0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:39 Well, we're back from our winter break, just like our favorite hockey team is. 0:44 And did you have a nice month off, Veegs? 0:49 Yeah, it was pretty nice. 0:50 Had a nice little holiday with the family, and getting back into some hockey, it was fun seeing some of the world juniors, and looking forward to the Gophers playing almost every weekend here on out. 1:01 Yeah, that's gonna be nice. 1:02 You know, I saw some of your photos you post of your children on Facebook, and boy, does your boy look a lot like you. 1:10 Well, I hope that's a compliment. 1:11 It is. 1:12 It's a good-looking kid. 1:14 Yeah, they're pretty fun. 1:16 Pammy, how was your break? 1:19 Well, my break was an extra week longer, so it was even better. 1:22 There's nothing wrong with that. 1:24 It was pretty good, you know. 1:26 I mean, I don't get, I am kind of a weird fan in a sense that I don't get into the world juniors like a lot of people do. 1:34 I mean, I don't mind watching the games, but I just don't really, it's not like I don't have national pride, you know, in the US, but I just, I don't know what it is. 1:44 I just, maybe it's because all those years the Gophers were losing players and I'd be like, man, I hate this crap without, but you know, I don't know. 1:53 I don't have a, well, this year, they didn't have any players. 1:55 So I guess I had no reason to bitch this year, but nonetheless, I guess I don't get into it quite like some people do, but you know, I'm glad when they win, of course. 2:03 I'm happy for them. 2:03 Well, you know, I've gotten into it more these last few years, but I'm kind of with you back in the 90s, you know, we're losing all those star players, and they would go off to the World Juniors and get their asses kicked. 2:17 There wasn't much incentive, but you know, eventually they kind of snuck a win in there, and it is kind of that, you know, US pride thing, I think. 2:27 You know, kind of like, you know, I don't follow soccer, but I watch the World Cup when the US is in it, because it's more of a, you know, a US thing than a sport thing, I guess. 2:39 I don't know. 2:41 I totally get you. 2:41 I mean, that's how I am, but I think I'm just, compared to, maybe it's because I look at the different message boards and people really getting into it, and I'm just like, you know, well, I want them to win, but I'm not like freaking out if something doesn't go quite our way or whatever. 2:56 So I'm more of a casual fan than a diehard in that sense. 2:59 Well, we love to rip on the Canadians when the Canadians lose. 3:02 But I admit, I like that. 3:05 I agree. 3:05 That is fun. 3:06 But the thing is, you know, we beat the Canadians. 3:11 That was fun. 3:11 They didn't make it and do all this good stuff. 3:14 But you know, Veegs, it's the Russians who've been killing the Americans the last few years. 3:20 Well, the Russians always have a lot of goal scoring talent, and they take these rivalries pretty seriously. 3:27 And the other thing is, with these World Junior Tournaments, is the discipline and the penalties are so crucial. 3:32 And that's what killed the US team last year. 3:36 And it's one of the reasons why I think this tournament is a lot of fun to watch. 3:39 You know, you get these young, highly skilled players in these situations, and there's a lot of goal scoring, and there's not a lot of defense. 3:48 You know, because everyone wants to make a big scene in the World Juniors for the Scouts. 3:52 And it's just fun hockey to watch. 3:55 Well, the surprising thing is that the US team actually played very good defense. 4:01 At least that's what I thought. 4:02 I mean, they gave up two goals, they gave up three goals, you know, at the maximum. 4:06 But they were pretty staunch defensively. 4:10 Yeah, I think one of the things with John Wilson this year is he picked a team that had scoring lines and defensive lines. 4:18 And it was a real point of emphasis for him to have that real team structure. 4:22 Were you going to say, Hammey, that they kicked off the right guy at the end? 4:27 No, I was going to say they didn't have any goal for defensemen on the team this year, so that's why they may have been a little bit tougher on their own end. 4:37 Well, you know, here, let me get to a question on Twitter, actually, that I saw, kind of about that. 4:42 He goes, Eric Raymond was wondering, maybe old news, but opinions on Collins at World Juniors. 4:50 Weird decisions, not surprised, I don't know. 4:55 He didn't make it, he was cut. 4:56 I mean, he got the trip over there or something, then he got cut, that must have been disappointing. 5:00 But you know what, I don't, I think he was just invited because he was one of those US players that just kind of automatically get invited. 5:07 What do you think? 