All episodes Previous #83: Back from winter break! Next #85: MSU Sweep Gopher Puck Live Podcast #84: Guest: Nate Wells. City Pages Causes A Stir! Wed. Jan 13, 2016 Length 1:15:56 Explicit 0:00 / 1:15:56 −30s +30s 1x 1.1x 1.25x Notes Transcript City Pages goes after The Don and the players. Makes for some interesting talk to say the least! Nate Wells joins us to talk about the debacle. 0:06 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. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast. 0:44 We're back for another week, and boy, Wednesday just seems to be the hot day for things to happen these days, huh, Hamming Veegs? 0:54 Everybody knows the podcast is coming. 0:56 I guess they do, who knows? 0:59 Well, we have a guest tonight, you know, you may know him as Gopher State, we know him as Nate Wells, but what you most likely probably know him as is this. 1:21 Oh, yeah, Nate. 1:24 Are you dancing? 1:25 I know you are. 1:26 Yeah. 1:31 Yes, the phenomenon that Nate just loves to put on Twitter. 1:35 The man is here. 1:36 How's it going, Nate? 1:38 It's going well. 1:40 Sorry, I just had to do that to you, man. 1:41 I just had to do it. 1:44 Yeah, oh, so Penn State begins all their games with Timber, too. 1:49 Oh, your favorite. 1:50 I really hope that I wasn't like that. 1:51 Yeah. 1:53 Oh, boy. 1:53 Well, you know, we're going to have you on tonight, talk a little bit about Penn State since you were there in attendance last weekend. 2:02 And then just something kind of happened today. 2:04 A little article came out in City Pages. 2:08 Oh, boy. 2:10 Corey Zyrowski, former Jefferson grad, decided to write a little bit about the state of the program, Veegs. 2:21 Yeah, it's pretty much a job to go after Lucia in the program. 2:26 I think there's a lot of guys who have never gotten over that Don Lucia is a Notre Dame grad and alum and don't like having him as coach because he's not an M man. 2:39 They're more than willing to go on the record or anonymous to take him down. 2:44 Well, yeah, just to let you know, I tried to get Corey on the show tonight as well, but he just couldn't quite make it happen, couldn't quite get home in time. 2:52 I told him if he ends up getting home, get on Skype. 2:55 I'll try to get him on the show, but I doubt that's going to happen. 2:59 I think it would have been interesting. 3:00 We would have been the first people to get him on, but I tried. 3:04 So, Vegs, you and Nate were at Media Day today, and Lucia did address it a little bit, didn't he? 3:12 Yeah, I was actually surprised how much he talked about it. 3:15 I think he's embraced the fact that when you're the head coach at the University of Minnesota, there's always going to be people who are upset with you when you're not winning national titles. 3:25 And the way things have gone the last couple of years, they've had a couple of runs where they've been close or should have been close and just hasn't happened. 3:33 And now the way Marriott Arena is where a lot of tickets are unused, people perceive that as being some sort of huge issue when they are selling a lot of the tickets and gaining the revenue. 3:45 But having a 500 team definitely gives people some ammo to fire at them. 3:51 Nate, what were your thoughts today? 3:54 On Lucia or the article? 3:56 Either. 4:00 Yeah, well, Lucia spoke for a while. 4:03 He went on for about three minutes after starting it with... 4:05 I didn't read the article. 4:09 Oh, I have a feeling that he did. 4:11 Come on. 4:11 Yeah, if somebody didn't read the article, he had a good grasp of what was going on. 4:16 It sounded like his biggest gripe was more that it wasn't those shots of the program or himself. 4:23 I think by now he has to be used for it. 4:24 This is like the third time this year that we've... 4:27 that we or you guys have been discussing various articles on the Minnesota program. 4:33 But he wasn't happy with the statements going against his players more than anything. 4:40 Yeah, he didn't seem too happy with the players part at all. 4:42 I mean, Veegs, you sent me audio. 4:44 If you guys want me to play it, it's about four and a half minutes worth of audio. 4:49 If you want to. 4:50 If it's not too long, I'll go ahead and play it. 4:52 If you guys just want to mute. 4:54 It's a good three minutes. 4:55 I was transcribing it earlier on my site. 5:00 Well, let's take a listen. 5:01 If you guys could just mute on your side, let's take a listen to what Don had to say after Jess Myers brought it up today during the media session. 5:10 Don, there was an article that was critical of your program, the City Pages that came out today. 5:14 I'm wondering if you've seen it and any reaction to it. 5:16 I have not seen it. 5:18 I had somebody call me on it. 5:20 And you know what? 5:22 People can go after me, that's part of the deal. 5:26 I understand, but I haven't read it, that they went after our players, too. 5:30 That's crossing the boundary for me. 5:32 There are some guys that, hey, I'm not an alum, and they weren't happy I was hired, and I'm not an alum. 5:39 And nothing's changed, I'm not an alum, and nothing's changed for them, because they're not happy I am an alum. 5:44 So there's things you can control, and there's things you can't, and that's where I'll defend our players. 5:49 They all graduate, nobody gets in trouble, they represent the program that we want them to be represented, and are our players happy we're 500 or by? 6:00 No. 6:01 But this year, we knew we were going to have to grow with this group of players, and so if they want to go after me, so be it, not the first time, nor will it be the last. 6:11 But I feel very comfortable with how we conduct ourselves, how we represent our school, and the success we've had. 6:20 Do you reach out to any of the alumni, or do you just want them to have their opinion? 6:23 No, there's some alums that have been great. 6:25 I mean, there's a reason why we've raised over $5 million, and we're going to start a locker room renovation. 6:31 We've got a group that's been very, very supportive and helped do that. 6:35 You know, but there's also a group that, you know, five years ago tried to get me fired and told me that I'm not alum, so they can't support me. 6:44 Nothing I can do about that. 6:46 Like I said, when I came here and I said, I'm going to be here so long and I want to be a part of the tradition and be able to look up and someday and come back. 6:56 And, you know, like I said, I feel comfortable with what we've been able to accomplish, the success that we've had. 7:01 Is it going to please everybody? 7:02 No. 7:03 But, you know, if you coach here, you got to understand what you're getting into. 7:06 So, like I said, I'm fine with it. 7:09 People can have their opinion. 7:11 I'm comfortable with how we've conducted ourselves and with integrity and that's the way, as long as I'm doing this, it'll always be run with this program. 7:19 But I'm just, I guess the hard part, I guess there's a lot of anonymous. 7:23 It was, and just going after players is out of bounds for me. 7:33 So I'll defend our players all day long. 7:34 They're great kids. 7:35 With how to handle it? 7:36 Pardon? 7:37 Do you address the players? 7:38 I talked to them a little briefly about, just hey, I'm proud of you guys and how you represent our program and what you do and how hard you work each and every day. 7:45 And so we'll continue to do that. 7:49 And you know what? 7:51 We'd all like to win the national title every year, but that's not realistic. 7:57 Every coach that's ever been here, they've had some years that weren't as good as others. 8:01 And that's in every sport. 8:02 That's just the way it is. 8:03 All you can do is go to work, do the best job you can, try to have good kids and have a good program. 8:12 It's just different this day and age too, because you can write a comment, off a story, you can Twitter, you can post something on the Internet. 8:22 And you hear more from the people that want to tear you down than the people that are happy. 8:29 And whether it's you're going on a bus tour and people come up to you, hey, love the program, done a great job, the way the program is run. 8:36 And I mean, they're the ones that aren't popping off in the paper. 8:40 So that's just something you have to deal with. 8:42 I mean, like I said, it's not the first, whether it's me or Doug or Brad or whoever is coaching, just the way it is. 8:52 You wish they were supportive, though, of the players. 8:54 I mean, that's the part that you'd like to see. 8:59 But like I said, there's been a great group that have worked really hard in our fundraising. 9:03 We couldn't be more excited that April 1st, that this whole area is going to be torn apart. 9:07 And it's all going to be Gopher Hockey, long time coming. 9:10 And we're close to have enough money to completely redo the weight room. 9:15 And that's been our fundraising on campus. 9:17 But there's been an alumni group that we've met with every month and on a pretty regular basis to help get this done. 9:25 And there's been a lot of contributions from them. 9:27 So, we're happy about that. 9:32 It's hard to address Anonymous. 9:36 As you can hear the don there, hard to address Anonymous. 9:40 I saw that Pat McAleady was posting a little earlier. 9:42 He knows who Anonymous is, but wouldn't say who it is. 9:47 But, Hammy, that's probably the first time you've heard that. 9:49 What are your thoughts on what LeChia said there? 9:52 Well, I mean, I've always said that whoever the Gopher head coach is deserves to be the highest paid coach in college hockey because there's no job that has more scrutiny on it than that position. 10:06 And so, a lot of what he says, you know, I've not always been the biggest LeChia, you know, proponent and whatever. 10:12 I mean, sometimes I get a little bit annoyed with some of the way things are, but he has got a real tough job. 10:18 And certainly, I think that, you know, when it comes to recruiting, it's like, that's the one that I, because obviously, that's the thing I've followed most closely for 20 plus years. 10:27 And the funny thing is, is that you see a kid that's a top notch 15 year old who commits to North Dakota or Notre Dame or whatever, and people pop off about it saying, you know, what the hell is wrong with Gopher recruiting? 