0:08 This is the GPL Podcast, part of the Poltab Sports Family. 0:16 You know a good recruiting tip is like, we're trying to get a good drink around here. 0:32 You know, it was good to see that the Big Ten Network recognized how to cover hockey. 0:42 The over-under for this game, it's seven. 0:48 Hammer! 0:48 Here's the hammer. 0:49 Hammer! 0:50 It's over! 0:51 Hammer in the over! 1:06 All right, good evening from the Denny Sanford Center here, Veegs. 1:10 A comeback victory for the Gophers, three to two, not a great game, but a great finish. 1:20 Well, I think we talked about this week how Minnesota had to play the right style of game to be successful, and it took them a little while to figure that out and what that was going to look like. 1:31 You know, Omaha put three hard guys on the puck on the strong side, and the Gophers own all the time, and it took Minnesota a while to kind of acclimate to that kind of pressure and then start to make plays. 1:42 I think especially after that major penalty was killed off, Omaha's top six were probably a little fatigued and Minnesota started to take over. 1:50 Hopefully you guys can hear us okay. 1:52 We just did this on the fly. 1:53 We were actually at the same media set that the players were just interviewed at with Coach Mosco. 2:01 You were just saying right before it went on the air, you didn't think they were going to pull it out because it was kind of ugly, but it didn't turn into that shootout. 2:09 You know, you talk about the shootout and if they just kind of stick with their defensive game, you know, they had the power play goal and they had another nice goal, but they just kind of stuck to it. 2:18 And then Mr. 2:19 Nelson took over. 2:19 Well, I think they defended really well. 2:22 I think that was key for Minnesota is they didn't let Omaha's pressure get to them. 2:27 And so they were able to, for the most part, avoid that sustained pressure. 2:31 And we were wondering where they're going to get scoring from tonight. 2:34 And to see it come from Jimmy Clark and then Jackson Nelson getting two goals is essentially storybook for this team and that program. 2:42 You know, Bob talked about this in the post game, how, you know, when he took the job at Minnesota, he didn't really know Jackson Nelson. 2:49 You know, Bob was one of those guys where if someone committed somewhere else, he kind of pulled back and stopped watching them, stopped recruiting them, stopped evaluating them. 2:57 And he said, Scott Owens said, don't let this guy go, stay with him. 3:02 He's not a big point producer guy, but he's a guy you want on your roster. 3:06 And man, he delivered tonight. 3:09 Looking at some of the chat here at Brodsinski with a monster game. 3:13 I noticed at first he looked a little frustrated out there at times. 3:17 Yeah, I think that was the situation where a lot of the Gophers were under pressure and they were having trouble getting positive shifts going. 3:25 And he took that slashing penalty, probably got him the coach's eye a little bit. 3:31 And maybe, as we've seen so many times this year, that maybe fired him up. 3:35 And he made some really proactive plays. 3:37 He beat out Omaha player to the puck on that icing that got waved off for Nelson's first goal and great play with the shot pass on Nelson's second goal. 3:47 So Bryce really came through on those two plays. 3:50 And that's kind of how he plays sometimes is he kind of disappears. 3:54 He doesn't drive play, but he can make a play in a second. 3:58 And obviously, you see Brian there saying, since he was awful until late in the third. 4:04 I thought it was a lucky break to get that icing waved off. 4:07 It was close. 4:08 It was very close. 4:09 You could tell the Omaha player was kind of easing up, getting back for it. 4:13 It was gonna be tight, and he wasn't ready to battle. 4:16 And Bryce was, and that was all the difference on that play. 4:21 So, Boston University wins earlier today. 4:26 I thought RIT actually played them pretty well, and Cook got a couple more goals on them. 4:33 I think BU was kind of up and down during that game. 4:35 They played sloppy at times, but then all of a sudden they were played out. 4:38 So it's gonna be kind of tough. 4:41 What are we gonna expect from that? 4:43 I think it's gonna be a tricky matchup because BU's got so much talent, but they did not play, neither team played like Omaha did. 4:51 And they had a loose game, and Jay Pandolfo said after that game, I don't know if we've given up as many breakaways in the second half of the season as they gave up tonight, and their goalie kind of bailed them out. 5:02 That could have been an awful game for them if RIT would have converted on some of those chances and gotten a lead. 5:08 But I think RIT is probably gonna regret the way that game panned out. 5:12 It felt like they were trying to keep up with BU rather than tighten the, tighten the hatches. 5:17 I would definitely agree with that. 5:19 So, we got some stats here. 5:21 Clark, obviously a big goal for him. 5:24 He had been kind of quiet for months. 5:27 Yeah, he had that kind of spurt early in the season where you're like... 5:29 Everyone wanted to play with him. 5:31 Everyone wanted to play with Jimmy Clark and he had produced points. 5:35 And then he kind of got into a funk. 5:36 I think some of that was, you know, where is he gonna fit in in the lineup? 