0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source to throw back Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Welcome to The GPL Podcast. 0:43 Had a positive weekend this past weekend. 0:46 After all the controversy last week, the boys kind of stepped it up and swept Michigan State. 0:53 It's a good thing. 0:54 Don't you think, Hammeh? 0:57 Yeah, well, they definitely needed it. 1:00 We've been talking, you know, that they've been kind of inconsistent. 1:02 So it's kind of nice that they pulled two off this last weekend and we needed a sweep and hopefully they can keep the momentum going. 1:12 Good game Friday night went up and then they, you know, it must have been a 4-1, 5-0, something like that, let in a couple of goals. 1:18 I went in rub mode that night, Veegs. 1:20 But then Saturday, a little different story, quite a bit less offense and they needed a third period rally to finish off the Spartans. 1:30 Yeah, I thought they came out and played a pretty decent first period. 1:34 But the one thing was they were just on the perimeter way too much. 1:37 And they were content with taking their opportunities from out wide. 1:41 And Hildebrandt looked sharp on Saturday. 1:44 He wasn't giving up any rebounds. 1:45 They weren't getting any second chances. 1:47 And when a goalie is playing that sharp, you have to take it to the net a little bit more. 1:52 And the second period, they were completely flat. 1:55 And they came out on the third and Cluse got that goal on the first shift. 1:59 And they rallied from there and finally held on at the end, even though the other team pulled their goalie. 2:06 Well, he's good to see. 2:07 Oh, yeah, it is. 2:08 You know, Veegs, Hildebrandt is an excellent goalie. 2:11 It's too bad, you know, he's got so much crap in front of him, because it doesn't seem like he really deserves a fate. 2:21 No, especially that game on Friday. 2:22 I mean, he just didn't have a chance in that one. 2:24 There were so many goals where he didn't have an opportunity to even make the save. 2:28 So Saturday was a different story. 2:30 I think he was trying to will them to a point or something. 2:34 But I was impressed the way Minnesota stuck with their game. 2:38 They didn't press and give away the game. 2:40 You see that sometimes with a team when they're struggling to score. 2:44 Guys start taking bad chances and cost their team even a chance at winning the game. 2:49 So it was nice to see them pull that out even though they weren't playing their best. 2:54 You probably spoke with Conner Reilly after the game. 2:57 He probably felt pretty good, didn't he? 2:59 I think the word would be relieved. 3:04 If there's anyone who should be breaking sticks, it should be him and not Vinny Leterri. 3:09 I mean, Conner Reilly has just had the hardest time getting good quality scoring chances. 3:15 He's just been putting the puck towards the net on the power plays. 3:19 He's just struggled getting the one timers off. 3:22 So you just see the pressure build and build and build. 3:25 He looked relieved after the game and he was happy to be talking to the media for once. 3:29 And he said afterwards, I hope to see you again in the upcoming weekends. 3:34 So hopefully he's got this weight off his back and now he can start putting pucks on that and they'll go in for him. 3:40 Well, you know, Hamme, we've talked about Conner, about him stepping up. 3:44 You know, he was he was kind of the star of the team early in the season last year before he got injured. 3:49 And now he's just trying to look to get back. 3:52 And Lucia said that they need his upperclassmen to score. 3:56 And hopefully, he's kind of gotten off the schneid here. 4:00 Well, yeah, you got to hope that. 4:01 I mean, I just think that, you know, I've and I said this in prior podcasts that I don't know if just the knee injuries, you know, have finally taken their toll there. 4:11 Or, you know, I don't know what that has been for him. 4:15 But it's like he obviously just hasn't clicked like he did kind of for a decent chunk of last year where he was scoring a lot of goals, especially on a power play. 4:23 And he just, you know, hope you kind of hope that something like this can ignite him. 4:28 But you really kind of like the team itself. 4:30 You're kind of waiting to see guys like that show some consistency before you kind of jump on the bandwagon. 4:37 Well, he was definitely talking about how the season he's been pressing to score goals. 4:42 And that's cost him a couple of times during the season where he's not won the one on one battles. 4:48 He's missed some de-zone coverage. 4:50 I think it has affected his overall game. 4:53 And when you start just looking to score goals and forget about the rest of the game, it's tough for you to even get enough opportunities to score goals. 5:01 So hopefully, this will get them to stay engaged all over the rink and they'll go in for them now. 5:08 Veegs, is the Vinny LaTerry broken stick count now up to six? 5:13 I swear he broke another one this weekend. 5:15 I thought we were at 11. 5:18 Is it really that high? 5:19 Yeah, he's almost gone through a gross of sticks. 5:21 I thought he was only five or six. 5:24 No. 5:26 Well, you know, what is the deal with that? 5:29 I know he's using a different brand than the rest of the team and that was kind of pointed out to us on purpose, I think, by the SID, but what is the deal? 5:41 Yeah, I don't know. 5:43 He doesn't seem like a guy who would put so much flex into a stick that he'd break them. 5:48 I do know that sometimes centers, if they're in a lot of draws where there's a lot of stick battles, you know, the area around the hosel at the bottom gets a little worn down sometimes from all those draws. 6:00 So maybe, you know, his sticks just get dinged up there and then he just flexes them just right, because, man, he goes through more sticks than anybody. 6:08 Time for a Christian Brothers, our old Shearwood Wood. 6:11 I think he needs like one of those old Easton Aluminums, you know, like the silver ones. 6:16 Yeah, yeah. 6:16 Every draw, you'll just hear the ping as they whack at it. 6:20 No way, man. 6:22 You got to go with the white Canadian sticks, like Cicerelli used in the 80s. 6:26 No, just a big piece of steel out there. 6:28 That's what he needs. 6:29 Lumber, guys. 6:30 Got to go wood. 6:31 Exactly. 6:33 I mean, yeah, I know wood sticks break just as easily, but boy, in at least in my use and I don't know about your use, Bigs, it seems like wood sticks kind of give you a little more warning of when they're going to break. 6:49 You can kind of sense it. 6:50 You're like, you feel a little weakness and you're like, yeah, I could keep using this. 6:54 Yeah, I think the thing is with the graphites, if you get like a little nick in them in the wrong spot, that makes them break, you know. 7:02 And you're just not going to know it. 7:03 You just don't get that kind of warning like you would with a wood stick. 7:06 Yeah, well, you know, he's got to pay more attention and take a look at the stick maybe and, you know, see if there's any nicks and scratches down there that are causing it. 7:14 But man, he just goes through a ton. 7:16 So hopefully Bauer starts trying to get him on board here this season. 7:21 What kind of stick is he using? 7:22 CCM or something like that? 7:24 CCM, Canadian Cycle Motorsport. 7:27 There you go. 7:28 Even Lucia joked last week that he was going to have to give a call to the manufacturer to get some more durable sticks in his hands. 7:37 So we'll see. 7:37 It's something to watch. 7:38 Well, all in all, it was a good weekend though. 7:42 We probably wanted more goals, Gordon, whatnot. 7:44 But as Lucia always says, if you sweep at home, it's good no matter what. 7:51 So that's how I feel. 7:53 And I'm guessing Lucia probably felt the same. 7:55 I mean, he kind of had a rough week last week, guys. 8:00 Well, I don't think eight goals is literally that bad. 8:03 I mean, it's a pretty good weekend. 8:04 You know what I mean? 8:05 But Michigan State's not a good team either. 8:08 Right. 8:09 But I mean, I think that Hildebrand's certainly a better goalie than what his stats show, certainly. 8:15 And you know what I mean? 8:17 And I just think that you can't complain too much about putting that many goals on the board, even if they're not necessarily a great team. 8:24 It's like you still have to feel, considering what we've been doing for a lot of the season, it's still a pretty nice sign. 8:31 Were you going to say something there, Veegs? 8:33 Yeah, I think the one concerning thing coming out of this is that the power play has struggled. 8:38 The last three weekends, though, I think they've got 16 in a row where they haven't scored. 8:43 So that's definitely a concern. 8:44 And Lucia knows that. 8:46 He's been looking for guys on the flanks, you know, where Conner Reilly has been this season and wondering, is that the right fit for this year's team? 8:54 Because usually you look at a Lucia power play and those one timers from the circles, you know, you're Ryan Patolny, you're Bukstad, you know, those are the kind of guys you want there. 9:05 You can one time the puck and create second opportunities or score right off the shot. 9:09 So when that's not clicking for this team, you know, they've had to do other things. 