10:40 But then once we get like three or four of those guys that are 15, they're like, we're recruiting too many young stars. 10:46 We need to get, it's like nobody is ever happy. 10:48 And I think it's the same concept with, you know, some of these alums or whatever. 10:52 First of all, I have a problem with the whole unnamed stuff. 10:55 To me, that's like, if you're going to rip people, at least have the balls to just say, hey, this is what I think and to stand by, you know, put your name behind it. 11:04 Maybe the NHL guys, I could get it a little bit, but these former alums, it's like, show some balls. 11:09 The other thing that bugs me is that I got personally texted by one of the players, one of the key players' fathers earlier today, and he's pissed off because his son, who is a good high character kid, is being basically thrown into this group, like he's got no character and he's got no balls and he doesn't do this. 11:33 It's like you're making sweeping comments about all these players that maybe for a certain percentage, maybe there is some validity to it, but not for all of them. 11:43 To make that kind of comment, those kinds of comments, that bugs the hell out of me. 11:48 What about, is there anything about the story that you did agree with? 11:52 I mean, I'm kind of gathering from the story. 11:54 Obviously, it was kind of a hatch job a little bit, but there's a lot of frustration there and maybe you kind of took it out on the whole system, but there's obviously problems that we've seen in the last few years. 12:06 Did anything that Corey had to say ring true for any of you guys? 12:10 Well, I mean, I will say one thing. 12:11 I mean, I do think sometimes they need to be a little bit more careful about just recruiting the talent and not necessarily, I mean, I don't know what they do for background and hey, what kind of character. 12:23 I'm sure they ask those kinds of questions, but certainly, there are kids that have come through the Gopher program that I knew ahead of time were not the greatest character guys, and they didn't turn out to be that. 12:35 I mean, Jim O'Brien is a perfect example, the way that he bailed on the Gophers. 12:40 I had been told long before he even started at the U that he was an odd duck, and he was a nomad, always changing teams and all that stuff. 12:48 So it's like, well, when he bails on you after a year, it's kind of like, these are the kinds of things you probably should know ahead of time a little bit more, and maybe you should avoid those kinds of guys a little bit more. 12:58 But, and I agree that maybe sometimes they do need to mix things up a little bit more with recruiting, but it's easier said than done, because like I said earlier, everybody is a critic if you're not getting all the stars. 13:11 I mean, they brought up some of these names, like Gursich and Besser, and some of these guys, it's like, you know what? 13:17 It's not like the Gopher coach, no matter who it is, this has always gotten every star kid that's come out of the state. 13:22 So bringing up a few examples of guys that went else, to me, it's just stupid. 13:25 I mean, that's the way it's always been. 13:28 Veegs, one party did mention in the article was about Herb Brooks, convincing Mr. 13:36 Parisi to avoid Minnesota. 13:40 Yeah, and I think that's just an example that some people have this relationship with Don LaChia where they're not on the same page, and with this Herb Brooks, Parisi's story, that's definitely one of those cases where regardless of what LaChia would do, I don't think Brooks was going to be on his side on this. 14:00 It turned out great for Zach. 14:01 He had a good experience in North Dakota and he's turned into a great pro. 14:05 But I don't think one example like that applies to the entire program. 14:10 I mean, look at guys like Nate Schmidt, who came to the university as a low-rated recruit and was a character guy who came to the university to develop. 14:19 He was on the ice when Oveshkin scored his 500th goal. 14:23 For every story of a guy who got away, there are players who come to the university and develop. 14:28 I'd also remind everybody that we did win a national title when Parisi was in college and he didn't win Jack Squat. 14:35 So I mean, it's not like- 14:38 You know what I'm saying? 14:39 Oh, I know. 14:41 I used to love it when people said, you know, Chad Roberg has more rings than Zach Parisi. 14:47 Well, I'm just saying, it's like somehow that got left out of the story, like, you know, oh, Parisi enters college. 14:52 Oh my God, the world's coming to an end. 14:55 Yeah, but we won a national title this first year. 14:57 So, you know, I just felt like there was a lot of perspective that could have been put into that article. 15:04 And I don't know if it's just because of space constraints or whatever, but, you know, there was some things that I felt like that article left out that... 15:12 Well, I think this article is slanted against Luchia. 15:16 I mean, a lot of these things you could be saying at most big time programs, you know, Michigan, BCBU, they're all having issues with these kids who are coming to college hockey, and they're developing and their eye is on playing in the NHL. 15:30 So all these elite programs are bringing these big recruits, they're having this issue of trying to balance developing players versus winning, you know, versus continuing to recruit. 15:42 And I got to tell you, when a guy like Kyle Oiposo comes to the University of Minnesota, and he's not playing 20 minutes a game, he's not on the first power play, he can get frustrated, and that's why he left. 15:53 You know, you have other guys who come and they stick it out. 15:56 I mean, Nick Letty wasn't going to jump ahead of the guys on the team and play first power play when he came here. 16:02 Well, and the other thing I would remind people, they always bring up Herb Brooks as some sterling example of everything. 16:07 But you know what? 16:08 Herb Brooks would never last in today's college hockey. 16:12 The guy is great, obviously, from an external standpoint, but that whole hard ass bit would never wash in today's college hockey world. 16:20 Because the fact is, is that kids nowadays, they can bail on you and they can go to the WHL, they can go to the AHL, sign with the pro team. 16:28 They can go back to the USHL and transfer. 16:31 They just tell you, hey, go to hell, Herby. 16:33 I'm not going to listen to your bullshit after this year. 16:35 And they can go somewhere else. 16:36 Back then, they didn't have that. 16:38 They had the JV, they had all this stuff that he could be a hard ass about. 16:41 But that stuff would never work today. 16:43 It just doesn't. 16:44 And so people need to get over that whole Herb Brooks. 16:46 I mean, I'm as big of a Herb Brooks fan as anybody, but you know what? 16:50 The whole Bobby Knight, Herb Brooks, all that kind of attitude that used to be, that would never work with today's players. 16:57 It just doesn't. 16:58 Nate, did any of the story ring true for you, or was it a complete hatchet job? 17:04 I think there's enough bits in it where going from one thing to another where you're going to see what you want to see. 17:11 Yeah. 17:11 I think we've seen that throughout the day where if you're not a fan of the Gophers, this is an amazing story and you agree 110 percent with it. 17:20 If you are a big Gopher fan, you do not like this at all. 17:23 It is a hatchet job. 17:26 There are things that you like about Minnesota but aren't being a fan of, this will still confirm your view. 17:31 I think that's the one beauty of the piece. 17:35 I personally, there's a lot of things I like. 17:38 I think it's an interesting story to look at on the other side of the college hockey bubble that we have because as much as we hate to admit it, this is a very niche sport and when we're all on the inside, we forget that on the outside, the union being one of the three best teams the last five years and going on an 18 game win streak still is a small tiny college in New York that doesn't have athletic scholarships that 99.5% of the country have never heard of. 18:08 What do you mean? 18:08 That wasn't the biggest upset of all time? 18:10 Like the miracle on ice? 18:12 No. 18:14 Like I said, it's not even the worst upset in Gopher history. 18:18 No. 18:19 If you think about Holy Cross, it's like, hello, do some fricking research. 18:22 You can put in the Yale upset the year before that, which was a much better Gopher team than probably the most talented Gopher team of all time. 18:31 Not even Yale, because Yale went on to win it. 18:33 Yeah, but they were. 18:34 That was a 2-15. 18:35 Yeah, that was a 2-15. 18:38 At least Union in this one was the third overall team and had lost in January. 18:44 Okay. 18:45 Here's the other thing that bugs me with that. 18:47 What's the quote, who was it, that was talking about the Big Ten Network playing against Penn State? 18:52 Are you kidding me? 18:53 The university showed it didn't understand or it cared that hockey. 18:57 It's like, dude, are you that fricking stupid? 19:00 You're not going to say no to the Big Ten when that is your bread and butter. 19:04 You cannot tell them, no, we're not going to play in your hockey conference when you're getting 30 plus million dollars a year in TV revenue alone because of your association with that league. 19:14 It's like, it's not about the University of Minnesota Athletic Department saying yes or no. 19:20 That would be the dumbest thing in history to do, to say, well, we want to stay in the WCHA, and so we're going to screw over everything else in our sporting department just so we can play hockey. 19:31 It's just, dude, pull your head out of your ass. 19:33 Well, the problem is that for the last few years, we've seen it. 19:36 The crowds are down, people are pissed about the Big Ten. 19:41 Obviously, we've been trying to tell people to get over it, but it's just not happening, and I think that may have been some of the anger towards this whole thing. 