Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Critical series ahead in ECAC Hockey and WCHA; St. Thomas has a breakthrough

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Critical series ahead in ECAC Hockey and WCHA; St. Thomas has a breakthrough · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com. Hi, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
0:12
Speaker 1: Todd Malusky here with Nicole Hasey. We are talking a
0:16
Speaker 1: big week of NCAA women's hockey results and a big
0:20
Speaker 1: week coming up, but also some news along the way. Nicole,
0:25
Speaker 1: looking back at the weekend, Man, I don't know where
0:28
Speaker 1: to start. Saint Thomas sweeping Duluth, first time they've ever
0:33
Speaker 1: beaten a top five team, and they did it twice.
0:36
Speaker 1: We had Clarkson and Saint Lawrence getting splits. We had
0:43
Speaker 1: the leaders in New Hall l i U and Sacred
0:46
Speaker 1: Heart getting a split. Man, There's there's a lot to
0:49
Speaker 1: go into there. Where do you want to start there?
0:54
Speaker 2: Sure, let's start with Clarkson and Saint Lawrence. That was
0:57
Speaker 2: one of those ones where it's like, oh, this is
1:00
Speaker 2: this is hockey for you. So on Friday we had
1:02
Speaker 2: a six or five win by Saint Lawrence and on
1:05
Speaker 2: Saturday we had a win a win by Clerkson. Not
1:09
Speaker 2: sure how that happens or works in terms of you've
1:12
Speaker 2: got that kind of firepower, but the defense really stepped
1:14
Speaker 2: up in the second game. Interestingly, each team won on
1:18
Speaker 2: the road. Those two schools are like, I think ten
1:21
Speaker 2: miles apart, so it was a home and home series.
1:24
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think it continues to say good things
1:28
Speaker 2: about Saint Lawrence when they can find all that firepower
1:30
Speaker 2: and they're doing it on fairly low shot counts. They're
1:34
Speaker 2: just it's a really efficient scoring set up they've got. Obviously,
1:39
Speaker 2: you know, Clerkson made adjustments and we know Clarkson has
1:42
Speaker 2: good defense, and they were able to really shut it
1:44
Speaker 2: down on the second day. So that's in terms of
1:49
Speaker 2: like as we had the postseason, you're talking one game
1:51
Speaker 2: at a time, like Saint Lawrence has gotta you know,
1:53
Speaker 2: do some work there to not really be able to
1:56
Speaker 2: be shut off that completely and that easily. But yeah,
2:00
Speaker 2: I just think they just moved the puck really well there.
2:03
Speaker 2: You know, it's all spread out, and yeah, when you're
2:05
Speaker 2: you're able to score those kind of like put up
2:07
Speaker 2: those kind of scores when you have half them on
2:10
Speaker 2: the shots of your opponent, like you're doing pretty well.
2:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. St. Lawrence on the Friday game scored six times
2:16
Speaker 1: on seventeen shots on goal, So obviously efficient if you
2:20
Speaker 1: want to look at it that way. Abby Hustler with
2:22
Speaker 1: the go ahead goal with three forty eight remaining and
2:28
Speaker 1: you got to imagine that's a gut check. Then overnight
2:30
Speaker 1: for Clarkson score five and lose. Your season's kind of
2:35
Speaker 1: in terms of both ECAC standings and where you are
2:40
Speaker 1: in pairwise seasons a little bit in flux there in
2:45
Speaker 1: terms of where you stand. You have to respond when
2:49
Speaker 1: you go on the road. Then on Saturday, and they
2:51
Speaker 1: did that. They again held the shots down. Holly Grouper
2:55
Speaker 1: made eighteen says for a shutout, one nothing win. Riea
2:58
Speaker 1: Hicks with the power play goal of only goal of
3:00
Speaker 1: the game eleven twenty left in the third. So both
3:02
Speaker 1: those games decide in the third period, which is, I
3:05
Speaker 1: guess what you expect this time of the year, and
3:07
Speaker 1: you're getting in January, in late January, and then the
3:10
Speaker 1: February when these games are going to be even if
3:14
Speaker 1: they're you know, there's a lot of goals, they're still
3:17
Speaker 1: a pretty good chance they're gonna be tight down to
3:20
Speaker 1: the finish.
3:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I am loath to say anything is
3:24
Speaker 2: must win. We are still a little ways out, but
3:26
Speaker 2: it does feel like Clerkson is in that sort of
3:28
Speaker 2: must win territory in terms of their NCAA hopes, And
3:34
Speaker 2: anytime I should say that, like while we're talking about
3:36
Speaker 2: that at this time of the year. That's all assuming
3:38
Speaker 2: they don't you know, win the conference tournament, and that's
3:40
Speaker 2: them or anybody else. We're talking about it this time,
3:42
Speaker 2: we're talking about at large chances. Obviously, if they wouldn't
3:45
Speaker 2: their conferences autobid, that makes uh, that makes things quite
3:49
Speaker 2: clear and easy. But sort of maybe assuming that they
3:51
Speaker 2: don't looking at at large, it does feel like they are,
3:55
Speaker 2: you know, they're in a really precarious position and they've
3:58
Speaker 2: got got work to do, and so you we'll come back,
4:01
Speaker 2: we'll talk a little bit about Wisconsin Verus Saint Cloud.
4:04
Speaker 2: But we saw Wisconsin, you know, tying and then winning
4:08
Speaker 2: a shootout against a ranked team and losing you know,
4:10
Speaker 2: one and a half points in the NPI. So like
4:13
Speaker 2: we were both surprised sort of at how much movement
4:15
Speaker 2: that was for one game against the ranked opponent that
4:18
Speaker 2: wasn't a loss. And to me, that just shows that,
4:20
Speaker 2: like everyone we've been saying, every one of these games
4:23
Speaker 2: are so important and such a big deal. Like there
4:25
Speaker 2: you one loss or one sort of slip up can
4:28
Speaker 2: really make a huge difference. Wisconsin's lucky enough to have
4:32
Speaker 2: a big lead, but bringing that back to this conversation,
4:35
Speaker 2: it just shows how how sort of devastating to your
4:39
Speaker 2: ranking when we're talking MPIs and teams are tents of
4:42
Speaker 2: hundreds of points apart, hundreds of points apart. When you
4:47
Speaker 2: can have that much movement in one game, that's like
4:49
Speaker 2: that could be devastating. One one more slip up.
4:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess on the the flip side of that,
4:57
Speaker 1: staying out East, but looking at h in Hockey East,
5:01
Speaker 1: well part of it in Hockey East, but Northeastern getting
5:03
Speaker 1: a three win week when you look at basically starting
5:07
Speaker 1: of last Tuesday with the bean Pot Championship game of
5:10
Speaker 1: four nothing went over BU and then wins at home
5:13
Speaker 1: and on the road against Merrimack over the weekend. That
5:17
Speaker 1: that does big things. And Northeastern all of a sudden
5:19
Speaker 1: is one eight of the last ten games and they're
5:23
Speaker 1: sitting here at ninth and in the last at large
5:25
Speaker 1: what would be the last at large spot as of
5:28
Speaker 1: right now in the tournament. And so there's there's a
5:31
Speaker 1: lot that can happen here when you get on a
5:33
Speaker 1: little bit of a role. Clarkson has to do that,
5:35
Speaker 1: Northeastern has to keep doing that.
5:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, we we've talked about like when
5:41
Speaker 2: the opportunity is there, when you know it's on a
5:44
Speaker 2: platter for you, you have to you have to be the
5:46
Speaker 2: time type of team that sees that and seizes it.