5:40 And as we saw tonight during the third period, Bob was just changing the lines. 5:44 Like every other shift. 5:45 The only line that really stuck together was the Nevers-Nelson-Brodzinski line. 5:50 They pretty much stuck together. 5:51 But you saw Brodzinski play with other guys down the stretch as Bob was trying to find the right fit and keep the momentum going at the end of the game. 6:00 So they survived. 6:02 That's really all we kind of wanted because I think they could have played a much better game tonight. 6:09 And I think their good game on the weekend should be Saturday. 6:15 Well, I think BU presents an opportunity for Stuggeroot to maybe have a better game. 6:21 Stuggeroot was trying to shoot the puck tonight. 6:24 He was not carrying the puck very much. 6:27 Minnesota probably missed the net wide 10, 15 times throughout the game. 6:32 I distinctly remember the All-Hungo literally jumping up four or five times in the first period. 6:39 And I keep thinking, shoot low, guys. 6:41 Get the rebound. 6:42 Get some garbage. 6:43 We don't need these top shelf things all the time. 6:46 Yeah, especially when the goalies can see the puck coming. 6:48 You know, I thought some of the traffic early in the game for Minnesota wasn't really there. 6:52 You saw a lot of guys, you know, where they kind of moved to the side and try to do that tip rather than squaring up to the shooter and tipping. 7:01 So that was probably a little frustrating for the coaching staff. 7:04 But they'll get another chance on Saturday. 7:06 And I wasn't sure that was going to happen tonight, especially the way you saw them come out early. 7:11 It's like, are they going to figure it out? 7:13 Who's going to score for them? 7:15 And it happened. 7:18 So let's talk about a little bit about the other games today. 7:21 Denver and UMass go to double overtime. 7:25 Mr. 7:26 Carl over there almost kind of got what he wanted. 7:30 It would have been, if you know what I mean, it would have been a bad thing to lose. 7:33 But it would have said, he would have been like, look, here we are in UMass' home rink. 7:38 And what they did pull it off in the end with what you thought was a little controversial, Big Ten refs, so we were kind of wondering there what was going to happen. 7:49 Yeah, I mean, there definitely was a Denver player in the crease. 7:54 How soon did he get there? 7:55 Was he there as the shot was coming in? 7:57 As the shot got there, he got pushed in a little bit. 8:00 They reviewed it, took a little bit of time for them to confirm it, but it was a good goal. 8:05 It's in the rest's judgment. 8:07 I like to see it counted as a goal. 8:09 I don't think it was one of those plays where there's clear interference or clear, you know, the player didn't avoid the net. 8:15 Good for Denver. 8:17 I thought they controlled that game mass played. 8:20 A lot of defense and trapping slowed it down. 8:24 Good result for Denver. 8:25 And Cornell gets a 3-1 win over Maine. 8:27 I didn't get a chance to see any of that game because it was kind of happening, because it was so late because of that first game. 8:33 I'm off to a hot start. 8:34 I think I called the 3-2 score for tonight. 8:37 I think I called Cornell as the upset for today. 8:40 I'm feeling pretty good about myself. 8:42 Well, that's good. 8:46 Back to our game. 8:47 Chesley gets a five-minute major early in the game. 8:50 And you know what, Vegoe? 8:52 He didn't get kicked out. 8:54 And that's the one thing you've been kind of talking about this year. 8:57 He didn't get kicked out. 9:00 And a couple days ago, you're like, I think he might want to have seven defensemen. 9:06 Might want to have seven defensemen instead of 13 fours. 9:09 And you're like, oh, Bob didn't listen to me. 9:11 I saw your tweet before the game. 9:13 And then all of a sudden, Chesley gets a five-minute. 9:16 Oh my gosh, he could have easily got kicked out there. 9:19 But he wasn't. 9:20 And that's kind of the rule you think how it should be. 9:22 I definitely think that's the way it should be called. 9:24 There's incidents like that where you have a player who's obviously put themselves into a vulnerable position. 9:30 You know, he was he was down low, like by the by the hip of Chesley. 9:36 So it was difficult for him to really make a play as he's driving the net. 9:40 I mean, what do you expect Chesley to do there? 9:42 He's got to keep him from getting the net. 9:44 So he's going to make a play. 9:46 It's just he picked him just perfect by the head. 9:48 And Randall's helmet apparently doesn't have straps around his neck. 9:52 So it came flying off and it was probably an easy call. 9:54 How many helmets go off tonight? 9:56 I think he had it come off a couple of times. 9:58 So he might want to check that strap next year when he's playing. 10:01 But, you know, having to withstand that with Chesley, luckily he stayed in the game. 10:06 I think that's the way the rule should work is to keep him in. 10:09 Unless it's something blatant, you know, like literally an elbow. 10:12 When it's the open ice across the middle where there's a headhunting, this is him trying to cut off a player from going to the net. 10:18 He's clearly got the puck. 10:19 He's clearly driving the lane. 10:21 It's not a surprise that there's contact. 