5:09 Well, they do tend, I think, favor some of those guys because of the time they put in. 5:13 I mean, I can't speak for, I mean, obviously they have players that weren't on that team as well. 5:18 But you know, I do think that that does play a little bit of favoritism at times because they're just more familiar with the player. 5:26 Well, they left off a lot of familiar players. 5:28 They left off Alec Tooke, who is a first round pick by the Wild, Jeremy Bracco, I think, a second round pick. 5:35 Connor? 5:36 A couple, Kyle Connor. 5:38 Connor from Michigan who just killed the Gophers. 5:41 Yeah. 5:42 It's like, thank you very much for leaving him with Michigan for us. 5:47 I mean, they made some weird decisions with the roster, and it panned out with them gaining the bronze medal. 5:52 But I think Colin's at a tournament like that, where his size is such a huge factor because he's one of the older players, bigger players, stronger players. 6:02 I think it could have been a difference maker in some of those big games, because he's just got so much reach where he can nullify rushes. 6:10 You know, he can just pin a guy to the wall. 6:12 Yeah, but he doesn't have the greatest speed, and this is a big speed tournament. 6:18 I get that his foot speed isn't necessarily tops in his age group, but the other thing is when you're 6'5, it doesn't look like you're going as fast as you're actually going. 6:30 I don't see Colin's getting beat on rushes down the ice. 6:35 He might get beat at the front of the net or coming out of the corner, but that's more positioning than I think it is speed. 6:43 Well, I've seen you skate and you're probably going a lot faster than I think so, too. 6:48 Well, thanks, but big guys always get a little bit of a magnifying glass because it doesn't look like they're going that fast, but they just have a longer stride. 6:57 When you're a little guy, your stride's over at about half the length of a big guy, so you have to be Rocco Grimaldi and looking like a jitterbug on the ice to be effective. 7:09 Well, we mentioned Cotner from Michigan, and let's kind of back up. 7:13 You know, right before the break, Gopher's headed out to Michigan, and they got the split that weekend, but boy, the star of that weekend was definitely Mr. 7:22 Cotner from Michigan. 7:24 What do you have? 7:24 What do you have? 7:25 The Hat Trek Friday night, Two More Goals Saturday night. 7:29 The kid was all over the place. 7:34 Anyone? 7:37 No, I mean, if you look at it. 7:40 Go ahead, Hamme. 7:40 Yeah, I mean, he was very, very successful in junior hockey. 7:44 I mean, if you look at his background, he was really good for three years in the USHL, and especially as an underage player in that league, I mean, that's pretty impressive. 7:53 And you kind of had to expect that he was going to be a pretty impactful player, especially being a first-round pick. 8:00 And he's definitely lived up to the hype in terms of, you know, it's kind of like one of those guys that Michigan seems to get. 8:07 It's like he'll do well for a year, and it'll be, see you later, I'm off to the pros. 8:11 And then Red will be like, damn it, you know, why are these kids leaving early? 8:15 It's like, because you're a dumbass, and you recruit them, and they leave after a year. 8:19 I mean, so that's, I mean, you know, it's great to have them for that year, but don't complain about it then when they leave, so. 8:26 Well, let's talk about that weekend. 8:27 Obviously, the Gophers go out there Friday night and get kicked on the, back on December 11th, almost a month ago now, and get killed eight to three, Veegs. 8:35 Not good. 8:37 Yeah, just an ugly second period that pretty much lost them the game. 8:42 You know, they get a power play goal to tie it up, and then they give up, you know, I think it's five straight, or six straight, seven straight, whatever, to lose the game in kind of an embarrassing fashion. 8:53 It's tough when you play a team like Michigan. 8:55 If you start turning the puck over and forcing the game, it could be a long, ugly night, and that's what it turned into. 9:02 And, you know, we saw a couple goalies get action in that one, and none of them performed very well. 9:08 So it was definitely an ugly start to the weekend. 9:11 Well, on the better side, Hammy, they did recover. 9:15 They probably got quite a stern talking to, and they did come back Saturday with a 3-2 victory. 9:21 Much more sound defense of a much better team game Saturday night. 9:27 Well, exactly. 9:27 I mean, this team, I mean, we know they are what they are. 9:30 This year, they're not going to be that run-and-gun type of team. 9:33 If they're going to be winning games, it's probably going to be because they play pretty good defense, and, you know, they get their two to three goals. 9:39 And, I mean, obviously, we would like it to be more of the up-and-down-the-ring style that we've become used to over the years, but that's just really not how they're built, you know, this year, whether it's due to some youth in some spots or whatever it might be, but that's just not how they're going to be winning games. 