19:48 I mean, even Don, Lou Nanny said a couple weeks ago that he thought the Big Ten was a bad idea, and, you know, they're selling the tickets, but something's just not right here. 20:00 The fans are still pissed, and I know, Hammy, you've said it's time to get over it, but it's pretty clear people aren't going to get over it. 20:07 And they're maybe just showing their anger up. 20:10 I don't know. 20:11 Well, part of it is that the Big Ten, you know, other than the first year, it hasn't been great, you know what I mean? 20:16 And it's like, okay, that gets built up. 20:21 I mean, and look, as I said before, league strength is very cyclical. 20:26 I mean, you're going to have times where certain leagues are great, times when they're kind of mediocre. 20:31 I mean, every league, even the WCHA wasn't always great. 20:35 But if that league is playing great, it's got top teams or at least three or four real good teams, and it's starting to heat up in the rivalry department, three, four years from now, I mean, that's going to be all gone. 20:46 I mean, people are focused on the short term, and I get that, but it's like, I think they lose sight of some of this stuff. 20:54 They realize that it's not the old WCHA, so it's just going to be automatically never going to be good and whatever. 20:59 And I just think that people just don't think long term. 21:02 Well, one of the big problems is the other schools. 21:05 I mean, we all thought that, in fact, the other schools thought, you know, we're going to get together, Big Ten, we're going to have all this money, we're going to be on TV more often. 21:12 And I hate to tell you other schools, until you guys get off your ass and start supporting your programs and watching them on Big Ten Network, those games are going to be coming less and less. 21:22 I mean, you look at this year compared to previous years, Big Ten used to do double headers and all this other stuff, but we've heard from Pizzo, Rick Pizzo at Big Ten. 21:33 The only ratings they get is when Minnesota is on. 21:35 If the other teams are playing, they don't get the ratings. 21:38 So they've cut back. 21:39 They don't do any pregame. 21:40 They don't do any in between periods or postgame anymore. 21:44 They just show the game. 21:45 So it's pretty obvious that the Big Ten Network, they've tried, but unless they get support from these other schools and people start watching it, they're backing away too. 21:56 That would be something that I would have loved to have been addressed in this story, because there are so many different things. 22:02 And if we're going to be honest, apathy is very real with the Hocky in Minnesota. 22:09 I think it's the lot of people have it more be in the region. 22:13 It's kind of like like SEC football compared to the nationally. 22:16 And in fairness, I will say this for I went out to Penn State this past weekend and they do for a fourth year program. 22:23 They do an amazing job supporting that team. 22:26 The students weren't there. 22:27 It was still sold out. 22:28 They sold out that section. 22:31 It was packed. 22:32 Fans kind of were pretty were pretty hateful towards Minnesota, despite not really much of a rivalry. 22:40 I think it's pretty one sided. 22:42 But if if you went probably about five, ten years ago and you're like, hey, we want to expand college hockey, we want new teams to come in. 22:49 We want to have the same type of energy and understand it the way that college hockey fans do. 22:57 Penn State would be exactly what you would want to expect. 23:02 Well, look, I mean, here's the one thing I want to make clear. 23:05 I think we all know that not everything is the way it should be with that program. 23:09 I mean, I don't have a problem with some of the criticism or whatever, because I think obviously when you're 500 right now, and that's just for this program is unacceptable pretty much any year. 23:22 I mean, I don't care. 23:24 Lucia can say every coach has had down years. 23:27 Maybe that's true, but that's still no excuse. 23:30 The funny thing is that's one thing he mentioned in the article. 23:35 It kind of seems like Lucia is always full of excuses. 23:39 Well, I mean, he's asked questions. 23:43 What is he supposed to do? 23:44 I mean, it's kind of like, I guess I don't know what the guy is supposed to do in that position. 23:50 When you're facing the media, they ask you questions, and you basically have two choices. 23:56 You can kind of give them something, or you can be just so bland and give them nothing, and then it's like, what's the point in even having it? 24:04 I mean, he's going to give them something. 24:05 So I just feel like that's a little bit nitpicky. 24:10 I guess I don't want to be an apologist, because I feel like I'm not happy. 24:15 I do believe that the message has grown a little bit weary. 24:20 I do, you know, I've talked to enough people in the last couple of years that they feel like some of the fire isn't there, and maybe the messages quite aren't sinking in like they used to. 24:31 And, you know, there's a lot more possibility for change. 24:34 And I wouldn't have a huge problem with it, but I just think that sometimes people talk out of their ass about some of these things, and they don't really think big picture. 24:43 And, you know, especially with, like, recruiting and some of these other things, it's just not that cut and dry. 24:49 Vegoe, you got any more thoughts on this? 24:51 You've been a little quiet. 24:52 Well, I just think, you know, it did get to the point where they were going after the players. 24:56 And, like, we were just talking about, you know, it's hard, I think, for Lucia not to mention players every once in a while because, you know, I know Nate and I and some of the other writers, you know, we ask specifics about certain plays and things like that. 25:10 And Lucia sometimes gives us the answer. 25:13 But for the most part in NCAA sports, you know, it all falls on the coach, you know. 25:18 He's the one who's getting the big check. 25:20 And at, you know, the end of everything, it's his responsibility for the team to be better. 25:26 And it's his responsibility to recruit the right players. 25:31 And if it doesn't work out, it ultimately falls on him. 25:34 You know, we can critique the players and look for the juniors to do some more scoring this year for this team to have them be successful. 25:41 But ultimately, it does fall on the coach. 25:43 And so, when people like this rider pick on the team for not playing with discipline and not winning puck battles and being arrogant little jerks like he writes, that's where the fire comes from. 25:57 Coaches, former coaches, and then people who aren't on this fire, Lucia Bandwagon. 26:02 Well, Veegs, you did ask Cluse today about that, and he pretty much said no comment, correct? 26:08 I think he wanted to respond, but it was pretty clear that Lucia had put the clamp on any comments from players about it. 26:16 He is the captain, so if there is one player to talk about it, it'd be him. 26:21 He's talked a lot about how he's trying to lead this team and make something of this season. 26:26 And I think he's very motivated and even more motivated now to turn this thing around. 26:32 Well, what did you ask him? 26:33 Let me see no comment on it. 26:35 Well, just you know that the article came out to get it today and Lucia addressed the team about it and how does he feel and react to it. 26:44 And he gritted his teeth and said, I'm going to have to say no comment. 26:50 You know, Vegoe sent me that audio and I'll put it at the end of the podcast tonight, so along with the full Lucia media, like Vegoe always gets for us, so you'll get to hear that at the end. 27:01 But boy, just an interesting day. 27:05 I mean, obviously somebody's got an ax to grind. 27:10 Well, some of these guys were quoted in the article. 27:11 I don't know if it's Corey himself, because Corey, I don't think Corey even went to the U, but I think Corey has followed the U and probably knows some people and found the right guide who has an ax to grind. 27:24 Well, I think the other thing is that some of those guys that were quoted and actually named in that article were part of that fire Lucia letter, that fire that he mentioned in his... 27:33 I mean, they were a part of that. 27:34 I mean, Hartzell, I know for sure, was a part of that. 27:36 I mean, so some of these people, I wouldn't be surprised if that what he mentioned about, hey, I'm a Notre Dame alum, and some of these guys just say, hey, you're not an alum from the U. 27:48 I'm not going to support you. 27:49 It's like, I wouldn't be shocked if some of these guys that were actually named, if like that was, they were part of that group. 27:56 And it just, to me, that gets to be stupid. 27:59 It's like, dude, what do you really care about? 28:00 Do you care about the program and the school, or do you care about who the damn coach is and where he came from? 28:05 I mean, I personally don't give a rat's ass. 28:07 It's like, I just want to win. 28:08 And I want the program to be good. 28:11 And I want the players to be a good representation of school. 28:14 I don't really give a damn about if the coach went to, I mean, if you think about it, who's one of the greatest coaches for North Dakota ever? 28:22 Dean Blaze. 28:23 Who's one of the greatest coaches ever for Wisconsin? 28:26 Badger Bob. 28:27 Both go for them. 28:28 Do you think their fans give a shit about that? 28:31 No. 28:32 They see them as, hey, that's our coach. 28:35 I don't care if he went to school at the university. 28:38 So it's like, who cares? 28:39 It's like, as long as they win, as long as they bring good teams together and represent the school well and everything, it's like, who cares about that? 28:45 And I mean, sometimes the whole Notre Dame thing riles me a little bit, but nonetheless, it's like, the guy does a pretty good job. 28:54 Not perfect, but he's done a pretty good job over the course of his career at the U. 28:59 Sorry, you got to beep that out, whatever. 29:01 I'm not gonna bleep it out. 29:02 Oh, okay, well then I'm gonna swear like a, you know what? 29:06 Well, yeah, we're all frustrated. 29:09 I mean, obviously, you've been frustrated over these last few years. 29:12 I've been frustrated. 