0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number nine, recorded November 29th, 2011. 0:20 Welcome to this week's GPL Podcast. 0:23 I am your host, Jupiter, and of course, I'm joined again by Hammeh and Ryan Cardinal. 0:28 Hope all is well with you guys. 0:31 Everything's going good. 0:32 No complaints. 0:33 No complaints? 0:35 I thought this weekend kind of sucked, didn't you? 0:39 I'm a big picture guy. 0:40 I'm not- 0:40 Big picture. 0:41 I'm not myopic like you. 0:43 I'm trying to be positive and look at the big picture. 0:45 Well, it seems like Coach Lucia didn't seem all upset about this weekend. 0:50 You know, the loss and the tie. 0:54 It didn't bother me too much, but I was definitely disappointed. 0:58 It could really hurt us at the end of the year when it comes to seedings. 1:04 That's two losses and non-conference right now on a tie. 1:07 So that part is not good, I must say. 1:11 Yeah. 1:11 You kind of have to, we've talked about before how those non-conference games, sometimes they tend to get overlooked as far as importance in the big picture of the year. 1:20 And certainly you don't want to go on the road and not come home with a win at all. 1:28 And I know Lucia, I mean, he talked about how the team didn't think they played that badly. 1:33 And honestly, I watched the games a little bit today and again, and then I looked at some of the numbers and stats. 1:41 You know, for the most part, I think we did actually play relatively well for the most part in each game, it just was like issues here or there. 1:50 I mean, on Friday, it seemed to be, you know, unfortunately, Kent kind of, you know, Patterson had a little bit of an off game and, you know, a few mistakes here or there. 1:58 And, you know, the Gophers find themselves in a hole and it's kind of the same thing on the second game. 2:05 I was like, you know, Boyd had a few, had a kind of a rough game and a few mistakes here or there. 2:10 And, but overall, I mean, they didn't play terribly, but, you know, in the end, it's what's the end results. 2:17 And we didn't come home with a win at all. 2:19 And I thought Michigan also had some outstanding goal tending Friday night, or Michigan State, I should say. 2:25 I mean, when he robbed Rao at the end of the game, that was quite the save on a kid who's been playing awfully well. 2:32 Yeah. 2:33 And, you know, I think, you know, you look at the Gophers, they had 80 some shots this weekend. 2:36 And, you know, for maybe the first time all year, I mean, Patterson got outplayed by the other team totally. 2:42 And, you know, fortunately for the Gophers, that's not going to happen very often. 2:45 And, you know, the Gophers have made a lot of other teams' goalies look pretty poor. 2:49 And this weekend, they made them look good. 2:50 I mean, granted, you know, you want to give the kid a lot of credit, but the Gophers had their chances too. 2:54 And, you know, I think both games to me were kind of similar to that Friday St. 2:57 Cloud game where, you know, the Gophers, you know, didn't, you know, the Gophers have the better of the chances and more shots up and down, but they just, you know, didn't convert. 3:05 And, you know, Patterson, you know, that night, and then this one, these two nights too, wasn't on his A game. 3:09 And, you know, Michigan State, like St. 3:11 Cloud, they converted on, you know, not having as many shots, but they converted on their chances. 3:15 But, you know, like I said, when we talked about it a month ago, where, you know, they were entering a pretty tough stretch with, you know, North Dakota at home, and MSU, you know, aren't great this year, at least up to this point. 3:24 But anytime you play them, it's going to be tough. 3:25 And then, you know, five of the next six on the road against some, you know, traditional powers and some new rivals. 3:30 And, you know, they emerged from that four, three and one. 3:33 So, you know, yeah, it's kind of, you know, the end of it kind of leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. 3:37 But, you know, you got to kind of, again, big picture. 3:40 And all kidding aside, you look where this team was expected to be and where they are. 3:44 And I think everyone has to be thrilled. 3:45 And, you know, now you head into a stretch where you have, you know, a lot of winnable games at home and a chance to, you know, kind of lock yourself into a NCAA tournament spot here if you can, you know, do the things you need to do at home over the next x amount of weeks against some, you know, pretty average at best competition. 4:01 Well, and to be fair, you have to look at, Michigan State's not a bad team. 4:04 I mean, they're, I think by the time they, you know, we'll talk about a little later about, you know, some of the strength of schedule stuff and whatever. 4:10 But I mean, you know, they're above 500. 4:14 They're, they've 6-1-1 in their last eight, and they're 4-1-1 at home this year. 4:20 I mean, they're not a bad team. 4:21 So, I mean, it's not like it's going on the road and losing to a bottom rung team, and everybody being disappointed about it. 4:28 Michigan State's not a bad team either. 4:30 So, you have to give them some credit and just say, hey, you know, they made some plays. 4:36 Well, Lucia did make some changes in the Saturday line up. 4:40 Apparently, he wasn't happy with a few guys. 4:42 And a Twitter question from JJ Kreitzer asked, what do you think of Isaacson? 4:49 Do you think any of the additions to Saturday's line up will stay? 4:54 My opinion is that they should stick with the line up that they've pretty much been going with throughout the year. 5:00 I mean, I understand, from what I understand, Lucia sat down like warning and Ambrose specifically because they were pressing a bit and getting a little frustrated that they weren't contributing as much offensively. 5:13 And they're young guys. 5:14 And I can understand having them sit up in the stands for a night and watch the game and maybe kind of get a little bit of a breather mentally and kind of a fresh look. 5:24 So I understand why they did it. 5:26 But my personal opinion is that they should go with the best lineup that they've had throughout the year. 5:32 And maybe you can tweak it here or there like they did on Saturday, but I'd rather see what our typical lineup has been. 5:38 And the lines being kind of back to how they were with like Boyd on the fourth line and kind of going back to that. 5:46 Yeah, I mean, the one guy that I could see, and again, it's early, so you don't want to make big judgments on stuff. 5:51 But with Ambrose, we've talked about it here for a little while and just a lot of penalty minutes, not a lot of production. 5:57 And I don't know if he's the type that can excel on a fourth line. 6:00 And like Hammey said, I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing him back on that third line just to try to get him going a little bit, because obviously he has a history of scoring. 6:07 But at the same time, if Lucia is going to go with somebody else on that third line to go alongside Condon and Madsen, and he wants Ambrose playing on the fourth line, I just don't know if he's kind of equipped as a player to be that fourth line guy. 6:23 So I think Larson and Serratore are going to be locks on that fourth line all year, unless somebody gets hurt, or one of their play drops off drastically, and that other cog on that line. 6:34 I mean, I didn't think Sechetti looked terrible. 6:36 And again, he's a senior. 6:37 He can play center wing. 6:39 So I think he adds a little bit of versatility that, again, I don't know if Ambrose is going to give you. 6:43 And with Ambrose, I mean, he's got a ton of penalty minutes. 6:47 Granted, some of those have been the, I know he had the what the five-minute major against North Dakota, but a lot of them have been kind of the foolish, ill-advised stuff. 6:54 And if you're a guy that's supposed to score and you're taking a lot of penalties, but again, he's young and he'll definitely get his chances the rest of the year. 7:01 But yeah, other than that, I mean, I don't see Isaac Sin or some of the other guys being mainstays. 