9:55 So that's the kind of game that they have to win, you know, just play really good defense against some of these more potent teams, and then hopefully keep yourself in the game and win it in a third. 10:07 Well, obviously, you know, people completely melted down after that Friday game because it was an embarrassment, but people felt a little better after Saturday and, you know, took the nice break off, blah, blah, blah, coming back, Marriott Classic, and they play UConn, three to two victory leagues. 10:27 Did you see the game? 10:28 Because I did not. 10:30 I did it. 10:31 And they actually played better than the score indicated, I think. 10:34 OK. 10:35 They really stuck to their game. 10:37 They didn't chase the game, even though they weren't scoring on their opportunities. 10:41 They were generating plenty of chances, but I didn't think they were being reckless. 10:46 And that's the thing that I think could catch up with this team is if they get in the games like they did in the Friday night against Michigan, where they start chasing the game and forcing plays that aren't there, and not covering for guys who pinch and things like that, they can get into a lot of trouble. 11:01 But I think with the Connecticut game, they stayed really patient, and they stuck with their game and they were rewarded with it, which was good to see. 11:11 Yeah, I was at a wedding that night. 11:12 Completely missed it. 11:13 Didn't feel like coming down to marry a chief for Saturday, so I missed that one, too. 11:18 I was slacking. 11:20 I don't care. 11:20 I was slacking. 11:21 Well, yeah, I mean, it's kind of, I mean, the Gophers haven't won this, what, since 2012, is it, or something like that? 11:28 I can't remember what exactly. 11:30 When the last time they won this slacking. 11:31 Yeah, so now it's three years. 11:33 Yeah, so it's not like a big shocker that they might have, you know, not quite done so hot. 11:37 And I don't know if it's like a little bit of a Christmas break hangover, or what the hell it is, but just haven't been doing it lately, even with real good teams in recent years. 11:47 So not shocked, you know, and Harvard's a good team, so they played well. 11:51 And so you can't complain in that sense, because they are a good team that they lost to, but you kind of do want to win those games. 11:58 Especially OT, it kind of sucks. 12:00 Well, Veegs, I do know you went Saturday night, so you saw the game. 12:04 And let me tell you, Frank and Wally on the radio were just gleaming over this game. 12:09 They said it was one of the funnest games they had seen all season. 12:14 It was just, obviously, solving their goal tender at first was Madsen just getting a goal past them because he's had such a wonderful season. 12:24 And they finally break through late in the second period, build it up. 12:28 They were just really excited about how they lost the game, but it was a fun game. 12:32 And that's what they were saying, at least. 12:35 No, it was definitely a fun game to watch. 12:38 I think one of the reasons was because Harvard, their defensemen aren't the most skilled skaters. 12:45 And so there are these big gaps for the Gopher Fords to take advantage of. 12:49 And if you watch Liam Brissett this year, he's really taking advantage of guys with bad gap. 12:55 And he did that on a Saturday night a couple of times and created some goals, which is a lot of fun to watch. 13:02 In Minnesota, can get speed coming up the rink, get a clean zone entry and get their offense going right away. 13:08 That's a lot of fun to watch. 13:10 You know, when they're playing against a more aggressive team in the neutral zone and have to dump and chase all night, you know, that's not as entertaining. 13:18 So the fans who were there and, you know, I think there were probably 7,000, 7,500 fans there, got to see some great hockey. 13:27 And it was fun to watch it. 13:29 It was too bad to see the way the game ended in overtime because, you know, the first at Novak Fashion Line had done a great job checking Harvard's top line with Jimmy Veazey all night. 13:42 And then in the overtime, the fourth line is on the ice. 13:47 And they're all trying to get off. 13:49 And Harvard ends up getting a 3 on 1 rush, which is just a brutal way to end the game. 13:55 I'm sorry, but what the hell is the fourth line doing out on the ice in overtime? 14:02 Well, it seemed like Lucio was trying to match up every once in a while to get a line up advantage. 14:07 And I think the Harvard coach just caught him. 14:10 And the Gophers had a 3 on 1 rush going one way. 14:14 They turned it over trying to make a, you know, something stupid? 14:18 A skilled play trying to force a pass to Bischoff. 14:21 And it doesn't get there. 