29:12 Veegs, I know you have. 29:15 You know, it's just, we kind of feel the apathy and so you see something like this and it kind of gets you riled up because, you know, obviously, we agree with some of it, but it's definitely, you know, somebody's got an axe to grind and it wasn't very balanced at all. 29:32 Yeah, I kind of found it interesting that, you know, whenever there was any kind of supportive statement, it was basically like one or two lines and no quotes from anybody. 29:39 You know what I mean? 29:39 I was like, yeah, did you ever look for anybody to say, I mean, I'm pretty sure that there'd be some people that would say some positive things. 29:47 It's kind of like, yeah, let's make the tone of the article a certain way. 29:52 And hey, if it's creating dialogue, I guess it works, right? 29:55 But I do think that that's the tone. 29:58 He could have found the people that contributed the 5 million that's going to go to this new locker room, a new weight room, and shooting center, and help pay for the renovations to the rink. 30:08 There are people who are supporting him. 30:13 But we've also heard in the past that a lot of former players don't support him. 30:19 And he's had trouble getting donations just for small little things. 30:24 I mean, Paul Martin did donate a big hot tub or something like that a few years ago. 30:30 The sauna? 30:31 Yeah, the sauna, whatever it is. 30:32 But we have heard from former players having trouble. 30:37 I'm not trying to stir up anything, but things we have heard in the past. 30:42 Well, I mean, I think that you're going to have that kind of stuff. 30:46 You know what I mean? 30:47 And I think that part of it is Lucia has sort of this air about him that maybe, you know, I could see why some players might be rubbed the wrong way a little bit or whatever. 31:00 And I don't think that he's a bad guy or anything, but I think that sometimes maybe his style just doesn't come across quite as well. 31:08 But you're going to find that in any kind of coaching style. 31:10 I mean, it's not like Dean Blaise has been successful, but it's not like he's had all these guys that have loved him. 31:15 And you have other guys, you know. 31:17 Obviously, Mike Eaves has won a title, but he's not been well liked by a lot of his guys. 31:21 And so, I mean, it's kind of part of the territory. 31:24 And I'm not really sure if a coach can do much. 31:28 I mean, some of these guys just hold that grudge after they leave, and that's the way it is. 31:32 Yeah, well, you know, one problem that I think we can all admit is that the kids these days are more me first than team first. 31:41 And that's just kind of the Generation X. 31:45 Exactly. 31:45 Not X, but whatever it is these days. 31:48 You know, these kids feel entitled because their parents are pushing it. 31:51 My kid gets this many minutes or whatever it is. 31:54 So we're going to have that problem pretty much around the board. 31:57 Just because I don't think we should have somebody like a Herb Brooks, but you know, once in a while, it would be nice if they would hold guys, you know, responsible for what there should be or shouldn't be doing out there. 32:10 And like you said beforehand, these kids, if they get, you know, they don't like what the coach is saying, screw you, I'm going to leave. 32:17 Because there's very much, there's not much integrity out there anymore, unfortunately. 32:23 Well, I mean, I just think it's one of those things where, you know, you have players, some of these guys, like you said, they're going to come through certain, you know, what's the parents or it's like, they're just used to being the star guy and they get spoiled and whatever. 32:37 And, you know, it's kind of a catch 22 for a coach because it's like, man, you know, you want to get that talent, but then it's like, you know, you're not entirely sure, you know, how's that going to translate from a character standpoint, you know, because you just never know what's going to happen until a guy gets there and you have to hope for the best. 32:55 Some guys are more predictable than others, but it just kind of comes down to hopefully doing enough research on their backgrounds and what mom and dad are like and, you know, what their former coaches have to say about them and whatever and just kind of going with that. 33:09 But sometimes it just doesn't work out quite as well as you'd expect. 33:12 Well, you look at a kid like Bukestead, I mean, that kid definitely did care more about the M than the name on his back. 33:20 But in contrast, you look at somebody like a Jordan Schrader maybe or a Phil Kessel. 33:27 I don't think you'll see Phil Kessel coming back to the U, you know, pushing the M, but you look somebody like Bukestead or even Thomas Vannick. 33:36 Vannick actually does care a lot about the U and I mean, his kids live here, they're supporting the U as much as they can. 33:43 Like you said, everyone's different. 33:45 The one thing that at least I was thinking about when going through the article is that Minnesota as far as the elite teams has been fairly successful of late, and it's kind of been one thing that Lucia has been focusing on and having those players stay the three years instead of two in order to get them to graduate. 34:02 A guy like Bukestead graduated on time with his class despite going to the pros, Nate Schmitt graduated over the summer, they have a couple other guys who have done it, things like that. 34:13 They really haven't had a big name leave after one or two years since what, Nick Letty? 34:20 Last one? 34:22 Yeah, I think so. 34:24 Am I missing anyone? 34:25 Yeah, I think it's Nick Letty. 34:26 Those guys stayed. 34:28 Shea, Riley, Adam Wilcox, all those guys could have left after their sophomore year and they stayed for that extra year. 34:35 And you can't say the same thing with a Michigan or a BC or a BU who have had these players that have left after one or two years or are playing for a bit and jumping up to the CHO. 34:50 And that's one of the things I kind of found funny is that for a while during the middle part of the last decade, when Minnesota was trying to get every single high end player and they leave after one or two years, it kind of put them in a bind after all those players left. 35:05 And they kind of just they weren't as top heavy. 35:07 And now they've been kind of trying to find that balance where while they are shooting for like the Bessers and Bellows and Mena Miss and those guys, they still kind of have a middle ground where I think as Hany mentioned earlier, in terms as far as recruiting, you're kind of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. 35:25 Well, and the other thing is, is that, you know, they talked about character in the article as if like, you know, it's lacking and to me, for guys to come back and not take the paycheck, and there's been guys that haven't been reported, you know, that got offers. 35:42 I know at least one guy that got pretty significant offer this last off season that didn't go, and it came back because of, and I know in this case is because of the love of playing at the U. 35:52 And it's like, you know, when you have guys returning and they're not going for that automatic payday, I mean, that does speak to the character of some of these guys. 36:02 So I think that kind of gets left out of the picture. 36:04 You know, they see some of the stuff on the ice and assume because a guy isn't necessarily, you know, like Cami, if he's not going in the corner and getting his nose bloodied, like somehow he's lacking character or whatever. 36:16 And that's just not, you know, I think it's not entirely fair to judge guys, you know, sweeping statements like that. 36:22 That's true. 36:22 And recruiting isn't perfect. 36:24 They could be doing better. 36:25 They could be doing worse. 36:28 But at the same time with it being kind of the focus of the article, I'm a little shocked that they didn't bring up that Martin Lucchia didn't go there and Jake Ensel didn't go there. 36:39 I was reading, it was kind of a what's what of things to pot shot the player that, but. 36:47 Well, you know, it's just, it's a thing. 36:48 None of these guys, I mean, it's recruits, like I said earlier, you're in this state especially, you're just not going to get all the great guys. 36:56 There's just too many. 36:58 And, you know, people realize these, we only have 18 scholarships to work with, just like anybody else. 37:03 It's not like you have 25 scholarships and everybody gets a full scholarship. 37:09 And it's like, you know, the kids have to decide, hey, do I want to go to the U on a 75% ride or I want to go to this other school on a 95% ride or what? 37:18 I mean, there's people don't really realize that it's not just, I mean, there are guys that really will take, I know for a fact that Clues had opportunities to go elsewhere for much bigger scholarship and he came to the U on less. 37:32 And that's not a rare example. 37:34 I mean, the guys do that. 37:35 And so I do think that people underestimate some of the, like I said, the character stuff and the fact that some of these guys really desire to wear the M and play with pride. 37:46 And just because it doesn't always have great results in the end, people just assume that the players don't care. 37:51 And I think it's a little bit too much of a generalization. 37:55 Yeah. 37:55 And I guess it goes also touches into the number of players that committed early, which kind of been a it's been a point of contention in terms of college hockey, just with players being committed at 14 and 15 irregularity and versus the older freshman, just a wide gap in that. 38:15 And it would have been nice to see that kind of be touched on a little bit more in this article. 38:19 There are a lot of points that college hockey is a strange, unique beast. 38:24 And sometimes when we're in the middle of it, we kind of forget that these things are not the norm. 38:30 But it's a little bit of a missed opportunity, I think. 38:35 College hockey's got a lot of problems. 38:37 I mean, it does. 38:38 It has a lot of problems. 38:39 I mean, recruiting. 38:41 I mean, we talked about that all the time. 38:42 You know, it's like back in the day, you know, I was like, guys weren't decide until they were 17. 