0:05
This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
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Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe, and your host, Jupiter.
0:40
Welcome to The GPL Podcast.
0:43
We're back here for episode number 89.
0:47
That's right, 89.
0:50
We have a guest plan to come on tonight.
0:52
Dave Schwartz from Channel 11.
0:55
His wife threw a little surprise birthday party for him, so he is going to join us as soon as he can.
1:00
So we'll add him on once he is available.
1:04
Hammy is in Vegas, might be a little too partied up to join us, but he said if he does become available and he's not too hammered, he'll join us.
1:15
But otherwise, it's just you and me, Veegs, until Schwartz comes on.
1:19
Yeah, that's fine, you know, it's a big week.
1:21
You know, you gotta have the podcast.
1:23
Yeah, yeah, gotta have the podcast.
1:26
You know, I think we're scheduled for podcast every week through the end of season right now.
1:30
I wanna say to the end of March.
1:35
I think that brings us to, I wanna say either the week before regional or the week after, something like that.
1:42
I can't quite remember.
1:45
After that, I'm not sure because, well, I'll just let everybody know, I'm starting to go through this kind of divorce thing.
1:52
I know it's really exciting, not really.
1:55
So I am moving out in April 1st, so I'm a little concerned about the connections and all the internet and all that stuff.
2:01
So if for some reason the team happens to play well and makes it further, which there's no guarantee, I'm not sure we'll be able to put a podcast together.
2:11
So we at least know we have it going for about the next month.
2:15
I wanna say about five more shows, but beyond that, I just don't know right now.
2:21
So we'll just keep our fingers crossed and we'll have to see what happens.
2:26
I'm gonna see if I look at my calendar here, it looks like we have it through at least 23rd.
2:30
You know, I can maybe pull off a 30th show, but we've got it planned through the 23rd, which brings us just past the Big Ten tournament and pre-regional if the team makes it.
2:42
Who knows if that's gonna happen.
2:44
Well, let's just take everything one day at a time, one game at a time.
2:47
Well, that's kind of my philosophy now.
2:50
In my personal life, one day at a time now.
2:53
So we'll just have to work with it.
2:55
Well, Veegs, obviously we got a huge week this week.
2:58
Michigan's coming to town and we're gonna get to that, but we had a week off and we just swept Ohio State at Ohio State and that's kind of a big deal, Veegs.
3:10
I mean, Ohio State plays us very well.
3:13
At least they have, ever since we got in at the Big Ten tournament.
3:17
They played their third straight overtime game.
3:19
They had two back in Mariucci and then go to Ohio State and then they pull out an overtime win there after Ohio State had tied the game with.1 seconds left.
3:29
The next night they managed to win without an overtime, but let's kind of go over what happened there out there at Ohio State.
3:35
It was at least a move in the right direction, wasn't it?
3:38
Yeah, I think it was a good result for the Gophers going out there.
3:42
They'd never won two games at Ohio State.
3:44
You never know quite what you're gonna get at Valley City Arena.
3:48
It's a big rink and they don't get a lot of fans there.
3:51
So, it's up to the team to kind of generate their own juice for that series.
3:56
And I think Minnesota played pretty well throughout the weekend.
4:00
Don Luchia has gone with these balanced lines the last couple weeks.
4:04
He's got kind of one big guy on the top three lines.
4:07
Cluess has got his line, Fashing's got his line, Bristad's got his line.
4:12
I think those three guys are kind of the anchors for the top nine.
4:16
And by dividing them up, he's trying to get some balance.
4:19
And I think the team went out to Ohio State and played a pretty patient game.
4:25
Even when they struggled early in the first game, they stuck with it and they're rewarded both nights.
4:33
Yeah, it was a big deal, I think.
4:36
Like you said, they had never won both games at Value City, at least not since we started the Big Ten.
4:42
I wanna say we went out there about 10 years ago on a road trip when Ohio State was terrible and they might've swept then, but in conference where it's important, they hadn't done that.
4:51
So, like you said, it's a big deal and hopefully it kind of built the confidence on them for this weekend.
4:56
We'll just have to see.
4:58
Well, Nate Wells is already giving me a hard time for not having Dave Schwartz on right off the bat.
5:02
He's already claiming it's a bait and switch, but Nate, I have good news for you as Mr.
5:08
Dave Schwartz from Channel 11 now joins us.
5:10
Dave, how are you?
5:11
I'm good, can you hear me okay?
5:13
I can hear you just fine.
5:14
I was a little concerned that we hadn't done any tests, but apparently you've got a party going on there, don't you?
5:21
I did actually, it was an impromptu birthday party that my wife threw and did not know that it was happening.
5:26
Don't you love that?
5:28
Yeah, well, you know, it was nice, I appreciated it, it was nice and so we're-
5:32
And you're 40 this year, right?
5:34
What's that?
5:35
You're 40 this year, right?
5:37
Close enough, close enough to 40.
5:39
Cause I remember your sister, your sister gave you a hard time last year.
5:43
And I just went with it, so.
5:46
Wow, sounds like it is a party there.
5:48
It is a party, they're making fun of me about something.
5:51
Yeah, probably from being 40, which you're not 40, you're what?
5:54
36, 37?
5:56
The big three, seven.
6:01
I don't feel so young most days, but you know.
6:03
Dude, I'm 43.
6:05
43.
6:07
I'm old.
6:09
I'm old, I'll just, I'll admit it, that's fine.
6:12
Well, I thank you for joining us.
6:13
Obviously, you guys all know Dave from Channel 11 Sports, he does stories all throughout the week, and then he pretty much hosts the weekend, and you get your famous bow ties on Sunday.
6:23
You just got it all going for you, don't you?
6:26
Well, I mean, if you call working all day Sunday and bow ties got it going for you, then I am living the dream, I'll tell you that.
6:33
Well, you are doing some hockey writing, though, too, aren't you?
6:36
Yeah, I am.
6:37
I've been writing for Minutes for the Hockey magazine for a couple years now, so I enjoy that as well.
6:43
It's fun to talk about that and fun to get a chance to expound a little bit on some hockey.
6:48
So it's a good time, I like it.
6:51
Oh, that's awesome.
6:52
Well, we definitely appreciate you coming on.
6:55
I know you were kind of concerned you hadn't followed the team as much lately, but for us, it's more about just having a hockey guy on.
7:03
Yeah, you know what, I try to watch.
7:06
I mean, the problem is, and I'm sure you guys have discussed this, is that it's not as, I'm not breaking ground here.
7:15
Gopher Hockey is not as exciting in the Big Ten as it was when it was in the WCHA.
7:20
You are preaching to the choir.
7:22
I'm sure I'm not the first person to say that.
7:25
It's just, it's been really, I get why they made the move financially and so forth, but I miss, I'll be the first to say it, I miss WCHA hockey.
7:36
Well, you're not the only one.
7:37
I mean, we've been trying to tell people, hey, it's time to get over it.
7:41
It's not gonna change, but you know, our feelings are still there.
7:45
People are still angry.
7:46
You know, Veegs, you know, we've talked about this a lot still.
7:48
People are still angry and they're not getting over it yet, are they Veegs?
7:53
Yeah, I think there's a lot of apathy with college hockey right now.
7:57
It's not just affecting Minnesota.
7:59
I think it's also affecting Duluth.
8:02
You know, they're having the same problem with their arena with a lot of no shows.
8:06
It's just, you know, people don't have that final five at the end of the season to connect with other fans.
8:12
So you kind of lose that rivalry aspect of, you know, I know their fans.
8:17
I see the same people every year.
8:19
So I'm going to talk trash to them the whole year, you know, with the switch to the Big Ten.
8:24
I don't know anybody from Michigan who wants to talk trash about hockey.
8:27
Well, for one thing, you're not going to have Michigan people showing up in, you know, in St.
8:32
Paul anyway.
8:33
Yeah, it's very rare.
8:34
Even when Michigan football comes to Minnesota, there's not that many fans who come with.
8:38
It's not like Nebraska, where in Nebraska football, they bring tons of people to the stadium.
8:44
Wisconsin football, they bring tons of people to the stadium.
8:47
There just isn't that traveling crowd with BigTen Hockey.
8:50
You know, we saw some Minnesota fans go out to Ohio State and, you know, they stood out because they wear their jerseys and they know the cheers and they get on TV because of it.
9:00
Well, Dave, we have talked about a lot of this in the past that what has really hurt the BigTen right now is Wisconsin.