5:49
Speaker 2: It's the thing that I've sort of been saying, too
5:51
Speaker 2: many teams haven't been doing. And you know, Boston College,
5:55
Speaker 2: Boston University, yukon, none of them have run away with
5:59
Speaker 2: with Hockey East knowing created separation and that left you know,
6:03
Speaker 2: that left space. And now Northeastern has you know, as
6:06
Speaker 2: you said, gone on a little street here and really
6:08
Speaker 2: done themselves well. So again, every game matters and and
6:14
Speaker 2: I think I feel like I'm just gonna say that
6:15
Speaker 2: on on repeat right now, but amazing what a couple
6:19
Speaker 2: of games, you know, what a couple of weeks and
6:20
Speaker 2: a really positive a couple of outcomes can do for you.
6:25
Speaker 1: Tell me you're Northeastern without telling me you're Northeastern winning
6:28
Speaker 1: games for nothing, for nothing for one, right, I mean
6:32
Speaker 1: what we've seen for years out of Northeastern. It's you know,
6:36
Speaker 1: a different cast now, and it's maybe a little bit
6:38
Speaker 1: different in terms of what we've seen earlier in the season.
6:41
Speaker 1: But if they're gonna play that kind of game. That's
6:45
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way they're gonna win is having
6:48
Speaker 1: some some really strong play in the d zone and
6:52
Speaker 1: being opportunistic with the goal.
6:54
Speaker 2: Scoring, right, And I feel like maybe they just it
6:56
Speaker 2: just took them longer this year than we're used to
6:59
Speaker 2: from them to sort of find their groove. The other
7:01
Speaker 2: thing is that the freshman goalie Lisa Johnson, like she's
7:04
Speaker 2: having a great season, but like she didn't get all
7:08
Speaker 2: the starts to start. I think she's only got like
7:11
Speaker 2: twelve fifteen somewhere in there, so her numbers are great,
7:14
Speaker 2: and she it's like it took that little bit of
7:17
Speaker 2: time for her to earn that starting role. It took
7:19
Speaker 2: a little bit of time for the defense or I'm
7:21
Speaker 2: sorry for the offense to really settle in. And I mean, hey,
7:24
Speaker 2: if you are gonna wait to find your groove, now
7:27
Speaker 2: is a really good time to do it. So just
7:29
Speaker 2: sort of timing that in this long season can be difficult.
7:32
Speaker 2: Right now in Northeastern's doing a great job of that.
7:34
Speaker 1: They see Johnson with the thirty saves in the championship
7:37
Speaker 1: game of the bean Pot and then a twenty five
7:39
Speaker 1: save shutout to follow it up at home against Mary
7:41
Speaker 1: mac last Friday. So yeah, it's an impressive couple of
7:45
Speaker 1: games there, and then a one goal or a for
7:48
Speaker 1: to one game where you give a one goal is
7:50
Speaker 1: doing the job pretty well then too. Let's turn it
7:54
Speaker 1: back out west here again where a couple of results
7:58
Speaker 1: from a Thursday a Friday series last week. So this,
8:03
Speaker 1: this game on Thursday kind of had the entire landscape
8:06
Speaker 1: of NCAA women's hockey to itself. Uh and Saint Thomas
8:11
Speaker 1: scores very late to get a three to two win
8:15
Speaker 1: against Minnesota Duluth, like I mentioned before, its first ever
8:21
Speaker 1: win over a top five team, and then they come
8:23
Speaker 1: back to the next day and get a four to
8:26
Speaker 1: three overtime win coming from behind. In both of those games,
8:28
Speaker 1: the d Luth had the lead after the second period
8:31
Speaker 1: of both of those games and wasn't able to close
8:33
Speaker 1: it out. And that's maybe something we get into in
8:35
Speaker 1: a minute. But on the Saint Thomas side, big things
8:39
Speaker 1: happening there. You know, this is a team that's that's building.
8:43
Speaker 1: We know that it's had a rough go of it
8:45
Speaker 1: this season, all over the place, on the ice, in
8:50
Speaker 1: the locker room, in that night in Bamigi where things
8:56
Speaker 1: kind of went Haywire. We don't still know the full
8:58
Speaker 1: story there, but Jroel Johnson out as coach. After that,
9:01
Speaker 1: Bethany Brasen comes in as interim coach, and now, as
9:04
Speaker 1: we learned over the weekend, has the full time job.
9:07
Speaker 1: So that's a lot of big things happening in a
9:11
Speaker 1: few days. For Saint Thomas, it felt like.
9:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I thought it was a really cool way
9:15
Speaker 2: to cap off the really like outstanding weekend for them
9:19
Speaker 2: as the first ever sweep of a rinked opponent as well,
9:22
Speaker 2: and so just they they were, I mean, Dandy Strum
9:27
Speaker 2: I think is sort of a steal of a goaltender
9:29
Speaker 2: for them. She was with, you know, the USU eighteens.
9:33
Speaker 2: She's just a really she's got international experience. She's a
9:36
Speaker 2: really good goaltender. She has proved that already. But she
9:39
Speaker 2: just gives them that solid foundation and so that makes
9:41
Speaker 2: a huge difference. What I thought was great for Saint
9:43
Speaker 2: Thomas was scoring from different lines. It wasn't all you know,
9:47
Speaker 2: one or two players. They often scored early and then
9:51
Speaker 2: Minnesota Duluth pushed back and was at one point they
9:54
Speaker 2: scored like three in a row, and then Saint Thomas
9:55
Speaker 2: push back on that and that's just such a huge
9:58
Speaker 2: the ability to do that to not I mean, they
10:00
Speaker 2: had lost ten in a row. I mean, you would
10:04
Speaker 2: not blame Saint Thomas if the players didn't have that
10:08
Speaker 2: in them at this point in the season, after the
10:10
Speaker 2: season they've had, right after what we just talked about,
10:13
Speaker 2: but the fact that they are, they're still playing, they're
10:15
Speaker 2: still pushing, they're still knowing that they can win games
10:18
Speaker 2: against the number four team in the country. And then
10:22
Speaker 2: generally when we see stuff like this, then we see
10:24
Speaker 2: that next game where the right team comes back. Just
10:27
Speaker 2: absolutely you know, Hammers back and that sink Cloud did
10:30
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Saint Thomas did this two games in a row.
10:32
Speaker 2: I just it really says a lot about sort of
10:35
Speaker 2: their characters, the team, about what we I think they
10:38
Speaker 2: can be capable of both this year and in the future.
10:41
Speaker 2: And yeah, just a really exciting series. It was just
10:45
Speaker 2: like you couldn't help but be pulling for them, knowing
10:49
Speaker 2: all that's going on. And then and when they announced
10:51
Speaker 2: yesterday that they were giving Bras and the the taking
10:54
Speaker 2: the interim tag off her title. You know, the athletic
10:57
Speaker 2: director said he'd known for a while that that she
10:59
Speaker 2: was going to be the choice that they were going
11:01
Speaker 2: to stay with her, but they were waiting for the
11:04
Speaker 2: right time to announce it, and so yeah, this is
11:06
Speaker 2: a pretty good time to do.
11:07
Speaker 1: That, right say.
11:10
Speaker 2: Just a really amazing weekend for them. It was it
11:14
Speaker 2: was hard not to be cheering for them. Sorry to
11:16
Speaker 2: lose fans, but it just knowing what they've gone through,
11:19
Speaker 2: seeing what they were doing, you know, on the ice,
11:21
Speaker 2: seventy three saves on the weekend for danny Strom, twenty
11:24
Speaker 2: nine total blocks, six different goal scorers, like that whole
11:28
Speaker 2: team earned this weekend sweep and that was really just
11:32
Speaker 2: kind of special to watch.
11:33
Speaker 1: Also Lindaman with the credited with the goal with twenty
11:36
Speaker 1: five seconds left and the third on Thursday to get
11:39
Speaker 1: that win, and then Ella Berger with the overtime goal
11:43
Speaker 1: on Friday for the sweep. Yeah, on the other.
11:46
Speaker 2: Men's first career goal too, which is pretty amazing.