38:48 I know Lucia talks about that, you know, he wishes we can go back to the day where we kids didn't really decide until after the state tournament, or at least during that hockey season. 38:57 And it's like, you know, the whole recruiting 14 and 15 year olds, it's too bad that they have to do some of that stuff. 39:05 I think the whole gentleman's agreement needs to go down the toilet because I think that contributes to it. 39:10 People kind of have race to the bottom to make sure they get their offers in. 39:14 And if they, hey, we have to offer a kid before a certain age because he might just commit and then we don't supposedly have this chance because of the gentleman's agreement, all this stuff going on, it's just a lot of problems in that regard. 39:26 Well let me tell you, winning would sure cure a lot of this, guys. 39:32 That always does, right? 39:33 I mean, when a team is struggling, they're below 500 or around 500, an article like this is gonna get a lot of attention. 39:42 I mean, the fact is, right now, Minnesota is not getting very much attention. 39:47 I mean, just the last few weeks, haven't you been writing for the Star Tribune, Nate? 39:52 I've written for the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press in the last month, yes. 39:56 And why is that? 39:59 Because they have nobody going to the arena covering the team anymore, do they? 40:05 Not at the moment. 40:07 The Pioneer Press does bring, does have Ben Getz covering them for home games and coming in for media availability. 40:15 Okay, but does that have to do with the team or does that have to do with the nature of that business right now? 40:21 I mean, it's a bit, I'd say it's probably between the two of them. 40:28 There's been, there's been a lot of, it's kind of been an industry-wide thing in terms of college hockey, especially throughout the Big Ten. 40:35 I don't believe any Big Ten team has a full, dedicated beat writer anymore. 40:39 Andy Baggett and Madison got laid off over the summer and now works for the Badgers themselves. 40:46 The Detroit News has a person who occasionally covers Michigan, Michigan State. 40:50 Michigan State also put their long-time beat writer in house and... 40:57 Doesn't sound good, Veegs. 40:59 You know what? 41:00 I think that's one of the unnamed alums. 41:08 At the same time, though, we've been talking a little bit about this Men's Hockey article. 41:12 The Vice had an article on the women's hockey team about how they're one of the best dynasties that has just been completely ignored by the media, both locally and nationally. 41:23 Yeah. 41:25 So in some cases, that also kind of pretends to men's college hockey as well, which I hate to do and kind of lump them in there because honestly, that women's hockey team, we really should be talking about them a lot more. 41:38 But it's kind of just the nature of the beast of where the sport is right now. 41:43 Well, let's be honest, if the games were getting better TV ratings, if the pages were getting bigger views, bigger hits, they would have a writer there. 41:53 I think this apathy is just kind of spilled over into both how much people read and watch the games and listen to the games, and that's impacting the coverage. 42:01 If people want more coverage, watch more hockey. 42:05 Read about it more. 42:06 Go to the games. 42:07 You know, that's going to impact what happens. 42:11 Word. 42:15 Listen to more podcasts. 42:17 Buy more stuff from Vintage Hockey. 42:19 Yeah. 42:20 Speaking of Vintage Hockey, boy, we should really roll a commercial, shouldn't we, boys? 42:25 We've been talking so long, you know, we better get to that and actually get to some hockey. 42:29 Because, you know, we had last weekend, Penn State, we have Michigan State this weekend. 42:35 We get some business to take care of. 42:36 But before we get to that business, take a listen. 42:40 Vintage Minnesota Hockey wants you to take a step back in time and keep the memories of Minnesota Hockey heritage alive forever. 42:47 vintagemnhockey.com features history from around the entire state of Minnesota. 42:52 One feature that I enjoy on a daily basis is the This Day in Minnesota Hockey history that is on their website. 42:59 They have tons of info on what's happening on any particular day in Minnesota hockey history. 43:05 One thing as a listener that you may be interested in is the store at Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 43:10 They offer all kinds of custom throwbacks from Minnesota hockey and local college teams. 43:15 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. 43:26 So visit Vintage Minnesota Hockey at vintagemnhockey.com. 43:32 And I'd like to thank Vintage for signing up for the rest of the podcast for the season. 43:36 So they are on board for the whole season. 43:39 So we are very thankful for that. 43:43 Nice. 43:44 I know, I know. 43:45 Well guys, we gotta talk some hockey here. 43:48 Nate, you went out to Penn State this past weekend. 43:51 3-2 loss, 7-1 win. 43:53 Let's start with that loss. 43:55 Boy, it was pretty slow. 43:57 Minnesota picked it up at the end, but a little collapse there again. 44:04 Yeah, it was kind of a Vintage Minnesota game for season has gone. 44:11 Just started slow with terms of goal. 44:16 Amon McAdam, who was the Penn State goalie that night, I think the outshot was like 13-6 or 7 in the first period. 44:25 He stopped all the shots. 44:25 He had a few good chances, but he kind of got the feeling really fast that Minnesota was, or Penn State was going to score the first goal, and they did early in the second. 44:37 And it just went from there. 44:40 They dug into a hole. 44:41 They came back late in the game with two goals by Junior Gates, who he hadn't scored since the second week of the season. 44:49 So for him, it was a positive note. 44:53 Vanilla Terry fed him a couple of passes that neither of them broke his stick. 45:02 But the few Ninny Lions capitalizations, good opportunities, for the most part, Minnesota came to the outside. 45:11 But the few chances that they had, they really converted on Friday. 45:14 And they did so twice in the second period. 45:17 And just that overtime winner, all three of them had Steve Johnson and Ryan Collins on the ice, which was not really too happy with them after the game. 45:27 And Collins ended up sitting for Saturday. 45:29 So that game, for the most part. 45:35 Go ahead. 45:36 That game, for the most part, though, it was the second one in a row that had broken or that they had given up a late goal or they had lost in overtime. 45:45 And they were kind of even killed after the first one. 45:50 Against Harvard, it was just the highs and lows of the season. 45:53 It's a little weird that we keep having this. 45:55 They were really down. 45:57 I don't think I've seen that the team is down outside of the National Championship game loss for obvious reasons. 46:04 Or just the end of the season loss. 46:07 Just after the game, like it was it was almost just it was a complete 180 from how just trying to keep your emotions in and everything and just they were just like, you know, if we can't have this happen, it's not acceptable. 46:20 And it was kind of funny because after that game, the Penn State people were talking to me and they're like, you know, this is one of the best teams, if not the best team we've seen all year. 46:27 They ended up being the first one to out shoot Penn State. 46:31 And he had earlier had them this year. 46:33 They had both Notre Dame, whom Minnesota has played and they had St. 46:36 Lawrence, who would be in the tournament today at Pergola. 46:39 So they had a couple of good teams, but it wasn't the result. 46:42 They didn't get end up with any points. 46:45 Veegs, this year's whipping boy, Mr. 46:46 Collins, kinda called out a little bit by Lucia and then flat out replaced Saturday night for the big seven to one win. 46:55 Yeah, I think anytime one of your veteran defensemen gets scratched the next game, that's as big of a call out as you can make as a head coach. 47:03 And Collins' play since getting cut from the World Junior team has been a little suspect. 47:08 I think he is just trying to do too much with the puck. 47:12 And, you know, he is a guy who is not the most skilled on the puck. 47:15 His game is playing rushes, eliminating guys in the corners, and making a first easy pass. 47:21 You know, he is not a guy whose strength is to skate the puck out of the zone and jump into the rush like Mike Riley. 47:28 That's just not his game. 47:29 And maybe since getting cut from the World Junior team, he is trying to do too much. 47:34 And hopefully he finds his game after watching on Saturday afternoon. 47:40 Nate, you saw Stadick Saturday night. 47:44 How did he fill in for him? 47:46 From what we heard, he filled in pretty good. 47:48 He filled in pretty good. 47:50 He's always been good with the puck and been able to move things around. 47:54 Believe he got an assist on at least one of the goals. 47:58 I guess he did. 47:59 There are seven of them. 48:00 Yeah, there was quite a few. 48:05 All right, let's see if we can find that. 48:07 Well, for one thing, jeez, if we had... 48:09 Yeah, he did. 48:10 Yeah, he assisted on Tyler Sheehy's goal. 48:13 But we had three short-handed goals. 48:14 But Sheehy was positive with them. 48:16 I spoke with Eric Sheerhorn after the game. 48:18 He was happy with how he played. 48:21 It sounded like from today's availability that Stadick will probably play this week. 48:26 He doesn't know if it's Friday. 48:28 But she still wants to see a little bit of consistency with him playing without the puck and just having his effort throughout the weekend practice. 48:35 But for a guy who really only played like four games this season and been very limited in a couple of them, they're all due to injury or suspension. 48:47 It looked like he belonged in the ice. 48:49 Hammey, a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde weekend. 