9:07
Them being so terrible right now is not helping Minnesota or any other teams because it's just embarrassing how bad they've become.
9:16
Well, the BigTen itself has just not impressed me when it comes to the hockey aspect of it.
9:22
You know, you look at the Gophers, they're the best team in the BigTen.
9:27
They go outside the BigTen for a weekend for the North Star Cup and they get run out of the buildings by the WCHA and the NCHC and you come back the next day, the next week, you talk to Lucia and she says, yeah, you know, it just goes to show you how...
9:46
I'm on a radio show right now.
9:48
Do you mind if I have a couple minutes, please?
9:50
That's my daughter, by the way, who's up after bed time.
9:53
Oh boy.
9:55
I just, it bothers me because you come back the next Monday and it says, well, you know, what this tells us is that we really, you know, we still have a lot of good teams to play in the Big Ten and it tells us how, you know, we have a really good chance of winning this thing.
10:08
No, what it tells me is that the Big Ten is garbage and then you go outside the Big Ten and you see that.
10:15
And, you know, I don't mean to be so glib about this, but it shows it so blatantly to me that, you know, the North Star Cup, it's not, it's barely even a rivalry anymore because they can't win, they can't win any of the games, you know, and it's upsetting.
10:30
The problem I have with North Star Cup is that it's just that.
10:32
It's kind of a gimmick.
10:34
There's really nothing on the line.
10:35
You know, when you're playing Duluth and St.
10:38
Cloud and all these teams before, it meant something.
10:41
It was for something.
10:42
Yes.
10:43
Now it's just, let's just keep all the Minnesota people happy because we're still playing each other.
10:48
That's touchy feely crap.
10:52
I mean, it could turn into something nice, but right now I think people are still mad that it just doesn't mean anything.
10:58
There's no points on the line.
10:59
And it's not exciting.
11:00
I mean, if you ask any Gopher fan, any of them, what's the one team they want to play again?
11:05
What's the one team, if they had their choice to see it all on the line, who would they want to play?
11:09
Of course it's North Dakota.
11:10
North Dakota, and they are nowhere in the North Star Cup and you barely ever see them.
11:15
And that's what people want to see again.
11:17
They want that rivalry.
11:18
And then, you know, the Duluths and the St.
11:21
Cloud states, they're nice secondary rivalries, but let's not, you know, you got to call spade to spade here.
11:26
They are, they have lost their biggest rival and it was North Dakota.
11:29
You couldn't even get, I remember a couple years ago, this was many years ago now, going down there on a Friday night after a show with some guys who I work with, just so we could stand there.
11:38
We couldn't even stand in a press box.
11:40
It was so packed.
11:41
We'd go walk around the concourse just trying to find a place.
11:45
Now, you could walk down and sit in the front if you want to go watch and play Penn State.
11:50
And that's just so troubling.
11:51
And it's, you know, for me, for someone who, I don't necessarily have a stake in the game per se because I didn't grow up watching the Gophers.
11:59
But it does bother me to see what was really a great product and a fun, exciting product to turn into what it is now, which is still very good, very good college hockey players.
12:10
Don't get me wrong, the talent on this team is there.
12:12
They're still excellent players.
12:14
But the rivalries, the excitement, the atmosphere is not the same as it was.
12:17
And you just can't bring that back.
12:19
Well, Vig just kind of goes right back to Wisconsin.
12:22
Wisconsin was a big rivalry in the WCHA.
12:26
And now, since they're super down, this just makes this whole transition even worse.
12:32
It's like, it's the Gophers' worst nightmare.
12:35
I mean, they're kind of forced into switching leagues and their biggest rival in that new league has just completely tanked.
12:43
If Wisconsin was good, if they were putting up some competition, it wouldn't be as bad.
12:48
But right now, there's just nothing there.
12:51
I mean, they went down there to Wisconsin a few weeks ago and just killed them.
12:55
Yeah, it's bad timing.
12:56
I mean, Wisconsin down, Michigan State's down.
12:59
They used to be a premier program back when they had Ryan Miller between the pipes.
13:03
And with both those programs down, it really makes the Big Ten less attractive.
13:09
I think one of the other issues with the Big Ten is they've got Brad Traviola, who's kind of their spokesperson and he readily admitted to Drew Claussen in an article that he's a non-hockey guy and he doesn't understand how people aren't excited when Michigan State is coming to town.
13:25
And you just have a guy who's just out of touch with hockey.
13:29
And I hope that after this year, I know that the Minnesota staff is gonna be sitting with the Big Ten saying, how are we gonna move forward?
13:37
What are we gonna do with our conference tournament?
13:39
What are we gonna do with our conference scheduling?
13:42
What are we gonna do with adding potential teams to the conference?
13:46
And I think they really have to take a hard look about getting hockey people in these leadership roles and making decisions that are gonna benefit hockey programs.
13:55
I also think it doesn't help them that you look at, the WCHA has done pretty well, the NCHC has taken off.
14:04
The teams that are in the conference are playing well, they're consistently ranked in the top of the conference, and there's good rivalries there still.
14:11
That really hurts them.
14:13
I mean, you look around if you're a Gopher fan and you think, we left for this, the NCHC is doing great and the WCHA for the most part is fine too.
14:22
And now, we've left and we're crushing teams that shouldn't even be on the ice with us.
14:29
Well, it all did come down to Minnesota.
14:32
I don't know the rules and the bylaws and stuff, but if I recall, Minnesota really didn't want anything to go to the Big Ten.
14:40
They liked their setup, the way it was, it was just working great.
14:45
And obviously this change was not in their best interest, but they were kind of forced to go along with it.
14:51
And now you look at the audience, I mean, Veegs, you did a story last year showing they're having at least 2000 no shows a night.
15:01
I mean, that's not, it wasn't because of the performance on the ice, it's just people don't care.
15:05
They don't want to come see Penn State, Ohio State, or whatever it may be.
15:09
I mean, that's a lot of tickets that are sold that our people aren't showing up and that's not cheap.
15:14
Yeah, it's really surprising to see that many unused tickets.
15:18
I know Wisconsin had that issue the last couple of years, but it's disappointing to see.
15:24
I think what you're seeing the university do this weekend is they're selling the $10 standard only tickets to try to get an extra 1,000 people in the building to try to get close to 9.95 for attendance this weekend.
15:37
Because this is the premiere weekend on the schedule right now.
15:40
Michigan's the other team that plays entertaining hockey and if they don't get a full building this weekend, they've got bigger issues.
15:49
Well, before we get to talk about Michigan, we need to hear from our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey.
15:57
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16:05
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16:10
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16:22
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16:53
All right, boys, Michigan's coming to down and Veegs, we've been hoping that this rival will be take off.
17:00
Obviously, Michigan's had a couple cheap shot artists on their team in the last few meetings that have gone after some of our players.
17:09
And we kind of hoped, I'm talking on previous podcasts, this would hopefully kind of build that rivalry, but this weekend is the time to build it even more.
17:18
I mean, what do you think here, Veegs?
17:21
Well, Michael Downing is public enemy number one.
17:24
He's got three five-minute major game misconducts in the last eight games against Minnesota.
17:32
So obviously, when you're playing the same team four or five times a year, you can build up some animosity towards these guys.
17:39
And I read some of his quotes in the Michigan student paper and he basically thought he was wronged with the suspensions that he got.
17:48
He doesn't think that it was even a penalty.
17:50
So you've got a guy who's out there just playing reckless.
17:53
So hopefully, I think you're gonna see a lot of energy this weekend.
17:58
Michigan's got probably the best line in the country with the CCM line, three of the four leading scorers in the country for college hockey.
18:06
They're pretty exciting.
18:07
And I don't think you're gonna see Minnesota put a checking line against them.
18:10
So even though they have last changed, because Lucia has balanced the lines, they're gonna need a team of five to shut those guys down.
18:18
Now, Dave, we kind of talked about they need some kind of rivalry come back.
18:22
Obviously, North Dakota's not coming back.
18:23
Michigan really needs to be that team.
18:25
So maybe having a player like a downing kind of start to goon it up and feel wronged about all this stuff is something that could be built on.
18:36
Whenever you get that guy that, I mean, I remember last year, we spoke about Wisconsin, and one of the most exciting games of last year is when they nearly brawled at the end of the game, and each team had five guys in the penalty box, and the place was going crazy, and it was fun.