11:50
Speaker 1: On the other side of that, you've got a Deluthium
11:52
Speaker 1: that's now lost more straight after going ten unbeaten, and
11:55
Speaker 1: so that's a pretty sizable bump in the road and
12:00
Speaker 1: you see what it does in the ranking or in
12:02
Speaker 1: the pair wise, where you all of a sudden Duluth
12:04
Speaker 1: now finding itself in in sixth. And the difference between fourth, fifth,
12:09
Speaker 1: and six, as we've talked about before and we'll keep
12:11
Speaker 1: talking about, is huge because you're in fourth, you're at home,
12:15
Speaker 1: you play one game to get to the Frozen four.
12:17
Speaker 1: You're in fifth, you still only have to play one
12:19
Speaker 1: game to get to the Frozen four, but it's on
12:20
Speaker 1: the road. You're in sixth. Now you're on the road
12:22
Speaker 1: and you've got to play two games. That's a yeah,
12:25
Speaker 1: just a massive change in a couple of spots. And
12:29
Speaker 1: and that's that's where de Luth has fall into And
12:33
Speaker 1: obviously a lot to be played here still on a
12:36
Speaker 1: lot that can be made up, especially in a a
12:39
Speaker 1: pair wise early an NPI situation where the numbers are
12:42
Speaker 1: are pretty close and and you know a game or
12:46
Speaker 1: two are are going to change a lot. But H. D.
12:49
Speaker 1: LUTH's got to find some answers pretty quick, and they've
12:53
Speaker 1: got the number one team of the country coming in
12:55
Speaker 1: the town.
12:55
Speaker 2: Say it doesn't get easier, right, Yeah? Yeah, So they
12:59
Speaker 2: have Wisconsin the weekend at home, traveled to Bamidge, have
13:03
Speaker 2: Mankato at home, and then finish out their weekend in
13:06
Speaker 2: Minneapolis and its Minnesota. So we've seen that Bamidge and
13:12
Speaker 2: Minnesota State aren't you know, pushover teams and that what
13:14
Speaker 2: they can do against these top apponents, and so you
13:17
Speaker 2: can't even say that like you know, they might get
13:19
Speaker 2: a little mental break or anything like this. This is
13:22
Speaker 2: those are sort of trap games after what they have
13:24
Speaker 2: been through here. And so yeah, Wisconsin and Minnesota bookending
13:27
Speaker 2: those those two series, it's a it's a fight to
13:30
Speaker 2: the finish for Duluth. And and again, like I don't
13:33
Speaker 2: think I don't know that anything catastrophe. I think they're
13:36
Speaker 2: probably still a tournament team on like based on the
13:40
Speaker 2: rest of their season. But there's as we've noticed, there's
13:43
Speaker 2: just not a lot of room, not a lot of
13:45
Speaker 2: wigle room, and so they've got there's a lot of
13:47
Speaker 2: pressure here with these these final few games. Not they're
13:50
Speaker 2: not winner go home, but they're not not that there's
13:54
Speaker 2: there's a lot of pressure there.
13:56
Speaker 1: Ye. Definitely In Madison, Wisconsin beat Saint Cloud Fire. I
14:00
Speaker 1: have to two in the Saturday game there, and Saint
14:02
Speaker 1: Cloud came back on Sunday trailing to one after two
14:06
Speaker 1: periods and got a tow to two tie the first
14:08
Speaker 1: time in fifty eight tries that Wisconsin wasn't able to
14:11
Speaker 1: close out a second intermission lead and get a victory
14:14
Speaker 1: out of that. Laura Zimmerman got the game tying goal.
14:18
Speaker 1: The Badgers did win the extra point in a shootout
14:20
Speaker 1: after that, so they got five to six points from
14:23
Speaker 1: the series. But Saint Cloud the first team to get
14:26
Speaker 1: a point from the Badgers at Lebam this season. So
14:30
Speaker 1: that's a you know, breaking the kind of the chase
14:34
Speaker 1: for perfection there at home. Anyway for Wisconsin, Saint Cloud
14:37
Speaker 1: was able to do it, and they they did it
14:41
Speaker 1: by you know, just doubling down on the defensive side
14:44
Speaker 1: and being then you know, taking their chances when they
14:47
Speaker 1: get them. Offensively, they were a lot better through the
14:49
Speaker 1: middle of the ice in locking down the way the
14:53
Speaker 1: Wisconsin wants to play, entering the zone, creating things.
14:56
Speaker 2: With that could not complete a pass. There was just
14:59
Speaker 2: no flow, right, And.
15:01
Speaker 1: We were mentioning before we started here that at one
15:04
Speaker 1: point in the first period there were nine combined shots
15:07
Speaker 1: on goal and eight icing. So the flow, no, there
15:11
Speaker 1: was no such thing, and it was just a I
15:15
Speaker 1: don't know, but I would imagine Saint Cloud's okay with that.
15:18
Speaker 1: You know, you'll take it. Yeah, a face off versus lighting,
15:21
Speaker 1: Wisconsin have a rush or have a.
15:23
Speaker 2: The longer Wisconsin it has flow like it's like the
15:26
Speaker 2: the ice keeps tilting, like they just it's gonna be
15:29
Speaker 2: like downhill skating for them. I would say like Saint
15:33
Speaker 2: Cloud did absolutely everything right and Wisconsin looked listless. They looked,
15:38
Speaker 2: they looked very unlike the top team in the country.
15:41
Speaker 2: Both their goals were power play goals. They weren't able
15:43
Speaker 2: to score even strength. Saint Cloud outshot them seven to
15:48
Speaker 2: four in the third period and four zero in overtime.
15:51
Speaker 2: Like Wisconsin's real lucky to have escaped with the tie
15:54
Speaker 2: in the shootout, whin like Kirsten's. Him's shootout goal was
15:57
Speaker 2: about the only pretty moment that happened in entire game
16:01
Speaker 2: for Wisconsin. Uh, it's a wake up call. And you know,
16:04
Speaker 2: as we both have talked to Mark Johnson a ton
16:07
Speaker 2: we like I I can guarantee his uh something. Some
16:10
Speaker 2: of what he said was that, you know, better for
16:13
Speaker 2: that to happen now happened in late January than at
16:16
Speaker 2: another time later in the season. Maybe they need that
16:19
Speaker 2: little bit of wake up call. But yeah, it was Uh,
16:21
Speaker 2: it was not pretty. From the Badgers and they absolutely
16:24
Speaker 2: cannot afford to play like that pretty much for the
16:27
Speaker 2: rest of the season. I imagine that it's it was
16:30
Speaker 2: a tough day at practice today. I imagine those are
16:34
Speaker 2: some really competitive girls, right, Like we know there are
16:37
Speaker 2: a ton of national team players on that team. I'd
16:41
Speaker 2: imagine they they are a little embarrassed by what they
16:43
Speaker 2: did on Sunday, and so I think that there will
16:46
Speaker 2: be bounced back. I expect that the competitiveness and players
16:49
Speaker 2: like are on that team will sort of be triggered.
16:53
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was, Uh, it was not pretty to
16:56
Speaker 2: watch and a stream you were who were there in
16:57
Speaker 2: the person, I imagine it was just as frush straighting there.
17:00
Speaker 2: But yeah, that was a way to go Saint Cloud
17:04
Speaker 2: because they really exploited. They did everything that they need
17:07
Speaker 2: to do to make Wisconsin's life hard. They did it
17:11
Speaker 2: well and they took advantage of the opportunities that they
17:14
Speaker 2: had to put the goal in the net.
17:16
Speaker 1: And a great job by Amelia Carico in Gold Cloud State,
17:21
Speaker 1: especially in the last three minutes of the second period.
