0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Cammy, Vegoe, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to another GPL Podcast, number 88, as we grow closer to the magic number of 100. 0:51 Well, boys, it was an exciting week, mostly for me. 0:58 Let's just say I probably said a few things I probably shouldn't have on the podcast last week. 1:05 Obviously, Hammy, you got upset with players, but I was probably talking about things that I heard on the bench that I probably shouldn't have. 1:13 So, you was not too happy with me, so I need to apologize to them for that. 1:19 Got in a little trouble, but that's what happens when you kind of get excited and get a little passion going. 1:25 And Hammy, you just kind of got me excited last week, and I kind of opened my mouth a little too far. 1:32 Well, I mean, whatever. 1:33 I mean, I, you know, maybe it was a little strong, but I'm not apologizing for jack shit, so whatever. 1:42 And we're already explicit on the week, sweet. 1:44 Well, I'm just saying, I, you know, I mean, I was probably a little too harsh. 1:49 Well, we were a little rough on a certain couple players. 1:51 I mean, I could have been a little bit more, you know, maybe the language could have been a little bit easier on them, but nonetheless, the point still remains the same. 1:58 I'm not gonna like take that back. 2:01 I mean, the points, I believe were accurate, but maybe the language could have been different. 2:06 Yeah, well, we all get excited because, you know, believe it or not, we still have quite a bit of passion for this team. 2:12 Well, I mean... 2:13 And that's kind of the bottom line, you know. 2:14 We've got passion for the team, and, you know, when things aren't going right, we kind of get pissed off. 2:19 So it happens. 2:22 It just gets old, and for me, the excuses for a program like this just don't fly. 2:29 I mean, it's not like this is one of those programs that don't have a lot of the amenities and the advantages, and, you know, it's, you can kind of excuse it when you're at a smaller school that maybe doesn't have, you know, maybe you have a really good team once every, or twice every five years or whatever, but it's a little different when you're kind of getting, you have all the good stuff and you're still not performing. 2:51 So that's where I get frustrated. 2:54 Well, it's just passion, so that's all I care about. 2:57 I mean, as long as we got the passion, I think we should keep continuing to do the show, man. 3:01 Yeah, I think it's fine to have passion. 3:04 It's just we do have to keep in mind that these kids are mostly kids and not all of them get full rides in college hockey. 3:12 It's a deal where some of them get partial scholarships. 3:15 And it's not necessarily their fault that they're put in some of the positions that are put in. 3:20 It's the coaches that put them there. 3:21 OK, but I'm not calling a dude who's 20 years old or older a kid. 3:27 You know what I'm saying? 3:29 I mean, I get when people say that when it's like some kid who's a recruit who's 16 or something. 3:35 I get that. 3:35 But to me, we're all big boys in college now. 3:38 And you're getting a scholarship. 3:40 And you're getting the media attention and all that. 3:42 It's like it's a little different now, for me at least. 3:44 I can't speak for anybody else. 3:46 But for me, I don't look at it as kid gloves anymore at this stage. 3:52 Well, Hammy, I'd say the biggest player we kind of went after last week was one Taylor Camerata. 4:02 And who knows if he heard about it or how much we were ripping him? 4:06 I doubt it. 4:08 You never know. 4:09 But he kind of woke up Friday night when he was moved up to the first line. 4:15 Actually, I was actually impressed. 4:17 He had some good effort out there. 4:19 Great chances, scored a goal, had an assist. 4:21 I mean, he was not the player we had been seeing earlier this year. 4:25 Well, yeah, you have to give him credit for it, certainly. 4:27 I mean, I just wish it didn't take, what, 25 or 26 games into the year to get it done. 4:33 You know, I mean, it would have been nice to see it earlier. 4:35 But hey, you know, better late than never. 4:37 And it's great that he kind of seized the opportunity he got and did something with it. 4:43 So hopefully that's a sign moving forward that he'll be playing better down the stretch. 4:47 So really, he was the player of the game that Friday night in the 4-1 win, Veegs. 4:54 You think this is going to continue? 4:55 Is he going to stay up there on the front line? 4:57 Yeah, I think he's definitely going to stay up on that front line. 5:00 Luchias talked about in the last week or so how he needs more than just one line or two lines going for this team to really do anything that's expected of them. 5:10 This team's expected to beat Michigan and win the Big Ten and get to the NCAA Tournament. 5:17 If they're just counting on one line of brisket, Novak and fascian to get it done, that's just not going to be enough. 5:23 And so I thought Camerata looked really good this weekend. 5:26 He got the eight shots on Friday. 5:29 He almost had a game-winning goal on Saturday, if not for a close call. 5:34 And I just thought he looked a lot more engaged. 5:37 He was more aggressive. 5:38 I think we heard Vinny Leteri talk about this throughout the season, is that his line needed to get more engaged. 5:44 And Camerata definitely answered the bell this weekend. 5:47 So we had a 4-1 win Friday night and a 5-3 loss Saturday night. 5:52 Obviously, the things that went good on Friday night, Veegs, not quite the same Saturday. 5:58 Yeah, it's hard to explain why the legs weren't there and why the battle level wasn't there. 6:03 But they just played on the perimeter in the first period. 6:05 I think part of it might have been Penn State got more into their shell and didn't try to skate with the Gophers and get extended outside the dots. 6:14 It made it a little more challenging for the Gophers. 6:17 But they just couldn't quite get aggressive enough and generate the scoring chances early. 6:22 And then they got behind and were chasing the game. 6:25 Interestingly enough, we had a strange call on that Saturday afternoon with the, you know, Michigan, I'm sorry, not Michigan, Penn State actually taking a timeout after the camera on a goal, which appeared to take a lead, and use that timeout to have a replay of an offside. 6:44 You know, one call we may have seen in the NHL, but this is a fairly new rule in the NCAA leagues. 6:51 Yeah, I think they enacted it last year that they can challenge the facing review. 6:55 Yeah, but we had never seen it. 6:57 Yeah, it only happened a couple of times, I think, in the NCAA tournament, but actually Guy Gadowski said that the equipment manager saw that Cammy was pretty close to being outside and recommended they challenge, and they went with it and it paid off. 7:10 It was pretty close, and it was kind of crushing, I think, for some people, but Minnesota kept pushing, but they left it to chance, and Penn State capitalized with some good bounces at the end. 7:21 Yeah, well, it was just one of those strange things. 7:26 It was a legit offside. 7:28 I had no problem with the reversal. 7:30 Obviously, some people weren't happy because we had never really seen that happen at Mariucchi, at least since the rule has been enacted. 7:37 So, it was a little strange, but it was a legit call, so it's hard to complain about it. 7:42 I mean, sure, the equipment manager noticing it is not the greatest, but the equipment manager is standing right on the blue line. 7:49 He probably saw it the best, so more power to him. 7:54 Yeah, that review is just confusing, though. 7:58 I don't think that rule was put in place for these six-inch decisions. 8:03 Yes, they get it right, but it's just hard to stomach, I think, for a lot of teams, especially in the NHL. 8:11 I think it's over 60% of the reviews are on these offside calls, and they're all so close. 8:17 Yeah, well. 8:20 What can you do? 8:21 I mean, it's kind of getting a little bit like football in that way. 8:24 I mean, ooh, let's review this. 8:25 Let's review that. 8:27 I mean, the NHL is starting to get a little too excited about it. 8:29 But, you know, if it's a legit call, I mean, I mean, does it really slow down the game a lot? 8:35 It doesn't slow down the game that much, but the camera views aren't right on the blue line. 8:40 So when they are reviewing it, I don't know if anybody follows me on Twitter. 