18:54
And so, I mean, anytime you can have that, and certainly Michigan could turn into that, it takes a while.
19:01
It takes more than one season.
19:03
It takes more than one player.
19:05
You know, that's the great rivalries.
19:06
It's the Crest, not the guys necessarily on the roster, although certainly they can kind of get in your craw a little bit as well.
19:12
So, I think it certainly has the makings just because they're so close in the standings as well.
19:18
This game will mean so much that it could be, I worry, I won't say worry, but you know, one of the things about Don Uchiha, and everyone knows this, is that he really does harp about his team being disciplined, and he, it is rare in the time that I've been here that I think about it, that you get one or two guys just kind of lose their mind and go rogue and they'll scrap and that kind of thing.
19:42
He has this guy, we can say a lot of bad things about Don, a lot of good things about Don.
19:46
The one thing I'll always say about Don Uchiha is he always has his guys very disciplined to not take stupid penalties and to play the right way.
19:54
And so, I don't necessarily know if they're gonna, you know, if the big fight's gonna happen, if they'll have to, you know, which is often what the great rivalries come up with, because it does happen at some point.
20:05
But I do think it'll be a very good hockey game against two good teams fighting for that top spot.
20:10
Well, you mentioned that kind of little bit of brawl with Wisconsin.
20:13
I mean, that was with, what was it, Wico with Wisconsin Vs?
20:18
Yeah, Wico has not been a friend of the Moody Goals either.
20:21
I mean, obviously he went after, you know, he went after Brischtad last year late in the game, same thing against Sheehy.
20:30
Sheehy and then Conner Riley as well.
20:32
Yeah, I mean, that was this season.
20:33
He got kicked out of those games, got an extra suspension.
20:37
Obviously, that is the type of thing that would hopefully build a rivalry, but it would only really work if Wisconsin was actually threatening to win and had a good team.
20:45
So, you know, the Wico with Wisconsin, you know, maybe they'll come back in a couple weeks, but downing with Michigan is a legit thing.
20:54
And, you know, I wish the fans knew more about this kid because, you know, he has been kind of thugging it up a little bit and he'd be, oh, I get suspended.
21:02
I don't understand why.
21:03
And boy, we need this become a rivalry because Michigan has been a strong program forever.
21:12
And, you know, back in the WCHA days, you know, when we would play Michigan and Michigan State during the College Hockey Showcase, one of my favorite weekends of the year.
21:23
So I really hope we could build something with Michigan and then just hope that Wisconsin comes back because if it doesn't, this Big Ten is just gonna be a failure.
21:31
I'm sorry.
21:34
Any thoughts, Veegs?
21:36
Well, I just think Michigan was always that measuring stick because they were the premier team from the CCHA.
21:42
You know, it was always a really important series for pairwise and it's one of the longest rivalries going back.
21:48
I remember when the US.
21:52
Hockey did their development program stuff, they used to divide up the prospects by state.
21:58
So there'd be a Team Minnesota, Team Michigan, a Team Connecticut and a lot of people would say that Minnesota-Michigan game was always an exciting game because those players didn't like each other and they wanted to prove that their state was the best.
22:11
I know USA Hockey's gotten away with that.
22:13
Now they have Team Blue and Pink and Purple to kind of take that out of it.
22:19
Yeah, I can sense exactly what you're saying and I agree with it.
22:24
So, you know, I think this is the opportunity for Minnesota kids and Michigan kids to go at it.
22:31
I hope so because like you said, they were a measuring stick back then and now we need them to become the rivalry that they were.
22:38
You know, I would say even back during those days of the WCJ or even going further back when they were in the same conference.
22:45
So, you know, there's only so much Minnesota can do.
22:49
They can, you know, this, they have a chance of winning their third straight regular season title in the Big Ten and fifth straight overall conference title leagues.
22:57
So, it's important that they play well this weekend, but it's important that those other teams perform well too because I'm sorry, the Big Ten is just going to be the joke unless some of these other teams improve.
23:09
Well, there's been a Big Ten team in the national title game, I think, half of the last decade for games, so.
23:17
Yeah, but that was before the Big Ten, dude.
23:23
Minnesota was in it a couple years ago.
23:25
Yeah, I know, but.
23:26
Against Union, for some reason ran them out.
23:30
Yeah.
23:30
I was at that game.
23:32
Weird, they've got this defenseman, the NHL is doing really well right now.
23:36
Well, it cracks me up because, so I grew up watching Union, and I grew up watching Union play RPI out in the Albany, New York area.
23:46
And RPI would always be, it was the powerhouse, and Union was basically the Division I school that didn't have any scholarships.
23:52
And if I'm correct, they still don't have any scholarships.
23:56
If I'm correct, unless they've changed that, which they very well could have.
23:58
Well, they must be cheating then.
24:00
RPI would be beaten by, what's that?
24:01
They must be cheating then.
24:04
I'm just going to go with it.
24:05
You win a couple and you keep winning, but they've really come on the last couple years.
24:11
So I remember going into that national title game and telling people, everyone who would listen, oh, the Gophers, you're going to kill them.
24:17
This is Union College.
24:18
Union College is awful.
24:20
They just ran them out of the building, but.
24:23
Well, that game was close until very late.
24:26
Yeah, and then they scored a couple of real big goals and they could never recover.
24:33
But from what I remember, that game, they were lucky to only lose by as much as they did because it was Union was playing really well and probably could have scored a couple more if my memory is correct.
24:46
Another thing, if I recall, I mean, we talked earlier about how Lucia likes to push discipline play and there was some really bad discipline play on the defensive end in that game.
24:57
I mean, I remember just some wide open nets where some guys weren't even covered.
25:03
Adam Wilcox was good, but he can only do so much.
25:06
That's kind of the same for every goalie though.
25:08
You can only do so much.
25:09
Obviously, we worried about coming into the season, who's this new guy?
25:12
Who's this Shearhorn guy?
25:14
I mean, how much worse could it be without Shearhorn right now, Veegs?
25:18
Well, I think he's really been the MVP this season.
25:21
He has played phenomenally between the pipes and it's not like they're playing a tight defensive structure in front of him.
25:27
You know, this team still is giving up odd man rushes, breakaways, plenty of power play chances, and he's kept them in it this season.
25:37
He's the only reason this program has a chance at a conference title and an NCAA bid.
25:41
You know, I don't know if I've ever seen a goalie save so many breakaways in a season.
25:46
Well, Wilcox was pretty close.
25:49
He had a couple, yeah.
25:50
I don't remember Shearhorn giving one up.
25:53
It's very rare.
25:54
He's played very solid this season, and the guys have a lot of confidence in him, and I think he's gained confidence to kind of get guys in, you know, in shape and playing a little bit smarter with the puck.
26:06
And he's become a leader this year for them.
26:08
So, Dave, are we going to get you out to Mariucci the Thursday or Friday?
26:12
Can we get you to show up?
26:13
This week, or of the week of the tournament, you're saying?
26:16
No, come out to Mariucci tomorrow night.
26:20
Here's the problem.
26:21
Two things.
26:22
One, tomorrow is my birthday.
26:24
So my family is taking me out to dinner.
26:25
Lucky you.
26:26
So I won't be there tomorrow night.
26:28
And Friday night, I can't stay up that late because I've got to get up early on Saturday morning.
26:31
Are you doing the Saturday morning show again?
26:33
I am.
26:34
Have you become full time on that now?
26:36
Well, they're not really telling me.
26:39
They're testing you, aren't they?
26:41
I'm filling in until they're done me filling in or making a decision.
26:47
There's a lot of moving parts.
26:49
I've learned at this point in my career, as they say, take it shift by shift and just give it everything I have.
26:56
Well, I know if you want to take one of those barrel-aged beers and just slam it on air every Saturday morning.
27:03
By 8 o'clock, I've been up for a couple hours, so technically it's not morning drinking anymore for me.
27:08
Okay.
27:08
That's a highlight for that Saturday morning show.
27:10
You always get some kind of booze on there.
27:12
And food, and plenty of, let me tell you something, the Saturday morning show is one of the most fun shows to work.
27:19
First of all, I mean, it's fun anyway because it's different, but you get great food, you get great drinks.
27:27
It's very relaxed, very different.
27:30
There's very little pressure as far as the environment.
27:35
On my other job, I like to say on Saturdays I have a double life.
27:39
It's that hard deadline and games end quick and you end up just hoping that they'll end and you're not really having a rooting interest and things kind of can get tense sometimes.