17:24
Speaker 1: Wisconsin's up to one has a few chances to go
17:27
Speaker 1: up three to one, and Koreco had three really good
17:30
Speaker 1: saves and the Badgers had the puck in the offensive
17:33
Speaker 1: zone for two straight minutes and we're basically just cycling
17:36
Speaker 1: the puck round. They got a full line change in
17:38
Speaker 1: while Saint Cloud didn't. And for Saint Cloud to get
17:42
Speaker 1: through that stretch then get to the third only down
17:45
Speaker 1: a goal, you gotta think that that adds some belief
17:47
Speaker 1: and they were able to take that. And I'm sure
17:50
Speaker 1: they would love to have more than one point out
17:52
Speaker 1: of it to show for it, but even that is
17:55
Speaker 1: is fairly significant given given the totality of the I.
18:00
Speaker 2: Think, yeah, absolutely, and I uh, you know, we've talked
18:04
Speaker 2: in the past about how difficult and how frustrating a
18:07
Speaker 2: team it can be for a team like Saint Cloud,
18:09
Speaker 2: who is you know, playing having a good season, has
18:12
Speaker 2: good players, is ranked and it's still the fifth team
18:14
Speaker 2: in the conference, right, Like, there's just like that the
18:17
Speaker 2: jump in that huge hill to get over. And so
18:20
Speaker 2: I think when the things are hard, stuff like that
18:23
Speaker 2: is what you you kind of call back to and like,
18:25
Speaker 2: remember what we were capable of, Remember what we did
18:27
Speaker 2: when we did everything right, like in the hardest practices.
18:29
Speaker 2: They're going to be talking about that game to sort
18:32
Speaker 2: of mentally get through stuff and uh yeah, Amelia, the
18:35
Speaker 2: freshman goalies this year have been absolutely outstanding. Honestly makes
18:40
Speaker 2: me wonder what would happen if she played in the
18:41
Speaker 2: first game, which, like, no, no shade to Sania Hola,
18:45
Speaker 2: who has also always been spectacular, but Kirko just seemed
18:48
Speaker 2: really locked in and uh capable of reading the Badgers
18:52
Speaker 2: really well. So I'm excited to see what she continues
18:56
Speaker 2: to do. Because yeah, the freshman goalies, uh, particularly the
19:00
Speaker 2: European freshman goalies have been spectacular in the NCAA this season.
19:04
Speaker 1: Back out East last week, we'd hype this up last
19:06
Speaker 1: week a little bit in the New Hobby what could
19:09
Speaker 1: have been a title decider in theory between Long Island
19:13
Speaker 1: and Sacred Heart.
19:13
Speaker 2: We should have known better.
19:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, ends up being a split, and they're both basically
19:18
Speaker 1: where they were last week, just two games closer to
19:21
Speaker 1: the finish. Both tied on twenty points with four weeks
19:24
Speaker 1: left in the regular season. A couple of shutouts in
19:27
Speaker 1: that series. Sacred Heart on the road on Saturday with
19:30
Speaker 1: a one nothing win, Kaylee Smith with the goal with
19:34
Speaker 1: ten forty one left. Carlie Green had a shutout with
19:37
Speaker 1: twenty saves and then Long Island responds on Sunday at
19:40
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart two goals from Ashley Morrow, a twenty four
19:44
Speaker 1: saves shutout from Abby Thompson, and a three to nothing
19:47
Speaker 1: win there, And so it's gonna be something else that
19:50
Speaker 1: decides who wins the regular season crowd on the New
19:54
Speaker 1: Hot Honestly, it might end up as a tie, and
19:57
Speaker 1: then you're going into deep into the a little deeper
20:02
Speaker 1: into the tiebreakers because they've split their series.
20:05
Speaker 2: I'm not ready to go there yet, figure but I
20:08
Speaker 2: don't want to learn conference tiebreakers yet. But yeah. The
20:10
Speaker 2: other thing is Franklin Pierce lost and tied and stone
20:14
Speaker 2: Hill won both their games. So now you're you're two
20:16
Speaker 2: teams that are tied for second or third. You want
20:19
Speaker 2: to count one two anyway, they are five points behind.
20:22
Speaker 2: So you've got two teams tied with thirty nine points
20:26
Speaker 2: Lau and so great Heart and then Franklin Pierce and
20:28
Speaker 2: stone Hill right behind them with thirty four points. So arguably,
20:31
Speaker 2: if things continue, you know, if they there's enough time
20:34
Speaker 2: for either of those teams to make up some ground.
20:37
Speaker 2: So uh, yeah, that's uh, but it's fun right Like
20:40
Speaker 2: in the fifth team has thirty two. I mean, they're
20:42
Speaker 2: unlike seeing in some's unlikely to win, but they this
20:46
Speaker 2: is gonna be a fight to the finish for a
20:48
Speaker 2: conference champion. And like we're last year where where LA
20:51
Speaker 2: sort of skated off with it pretty early. It's it's
20:54
Speaker 2: it says good things for the growth of the conference
20:56
Speaker 2: and and hockey of women's hockey overall, that that this
20:59
Speaker 2: is such a close rate.
21:00
Speaker 1: Yes, speaking of skating off with things early, that's what
21:02
Speaker 1: Penn State's doing again. Yeah, now used be CCHA now
21:06
Speaker 1: Atlantic Hockey, And just to point out Wisconsin as the
21:11
Speaker 1: best winning percentage in the country, Number two is Penn
21:14
Speaker 1: State and said is at twenty three four and one. Obviously,
21:18
Speaker 1: their their conference schedule is is not as demanding as
21:21
Speaker 1: some of the other the teams in you know, w
21:23
Speaker 1: CCHA ECAC. But to be there in the you know,
21:29
Speaker 1: end of January with twenty three wins is a pretty
21:33
Speaker 1: pretty strong accomplishment for that program.
21:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I would say normally when we're talking bracketology
21:38
Speaker 2: and like accounting for teams the the Cchase, last team
21:43
Speaker 2: is not already that high up in the pairrise, Like
21:45
Speaker 2: we have to assume one of the spots you know,
21:49
Speaker 2: like nine or ten, eleven for that conference winner, but
21:53
Speaker 2: Penn State seventh in the pairwise, like they are they
21:55
Speaker 2: are despite you know, sort of they're that different schedule
21:59
Speaker 2: and of that stuff, Like they're still playing at this
22:02
Speaker 2: incredible pace and putting themselves up there to the point
22:06
Speaker 2: that like they're they're pushing teams out of out in
22:11
Speaker 2: the pairwise, and normally we don't see that conference's champion
22:15
Speaker 2: sitting that.
22:16
Speaker 1: High, and it can make a team that's in ninth
22:20
Speaker 1: in the pairwise feel a little bit uncomfortable if Penn
22:23
Speaker 1: State is high enough to get in regardless and but
22:27
Speaker 1: loses a game in its conference championship or conference playoffs
22:31
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, Atlanta Kakia has two
22:34
Speaker 1: teams in the tournament, and it's taking probably that ninth
22:37
Speaker 1: spot away from well another spot away from a team
22:42
Speaker 1: that that would be in otherwise. So that's that's where
22:45
Speaker 1: that gets a little dicey butt. A lot to be
22:48
Speaker 1: played before we get there really talking about that.
22:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just you know, shout out. Tessa Janiki continues
22:54
Speaker 2: having a historic career. Again, she's only her junior junior,
22:58
Speaker 2: so she is not yet completed three full seasons. Last
23:01
Speaker 2: week she broke the women's hockey record career points record.
23:06
Speaker 2: In this week, she broke the Penn State hockey career
23:10
Speaker 2: points record men's or women's. So yeah, just continues to,
23:15
Speaker 2: you know, be the really good player that she is,
23:18
Speaker 2: absolutely unsurprising, you know, newer program as well. But yeah,
23:22
Speaker 2: I imagined she will be writing some record book numbers
23:26
Speaker 2: that won't be approached for quite a long time. If ever,
23:29
Speaker 2: she's just that good.