8:43 Parallax. 8:45 I was tweeting out the CBC SportsNet thing on Parallax View, and it shows that when you have a different perspective on these close calls along these lines, the viewpoint matters huge on this. 9:01 And so it may look like it's a clear-cut call, but in actuality, it's not. 9:07 Well, we're just going to have to live with it. 9:10 Props to, you know, keeps thinking Michigan, props to Penn State for even trying it, because obviously it was a go-ahead goal, and it kind of halted the momentum and did kind of take the air out of Mariucci, so who knows? 9:27 Hey, if you have any questions for us, if you're listening live, just tweet us, use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 9:33 We'll take your questions. 9:34 Now, there's one question here from a Dennis Nelson. 9:38 Hammeh, I'll give you this one. 9:39 Is a delayed penalty ever called on a goalie for pushing the net off the posts? 9:45 I don't know if there's a delayed penalty. 9:49 I don't know if there's a delayed penalty, but I'm sure there's penalties for delay of game. 9:53 Well, right. 9:53 I don't know that I've ever seen one where it's not pretty much immediately called just because of the fact that the net is off. 9:59 I mean, unless it's going down, I don't know. 10:02 I can't recall ever seeing something like that. 10:04 As far as I know, they usually just blow it right away. 10:07 Well, I think Dennis is trying to get to that. 10:11 Was it Friday night or even Saturday night? 10:12 The Penn State goalie knocked the goal off quite a few times and everyone's thinking, oh, is there something wrong with the post, something wrong with it? 10:20 We've been reassured by Craig's law. 10:22 There's nothing different. 10:23 The posts are the same as they've always been. 10:26 It's just they're knocking it off. 10:29 I mean, I don't know if they're just moving it across faster or what. 10:31 I mean, it happened to our goalie too. 10:33 I mean. 10:34 Yeah, I kind of saw that. 10:35 I mean, I saw it with at least once or twice that game where I was just kind of like thinking about it. 10:40 It's almost like, especially I think, I don't remember if it was on Friday or what it was, but I think it was. 10:45 I think it was Friday. 10:46 Yeah, where we scored a goal on it and he had knocked it off right after. 10:50 And I was just like thinking to myself, you know, is this guy actually trying to knock the net off to negate an opportunity like that or whatever? 10:57 I don't know. 10:58 I mean, if you can get away with it, I suppose, what the hell? 11:00 But I don't know what he was trying. 11:03 Marty Turco used to be famous for sliding in a post to knock it off. 11:07 So their goalies would definitely do that on purpose. 11:10 I think one of the rule changes that has been made in college hockey is they can still award the goal if a goalie knocks off the post or if a player knocks the net off its post. 11:20 I mean, that happened on the Clue short-handed goal Friday night. 11:24 Yeah. 11:24 It's just you rarely see the penalty called, which I think, especially on Saturday night, I know the ref went right over the first time he knocked it off. 11:32 And he said, you know, if this happens frequently tonight, you're going to be in trouble. 11:36 And so I think Saturday happened a little less often than it did on Friday. 11:41 Tim Hapke is wondering, didn't UMD do it last year versus Minnesota at the North Star Cup? 11:47 Probably knocking the goal off. 11:50 I don't recall, Tim. 11:52 I don't know what to have for breakfast, Tim. 11:54 Given how we performed against the in-state schools lately, I think we tend to try to forget those games. 12:03 There was another question actually that was on GPL from a GPLer, Gania. 12:08 I'm not sure how you pronounce his name, but he just wants us, or he asks, can you discuss your thoughts on the freshman class this year? 12:15 It seems like Sheehy is quietly doing pretty well, and he likes how Novak is. 12:21 Is anyone underachieving, overachieving? 12:24 That's pretty much what he's asking. 12:25 What do you think, Vees? 12:27 I think Sheehy and Novak are definitely overachieving at this point in the season. 12:31 They both stepped into some pretty good roles. 12:34 Sheehy especially has done well. 12:38 Novak was playing on the best line up until his concussion, so I think those two guys have really stood out. 12:43 I think Romanko has done a nice job on the fourth line. 12:46 I think he's starting to develop Jack Ramsey as well. 12:49 I think those two need to score, kind of get off the schneid. 12:53 Yeah, Romanko came really close this weekend a couple of times. 12:56 He hit the pipe on Saturday, and his play has been better. 13:00 I think they're actually getting some good pressure in the offensive zone, which is nice to see. 13:05 I think the one guy who probably still needs to elevate his game a little bit right now is Brent Gates. 13:10 He's been given some opportunities. 13:13 Ryan Norman has been given a couple of opportunities. 13:15 I think Lucia is looking for one of those two guys to step up and play on that third line. 13:21 I think moving Leon with those guys really could impact that. 13:26 Everybody can play well with Leon because he's such a hard worker. 13:28 He's kind of like that Zach Parisi. 13:31 Everybody wants to play with him, and hopefully he can get those guys going. 13:35 Hammeh, your thoughts on freshmen overachieving, underachieving? 13:39 I don't know that I really see anybody that I think coming in as underachieving. 13:44 I think she, he's kind of an older player, so he came in as an older freshman. 13:49 So I'm not totally surprised by his production. 13:54 Certainly Novak was pretty touted, especially being a playmaker. 13:58 I mean, he hasn't scored the goals, but that wasn't really kind of his forte, you know, coming into college anyways. 14:03 He was more of a playmaker, so I think that that's kind of been what I expected. 14:08 I'd like to see Sadik get more of an opportunity. 14:13 Yeah, that's kind of been ongoing, but it seems like Lucia is just kind of rotating him in and out just in case, you know, someone does get injured and he needs to play, and you know, they need that sixth defenseman. 14:25 Yeah, I mean, I just think that, you know, coming into the year, I thought that he might struggle just because he was coming straight from high school, and obviously, I mean, he's had growing pains at times, but I think that he's been playing more solidly, and I figure, you know, can he be doing any worse than a couple of the other guys that are a little more experienced? 14:43 I guess I would rather, plus he's a good puck mover, you know, he's a better puck mover than some of those guys, so I'd like to see him get a little more ice time. 14:50 I know somebody on GPL was touting Ryan Norman as being better than Tommy Novak, which I had to chuckle a little bit and say that must be either a family friend or a family member talking about that one. 15:03 But I mean, you know, he's played solid in his opportunities, and you know, some of these fourth-line guys, they've been, you know, they kind of are what they are, and so I think that overall it's been a pretty solid blast. 15:13 I like, you know, certainly you got to feel pretty good about the future of, you know, Sheehy and Novak in particular from a production standpoint in the next few years. 15:22 You know, funny you mentioned that about Norman, Hammy. 15:25 Saturday evening or when we were watching the game, both Veegs and I were kind of looking that up, trying to find out if it was, and it didn't appear to be a family member, at least not an immediate family member that was really tooting Mr. 15:39 Norman's horn there. 15:40 Well, to me it was like, okay, I looked at the guys... 15:43 It was a bit much. 15:44 The guy's posting history, it was like basically, I don't know how many posts he had, but like half of them were like either Shattuck related or Ryan Norman related. 15:53 I'm like, hmm, something smells a little fishy about this one, so... 16:00 It happens. 