48:53 Yeah, I mean, like you said, I mean, well, I mean, I thought it was going to be a split weekend as it was. 49:00 But I mean, I think one of you two even said it might have been an overtime loss. 49:05 I think I said something about it. 49:07 I don't remember what I, but I mean, I just think that it's unfortunate that you have that late game mistake and people just will jump all over that and I get it. 49:19 It's frustrating as hell. 49:20 So I mean, I totally get it. 49:22 And certainly Collins hasn't had I don't think as good of a season as a lot of people I think were hoping. 49:29 They saw him play last year and saw some glimpses and maybe thought he'd be a lot better this year than what he's shown at times. 49:35 So I think that's a little bit of a frustration as well. 49:37 But to come back and capitalize on a lot of opportunities the next game and kind of jump on them early and kind of just stay the course throughout the game. 49:50 And that was nice to see. 49:52 It's kind of like what we've seen all season. 49:53 It's just been, just haven't been able to find that kind of consistency from one game to the next. 49:59 It always seems like there's one game where it's mediocrity or there's certain gaps in the game that they don't play that well and they end up not getting the result they want. 50:08 And the next game they play a lot better and they get a result you want. 50:11 So it's just kind of the way things have been this year. 50:15 All right, guys, we got to move on to Michigan State because we're getting a little short on time. 50:21 What'd you say? 50:22 There's just one last thing on that series. 50:23 I don't think they were as bad Friday as the score indicates. 50:27 I don't think they were as good Saturday as the score indicates. 50:30 It was kind of two similar performances. 50:33 But big difference, Saturday was the converted on the shorthand of breakaways. 50:37 At least, Fashion did, and they did a better job crashing the net in Korean turnovers. 50:42 Yeah, when they started piling up there, it did seem like Penn State started mailing it in there towards the end. 50:49 So. 50:50 Yeah. 50:52 Once the fourth goal happened in the third period, yes. 50:55 But even before then, the chances and the opportunities were much better Saturday than Friday. 51:03 Well, we have a terrible Michigan State team coming in this weekend. 51:08 They got blitzed by Michigan last Friday night, a little closer Saturday night. 51:12 But Veegs, this is not a good team right now. 51:15 Yeah, this is a team that was expected to be a lot better. 51:18 You know, they're a pretty veteran team. 51:20 They've got a lot of juniors and seniors. 51:21 And they had an All-America goalie last year in Jake Hildebrand. 51:26 So from one side, this is kind of a scary matchup for the Gophers, because the Gophers have been playing well. 51:32 I think they've been generating plenty of scoring chances their last couple of weekends. 51:36 It seems like the team is gaining some momentum. 51:39 And now they've got this Michigan State team that's seriously underachieved, but they have a talented goaltender. 51:45 And that's always one of those situations I think Gopher fans worry about, because, you know, Gopher is a great equalizer. 51:53 You know, and it's a cliche to say, oh, we ran into a hot goalie. 51:57 But you just got to hope that they create enough traffic around the net and get Michigan State running around enough where a hot goalie isn't going to matter this weekend. 52:06 Well, the one thing that, you know, obviously Hildebrandt is good, but apparently he hasn't been good enough this year because, you know, a goalie can only do so much. 52:14 But when you're giving up nine to Michigan, oh, boy, they hit the lead in both games, too, and it just didn't turn out so well for them. 52:26 Hammeh, do you have any thoughts on this weekend against Michigan State? 52:30 Well, I mean, obviously, this is, if you're going to be a contender at the end of the year, this is the kind of series that you have to sweep. 52:36 I mean, we're kind of starting to get down to the crunch time here. 52:40 We're getting closer to February, and you really got to start winning games and positioning yourself. 52:45 And so this is one of those series where they really need to sweep. 52:49 I mean, hopefully, I mean, we talked a lot about that article, but maybe that will kind of get light of fire under their ass a little bit and give them a little extra incentive to kind of start, you know, really pressing and moving forward with some Ws coming up. 53:03 And this is certainly a series that they should get some, gain some momentum and hopefully win two games because they certainly, I think, this is a series they should definitely sweep. 53:11 Now, like I said earlier, they haven't been consistent enough to really be guaranteeing anything, but it's certainly a series that on paper they should be sweeping. 53:20 All right, Nate, Michigan State. 53:23 Yeah, I agree with Tami, where it's one that they almost need to get the six points. 53:29 You really can't afford a loss at home to Michigan State. 53:32 Michigan State is 54 out of 60 teams in the pair wise. 53:35 It's honestly, this team might be more disappointing than Eve's Wisconsin team last year in terms of just failure. 53:41 Like at least Eve's, that team was all freshmen. 53:43 This team is a senior led team. 53:45 Michigan State came in to Marriotchee with this group as their first game as freshmen. 53:51 They got killed. 53:53 It doesn't really look like they've gotten too much better. 53:56 They've had some injuries. 53:56 They lost some players to either the CHL or transfers. 54:01 At times they've had to dress forwards as defensemen because they've been so poor on that. 54:05 So the defensive stuff's there and the offensive defense isn't that good. 54:07 But it's still a series that if Minnesota is going to prove that it's one of the top two teams in the Big Ten. 54:16 And I think after last week against Penn State, you can say that Minnesota and Michigan are the top two teams in the Big Ten in terms of talent. 54:26 Whether or not Minnesota has the defense to consistently stop Michigan's insane offense is another matter. 54:34 They are going to have to sweep this one. 54:36 Pretty much by the end of this weekend, Minnesota will have its two easiest home series out of the way, and they will have the two hardest road series out of the way. 54:46 Well, let's hope they do well, guys, because I'm going actually in full-rude mode Friday night. 54:53 So they better win at least Friday night. 54:54 That's all I care about. 54:56 Me and the wifey are going to go. 54:58 We have a few post-game cocktails, who knows? 55:00 Veegs, will you join us for some post-game cocktails Friday night? 55:04 I will not. 55:04 I will be there Saturday night. 55:07 I also think this is almost a must sweep for Minnesota. 55:09 Yeah. 55:10 It should sweep. 55:12 I think they're clearly more talented than Michigan State. 55:14 I think Minnesota is playing well. 55:17 It's a big six points on the board for them. 55:22 All right then. 55:24 That was a weird little feedback we had there. 55:27 But that's going to do it. 55:28 I got to thank you, Nate, for coming on and doing a lot of chatting with us tonight. 55:33 Pleasure is all mine. 55:34 Just let me know when you want me to have on them. 55:37 I'm always down to spending an hour with you guys. 55:41 Well, we definitely enjoy it. 55:44 We'll be back next week to recap this Michigan State series and see if there's any more fallout from this Corey Zyrowski article. 55:53 Maybe the team will be inspired by it. 55:55 Who knows? 55:57 But until then, thank you for listening. 56:31 What do we know about Michigan State? 56:33 You know what? 56:34 Obviously, they've been struggling lately. 56:38 You look at their lineup, and I went back to when we played them last year, and 10 of their forwards had played against us last year in their lineup. 56:44 Same goaltender, three or four of the same D, so for whatever reason, they've had a hard time winning games. 56:52 They've lost some games somewhere that we have, we were ahead and give up a goal late, and then losing overtime that happened in the Great Lakes. 56:58 But to me, when I see them, I mean they got the pieces in place that was playing for a Big Ten championship the last week in the last season. 57:06 So as I told our players earlier this week, I mean we've never been able to beat them twice in a weekend in two years. 57:14 We've had some wins and ties, some splits. 57:16 They've always played us very well. 57:18 Hildebrand has always been really good against us, and he's an All-American goaltender last year, and he's certainly a quality goaltender. 57:26 So we just need to continue to build off the way we're playing right now, and hopefully we can score some goals. 57:32 With Ohio State being an example of how tough they played when they were here in a six-team league, it seems like the Big Ten is kind of shaking out where records don't mean anything. 57:39 I mean, anybody can do anything to anybody. 57:41 Yeah, I think we've seen that. 57:42 Obviously, you look at Michigan, they probably have the most high-end talent this year, and you're going to have to play really well to beat Michigan and try to hold their offense down. 57:51 That's the hard thing when you play them, that they can beat you 5-4, 6-5. 57:56 Not many other teams can do that. 57:57 The rest of us, you got to win 3-2, and maybe we're fortunate once in a while to win a 4-3 game, but the rest of us don't have that same offensive firepower. 58:05 But I know when we played Ohio State, I think they were good when they came in here, and now all of a sudden, their goaltender is playing the way maybe he did a couple of years ago, and we all know how important that position is if you're going to have success and win. 58:18 With that said, Hildreban, give you nightmares going into this week? 58:23 He's been really good against us his whole career, and he's square, he makes big saves, he's athletic, and we just got to get to the net front. 58:33 We got to get pucks on him. 58:35 It's not a situation where you want to be over selective. 58:38 They pack it in pretty good. 58:39 They're going to have four guys back in the neutral zone. 58:41 So it's interesting like what Mike Yo said about being too selective in shooting and not creating offense off loose pucks. 