27:47
But the Saturday show, it's just different.
27:49
It's very relaxed.
27:50
It's laid back.
27:52
We don't have a lot of scripts.
27:53
You just kind of make it up on the fly and it's fun.
27:57
It's very different.
27:57
But the problem with that is I do not get to stay up very late on Fridays, so I often only catch, if I'm going to watch any, you know, maybe the first period or two of a Gopher game or The Wild or the Timberwolves.
28:12
That was tough for you to say, wasn't it?
28:14
I've watched a couple of games this year.
28:16
Yes, Timberwolves.
28:20
That's another podcast for another time.
28:22
Well, I don't know.
28:23
I used to watch when KG was a rookie.
28:26
Ever since then, though, I haven't watched too much NBA.
28:29
I will say this, they're on the cusp of being the most exciting they've been in about a decade, if not longer.
28:36
So they're not going to make postseason this year, and they may not next year.
28:39
But two or three years, this team will, as long as they can figure out salary camp issues, they'll be able to make a run.
28:47
So do you have any articles coming up anytime soon?
28:50
I do, actually.
28:51
I'm working on one tonight.
28:52
I was working on one today, and hopefully it will be out tomorrow or Friday on the state tournament.
28:57
And just, you know, why I love it, why it's so much fun.
29:01
I had a chance to talk with Mark Parrish, Natalie Darwitz, and Anders Lee about their time at the tournament and how much fun they had.
29:11
And, you know, just kind of the memories.
29:14
And it was interesting because, in fact, I talked to Anders Lee today, and I just kind of let him run with it a little bit, and he was just kind of talking about his first game, and he said, yeah, the funny thing is, he said, it was the worst game I had ever played.
29:26
To this day, it was the worst game I had ever played.
29:29
He said, the nerves get to you.
29:30
It's just everything is a whirlwind.
29:32
And, you know, Mark Parrish talked about how, as nervous as he's been in bigger spots and in bigger games, and this is a guy who's played 722 NHL games.
29:40
He played in the Olympics.
29:42
He said, because of where you are in your life and that you've never dealt with something like this before, he's never been as nervous as he was before his first state tournament game.
29:53
Yeah, I'm guessing it also didn't help.
29:55
He had some really good teammates on some of those games.
29:58
He did bring that up, and he was a sophomore.
30:00
He's like, I'm on this bus wondering what in the world I'm doing here.
30:04
But you just think about where you are.
30:06
You think, oh, this guy played, you know, the NHL he played in the Olympics, but he said, no, he said you're young and you're just a kid and trying to deal with these nerves that you've never had before.
30:15
By the time you get to college and the pros, you've dealt with all that.
30:18
It's nothing new to play a big game.
30:21
So it's cool.
30:22
It's come together well.
30:23
Of course, Natalie Darwitz is one of my favorite people to talk to in the world.
30:27
And she talked about how much fun she had and, you know, just a great time and the spectacle of it and how the whole town comes out.
30:35
And, you know, basically the entire place shuts down just so they can come watch you play hockey.
30:39
And it's very exciting and it's fun.
30:42
As always, I'm looking forward to this state tournament like I do every year.
30:45
It is my favorite time of year really.
30:47
Well, speaking of the tournament, Veegs, I just saw Nate Wells tweet that Jackson Nelson out of Laverne had a hat trick tonight, but it was not enough to beat Litchfield and get to a state tournament.
30:59
They lost 7 to 6.
31:01
I like that kid.
31:03
I like the way he...
31:04
The stats he put up this year are incredible.
31:07
Yeah, I mean, obviously people are going to come back and say, oh, the competition, blah, blah, blah.
31:11
I'm sorry, you put up that many points.
31:14
You know what I say when people say that?
31:15
I say Joey Benick and Ben Hanowski.
31:18
Bingo.
31:19
Those are the two names I always bring up.
31:20
And even Johnny Pole to some point.
31:22
I mean, Johnny Pole was playing some pretty subpar competition when he was lighting it up.
31:26
You put up over 100 points like Hanowski did up in Louisville.
31:30
I don't care who you're playing.
31:31
That's impressive.
31:33
Yeah, yeah.
31:35
Is he still a couple years out, Veegs?
31:38
Yeah, he's only a sophomore, so I think he's got a big decision.
31:40
Oh, he's further up than that.
31:42
Holy cow, he's only a sophomore.
31:43
He's scoring that many points as a sophomore?
31:45
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's a sophomore.
31:47
He's one of the younger kids, so he's got a big decision whether he's going to move on to the USHL next year or maybe the U-17 team.
31:55
I think because he's basically from the Sioux Falls area, that would make a good sense for him because he's a family kid, and so it would be hard for him to move.
32:08
It is tough when they play that schedule though because this has kind of been the issue for Laverne all season.
32:13
They've had a lot of games where he's done very well, but the team just isn't good enough to get him over the hump.
32:20
And he does lose one of his teammates who's also super talented.
32:23
He's a senior who's going to move on.
32:25
So that might have been Laverne's last shot there for a while.
32:30
You know, I'm normally not in favor of kids leaving high school to go to juniors or something like that, but if you're at Laverne and you want to try to play for that next, you know, you want to kind of move on, I would say, if you're scoring the goal, it's time to step up competition, especially if you're putting up numbers like that kid did this year, because I remember looking at him and thinking, oh, he's a cinch for Mr.
32:48
Hockey, and then I looked, and not necessarily a cinch, because obviously, Tufty's probably a cinch, but like the numbers, and then I said, holy cow, he's only a sophomore.
32:59
I think the state tournament has kind of lost its luster for me.
33:04
I mean, obviously, Dave, you weren't here kind of during its heyday.
33:08
You know, when it was a single tournament.
33:10
The clear boards you're talking about?
33:11
Well, the clear boards.
33:13
Parrish brought those up to me.
33:14
The single tournament.
33:16
Parrish, yeah, but Parrish did play at least in a two-tier and a double-A type of tournament.
33:22
The two-tier was probably the worst decision.
33:24
That was bad.
33:25
That was bad.
33:26
But I don't know, I just enjoyed the days, you know, where it used to be Channel 4 broadcasting all the games.
33:35
They would show every game because there was less games, but you'd see all the consolation games, the third-place game, consolation championship.
33:44
And now you only see the main games because there's double the teams.
33:47
You don't see any consolation.
33:49
You don't see the third-place games.
33:51
I used to enjoy the whole weekend, and now I just don't as much anymore.
33:55
And another thing is, like you guys talked about, some of these really good players, they leave and they go play juniors.
34:00
Whereas if somebody like a Spiehar or the like, you see them coming every year.
34:05
You look forward to seeing them come and dominate a tournament, and you're just not seeing that like you did back in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
34:15
I feel like the trend, though, is for these kids to stay.
34:18
And the last couple years at the banquets, I MC the AA and the AA banquets, and Trent Clatt was the keynote speaker last year.
34:29
He at the time was in the Islanders organization.
34:31
Now he's the head coach at Grand Rapids, I believe.
34:34
And he had this great speech about why kids should stay for their senior year.
34:39
And he talked about going to the Western Hockey League and getting his butt kicked and all this stuff.
34:43
And is it really worth it?
34:44
And you could just see the kids on it.
34:46
The kids were listening.
34:47
And there were seniors that were high-end seniors who were sticking around.
34:52
And you'd hear the coaches.
34:53
And even some of the parents say, yeah, you know, it is good to stay.
34:57
And Kyle Rouse of the World who decided to want to stay and try to win, I believe he came back.
35:02
He came back for his senior year.
35:03
So I just think the trend is going towards, they may want to go play juniors in the office after their high school season is over.
35:13
But most of all, I think they want to stay and try to win a state title.
35:16
I think that's the way the trend is going.
35:18
And also back in the day when I was in high school or just after or when you were in high school, Veegs, the junior leagues were really meant for kids after high school.
35:25
You didn't see a lot of the younger kids.
35:28
Yeah, I think it's definitely been a trend for kids to leave junior probably in the last five or six years.
35:33
And it's because those top end kids don't want to spend that extra year in junior and not in college.
35:40
Because a lot of the colleges are saying, hey, you need to play your junior hockey before we'll have you on our roster.
35:46
And now they're even stretching it to, you know, we want you to play two years or maybe three years.
35:51
And so I don't think it's in the kids' best interest.
35:53
I think we get back to that age limit for kids coming into college.