16:01 What can you do? 16:02 I mean, you know, we had a couple people, one person come on as, you know, just slamming Camerata, you know, with Cammy in his name or whatever it was, you know, Saturday night, and... 16:15 Yeah, pretty much a loser. 16:17 We nuked him pretty quick, but, you know... 16:21 I didn't quite catch that one. 16:22 I saw some of the after effects, I think, on that particular thread, but I didn't see that one live. 16:28 There's knuckleheads out there. 16:30 The funny thing is that, you know, over all the years, over the 10 years I've had the site, I've actually banned more Gopher fans than other fans. 16:43 Which is the funny thing, because I'm sure that there's plenty, especially UND fans over the years, that probably acted like you put the ban on every North Dakota fan that came on. 16:51 No, and that's just not the case. 16:53 As long as people are civil, we welcome people from other schools. 16:57 There's quite a few UND posters that probably post here, or more on GPL than they do on the Psu board. 17:05 As long as you're not a jerk, we're fine. 17:07 But most people we've banned are the idiot Gopher fans over the history. 17:13 You get a lot of morons sometimes. 17:17 It's just what happens. 17:21 Let's make sure we make it clear. 17:22 They're morons not because they have a different opinion. 17:25 It's just the fact that they're talking a lot of crap about stupid things. 17:31 It's not like people can't go on there and have different opinions than the majority. 17:36 It's just the fact that the way you convey it, it's a little bit ridiculous. 17:40 That's totally it. 17:43 That's why, like I said, we've got some fans from other sites and I enjoy them using the site because they get it. 17:50 I see that the people that do participate are hockey guys. 17:55 I mean, Veegs, you and I played hockey with a lot of guys that cheered for other schools. 18:02 They're just hockey guys like us. 18:05 Yep. 18:06 It's a great community, this niche sport that we follow. 18:09 As long as people don't go over the line, we're welcoming it. 18:16 It does seem that Gopher fans every year like to pick up a whipping boy or two on the roster. 18:23 It just happens. 18:24 Would you say it's Collins this year, maybe? 18:26 Or maybe Collins or Camerata? 18:29 Collins, it seems like it's been the whipping boy. 18:32 Well, usually it's a defenseman because those are the most obvious glaring mistakes usually end up in the back of your net. 18:40 So, defensemen tend to be a little bit more obvious in that regard. 18:45 If you're a forward who's a whipping boy, that's pretty bad. 18:49 You know what I mean? 18:50 Because those guys, you don't see as many glaring mistakes. 18:54 It's more of an effort thing than anything else. 18:56 Now that I think about it, you're right on there. 18:58 It is always a defenseman. 19:00 Well, it's been like what? 19:01 It was Harrington, it was always a classic one. 19:04 Marshall. 19:05 Marshall, right. 19:07 Fisher. 19:08 Fairchild got it pretty good for a period of time. 19:11 Yeah. 19:14 You know, that's just what we do. 19:20 Well, you know, I ripped on a lot of those guys, too. 19:24 Well, for me, most of them weren't so bad. 19:27 Like, Marshall got a raw deal. 19:29 Fairchild was a pretty good player. 19:30 He was just dinged up a lot towards the end. 19:32 I mean, some of these guys were actually pretty good players. 19:36 But there's a few that, I mean, Collins, to me right now, he deserves a lot of the flak he's getting. 19:41 And some of these other guys, I don't know. 19:44 Well, one thing that Veegs has, you know, pointed out to me is that, you know, Brudzinski and Bischoff, they're pretty good at getting a puck to the net. 19:55 Whereas somebody like a sealer seems to get his shots blocked a lot. 20:00 Kind of a big deal, isn't it, Veegs? 20:03 Yeah, definitely. 20:04 It was cost to Minnesota in the third period against Penn State on Saturdays. 20:08 As a defenseman, when you have the puck at the point, you have some time and space, you've got to try to change the angle and just get it through traffic on net. 20:16 And then get the defense scrambling, getting out of their positions. 20:21 And Bronszinski, Bischoff do a great job doing that. 20:25 I saw Sadik do that a couple of times this weekend, where he was changing the angle and getting pucks on. 20:30 I think that should definitely be a point of emphasis for guys like sealer and Collins and Glover. 20:35 It's just not so much focused on scoring, but getting it through traffic on net. 20:41 Because it's such a big change momentum when one of those shots gets blocked and then Shearhorn's got to bail you out. 20:47 And he had to do that two or three times this weekend. 20:50 I mean, we love how sealer plays on the defensive end. 20:53 I like his aggressiveness and whatnot. 20:55 But boy, in the offensive zone, it is kind of costing us at times. 20:59 So we will see if... 21:03 You know, we never did touch on Shearhorn, because he's a freshman too. 21:07 Well... 21:07 And obviously, you know, he's played real well. 21:10 He's overachieving. 21:11 Well, I mean, he's played real well this year. 21:13 You know, so I mean, I think that that's another guy that's... 21:16 You know, let's be honest. 21:18 If they had made that late pickup for him last year, they'd be pretty screwed in that right now. 21:24 So that was definitely one of the most important ones we've done in a while. 21:28 Do you think Halliday would be here right now if Shearhorn wasn't? 21:31 I don't know that, but I mean, I'm just saying... 21:35 I mean, just think about it. 21:36 I mean, we just do not have anybody outside of Shearhorn right now that I would feel confident in, you know? 21:45 I mean, Halliday was kind of the guy they had lined up, I want to say. 21:49 Yeah, he just committed somewhere else recently, didn't he? 21:51 I don't even remember off the top of my head where it was. 21:54 Sort of out of sight, out of mind. 21:55 I do think it's kind of hard to know what you have in a goaltender until they start playing games. 22:01 Like, even Shearhorn, his first couple of series, he was too aggressive. 22:05 I think it took some coaching from Justin Johnson to get him to be a little more relaxed in the crease and really focus on getting set for shots as opposed to always challenging and being overly aggressive with his reads. 22:17 I think he's become a much calmer goalie throughout the season and has played better. 22:22 So I think that experience throughout the season of playing almost every game has really helped him. 22:30 I would agree. 22:31 And he deserves it. 22:32 So he's played well. 22:33 He definitely does. 22:34 I mean, he's only had a couple rough nights, but that'll happen. 22:39 That's just kind of the way hockey is. 22:42 Well, before we go forward, let's hear from our sponsor. 22:47 Vintage Minnesota Hockey wants you to take a step back in time and keep the memories of Minnesota Hockey heritage alive forever. 22:55 vintagemnhockey.com features history from around the entire state of Minnesota. 23:00 One feature that I enjoy on a daily basis is the This Day in Minnesota Hockey History that is on their website. 23:07 They have tons of info on what's happening on any particular day in Minnesota hockey history. 23:12 Now, for those of you who want that brand new gold jersey that just came out this season for the Gophers, the one with the Minnesota emblem on the collar, Vintage has it for you. 23:22 So make sure you visit the store and take a look at that jersey. 23:24 They just made it available within the last week. 23:27 You can get it customized with your number, your name, however you want. 23:31 And if you use the code GPL Podcast, you can get 10% off your order. 23:37 So make sure you head over to the store and head over to vintagemnhockey.com. 23:43 Those jerseys are pretty sweet. 23:45 And let me tell you, I believe even started shipping some of them either today or tomorrow. 23:49 So if you've ordered those already, those jerseys are on the way. 23:54 So I'm even thinking about getting one. 23:57 You're going to put number 69 on it and be like a St. 24:01 Cloud fan? 24:01 Dude, 69. 24:08 A question from Neil Elder, guys. 24:10 How should fans feel about this team in a horrible Big Ten conference, yet they lead the conference? 24:20 Veegs? 24:22 Well, I think we knew that this team was going to be a little bit of a reload. 