58:50 We've got to make sure that we just don't play on the perimeter. 58:53 We got to get to the interior. 58:56 A good weekend last weekend to get to a loose pucks. 58:58 And I also thought pretty good at getting to the front. 59:00 Yeah, I thought last weekend really, you know, the whole weekend we played pretty well. 59:04 And Friday we might have even played better than we did on Saturday with creating scoring chances. 59:09 And, you know, the difference on Saturday is we finished. 59:12 I mean, we have three breakaways on Friday and don't score. 59:14 And then we score on them on Saturday. 59:16 So Penn State's not an easy place to play. 59:19 They've done a nice job building their program with the fan support and everything else. 59:22 And to go in there and come back, especially with the, you know, kicking the gut on Friday to lose in overtime and to come back and respond like we did. 59:30 I mean, that was a positive. 59:31 So, you know, now we're, we're four and two in the Big Ten. 59:34 And, you know, Michigan State comes in and we just got to work to continue to take care of business at home. 59:39 Gates had those two goals on Friday. 59:41 Are you starting to see the production you need from that third line? 59:43 Well, I thought that line played well. 59:45 It was great to see, you know, Vinnie get rewarded because I don't know if anybody's been more unlucky this year from an offensive standpoint than he has and, you know, how many times he's broken sticks, you know, when he's shooting a puck, you know. 59:57 I made sure he talked to a stick manufacturer and tell him, Vinnie, do a better job. 1:00:00 We're getting, he's switching brands. 1:00:03 So they're sending him some new sticks. 1:00:06 And, but he's done a nice job. 1:00:08 He plays with pace and, you know, in junior, he's probably one of the youngest guys in college hockey. 1:00:12 He didn't turn 18 till September and he's really growing and getting better as a player. 1:00:16 And that's what we needed. 1:00:17 I mean, that line chipped in three goals. 1:00:19 Our blue line scored a goal. 1:00:21 So all four of our lines scored and that's the type of team that we need. 1:00:24 Obviously, we've been dependent upon three or four guys and Leon and Hudson and Tyler's chipped in and Kluser. 1:00:31 So we've had dependent on three or four guys, but we need that secondary scoring. 1:00:36 Not every night, but there's guys that are capable. 1:00:39 And now as we move to the second half, that will dictate how well we do, whether we get other guys involved offensively. 1:00:48 You're happy the defense fell in Saturday's game after getting a chance to look at the tapes and the civil truth? 1:00:53 Yeah, I thought that really going into the weekend, that was probably what I was most concerned about, that the pressure they were going to put on our D, how hard they played, how they got shot from everywhere. 1:01:04 And I thought our D-court did a really good job all weekend limiting their end zone offensive time. 1:01:10 We broke the puck out cleanly all weekend long. 1:01:12 I think that's something we've really improved on during the course of the season. 1:01:17 And we didn't have a lot of flurries where we got caught in our own zone. 1:01:21 And that was important. 1:01:24 Boxing out, we didn't give up. 1:01:25 We gave up the one goal, I think, on Friday night. 1:01:30 I think it was their first or second goal when the guy came in and scored off a rebound. 1:01:33 But other than that, I mean, our D did a nice job all weekend long. 1:01:36 And we gave up two goals one night in regulation and one goal the next. 1:01:40 And when you do that, you're going to win a lot of games. 1:01:42 Do you think it's the defensemen who are responsible for changing that or the forwards helping out? 1:01:46 Well, I mean, you have to have the mentality. 1:01:48 I mean, you play defense with a group of five. 1:01:50 It's not one or two guys. 1:01:52 And your dear, the last line back there, but you're always going to have a low forward back there helping out too. 1:01:57 But I really thought that we had good communication with our defensemen. 1:02:02 The breakouts were clean. 1:02:03 The exits were really good. 1:02:05 And that was a big part of the reason why we didn't spend a lot of time in our own end. 1:02:10 Are you going to try to get a guy like Jack Sadik in this weekend? 1:02:12 Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, he's proven that he can play. 1:02:18 You know, whether he plays Friday night or not, I don't know yet. 1:02:20 I'm watching and seeing how he practices during the course of the week. 1:02:24 But, you know, that was a bit of a... 1:02:26 You're looking at him and he's growing as a player. 1:02:30 He's still learning that how hard you have to compete and work Monday through Thursday to put yourself in a position on Friday, Saturday. 1:02:36 And that's true for most young players and he's learning that. 1:02:40 But he did a nice job, especially with the puck. 1:02:42 That's his strength when the puck's on his stick. 1:02:44 He still has to grow his game without the puck. 1:02:46 But, you know, as he continues to learn to practice hard, those things are going to come. 1:02:52 Besides Michael, so is everyone healthy? 1:02:54 Yeah. 1:02:54 I mean, AJ is still out this weekend. 1:02:56 He's skating a little bit, but he's not in a position to play yet. 1:02:59 Other than that, everybody's in good shape and healthy. 1:03:01 How have you seen the progression of Shearhorn so far? 1:03:05 Well, he was pretty good early, I mean, right from the get go, so he's been pretty consistent in that part of it. 1:03:12 But you start to see some of the fundamentals of his game. 1:03:15 And when Justin's working with him, I think that's a big thing that you start to see. 1:03:20 When he's playing well, he's fundamentally solid. 1:03:23 When you're not on top of your game, then some of those fundamentals could leave you. 1:03:28 And that's true for goalie or any position. 1:03:32 And so we want to stay on him with that. 1:03:35 But he's been pretty consistent all season long. 1:03:38 Most nights he's given us a chance to play. 1:03:39 He's had one or two outings maybe that weren't his best. 1:03:42 But everybody has that. 1:03:44 We all do. 1:03:45 And with the biggest question mark, that was heading into the season, that for the most part, he's done his job. 1:03:51 And we're happy with what he's been able to do all season long, especially basically playing every game. 1:03:56 Tough on him with the bar that Adam Wilcox set for rookie goalies. 1:03:59 I think he had five shutouts this first eight games. 1:04:01 Is that what he did going back? 1:04:02 I know he split the first week or two with him when he came in, but obviously Adam was good. 1:04:08 And I give a lot of credit to Justin Johnson, that since he's come on and been consistently our volunteer coach, that you go back to the last three or four goal tenders that have been our number one guys, whether it's Shearhorn and certainly Wilcox, Kent Patterson before that, Cangus had a good run. 1:04:25 I mean, the guys have been pretty good and consistent during that time frame. 1:04:31 And I mean, you have to have that. 1:04:33 I mean, you get to the end. 1:04:34 And even during the course of the season, because of the way the goal scoring has come down, that one goal becomes more magnified than maybe what it did 15, 20 years ago when the scores were higher. 1:04:46 Don, there was an article that was critical of your program at City Pages that came out today. 1:04:50 I'm wondering if you've seen it and any reaction to it. 1:04:52 I have not seen it. 1:04:54 I had somebody call me on it. 1:04:56 And you know what? 1:04:58 People can go after me. 1:04:59 That's part of the deal. 1:05:00 But I understand. 1:05:03 But I haven't read it. 1:05:04 They went after our players, too. 1:05:06 And that's crossing the boundary for me. 1:05:08 There are some guys that, hey, I'm not an alum. 1:05:12 And they weren't happy I was hired, and I'm not an alum. 1:05:16 Nothing's changed. 1:05:16 I'm not an alum. 1:05:17 And nothing's changed for them. 1:05:18 Because they're not happy I am an alum. 1:05:20 So there's things you can control. 1:05:21 And there's things you can't. 1:05:22 And that's where I'll defend our players. 1:05:25 They all graduate. 1:05:27 Nobody gets in trouble. 1:05:28 They represent the program that we want them to be represented. 1:05:32 And are our players happy we're 500 or by? 1:05:36 No. 1:05:37 But this year we knew we were going to have to grow with this group of players. 1:05:41 And so if they want to go after me, so be it. 1:05:45 Not the first time, nor will it be the last. 1:05:47 But I feel very comfortable with how we conduct ourselves, how we represent our school and the success we've had. 1:05:56 Do you reach out to any of the alumni or do you just let them have their opinion? 1:06:00 No. 1:06:00 There's some alums that have been great. 1:06:01 I mean, there's a reason why we've made, raised over $5 million and we're going to start a locker room renovation. 1:06:07 We've got a group that's been very, very supportive and helped do that. 1:06:12 But there's also a group that five years ago tried to get me fired and told me that I'm not an alum, so they can't support me. 1:06:20 Nothing I can do about that. 1:06:22 Like I said, when I came here and I said, I'm going to be here so long and I want to be a part of the tradition and be able to look up and someday and come back. 1:06:32 Like I said, I feel comfortable with what we've been able to accomplish, the success that we've had. 1:06:37 Is it going to please everybody? 1:06:38 No. 1:06:39 But if you coach here, you've got to understand what you're getting into. 1:06:43 So like I said, I'm fine with it. 1:06:45 People can have their opinion. 1:06:47 I'm comfortable with how we've conducted ourselves and with integrity. 1:06:50 And that's the way as long as I'm doing this, it'll always be run with this program. 1:06:55 But I guess the hard part, I guess there's a lot of anonymous. 