7:07 I think like to Hammy's point, they will probably get back to some line combos. 7:12 You saw maybe against North Dakota or Wisconsin starting this weekend against Mankato. 7:17 Kind of another question on the line up from JJ Kreitzer again on Twitter. 7:21 Will we ever see Blake Thompson again barring injury to current D or does he need more time to develop? 7:28 I hope not. 7:29 Because I remember, I definitely remember Gensel saying we might not see him for a while. 7:33 So I'm thinking if we do, we might see him against like a Niagara or something like that. 7:40 Well yeah, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen there. 7:43 And I'm even looking forward to next year in terms of what we have. 7:46 We have, you know, we could have nine, ten defensemen on the team next year. 7:52 And it's going to be an uphill battle, I think, for Thompson to see playing time, you know, anytime soon. 7:58 So I personally wouldn't have them in there. 8:01 And, you know, I'd go with the guys that we've had. 8:04 I mean, I get a little frustrated with Helgeson and Hull. 8:08 I mean, that pairing frustrates the hell out of me sometimes. 8:12 But they're the best we've got right now. 8:15 So I'd go with those for the top six. 8:19 Yeah. 8:19 And, you know, coming into the year, you thought that, you know, maybe even Chris Studen, a guy who at one point was, you know, pretty highly thought of, and then, you know, went to Northeastern and fell off the map a little bit. 8:28 But I mean, Perranto is kind of the guy that you thought coming into the year was, you know, maybe the one that you could afford to lose and that he might be the guy that's kind of in and out. 8:37 But I mean, he's been a rock this year. 8:39 I mean, just, you know, not doing the fancy thing, but at the same time, he's not costing his team. 8:44 He, you know, puts the puck off the glass when he needs to. 8:46 He makes the safe outlet pass. 8:47 He's not trying to do too much. 8:49 And he's kind of emerged as a guy you really can't afford to take out of the lineup right now. 8:53 And, you know, maybe coming into the year, Nate Schmidt might have been another guy who was kind of a tweener. 8:57 But obviously, with his, you know, production and being, you know, the centerpiece of the top power play unit, he's not going anywhere. 9:03 So, you know, with guys like, you know, Hall and Alder, whomever, I mean, these guys are pretty highly, you know, you don't want that to play into it, whether NHL drafted and that whole thing would, I mean, that's going to come into account when you're considering if you might take a regular out of the lineup. 9:18 So, yeah, I just don't see a lot of openings for guys unless, you know, I mean, they've been pretty healthy on the back end too. 9:24 So, you know, logic would say at some point, they're going to get a little bit dinged up back there. 9:28 And so I would say injuries are probably the only way that you're going to see a Thompson or a student, you know, get into the lineup on a regular basis. 9:35 Well, let me ask you guys something. 9:37 This is something that I've been thinking that, I mean, granted, we're always going to be a little bit more high risk, high reward kind of a defensive group because we like to have the puck movers and whatever. 9:48 But some of the things that really frustrate me about the team right now is some of this, the decision making on defense, being a little bit too overly aggressive, kind of running around a little bit too much. 10:00 I'd kind of like to see these guys worry a little more about just defense first, playing their lanes, playing their position, and not worrying so much about the offensive part. 10:11 We have enough skill up front where if we make enough transition passes, we're still going to get our opportunities. 10:18 But do you guys feel the same way on that? 10:20 Maybe I'm on my own island here on that. 10:23 Yeah, I mean, that's a fine line because some of these guys, and obviously this kind of goes hand in hand, but it's just how Lucia's teams like to play where the defense is more involved and trying to do things. 10:35 And so by the nature of how Lucia wants to run a team, those are the kind of guys you're going to have. 10:41 And it's kind of one of those things where would you rather have more defensive guys and try to turn their offense up or the other way around, where you have guys that like to rush the puck and kind of turn it down. 10:52 And I think part of that, too, I mean, it's not just as easy as saying yes or no. 10:56 I mean, is the team you're playing good at transition? 10:59 Or if you cough it up or turn it over, it's going to come back to bite you. 11:02 Are you on the big ice or the small ice where you have a lot of time to get back? 11:06 Or if you're on playing at UMD or something where if you turn it over, they're going to be right on the attack and you're not going to have any time. 11:12 So I guess with the young defensemen, maybe there are times where you're going to have to rein them in a little bit to hammy's point. 11:20 And it's not like we have a lot of older guys that are, it's not like Ben Marshall is a junior or a senior where he has a lot of experience and knows when to turn it up and when to make the safe play. 11:30 So I think it's one of those things as a coaching staff they have to manage and maybe a weekend like this coming up at home against Mankato is a time where you maybe take some chances and try to build that confidence. 11:40 Whereas last weekend against a bigger older team on the road, a smaller ice sheet is a time where you maybe say, hey, let's be a little bit more conservative and put it off the glass if we need to and just make the safe play. 11:53 I actually agree as well. 11:55 One thing I think is key though is to make sure somebody like a Genzel or a Lucia informs them when they're doing something wrong and say, hey, this is not the time to do that. 12:06 We gave up a goal, yada, yada, yada. 12:07 As long as they keep learning and moving on in the season, I don't have as much of a problem with it. 12:14 But like you said, they may need to reign them in a little bit in the next couple weeks here if they keep allowing these type of situations to happen. 12:23 Well, see, because here's the things that I've, I mean, in the last few weeks, I mean, granted we've had five or six, you know, on the road. 12:31 But the games that we won, the couple of games we won, we had an early lead. 12:35 The other four games, you know, we kind of started slow and ended up being behind. 12:39 And so obviously getting off to a better start's a big thing. 12:42 But the biggest issue that's bothered me the whole year is that we have not done, and the games that we've lost, we've not done a good job of halting the other team's momentum. 12:53 I look today, and in all of our losses this year, the Gophers gave up two or three goals in like a five-minute span of time during a game. 13:02 I mean, the loss at Vermont, you had three goals towards the end of the second period that totally turned that game around in Vermont's favor. 13:10 The loss at UW, you know, Wisconsin, we gave up, what, three goals like in six minutes in the second period. 13:17 The loss at St. 13:18 Cloud, we gave up two goals in under three minutes to have the game go from 2-1 to 4-1. 13:25 And then this last weekend, we gave up two goals in less than five minutes twice in the first game. 13:30 And, you know, then we gave up two goals in like four minutes, like in the Thai game the other day. 13:37 I mean, we just, it's one thing to give up a goal, but then when you're not answering it or at least stopping their momentum, that really annoys me. 13:45 And that's where I kind of say to myself, maybe we need to rein it in a little bit defensively and not be running around so much when we're trying to stop the momentum of the other team. 13:54 And that's where I was kind of meaning, that's where Gensel needs to come in. 13:57 He needs to come in and rein them in. 13:59 Don't let it continue, is guess what I was saying. 