24:26 So fans, I think, can feel fortunate that they're not in a super tough conference where they might be on the road for the first weekend of a conference tournament. 24:35 And just enjoy it for what it is. 24:37 You know, the series against Michigan at the end of this season is going to be pretty important. 24:41 And Michigan's a great team to watch. 24:46 Cammy, the conference does stink. 24:49 Yeah, I mean, we kind of knew that it was, you know, Wisconsin coming off the year they did that they weren't probably going to be significantly better. 24:56 And, you know, it just kind of has shaped out the way you kind of expected. 25:01 You knew it was going to be another year where it was going to be Michigan and Minnesota kind of at the top of the standings. 25:06 And it was going to come down probably to, you know, who was going to play better head to head amongst those two teams. 25:12 So it's not shocking. 25:15 I don't know. 25:15 I mean, it's great in a standpoint that, hey, when you get to the playoffs, you just have to win a couple of games and, you know, you're in the NCAAs. 25:23 But I don't know, you know, even if they make it NCAAs at this point, I don't have, obviously, a ton of confidence because we haven't just done very well in non-conference games. 25:34 So, you know, I don't know that I find any huge positives about it. 25:40 Another question from Tim Hapke. 25:42 What can you do to get more students to come to the games? 25:47 Veegs? 25:48 I've been thinking about this because I know the student tickets are all sold. 25:53 I think they need to find a way to do a student standing room seat and get, you know, more students in the building because there are seats available every game. 26:02 There's probably 2,000 no-shows. 26:05 The tickets are sold. 26:06 But even a standing room ticket is 15, 20 bucks for most games. 26:10 You know, if there was a student standing room seat for 5 bucks, I think you'd get a lot more students showing up who maybe hadn't in the past and would provide a lot of atmosphere for the building. 26:20 And the funny thing is that, you know, a few seasons ago when they reseated, you know, the students because they still had some over in Section 3, you know, they moved them all to, was it 12, 13, 14, something like that on the end, it's open seating. 26:35 There's no assigned seats. 26:36 Before it was assigned seats, you know, that first couple of seasons, boy, 6 o'clock comes and the kids were coming down and the first 10, 15 rows were filled pretty quick. 26:47 We just had winter break. 26:48 Winter break's over. 26:50 It's still pretty empty there. 26:53 Well, I think when the team's 500 or so, you know, the fans just aren't as into it. 26:59 I mean, you know, these people have signed up for the whole season, so they've seen some, you know, games early in the season. 27:04 It might skew their opinion of going. 27:07 So I think, you know, having a standing room seat for students to fill those sections would be huge. 27:13 Well, then maybe that's something they should consider. 27:15 I mean, you know, with so many kids not showing up each night, like you said, a $5, $10 ticket might be worth it. 27:23 They've got to find a way to use technology these days to be more effective. 27:27 I mean, I don't know what that answer is, but I mean, nowadays these kids are so used to using everything. 27:32 You know, there are mobile phones for everything or whatever. 27:34 There's got to be some way to figure out how to use technology better. 27:38 Or you can just go the old school route and just say, hey, any used stub, you know, you can redeem it for a shot at your local bar. 27:46 You know, something, I don't know, whatever. 27:48 I'm just kidding, obviously. 27:49 But you know, you got to think of something outside of the box because... 27:52 Well, you know, they probably have the contact info for all these kids with student tickets. 27:57 I mean, maybe even an email each, you know, the day of a game or a text or something along those lines or something just to the student body or maybe all the football season ticket holders or the basketball season ticket holders say, hey, come on out, we've got seats, come fill it up, five, ten bucks. 28:16 Well, I think for me, I just think it ultimately comes down to winning. 28:19 I mean, you know that as well as I do. 28:21 You bring them something that's entertaining for a team, something that they can really get behind. 28:28 The fans will show up, especially students. 28:31 But it's hard to get behind a team that just isn't playing up to program standards. 28:38 And I'm sure that there's kids that would rather just go out and have a good time with their friends locally as opposed to watching the team kind of meander their way through a loss. 28:48 Well, like you said, Veegs, they've already sold these tickets. 28:53 Yeah, a cheap $5 ticket, like you said. 28:56 Well, if they could get a mobile app for season ticket holders, and if their ticket hasn't been scanned 15 minutes before the game, send them a notification and have them indicate if they're planning on coming or not. 29:10 Maybe that gives the U an opportunity to say, oh, we've got 500 tickets to give away for a low price or something. 29:17 I think atmosphere is important for this team, and that would be a good way to solve it. 29:25 Well, they're going to have to think up some new ideas, because to me that's obviously been one of the things that the fans always have been pointing out in recent years is just the atmosphere. 29:37 We used to say it's because it's a new rink, and a lot of times when you go to a new rink, the old rink's atmosphere doesn't tend to follow, but obviously we've been in this rink for quite a while now, so you can't use that as an excuse anymore. 29:51 You've got to figure out something that's going to create more of a lively atmosphere. 29:55 You look at some of those old videos that we saw, for instance, when Ehrman scored the penalty shot goal, or when Nate Schmidt scored the goal with that great diving, stopped the blue line to get the slapper. 30:08 Just stuff like that, you just see that compared to how it's been, and it's definitely kind of sad when you don't see that kind of lively nature. 30:16 Like we said, though, those were teams that were winning and doing well, and we just haven't had that this year. 30:21 Brian Deutsch, if you're listening live right now, go talk to Devin. 30:26 Have him set this up. 30:28 Five bucks, ten bucks, whatever. 30:29 I mean, the students aren't showing up. 30:31 You guys have already sold the tickets, so do something special. 30:35 Let's get some people in there. 30:37 It's not hard to do, I would think. 30:38 I mean, Veegs, you think it's hard to do? 30:41 They'll take your money at the gate. 30:43 Well, I do think it's a financial investment for the university. 30:47 I know when they built TCF, they put in this really advanced ticketing system for the season tickets the first year. 30:54 And once they had everybody pick their seats and it worked really well, the next year they went away from it, because it cost too much to license it from year to year. 31:04 So it's just a decision that the university needs to make. 31:07 Is it worth it to invest a little extra money to improve the atmosphere, or are we okay with kind of this apathy? 31:13 And this isn't just affecting Minnesota. 31:15 I mean, look at Duluth when they're on TV. 31:17 You know, they went to a new arena, they had a bunch of people buy season tickets right up front, but they don't use them. 31:24 And these people, you know, for some reason, they're okay eating 25, 30, 50 bucks a night and not showing, and not getting someone in their seat. 31:33 So I think making it really easy for these people to say, hey, I'm not coming, here's my ticket to do what you want with, it's an opportunity. 31:42 Why can't they send them like a text message the day of the game, you know, saying, you know, that just hit one if you're coming, two if you're, I don't know, just, you know what I'm saying, just think of something that makes it really easy to respond if they're going to attend the game or not. 31:56 And I know that that's probably easier said than done, but there's got to be ways that you can kind of use technology to kind of make that kind of stuff easier. 