35:57
And I think that affects this high school issue about whether kids stay or go.
36:00
All right.
36:02
I don't know.
36:04
I just think it's lost its luster.
36:05
Maybe it's just me.
36:06
I'm getting old.
36:07
You know, I can kind of like set my ways, get off my lawn, bring it back the old days.
36:12
You know, for me, it's still, the state tournament is always the same thing.
36:18
It's the same reason why sometimes it's fun to just watch a random high school game.
36:23
It's to be able to see the kids before they're going to be the next big thing.
36:28
It's to watch the Blake Wheelers in the state tournament.
36:30
It's to watch the Anders Lee and the Nick Bukesteads and the Riley Tufties, although he's not going to be there this year either.
36:38
But, you know, to see the kids before they become big stars, and that's why I, that's what I like.
36:44
I like to see those kids and go, oh, you know what, yeah, he's going to be something.
36:47
And then, you know, watch, unfortunately, Grant Bessie go to Wisconsin.
36:52
And, you know, see the kids play in high school and how good they can be, and then watch it good.
36:56
To me, that's the draw.
36:57
It's to see the future of what's coming.
36:59
And that's why I like it.
37:01
Didn't Bessie score like five goals in the championship game?
37:06
Oh, man, that was ridiculous.
37:09
And we all sat there, we all sat there and wondered why in the world did the Gophers not jump on him?
37:15
But I don't think they had much of a chance.
37:17
I think he wanted to go to Wisconsin.
37:19
You guys probably have a better beat on that than I do.
37:21
Well, usually Hammey would have a better beat on that.
37:24
But Hammey is in Vegas right now.
37:26
Yeah, what's up with that?
37:27
I thought he might be able to call in, but he's just too preoccupied.
37:31
And did he know I was coming on?
37:32
Because he loves more than anything, almost more than you do to give me garbage on Twitter.
37:37
Well, you see, you're a hockey guy.
37:41
And the one thing I've always noticed about hockey guys, hockey guys can take the BS, because they dish it out just as well.
37:48
So, I mean, maybe some of the other sports is not like that, but the hockey guys, we're just kind of a different breed.
37:53
It is.
37:56
I give you a hard time all the time, and then all of a sudden, you know, you show up at a media thing, and I'm not there, and you're like, where are you?
38:03
Where are you?
38:04
I'm here, where are you?
38:07
That's what I love.
38:08
I love the banter back and forth, because that's just what hockey guys do.
38:12
You're chirping, that's it.
38:13
That's what you do.
38:15
I enjoy your periscopes, by the way.
38:18
I try to join as often as I can.
38:21
I don't do it as much, because sometimes I just don't know what in the world.
38:24
I try to do them from an interesting location, although, you know, like Eric Perkins does, he's got the same time every night, and so people kind of tune in for that, which is also good, and that's kind of the key.
38:36
I just forget sometimes to do it, and then I think, who cares what I have to say when I'm driving in my car, but sometimes people do when I'm riding in the car.
38:45
I'm sorry, but the bits where you just record video of him typing on his keyboard just makes me laugh.
38:52
Every day.
38:53
That would drive me crazy.
38:55
You should see his keyboard.
38:57
My goodness.
38:58
Oh yeah, it's every day.
39:01
I'm sorry.
39:03
I love playing pranks on everybody.
39:06
I'm pretty much the prankster of the office.
39:08
I get it too, but I love to dish it out.
39:12
Well, let's get back to this weekend, guys.
39:14
Obviously, this is huge, Veegs.
39:17
I mean, three, four, five points is good.
39:21
I don't know if a split is really going to get us anywhere.
39:24
We need to have to kind of get a set of statements, a sweep or six, five points, something like that, because it's going to come important.
39:32
We need to get our pairwise number up, and this is a good weekend to do that.
39:36
Well, I think this is probably their last chance to get themselves a pairwise bid.
39:41
If they get a sweep here, they get the two quality wins, and they give themselves a chance.
39:45
I think they're still going to need some help with teams above them losing for them to jump in to 13 or 12.
39:53
But if they don't sweep, it's all about getting the buy into the Big Ten tournament and winning the conference tournament.
40:00
So it is a huge weekend, because it does give that pairwise bid some hope.
40:05
Oh, boy.
40:09
Well, Dave, we just don't know how the fans are going to react.
40:14
I'm sorry, they're still angry, and they think this team should be dominating the Big Ten, and they're just not quite doing that.
40:20
Being on the edge of the tournament is not really something that's happened a lot.
40:25
Well, I think Minnesota has dominated the Big Ten.
40:27
They only had three conference losses this year, and they haven't really been...
40:32
The conference lost at home all time, isn't it?
40:34
Yup, Michigan State or Penn State is the only team to beat them in Mariucci and Big Ten play, and they've done well on the road this year.
40:42
They got the sweep with Ohio State here, and they did okay in Michigan.
40:46
Getting a split there was huge.
40:49
So they're in good position in the conference.
40:51
It's just all those losses early in the year, Minnesota State, St.
40:56
Cloud State, Harvard, Bemidji and the North Star College Cup, those really hurt them this year.
41:04
But all those games were close, and I think this team has really developed over the year and knows how to play in all situations.
41:11
Justin Kloos talked about this yesterday.
41:14
This team's prepared for any situation.
41:16
Pulling their own goalie, have the other team pull their goalie, penalty's late, needing goals late, overtimes, they've had a lot of experience this year.
41:26
And Vegoe gets all that Lucia audio and obviously this Kloos audio.
41:30
He sends it to me and I put it on the end of every podcast.
41:32
So don't forget, if you want to hear Kloos, if you want to hear Don, just listen to the end of the podcast, if you're downloading it, and you'll get to hear it in all its glory.
41:40
It's usually about seven, ten minutes' worth of audio, so it's well worth listening to.
41:46
And this week you get to hear Don Lucia say he needs a Chuck-A-Puck for Beyonce tickets.
41:54
That's excellent.
41:55
This weekend, both nights, the university is giving away Beyonce tickets with Chuck-A-Puck.
42:00
So for a dollar, you get a Chuck-A-Puck, and if you put it at center ice, you get Beyonce tickets to see her at TCF this summer.
42:08
Get a pair and take Don Lucia with you.
42:10
Boy, I'll tell you what, I would buy the tickets just to see Don Lucia's reaction to be at Beyonce.
42:16
That would be worth the price.
42:18
Well, you know, we've talked about it a lot, is that Don really doesn't show a lot of emotion with anybody.
42:25
Or give his, you know, personality.
42:29
I mean, you know, in the past, we're used to a Wuger.
42:32
You know, you look at some of the other schools, you know, with the Hastings or Moscow, these guys, they kind of wear their, you know, their emotions and everything on their sleeve, whereas Don is very buttoned down and very quiet.
42:45
So, to have him want to go to Beyoncé, it's just like, huh, what?
42:51
That's, yeah, in Don's defense, and I've been covering him for almost, gosh darn, close to 10 years now, he's the one coach in the state that has never had to worry about selling his program, too.
43:04
And so he doesn't really need to do a whole lot of sell job on himself for the program, whereas some of those other schools probably do.
43:09
So, you know, if you, the complaint is that Don, you know, is it out there dancing and trying to, you know, run and grab recruits necessarily, he's never really had to.
43:18
And I think he's going to have to do it more so now because some of these other programs are coming on.
43:22
But he's never had to do it before.
43:24
Another thing happening this weekend, folks, Friday night, they will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1976 National Title Team.
43:35
So a lot of old, those old guys are going to come in and you'll get to see a lot of history there.
43:43
So that was the, I believe that was the first of their championships, wasn't it, Veegs?
43:49
1976 was their first national championship.
43:51
So this weekend, it's 40 years since then.
43:54
Yikes.
43:56
So I mean, that's always a good thing when you see all those old guys out on the ice.
43:59
I've been lucky enough to be down there for, you know, when they've done the 79 team or they've had the Olympians down there.
44:06
And when these guys get off the ice, it's like they're still a team.
44:10
They're kidding each other.
44:11
It's like they've never been separated by 20, 30 or 40 years.
44:16
So it's always special when they have these, you know, kind of reunions for these players on the ice.
44:20
So make sure you either tune in on BigTen or get down there to see it because it's always special to see those old teams come together again.
44:29
What else we got going on, guys?
44:31
I think we pretty much got everything covered.
44:33
I think we had a couple of questions.