10:23 It's just it happened to be pointed contact in the head. 10:26 They made the right call. 10:27 He stays in the game, comes back. 10:29 Chesley, I thought, played really well down the stretch. 10:31 Cal Thomas did as well. 10:33 Luke Middlestadt probably had one of his stronger games of the season. 10:36 I think he does well. 10:37 He shows up in the playoffs. 10:39 Well, I think he does well in a heavy game. 10:41 But when there's a lot of contact and a lot of battles where it's physical rather than speed, that really speaks to his game. 10:48 He stepped up and made some nice plays, some patience when he had the puck in the offensive zone. 10:53 I thought that was a difference for Minnesota as the game went on. 10:56 You saw Minnesota involve their DeMore, and that helped. 11:01 One thing you mentioned, actually to Jackson Nelson sitting right here earlier, is that he spent the last minute and a half on the ice at the end of the game, and he was telling you, just don't stretch yourself, play smart, don't get too much out of position. 11:17 That's still a long shift at the end of the game. 11:19 Yeah, I think it was a minute 37 that they were out there coming off the timeout and face off with their own zone, which they had to scramble a little bit. 11:28 I think this team has had a couple of those situations during the year, and for a lot of the guys, it's new. 11:35 Jackson probably has played a few of those because he's one of the best centers for draws on this roster, and he was last year too. 11:42 But just having that heavy load of knowing, okay, I probably only have like two chances to make a play at a puck, a 50-51 and clear the zone. 11:51 Got to make sure I do those at the right time. 11:56 Don't get over that cold, I feel you. 11:58 Let's dry air in the rink. 12:00 Oh man, I was dying the last two periods I didn't have anything to drink. 12:03 You guys got any questions for us real quick? 12:07 I don't know if he's underrated, but we all know about Close. 12:10 He shows up at playoff time and he had some big saves there in the third period. 12:14 He knew he was going to have to play well tonight. 12:18 I talked to him after the game. 12:19 We have open locker room because it's playoff. 12:23 He knew there was going to be a lot of traffic in front of him and he couldn't spill pucks. 12:27 He was really focused on that and he delivered. 12:30 They played pretty good in front of him. 12:32 They really did. 12:33 They helped clear some pucks. 12:34 I know it's a lot of situations where a puck was sitting there, but an Omaha player couldn't get to it. 12:41 Numbers to the goalie. 12:43 You saw Minnesota do that tonight. 12:45 You don't want to always be looking for the puck and fishing for the puck. 12:48 You've got to have your player tied up, stick, and have your number to the goalie so he can see it, play it, and make plays. 12:55 I thought that was really key for Minnesota tonight. 12:58 What's the key on Saturday with Boston University? 13:02 What do you think? 13:03 Don't change your game too much. 13:05 Learn from what worked tonight. 13:07 Battle on the wall, possess the puck, connect shifts, be disciplined, be attentive on the draws. 13:13 I thought Minnesota did a good job adjusting to Omaha's pressure, especially draws in Minnesota's end. 13:21 Even when the Gopher Center went back, both wings for Omaha were attacking, and I think it took Minnesota a little while to figure out how to play that. 13:29 And you saw both D committing to getting the puck and lawing out their guy. 13:32 So I think learning those lessons is going to be important against BU. 13:36 Do not get into this one-on-one individual play stuff against them. 13:40 It's not going to work out very well. 13:42 Because you'll get blown out. 13:44 You will get blown out. 13:44 You've got to use all five players on the ice. 13:47 All right. 13:47 Well, Veegs, I know you've got to head back tomorrow. 13:50 Heading back to a little camp. 13:53 We've got a little hockey camp. 13:56 So a little spring hockey camp practice to run. 13:58 So that will be fun. 13:59 I'll be back on Saturday, though. 14:00 Looking forward to it. 14:01 I'm not sure what was going to happen after the Gopher loss. 14:03 So luckily, I get to do some more driving this weekend. 14:06 And fans, get your tickets. 14:09 Come on down. 14:10 There were still plenty of seats available for the games tonight. 14:15 Come on down. 14:15 You know, those Omaha fans are going to be gone. 14:17 And they were pretty good. 14:18 It was about 50-50 tonight, which was kind of nice. 14:20 Yeah, they opened up the second up deck late for ticket sales. 14:24 I would expect to see those go to Gopher fans here for Saturday. 14:29 Get your butts down here if you're not down here. 14:32 Easy drive. 14:32 I'm doing this. 14:33 I'm doing it twice. 14:34 That's how much I think it's easy. 14:36 All right. 14:37 I think that's going to do it for us. 14:38 Thanks for joining us, folks. 14:40 We thought we could do a post game here. 14:43 Just weren't sure because you never know what facilities are. 14:46 Actually, they've got great facilities here, great internet. 14:48 So I'm glad we got to bring this to you tonight. 14:52 Hopefully we'll be with you again Saturday night with another victory. 14:56 Until then, thanks for joining us.