32:05 Well, interesting tweet from Dennis Nelson, who we read his question earlier. 32:08 He says, FYI, it was a package deal with football season tickets for students. 32:15 With each football ticket, they had to choose a night. 32:18 I'm assuming they had to choose either a Friday or Saturday night student season ticket. 32:25 It sounds like it was packaged with football. 32:27 So I mean, I don't know if he could decline that or whatever, but I'm not really sure what they were thinking there. 32:35 So they're saying that everybody's a football fan is going to be a hockey fan. 32:39 I don't know. 32:41 Well, they did sell them a la carte as well, but they did try to do some package deals to get people to all the events. 32:50 And so they were trying to get fans to football and hockey because the hockey was viewed as the prime ticket to get. 32:59 And so how can we get those hockey fans also to the football games? 33:02 It seems like the opposite is happening. 33:05 Well, if they're winning more, maybe those fans would be showing up. 33:08 Well, it's true, but I wonder if there are any big hockey people who maybe missed out on student tickets because of that. 33:21 Who knows? 33:23 You got me. 33:26 I don't know. 33:28 Well, still, do the $5 thing. 33:30 Who cares? 33:30 You've sold the tickets. 33:32 $5 walk-up for students. 33:35 Just show your ID. 33:36 Pay $5. 33:36 Go in. 33:37 Go pick a seat. 33:39 It's not that hard. 33:44 Vegoe, we typically don't talk about the women's team, but a big thing happened last week that I didn't get a chance to get to, but Amanda Kessel returned to the women's team, had a couple points. 33:59 First game, not much the second game, but that's kind of a big story. 34:05 Yeah, I mean, she was the best player in the world, I think, when she went down at Sochi. 34:10 So it's a pretty big plus for Brad Frost to get her back. 34:13 This is her last opportunity to play college hockey. 34:16 She doesn't have any eligibility after the season, so it was kind of a last chance for her to get on the ice. 34:22 And I think it's going to be a boost for that program because they've kind of been close to the top, but they just are missing a little something. 34:30 So I think a talent like that can only help them. 34:33 It's fun to see her back on the ice. 34:35 I watched a little bit of the women's hockey on the Big Ten Plus Network, and she's talented. 34:42 So I think fans should try and take in a game or watch it on the streams if they get a chance. 34:49 Got a tweet actually from my other account, Fat Planet account, Adam Piett says, UND emails every season ticket holder the Monday following a series if they don't show up and tells them to sell tickets if they can't go. 35:08 So UND is kind of keeping track of who's going and who's not going. 35:13 Well, that data is there. 35:14 Yeah, like you said, the data is there. 35:17 I mean, they do scan the tickets. 35:20 And like your article last season about people not showing up, they were selling what is it, what, 9,000 last year and about 75 or 7,000 were showing up. 35:30 So they have the data. 35:34 Do something with it. 35:35 Well, ultimately, I know. 35:36 I mean, I think ultimately, let's be honest, as long as they sell the tickets, they probably could really give a shit at some point about... 35:43 I think they care to some degree, but ultimately what matters is the bottom line. 35:47 Yeah, but if you do the $5 thing, you're adding to the bottom line. 35:51 Well, that might be the case, but I don't know that... 35:54 I don't know how feasible that is or isn't, so I can't really speak about that potential scenario, but I just think that ultimately, as long as the tickets are being sold, I don't think that they make such a huge deal out of it. 36:07 They should, but they don't. 36:08 I'm going to ask Devin about that, because it just seems like a no-brander to me, Veegs. 36:12 Well, I know they definitely are sending out surveys to season ticket holders about what's going on with the atmosphere, and they get a wide range of stuff. 36:21 But I know one of the things is it's hard to resell your ticket. 36:24 You know, it's only been a pretty recent thing where you could get a PDF of your ticket to forward on, and it's still a 12- 36:31 or 14-step process, which is easy for guys like us, but, you know, for some of those season ticket holders, it's just not worth the effort. 36:41 Well, the team heads to Ohio State this weekend, and, Hammy, we've played Ohio State quite a few times, but since we've been in the league, we haven't swept them at Ohio State, so it's probably not an easy weekend. 36:55 No, I mean, you know, it always seems like the Gophers will play one good game, and then it's kind of, for one reason or another, you know, Ohio State's got some speed, you know, in some positions. 37:05 Those guys are real kind of speedy types that seem to just kind of bite us, you know, when we're trying to, you know, put together two games. 37:12 And it just hasn't, for one reason or another, been that way. 37:14 And it's kind of unfortunate, because obviously it's not like Ohio State has been a great team in recent years. 37:22 So it's just, you expect to kind of capitalize on those games, and we just haven't done it. 37:27 We haven't put it through it as much as we need to be. 37:30 Big's always a bit of a struggle with Ohio State. 37:32 I mean, obviously, they knocked us out of the Big Ten tournament, and the inaugural Big Ten tournament, and a couple overtime games earlier this year. 37:41 Not a bad squad, not great, but not bad, and they seem to play well against Minnesota. 37:47 Well, I think one of the things that Ohio State does well is they're a good counteract team. 37:51 They've got enough speed, whereas if you turn the puck over, they've got plenty of speed to take advantage of opportunities that you give them. 37:58 I know Greco is kind of an opportunist on those things. 38:02 Schilke as well. 38:04 Mason-Jopes has been pretty good for them as a freshman, converting on those chances. 38:09 So I think they're a dangerous team, and I think Boston College and Cornell sure found out about that during the Christmas break. 38:15 So this is a team that can come and get you if you're not playing near a game. 38:19 And I think Minnesota is a team that's struggled to make smart decisions. 38:24 They haven't been okay just getting two goals and trying to sit on that lead. 38:30 This is a team that's really been pushing for offense. 38:32 And against a team like Ohio State on the road, they're just going to have to be smarter with the puck, especially at the offensive blue line. 38:40 Well, Veegs, you captured audio again this week. 38:43 Who'd you capture and kind of summarize what they talked about at media day yesterday? 38:47 Well, we had Justin Kluce was the only player who came out this week. 38:53 And he just kind of talked about, you know, Ohio State's a tough team, and this Minnesota Gopher squad really needs to, you know, play their A game. 39:02 You know, they have to realize who they are and make sure that they're not giving opportunities to the other team. 39:08 They got to make the other team beat you. 39:10 I think so many times this season, Minnesota's given away games by making bad decisions at the end. 39:17 Kluce is one of the guys who stepped forward and said, hey, that tripping penalty he took in the Northstar College Cup was a bad decision. 39:23 Hudson Fascian came forward after the game, and his back pressure where he got outside the dots, he took the sword on that. 39:30 This team knows they have a fine line of play to be successful, and I think they realize that. 39:37 And just like every week, I append the audio that Vegoe captures and put it on the end of the podcast. 39:44 If you're listening on iTunes or whatever, you'll hear Lucia and Kluce at the end of the show. 39:50 So what do you think, Veegs? 39:52 Split? 39:54 I mean, we need to do a little better than that, but it just seems kind of what happens at Ohio State. 40:00 Yeah, it definitely feels like a split. 40:02 One of the problems with playing at Ohio State is they have a big arena and not a lot of atmosphere. 40:07 So the players have to find their own jump. 40:10 Like going to Anchorage. 40:11 Yeah, it's like going to Anchorage. 