9:14 You know, they've been going down to to fashion down on the goal line. 9:17 They've been just trying to get shots from the middle of the ice from Bischoff and Brudzinski. 9:22 So for this team to win these close games, they need power play goals. 9:27 Well, not only that, but you know, maybe it's not always that pretty goal from the circle there, that one-timer. 9:34 You know, sometimes you gotta get some greasy goals on the power play. 9:37 Just get it on that and get the rebound. 9:45 You were saying, go ahead. 9:46 Well, I was just saying, exactly, they need to get those pucks on that. 9:49 It feels like, you know, you got guys like Conner Reilly who are trying to just hammer it in the upper corner, and then you got guys like Camerada and Bristedt who aren't looking to one-time the puck as much. 10:00 You know, they're trying to catch it and make a play. 10:03 So, they've got to kind of figure out what's their special sauce this year, because it's evident they don't have a guy on those off wings who can hammer the puck. 10:11 Yeah, over 16 is not good. 10:13 I mean, it was a good thing that their five-on-five scoring has been good. 10:17 You know, in the past, we've seen, you know, Lucia says, oh, we got a good power play, but we need more five-on-five scoring. 10:23 I mean, it seems like the five-on-five is doing pretty good. 10:25 Now, the power play needs to kick it up just a little. 10:28 I mean, a goal again would be nice, at least, but this over stuff is just not really good. 10:34 Yeah, it seemed after the St. 10:35 Cloud series, they picked it up, and they were moving the puck a little bit quicker and getting those chances around the net. 10:40 But the last couple of weekends, it's just been a little more methodical. 10:44 The puck's been slower to move around, and they just haven't been able to get the one-timers. 10:49 Well, we mentioned, Hamme, that this past week was a rough week for Lucia. 10:54 You know, he talked a little bit at Media Day last week that he hadn't read the City Pages article, and he did go on Beyond the Pond on KFAN Saturday morning, said he still hadn't read the article. 11:08 But I don't know if you heard it, Hamme, but I thought Lucia had a lot of good things to say. 11:15 About the whole situation. 11:18 Yeah, I mean, I did listen to that interview. 11:20 I heard it live and I also listened to it again after you posted that link on Twitter. 11:24 And, you know, I thought that he really came across real well in that particular interview. 11:30 I think that he made a lot of sense and certainly cleared up some of the things, for instance, about the whole fundraising thing for Notre Dame. 11:37 And I think that, you know, made a lot of sense for him to see how another school is doing things so he can, in his own right. 11:44 Because I don't know that, you know, in the past, he was real heavily involved in fundraising, at least in that sense. 11:49 And so, you know, educating yourself on how other places are doing it, and here's a prime opportunity for him since he's an alum of that school. 11:57 I, you know, that made a lot of sense to me. 11:58 And the way that, you know, to me, really, at the end of the day, the thing that, as this last week has gone by, the thing that I have taken away from it is that some of those alums that have been, and, you know, it's not that Lucia is, I mean, he can be criticized, and there's certainly things that he needs to do better, in my mind even. 12:18 But the alums that were specifically mentioned, or even the ones that were, you know, anonymous, they came across to me as very poorly, and especially with regard to, you know, whether you're gonna support a coach just because he's, you know, he played at your institution or went to school there as opposed to somewhere else. 12:36 To me, that's ridiculous. 12:38 I mentioned last week about BADger Bob or Dean Blaze and, you know, their impact on other institutions despite the fact that they played at the U of M in college. 12:47 It's like their fans don't give a damn about that crap. 12:49 And to me, from an alum standpoint, I just care about the program. 12:54 I don't give a shit about who is the head coach as long as he's putting a good team on the ice and winning and, you know, the guys are graduating and, you know, we're putting players in the NHL, all that kind of stuff. 13:06 It's like, that's to me what matters. 13:07 I don't give a damn about, you know, who the, you know, where that coach comes from. 13:12 And Nanny was on Barrero yesterday and he even said, if we happen to, you know, replace Lucia, a lot of the candidates that are going to be looked at are going to be non-alums. 13:23 So it's kind of like get the hell over it for some of these people and move on and just support the program. 13:27 That's what's important is the program itself, not the hell, you know, who the hell is behind the bench. 13:32 The program is what matters, so support that. 13:35 Well, like you said, I was impressed with how Lucia came off in that interview on KFAN. 13:41 For one thing, you know, that CityPage's article was very one-sided, obviously, but in that specific instance, when they were talking about, you know, they had a recruiting party for Notre Dame, we heard nothing about the other side of the story. 13:55 I mean, when you just hear one side like that, it's like, well, that kind of sounds crappy. 13:59 Why would you do that? 14:00 Well, when you hear Lucia's side, it's like, you know, I'm trying to educate myself. 14:05 And then the following year, we had a Minnesota one and invited those same, you know, alumni and they didn't want anything to do with it. 14:11 So, like you said, there are some alumni out there that are just way too bitter and they need to get over it. 14:18 Well, and the other thing for me is that, I mean, that to me, it comes down to the writer doing a poor job of trying to paint, you know, a well-rounded perspective in that article. 14:29 To me, when a coach, I mean, he did apparently talk to Lucia, but he didn't ask him anything apparently about the fundraiser and give Lucia a chance to clarify all of that like he did on Kayfan. 14:42 And it's like, you know, if he had the opportunity to respond to some of those things and clarify them, that article would have been a hell of a lot different, but it just comes across as a hatchet job with an agenda. 14:55 And to me, that's where this writer really failed miserably in trying to paint the situation in a well-rounded light. 15:02 To me, that's where journalism really fails, is when you got guys that aren't really doing a good job about research thing and being fair on a well-rounded basis. 15:15 Veegs, you got any thoughts on this? 15:18 No, I just think the city- 15:19 Did you get a chance to hear Lucia on Kayfan? 15:23 Well, I thought he was great on Kayfan. 15:25 I think Lucia should be on that show every other week, if that's the way he's going to present himself. 15:30 Because I think he did more goodwill generation with that appearance than he probably has in the last couple of years. 15:38 That's a fair criticism too, because he is not out there putting himself out there very much. 15:45 No, but I think the role of a head coach at a program like Minnesota is being an ambassador. 15:51 I think so many times you get these people in these high-profile coaching positions and they can't handle it. 15:57 They may know a lot about the game, they may have a good idea about developing a program. 16:02 But once you get into this situation where there's so much money and so many people who want to have an influence or think they should have an influence, that's part of your job. 16:11 You're almost a CEO slash head coach. 16:15 I think 10 years ago, Lucia would not have been able to handle this kind of week. 16:20 But I think this year, he's handled himself very well. 16:24 Well, to me, the thing that I liked as much as anything is he came across as more of a person, a more human in a sense. 16:33 Yes. 16:34 You know what I'm saying? 16:35 It's not like he's, I mean, we all know he's human and everything and has feelings. 16:38 But he's always been the kind of guy that kind of came across as like, I don't want to say cold, but it was just more like, I don't give a crap. 16:46 Very standoffish. 16:47 Yeah, you know what I mean? 16:48 And it's like, when he got attacked, he showed to me some passion and some humanity and wanting to talk about the players graduating and being good kids and all that. 17:01 And also himself saying, hey, I'm trying to do things. 17:06 I'm trying to work with people. 17:08 And some of these guys, they just don't want to accept me no matter what the hell I do. 17:12 And I can't, I mean, to me, he came across as more likeable. 17:16 And a lot of times he does. 17:18 And so that's the one thing that I really liked about that. 17:22 I mean, I don't know what's going to happen with the future. 17:24 We saw with the Star Tribune article today, and we know his contract situation. 17:29 We don't know who the AD is going to be. 17:31 So there's things that are up in the air. 17:33 But the thing that I really liked about what I saw, especially in that K-Fan interview, is he just came across as more of a regular person and kind of a normal perspective. 17:44 So I really liked that. 17:46 Well, I can't agree with you more. 17:49 He actually showed some personality, seemed very likable and that's some of the things that we've talked about over the last, ever since we started the podcast. 