14:22 And Harvard goes the other way. 14:23 And Gophers are trying to change. 14:25 And you know, it's just too bad. 14:27 Because when you give a guy like Veazey that kind of opportunity, you know, he's very calm on the puck. 14:32 He's got a low panic point. 14:34 So he made a great play. 14:36 Yeah, I mean, this is kind of reminiscent of the Mankato game a couple months ago. 14:41 Gophers, you know, they took the lead late and they can't hold the lead. 14:45 Give it up a late goal. 14:47 Actually, the Mankato game, they get what? 14:48 They give up two late goals. 14:50 And this game, you know, they finally get into it. 14:52 They get the lead late in the game. 14:55 They give up the extra man goal and give it up an overtime, just like the Mankato game. 14:59 Can this team finish? 15:01 It doesn't look like they can very well. 15:04 Yeah, I mean, I think that we've definitely had some tough losses this year. 15:09 And those are the ones that, to me, you look back on, especially when you're right on the bubble, if you're trying to get in the NCAAs and you're like, you can pick those one or two games and those one or two moments in hindsight that really hurt your team. 15:21 And certainly those are the situations that you really hope that the guys are going to hold on to and get some of the Ws and a set of the losses. 15:29 So yeah, it was tough. 15:31 It's tough to lose games that way. 15:34 If any of you guys listening live have any questions for us, just jump on Twitter and use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 15:42 We will try to answer some of your questions. 15:45 I'm gonna go to some of the questions right now. 15:47 We've got Patrick. 15:49 Sorry, I'm not even gonna try to pronounce his last name. 15:53 He wants to know, who is the recruit who got away? 15:57 Recruit Gophers who were in on, who ended up at another school. 16:02 I'm just trying to decipher it. 16:06 Right off the bat, maybe Besser? 16:09 Yeah, I mean, I think that that would probably be the one that's most obvious, because simply because of he's doing well at North Dakota and scoring a lot of goals. 16:16 And the Gophers really had a lot of opportunity to get them. 16:22 Honestly, I don't think that some of the turmoil that was going on within the team last year kind of helped their cause. 16:28 I think that that definitely kind of hurt them. 16:30 And so, I mean, I think that that would probably be the most obvious. 16:34 I mean, they're in on different players, but if I were gonna pick one guy, I'm sure that that would be the one guy that everybody would kind of point to this year. 16:42 Anyone else out there? 16:45 I mean, you're always gonna miss on people, but... 16:47 Well, right. 16:48 I mean, and some of it, you know, I think people get a little caught up at times and they don't realize that, okay, when they see the Gopher's name attached to a particular recruit during the process, it's not necessarily that they offered the recruit. 17:01 They might have been, you know, in contact or scouting or whatever, but, you know, sometimes people take what is said in a newspaper article a little too literally and act like everybody kind of had the same situation there, and it's not necessarily that way. 17:15 But, you know, it's certainly in Besser's case, you know, that's a guy that they definitely were after, and certainly he's had a really good year, so you can't, you know, that'd be the guy that'd be the most obvious one. 17:27 Any thoughts on that, Veegs? 17:30 I'm right with Hammy. 17:31 Besser would be the obvious one, but at the same time, you know, he might not be one of those guys who's going to play college hockey for a long time. 17:37 You know, he's had success this year already. 17:39 He had, you know, good World Juniors, and, you know, he might be short for NCAA, might be in the HL here soon. 17:48 We can only hope. 17:48 Well, that's the thing that, yeah, I mean, well, that's the thing is that people, you know, you kind of have to look at where the course of several years to know, you know, what recruits are doing well or not doing well. 17:59 And as far as, you know, the impact they made during college, I mean, it's great to have, you know, some of these real high-impact guys, their first year, but then it's kind of like if they leave after a year, or something happens with injury, or maybe they just don't start progressing, you know, progressing the way that you want. 18:16 I mean, so you can't really judge too soon. 18:18 But as far as what we've seen through half a season, I think that that's clearly the most obvious choice. 18:23 Yeah, but, you know, it does get to the point where, you know what, you know, how many goals does Besser have? 18:30 Was he at 12, 13, something ridiculous already? 18:34 I don't know off the top of my head. 18:36 I guess I'd have to look here real quick. 