1:07:00 It was, and just going after the players is out of bounds for me. 1:07:09 So I'll defend our players all day long. 1:07:10 They're great kids. 1:07:12 With how to handle it, do you address the players with that? 1:07:14 I talked a little briefly about just, hey, I'm proud of you guys, and how you represent our program, and what you do, and how hard you work each and every day. 1:07:22 And so we'll continue to do that. 1:07:26 And you know what? 1:07:28 We'd all like to win the national title every year, but that's not realistic. 1:07:33 Every coach that's ever been here, they've had some years that weren't as good as others, and that's in every sport, and that's just the way it is. 1:07:40 All you can do is go to work, do the best job you can, try to have good kids, and have a good program. 1:07:48 It's just different this day and age too, because you can write a comment, the office story, you can Twitter, you can post something on the internet, and you hear more from the people that want to tear you down than the people that are happy. 1:08:05 And whether it's you're going on a bus tour and people come up to you, hey, love the program, done a great job, the way the program is run. 1:08:13 I mean, they're the ones that aren't popping off in the paper. 1:08:16 So that's just something you have to deal with. 1:08:18 I mean, like I said, it's not the first, whether it's me or Doug or Brad or whoever is coaching, just the way it is. 1:08:27 You just want to, you wish they were supportive though, of the players. 1:08:30 I mean, that's the part that you'd like to see. 1:08:35 But like I said, there's been a great group that have worked really hard in our fundraising. 1:08:39 We couldn't be more excited that April 1st, that this whole area is going to be torn apart and it's all going to be go for hockey. 1:08:45 Long time coming and we're close to have enough money to completely redo the weight room. 1:08:52 That's been our fundraising on campus, but there's been an alumni group that we've met with every month and on a pretty regular basis to help get this done. 1:09:01 There's been a lot of contributions from them. 1:09:03 So, we're happy about that. 1:09:09 It's hard to address anonymous. 1:09:13 Anything else? 1:09:14 Anonymous has always headed in for you. 1:09:16 Anonymous, yeah. 1:09:17 I realize I have too. 1:09:18 Not just anonymous. 1:09:20 Thank you, Coach. 1:09:21 I talked to Eric Vegoe about this and said anything. 1:09:26 Last weekend, you guys were able to execute on Saturday quite a bit. 1:09:29 Did you notice anything different on the ice for you guys? 1:09:33 Yeah, I mean a little bit. 1:09:34 We just stuck with it. 1:09:35 Honestly, if you watch the video a little bit, we played just as well on Friday. 1:09:39 It just happened to me the puck was going in for us on Saturday. 1:09:41 So, just a little bit of execution around the net and we were able to come out with a good outcome. 1:09:47 Coach Lecce has talked about the work ethic has been there, but the execution has been the missing piece. 1:09:50 Is there something different about the scoring chances you generate when you guys score versus when it's just a good scoring chance? 1:09:57 Maybe a little bit. 1:09:58 I don't know. 1:09:59 Maybe you're gripping your stick a little tight when you've been cold. 1:10:01 Probably just playing with a little more confidence. 1:10:05 Like on Saturday, you expected it to go in, which is on Friday. 1:10:10 It was more of like you were kind of hoping it would go in. 1:10:12 So I think that'd be probably the little difference. 1:10:14 But this is just part of the game. 1:10:16 Every hockey player goes through it. 1:10:17 So it was good for us to come out Saturday and bear a few. 1:10:21 What do you guys have to do to put a couple of pass tail to Brant this weekend? 1:10:24 We got to get traffic to the net, obviously a really good goalie. 1:10:27 I think last year we struggled to score five on five a little bit against them. 1:10:30 And so we need to get a lot of traffic to the net with a guy in front to really start beating him from anywhere farther away than a couple feet. 1:10:38 So obviously getting pucks in the net, and we'll probably just have to throw a lot at them. 1:10:43 I don't know if there's going to be many pretty ones this weekend because of the way Michigan State plays, but I think if we get our chances, some will go in for us. 1:10:51 This weekend is your 100th game of Minnesota. 1:10:54 What does that mean to you? 1:10:55 I didn't even know that's wild. 1:10:57 It feels like just a couple of days ago, I was stepping on campus as a freshman. 1:11:01 So yeah, pretty exciting. 1:11:03 And hopefully I got more than 100 left in me. 1:11:07 From the overtime last Friday to the big win on Saturday, last week on Penn State, how much of that was a mental recovery for you guys? 1:11:15 How down were you and what did you need to do to keep your spirits up? 1:11:21 Yeah, it was tough. 1:11:23 It was hard just kind of reflecting on the work we put in the last couple of games in the same outcome. 1:11:28 Just the way we were losing games, it's kind of just been the most crazy year as far as losing late games and overtime games for a team like us. 1:11:35 But we've been resilient all year. 1:11:37 I don't think we've ever came back and gave a poor effort after a tough loss or anything like that. 1:11:41 So it was really good mentally to have the success we did on Saturday night after being so down on Friday. 1:11:48 And just showing that resiliency builds confidence and camaraderie around the room. 1:11:53 Do you have much to say to them? 1:11:55 Did you have a captain's message? 1:11:57 Probably a little bit. 1:11:58 It's just teams have been through this before. 1:12:02 You look at our team last year, we won a couple of championships last year, and I think there was a stretch where we were two and six or something. 1:12:10 So teams go through this stuff, and just to stick with it, and try to keep the confidence you have going is difficult, but it's vital for the success. 1:12:21 New look Gophers? 1:12:22 Yeah, new Gophers. 1:12:23 We're going to be feeling good this weekend, and obviously, this is probably as confidence of a time we've had all year. 1:12:31 City Pages put out a piece this morning, critical of your coach and the program as captain. 1:12:36 Do you respond to that at all or get any fire from that? 1:12:40 I'm going to have to go with a no comment on this one, but we'll see how things go from here. 1:12:50 Hildebrandt's given you some trouble in the past. 1:12:52 What's the plan to figure him out this weekend? 1:12:55 I think we just got to get shots in the net and get bodies in the net. 1:12:58 I think if we got a big body in front of the net, that it's going to be hard to see for him. 1:13:02 So I think we just got to get pucks and bodies in the net. 1:13:06 Defense league guys were successful in shutting down a high offense Penn State team both nights. 1:13:11 What were your points of emphasis? 1:13:13 We just got to play it early. 1:13:16 We got to play a really tough D against good teams like that that get a lot of shots on net. 1:13:21 I think we did that. 1:13:22 We did a pretty solid job both days. 1:13:24 How are you able to carry that over to this weekend's series? 1:13:28 We sort of got a little confidence in our squad, so I think that's huge for us. 1:13:33 I think that the confidence aspect of the game is really coming along pretty well, and I think that's big for us going against Michigan State. 1:13:41 You haven't had a conference home game in a bottom hole. 1:13:43 Does it feel good just to be in this rink and have somebody come visit you for a change? 1:13:46 Yeah, yeah, it's definitely fun playing in this atmosphere, so I think it will be fun. 1:13:51 I know the coaches have been stressing for the Forrest to win some of the puck battles in the D zone. 1:13:55 Have you sensed an improvement in that area? 1:13:57 Oh, yeah, absolutely. 1:13:57 The first guy back is always a key guy that we need in our play, and I think that the centers have been doing a really good job of supporting us, and I think that's really helped us in getting out of the zone. 1:14:09 Communication gone better with Shearhorn to goalie? 1:14:11 I know it was obviously new to begin the year, but how has that progressed? 1:14:15 Yeah, it's been good, sort of like at Wilcox now. 1:14:18 We don't really have to communicate much. 1:14:20 He really sees the play, and he always makes pretty good plays. 1:14:25 El Deitz came out and helped you guys with the quick turnaround last weekend. 1:14:28 Is there anything out of that night and preparation that you can carry over to a regular series? 1:14:33 Yeah, I know we always do our cool downs with him, and he knows his stuff, so I think that if we listen to him, we'll be a pretty good recovery into the next day. 1:14:42 Did you notice anything different that he was having you guys do, or is this kind of the usual thing? 1:14:46 No, it's been the usual thing. 1:14:47 I think that just having that quick turnaround, we just had to really do a real good cool down, and I think that really helped us in the next day. 1:14:56 I have one more. 1:14:57 You have to go. 1:15:01 Working with Bischoff, how's that gelled for you this year, and some of the reasons why it's working so well. 1:15:09 Is it working so well? 1:15:10 Yeah, definitely. 1:15:11 It's always my roommate, too, so it's nice to have that sort of bond in our relationship, so it's been nice being able to play with him finally. 1:15:20 Some keys to what has settled the defense now from the beginning of the year to now, what do you think some of those have been? 1:15:25 I think just playing with each other, getting to know how they play and playing with them, and I think that's huge for us, just playing with each other. 1:15:34 It's really come along pretty far. 1:15:36 Can you give us an example of what that familiarity translates to on the ice? 1:15:40 I mean, just communication. 1:15:41 I mean, I always hear him on the ice whenever he talks. 1:15:46 I can just throw the puck back there. 1:15:48 I know it will be open, so I think communication is the biggest part. 1:15:53 All good? 1:15:54 Thanks for having us. 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