14:04 Yeah, well, I mean, I guess for me, that's just something that's kind of bothered me a little bit. 14:09 It's just, that's how you lose games, is when you're just not answering the other team, or at least at a minimum halting whatever momentum they have. 14:18 And we had not answered the bell in the games that we've lost this year. 14:21 We've not answered the bell well when the other team has scored and kind of got on a little run. 14:26 So one other thought I had on the weekend, I thought, I want to see what you guys think, is Nico Siketti got back into the lineup and I don't think he looked too bad. 14:37 What are your thoughts on that? 14:39 Yeah, I mean, I thought, you know, he looked OK. 14:41 And I thought, you know, to be honest, that he would have played more this year. 14:44 But again, the fourth line up until they, you know, came up and was it the Friday into Saturday in St. 14:50 Cloud is when they kind of broke it up and moved Boyd down, or excuse me, up and shuffled it out a little bit. 14:56 But it's just been, I think, more of a byproduct to just, you know, the 12 guys they've had up, maybe aside from, you know, Ambrose, like I touched on earlier. 15:03 I mean, you know, there just hasn't been a lot of room for guys to crack the lineup. 15:06 But, you know, Siketti, I'm sure Lucia, I mean, over the years we've seen him, you know, maybe to a fault at times, kind of trust some upperclassmen. 15:13 I mean, you see Evan Kaufman on top line. 15:15 And obviously this isn't that type of situation, but I think, you know, it's a nice advantage for the Gophers. 15:20 I don't know if advantage is the right word, but, you know, to have a guy like Siketti, who, you know, kind of been humble a little bit. 15:25 I mean, I think everyone thought he would be more of a scorer when he came to the U, but he stuck it out. 15:30 And, you know, over the years he's kind of emerged or, you know, gone from the scoring type or that everyone perceived he would be down to a, you know, more of a checker and a fourth line guy last year. 15:38 But, you know, he's a nice guy to have on your bench. 15:40 I mean, you're not throwing out a, you know, Jared Larson is the next man up or somebody that's younger or, you know, doesn't have the kind of pedigree that Saketti has. 15:48 So, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if he gets in the mix a little bit more. 15:51 Maybe, you know, like I said earlier, maybe in favor of somebody like Ambrose or, you know, who knows if warning. 15:56 I mean, he's not the biggest kid. 15:58 And as the season goes down or wears on and you have, you know, some of these smaller, younger forwards up front. 16:03 I mean, the grind of a season, we've seen it before with freshmen kind of hitting that wall. 16:07 So, yeah, I mean, a guy like Saketti at one shot, if he, you know, got in the mix a little bit just because he is older, bigger, and Lucia probably has a certain amount of trust in him that he might not with, you know, a handful of other guys. 16:19 I am personally a little skeptical of, and that kind of, you know, I'm a Virginia guy, my dad's from Virginia, so I kind of like pulling for those guys. 16:28 But Saketti is, you know, he had a rough game against Vermont and that was his last game before this past weekend. 16:35 And I thought he played pretty well, though. 16:39 I think he came back in the defensive zone very well sometimes. 16:43 Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying he can't. 16:46 I think for him the problem is that you have to find the right role. 16:50 And when you have, you know, I think we have a good fourth line, you know, with Boyd centering Saratari and Larson. 16:56 I think that's a very good fourth line. 16:58 And I think that they shouldn't mess with that, you know, anymore unless there's injury, of course. 17:03 But I wouldn't mess with that. 17:05 And then you have to ask yourself, well, you know, if you bring them on, you say that, you know, for like a warning or an Ambrose, I don't know that he's going to bring anymore to the, you know, to the offense or overall that those guys can't do. 17:19 I mean, granted, he's not going to take the penalties an Ambrose might. 17:22 But nonetheless, for me, it's like, where is he going to fit? 17:26 And to me, he's a fourth line type of kid. 17:30 And we've already got two wingers who are really playing well on the fourth line. 17:34 And so, then you say to yourself, you know, I personally like Boyd on the fourth line and centering it. 17:40 And so, I just say, where is he going to be? 17:44 You know, that's the hard thing for me. 17:46 Okay, well, that's fair enough. 17:48 Any other thoughts on this weekend at Michigan State? 17:53 I can't say, you know. 17:56 Well, get used to it. 17:57 We're going to be going there every year in a couple years. 18:00 You know what? 18:01 I don't have a problem with that. 18:02 I actually thought I was, you know, pretty good hockey. 18:05 Michigan State actually played a little bit more open than I expected them to. 18:09 I mean, and so it's kind of a nice change from how they used to be more of a, you know, a trapping type of a hockey team. 18:17 So, I mean, you know, I look forward to it. 18:19 Sounds like their coach wants to be kind of up-tempo and aggressive. 18:23 So that's, you know, it should be some, make for some good hockey down the road. 18:27 Yeah. 18:27 And, you know, the kind of, I've been out there once for the showcase and, you know, the arena is, you know, it's kind of dark and is what it is, but I think we kind of get a jaded view of it just because it is Thanksgiving weekend all the time and there aren't a lot of students and there's not a great atmosphere. 18:41 But hopefully in future years when we get out there, if they, you know, like Hammy touched on, if they're playing more of an offensive type game where, you know, the crowd just by the nature of the play on the ice is a little bit more likely to get into it and it's not over a holiday weekend. 18:54 Yeah. 18:54 I mean, I, you know, we talked about it last week and, you know, this weekend too. 18:58 I mean, we always play those guys type games and they're usually, it's not one nothing type games. 19:03 There's usually some goals and yeah, I thought there was a couple of entertaining games and I have zero problem playing those guys four times a year moving forward in two years. 19:11 Well, next year they were coming here in a two game set. 19:14 One thing that will be different is that it will not be over Thanksgiving from what I have heard. 19:21 The Gophers are going to Vermont over Thanksgiving weekend next year. 19:26 So it looks like we'll either be playing Michigan State in October or possibly in early January. 19:33 Just don't really know right now. 19:35 So I'm kind of curious what the Gopher crowd will be next year. 19:39 That it won't be on a Thanksgiving weekend. 19:42 We'll just have to wait and see. 19:45 All right, guys, rest of WCHA this weekend. 19:49 As you thought, Hammy, CC did not play well at UMD. 19:53 A lot of goals, but they also got swept. 19:56 Yeah, I mean, you know, it's like I had mentioned last week. 20:00 I just have this general feeling that CC just has not performed well in Grand Forks over the years. 20:06 And I don't know if that's actually factual. 20:08 And it's just the feeling of I've generally had when they've gone up there. 20:11 It seems like they struggle. 20:13 And, you know, CC has got a good offense. 20:16 They're more in a country. 20:17 But the reality is, is their team defense and goaltending has not been good. 20:21 Now they're ranked like 42nd and goals allowed per game and 33rd on the penalty kill. 20:29 I mean, so they've been poor defensively. 20:32 And I mean, to give up that many goals, 11 goals to a North Dakota team that, you know, has pretty much struggled to score this year, that's not a good sign for them. 20:41 I mean, I'm sure that they'll play well at home, you know, Colorado College. 