18:38 I mean, the most any Gopher has is nine goals right now. 18:44 And I'm sorry, if we could get this guy for one year and he's scoring like that, you know what, I'll take it. 18:50 Because all of our guys aren't scoring like that. 18:53 Well, I'm not, obviously, you know, it's hard to say how a guy is, you know, if he's going to have the same production, you know, because of the linemate situation or, you know, I'm sure he still would do real well here, you know, no matter where he would go, he'd probably do very well. 19:07 So I don't think it really has to do with necessarily the, I mean, that's the thing that people always overrate about, you know, the number of guys that a team has in the NHL, you know, all that stuff, it's like, look, a guy like Zach Parisi or Thomas Vanek or some of these, they're going to be in the NHL. 19:24 They could go to Michigan Tech, they could go to Anchorage, they go wherever, they're still going to be in the NHL. 19:28 So I think people get a little bit too worked up and hyped up with the whole development thing and whatever. 19:36 These guys are high-end talents coming in the college. 19:39 A lot of their development has already been done by youth coaches and junior coaches and whatever. 19:43 Not that the college coaches don't contribute, of course they do, and they help some guys more than others, but a lot of these guys, they're going to make it anyway. 19:52 All right, one more question, kind of going back to the juniors. 19:56 Tim Hapke wants to know, do you think the Gophers will have anyone on the World Junior Team next year? 20:02 Hammeh, we got any guys coming in that can crack the line up? 20:07 Well, I mean, honestly for me, it's more I don't have as great a familiarity with who the other guys might be as far as up for who is returning. 20:19 Like I said, I'm more of a casual World Juniors guy, so for me to be able to sit here and say, this guy or that, we have some guys that certainly have the talent to be up for it, but whether or not they would fit into the grand scheme. 20:30 I mean, you know, I think Lindgren is a really good player on the US team. 20:34 I mean, he certainly could have an opportunity, but I don't know who else might be returning. 20:39 And if they, you know, I mean, that plays a role in it as well. 20:42 So it's hard for me to personally make that kind of an answer. 20:46 That's fair enough. 20:47 Fair enough. 20:49 Well, before we move on to Penn State, let's take a minute and listen to a word from our sponsor. 20:55 Vintage Minnesota Hockey wants you to take a step back in time and keep the memories of Minnesota Hockey heritage alive forever. 21:02 vintagemnhockey.com features history from around the entire state of Minnesota. 21:08 One feature that I enjoy on a daily basis is the This Day in Minnesota Hockey History that is on their website. 21:14 They have tons of info on what's happening on any particular day in Minnesota Hockey history. 21:20 One thing as a listener that you may be interested in is the store at Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 21:25 They offer all kinds of custom throwbacks from Minnesota Hockey and local college teams. 21:30 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. 21:41 So visit Vintage Minnesota Hockey at vintagemnhockey.com. 21:48 All right, boys, Penn State doing pretty well this season, 12-3 and 3 overall. 21:56 They haven't played as many games in the Big Ten yet, but boy, they're doing pretty good so far there, Veegs. 22:03 Well, they're definitely a team that likes to shoot the puck. 22:06 Well, they've always done that. 22:09 Yeah, that definitely seems to be a Godowski theme, is to get across the blue line and fire the puck. 22:15 So, good things happen when you get the puck on net, and they get over 40 shots a game. 22:21 They haven't played a great schedule. 22:23 I think their big games were a split with Notre Dame, and then that's really about it. 22:30 They've played a lot of other minor teams, and so it's hard to know just how good this team is. 22:35 I think they're a veteran team. 22:37 They've got a lot of juniors and seniors in their lineup. 22:41 So they definitely have that experience factor coming in this weekend in a great atmosphere at Pugula. 22:47 Well, now, they haven't played, obviously, the schedule, but they are 12-3, 12 wins, and winning does help quite a bit. 22:57 I mean, compared to the Gophers, who aren't winning, obviously, they have a tougher schedule, but winning builds confidence. 23:04 I mean, it's not a bad thing. 23:06 I'll tell you that. 23:07 Well, confidence definitely plays a big factor in how well a team can go out and play. 23:12 But at the same time, when you're seeing the speed that a team like Minnesota can bring, it's a different environment. 23:18 Confidence can only do so much. 23:20 So I think it's a big prove-it weekend for Penn State. 23:25 Hammeh, is it a big prove-it weekend for Minnesota? 