40:13 So I think it's going to be really important for them to have good starts, and that can be tough on a building like that. 40:19 And like every time when there's no game on TV, the people are going to be bitching. 40:24 Obviously the Friday games, I believe on Big Ten Network, 530, early start, makes you pay attention. 40:30 Then Saturday, all the people start bitching, Hammy, because it's not on TV at all. 40:37 Oh, and we know that's a tragedy. 40:39 It is such a tragedy. 40:41 Well, what do you think about the games though? 40:43 Is it going to be a split? 40:44 I mean, I'm afraid that's what I'm thinking. 40:47 Yeah, I mean, I just think that based on what we've seen recently, I mean, we obviously didn't play well during the North Star College Cup or whatever the hell they call that damn thing. 40:56 And then, of course, you know, this last weekend, I mean, we played well on Friday but just didn't put it together the next night. 41:03 So it's just kind of hard to feel like the consistency has been there recently. 41:07 And like we talked about, it's not like they've been sweeping in Ohio State anyway. 41:10 So I would probably think it's going to be more than likely a split. 41:15 Elsewhere this weekend, Penn State heads to Michigan State. 41:19 Michigan heads to Wisconsin. 41:20 So if you want to keep up with Michigan this weekend, you're going to have to sweep, guys. 41:26 Sorry, because I think Michigan's going to sweep Wisconsin, don't you? 41:28 I mean... 41:31 Yeah, it'd be pretty much a long shot, I think. 41:34 Of course, we said that last week. 41:35 And I know, Veegs, you posted the odds from offshore betting. 41:39 And Michigan State was heavily the underdog against Michigan Friday night. 41:45 And somebody won some money somewhere. 41:47 Yeah, I was joking with Nate Wells that if you had a matchup like that in Vegas for a boxing match, they wouldn't even sanction it. 41:57 Well, Michigan State helped us out. 41:59 Since we had the split this weekend, we ended up staying tied, maybe. 42:03 Come on, Wisconsin, get it going. 42:05 Help us out. 42:07 We may need it. 42:09 It's pretty scary if you're relying on them. 42:11 I know. 42:12 What can you do? 42:14 What can you do? 42:17 I will tweet out on Saturday that you can get the Big Ten stream if you have a University of Minnesota email and log in to their virtual private network. 42:29 So I'll tweet out instructions for that again on Saturday. 42:32 And I don't have that, so I can't do that. 42:34 But that's fine with me because I actually don't mind listening to Wally and Frank. 42:39 I just listen to the stream. 42:40 Sure, it's behind, but they're entertaining, so it's all good. 42:46 You guys have anything else? 42:48 No, just go old school, people. 42:49 Listen to the radio. 42:50 Yeah, that's not that bad. 42:52 That's how I grew up, man. 42:54 I mean, we watched the North Stars on TV, but man, I loved listening to Al Shaver on the radio. 42:58 That was awesome. 42:59 Well, I can't disagree with you there. 43:02 I mean, unfortunately, where I live, I don't get AM1500 too well out here in the sticks. 43:07 But so I have to listen to the stream. 43:09 So unless I go in my car, which I ain't going to do. 43:11 So I'll just listen to the stream. 43:13 I'll be just fine. 43:14 Just like all of you, you'll be fine. 43:17 Except you won't be able to see Vinny Loteri break a stick. 43:20 Well, he did switch sticks. 43:22 He did break one this past weekend, but he's still not using a... 43:26 They're a Bauer squad. 43:27 He's using, what did you say? 43:28 Was Easton he's using now? 43:30 Yup, he's got an Easton stick, and I stopped by practice for a little bit on Tuesday, and I saw him break one. 43:36 Are you serious? 43:38 He was out there early working on one-timers with Boltoni, and right away he broke one, and the equipment guy went back to the locker room and got another. 43:46 You know, Tommy, who does some stats for the U and does some media stuff, was saying he breaks a lot in practice. 43:54 They keep them because they send them back to the manufacturer because they are technically insured or something like that. 44:04 Who knows how many he has actually broken. 44:06 What the hell? 44:07 Something they get money back or they get something back if they send it back. 44:11 I don't know the exacts on that. 44:12 You have 30 days warranty on those sticks. 44:14 Well, there you go. 44:16 That's how it works. 44:16 So you can beat the piss out of them for 30 days, and you are all good basically. 44:21 I am going to have to hit somebody up to see if he breaks one. 44:25 Or keep somebody in attendance, because we have to keep track. 44:29 We shall see. 44:31 We didn't get those deals when we were all wood back in the day. 44:35 They should have given us a year warranty on those things. 44:37 The wood sticks last longer. 44:39 That's why I said there should be a year warranty on those bad boys. 44:43 I don't know. 44:45 It's all good. 44:47 Anything else, Veegs? 44:48 Something like you want to say something there? 44:50 Nate Wells will be out in Columbus. 44:53 My goodness, he's been everywhere. 44:56 He's a man with little responsibility on the home front, so he can't afford to get out and do these things. 45:01 Those guys are families. 45:02 And he's probably writing for the Scripps, since the Scripps rarely send somebody now. 45:07 We have to get that boy a girlfriend, I guess, huh? 45:09 I think he does. 45:12 Well, maybe she just wants him out of town. 45:17 Nate, Hammy said it, not me. 45:20 Well, if she's sending him out of town without complaining, then he's out. 45:24 Well, she's like partying back here while he's out, you know. 45:28 When the cat's away, the mice will play. 45:30 Oh, boy. 45:31 Oh, I'm just giving him crap, come on. 45:35 At least he's not going to whine about giving me crap like some people. 45:38 Of course, I didn't use bad language with him, though. 45:42 Nate, his Twitter handle, at Hammy Hockey. 45:45 Oh, he follows me. 45:49 And of course, you know, you got Vegoe at eVegoe. 45:51 We're trying to get you up to 800, so start following Vegoe, right, Veegs? 45:55 Yeah, I'll try to get the quotes from availability out every week and postgame quotes when I'm there. 46:03 All right, we're going to be off next week because there's no series, but we'll be back to recap Ohio State and preview Michigan coming to town in two weeks. 46:13 Until then, thanks for listening. 46:45 Ohio State, do we know about them or do we need to know? 46:49 Team speed, I think that's the thing that really comes in line with me. 46:52 Their goaltender's playing really well. 46:54 You look up and all of a sudden, he's got a 93 save percentage. 46:57 They've been good the second half of the season. 47:00 I know we had two overtime games with them here in December. 47:04 Fortunately, we were able to win both of them, but I really like the way their team is playing right now. 47:08 You know, the TCA Big Stadium, you played them at, of course, the outdoor game. 47:13 What did you learn about outdoor ice at TCA Big Stadium that you didn't know? 47:17 Well, a lot of it, the ice conditions will depend upon the temperatures and what kind of day you have, how sunny it is. 47:26 I'm sure the NHL is going to do a really good job to get the best ice you possibly can, but I think more than anything else, I mean, the ice will be fine. 47:33 It just gets down to what the temperature is going to be like. 47:36 Is it going to be one of those days where it's 40 above, or is it going to be 10 or 15 above? 47:40 And probably the wind plays more into it than anything else. 47:43 And you're playing a day, you play it at night, that's different too. 47:47 Well, I think it's going to be a four o'clock start, isn't it? 47:49 So the sun should be low enough in the sky where it shouldn't impact the ice, because sometimes if they play, you've seen some of those NHL games where they're earlier in the day, and that bright sunshine can, on a warm day, really mess up the ice. 48:03 So they shouldn't have really that concern on their game time. 48:08 You're only getting better. 48:09 He let a few in, but in that game, he made some saves he probably shouldn't. 48:13 Well, yeah, he made some saves in the third period that we kind of left him out there. 48:18 And the game-winning goal went off our guy. 48:20 And that's two of the last three games that we've lost. 48:22 It went off somebody. 