17:58 He's always seemed very cold and not very personable. 18:02 But what he did on K-Fan showed some of that. 18:05 I'm glad we're starting to see some of that because that helps. 18:10 That helps with the alumni, it helps with us fans, people following the team. 18:13 When you start to see this guy as more of a person instead of a position, you want to support him more. 18:21 Well, I agree. 18:22 I mean, the more likable, I mean, I know it's not his job to be liked by everybody or whatever. 18:27 And frankly, I don't care who's in that job at the U of M. 18:32 You're always going to have a segment of fans that are going to be whining about something. 18:37 So I get why a guy in that role, especially as long as he's been there, might kind of build up a little bit of that wall and not wanting to really listen to some of the stuff from the outside. 18:48 But I do like the fact that he kind of came across as a little bit more of a regular guy. 18:53 And I don't think as fans, when you're not dealing with somebody on a personal level all the time, you don't really get that enough from him at times. 19:02 I think it was really nice to see. 19:04 I definitely like that. 19:06 And if he could project that a little bit more often, I think that he would probably get a lot more support from the average Joe fan out there as opposed to a guy that maybe seems a little bit off at an ivory tower and kind of untouchable in a sense. 19:23 All right. 19:24 We've got a few questions talking about several different things. 19:30 Tim Hapke, he loves to ask those questions. 19:32 He's wondering, is Norman projected to be a top six forward, or will he be more of a role player? 19:37 I know he is young, will he develop like Boyd? 19:41 Any thoughts on that, Veegs? 19:44 Well, I think the one thing with Norman coming into the program this year is the coaches thought he was a little overweight. 19:50 And so I think they are looking for him to make big gains and that strength and kind of that weight to speed ratio. 19:59 And once he gets that, I think he's going to be a little bit better. 20:02 You'll notice the last two weekends that fourth line, All Freshmen has been playing a lot more. 20:09 And I think that's because, you know, they're being able to handle that role and handle the puck and make good decisions. 20:14 So I think this is a great experience for him to kind of learn on the job. 20:18 And hopefully he develops because he was definitely brought in as an offensive talent. 20:22 I think he was one of the big scorers at Shattuck. 20:25 Hammy, any thoughts on Norman? 20:28 Well, I mean, I don't know that I see him as a top six type of a guy. 20:31 I mean, I think that, you know, he'll play a valuable role. 20:35 And, you know, he might sneak in that second to third line kind of a role. 20:38 I don't really see him as a guy moving forward, especially with what they have for players coming in in the next few recruiting classes. 20:46 I don't know that I would project him quite that high. 20:48 But I do think that he's going to be of value. 20:51 You know, I think it's kind of a shame. 20:53 I think a lot of people and I'm amongst them. 20:56 We would have liked to have seen them in the USHL this year, just to give him a little additional time to work on some things. 21:02 But, you know, it's kind of water under the bridge. 21:04 So, you just kind of hope that this next off season, he works real hard, gets in the right shape, you know, improves his game and maybe he'll surprise. 21:12 But as of right now, I think I'd be a little surprised if he was kind of a top six type of a scoring guy. 21:20 Matt Roberts wants to know, I think Ryan Collins has been the most obvious inconsistent D-Man all year. 21:27 He's wondering about your guys' thoughts on that. 21:29 Obviously, Collins has been in and out of the lineup and wasn't in Friday, probably due to illness. 21:35 We're not quite sure. 21:36 But he was back in on Saturday, Veegs. 21:39 What did you think about his performance Saturday? 21:42 Well, I thought he was better on Saturday. 21:44 I think he played one of his better games. 21:46 I think what got him out of the lineup on the previous weekend is just making too many turnovers. 21:51 And he's a guy that's good in his defensive zone and needs to focus on separating guys from the puck and making a first simple pass. 21:59 You know, when he starts trying to skate the puck or do something a little bit more fancy, he's going to get himself into trouble. 22:05 And I think he was doing that after getting cut from the World Juniors. 22:11 I think he was trying to make a point. 22:13 So I think, you know, moving forward, if he can do that, he'll be okay. 22:19 Any thoughts on him, Hammy? 22:22 He's kind of the whipping boy this year. 22:25 Yeah, he's for me kind of been a disappointment this year. 22:27 I really, I mean, you know, he played, I thought, you know, rather solid last year. 22:31 I thought he made some good strides. 22:33 And so I really kind of thought he'd be coming into this season and be more of a reliable, steady guy that would, you know, you could really count on, especially from a defensive standpoint, because he's never going to be a guy that's going to be running a power play or anything along those lines. 22:46 And to me, you know, a guy in that kind of a role where you kind of know what your limitations are, it, I think it makes it easier on you because you're not, you usually don't try to do too much because you're like, okay, I know I'm not the, you know, the Mike Reilly type that's going to be rushing to puck up ice and trying to create scoring opportunities. 23:05 That my job is to basically play the defensive side of the rink and be solid and make that good outlet pass and maybe contribute a little bit here or there on the offensive end. 23:14 But for the most part, that's my role. 23:16 And usually those are the guys that you feel like, hey, you know, you can count on them because they know what they have to do. 23:21 But he just hasn't been consistent enough this year. 23:24 And that's been kind of a disappointment. 23:26 Well, we'll see if he can, you know, if he, I'm guessing Lucia will pull him pretty quick again if he has another, you know, minus night. 23:34 I mean, we'll have to see. 23:35 I mean, he's got that young whippersnapper right below him, ready to take his spot. 23:40 And he's looked pretty good, Veegs. 23:43 Yeah, Sadick's doing okay. 23:45 I think the one thing that he can get into trouble with is if he gets engaged physically with guys. 23:50 He's another guy who would have benefited from another year of development, the USHL. 23:56 So, he's also got to watch where he puts himself on the ice. 24:00 And one thing I've noticed in Sadick, though, is that he's a little bit better decision maker on that first pass. 24:06 At least better than Collins. 24:08 It just appears that way. 24:09 Maybe he hasn't been pressured enough yet, but that's kind of my observation. 24:14 Well, he's got a little bit more skill, I think, than Collins. 24:17 But I think he's still learning the speed of the game. 24:20 I think earlier in the season, he played a game where he struggled with that, making a good, smart pass. 24:25 It takes a while to get that timing of the D1 hockey. 24:30 All right, boys. 24:32 It's Badger Week. 24:33 Heading to the Cole Center. 24:36 The Badgers have been fairly, they're still bad. 24:40 Sorry. 24:41 That's just the way it is. 24:43 But before we talk about the Badgers this week, let's hear a word from our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 24:50 Vintage Minnesota Hockey wants you to take a step back in time and keep the memories of Minnesota Hockey heritage alive forever. 24:58 vintagemnhockey.com features history from around the entire state of Minnesota. 25:03 One feature that I enjoy on a daily basis is the This Day in Minnesota Hockey history that is on their website. 25:09 They have tons of info on what's happening on any particular day in Minnesota hockey history. 25:15 One thing as a listener that you may be interested in is the store at Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 25:21 They offer all kinds of custom throwbacks from Minnesota hockey and local college teams. 25:26 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. 25:37 So visit Vintage Minnesota Hockey at vintagemnhockey.com. 25:42 Following the Twitter of Vintage this week, it looks like they're getting close to having those new gold jerseys. 25:49 These are ready for you to order. 25:51 So with the nice little Minnesota logo on the collar, it's kind of a wait and see thing, but it's looking like it might become a reality in the next couple of weeks there. 26:02 So keep your fingers crossed because that's a fine looking jersey. 26:07 Here we go guys. 26:08 BADgers, take that you stinking BADgers. 26:11 RIP Glenn, we still love you. 26:15 Obviously playing better than they did last year, Hammy, but the BADgers are still fairly bad. 26:21 Yeah, I mean, I was just noticing that they almost have already scored as many goals as they did all last season, 35 games, which goes to show you how bad they were last year. 26:31 Yes, but they're not that bad. 26:34 Yeah, I mean, they're definitely, I mean, I guess, I mean, if we're going to be honest, there wasn't a hell of a lot anywhere they could go but up after last year. 26:42 So, but I mean, yeah, they are playing better. 