23:30 Well, I mean, I think we've certainly seen that. 23:33 I don't think it's a really a prove-it weekend so much for The Gophers, because they have played some pretty quality competition throughout the first half of the year. 23:39 I think their strength of schedule right now is like number eight or somewhere. 23:43 It's in the top ten. 23:44 I know that. 23:44 And certainly a lot more of a challenging schedule than what Penn State has had. 23:48 And they have, I think there was in the 40s somewhere. 23:51 So I don't look at it quite as a prove-it. 23:54 I mean, yes, obviously, it's road weekend in conference. 23:57 And you want to at a minimum kind of do what you did in Michigan. 24:01 So in that sense, you want to keep that train rolling and splitting on the road, at least. 24:08 But I don't think it's a prove-it weekend, because I think that they've played certainly much more difficult teams to this point. 24:15 Well, I know it's going to make the fans happy. 24:16 But yes, one of the games is not on TV again this week. 24:21 I believe you can stream it if you want to pay for it on BTN Plus. 24:24 But only Big Ten Network Friday night and Saturday afternoon. 24:29 Yes, two o'clock game. 24:31 Make sure you pay attention. 24:34 Boy, not what we thought we were going to get with the Big Ten, huh, Veegs? 24:39 Well, it's kind of an interesting story. 24:40 I reached out to Penn State today to find out why they're playing that afternoon game. 24:45 Typically, it's TV dictating late start Saturday times for them. 24:50 Whereas for us, you know, TV would dictate a non-late start or a really late start. 24:55 It's because they want to give their fans an opportunity to see both games and just stay in Happy Valley for one night. 25:02 So that's why they do it. 25:04 They try to get Friday night game and Saturday afternoon game so all their fans can see both games and only have to stay one night there. 25:11 So it's a little bit different. 25:13 For Minnesota people who are affiliated with the University, you can log in to your VPN and stream Big Ten Network so you don't have to pay for it. 25:23 So if there's any followers out there who have a X500 account with the University, they can watch it that way too. 25:32 Interesting. 25:33 Does that work for us alums too that haven't been there for grad school for 10 years? 25:38 If you can log in to the Cisco AnyConnect VPN, you should be able to log in and then Big Ten Network will recognize you as being on campus and let you stream the game. 25:49 I might have to check that out. 25:51 Hook us up, Bigs. 25:52 Hook us up. 25:54 Maybe I'll tweet some directions leading up to Saturday's game. 25:58 It's a nice little feature. 25:59 Don't get in trouble. 26:00 I'll tell you that. 26:01 Hey, I'm not the one giving the access. 26:06 Boy, the university hands out those access for certain media with all the stats and stuff that's automatically updated. 26:13 And boy, it's almost like a death threat. 26:15 They're like, don't share this with anyone in the public. 26:19 Well, they don't want the bandwidth to be in it. 26:21 Well, that's true. 26:21 But man, it's like, don't share this with anybody. 26:25 It's like, whoa, take it easy. 26:28 We're not going to do that. 26:32 Oh, boy. 26:33 I don't know what to think, guys. 26:34 I mean, they've been successful against Penn State. 26:37 You know, 7-1 and 0 all time. 26:40 The only eight times they've ever met was, you know, since the Big Ten started. 26:44 You know, we've done well there. 26:47 You know, we've won three, lost one at Penn State, won an overtime. 26:54 Boy, I'd love to see a sweep, guys, just to get back above 500 again. 27:00 Well, who wouldn't want to sweep? 27:01 Of course, you want to sweep. 27:03 Yeah, but I mean, they just need something positive now, because it seems like every time they kind of build something up, you know, they do something stupid, like give up a lead late in the game against Harvard. 27:15 Well, I think that that's kind of the kind of team we have this year, you know, we're going to have to live with some mistakes with some guys that are kind of younger and some guys that just really haven't stepped up the way that we expected this year. 27:26 And, you know, I don't know, I mean, it's frustrating to see some of these guys that you really were counting on coming into this year, and they just haven't really particularly done well at this, to this point, to the halfway point. 27:37 Obviously, there's still a lot of games to play, but it's been disappointing for some of these guys. 27:41 So hopefully, they'll have a better second half, and maybe it'll be a little bit of a run, but they definitely have a long ways to go. 27:48 Well, my guy was going to be Connor Riley, you know. 27:50 He had such a big early season last year. 27:53 He was, well, he was leading that team in scoring, I believe, before he was injured. 