20:45 But you know, you kind of I'm kind of wondering about them now because defensively, they're not nearly as good as I thought they'd be in their goaltending is not holding up well. 20:54 So I guess we'll have to see. 20:56 Yeah, I thought I was pretty surprised on Friday night when I was clicking the box scores to see that they didn't start how I know he didn't have a great game against it was a Denver a couple weeks ago, they had the single game against them. 21:08 And I know he was pulled from that. 21:09 But, you know, he's their guy. 21:11 And just to see him not start in the, you know, I can't pronounce the kid's name or whatever. 21:15 He gave him four goals on that Friday night and they lose seven six. 21:19 And then how comes in on Saturday and he gives them four goals, which I mean, not great. 21:23 But at the same time, I mean, I don't think North Dakota's offense is going to be as poor as it's been so far this year. 21:28 And you saw their top line, you know, click pretty well this weekend, having that, you know, the trio back together after they broke them up against the Gophers. 21:35 But, yeah, I mean, for North Dakota, it meant more to them. 21:38 And, you know, between that and CC's struggles, you know, in Grand Forks, it was it was a pretty big weekend for North Dakota to get to get some momentum going. 21:48 Well, CC's goaltending is I mean, they're both under 90 percent safe percentage and they're above three goals a game or more, you know. 21:57 It's not good. 21:58 It's not looking good there. 21:59 Well, what about Rylan Schwartz? 22:02 Two hat tricks on the weekend. 22:04 And then, I mean, he's got to be pretty well. 22:07 He's not the good Schwartz brother. 22:08 I mean, the older brother that's not as good. 22:12 Yeah, well, I mean, it kind of makes you wonder next year if, you know, because I'm sure Jaden will end up going pro, if, like, maybe the Blues will probably want to try and sign his brother, you know, I mean, I think his brother is a free agent. 22:23 So it wouldn't shock me if they tried to go that route and sign them both at the same time. 22:30 But yeah, it's pretty rough to get a hat trick in each game and then you're still going home a loser. 22:35 You don't typically hear that happen, you know, so. 22:39 They certainly rely heavily on their top-line guys at CC, and they're a good overall team, but they certainly, those guys are, you know, a straw that stirs the drink. 22:52 All right, well, one of the picks I missed last week, because I didn't have it on my little sheet here, was St. 22:58 Cloud visiting UNO. 23:01 UNO picks up three points. 23:03 Any thoughts on that? 23:06 Did you even realize that I forgot to put it on our picks last week? 23:09 I'm pretty sure that. 23:10 I thought we had talked about it, to be honest with you, because I thought I had said that really? 23:15 Because I was looking at last week's sheet, I'm like, I didn't even have it on there. 23:17 It must be that important. 23:20 No, I'm not surprised. 23:22 St. 23:22 Cloud struggled a bit on the road this year. 23:25 I think they're 2-7 and 1 now on the road this year. 23:27 So it's not terribly surprising that they come out of Omaha with being on the short end of the stick as far as the points for the weekend go and I thought that maybe it would have been a little bit more wide open, particularly that second game because UNO has kind of struggled and go as well undefensively and but that was a 2-2 game. 23:48 So but yeah, I'm not totally surprised by that result. 23:52 Yeah, it's for Omaha. 23:54 I think if you would tell them in any weekend at this point, if you're only going to give up five goals on the weekend, I think they would take it just considering a lot of the train wreck weekends with multiple goal-tending changes and starting. 24:06 I mean, they've had three guys start this year, not due to injury, just because of ineffectiveness. 24:10 So that was a pretty important series for them. 24:13 I mean, they only got one point out at Denver, and which isn't great. 24:16 But again, they had goal-tending problems out there. 24:18 So even more than the wins, losses, whatever is just the fact that they had some stable goal-tending on both nights, which I would assume that's the biggest issue for them, just to find a guy or two or whomever that you can rely on, that's not going to get yanked after the first or second period each night. 24:33 So yeah, I'm assuming they have to be pretty happy with that. 24:37 And finally for the WCHA this past weekend, The Gutter Bowl. 24:42 Anchorage takes three points from Minnesota State. 24:47 I believe someone posted on GPL or Twitter or something like that. 24:50 They thought there might have been 700 people in the stands for one of those games. 24:55 I can't confirm that or know that, but it sounded like it was a game at Anchorage, but it wasn't. 25:02 Well, the thing is, Anchorage really should have come out of there with a sweep. 25:06 I mean, they gave up the last four goals. 25:09 I mean, they were up 5-1 in that second game and end up being tied. 25:12 That's got to be really disappointing. 25:15 And so I'm a little surprised. 25:17 I thought that Mankato would put up a little bit better of a fight down there at home. 25:22 But, you know, Alaska Anchorage has been kind of a little bit spotty, you know, the last month or so as far as performances. 25:31 So I'm a little surprised by that. 25:33 But, you know, maybe Anchorage is back on the upswing now that they're about to host North Dakota. 25:38 Who knows? 25:39 Yeah. 25:40 And, you know, for Mankato, I think the number was giving up, what, 10 goals on 37 shots this weekend to an Alaska team that can't score to save their lives. 25:49 So I'm assuming we'll dovetail into the Gophers here at some point. 25:54 But yeah, that's not a good recipe. 25:57 And that was at home against a bad team that has to travel like a jillion miles. 26:01 And I mean, if you get anchored in your barn, if you can't, you know, take it to them or at least get a split or, you know, I mean, that's an embarrassing effort for Mankato. 26:10 Maybe it was almost to the point where it was too bad and they're going to really bounce back this weekend against the Gophers. 26:15 I really hope that's not the case. 26:16 But yeah, I mean, that's pretty rough for Mankato. 26:20 And again, they've had a lot of injuries and, you know, they're a team that definitely can't afford to have a lot of like, you know, maybe Minnesota or Denver, whomever that's got a little bit more talent. 26:27 But yeah, that's a pretty poor outing at home against a team that they need to take advantage of. 26:33 In games that involved WCHA teams this past weekend, we had Tech splitting with St. 26:39 Lawrence. 26:40 We had Wisconsin sweeping Mercyhurst. 26:42 And we had Denver winning against Princeton and losing against Miami. 26:47 Guys, have any quick thoughts on those? 26:49 Ryan? 26:51 Yeah, I mean, I guess the one that stands out, well, first, congratulations to Wisconsin for what would have been much better than playing Michigan State this weekend. 27:00 Congrats on taking it to Mercyhurst and padding your stats. 27:03 That's good. 27:04 We'll see how you guys do when you get back out on the road and start losing again. 27:07 But the Denver Miami thing, I mean, that's a pretty big game. 27:11 And again, Denver, speaking of goalies from, it must be something with goalies from Colorado, because I don't even want to try to pronounce the kid's name. 27:17 But Adam Murray is down with the injury now, and they have the finished kid in the lineup. 27:21 And they can get by against what they beat Princeton on Friday night. 27:25 But if you have your third string goalie, I don't care how good the 18 skaters are in front of them, that's going to be tough to beat a big time team like Miami. 27:34 So yeah, I guess you really can't judge Denver a whole lot at this point, just because of the goaltending issues they've had. 27:41 And most teams wouldn't be able to kind of withstand that. 27:44 But at the same time, I mean, they need to get Murray back. 27:46 Or I don't know, the Sam Britton thing. 27:48 I haven't read anything on that recently. 27:50 I know he was hoping to be back at some point, maybe January, February. 27:53 But again, it's going to be tough for that team to go anywhere with the third string goalie out there. 