23:30
Speaker 1: Back to E. C A C for a minute before
23:32
Speaker 1: we wrap up this segment. We have Colgate in fourth,
23:37
Speaker 1: we have Cornell in fifth, and the pairwise right now,
23:40
Speaker 1: and both of them had interesting weekends. You want to
23:42
Speaker 1: get into that a little bit.
23:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we had some fun on Friday, right, it
23:49
Speaker 2: was Friday. What are days? The Saint Thomas U and
23:53
Speaker 2: D games being Thursday Friday have me all messed up.
23:56
Speaker 2: But on Friday, Colgate needed overtime to beat Harvard, so
24:01
Speaker 2: they did get that extra point by getting the overtime win.
24:04
Speaker 2: Cornell and Dartmouth played two a to two tie. Cornell
24:08
Speaker 2: did wing the the shootout, but in ECAC that doesn't
24:14
Speaker 2: matter unless we're coming to tie breakers. Uh. In the
24:16
Speaker 2: ECAC a tie gets you one and a half points,
24:19
Speaker 2: an overtime win gets you two points, and I would
24:22
Speaker 2: would you like to guess the difference between those teams
24:24
Speaker 2: if the standings at crop the top the ECAC a
24:27
Speaker 2: half point? It is todd and I do are not
24:31
Speaker 2: big fans of the one and a half slash half point,
24:33
Speaker 2: but yeah, just really interesting, right, Like Harvard is I
24:35
Speaker 2: think like a two win ECAC Conference team, and I
24:39
Speaker 2: think Dartmouth has four like no offense to over either
24:42
Speaker 2: of those teams, but they they should not be in
24:44
Speaker 2: very close games with the top two teams of their conference,
24:47
Speaker 2: the FI and six teams overall in the country. So yeah,
24:51
Speaker 2: some gut chat moments overall for for top teams this week, right,
24:55
Speaker 2: Dartmouth played amazing their goalie, Mikhaela Hesse, one of my
24:59
Speaker 2: favorites that I met through U eighteen's She played a
25:02
Speaker 2: really great game Harvard. I think just if that game
25:06
Speaker 2: was about eight minutes shorter, maybe even less, like they
25:09
Speaker 2: just sort of ran out of steam right there at
25:11
Speaker 2: the end. And Colgate obviously has a ton of scoring ability,
25:14
Speaker 2: but yeah, sort of head scratching outcome there, and of
25:19
Speaker 2: course they both went on the next day, and because
25:22
Speaker 2: those are travel partners, they switched and both won their
25:25
Speaker 2: games against the opposite team. So, you know, Cordell beat
25:29
Speaker 2: Harvard six to one, Coldgate beat Dartmouth for one. It
25:32
Speaker 2: felt like, you know, Friday was a little bit of
25:33
Speaker 2: the upside down. I don't, I'm not. I'm still unsure
25:35
Speaker 2: what happened there in I just also wanted to bring
25:40
Speaker 2: up Brown and Quinnipiac, which was a zero zero tie
25:43
Speaker 2: and then had like a twelve round shootout, something like
25:45
Speaker 2: that eleven round shootout. So I just feel like there
25:48
Speaker 2: was a lot of head scratching, kind of like the
25:51
Speaker 2: state Lawrence Clerkson all the goals and then none of
25:54
Speaker 2: the goals. ECAC had had a lot of head scratchers
25:57
Speaker 2: this week. But you know that the point being, as
26:01
Speaker 2: we continue to say, in one goal, one period at
26:03
Speaker 2: the moment that get getting an over getting a tie
26:07
Speaker 2: versus getting an overtime win is the difference in winning
26:09
Speaker 2: the C a C right now.
26:12
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, let me let me digest that for a minute.
26:15
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break. When we come back,
26:17
Speaker 1: we're going to have some news from the NCAA women
26:21
Speaker 1: Women's Ice Hockey Committee. We're going to have a look
26:23
Speaker 1: at bracketology, and then we're going to look at what's
26:26
Speaker 1: coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.
26:36
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Luski here with Nicole Hasey. Uh.
26:40
Speaker 1: It's starting to be award season. We're starting to talk
26:43
Speaker 1: about it. We're going to get in about a week
26:46
Speaker 1: a little bit more of the week see the names
26:48
Speaker 1: of the top ten finalists for the Women's Goalie of
26:53
Speaker 1: the Year Award. And I feel like there's there's some
26:58
Speaker 1: names you you know they're they're going to be on there,
27:02
Speaker 1: but then there's some questions you can have about did
27:07
Speaker 1: this goalie play enough? Did this goalie play enough big games?
27:11
Speaker 1: I guess it's it's up to individual voters to kind
27:14
Speaker 1: of parse those out for themselves. How are you looking
27:17
Speaker 1: at that right now? What's your what's your thought on
27:20
Speaker 1: how much you weigh number of games when you're talking
27:26
Speaker 1: about a team that's playing a lot of games against
27:28
Speaker 1: you know, really good competition versus someone who's who hasn't
27:32
Speaker 1: had that many.
27:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, for me, the more games definitely weighs
27:37
Speaker 2: like that. That is a heavy sort of part on
27:40
Speaker 2: the top for me. The goalies Splitting time is a
27:45
Speaker 2: fairly new concept like to be regularly used in women's
27:49
Speaker 2: college hockey, right, Like, we saw it occasionally, but in
27:52
Speaker 2: the last couple of years we've seen it a lot more.
27:54
Speaker 2: And you know, from a sort of conditioning standpoint, safety standpoint,
28:01
Speaker 2: and a preparation standpoint, I definitely understand it, and to
28:04
Speaker 2: that extent, I don't want to like punish anybody for
28:06
Speaker 2: their school doing that. That being said, if you look
28:09
Speaker 2: at like overall steinnings right now, you've got players like
28:12
Speaker 2: Ohio States Heley McLeod who only has ten starts. So
28:15
Speaker 2: we're not even talking like a split time, right because
28:17
Speaker 2: like Northeastern's Lisa Johnson has sixteen, or Tia chan from
28:22
Speaker 2: Connecticut and her co partner partner has ten, Tia Chana sixteen,
28:26
Speaker 2: Megan Order Connecticut has ten. So like the sixteens is
28:30
Speaker 2: one thing. The ten is like, wow, that's like ten
28:34
Speaker 2: is probably the minimum starts to be even considered, right,
28:37
Speaker 2: And so it's yeah, it's a little difficult to like
28:39
Speaker 2: decide this is a really good save percentage your goals
28:42
Speaker 2: against someone who's played twenty seven games versus someone who's
28:45
Speaker 2: played ten, and then up to sixteen. Yeah, that's a
28:48
Speaker 2: really tough one. I definitely weigh like, if you've got
28:51
Speaker 2: great numbers and you've played twice as many games, like
28:54
Speaker 2: lord knows that's to have gotten to those numbers is difficult, right,
28:59
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I think you have to weigh how
29:02
Speaker 2: many starts. I think you have to weigh the quality
29:04
Speaker 2: of competition. You know. It's it's one thing to just
29:07
Speaker 2: like say so and so has a save percentage of
29:09
Speaker 2: this or goals against of that. But to say that,
29:13
Speaker 2: I have to say that like it exists in a vacuum,
29:15
Speaker 2: doesn't It's it's disingenuous, right, Like if you're not playing,
29:19
Speaker 2: if you're strict, the schedule isn't huge. If you know
29:22
Speaker 2: the games that they're playing are like they got lucky
29:25
Speaker 2: in the schedule and they're not playing some of the
29:27
Speaker 2: tougher teams. When you're talking, you know, some of the conferences,
29:30
Speaker 2: you don't necessarily play two game weekends, you know, like
29:34
Speaker 2: a set two game series. I don't know I did
29:38
Speaker 2: every year. I waffle on this and the Goalie of
29:42
Speaker 2: the Year is only a couple of years old, and
29:43
Speaker 2: so you know, I was sort of one of the
29:45
Speaker 2: really big advocates for this, this award needing to exist.