48:23 But when you get down to the end of the game and you leave it to a one-shot deal, that's part of our game that you have to live with. 48:31 And so that was a disappointing part that you get to late in the game last four minutes. 48:35 And you'd love to have got to overtime at least get a point or maybe possibly get the second point in a tie. 48:42 Sure, everyone's play has been pretty solid, but have you been surprised how vocal he's been with his teammates? 48:46 A lot of his teammates in post games have said how he's stepped up and got on them and encouraged them to pick it up. 48:51 Well, I think what I've liked most about Eric is that the consistency in his demeanor. 48:56 I mean, you really can't look at him and say, Jesus, our goal in Wallers are going bad for him or our team for that matter. 49:02 So I think that's a thing that he's so even keel. 49:06 I mean, you don't see a big range of emotion out of him. 49:08 I mean, his retrievals with our defensemen have gotten better as the game's gone on and his puck handling. 49:14 And, you know, he's made a lot of big saves. 49:16 And, you know, he's been really good on breakaways this year. 49:19 And he's given us a chance. 49:21 I mean, we look at a, it's about a 9-1-7 for walking in with, you know, it's not like there's a veteran team he's, you know, playing behind or, you know, has not seen some good quality scoring chances every game. 49:31 So he's really done a nice job for us in a difficult transition, a difficult position and to replace an All-American. 49:38 How important is it when you have a young team to have a goalie with that kind of maturity and stability? 49:43 Well, and that's one of the things is we looked at when, you know, we realized that Adam would probably be leaving after his junior year that we looked at a replacement. 49:51 We wanted to find somebody that had played a lot of games. 49:55 And when you looked at his background, and he left Anchorage when he was, you know, 15 or 16 years old to play midget hockey and go to Shattuck. 50:03 And then the last couple of years in Muskegon, he played a lot of games. 50:06 And I think that's what impressed me most, that he was playing 50 games in a season. 50:11 It never seemed to get worn down. 50:13 And, you know, last year he had a great playoff run, took his team, who I think they finished fourth in their division to the championship round of the USHL playoffs. 50:23 And he was a big part of that. 50:24 And he stepped in here, he looks like he's a workhorse, looks like he can play a lot of minutes. 50:29 Well, he's started every game for us this year, and I'm sure he will start every game the rest of the year. 50:34 You know, we've looked at him, we've talked to him. 50:37 Yesterday, we gave him a day off just to go ride the bike. 50:39 And I think that made a big difference for him because we haven't had any off weeks here until after this one where he can kind of catch his breath a little bit. 50:48 But, you know, it's reassuring when you got a guy that he goes in there and the consistency factor, you know, I look at this year, probably the first Michigan game is the only game where he really wasn't on. 50:58 And, you know, that's going to happen to anybody. 51:00 I mean, you can have an ace starting pitcher that has an off game and gets rocked and is out after the third inning. 51:05 It's no different for a goaltender, you know. 51:06 Some days you're just not quite on. 51:09 But he's been very consistent, and that's what I've liked about his game. 51:12 Don, with last week you rearranged the top three forward lines. 51:16 How did you assess their performance, and do you think you're going to continue with that? 51:20 Well, we're practicing that way right now. 51:22 I mean, that doesn't mean we won't change again tomorrow. 51:25 I like some parts of it. 51:28 Not every line played maybe as well as they had the week before based on who was on that line. 51:34 So like with anything, I mean, on Friday night, each line scored, which was great to see. 51:39 But on Saturday, I don't think we had all three lines, or at least our top three lines, play as well as we needed. 51:46 And maybe that's just an individual or two that I need to have a little conversation with, because we were the type of team that we need everybody going. 51:56 We'll struggle more if one of our top three lines isn't really kind of doing their part, because we haven't been a team that's relied on any one or two guys, as much as a team. 52:06 And although at the same time, when Clu scores and Bashing scores, and she he's been pretty consistent in Bristead, and some of these guys that have scored on a regular basis, that's when we've played our best. 52:18 She surpassing wherever you think his potential was, or has he still got a ways to go? 52:22 Well, I think playing the extra year of junior hockey, I mean, that's an example of somebody that is not directly out of high school. 52:27 He played two years of junior hockey, senior year, and then the one year post, so he comes in a little bit more mature. 52:32 Obviously he's getting an opportunity to play with top end guys in the position that he's in, but he's showing that he can score. 52:38 I think he's got ten goals now, and this day and age, ten goals as a freshman is a really nice freshman year. 52:44 His goal where he kind of circled and circled and circled, that's a confidence goal, right? 52:48 Yeah, he's not afraid to play with the puck on his stick. 52:52 I think he's played center, he's played wing over his career, and so he used to have in the puck. 52:58 And I think when you're scoring, you start to even gain more confidence. 53:01 And so when you want the puck on your stick, that's the confidence you're talking about. 53:06 At this time of year, is it easier to switch lines as everyone's kind of played with one another? 53:11 Yeah, I think so. 53:12 You know, like we played the Wisconsin series a couple weeks back where we only dressed 11 forwards. 53:17 So, you know, you talk to the forwards, they kind of liked it. 53:19 They were, the lines were kind of all mixed and matched all game long. 53:24 But we're just trying to find enough chemistry through all three lines where, you know, there's a threat, you know. 53:29 Obviously, moving Leon with Vinny that bounced off the goal output on each of the lines. 53:35 I thought our blue line played pretty good on Saturday. 53:37 Even though they didn't score, Romanco had some good looks. 53:39 I think he had a crossbar in the third period that we could have won the game with. 53:43 You know, obviously, the weekend Cammy had was important for us. 53:47 Could have had maybe the game winner, but, you know, he's six inches offside on that play. 53:53 And so we need that from him. 53:54 I mean, we need his offense. 53:56 I mean, that's he's always been an offensive player. 53:58 And that's one of the reasons why the whole we shuffled the deck is to try to get him going. 54:11 Well, they didn't play together. 54:13 They played in the same junior team. 54:15 So, I mean, obviously, Cam, Cam Rodd and Clusiv spent a lot of time together. 54:18 And as we began the year, we had six returning forwards and played a lot of minutes, and the thought process at the beginning of the year was, you know, let's try to put two on three different lines and see if we can meld a freshman in with each of those groups. 54:32 And, you know, for some, it's worked well, and others, it quite hasn't. 54:36 And now it's fine that the right combinations of the threes in our top three lines where, again, you start to feel comfortable that matchups aren't really that big a deal, that you're confident with any line playing against anybody else. 54:50 What difficulties does going to Columbus face for this team? 54:55 Well, you're back into a small rink. 54:57 We've played pretty well, for the most part, in a smaller rink this year. 55:02 Their speed, I think, is a factor. 55:04 You know, we split there the one last year. 55:08 We won and tied the year before, lost in the shootout. 55:11 So, you know, they're in the midst of a six-game homestand, so they're comfortable in their rink. 55:15 It's not like they've been out of their rink, because it's not like they're practicing it every day because of the multi-purpose facilities. 