27:58 And really, you know, he's had a couple assists here and there, but he really hasn't done anything. 28:04 And he got a lot of his points last year on the power play. 28:07 He looked really comfortable one time in the puck there. 28:10 He just hasn't looked comfortable there. 28:11 Yeah, he hasn't done any of that. 28:13 We need him to. 28:15 Yeah, I mean, they've been taking it away a little bit, but he's just, even when he does have the opportunities, he's not, you know, whether it's the flexibility in the knees or the strength or the, you know, ability to get open, you know, he's struggled with that piece of it in his game. 28:31 He definitely does not look like the same player to me this year. 28:36 And if anything, I've seen him even make some kind of big mistakes on the defensive end, you know, that kind of cost the team. 28:43 So it just has not been, something's been wrong. 28:45 And I would imagine it probably is, you have that many knee injuries over, you know, over the course of a handful of years. 28:52 And I would imagine it'd probably be health related. 28:55 One goal, six assists. 28:59 Not good. 29:00 Not good at all. 29:01 I mean, obviously I think Lucio was kind of counting on him to return and kind of return to form like he was last year, but it's just not happening. 29:12 And obviously, you know, we've been ragging on other guys like, you know, like Kamerada. 29:21 Really, he's been... 29:21 Vinny, Vinny, yeah. 29:24 But if you look, I mean, right now, we've got some, you know, Brudzinski and Bischoff. 29:31 They should not be outscoring guys like Latteri and Kamerada. 29:35 I mean, they just shouldn't. 29:37 For defense, then. 29:37 Well, definitely not, definitely not Cammie. 29:39 I mean, he's a guy that we paid, you know, a lot of scholarship to, to come into the U. 29:45 And certainly, he has not lived up to it the last year and a half. 29:48 I mean, he had a pretty good first year, but he just has not shown anything. 29:52 And I don't know, you know, if it's a mental thing or if he just can't handle some adversity. 29:57 I don't know what it is, but, you know, that he's definitely been a disappointment over the last, you know, almost a year and a half. 30:04 Well, you know, go ahead. 30:06 I was just going to say, I think the funny thing with Camerata's, I think the last three games, at least, his game has picked up a little bit. 30:14 He's starting to be more aggressive and figure out ways for him, despite his size, to win some battles, you know, by darting in, lifting a stick, getting in the puck and getting out of there. 30:26 I think before, you know, he was kind of a little bit more lackadaisical, engaging with players. 30:31 I think now he's being quicker and more aggressive. 30:34 You know, he's not a real fast guy, but he, you know, has good stick skills to win puck battles that way. 30:40 I think he's looked a little bit better the last three games, so maybe this is something that's the trend for him. 30:46 I don't know, V, he's got six points in 17 games. 30:50 Well, he's got a goal and an assist in the past three. 30:53 He took one off the face mask, didn't he? 30:56 Yeah, he's on fire. 30:58 Oh, come on, that's... 31:01 A goal and an assist in three games, man, that's on fire for him, baby. 31:05 Whatever happened to having a Gopher that actually competed for scoring titles? 31:12 Well, it's not like we've had been devoid of those kind of guys. 31:16 Well, we have been, though. 31:19 Well, I mean, what kind of a... 31:20 I mean, what scoring title are you talking about? 31:22 Are you talking about nationally? 31:23 Yeah. 31:25 Remember when we had this kid named Petolny, who scored almost 40 goals in a season? 31:31 He wasn't even a finalist, which was ridiculous. 31:33 But we used to have guys score up at the top of the league and the top of the NCAA. 31:40 We always have somebody in there, but it's just unheard of now. 31:45 We always spread the wealth and blah, blah, blah. 31:49 We need some 20 goal scorers. 31:51 We need some 30 goal scorers. 31:52 That's just not at Minnesota anymore. 31:54 We just don't have that. 31:56 Well, I mean, I don't know. 31:58 Personally, I would rather have them rolling lines and get some depth and just rely heavily on maybe one or two lines and have a couple of guys just overloaded in the points department. 32:10 Everybody else is mediocre or below average. 32:14 So I get what you're saying. 32:15 It's nice to have those kinds of guys that you can really lean on. 32:18 But at the same time, I think that the approach they've used over the years and having more of a depth, quality of depth and scoring, that's always been their advantage, you know. 32:27 When we've had really good seasons, we've had at least three lines that were pretty potent. 32:31 And occasionally, the fourth line would be consistent. 32:34 I don't know. 32:34 You look back at 2002. 