26:44 I mean, they really haven't had any impressive, I mean, they had the one victory against North Dakota. 26:51 That's probably their one impressive, you know, win of the year. 26:55 And, you know, they won two games over Arizona State and one against Michigan State. 26:59 So not exactly a murderer's row there of great wins. 27:02 I mean, so other than that one North Dakota win, they really haven't done a hell of a lot. 27:06 And so, you know, it is a road series. 27:09 So you kind of say to yourself, you know, and especially in a rivalry series like this, you want to at least get one win out of it on the road. 27:18 So hopefully that we can accomplish at least that much. 27:22 Thoughts, Veegs? 27:23 Heading to the Cole Center. 27:25 Well, I think one thing about this Wisconsin team is Bessie has had a lot of good luck against Minnesota. 27:31 I think he's he's been pretty dangerous against the Gophers. 27:34 So that's always going to be a concern for me, because this year's Gopher team hasn't over the entire season been a high scoring team. 27:42 So, I expect both these games to be low scoring, especially the way Wisconsin plays. 27:47 So, the Gophers are going to need to get their power play going, and I think they're going to need to focus on Bessie. 27:53 I would expect to see the Novak, Fashtey and Bristedt line out against Bessie as much as possible, because that line does a really good job of controlling the play in the offensive zone and keeping whoever they're playing against out of the Gopher end. 28:10 So I'm not convinced it's going to be low scoring. 28:12 I mean, you look at Wisconsin, they don't have great goaltending this year. 28:17 Defensively, they're not great. 28:18 They're almost giving up three and a half goals a game. 28:21 I mean, they might be a little bit more improved offensively. 28:23 But defensively, I wouldn't say that they're particularly strong. 28:27 So if the Gophers can do a good job in their own end of the rink, I really like their chances to come out with some good points this weekend. 28:37 But we'll see. 28:38 I mean, like I said, it's a rivalry series and you never know what's going to happen on those kinds of series. 28:44 Well, the BADgers, obviously, they're not as good or not as bad as they were last year. 28:49 Bessie is kind of their shining star right now. 28:54 Obviously, if they could have kept Mr. 28:56 Was it Brock Besser? 29:00 Might have been a little different there in Wisconsin this season. 29:02 I mean, obviously, he's been a pretty big impact in North Dakota. 29:05 He probably could have helped out Wisconsin quite a bit this year to kind of turn it around because we may not like it, but we need Wisconsin to turn it around, guys. 29:18 Well, we need all these Big Ten teams in general to kind of start kicking it in. 29:23 I mean, Michigan's been pretty solid since the start of the Big Ten. 29:27 The Gophers have, I mean, this year they're not great, but hopefully, the second half, they'll make some strides. 29:33 But yeah, they made a lot of the other, and Penn State has all been solid, but they're still sometimes, I think, a product of a little bit of their schedule. 29:40 So I mean, but we need to see some of these other teams, especially Wisconsin, because historically speaking, they've been a pretty successful program. 29:50 Maybe not so much recently, EES has been a lot more inconsistent. 29:56 But historically speaking, they're definitely a team that the Big Ten is going to need to be successful on the whole as a conference. 30:03 Well, right now we've got the Gophers in first place, or tie for first place with Michigan, with Penn State only three points back, guys. 30:12 Obviously Penn State's got two games in hand. 30:15 So right now, kind of Penn State, if they keep playing well, they're kind of in their own driver's seat. 30:23 I mean, if they keep playing well, I mean, obviously they're going to face a Michigan team that's going to be down a couple of guys due to some fighting that we saw. 30:32 So when they face Michigan coming up soon, it might be a little bit easier for them, but really it's just a three team race right now, Hammy. 30:42 Well, and you know, Penn State has not even played one away game in conference yet. 30:47 So I mean, that certainly is going to help the conference record when you've played your first six in conference at home. 30:53 So we'll see how they do on the road. 30:55 They haven't been particularly strong, I think, over time on the road. 31:01 So we'll see how that goes. 31:03 But I think that it's going to essentially, you know, Michigan, it's hard to pick against them, given the offensive numbers that they're putting up. 31:11 I think it's really going to come down to how do the Gophers play when they visit Mariachi, you know, whenever that is. 31:18 And I would imagine a few weeks or whatever it is. 31:20 But, you know, that's really what's going to be an important series for the Gophers if they want to win the league. 31:25 Bottom line, Vegoe, you know, against these teams in the lower part of the division, your Michigan States, Wisconsin, Ohio State, you need to get points because at the end of the year, a point here, two points there, they add up. 31:40 Yeah, it definitely adds up, you know, especially with the way the conference is kind of stratifying out this year. 31:45 You know, Penn State took advantage when they played Michigan State, Wisconsin. 31:49 You know, Minnesota needs to do the same thing. 31:51 And so, you know, if they don't get a sweep here this weekend, I think it impacts being able to keep up with Michigan, especially. 31:58 I think Penn State, they've got a tough road. 32:00 You know, they played all at home. 32:02 They still have four games against Michigan. 32:04 They still have to come to Mariucci. 32:06 They're going to Ohio State this weekend, a team that's playing much better than they did earlier in the season. 32:11 A fast skating team, I think that's something you can say about Penn State, that they're not, you know, they aren't a great skating team, but they generate a lot of shots and look for, you know, mucking up in front of the net. 32:22 So, you know, they're going to be playing teams in the next couple of weekends here that can get up and down the ice. 32:27 So Minnesota needs to, you know, win these two games and hold serve. 32:36 Jupe has his mute button on. 32:37 Sorry, I did it again. 32:39 I know when, I always know when you do that. 32:41 Yeah, it's like, it's like you can hear me, but you can't hear me. 32:46 I know that you're somehow speaking. 32:47 I'm just not hearing it. 32:50 Oh, I know. 32:51 It's just, it's just the way it is. 32:54 Hammy, who's Joey Morrone? 32:59 Oh yeah. 33:01 They look committed this week. 33:03 Looks like a Green Bay Gambler guy. 33:05 What do we know about this kid? 33:07 Well, I mean, he's a local kid. 33:12 He's going to end up probably in one of those depth guys. 33:14 I think that they kind of need it. 33:17 I mean, he's having a solid year in the USHL, but I mean, he's already going to be creeping up on 20 years old, so I mean, some of that's going to be age-related and experience-related and juniors. 33:28 He played at Holy Family back in high school. 33:31 You know, was a pretty successful player there, but not like anything that was superstar material. 33:36 And he's had a, you know, a pretty nondescript junior career, although he's played mostly in the USHL. 33:41 So that's going to be a big, you know, go-to guy in college, unless he's like a real late bloomer that they're expecting big things out of. 33:48 But I don't think that that's really going to be what we're going to get out of him. 33:52 So definitely a role player then, huh? 33:54 Well, you know, I think it's one of those things where maybe he's a guy that buys him a little time to give some of their, you know, high end guys an extra year in a USHL. 34:04 I mean, a guy like, you know, maybe like a Garrett Waite, you know, who hasn't really had the greatest year this year in the USHL. 34:10 I mean, he's only a senior and he probably kind of like Ryan Norman needs that extra year after high school to, you know, kind of grow and mature as a player. 34:20 And you kind of would like to see him get that year. 34:22 So I wouldn't be surprised if this is like a way of doing something like that. 34:27 But it remains to be seen, you know, how he's going to fit in. 34:33 Yeah, it was interesting to see the Central Scouting come out. 34:35 Racini and Wade and Falstrum all kind of fell off the radar there. 34:39 So they're having tough seasons. 34:42 Well, I mean, you know, it was we've seen. 34:45 Too early? 34:46 No, I don't think I think it's really one of those things where, you know, some of it's going to be for some of these guys. 34:52 They're not really because of their size limitations or whatever. 34:55 They're not just really NHL kind of material. 34:59 And I think Lucia and them, you know, several years ago kind of made an active decision to, you know, not necessarily go after just all guys that are probably more of those high end NHL pro prospects, you know, that maybe we ought to find some of these guys that maybe are three, four year college guys that, you know, maybe it can make more of an impact on the college level and not focused as heavily on, you know, some of those other things. 