28:00 Yeah, I don't really have anything to add to that other than apparently this past weekend has proven that Wisconsin hockey is like racehorse hockey. 28:10 That's all I got to say. 28:13 Well, let's move to this week then. 28:15 Ryan, we've got the UMD Bulldogs heading to Michigan Tech. 28:19 You know, Tech's played fairly well at home, but Duluth hasn't lost in forever. 28:25 Well, the Bulldogs continue their grueling schedule. 28:28 I know I'm... 28:29 Oh, here we go. 28:30 Yeah, I am. 28:31 I'm heartbroken. 28:31 I'll take you back on that. 28:33 There's been a lot of Twitter warfare that maybe some of the listeners may or may not have seen, depending on... 28:40 Speaking of going fishing for people, I know Drunk Hockey Guy is very solid at that, both on message boards and Twitter alike. 28:48 But yeah, they're really running the gauntlet now with Midgey State at home, and they played a beat up Denver team, and Anchorage at home, Mankato at home, and now they head to Michigan Tech. 29:00 So again, the schedule, you wonder if the Bulldogs are really starting to get worn down by this competition. 29:05 And you really just hope that they don't suffer any injuries, and they can just kind of get through it and get to that Christmas break, so they can really recharge their batteries for that second half. 29:14 I know they have Alabama, Huntsville at home, and maybe Huntsville will have won a game by then. 29:18 I don't even know. 29:19 But maybe they can take advantage of that tattered Bulldog team with that just brutal schedule they've faced so far. 29:26 Well, don't you hear that apparently, this is the one that got me, okay? 29:30 We all talk about strength of schedule and okay, but none of that really means squat until the end of the year anyways. 29:35 But nonetheless, that whole debate on Twitter was a joke. 29:39 And I know some of it was a little bit, like you said, drunk hockey guy likes to tweak things or whatever. 29:44 And I mean, we know that, so it's not really that big of a deal. 29:47 But then you have like their radio announcer, I mean, getting in on it and talking about home versus road and all that stuff. 29:55 I mean, to me, when you look at the strength of schedule stuff, it's idiotic not to consider where you're playing, all that kind of stuff. 30:02 I mean, they call it home ice advantage for a reason. 30:05 I mean, this year so far, almost 68% of the games have been won by the home team and the WCHA and 33% by the road team. 30:14 I mean, it's like, I went through just because I was curious, what's everybody's road versus home and add them all up or whatever. 30:21 And I mean, come on, you can talk about, okay, we played this team and that team or whatever. 30:27 Okay, but you're still at home and it still counts for something. 30:31 I mean, all of their fans whine and whine about the final five being basically in our backyard and how unfair it is. 30:39 And yet now they're trying to make it seem as if like, well, that doesn't matter. 30:43 We're at home. 30:44 It doesn't matter if we're at home. 30:45 We're playing tough teams. 30:46 Well, then how did it matter if we're at the final five playing tough teams? 30:49 Is that really an advantage or not? 30:51 I mean, it's kind of like they make their arguments based on what side of the coin they're on. 30:55 So it's just that kind of crap is just ridiculous. 30:58 And sometimes I wonder if these guys really think about that stuff that much. 31:03 No, they're basically just fishing. 31:06 Well, I know a drunk hockey guy. 31:08 Yes. 31:09 I mean, I know he is. 31:10 But then when they have the guy that is calling their radio games, getting in on it. 31:14 I mean, Bruce. 31:15 Yeah, to me, it's a little bit idiotic. 31:17 I just like, dude, you know, I know that he's to me goes beyond the homer for radio announces. 31:22 I mean, I know our guys are homers too, but he goes even beyond that to me at times. 31:28 And it's ridiculous to me, but whatever. 31:31 So what are your picks, guys? 31:33 Well, real quick. 31:34 So if you want to compare the non-conference schedule thing, I mean, they play Notre Dame at home for two games. 31:40 We play Notre Dame at home for one game. 31:41 So not a wash. 31:42 But again, it's the same opponent both at home. 31:45 They go to Providence and Western Michigan. 31:47 I mean, I wouldn't say either one of those is a powerhouse. 31:50 We went to Michigan State who is perennially way better than either one of those two teams. 31:56 We play Vermont at home. 31:57 Now, Vermont is not great this year, but they were in the Frozen Four a lot more recently than Western Michigan or Providence and play in a big-time conference. 32:05 We play Sacred Heart at home. 32:06 They play Alabama Huntsville at home. 32:08 So again, this non-conference thing, and then again, I just don't see this big discrepancy where it's not like they're in North Dakota where every fall they're out at Maine or Boston College or BU and on down the list. 32:20 I know I was getting chirped today about, because I was comparing the fact that UMD this year has the best conference schedule you could hope for. 32:30 I mean, they get Mankato twice, Anchorage twice, Tech twice. 32:34 They only get North Dakota at home. 32:36 They only played Denver once. 32:37 I mean, they've got it laid out pretty well. 32:39 They've had the Gophers only once, but it was up there. 32:41 I mean, again, they had a pretty nice rotation on the schedule this year. 32:45 And, oh, well, we don't make the conference schedule. 32:47 Well, you know what, Lucia, those guys know what the conference schedule is two, three years in advance. 32:52 So you factor that into your non-conference play. 32:54 I mean, we have a tougher conference schedule, so we're supposed to also have a way tougher non-conference schedule. 32:59 It just doesn't add up to me. 33:01 Not every weekend needs to be a gauntlet. 33:03 I mean, that's not a recipe for success, especially when the NCAA tournament criteria. 33:07 I mean, the whole reason the College Hockey Showcase is gone, or at least a big part of it, is, you know, David Eaves and those guys would rather rack up wins against Mercyhurst, because that's going to help them make the NCAA tournament, as opposed to splitting against Michigan and Michigan State. 33:20 So, again, the whole thing is ridiculous. 33:22 Duluth will win both games this weekend, and then they're at Wisconsin after that, and we'll see what happens. 33:29 I'm actually saying that this series is going to be a split, personally. 33:35 You know, Michigan Tech's 4-1-1 at home this year. 33:39 You know, UMD has basically got 4 road games to judge from, and it's like, well, you know, you talked about Denver being a little bit dinged up, and certainly not the top of their game, and then you got a non-conference tilt. 33:50 And so, you know, I'm just not entirely, you know, I talked about it earlier, you know, as far as the win percentage, you know, home versus road, you just kind of have to think, like, you know, Tech is not going to be a pushover. 34:06 So, I just think that one of those games is going to go Tech's way, and so I'm going to split. 34:11 All right. 34:12 Well, let's move on. 34:13 Bemidji heading to St. 34:15 Cloud. 34:15 Hammeh. 34:18 Well, I mean, I think this is pretty imperative for St. 34:20 Cloud to sweep. 34:21 I mean, if they want to be in the top half of the league, I mean, like I touched on it, they're, you know, having a lot of struggles on the road this year, at least at this point, and it's one of those things where if you're not going to be winning on the road, you better make sure that you get your four points at home. 34:36 And this is definitely a series where they're going to be expected to come home with four, you know, four points. 34:42 They're the more talented team. 34:43 They're on their ice. 34:44 So, you know, and they're undefeated at home this season to this point. 34:48 Of course, only four games or whatever it's been. 34:51 But so I picked St. 34:52 Cloud to sweep. 34:54 Yeah, I would say I would lean sweep. 34:56 I mean, Bemidji is just the struggle of scoring. 