29:49
Speaker 2: We were getting occasional goalies making Patty Kaz Finalists lists
29:54
Speaker 2: or winning the award, and it was clear that this
29:56
Speaker 2: was necessary. But you know, Doug, my own grave because
30:00
Speaker 2: now I have to help the side it and I
30:01
Speaker 2: have no idea what I'm doing ever. But yeah, I
30:04
Speaker 2: think you know, you were saying, like, who are the
30:06
Speaker 2: top players we're talking about. I think Gave mcnaton from
30:08
Speaker 2: Wisconsin and Sophie nor Sophie Nordis from from Saint Lawrence,
30:13
Speaker 2: probably analis bergman from Cornell. Those are all sort of
30:17
Speaker 2: regular starters with a ton of starts. You've got Key
30:21
Speaker 2: the Saw from Penn State. But again then you're talking
30:23
Speaker 2: about weighing the numbers against j opponents. So from there, yeah,
30:31
Speaker 2: that it gets a little fuzzier for me.
30:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if you're looking at the you know,
30:39
Speaker 1: let's let's go by the list of goalie minutes. So
30:44
Speaker 1: Sophie Nords some leads the nation in number of minutes
30:48
Speaker 1: played for goalies and she's I believe sixth and save percentage.
30:52
Speaker 2: So yeah, or she's against.
30:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, six and goals against, so okay, put her on
30:59
Speaker 1: the list. I mean that she done done right, Yeah,
31:02
Speaker 1: with him, I mean she's goals against save percentage time
31:07
Speaker 1: and net done. Then you start, you know, right, then
31:13
Speaker 1: it gets into the question of okay, let's let's put
31:15
Speaker 1: the balance on this. Let's put put this on the
31:17
Speaker 1: scale and see who who goes forward. I mean v
31:23
Speaker 1: Gascon from Duluth twenty games played nine percentage. That sounds
31:28
Speaker 1: pretty good to me. And so you're you're throwing names
31:33
Speaker 1: in there using a couple of those categories as well. Yeah,
31:40
Speaker 1: I mean, there's gonna be more than ten that probably
31:43
Speaker 1: deserved to begin the ten obviously, but it's gonna be
31:47
Speaker 1: just have to be a cutoff, and it's you know,
31:50
Speaker 1: and ten's a little arbitrary, probably, But we always talk
31:53
Speaker 1: about top ten lists for finalist things, so I guess that's.
31:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, hey, if we got on them for having
32:00
Speaker 2: thirty three on the latch list, then we have to
32:03
Speaker 2: stick to those guns and say like, yeah, you need
32:06
Speaker 2: to have a cutoff. So I agree on that, Yeah,
32:09
Speaker 2: but because there are so many discrepancies, right, and when
32:13
Speaker 2: you get talking the win percentage of the tenth person
32:16
Speaker 2: on this list is sixty percent, you know, and if
32:20
Speaker 2: you just look at overall ranked by goals against the average,
32:23
Speaker 2: so like things where you're like, oh, we should look
32:25
Speaker 2: at you know, how many games have they won? How
32:27
Speaker 2: many egle, like what circles all of that? You can
32:32
Speaker 2: like talk yourself in circles. Yes, I'll count that. No,
32:34
Speaker 2: I shouldn't count that, Yes I would. You know, well,
32:36
Speaker 2: what does it mean if they play? Yeah, so I
32:39
Speaker 2: don't know. I probably will make myself a little grid
32:41
Speaker 2: that also includes some strength of schedule, just to help
32:44
Speaker 2: balance a little bit of this. And I think for me,
32:48
Speaker 2: I probably will not include a goalie that is is
32:51
Speaker 2: that ten games played as of this week. I think
32:54
Speaker 2: that that feels like a little low and a little
32:56
Speaker 2: like sort of disingenuous to the numbers, to the players
32:59
Speaker 2: that have twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven games played.
33:03
Speaker 2: But that's my gut saying that right now. Lord knows,
33:06
Speaker 2: I could change my mind several times before that, But
33:10
Speaker 2: it does feel like there's it's one thing to split,
33:13
Speaker 2: it's quite another to, you know, in a threeesome game season,
33:17
Speaker 2: to only to have less than half the starts.
33:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll have more on that, and
33:24
Speaker 1: as we get closer to having you know, a smaller
33:28
Speaker 1: list of players to consider on that, as you know,
33:31
Speaker 1: especially because there's a lot of meaningful games that are
33:34
Speaker 1: going to happen in the next couple of weeks.
33:36
Speaker 2: For sure, making this decision now is yeah, also makes
33:39
Speaker 2: it tough.
33:41
Speaker 1: One bit of news I wanted to wrap up from
33:44
Speaker 1: last week on the show. We had talked about a
33:47
Speaker 1: change in the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Committee, the group
33:50
Speaker 1: that picks the well, that that really does the seating
33:54
Speaker 1: and the bracketing of the tournament. That the picks are
33:57
Speaker 1: done by the pair. Wise, let's let's be honest, they're
33:59
Speaker 1: they're taking that off the list. But this is a
34:02
Speaker 1: group that does the seating, the bracketing and also in
34:06
Speaker 1: the off season does a lot of the work with
34:09
Speaker 1: the if there are changes needed within the sport. Really
34:13
Speaker 1: they're the ones that goes through. It's a five person group.
34:17
Speaker 1: There's one person from each of the conferences represented. And
34:20
Speaker 1: because Jeremy Gibson, the Merrimac ad is leaving for Lehigh
34:25
Speaker 1: that he was the chair last season, was scheduled to
34:28
Speaker 1: be the chair this season, he is moving off Hockey
34:31
Speaker 1: East rep will be determined at some point in the
34:34
Speaker 1: near future. But Janine Omen from Ohio State is the
34:38
Speaker 1: new chair of the committee and we are going to
34:41
Speaker 1: have her on the podcast in late February. So last
34:46
Speaker 1: we got to talk to Jeremy last season. It was
34:48
Speaker 1: a really insightful conversation just about what the committee has
34:53
Speaker 1: to do in that couple of days in March when
34:56
Speaker 1: the bracket needs to be done, and you know, just
35:00
Speaker 1: some of the factors that go into that. And I
35:02
Speaker 1: hope we have that same kind of conversation again and
35:05
Speaker 1: come away with some insight into what's a really interesting
35:12
Speaker 1: set of decisions they have to make in terms of
35:15
Speaker 1: who goes where. Really if it's not a straightforward answer,
35:19
Speaker 1: or you have to split up some conference teams.
35:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, sort of. The one thing we haven't talked about
35:25
Speaker 2: when we talked about atologies that those first round matchups
35:28
Speaker 2: cannot be conference teams. They can't play someone else in
35:31
Speaker 2: their conference, and so that's when those decisions on seating
35:35
Speaker 2: and who ends up going where. That's where the committee really,
35:38
Speaker 2: you know, gets their fingers dirty in terms of having
35:42
Speaker 2: an impact. And so when you look look at the
35:46
Speaker 2: parawise right now, and several of the top ten teams
35:49
Speaker 2: are from the same two conferences that the toughly is
35:51
Speaker 2: going to make a difference. But as you mentioned last week,
35:53
Speaker 2: I think it'll be interesting this talk to Jenene about
35:56
Speaker 2: what happens when it's your team that's in the discussion.
35:59
Speaker 2: And with Ohio State winning two of the last three
36:01
Speaker 2: national championships and playing in that third one, you know,
36:04
Speaker 2: they've They've been a key part of the conversation recently.