35:24 And so I think that they're, that's probably a part of it for some of these guys. 35:28 I think with a guy like Falstrom, I mean, it's his first year in North America period, playing hockey and getting accustomed to that style. 35:37 And, you know, obviously the cultural differences and all that kind of stuff. 35:41 I mean, that's, that's a challenge. 35:42 And so I think, you know, he's a kid that we won't see for another year anyways. 35:47 So I just think that some of that stuff you kind of have to take with a grain of salt. 35:54 Hammey, the gentleman's agreement, you think it's going to go away? 36:00 Well, I've been saying for a long time, it needs to go away. 36:03 I mean, at the end of the day, I don't blame, I mean, it's really only serves, for the most part, these small school coaches that want to protect their turf when they get a kid that commits early and if he happens to blow up and be, you know, something more special than what he's projected as, you know, they want to ward off all the big names programs, but, you know, at the end of the day, it's not really helping the big schools because they don't tend to lose recruits anyways and frankly, it's not helping the recruits because if you're a kid that verbals, let's say, as a senior in high school and you're gonna be playing two years of junior hockey or whatever and let's say you're first year in junior hockey, you have a great year, well, suddenly there could be schools like the University of Minnesota or Michigan or BC or whoever that would love to talk to you but, hey, you already committed to Colorado College and so if you want to go by the gentleman's agreement, those schools will never talk to that kid so he'll never have a clue that maybe he could get an 80% ride at Michigan or whatever and it's like, if he knew that, I mean, it's not benefiting the recruits, it's only benefiting the coaches and frankly, it's only benefiting a percentage of the coaches and so to me, that needs to go away and it's kind of like Nanny said on the radio yesterday that it's not Don Lucia's job to be kissing other coaches' asses and worrying about taking players away from them and if it's going to hurt their family. 37:32 His job is to win and at the University of Minnesota, put the best team that he can on the ice and if that means you're going to go and try to talk to a kid who's already verbally committed somewhere else, then so be it but it's that's his job is to win, not worry about stepping on a few toes and I agree with that. 37:50 That's how it is in football, that's how it is in basketball and we just need to make that change and I think that's going to head that direction. 37:58 Well, I'm guessing it is going to head that direction but I'm also guessing that Lucia doesn't want to be the guy who breaks it first. 38:07 He's already kind of seen as the evil guy out there and Minnesota, the thousand-pound gorilla so maybe he's kind of hoping someone else does it first so he can do it. 38:18 Well, there are other schools that have already done this. 38:21 It just doesn't get really publicized or it's done kind of through back channels. 38:28 I know of one kid who, the big rumor at the time was that he de-committed from one school and ended up at North Dakota. 38:38 They're the ones that are always saying, oh, we're not going to do that, but it's kind of like where there's smoke, there's fire. 38:43 It's like you might not be able to prove it per se, but it's like when that's the big rumor going on around hockey circles, and it's not just Minnesota circles, but hockey circles in general, it's like whatever. 38:56 I think that a lot of schools do this more than they probably want to admit. 39:01 Nanny talked about it on the radio yesterday that he wanted Lucia to go after Ryan McDonough after he saw him at the state tournament. 39:08 He's like, that kid's going to Wisconsin, and we got to try to make our pitch. 39:14 Lucia was like, well, we have this gentleman's agreement, blah, blah, blah. 39:19 Of course, McDonough had a great career at Wisconsin. 39:22 It sounded like he wanted to go to the U at the time, but we just really couldn't do that. 39:26 But I just think that at the end of the day, you have to worry about your own program. 39:31 Obviously, they did that whole age restriction suggestion, and so they're probably going to go more and more towards, you know, we really don't give a damn if this bothers you or not. 39:42 We're going to try and win for ourselves, and every program is up for themselves. 39:46 You know, small school coaches, they're going to try to push things that are going to be beneficial to them, no different than big school coaches. 39:52 So I think it's sort of standard for the standard operating procedure for all of them. 39:58 Give it a couple years and it's gone, Bigs? 40:01 Yeah, I think so. 40:02 I mean, Lucia's been talking about how this is ruining recruiting. 40:07 It's ruining developmental hockey. 40:10 Having these kids recruit so young is just bad for everybody. 40:13 So if they can find a way to get out of the game and keep kids eligible to be recruited until they sign that NLI, it's going to improve the game for everybody. 40:23 So a lot of these small schools might say that it doesn't seem fair for them. 40:28 Well, it's not fair for the kids. 40:32 Well, exactly. 40:33 It's like I said earlier, you're kind of keeping kids in the dark. 40:37 You know, if they verbally commit somewhere and, you know, they feel like, well, I only have a couple of these options and they're kind of like middle of the wrong programs. 40:45 And then you suddenly blow up a year later and, you know, you have opportunities to play at some great schools, whether it's Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan, wherever. 40:54 It's like you as a player, you would want to know about those things. 40:58 But if you have this sort of gag order put over these other coaches because of this agreement, it's like that's not benefitting you as a player. 41:06 That's just benefitting a certain percentage of the coaches and nobody really likes that. 41:11 So I'd like to see it go away. 41:13 I think it would help. 41:16 You know, kind of, you know, coaches aren't going to be in a race to be offering kids really, really young because they're going to say, well, I can always still offer that kid, you know, as a junior or whenever, as opposed to a sophomore or freshman even. 41:28 I mean, it won't be quite the race that I think it is now. 41:32 And I don't think this will impact Minnesota hockey very much. 41:35 I don't think the Gophers are going to be impacted by this rule as much as maybe some of the other smaller schools. 41:42 But it's definitely better for the kids. 41:43 The other argument is that, you know, kids want to know with major junior if they should go there or if there's going to be a scholarship there. 41:50 And so that's, that's part of this rub. 41:52 I think it all started with Jack Johnson, you know, going to the development camp and being seen by everybody in Michigan saying, hey, you know, we're interested in you. 42:01 And Jack Johnson going, well, yeah, major junior is interested in me too. 42:04 What should I do? 42:06 And so that kind of started this trend too. 42:08 I get that. 42:09 But I also think that's kind of a load of crap. 42:11 I mean, not from, I agree that that's what's sent out there as a message. 42:15 But let's be honest, when you're a Jack Johnson or you're one of these high end kids, you know, Phil Kessel, Zach Parisi, you know, Vannick, whatever great names you want. 42:25 Those guys know that they're going to get high end offers from colleges or whatever. 42:30 To me, it's just sort of like a negotiation tactic, especially for these kids that probably all along know they're going to go in the Canadian juniors. 42:39 It's just that they want to be able to kind of guide who's going to draft them and so on. 42:44 It's like, well, we're not going to play for you. 42:45 I'm going to go play college hockey if you draft me. 42:49 I think a lot of it's a lot of smoke and mirrors to some extent. 42:52 I think it's spewed because some of these people just like that it's an ego thing and whatever. 42:59 I don't necessarily know that it's... 43:01 I know that they say it, but I don't think it's quite as much about, you know, oh yeah, I just want to know if I have an offer for Michigan or Minnesota. 43:09 It's like, dude, you're basically a top 20 player in the country. 43:13 Of course, you're going to have an opportunity at these kinds of schools. 43:18 So I think it is more of an issue for the Michigan kids in the East. 43:22 Well, right. 43:23 I agree. 43:24 With kids jumping. 43:25 Yeah. 43:26 I do agree with you there. 43:27 I mean, I'm not saying it's not universe. 43:29 I'm not saying Minnesota. 43:31 Minnesota is a different animal because kids here, for the most part, they grew up with college hockey. 43:36 I mean, you might find a couple kids here or there each and every year that go to the WHL, but the vast majority of the high-end kids in Minnesota, they're going to end up playing D1 hockey. 43:47 So I mean, I get it's a little bit different here, but I think looking at it from a Gopher perspective, we've had several kids that are committed at 15 or 16. 