34:58 I mean, you look at their last X amount of games, I mean, one goal, two, one, three, one, three, zero, two, three. 35:03 I mean, they just, you know, if you can't score, it's just so tough to go on the road in this league, despite what you may hear from elsewhere. 35:08 And, you know, you can't just go on the road if you don't have an offense and expect to do a whole lot. 35:13 So, yeah, St. 35:14 Cloud, I mean, they're, you know, they haven't done great, obviously, this year with the injuries. 35:17 And but they are a lot better and especially upfront. 35:20 I mean, they have, you know, two pretty decent lines. 35:22 We saw it a few weeks ago, even despite the loss of LeBlanc. 35:25 And, yeah, they should be able to put up some goals this weekend and take care of them, Emejie. 35:31 UND heads up to Anchorage. 35:33 Now, in the past, Anchorage has done fairly well against North Dakota up in Alaska. 35:40 Yeah, I think I saw on Brad Schlossman's, you know, his Twitter, I think it was like they were one game above 500 up in Alaska. 35:51 I think since they've been, I don't know if it's since they've been in a league or how, I don't know what the time frame was, but, so yeah, North Dakota has been basically a 500 team up in Anchorage, so it kind of, you know, I'm considering their, you know, despite what we saw this last weekend, I'm still not convinced that offensively they're going to be, you know, this big juggernaut, so I really think that this is probably going to end up being a split. 36:14 You know, Anchorage had a decent weekend in Mankato. 36:17 Granted, Mankato is not the creme de la creme and certainly not on North Dakota's stature, but I think that's going to be a split. 36:27 Yeah, I'll say three points for North Dakota. 36:29 I mean, you know, they're, again, the offense, you know, as good as they did against Colorado College, they were shut out by Bemidji, you know, a little over a week ago as well. 36:37 And, you know, we saw their struggles here and it's been a kind of a season long thing, especially in, you know, WCHA play. 36:43 So, you know, it's never easy for teams to go up there. 36:45 I mean, we saw the Gophers who right now are, you know, a lot better than North Dakota. 36:50 And the Gophers went up there and, you know, they kind of had the one blowout game and the next night was, you know, 2-1 and they added the empty netter at the end. 36:56 So I think it could be kind of similar to that where maybe there's one night where, you know, that top line for North Dakota really gets it going and they're tough to contain. 37:03 But then maybe the other game is a little bit tighter checking and, you know, kind of goes down to the wire. 37:07 So I'll say three points for the SU. 37:10 Denver and CC finished their little one game series. 37:16 You know, they played one, what about two, three weeks ago and now they're playing the other one this weekend at CC. 37:27 Well, I mean, you know, it's hard to relate. 37:29 This is... 37:30 Well, you got Denver is going there on their third goalie now. 37:33 I mean, CC's goalie situation is weird, but obviously CC can score, but they can't stop anybody. 37:39 I mean, who knows what could happen in this one game? 37:42 Yeah, I'm having a hard time, you know, with both of these teams figuring out what, you know, what's going on there. 37:48 I mean, they're both not nearly playing as well as I thought they would at this point. 37:53 And, you know, some of it's injury related, some of it's goal tending. 37:57 I mean, it's really hard to figure it out. 38:00 My guess is that, you know, CC is going to come out on top. 38:04 And, you know, I'm sure the Schwartz brothers will continue their role on offense. 38:09 And, you know, Denver's kind of had some consistency issues. 38:13 So I'll pick CC at home. 38:17 Yeah, I'll agree with that. 38:18 I mean, Denver got the best of them and it was a pretty, you know, crazy game. 38:20 I think Denver was up by a fair amount a few weeks ago. 38:23 And then CC made a little bit of a charge. 38:24 And, you know, this is only CC's fifth home game, but they are undefeated. 38:28 And, you know, I just think, you know, it's probably going to be another pretty high scoring game, just given the, you know, like Hammy said. 38:33 So, yeah, I'll take CC for a high scoring win. 38:37 We have one non-conference. 38:39 It looks like UNO is playing Alabama Huntsville. 38:42 I see UNO sweeping that. 38:44 So, anything much to say about that? 38:46 Well, I think Ryan pretty much put Alabama Huntsville in their place a little earlier, right? 38:52 So, I'm assuming that that'll probably be a pretty easy sweep with a big points weekend for a number of UNO's players. 38:59 No, one thing, though, 25% of Huntsville's wins last year came against Omaha, one of their four. 39:07 So, you never know. 39:08 There could be, you know, maybe they have their number a little bit. 39:11 No, I know. 39:12 Like Hammy said, it should be pretty easy sledding for Blaze and Company this weekend. 39:17 And finally, we've got Minnesota hosting Minnesota State Mavericks. 39:25 Just to let people know, the Friday game is on an alternate channel on FSN. 39:29 Just go to GPL and you can find the station it will be on. 39:35 Minnesota leads the overall series 29, 8 and 6. 39:40 And I do believe the last time we played them, the Mavericks swept the Gophers. 39:45 This weekend, if the Gophers don't sweep the Mavericks, it will be bad news. 39:51 This team needs to beat the teams that are below them and beat them pretty handily. 39:56 In the last three years, we just never knew what was going to happen. 39:59 But if the team wants to be taken seriously, it's four points or nothing. 40:05 Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that. 40:06 If they don't have two wins this coming weekend, there's going to be a freaking meltdown on GPL, I'm sure. 40:14 I mean, let's face it, I mean, injuries are not, Mankato is not as talented or as deep as the Gophers. 40:20 Even if both teams are 100 percent, it's just this is one of those series, it's kind of like I talked about with St. 40:27 Cloud. 40:27 I mean, you're the better team, you're at home. 40:31 There's really no, to me, no excuses why we shouldn't sweep the series. 40:35 I talked about it on GPL as well and that the game or the series thread. 40:39 And we need to kind of get Patterson back on track. 40:43 He didn't have the greatest weekend last weekend. 40:45 And I'd kind of like to see the defense kind of, you know, Mankato can score some goals, but I'd like to see them kind of shut down Mankato a little bit and kind of get that back on track. 40:55 And I don't know, I'm not predicting any kind of sacred heart or, you know, kind of performances as far as, you know, shutting them out and then scoring six, seven, eight, nine goals or anything like that. 41:07 But, you know, I do think that it's certainly a series where the Gophers should win both games and maybe one of the games will be a little, you know, closer contest, you know, tightly contested. 41:17 But I think that that should be two pretty good wins for the Gophers. 41:21 Yeah, I mean, there's not much else to add. 41:23 And I was doing my little, you know, the GPL preview bit today and, I mean, there's not a lot of angles you can really take with Minnesota State in terms of how they might have success. 41:30 It's, you know, the Gophers, you know, they kind of got through this stretch and again, maybe they'll take them a little lightly or something like that. 41:37 I mean, if you're trying to find a way that, you know, maybe Mankato hangs around and that, you know, the Gophers are coming off the tough stretch we've talked about and now they think maybe they can just kind of show up. 41:45 It's at home and against the team they should beat. 41:47 But again, like you said, Jupiter, I mean, Mankato swept these guys last year. 41:50 So there's enough guys still on the team that are going to remember that. 41:53 And I'm sure the coaching staff will also remind them of that. 41:56 So yeah, I mean, there's no excuse to not to get, you know, four points this weekend. 