44:34
We should probably get to those for a little while.
44:36
Yeah, I know.
44:38
We've got a couple of minutes for them.
44:39
Well, we do have a couple of minutes.
44:41
I know Tim Hapke is very concerned with Mike Smatula.
44:45
I'm glad you said it because I had no idea how to pronounce his last name.
44:48
Yeah, Smatula.
44:50
And he is a talent.
44:52
I've been to a couple of practices and he plays on the gray line with Ryan Reilly, AJ Michelson, Ryan Norman, guys who are kind of in and out of line up.
45:02
And he always flashes in practice.
45:05
He's very shifty.
45:06
He's very quick, very good on the puck.
45:08
I think he'll jump into a top six role and do very well.
45:12
And just a little information on that.
45:14
Smatula is the transfer from Northeastern, isn't he?
45:17
Yep.
45:17
So he had to sit out this season.
45:20
He's a point-of-game player out there.
45:22
And he knows Justin Cluse.
45:25
So I think that connection drove him to Minnesota.
45:29
And he'll be a valuable part of the team next year.
45:32
What about Sadik?
45:33
I see Matt asking about Sadik.
45:36
He still seems to be in one game out the other.
45:39
I mean, is this just Luchiatris trying to keep guys fresh?
45:42
Or will he stick with one of these guys?
45:44
Because obviously it's been either him or Collins.
45:47
And then once in a while, you know, he would put Glover in and out with Sadik.
45:52
But what do we do about Sadik here?
45:54
I think Minnesota still needs all seven defensemen.
45:57
So I don't think you'll see any of those guys, you know, be banished from the lineup.
46:02
I think you'll continue to see guys rotate in and out with that spot.
46:06
Sadik's, you know, definitely developed a lot this season.
46:09
I think his body's filling out a little bit more.
46:11
He was kind of a slight guy at the start of the season.
46:13
I think he's, you know, in that Caldeeds program and putting on a little bit of muscle.
46:18
And he definitely looks more comfortable.
46:19
His panic point's gone down over the season.
46:21
And, you know, he was making mistakes early in the season, maybe respecting the game too much.
46:27
And I think now he's kind of found his spot.
46:29
So he has looked good and I think he'll continue to rotate in.
46:33
There was actually a question that was sent to me on GPL from Bonin21.
46:36
He was asking about the coaching staff and wondering if they have any say in the ticket prices.
46:43
You know, he mentioned that he saw you tweet the staff push lower prices this week, you know, to try to fill the building.
46:48
But from what I've heard, Veegs, the jack up in ticket prices was sort of a Norwood Teague thing this year.
46:57
So I don't really think the staff has much choice on a lot of this stuff.
47:01
Obviously, you had mentioned something earlier this week.
47:03
So what did the coaching staff do?
47:06
Well, I think that the ticket office is totally separate from the hockey program.
47:11
I know that the scholarship seating, you know, that was a Teague thing that wasn't consulted with the coaching staff about how much to charge for seats and how much to charge for the scholarship seating.
47:21
So I think that's pretty separate.
47:22
But I think the coaching staff has been a little frustrated with the atmosphere in the building, you know, with all the no-shows.
47:28
And so I think they really pushed to try to get something done for this season for the last four games.
47:34
So I think those $10 standing room seats, I mean, that's what the students would pay for a standing room seat.
47:39
So to release that to the public is a pretty big deal.
47:42
Because I think they're usually 25, 30 bucks for a standing room seat.
47:46
So it's a great deal.
47:48
Now, Dave, earlier this year, a regular season ticket, a regular reserve ticket for Wisconsin is $70.
47:57
Oh my gosh.
47:58
Yes.
48:00
That's absurd.
48:03
It is.
48:03
I mean, obviously, the coaching staff doesn't have anything to do with that.
48:06
And we did some analysis on ticket prices earlier this year.
48:10
And that's general admission, correct?
48:12
No, that's an assigned seat.
48:14
Okay, so at least you have a good seat.
48:16
Yes.
48:19
But that's one of the problems.
48:21
You've got an apathetic fan base right now.
48:24
You've got the Big Ten that's down.
48:27
On top of that, you've got ticket prices ranging between $50 and $70.
48:33
I mean, I want to say on average they're about $54, which is more than double the next closest team in the Big Ten.
48:40
But at the same point, they are selling these tickets.
48:43
And that's just it.
48:43
Yeah, they are.
48:44
And that's what's even more confusing.
48:46
I mean, it's not like they're not selling these seats.
48:48
People are paying for them.
48:49
It's just they've got 15 to 2,000 people not going.
48:57
They are also, by the way, considerably cheaper than wild tickets.
49:00
I mean, the cheapest you can get in the door at a wild game, I think, is for some of these premium games, maybe $70.
49:08
And most of them, at this point, I believe, are sold.
49:12
You can't even get in the door for under $100 now.
49:16
They're selling tickets.
49:17
If you want to go watch hockey, it might be the only place you can.
49:19
But one of the problems that we've seen, I've got people on GPL that talk about this all the time, is that there are diehard fans out there who are just getting priced out.
49:29
Instead of getting the season tickets or having those tickets in hand, they'll go down and get your $10 tickets and risk not having a seat or whatever, or risk not being able to get in, because back in the day, it was very much a blue-collar crowd at Mariucci and the old Mariucci.
49:44
And how much, this is something I don't know, but have the student ticket prices gone up as well?
49:51
I have no idea.
49:52
Because really, that's what makes the atmosphere for me.
49:54
Well, from what I've heard is that, you know, we heard from somebody last year, from last week, tell us that the season tickets this year were packaged with football.
50:04
Well, that was an option.
50:06
Not all the student tickets were paired with football, but they offered kind of like, at the start of the season, you could sign up for, you know, football, hockey, basketball, you know, as a big package.
50:17
Because they were trying to get people, I think, to go to the football games and get those tickets sold so they could package it.
50:23
You know, it's kind of like beer festivals, one of my things.
50:26
There's the popular ones, the not so popular ones.
50:30
And so to get you to go to all of them, you can buy a package deal early.
50:34
So you're guaranteed a ticket to all of them, you know, rather than just selling them to singers.
50:41
So that was the idea.
50:42
So you could still buy just the hockey package.
50:44
And it's about ten bucks a game for the students.
50:47
Well, you know, years ago, the student tickets, that was a signed seating.
50:52
I want to say about five or six years ago, they opened it up to more than general admission.
50:55
They...
50:56
are you crashing?
50:59
I'm still here, sorry.
51:00
It's all good.
51:01
You know, they went to a general admission, they moved, they used to have split season tickets, sessions were over in section three and then the end.
51:08
So they consolidated the students.
51:10
For the first few years, you know, you'd see those doors open at 6 p.m.
51:14
and the students would come running down and fill the first 15, 20 rows.
51:19
That's just not the case the last couple of seasons.
51:22
Yeah, and it's, you know, students are...
51:24
And they're selling out the tickets, according to, you know, what they've tweeted out and everything, oh, we sold all the tickets, yet the students are half empty.
51:32
No, the student tickets are sold.
51:34
They just sell those as a season ticket, and those are sold out.
51:37
I think the most apathetic fans would probably be students.
51:41
You know, if you're not winning and it's not the exciting thing to do, you know, those students are only eating $10.
51:46
It's not like they're eating the $70 that some of those center ice tickets are worth.
51:51
So I think, you know, they can't, you know, do much other than try to sell more standing room tickets and get people in there.
51:59
Well, it's a big weekend, so hopefully they can fill the place because, you know, Mariucci still is a fun place, folks, when it's full.
52:06
So, Dave, I appreciate you coming on.
52:10
Hey, no problem, guys.
52:11
Thanks for having me.
52:11
It was fun.
52:13
We just like to have you on just to talk hockey.
52:15
It doesn't matter if you haven't been following as close this year or not.
52:18
It's just nice to have you on.
52:20
I'm just saying, I don't know if Rick Pizzo would have had as many hardcore takes as I would have had.
52:26
Trust me, I gave Pizzo a hard time.
52:28
He was supposed to be coming on.
52:31
Apparently, he's going to make it up for all of us.
52:34
We're all going to go out and drink beer after the games this weekend.
52:37
He seems like he'd be a fun guy to hang with.
52:39
I enjoy his work.
52:39
I've always enjoyed it because he reached out to us at the GPL years ago.
52:44
He came onto the site, registered on the site and says, Hey guys, I'm the studio host.