43:57 And to me, I don't know that any of those kids are really pushing that agenda of, well, I need to get an offer because I don't know if I'm going to play. 44:06 I need to know where I'm going because I don't know if I have to accept a WHL offer. 44:10 It's like that's kind of a load of crap. 44:11 Now for Michigan or Eastern schools, yeah, I think that competition is a little more stiff from the Canadian juniors. 44:17 But I still think that some of that is just song and dance so kids can kind of guide who's going to draft them and all that kind of stuff. 44:24 And I think part of that too is the type of kids Lucia has been going after. 44:28 He's wanted kids who want to play college hockey. 44:31 He hasn't gone after too many of these guys who are thinking they just want to go straight to the pros after he dealt with the Opozo-Kessel era. 44:42 Yeah, well, like I said earlier, I think they made a real kind of strategic adjustment several years ago to kind of go after some of these kids that maybe don't have the ideal size for pro hockey and occludes or some of those kinds of guys that maybe are more suited for a college hockey game that you're going to have for three or four years. 45:05 And not that they might not necessarily make it in the pros, but they're not those guys that are going to be drafted in the first or second round that are likely going to be ending up in the NHL or at least in pro hockey after like two years of college or whatever. 45:23 All right, boys. 45:24 Not that they avoid those guys either, but maybe don't focus on them as quite as much. 45:30 All right, at Wisconsin. 45:33 How many points this weekend, Hammeh? 45:36 Sweep, six. 45:38 You know, only because I just have, I need to see more to feel comfortable with the consistency part. 45:44 I'm going to go with a split this weekend. 45:46 Ooh, bigs. 45:48 Six points. 45:50 Watch that power play to see if anybody changes on the flanks and keep your eye on Justin Kloos. 45:55 He is a very motivated captain right now. 45:58 You can just see it with him. 46:00 Both games, Friday and Saturday, really engaged, really on the puck. 46:05 Well, we'll be back next week to recap this Wisconsin series and preview the North Star Cup against Bemidji and whoever else is in the damn thing. 46:14 Until then, thanks for listening. 46:48 I don't think so. 46:49 We've all been waiting for this. 46:51 We'll see how it shows up on the first Tuesday in October. 46:55 Oh, I know how it works. 46:58 You can give us a serratory quick first, and then we'll go from there. 47:01 Yeah, I know. 47:02 It was pretty good. 47:03 I told Frank, I said, I don't think the bikers are going to be sending you any free tickets soon. 47:07 Oh, sorry. 47:08 Soon. 47:09 That's Frank, though. 47:11 Coach, how do you feel going, you guys won three in a row now, and nothing changes in the atmosphere like winning? 47:17 Well, it's always nice when you win, and the players feel like they're getting a little bit rewarded. 47:21 We've talked about the improvement this group has made throughout the course of the season. 47:25 We don't have a large margin for it. 47:27 We understand that. 47:28 The guys know that, the coaches. 47:31 So when you can put together some wins, it just lightens the mood a little bit. 47:35 It was a good weekend. 47:37 Going back a couple of weeks when we came back, after a difficult loss and overtime, to win on Saturday afternoon, then to come back and sweep Michigan State, somebody who we haven't been able to do that in two years in a league. 47:47 We never been able to beat them twice in a weekend. 47:50 And now it's on to Wisconsin. 47:52 So it's like anything. 47:53 When you win or lose on a weekend, it ends on Sunday, and then Monday, you start to gear back up for the next week. 47:58 At least in terms of just offense, is it just a young team starting to get flags under it? 48:02 Well, some pucks go in. 48:04 Second night, we hadn't scored after two periods, and I'm thinking we're back to the same old. 48:08 But, you know, fortunately, we found a way to get a couple goals on Saturday in the third period to be able to get the win. 48:14 And I think that's probably been the most disappointment, that on the road, we've been pretty consistent, and won half the games. 48:22 But at home, we were under 500 hitting in the weekend, and that ultimately is what has hurt us, some difficult home losses during this first half of the season. 48:31 Before Penn State, you talked about too many guys with a one or a zero next to the goals in their name. 48:35 You've got 15 in the last three. 48:36 Was there some kind of switch you had to flip? 48:40 No, we're still going to be led, just like every team, by your key three or four guys. 48:44 Hudson's picked up his game. 48:45 Obviously, Justin Cluse is starting to score again. 48:48 It was great for Conner to get a goal. 48:50 It's probably been almost a calendar year since his last one with his injury last spring from getting hurt at Wisconsin a year ago. 48:58 We had the one open that goal, and he's a goal scorer. 49:00 He's a streaky goal scorer, and we hope that's going to get him going a little bit right now. 49:05 We had good play from our fourth blue line last weekend. 49:09 They generated a lot of scoring chances, scored a goal, and that line's coming. 49:13 We've still got a couple of guys that we've got to get more involved offensively. 49:17 Our power play wasn't very good the last couple of weeks. 49:20 Penalty kill has been good. 49:21 It's funny how specialty teams, they've kind of gone back and forth. 49:25 When the power play is good, the penalty kill struggled, and then when the penalty has been good, the power play has struggled. 49:30 So we need to make sure we try to win that battle. 49:33 It won't be easy for us to win games unless we're plus on the specialty teams in a given night. 49:37 What's it going to take to get that power play back on track? 49:40 You know, just I think shooting more, getting shots on net, not try to be so fancy, and you still score a lot of power play goals by getting pucks to a goal tender and outnumbering for rebounds. 49:51 We're just going to look at our personnel and how we want to put them in maybe some different spots. 49:57 So it'll be ongoing, but when a couple of guys heat up, that'll obviously help our power play. 50:02 You mentioned on your radio show last night that you might be switching around a couple of people, especially in those flanks positions. 50:07 Is that something you're looking at this weekend practice? 50:08 Yeah, I mean, this will be our first day of practice because with the way that you count your calendar, we end up with Martin Luther King. 50:15 We took off as an official date you have to count. 50:19 So we'll probably get in a little bit more the next two days. 50:22 But even last week, we moved it around. 50:24 We moved it, and it looked horrible in practice. 50:27 And we went back the next two days to what it was, and they looked great. 50:30 But it just didn't happen in the game. 50:33 Do you think, you know, when we talk about WCHA, Big Ten, obviously, do you think rivalries are yet to come, and it takes a lot of years before Michigan and Minnesota have a fervor? 50:43 How do you think that plays out? 50:44 Well, I think Michigan and Minnesota have had a fervor. 50:47 I just go back to, you know, when I played in the WCHA, Michigan, Michigan State, we're in the WCHA. 50:53 You know, and then they dropped out, you know, and then it took a while, I'm sure, from when Dulu started their program, or all of a sudden Northern Michigan comes in to the WCHA, and then they moved the other direction, Alaska comes in to the WCHA, then Mankato, then Bemidji. 51:06 So there's been shuffling of the deck as far as the leagues have been concerned for a number of years, but the difference is now you're in a league with programs that you're not going to have a lot of visiting fans come into the building. 51:19 And it takes time that, you know, when you play, you know, opponents, I go back to, you know, when you talk about Michigan State, I can go back to 1976 when they had that epic series with Michigan State to go to the, I think, the Frozen Four that year. 51:33 I think Donnie Mattson scored an overtime with me in two of a total goal series, and they went on to win the title in 76, and that, I believe, was that month. 51:42 So you had the rivalry then, and now they just have to be rekindled a little bit, and I think you'll see that over time. 51:48 That's it. 51:48 It doesn't happen overnight. 51:49 I'm sorry, is this weekend still red letter date on the schedule? 51:51 Yeah, I think that's obviously with some, one of the holdovers from the previous league is Wisconsin, and like any rivalry, they come and go to a little, the temperature amps up depending upon the year. 52:06 Last year, I think we were 2-0-2, lost two shootouts against them. 52:11 They've had their ups and downs during the course of year, but there's no question their team is better than last year. 52:17 I mean, the shot differentials, their specialty teams, all that, any matrix you look at, they've tied a lot of games and lost a couple close ones. 52:25 So we know it will be difficult going into Wisconsin. 52:28 We just want to continue to play well and keep making step forward. 52:31 They're worth 30s or behind them, you think? 