42:00 And again, you look at, you know, the next six games at home before that, the Hall of Fame game against Notre Dame. 42:05 I mean, if you can get six wins, and again, they're going to be favored from slightly to heavily favored every one of those games, you know, then you're starting to get upwards of 20 wins. 42:14 And, you know, so again, you look, you know, like down the road, NCAA Tournament, and I'm not as worried about WCHA. 42:20 Obviously, you want to do well, Matt, and position yourself well for the end of the year. 42:23 But, you know, NCAA Tournament is what this team's about. 42:26 And, you know, making it, and, you know, if you do well the next, you know, six games at home, and, you know, make some, hey, you're going to put yourself in a great spot. 42:33 And they did that early in the year by winning games they should for the most part. 42:36 And then they, you know, held serve against some tough teams in November. 42:39 And now it's time to turn it back on and rack up some wins against teams you need to beat. 42:43 And I think they'll do that this weekend. 42:45 Now, interesting thought. 42:47 If the Gophers handle them, you know, by four goals or five goals Friday night, will we see a change in net for the Gophers Saturday night? 42:57 Maybe get Shembrowsky in there. 42:59 Any thoughts on that? 43:01 You know, I don't know. 43:03 It wouldn't entirely shock me. 43:05 I had actually heard, I don't know, a week or so ago that Shembrowsky might actually have played one of the Michigan State games. 43:13 Obviously, that didn't happen. 43:15 But maybe it was because they lost the first one. 43:18 I don't know. 43:18 Maybe they weren't planning on that at all. 43:19 It was just a rumor. 43:20 But nonetheless, it wouldn't shock me if that was the case. 43:24 And you know, I don't know how I feel about that. 43:28 I don't know if Kent just had an off weekend or if he's maybe tired a little bit or if it was some trip to fan hangover there. 43:36 You know, who knows what it could have been? 43:38 I really have no idea. 43:39 But I'd kind of like to see him get back on track. 43:42 And if it means playing in both games, so be it. 43:45 But I like our chances in both games. 43:47 So you could probably get away with playing Shabrowski one game. 43:51 Yeah. 43:51 I mean, again, I'm kind of on the same page. 43:53 I don't think you really need to. 43:54 I mean, you're a couple of weeks away from him having, you know, three full weeks off, essentially. 43:59 And, you know, again, I'm sure that Lucia has talked about that, where they'll give guys time off in practice. 44:05 You have three goalies for a reason. 44:06 And, you know, if Patterson needs a day to, you know, if he's sick or whatever. 44:10 But it wouldn't shock me. 44:11 And again, the goaltender this weekend, I mean, we haven't seen Shabrowski. 44:14 So I guess you can't say a lot, but the goaltending shouldn't be the difference in the series from a Gopher standpoint. 44:20 I mean, again, if Minnesota State, their goaltenders obviously had big time issues last weekend, but, you know, they put up some good performances this year, too. 44:27 So maybe if one of those guys makes a, you know, throws a 40 save deal out there, and, you know, the Gophers lose a 2-1 kind of game or something like that, you know. 44:35 But again, I don't think it'll happen, but it wouldn't shock me. 44:38 And, you know, I guess a lot of it just depends, too, if, you know, you're running out of chances if you're going to play them because the second half of the year, I mean, you're not going to play them at North Dakota and you're probably not going to play them against St. 44:46 Cloud. 44:47 And, you know, so if you are going to go to them, I mean, it's probably going to be over the next six games and pass that unless Patterson has some sort of injury or illness. 44:55 I mean, I just don't see a lot of space where you're going to get them in there. 44:58 So, yeah, I guess, again, it wouldn't shock me. 45:00 You think they'll go back to their regular line up, you know, get Ambrose and Warning back in or any thoughts? 45:07 I think they probably will on Friday and to see how it rolls. 45:11 I mean, you know, this is one of those kinds of weekends. 45:14 I mean, if you look at, statistically speaking, how Minnesota State, you know, Mankato has played, you know, this is one of those weekends where some guys might get off the schneid offensively and it might not just be the top-line guys anymore. 45:28 It could be some of the lower-line guys getting some pucks in the net and whatever. 45:32 And so it might be one of those, you know, they've been pressing a little bit. 45:35 So maybe this is the kind of series where you kind of want your younger guys out there a little bit more and hopefully be able to capitalize in their opportunities since the competition isn't, you know, the top of the line types. 45:48 Yeah, I would assume that, you know, they'll go back to something, you know, a little bit more stable on Friday night. 45:52 And, you know, again, hopefully that clicks really well and everyone stays healthy and then you can, you know, kind of reestablish the lineup you had and, you know, for at least a few weeks here. 46:01 And then obviously they're going to have to do some jumbling for, you know, World Junior time. 46:06 We have a question that kind of pertains to this weekend from Frozen Four Champs on GPL. 46:13 Do you think Michael Doar has been missed on the Gophers or was it addition by subtraction? 46:20 You know, it's funny, he asked that question because that was one of the things I was just about to bring up. 46:25 I was like, this is going to be, you know, possibly the last opportunity for Gopher fans to send off a nice goodbye to Mike Doar. 46:34 And, you know, I know UMD had their chance to do that, what, a couple of weekends ago. 46:39 And now, you know, here's the other team that he decided to leave abruptly, their opportunity to kind of say things. 46:46 But yeah, I mean, you know, I don't see where he would really entirely fit in this line up, you know. 46:51 I'm sure maybe he was the kind of guy, he didn't want to be patient here when he didn't get great opportunities as it was. 46:58 So if they're not going to play him as a freshman, then the best opportunities and he can't handle that, I don't think he would have handled it very well in this team. 47:07 Certainly a more talented team than what he was on before. 47:11 Yeah, I mean, I think if you just look at his strictly on ice play, I mean, I think he'd be a guy that probably would have fit in okay here. 47:17 But, I mean, a guy commits to a school, then resends the verbal, then goes to another school, transfers halfway through. 47:23 And, you know, we don't need guys like that around here where if you're always looking to, you know, climb to the top and if there's any resistance or you think you're better than everyone and you just want to move on. 47:33 So, yeah, I mean, strictly as a player, he'd probably be a nice addition here, especially maybe last year. 47:38 But, yeah, this team obviously doesn't have a space for guys like that at this point. 47:43 Well, think about it. 47:43 I mean, he was here for a half a season and he played a couple of games. 47:47 I mean, it's not like he really was biding his time and then after two years, he just decided, I'm never going to get a chance here and just bails. 47:56 I mean, you can kind of understand that kind of a thing sometimes. 47:59 But we're talking about a guy who was basically there for a semester before he decided to turn tail and just cave in on the whole thing. 48:07 I was like, to me, I mean, it's kind of gutless. 48:11 It's like, dude, you're not going to get life handed to you on a silver platter. 48:14 You're going to have to work for it sometimes. 48:17 I don't know that this guy has really ever had to deal with that before he turns tail and run. 48:23 One last thought on Minnesota State. 48:26 What do you guys think of the coaching situation there? 