36:08
Speaker 2: And I do not think that being at merrim Mac
36:12
Speaker 2: means that Jeremy wasn't good at what he was doing
36:15
Speaker 2: or any of those sorts of things. But I do
36:17
Speaker 2: think it's interesting when it's someone who has seen several
36:19
Speaker 2: of the top teams on site, you know, seeing them
36:24
Speaker 2: in person like whenever, it makes me think of like
36:27
Speaker 2: when we when you do Patty KASMI are voting. You know,
36:30
Speaker 2: when we have the top ten, we have a conference call,
36:32
Speaker 2: and if you are familiar with the player, then you
36:34
Speaker 2: speak up. So coaches from the same conference will say
36:37
Speaker 2: something that sort of stuff, like, you know, as as
36:40
Speaker 2: somebody who sees more games in the Midwest, I will
36:42
Speaker 2: say something about players I've seen more often. Also I
36:45
Speaker 2: just watch more games than a lot of people. But
36:48
Speaker 2: so in terms of a conversation of like if you're
36:50
Speaker 2: if you're sort of should this person before or this
36:52
Speaker 2: team before, and this team be five someone that has
36:55
Speaker 2: really like seen those teams and and and watched them
36:58
Speaker 2: regularly throughout the season. I feel like that's that's an
37:01
Speaker 2: interesting wrinkle to add to who that person is in
37:05
Speaker 2: that role.
37:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, since you mentioned bracketology, let's get into what things
37:10
Speaker 1: might look like this week if the tournament ended right now,
37:13
Speaker 1: which of course it doesn't. We know that, and for
37:16
Speaker 1: this as this purpose, as we mentioned last week, we're
37:20
Speaker 1: using proxies for the automatic bids from the five conferences
37:24
Speaker 1: right now. We use the the highest winning percentage in
37:29
Speaker 1: those conferences. So that's going to come into play when
37:33
Speaker 1: we're talking about the new HA team being Long Island
37:36
Speaker 1: right now, because they have one more win. They're tied
37:40
Speaker 1: on points with Sacred Heart. They have one more win
37:42
Speaker 1: in conference play, so I believe that would be the
37:44
Speaker 1: tiebreaker that I well, that's what I'm going with right
37:47
Speaker 1: now anyway. So a little bit change from last week,
37:51
Speaker 1: and this one actually makes a little bit more sense
37:56
Speaker 1: question mark with with some travel issues too. So Wisconsin's
38:03
Speaker 1: still in the number one spot and the eight to
38:07
Speaker 1: nine first round game that would play at Wisconsin Saint
38:11
Speaker 1: Lawrence against Northeastern. So it's seems like a pretty that
38:17
Speaker 1: would be a really good game. It would be a
38:20
Speaker 1: really good game, and then it would really be a
38:21
Speaker 1: really good second round game. Either way. I feel like
38:25
Speaker 1: bottom half of that side of the brackets. This is
38:28
Speaker 1: the four versus five, So that is predetermined. The committee
38:31
Speaker 1: has said the team in number four is going to
38:33
Speaker 1: play the team in number five, regardless of whether they
38:35
Speaker 1: are in the same conference, which right now they are.
38:37
Speaker 1: That would be Cornell playing at Colgate for a spot
38:41
Speaker 1: in the frozen four. So intrigued there obviously as well.
38:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, even though just for because the eleven team bracket
38:49
Speaker 2: is excuse me, really difficult to visualize just that, even
38:53
Speaker 2: though it is the only one happening that is technically
38:55
Speaker 2: a second round game when we're talking about this, So
38:57
Speaker 2: those those sort of first eight nine, that though, that
39:00
Speaker 2: is first round, and that is the one where conference
39:02
Speaker 2: matchups have to be avoided per the rules, and then
39:06
Speaker 2: moving into that sort of regional round that is the
39:09
Speaker 2: second round. So in that particular instance, that one doesn't
39:13
Speaker 2: have a first round game, but it's still that one
39:15
Speaker 2: is a quote unquote second round. Trying to make this
39:18
Speaker 2: make sense. An eleven team Brock bracket every.
39:21
Speaker 1: Year, there is some language if there were more than
39:24
Speaker 1: three teams from the same conference in the bottom six,
39:26
Speaker 1: they have to have a conference matchup because there's just
39:30
Speaker 1: no way to avoid it. So I don't know if
39:32
Speaker 1: that would ever happen, but if it did, that they
39:35
Speaker 1: have to let that go. Moving over to the other
39:38
Speaker 1: side of the bracket, Ohio State as the number two
39:41
Speaker 1: seed that would then be in Columbus the first and
39:45
Speaker 1: second round. There the first round, number seven, Penn State
39:48
Speaker 1: against number ten be you who I have in as
39:51
Speaker 1: the Hockey East leader right now.
39:54
Speaker 2: An automoate percentage, right, yeah.
39:57
Speaker 1: So Penn State against BEU winner to play File State.
40:03
Speaker 1: I'm there for that. We saw Penn State in the
40:07
Speaker 1: in the tournament last year and they, you know, they
40:10
Speaker 1: showed themselves pretty well. I mean all in all, didn't
40:15
Speaker 1: didn't look too out of place, honestly, and just didn't
40:18
Speaker 1: get an overtime goal. That's right, came down. So and
40:23
Speaker 1: then on the bottom corner of that side of the bracket,
40:27
Speaker 1: Number three Minnesota hosting at Ritter where the Frozen Four
40:31
Speaker 1: also will be the first round game there being number
40:34
Speaker 1: six Minnesotada Luth against number eleven Long Island. So Duluth
40:37
Speaker 1: being a little bit closer at a home, not being
40:39
Speaker 1: at home anymore, but still being in Minnesota.
40:43
Speaker 2: Poor Luther has had to go to Minnesota in the tournament,
40:46
Speaker 2: right for ever? Yeah they must feel that way, Yeah, yes.
40:51
Speaker 1: But you know, when you fall out of there or
40:54
Speaker 1: top five, that's kind of the way things might end up.
41:00
Speaker 1: I should mention that the Penn State bu at Ohio
41:05
Speaker 1: State is an interesting one because Penn State is close
41:09
Speaker 1: enough to bust to Ohio State, even though that would
41:11
Speaker 1: be kind of a long bus ride, but within the
41:17
Speaker 1: I believe four hundred miles is the limit. So that
41:21
Speaker 1: could save the NCAA some money, which we know not
41:26
Speaker 1: supposed to go after anymore officially, but if they can,
41:31
Speaker 1: they're going to And in this case, it's not even
41:33
Speaker 1: going away from the numbers. This is none of these
41:38
Speaker 1: positions are anything different than they are in the pairwise,
41:41
Speaker 1: so this would not be a switch to get that there,
41:44
Speaker 1: but it would save some money. Nonetheless, that bus.
41:47
Speaker 2: Ride would give is like the idea of that gives
41:49
Speaker 2: me nightmares, like no, bless you Penn State. Your campus
41:52
Speaker 2: is lovely, your rink is lovelier. You are in the
41:54
Speaker 2: middle of nowhere and like teen miles past nor I
42:01
Speaker 2: don't know. It's just like I drove there for the
42:03
Speaker 2: Frozen four a few years ago because there's no easy
42:05
Speaker 2: way to fly in and out. And I actually was
42:08
Speaker 2: talking to someone work today and they went to the
42:13
Speaker 2: football playoff game, stayed around in the city for a while,
42:18
Speaker 2: tried to leave I think three to four hours after
42:21
Speaker 2: the game ended. It still took them nearly three hours
42:23
Speaker 2: to get to the freeway. So because there's one, there's
42:27
Speaker 2: one road in and out of town. But anyway, that
42:31
Speaker 2: is a not necessarily lovely, hilly, uncomfortable bus ride for
42:37
Speaker 2: Penn State. So you know, I guess for their sake,
42:42
Speaker 2: I hope that they end up somewhere.
42:43
Speaker 1: Else, right, there's a good possibility that changes.