52:32 Yeah, it's like anything. 52:34 I mean, you're going to go through different ups and downs and you start to build it back up, and that's what they're in the process of doing. 52:40 We're about halfway through the Big Ten season so far. 52:43 And you look at the standings, it seems like it's kind of separated into three teams that are going one way and three teams going the other way. 52:49 How good does it feel not to look ahead too far, but you've got Penn State and Michigan both coming into your building later in the year? 52:54 Well, that's what we talked about. 52:56 Penn State's played all six at home. 52:59 Michigan's played a majority of their games at home. 53:01 But, I mean, just like you saw this past weekend with Ohio State, I mean, Ohio State's coming too. 53:05 I mean, since Christmas time, who they've beaten, they could have won both. 53:09 They were ahead in both games against Michigan in the third period and just came, I believe, with a shootout win. 53:16 So I think they're trending. 53:17 Wisconsin's played a majority of their games now on the road. 53:20 So they're going to come back to home games, the Big Ten, the second half. 53:25 And so I think everybody still has that opportunity. 53:27 And I think you will see it tighten up. 53:29 But we felt pretty good at Penn State and at Michigan. 53:33 Being two and two a year ago, we were one and three in those two buildings. 53:36 So now, like we've done in the Big Ten up till now, it's winning at home. 53:40 We've done a pretty good job with that. 53:42 That has to continue here the second half of the season. 53:44 And you got to be able to go out and win on the road too. 53:47 You guys are over 500 for the first time this year. 53:49 How much did you see a shift in confidence in the locker room this weekend? 53:53 Well, it didn't happen till the end of the weekend. 53:54 And I haven't seen you guys till today when I get back on the ice. 53:58 It's just moving forward. 54:00 Just got to try to keep winning games. 54:03 It's still frustrating when you look back in a couple of overtime games that we've lost and where we could be. 54:07 But that's irrelevant. 54:09 You still got to continue to win moving forward. 54:11 We were in a similar situation last year coming about the end of January. 54:14 And we put together a pretty good run in February and finished the year in a pretty good note. 54:20 Now we're kind of lurking in a very similar position, whether it's in the Big Ten or the national picture. 54:27 So we just need to win games. 54:29 It's the bottom line. 54:30 The news out of Las Vegas that's not related to basketball is UNLV is supposedly exploring a Division I program now. 54:36 Do you see more in hockey? 54:39 Las Vegas Review Journal had a big story this week about them exploring. 54:42 I guess I haven't been reading a lot lately. 54:44 Really? 54:45 There's a lot of good stuff out there. 54:47 Anyway, do you see this kind of Western trend as a good thing for college hockey? 54:51 And do you see it expanding? 54:52 Well, you know what? 54:53 Any team that wants to add hockey at the divisional level, I think is a good thing for hockey in general. 54:58 It's more opportunities for coaches, more opportunities for players. 55:02 You know, maybe that would help be a catalyst. 55:04 I know the NHL has talked about Vegas a lot. 55:07 But maybe Arizona State will help get that trend going. 55:10 Hopefully, that'd be great if that were to happen online. 55:14 A little more aggressive bed checks if there's a road series in Vegas. 55:17 I've never been to Vegas, so. 55:18 You're kidding. 55:19 So bed check for you too? 55:23 No, that's probably not my cup of tea. 55:25 I'm pretty boring. 55:27 What did you think about the end of that Ohio State Michigan game? 55:30 I just saw, well, I will say, and Jess has been around a while, probably 20 years ago, it would have been double minors for rucking. 55:37 Yeah, it would have evened it up, definitely. 55:40 You know, I didn't see it all, but I just saw a little trailer on YouTube when he reached over the ref and punched him. 55:45 And I thought it was going to be worse, to be honest. 55:47 I mean, it was a couple of punches. 55:50 I've seen way worse. 55:52 Michael said he was injured a couple of weeks ago. 55:53 What's his status? 55:54 He's going to skate a little bit today, but he won't be available. 55:57 I think that the first time he'll be available the next week. 56:01 Without him, they've had enough freshmen for a fly now. 56:04 What do you see from them, just in that growth? 56:05 I thought they were really good last week. 56:07 And, you know, we made a little adjustment during the game and move in Dromico back to center, Norman DeWing. 56:13 But the three played together, they generated a lot of scoring chances. 56:17 I thought they, just about every shift they played over the course of the weekend, that they played well. 56:22 And, you know, when you go on the, they did that against Penn State as well. 56:25 And so that's a good thing, especially when you go on the road, because you don't have any control of your matchups. 56:30 And they can get some pucks in and they had good offensive riding zone time, which you want to see of that line. 56:36 And now, you know, they're starting to pick up a goal on consecutive weekends. 56:40 And the more they can chip in, it just eases the burden for everybody else. 56:45 But everyone else expected to play this weekend? 56:48 Everybody is eligible to play this weekend. 56:51 I don't know if I'd say they're expected to play. 56:54 You know, so we'll just watch practice. 56:57 We're limited to, we can't take everybody this weekend, so we can take 23 players, three goalies and 20 skaters. 57:03 Don, in the wake of the City Pages story, there have been some former players of yours that have come out pretty publicly and said some good things about the program. 57:09 What kind of feedback have you gotten? 57:10 Well, I've got some nice e-mails even from fans that are so supportive, which is great to see. 57:18 We're in the process of just doing some things with our alumni with the board, and getting a group together on the Penn State weekend and moving forward, because you have to have that for any program. 57:29 I mean, you want to support from your fans, you want to support from your alums, and the ones that want to get involved and be supportive, we want to get those people involved. 57:38 And like I said a week ago that it's exciting in some ways that we've had a group that we're going to break around here soon on this downstairs area in April, and completely redo this downstairs area of Marayuchi, and then we'll be on the weight room and a couple other projects. 57:53 And a lot of our contributed alumni have really contributed both in their efforts and certainly in their dollars, which is greatly appreciated. 58:04 All right? 58:08 How much are you looking forward to going back to Wisconsin, or are you looking forward to going back there? 58:12 Yeah, obviously it's a border battle, and it's a team we like to play. 58:16 I think they're a little better this year, so it's going to be an intense game. 58:19 And whenever you're playing one of your rivals, it's always going to be a great match. 58:22 Does this still mean as much as it has in the past, or has it lost a little bit of its shine? 58:28 I don't think it's lost much of its shine, so to speak. 58:32 Last year, the games weren't as competitive as you would expect, but no matter what, you know they're going to give their best effort, we're going to give our best effort. 58:40 Just with all the history and tradition, two teams that really don't exactly like each other, but they respect each other, so it brings the best side to you. 58:48 Conner, you saw your brother play a little bit at WCHA, and obviously Big Ten, there's been a lot of conversation about the difference in Wisconsin and the national rivalry. 58:56 Do you feel that as a player at all, or is that just the fans that feel it more? 59:02 I would say the fans more. 59:03 I mean, it's kind of interesting to kind of build on these rivalries with Penn State and Ohio State. 59:10 I mean, they're new and they're fresh. 59:12 I think Michigan's in a few years is gonna be a rivalry just as intense as North Dakota Wisconsin, just because they're a great team every year. 59:21 There's been a lot of talk about that, and the fans have been talking about it, but in the interlock room, our players, all we do is we come to the rink, work hard, and try to push each other to get better. 59:31 We can't really worry about who we're playing with. 59:33 Reality is, the Big Ten, it is what it is, and I've actually really enjoyed it, and going to see different campuses and different teams like this. 59:40 So I think it's only helping grow college hockey. 59:42 Conner, a few games ago, your coach was talking about too many guys stuck at one or zero goals on the score sheet. 59:48 You scored 15 in the last three games. 59:49 Where's all the offense coming from? 59:52 I just think it's the whole process right now. 59:54 I think we're working hard. 59:55 We're getting better in practice. 59:56 We're competing hard. 59:57 And we're really executing a lot better than we have. 59:59 A lot of times we'll look good in practice. 1:00:01 We'll score pretty goals in practice. 1:00:02 But now all of a sudden, we're starting to see it in games. 