55:21 So getting off to a good start, obviously, anytime you go on the road is important. 55:26 Specialty team play is important, and we have to make sure we play well defensively. 55:31 When we win, we'll give up, too, and if we're going to give up three or four goals, it's going to be difficult for us to win. 55:36 Everyone healthy this week? 55:37 Yeah, we got a couple of nicks, but, you know, that's par for this time of the season. 55:42 The off week will probably be good for us to kind of recharge for the final few weeks of the season. 55:47 Is there anyone you're expecting to play that? 55:48 Yeah, I mean, there's nobody that, as of today, that you'd say, you know, isn't in a position to play. 55:54 Probably the most beat up we were is, you know, heading into that North Star Cup with three or four guys with some crosses on, knowing whether guys would play or not. 56:02 You mentioned last night that Caldite says rest is a weapon. 56:05 Do you use the catapult data to kind of weigh how guys are doing? 56:08 Yeah, I mean, we use that as far as, you know, during the course of a week, the accumulation of our practice time and intensity kind of gives us a gauge of what input we want. 56:20 It might throttle back a Wednesday or Thursday practice, but this time of the year, we want to practice hard. 56:27 We want to practice intense, but not as long. 56:28 We only went, like yesterday, I didn't know if we were going to practice as much as just let them play some shinny hockey with our coaches, but we did go out for 45 minutes and then called it a day. 56:38 I'm going to really do my best today and tomorrow to try to keep practice around an hour and then play maybe a small game at the end because you want to keep them excited, you want to have their legs. 56:49 I think that's the most important thing this time of the year is they know how they're supposed to play. 56:54 Are you mentally and physically going to have the energy when the puck drops on Friday, Saturday night? 56:58 We want to make sure we don't lose that energy during the week and that's there on Friday and Saturday. 57:06 You guys kind of feel like you're in the homestretch here when you can kind of see the finish lines there and you've got to either find another gear or just stay at a fever pitch for the rest of the way. 57:14 Yeah, maybe a little bit. 57:15 I mean, I think everyone in college hockey is maybe a little bit, you know, starting to feel in their legs a little bit. 57:21 You know, you're a little more tired on Saturday night in that third period and, you know, money practices might be, you know, a little more difficult from here on out. 57:28 But obviously we got to bring these next four weeks or so and put ourselves in a good position. 57:34 What's been helping you personally put the puck in the net so much the last month or so? 57:38 You know, I don't know. 57:39 I think, you know, I don't think really, I didn't think my game changed too much from the first half to the second half, but for some reason the puck's going in now. 57:46 So obviously once one goes in, you start getting some confidence and then you still feel more comfortable in the Ozone with the puck. 57:52 And I think that's ultimately helped me have some success. 57:57 Do line changes with different personnel make much difference? 58:02 You know, I don't think so. 58:04 I don't think that much. 58:05 You know, we all play with each other, whether it's two on two in practice, three on two, we shuffle lines around. 58:12 And I hadn't played with Cammy for the majority of the year and now we play together this weekend and I still think there's similar chemistry that we had the last couple of years playing together. 58:22 Sure, good to see him going, wasn't it? 58:24 Yeah, obviously Cammy is an extremely talented kid, so when he's scoring we do better. 58:28 Justin, again, the Nikes are starting to get ready at the TCF Bank Stadium. 58:31 What do you remember about playing outdoors in that environment? 58:34 Yeah, it was one of my best memories of college for sure. 58:37 I just remember, you know, it almost didn't even feel like a hockey game just because of the environment, you know, I don't know, 30,000, 40,000 people and outdoor rink. 58:47 The ice is obviously the best shape, what you're used to, but both teams have to deal with it and it kind of brings you back to, you know, what we grew up on and it was really exciting playing that game and I'm glad I was able to do it. 58:59 I don't know what the schedule is, are any of you guys going to go? 59:03 Somebody help me out. 59:03 Is that something they could go to or are they around? 59:05 I can't remember the dates. 59:06 We'll probably try to stay out of the cold if it's too cold anyways. 59:10 I'd camp at home and watch from there. 59:20 Yeah, for sure. 59:21 I mean, we played our entire freshman and sophomore season together, so it was basically three straight years of having the same left wing. 59:29 So, it was obviously we've had some success and then they put us back together last weekend and we did okay, so hopefully if we stay together, we're able to continue to create offense and if we don't, hopefully we both find ways to help the team when we're on separate lines. 59:46 How would you describe the Buckeyes? 59:48 You know, the Buckeyes, they're an extremely dangerous team. 59:52 Obviously, you see the Christmas tournament when they went down in Florida and beat two top ten teams and then they can score, they play fast, they have good forwards and they're dangerous. 1:00:02 We needed two overtime games to beat them here at Mariucci, so obviously going to Columbus, it's going to be a battle. 1:00:08 What challenges is there going down to Columbus and playing on the road in that giant building? 1:00:13 You know, obviously, you're not sure what atmosphere you're going to get down there, but it's just going to be tough because when you get down to this point in the season, everyone's systems get better, everyone's freshmen are older and make less mistakes, so it becomes a little tighter game, a little harder to score, and you see more one-goal games. 1:00:31 So I'm sure that's probably what the games will be like this coming weekend, and hopefully we're on the good side. 1:00:38 Your coach has said your team has to be okay winning a 2-1 game. 1:00:41 How difficult is it for you to measure those chances? 1:00:46 Yeah, I mean, it's tough. 1:00:47 We haven't had a ton of those wins this year, which is frustrating. 1:00:51 You'd think we probably would because we've got an outstanding goalie. 1:00:53 But I think it's just limiting our mistakes. 1:00:56 We're a team that seemingly, when we make mistakes, they're really bad ones. 1:01:01 So hopefully we'll limit those as these next four or five weeks of the season go on. 1:01:06 And I think we will find ourselves at the end of the season with a few 2-1 wins. 1:01:12 Do you sense from the coaches that that third period decision making is a point of emphasis from them? 1:01:17 Yeah, for sure. 1:01:18 I mean, especially as an older guy and a leader, I kind of take responsibility for some of those third period losses this year. 1:01:26 It's frustrating on my part as well as speaking for the other upperclassmen. 1:01:30 But as we get into these final few weeks, I think it will just continue to be critical and hopefully we'll step up each night. 1:01:40 High school playoffs start next week. 1:01:41 Do you guys follow at all? 1:01:42 Is there any good-natured back and forth in the locker room or are you guys too busy to really stay on it? 1:01:46 Especially you considering. 1:01:47 Yeah, I mean, there's definitely good-natured and good poking at each other with high school hockey because so many of us grew up in Minnesota and played at our schools. 1:01:56 So I check in on the Lakeville South, see how they're doing sometimes. 1:02:01 Unfortunately, North has kind of had the upper hand in that battle the last few years, so Jack Sadick can give me a little earful about that. 1:02:09 But I quickly reminded me, still a freshman, so everything works out okay. 1:02:14 But yeah, it's fun to have a big Minnesota high school hockey culture in the locker room. 1:02:20 Thanks, Justin. 1:02:21 Thanks, Josh. 1:02:21 Thanks, guys. 1:02:22 I was getting it, and I figured...