52:50
He introduced himself and said, What do you guys think?
52:52
What should we be doing differently?
52:53
So it's nice.
52:54
He definitely reached out and definitely cares.
52:57
That's smart.
52:58
Listen, in our business, if you don't have fans who like what you're doing or hate what you're doing, one way or the other, they're watching, right?
53:05
So why not try to appeal to the fan bases if you can and get a pulse on it?
53:09
It's a smart move on his part.
53:11
So yeah, this is his first trip to Mariucci.
53:13
I want to say this season or maybe any season.
53:17
So he'll be here all weekend.
53:19
Veegs, we're hoping to go out and drink some beer with him, right?
53:22
He's a hophead.
53:23
A hop man.
53:25
We've got to find some surly for him.
53:29
That might be your answer right there.
53:32
Well, remember, you'll see Dave.
53:34
He's on the news.
53:35
He's everywhere.
53:36
What's the place you write for Minnesota Hockey?
53:41
minnesotahockeymagazine.com He's one of my colleagues.
53:44
That's another place I write for, too.
53:50
Obviously, you can follow him at Dave Underscore Schwartz on Twitter.
53:54
He's got like 15,000 followers.
54:00
Let's boost his ego even more.
54:03
Actually, I like boosting my ego.
54:05
I like the way that sounds.
54:07
Watch your language.
54:10
At least he comes to the Pressers on Tuesday.
54:11
He works for the U.
54:15
It's an easy spot for me.
54:16
Some of us work in Minnetonka and are a bit further away and have a job.
54:23
Just saying.
54:24
I know.
54:25
Well, I expect it.
54:26
You're a hockey guy.
54:27
You're going to give me a hard time.
54:28
You've got to chirp.
54:30
I know how it is.
54:31
I know how it is.
54:33
Well, we'll be back next week, this time without Dave, and we'll recap this Michigan series.
54:38
We'll preview Michigan State coming up.
54:40
Obviously, we're excited about this weekend.
54:43
Thanks, Dave, for joining us.
54:45
Until next week.
55:22
Well, I think mentally and physically, get a chance to recharge the battery.
55:26
So we came back from Ohio State on Monday, we just thought of playing shooting hockey, and then we had a chance to do that a lot and have some fun.
55:33
And then Tuesday, Wednesday, both of you practiced pretty hard.
55:36
And then we gave them Friday, Saturday off.
55:38
So I told them I didn't want to show up at the rink, just take the time off.
56:51
As you mentioned, Michigan lost once, and that series for you guys was kind of a turning point.
57:00
Well, how we need to play in order to be successful.
57:02
But obviously we need good, strong goaltending every night.
57:33
So we're just gonna have to be really good with our five man units as we step on the ice.
57:38
I do think we've improved a lot as the years gone on.
57:41
Getting out of this zone has been much better throughout the season.
57:45
We're getting a little bit more scoring than maybe we were early in the season.
57:50
And that's for us, playing Michigan, we're not gonna be Michigan 5-4.
57:54
We're not gonna beat them 6-5.
57:56
We have to beat them 3-2, or possibly 4-3.
57:59
So it's how well we play without the puck.
58:03
The puck, it's gonna be disciplined.
58:06
We don't want to give them 4-5, 6 power play opportunities a night, because their power players really good with the personnel they have.
58:12
What does your team have to do to stop that con for Conner?
58:16
Well, we don't have, with our team, it's not like we have Boyd and Raul as our top two senior centers that can maybe play that role.
58:25
We're gonna have to do it more as a group of five than worrying about one line or one set of defensemen.
58:30
I mean, throughout, we've kinda balanced our three lines, we've kinda balanced our three sets of defensemen.
58:36
So throughout the year, we really haven't been too caught up on who's out against who.
58:40
It's just gonna be that when you're out against that line, you're just better not be taking 50-50 chances.
58:49
Sometimes in a shift, you have to live to fight another day and what?
58:52
Just make sure that we don't shorten up the rake against them, really their whole team, by turning pucks over in the neutral zone or just in the offensive line and as much as we can, we want them to have to go 200 feet and go through four or five guys.
59:06
Will you try to neutralize those guys at all with any particular line or just like you said, roll through with certain coverages?
59:14
Did you just miss my comment?
59:18
Can I use that quote on the air?
59:20
Were you daydreaming on that, Wally, or what?
59:22
I just answered that question.
59:25
No, I mean, I think going in, there's a possibility we can move some guys around.
59:29
But the reality is, is that we're not going in thinking this line or this set of defensemen has to play against that line.
59:36
So we'll see how that works five minutes in.
59:41
Given how tough this challenge will be, does this break help them refresh mentally as much as physically?
59:46
Yeah, it does.
59:47
The worry always becomes when the puck drops, are you at game speed in the first period?
59:54
We've had really good, the practice have been good as far as the tempo.
59:57
And that's something that we've really tried to have a good pace to our practices because we know this is one of those weekends where you have to be able to play at pace, you have to make decisions at pace.
1:00:09
Because it's gonna be going back and forth in a hurry.
1:00:13
How much has this group grown and developed over the season?
1:00:17
And how close do you think they are to what they're capable of?
1:00:19
Well, I think there's no question that we've grown throughout the course of the season.
1:00:23
I mean, those times in October, we kind of scratched our heads with the group.
1:00:27
But knowing that we had to stay with it and allow them to keep developing and working and gaining experience.
1:00:33
And now you get to this time of the year, you like to use the expression, there's really no freshmen this time of the year.
1:00:39
I mean, they played almost the full season of college hockey now as we get to the end of February.
1:00:43
So it's as much for me with this group now as the mental part of it.
1:00:48
I think the one area that we still can do a better job, we can't keep giving outnumbered Russians.
1:00:53
I mean, we have to make sure that we have good numbers coming back.
1:00:57
We can't give up breakaways, can't give up two on ones and multiple three on twos on games.
1:01:01
And, you know, count on our goalie to make those saves.
1:01:03
And that's the area that we really have to tighten up from here on out.
1:01:07
The university is selling $10 standing room tickets and they're giving away Beyonce tickets during Chuckapuck.
1:01:13
How important is that good crowd?
1:01:18
You know, obviously, this is one of those weekends with Michigan.
1:01:22
I think that is a highlight to the season.
1:01:25
Just because the tradition that Michigan has and they've always won the top teams in the country.
1:01:29
Now, you know, obviously, they got some of the top players in the country as well.
1:01:32
So, you know, we've had pretty good success against Michigan over the years in this building.
1:01:36
And, you know, we're going to need that to continue.
1:01:38
But more than that, we're going to need to play our A game.
1:01:41
And, you know, the more the fans are into the game, the better it is for us.
1:01:46
Do you think Justin is doing better in the second half of the season?
1:01:50
Well, I think it's not just Justin.
1:01:53
It's kind of our top guys.
1:01:54
You know, Hudson's really picked up his pace since probably the first of December.
1:01:58
And Justin, I think combined, they have seven short-handed goals in that time.
1:02:02
All of a sudden, they're getting on the scoreboard every night.
1:02:07
And we need Justin on the scoreboard.
1:02:09
We need Hudson fashion on the scoreboard.
1:02:10
You know, we need Leon, you know, Vinny scoring more, and Connor starting to score a little bit more.
1:02:15
So, and Taylor all of a sudden, the last few weeks since we moved the lines are on it.
1:02:19
And those six, you know, the six returning forwards that we highlighted when the year began, just if they have a good year, we'll have a good year.
1:02:26
If they struggle, we're going to struggle.
1:02:27
And there was times early in the year when some of them struggled.
1:02:30
And now they seem to be, you know, hitting their stride and scoring on a more regular basis.
1:02:35
And, you know, that's allowed us to, you know, give us a little more leeway as far as not just getting to two or three goals, but maybe get to four or five.
1:02:44
You plan on going into Michigan with the same lines that you left Ohio State?
1:02:47
Yeah, I think right now, I mean, there's still decisions whether we're going to go 11 and 7 or, you know, 12 and 6 or, you know, which 12th, which is going to be our 12th forward or which will be our sixth defenseman.
1:02:59
So those are decisions that we'll have to make in the next 48 hours.
1:03:03
Michigan's taken five-minute majors in four of your last eight games.
1:03:07
Is power play an emphasis for you guys coming in?
1:03:09
Well, I think it is every game.
