away? 50:20 Or can you feel that excitement? 50:22 No, it's not hard. 50:23 I mean, going to Duluth the first time their whole student section was there right when warm-up started. 50:28 So it's not hard to buy in. 50:31 We want to be number one in the state. 50:33 So these games are huge. 50:34 Is it almost nice for you that it's all new, that you don't have a preconceived notion of what it's going to be like? 50:40 Yeah, maybe. 50:41 I mean, it's fun. 50:44 It's fun to have that rivalry. 50:46 We didn't really have that in the USHL. 50:49 But it's cool. 50:50 It's really cool. 50:53 Anything else? 50:54 Thank you. 50:55 Thank you.