1:00:05 It all comes on to puck support and working together. 1:00:07 Did you guys just need some time to come together? 1:00:08 We talked so much earlier this year about young team, young team. 1:00:10 Is that just a product of it starting to mesh a little bit? 1:00:13 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 1:00:14 You have guys in new roles. 1:00:15 You have multiple freshmen playing every night. 1:00:17 So it's been a certain growing process. 1:00:20 I mean, we've come a very long way just from October, and we're still getting better and improving. 1:00:26 And past years I've been here, we've had veteran guys that have played over 100 games leading the way. 1:00:32 All of a sudden, we got a much younger group, but it doesn't change the expectations that we're expected to win. 1:00:39 What do you think it's going to take to get the power playback on track? 1:00:42 I just think we've got to start delivering more pucks and shooting pucks. 1:00:45 I think we've gotten away from just trying to wait for the perfect pass. 1:00:50 I don't mean Cluess and Brzezinski and on the other units with Bischoff and the guys on the flanks. 1:00:55 You just got to shoot the puck more and create opportunities. 1:00:57 We're not getting enough rebounds. 1:00:59 If we can get a puck through in that fashion and go to work down there, I think they'll certainly help it. 1:01:04 Any extra significance on this series for you? 1:01:06 I know that's where you got her last year. 1:01:09 Yeah, I mean, obviously it crossed my mind a little bit, but I'm past that. 1:01:15 I mean, I rehabbed, I got back to where I needed to be. 1:01:18 It's still a big matchup and a huge weekend. 1:01:20 We're coming into it. 1:01:21 I think we're turning in the right direction. 1:01:22 So I'm not really taking this weekend too personal. 1:01:27 The other day, the best thing that I can do and hope we do is get two wins. 1:01:31 Did you kind of flip a switch that night or day when you got seven goals against Penn State? 1:01:36 I mean, everything came together of no where, kind of. 1:01:38 It looks like you guys haven't really missed a beat since. 1:01:41 Yeah. 1:01:42 We thought we played better Friday. 1:01:43 We just didn't execute when we needed to. 1:01:45 So Saturday we came out. 1:01:47 We rebounded hard after a tough loss Friday and really fought some adversity and came through together when it mattered most. 1:01:53 And it's just been a product of our hard work and nature lately. 1:01:58 So you don't think the private race lost as much as the last couple of years, but does it feel the same in the locker room heading into this matchup as it did maybe two years ago, your freshman year? 1:02:09 Well, two years ago specifically, Wisconsin was like a top five team. 1:02:13 So you kind of had that idea. 1:02:14 Like they had some big time players over there. 1:02:18 But overall, I know we're excited. 1:02:20 Our freshmen get their first taste of a big time rivalry like this. 1:02:24 And we're just making sure that we prepare this week for it, because you know it's going to be intense and the fans are going to be screaming, yelling at you. 1:02:31 So it's definitely going to be a week that we look forward to. 1:02:33 What is different than going to a place like Wisconsin compared to maybe some like the in-state Minnesota schools? 1:02:40 You just feel the dislike from the fans. 1:02:42 And you just tell there's a little more energy in the atmosphere. 1:02:46 There's nothing really specific. 1:02:47 It's just an overall feel. 1:02:49 You mentioned two years ago Wisconsin's top five team may be the same as for you guys. 1:02:54 What's different where Minnesota and Wisconsin aren't in that conversation? 1:02:59 Well, I mean, it's hard to say. 1:03:02 I think we are, right now where we're at, we're 16, 17 in pair-wise and the way we started out, we were just so inexperienced and we hadn't come together yet. 1:03:14 But we've put in so much time and effort and I think we're heading in the right direction at the right time because the reality is no one's going to remember how you started. 1:03:22 They're going to remember how you finished. 1:03:23 I mean, a year ago we started 7-1. 1:03:25 Everyone's telling us how good we are. 1:03:27 We're going to run. 1:03:28 We're 4-8 and 3 after that. 1:03:31 And then we're fighting to get in the turn. 1:03:32 You end up making the turn. 1:03:33 But we had a first-round exit. 1:03:34 So the biggest thing is how you finish. 1:03:37 And I think we need to keep getting better. 1:03:44 Thank you. 1:03:47 Leon, what do you know about Wisconsin? 1:03:48 What do you expect from them? 1:03:51 I expect them to play a hard game, play fast. 1:03:54 And see that rivalry game. 1:03:58 A lot of tradition between the two schools. 1:04:00 We haven't looked into how they play yet or their system and stuff. 1:04:03 We're going to do that later this week. 1:04:06 You guys feel like you're getting your feet under you a little more than maybe you did earlier this season. 1:04:09 Yeah. 1:04:10 You know, it's a process. 1:04:11 We are, as everyone else, we're developing ourselves. 1:04:14 So we're a younger team, so maybe not as experienced as some other teams. 1:04:19 And it takes time. 1:04:21 Every new year is a new journey for people to make. 1:04:25 And sometimes that journey starts right away. 1:04:28 Sometimes you have to work a little bit to get on the train. 1:04:32 Michigan State and Ohio State, both full series where you trail late in the game and you can manage to pull things out. 1:04:39 Is that part of your confidence when you play in this building? 1:04:42 Yeah, I think so. 1:04:43 I think it's just a part of the confidence of our team. 1:04:47 You know, a hardworking team. 1:04:50 A group of guys that loves to win. 1:04:52 Maybe we haven't won a lot yet so far. 1:04:54 But, you know, we play for each other. 1:04:57 We play for the fans. 1:04:58 And, you know, you play to win. 1:04:59 And you never give up. 1:05:00 And that's what we're trying to do. 1:05:02 We play our full six minutes of hockey every day. 1:05:05 Is this weekend still a big weekend series for you guys, Minnesota, Wisconsin? 1:05:10 It's big. 1:05:11 I would say every weekend is big for us right now. 1:05:13 We just got about 500. 1:05:15 And every point for us, it's very important to keep planning, to keep going as a team. 1:05:22 Maybe probably a lot bigger than any other weekends, but we take one game at a time, one weekend at a time, and we're going to make sure we do our best. 1:05:28 Has the Tesla rivalry lost a little bit of its luster with Wisconsin being a little bit more down these last couple of years? 1:05:35 To be honest, I can't really tell. 1:05:36 I've only been here for a year. 1:05:38 I've played them four times. 1:05:40 The game so far has been really good. 1:05:42 We think we've tied them. 1:05:44 So, there's a rivalry and there's a sense of revenge for them, especially our side. 1:05:51 And that's how I feel about it right now. 1:05:54 You guys were attacked from the outside last week. 1:05:56 You respond with a sweep. 1:05:58 How much can that be a rallying point for you guys moving forward? 1:06:02 I don't think our guys or our staff really care that much. 1:06:06 I haven't read it myself. 1:06:09 As a team, you don't care about that stuff. 1:06:11 Of course, it's going to be people criticizing you, but that's a part of it. 1:06:17 We're just trying to get better as a team here. 1:06:18 How important is it then to continue that momentum that you built on last week with a couple sweeps? 1:06:23 It is important. 1:06:24 We haven't won a lot of games in a row here. 1:06:26 We've been winning one, losing one, winning two, losing two. 1:06:29 So it's very important for us to get there and get the confidence, get the streaks in, just continue doing what we're doing. 1:06:36 15 goals in the last three games. 1:06:37 Where's all the offense coming from all of a sudden? 1:06:40 I don't know. 1:06:40 We didn't have a lot of offense in the beginning of the year, so maybe that we call it the ketchup effect, making sweet and you try to get a ketchup out of the bottle and it doesn't come and it's all age, it explodes, everything comes right away. 1:06:52 Maybe that's a little bit what's happening right now. 1:06:55 Some thoughts on Tommy Novak and what's, how's his game developed this year, his freshman year? 1:07:01 Tommy's doing better, better, better every game. 1:07:03 I think it came in right away. 1:07:04 It was a big, big guy, big player for us. 1:07:08 I think it's getting stronger around the pucks, you know, adapting his style of playing to college level a little more. 1:07:15 He's a young guy, he's two years younger than me, and I think he's doing a really good job, and you can't look at him as a freshman anymore. 1:07:23 Only a game over 500, but first place in the Big Ten, what's the standings mean? 1:07:29 What does first place in the Big Ten mean for you right now? 1:07:32 That means that we're at where we want to be. 1:07:34 We want to be at, you know, number one in Big Ten. 1:07:37 That's one of our goals this season. 1:07:39 And now we have the destiny in our own hands. 1:07:42 It's all up to us. 1:07:45 I'm going to personally try to get catch up effect, catch on. 1:07:48 I like that. 1:07:49 I'll make sure to credit you. 1:07:51 That's pretty good.