1:03:11
You know, that's that margin that we have to try to win that specialty battles.
1:03:17
And, you know, when we beat them the second night in Ann Arbor, we had two power play goals.
1:03:22
And that ultimately was the difference in the game.
1:03:25
And, you know, our penalty kills done a really good job in the Big Ten where, I think, since Christmas we're even as far as, you know, with the more shorthanded goals versus the power play goals we've given up.
1:03:34
But I would like to see our, you know, power play, you know, get one every night from here on out.
1:03:38
Do you think discipline with contact to the head, checking from behind is a high point for this weekend or?
1:03:44
No, it's not something I even think about.
1:03:46
You know, those things have happened.
1:03:48
You know, I don't go into this weekend thinking, boy, they're going to take a major.
1:03:53
Just going into the weekend, worrying about our own team and how we're going to play.
1:03:57
Is this rivalry, top shelf rivalry?
1:04:00
Yeah, I think when you look at, you know, since we began with the Big Ten, that, you know, I knew going in that, you know, if we're going to be standing at the top, I mean, one of the teams you're going to have to beat is Michigan.
1:04:11
And we've been able to do that the last couple of years.
1:04:15
We're one and one with the missionary.
1:04:17
We knocked them out in the Big Ten title game a year ago.
1:04:22
You know what, if we want to say we're going to be a Big Ten champ, then we're going to have to beat Michigan this weekend.
1:04:32
What do you think has been working for you in the second half of the season?
1:04:39
Actually, I'm not really sure.
1:04:41
Things just, I started to get bounces.
1:04:44
Obviously, I think it was after that Penn State Series, and things have just kind of been ruined.
1:04:48
Once you kind of get one to go in, coming off a little bit of a scoring slump, you gain a little confidence and feel maybe a little more comfortable with the puck on your tape.
1:04:56
So I think that was probably a big thing, and fortunately I've kept it going for a couple of weeks, and also been clicking with my line mates.
1:05:05
Are you able to use the league off to your advantage, or were you able to use it to your advantage?
1:05:08
Yeah, we were able to get some good rest.
1:05:10
We kind of turned it into a normal week with practicing on Sunday to get the normal four days of practicing.
1:05:18
But obviously, get to this point in the season, it gets to be a little bit of a grind.
1:05:24
So having the week off before such a big series, I think, is going to help us.
1:05:29
But we got to make sure we stay sharp.
1:05:30
What do you think of that CCM line from Michigan?
1:05:34
Obviously, they're just extremely talented.
1:05:36
I think I'm not positive.
1:05:38
I think there are three league scores in the country.
1:05:40
They obviously are extremely good with each other as well.
1:05:44
So they feed off each other very well.
1:05:48
They can score in a lot of different ways, which makes them hard to defend.
1:05:51
As far as they can score on the rush, they can grind you down.
1:05:55
Pucks in front of the net, scoring from far up, they can kind of do everything.
1:05:58
So they're the premier college hockey line right now, and it's going to be a great test for, I am sure, a couple sets of D and a couple lines to play against them.
1:06:07
Well, you'll probably have against those guys if you thought much about what you have to do.
1:06:12
I think I don't got to...
1:06:14
I just can't overthink it.
1:06:16
They're just...
1:06:16
it's another game.
1:06:18
I think if I become too defensive, that makes me a little bit ineffective on the way I play or if I focus on anything too big individually, like, you know, trying to go, you know, one-on-one individually with the center or stuff like that, I think it doesn't, you know, tend to turn out too well for the team entirely.
1:06:34
So I don't think there's one thing to focus on.
1:06:37
Obviously, we're going to have to keep a third forward high when we're in the offensive zone to make sure we don't give up too many odd men rushes to that line and even the whole team.
1:06:45
So there's not one thing I think we're focusing on going into the weekend against, you know, as you said, the CCM line.
1:06:52
So we're just going to have to battle for maybe a little bit extra when they're out there.
1:06:59
I was leading the Big Ten right now, but you're off.
1:07:01
So on the bubble for the incidental tournament, how are the team, I'm trying to balance the two?
1:07:07
What emphasis is placed on what?
1:07:08
I mean, obviously, if we, you know, if we find a way to win the Big Ten, we're probably going to put ourselves in a decent spot for the pair-wise.
1:07:15
You know, this weekend's huge.
1:07:18
They're sitting, Michigan's sitting really, obviously, the best for a Big Ten team in the pair-wise.
1:07:22
And we've already got one win against them.
1:07:24
And if we're able, you know, come out, come out with a couple wins this weekend, I don't know how the pair-wise works exactly, but that might put us in a situation where we would be able to have a slip-up in the conference tournament.
1:07:36
But, you know, we're not really too focused about that right now.
1:07:40
We just got to keep, find ways to win games.
1:07:42
And if it comes down to having to win the conference tournament at the end of the year, that's just the challenge we're going to have to live with.
1:07:48
The team's got a similar position last year.
1:07:50
Do you take any experience from that?
1:07:52
Yeah, as far as just keeping, staying positive and trying to keep that confidence throughout the lineup, the younger guys, knowing that we were in the same position last year.
1:08:03
And we ended up winning two championships and getting a playoff bid.
1:08:08
And just knowing once you get into that NCAA tournament, literally anything can happen.
1:08:13
So we got to make sure we find our way in and I don't think anyone's going to want to play us.
1:08:20
What was the biggest difference between your Friday and Saturday games in Ann Arbor?
1:08:25
You know, I was actually watching the video on both of them today.
1:08:28
And it's, you know, we were tied 2-2 on Friday night and ended up losing, I think, 8-3.
1:08:33
We were tied 2-2 over halfway through the hockey game.
1:08:36
And then everything just started going downhill.
1:08:38
You know, I think their third goal, they just threw it off the glass and bounced 3 or 4 times and landed on one of their guys' stick, he fired off Scherzi.
1:08:47
And a rebound went right to someone on their team's tape.
1:08:51
So they were kind of, you know, I'm not going to say they were just getting the bounces.
1:08:55
That's the only reason they won and beat us by such a substantial margin.
1:08:59
But, you know, things went their way.
1:09:03
They outplayed us, but things were going their way that night.
1:09:05
And the next night, things weren't exactly going their way.
1:09:08
I think we controlled the pace a little bit more and, you know, slowed down their high-powered offense.
1:09:12
They're a team that can score in bunches.
1:09:14
So if you can, you know, limit those times that they get, you know, two, three goals and a five-minute margin, you'll be able to have a success against this team.
1:09:23
Coach Leccea said last night about being patient in a tight game.
1:09:27
Do you think all the close games you guys have had this season will help you in that regard?
1:09:31
Yeah, I mean, there's no situation we haven't faced this season.
1:09:35
And, you know, at this point, you know, we've had as much heartbreak as probably any team in the country.
1:09:40
So, you know, when we get out there with a minute left, we're not going to be worried about screwing it up because, you know, we've already screwed it up before.
1:09:47
So we, you know, every situation, I don't think will bother us from here on in.
1:09:52
I think going through some of that adversity will really help us in the long run.
1:09:56
How much progress has this team made as a group and how close are you guys to being at your optimal performance?
1:10:03
You know, I wouldn't, you know, think I have a good grasp of, you know, how close we are.
1:10:09
Obviously, from the first two weeks of the season, this has been for sure the most growth of any team I've been on since I've been a part of the program.
1:10:18
You know, we started off 0-3, I think, with one goal and, you know, it felt like, you know, it didn't even feel like real hockey back then.
1:10:25
But now, you know, we started winning some games, started, you know, getting in some good battles, it starts to feel normal and you gain some confidence.
1:10:32
And even throughout the year, there's not many games you can look at and say we didn't have a chance to win at any point.
1:10:37
We lost in a lot of third periods.
1:10:39
So we've had a ton of progress throughout the year as far as getting better as a team, from the freshmen to the sophomores and the juniors, and all the way through, I think, individually we've gotten a lot better as well as a team.
1:10:52
The University is putting on a lot of promotions.
1:10:55
$10 standing room tickets, Beyoncé tickets, and ChucklePuck.
1:10:59
Are you expecting a big crowd this weekend?
1:11:02
Yeah, obviously you're hoping for it.
1:11:03
Usually it's a pretty good crowd when Michigan comes rolling in.
1:11:07
It's going to be a huge couple of games, and it's always nice to come out to a packed building to help you get maybe a little extra step that night.
1:11:19
Thanks Justin.
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