32:36 What did Johnny Poll have? 32:37 Close to 80 points? 32:40 Yeah, but I mean, this is a little bit different. 32:41 It was a little bit different, but you know, those years that we were winning national titles, we had guys way up at the top there, leading the country in scoring. 32:52 Okay, but look at the teams that have won in recent years. 32:54 It's not like they've been littered with high-scoring guys. 32:57 Johnny Coutreau, are you kidding me? 32:59 Eichel, I mean, they didn't win, but Eichel was there. 33:01 I mean, these guys are superstars. 33:05 I get that, but not, who was a superstar on Yale? 33:09 Okay, I mean, you could say that with Union, it was a defenseman, but I mean, it wasn't like he was, you know what I'm saying? 33:15 So it's kind of like, I get that, but you can't just say that that's really the answer when you have to see these teams winning national titles for, you know, when they are pretty much depth-oriented teams with some good players, of course, but not like that super elite guy that they're leaning on. 33:34 Well, it's just frustrating. 33:37 It's very frustrating. 33:40 All right, what do you think this weekend, guys? 33:42 Penn State, split, sweep, 6 points, 5 points, 2 points, go, Hammy. 33:50 Well, I think it's definitely going to be a split of some sort. 33:53 I mean, I don't, you know, whether it's a 4 to 2 or what, you know, I don't know what that part is going to probably end up being, but I do believe that we'll get some road points on this trip and hopefully come out of it, you know, on a similar style to what we saw with, you know, the Michigan. 34:09 I mean, I think there'll be one OT. 34:11 I would, I'm just saying, I think there'll be a one OT game and how that ends up, I don't know. 34:15 Veegs, Duccio has always kind of had the philosophy, you know, if you get at least split on the road in league, you're doing good. 34:23 Is it a split this weekend or are you going to go a little more than that? 34:28 I feel like it's going to be a win and a shootout loss. 34:31 I just have that feeling that that's going to happen, that they're going to get in a tie game. 34:36 I feel like they could have a lead and give them a... 34:38 Choke it up again? 34:40 Well, they better not do that again, that's going to piss me off. 34:44 I think the one thing I hope that they learn is not to be so overly aggressive when the opponents pull their goalie and have that extra attacker. 34:53 You know, Minnesota has been talking about playing a box-in-one type penalty kill look against these teams, and I just think that they get too aggressive, they get out of their space, you know, around the home plate, and Shearhorn gets too aggressive playing the shooter. 35:09 I think that's been the problem in all these games. 35:12 I think they've given up three now goals at the end of the game with the other team pulling the goalie, and they just need to solve this because, you know, this season, they're going to have more of those. 35:24 Now, this isn't the team that's going to score five goals a night, you know, they're going to be three, two type games and have to defend in the last minute, and it's definitely been a problem. 35:35 Yeah, well, we'll have to see. 35:37 I'm going to say sweep, guys. 35:39 I'm jumping on the bandwagon, at least for tonight. 35:43 What could he do? 35:44 You always say that. 35:45 I know. 35:46 You weren't even there last weekend. 35:47 Yeah, I was sitting on my computer listening. 35:52 I didn't feel like getting dressed or showering. 35:57 It was a good day. 35:59 Then that's different than how many different days. 36:03 You jackbag. 36:06 You just sit around in your grungy stuff anyways and don't shower. 36:10 In my hammer pants. 36:13 I see your wife complaining about it all the time on Facebook. 36:16 Of course she is, because I'm a slacker. 36:20 I'll admit it. 36:21 We know it. 36:21 It's all good. 36:22 It's all good. 36:25 Well, that's going to wrap it up this week. 36:26 Well, wait. 36:26 What do you got, Veegs? 36:28 Well, I think this is a chance for Minnesota to gain some momentum. 36:32 They're playing Penn State. 36:33 They get Michigan State, it looks like one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, and then they get to go to Wisconsin. 36:38 So here's six games in three weeks. 36:41 I think the team played well in the Merit G Classic. 36:44 They should come out of the stretch in good position in the conference. 36:49 Let's hope so. 36:50 Or else I'm just going to get pissed off again. 36:53 What can you do? 36:55 Remember, you can follow Hammy on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey and Vegoe on Twitter, at E Vegoe. 37:03 We'll be back next week. 37:05 We'll recap this series and preview the series with Michigan State Spartans. 37:13 Oh, boy. 37:14 Let's just hope they do well this week, guys. 37:16 We'll see. 37:17 Until then, thanks for listening.