48:28 Do you think jutting could be in trouble if he gets a last place finish this year or they just going to hang on to him? 48:37 Well, I mean, I think it's one of those things where what's the financial part of it going to be? 48:42 I mean, that to me, I'm sure they probably would, if there wasn't any financial aspects involved in decision, they probably would let them go, I would think, because they really have struggled and really haven't done much. 48:54 I don't know how many years it's been since they've been at the final five or any of that kind of stuff, but it's been a struggle for them. 49:00 But of course, Mankato is not going to be a place that has big money budget, a big money budget to be able to pay not only the last coaching staff that you just got rid of, but then a new coaching staff and all that, so I mean, it's one of those things where you, I don't know that they can do that. 49:16 They might be one of those where you have a lame duck coach and that's certainly not going to help them anymore either, especially with all the changes in conference. 49:23 So I guess it'll be interesting to see what happens. 49:26 Yeah, and I wonder, you know, you look at what Michigan Tech did this year and they obviously made a commitment that, you know, when they got rid of Jamie Russell, they didn't go just get, you know, just anybody. 49:35 I mean, they went and got a Michigan assistant and I'm sure that cost them a decent amount, but they made an investment in the program and, you know, it's a pretty small sample size up to now, but they're, you know, he's obviously done a pretty good job turning him around and he doesn't have any of his recruits in there. 49:48 So, you know, I wonder if, you know, again, I don't know what the Juddians contract situation is like or whatever, but, you know, if Mankato wants to be serious about it, you'd think that on the surface, you know, granted, you know, Minnesota State doesn't have the history that Michigan Tech does, but in terms of location and facility, I mean, they have a lot of, you know, advantages over Michigan Tech, at least on paper. 50:08 So, I mean, they've kind of seen another team that's, you know, generally a bottom feeder, and, you know, they made an investment in a head coach and it seems to be working out so far. 50:16 So you wonder if they could kind of look at that model and try to duplicate it. 50:20 But again, that would take, you know, a decent chunk of money. 50:22 And you just wonder, like Hammeh said, where the university and athletic departments sit with all that. 50:27 Well, Pearson is a tech graduate, isn't he? 50:31 Yeah. 50:31 Yeah, so I mean, you know, that was one of those things where you kind of bring in the alum and, you know, who has some pride in the program and all that kind of stuff. 50:40 And turns them around. 50:41 I mean, is there anybody that has that kind of connection to Mankato, that, you know, has that background and experience and success with another program that's willing to step in at a Mankato and, you know, coach? 50:55 And I don't know. 50:57 I mean, I don't know enough about who's out there that might fit the bill for them in that regard. 51:00 But it's kind of a tough sell, too, to a certain degree, when we have all these conference changes coming up. 51:08 And, you know, you kind of have to wonder, well, it's not the Big Ten. 51:11 It's not going to be the National College Hockey Conference or wherever the hell they want to call it. 51:15 And, you know, the WCHA will still be okay, but it's not going to have the prestige it, you know, it has had. 51:23 And so is that going to play a part in, you know, who you can attract? 51:27 So I don't, there's a lot of question marks, I think there. 51:29 But do you think Mankato could maybe prosper in the new WCHA? 51:34 I mean, they're not going to have these huge teams going against them anymore, or at least not as often. 51:40 I think there's a chance they could do, you know, at least improve. 51:44 Well, I mean, if you look at it, there's nowhere to go but up to you know. 51:47 Well, that's true, but you know, I just, it might be a better situation for them than what they're currently in. 51:54 Well, I agree with that. 51:56 And honestly, that's kind of the way I felt before St. 51:58 Cloud decided to, you know, jettison the WCHA. 52:02 I really thought that, you know, the WCHA would probably be a good thing for St. 52:07 Cloud to stand because, you know, they're probably, you know, with what that makeup of that league is gonna be, they probably would have been in the top three or four pretty much every year, or at least close to it. 52:17 And, you know, you go to a different conference now where the competition's a lot tougher and you're looking at, you know, more than likely I would think bottom half, you know, finishes more often than not in that league. 52:29 So you kind of say, you know, yeah, on one hand it's nice to have the competition and maybe a little bit of the brand hype of your league and all that kind of stuff. 52:38 At the same time, though, you know, if you're the one who's getting beat up on more often than not, you know, that's not the place you really want to be. 52:45 So you could be right, you know, it might be more advantageous for Mankato at some point. 52:51 All right, well, that pretty much wraps up the hockey talk this week. 52:55 What about recruiting? 52:56 Anything going on in recruiting this week, Kami, or anything to be looking forward to? 53:03 You know, I haven't really heard too much lately. 53:05 I think, you know, with the high school season starting, you know, I guess probably in full swing now tonight. 53:11 I'm sure that they'll be out there looking. 53:13 But I haven't, honestly, I haven't heard too much recently. 53:15 And I don't suspect we probably will probably until, you know, next year sometime. 53:20 Kamarada doing pretty well, though. 53:22 Oh, yeah. 53:22 I mean, he's in the, I mean, I think he's in the top five in scoring in the USHL. 53:27 And for a kid who's, you know, 16 years old, I mean, that's pretty, it's pretty good stuff. 53:33 And I definitely am looking forward to having that kid around here. 53:36 I mean, he's going to be, you know, one of those guys, if all things keep playing the way they are, you know, he'll be a three, you know, year player, maybe four, it's hard to say now. 53:46 But, and he should be a dynamic offensive player, one of those guys that kind of like, you know, Jack Connolly has been for UMD. 53:54 You know, you kind of expect him to show up on campus and start having some points, you know, right off the bat. 54:00 And I think that he's that kind of player. 54:03 Any other thoughts, boys? 54:06 Any other topics you want to look at? 54:09 Ah, I don't know that I had anything. 54:11 I mean, we talked about the strength of schedule stuff, and all that other good, you know, stuff. 54:16 So I don't know. 54:17 I'm pretty much out of topics. 54:20 Yeah, yeah, I got nothing. 54:22 Four points this weekend. 54:23 Let's do it. 54:23 Four points this weekend. 54:24 Let's do it. 54:25 Ryan, I assume you'll be on KFF this week? 54:29 Yeah, Thursday at 9.55 is the tentative thing, and that's when he usually is. 54:34 So that should hold true. 54:36 And of course, you could always follow Ryan on Twitter as well at Ryan Cardinal. 54:41 Hammy, we could always follow you at Hammy Hockey. 54:44 You don't really do much with the blog anymore, do you? 54:46 No, you know, with work and all that kind of stuff, I was just... 54:51 Maybe we could just get you to blog on GPL instead. 54:55 Well, I mean, you know, whatever. 54:56 I'm always game for opportunities. 54:59 But, you know, yeah, I just kind of was like, yeah, it's hard to maintain that when you're working full time and doing all this other stuff. 55:07 And Twitter is the way to get the word out these days as well. 55:09 So, yep, well, we record these podcasts on Tuesday nights at around 930. 55:15 And if you head over to the podcast page, we're usually live. 55:20 We had some issues with the software tonight, but it seems to be working now. 55:25 You can always send us questions via our Twitter at Gopher Puck Live or the email at podcast at gopherpucklive.com. 55:34 That about does it for this week. 55:36 We'll see you next time on the Gopher Puck Live Podcast.