42:47
Speaker 2: And yeah, bless their hearts because that's like nightmares for me.
42:50
Speaker 2: That sounds awful.
42:53
Speaker 1: Well, let's on that happy note. Let's take it down.
42:56
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure it's pretty, but they'll be doing
42:58
Speaker 2: it when it's dark out and it will just be
43:00
Speaker 2: hilly and uncomfortable when long.
43:02
Speaker 1: All right, fair enough, I have not had the pleasure.
43:05
Speaker 1: I've been to the state college, but I've flown in directly.
43:08
Speaker 2: Listen, we don't all have corporate expensive.
43:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is an adventure in itself because you come
43:15
Speaker 1: down out of the hills and man, you just hit
43:17
Speaker 1: the ground there and that's that's something.
43:22
Speaker 2: And also I get to do drive again next year.
43:25
Speaker 2: And my friends are like, oh, we're not going with this.
43:27
Speaker 1: Yere no jet bridge there either get off the airplane,
43:31
Speaker 1: you walk down the steps and you walk across the tarmac.
43:33
Speaker 1: So it's kind of interesting. So I wasn't expecting that
43:37
Speaker 1: my first time there. And all right, anyway, let's take
43:41
Speaker 1: a break. When we come back, we'll talk about what's
43:43
Speaker 1: coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.
43:55
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Milusky and Nicole Hawsey
43:57
Speaker 1: with our last segment today, and this one's about what's
44:00
Speaker 1: coming up this weekend. There's a big one at Ritter
44:03
Speaker 1: Arena in Minneapolis. Number two Ohio State playing at number
44:08
Speaker 1: three Minnesota. These are the teams that are you know,
44:14
Speaker 1: when you talk about a two and a three overall,
44:16
Speaker 1: that might be a frozen four semi final if they
44:19
Speaker 1: both get there and if they both stay in the
44:21
Speaker 1: same position. I'll say this again. A lot can change
44:24
Speaker 1: down then, but these are teams that are usually in
44:28
Speaker 1: that kind of spot. So a really big series, I
44:32
Speaker 1: think on the Minnesota side because they only got one
44:36
Speaker 1: point out of the series in Columbus earlier this season.
44:41
Speaker 1: A couple of close games. The first game was a
44:43
Speaker 1: one goal game, second one obviously tied, and Ohio State
44:47
Speaker 1: won in a shootout, So to me, the Gophers have
44:52
Speaker 1: a little bit more to play for here. Ohio State
44:55
Speaker 1: is doing well, I believe, seventh straight wins since the
44:59
Speaker 1: game at where they tied Wisconsin and won the shootout there,
45:04
Speaker 1: so you know, And and the Gopher has got a
45:06
Speaker 1: couple of wins against Bmidge last week, including one uh
45:10
Speaker 1: through the Shadows at Valley Fair. I believe it's called
45:14
Speaker 1: in the Twin Cities metro area there where there's Jack Apee, right,
45:17
Speaker 1: I had Hockey Day Minnesota.
45:20
Speaker 2: If you have a second to go on X and
45:23
Speaker 2: look at the Gophers goals from that game, there's there's
45:26
Speaker 2: one where Abby Murphy, what's the defense that there's like
45:29
Speaker 2: traumatic shadows. It's it's like cinematic. It's a really pretty
45:32
Speaker 2: piece of hockey video. For some outdoor outdoor playing. It's
45:36
Speaker 2: it's really nice.
45:37
Speaker 1: It did some crazy shadows. I will give it that, yes,
45:39
Speaker 1: from from that game. So Ohio State Minnesota, it's it's
45:45
Speaker 1: two of the best teams in the country. I would
45:48
Speaker 1: expect some some really good hockey out of this.
45:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would say so they they last played
45:52
Speaker 2: back in October. Like the growth that has happened, you
45:55
Speaker 2: know that the way that the teams have changed since
45:57
Speaker 2: then is massive. But I think I would argue that
46:01
Speaker 2: Minnesota has from where they were to where they are now,
46:04
Speaker 2: like has a bigger growth arc. Like, I think they
46:06
Speaker 2: have improved quite a bit from early on. They are
46:09
Speaker 2: not reliant only on Aby Murphia score, which is a
46:12
Speaker 2: huge difference from early on in the season. They just
46:15
Speaker 2: they've settled in well. Some of the younger players have
46:17
Speaker 2: come up, so uh yeah, I think it's I don't
46:20
Speaker 2: think it will be the same series that we saw
46:22
Speaker 2: in Columbus back in October. I think the Gophers sort
46:26
Speaker 2: of a are playing downhill and really doing well and
46:30
Speaker 2: and sort of getting everything to come together at the
46:32
Speaker 2: right time. That's not to say obviously Ohio see it's
46:35
Speaker 2: the number two team in the country. We know how
46:36
Speaker 2: good they are. I just think Minnesota has grown quite
46:40
Speaker 2: a bit more than than maybe I thought was possible,
46:43
Speaker 2: or I thought we'd see from them back in October.
46:45
Speaker 2: But they get the games at home, which is you know,
46:48
Speaker 2: obviously always nice and yeah, I assume we're going to
46:52
Speaker 2: get a split. I mean, like we keep saying like
46:54
Speaker 2: we want, we want someone to we want to see
46:56
Speaker 2: some separation. But I just they're the teams are too
46:59
Speaker 2: good and whoever loses is going to come back with
47:02
Speaker 2: a vengeance on day two. I will say, what's interesting
47:06
Speaker 2: in this is is so because of the frozen Confines
47:09
Speaker 2: Ohio State, Wisconsin had two more games played than everybody
47:11
Speaker 2: else because those games got moved into January, they would
47:15
Speaker 2: have happened later in the schedule. So at the moment,
47:18
Speaker 2: Ohio State in Minnesota are tied in points, but Minnesota
47:21
Speaker 2: has two games in hand. So in terms of w
47:24
Speaker 2: A WHA standings and and seeding heading into the wh
47:28
Speaker 2: A Tournament, I think this is probably a pretty key series.
47:32
Speaker 2: Minnesota's got the better winning percentage right now. Obviously they're
47:35
Speaker 2: in a better position to have the same amount of
47:36
Speaker 2: points two games in hand, but Minnesota left a lot
47:39
Speaker 2: of conference points on the board early on, and so yeah,
47:42
Speaker 2: they could really use these.
47:44
Speaker 1: And I kind of made the reference to the possible
47:47
Speaker 1: Frozen four semifinal earlier as a well, look it would
47:51
Speaker 1: be in the same building too, So Minnesota, you know,
47:55
Speaker 1: could really establish something there of you know, look, this
47:59
Speaker 1: is our building. We know you you're looking to play
48:01
Speaker 1: here later for a championship, but you're gonna have to
48:03
Speaker 1: possibly go through us to do it. And we want
48:05
Speaker 1: to make this homeleice advantage mean something and so that
48:10
Speaker 1: that to me has the good If I'm the Gophers,
48:14
Speaker 1: I'm really keyed up for this because because you need
48:18
Speaker 1: this to show who's who's second in the WHA essentially.
48:24
Speaker 2: Right, And we've talked about how it's sort of like
48:26
Speaker 2: Wisconsin Ohio State, and there was a little bit of
48:28
Speaker 2: separation then right to the next couple of teams when
48:31
Speaker 2: we talked to national rankings or to w CCHA rankings,
48:33
Speaker 2: and so Minnesota's had a couple of stumbles as well,
48:37
Speaker 2: and so I think like they really need to establish
48:39
Speaker 2: that like, no, we are you know, we're a team
48:42
Speaker 2: that wants to play for a title. We are a
48:43
Speaker 2: team that can play for a national championship, Like we
48:45
Speaker 2: we're the number three team in the country and you
48:48
Speaker 2: should be paying attention and we should should get some
48:50
Speaker 2: credit for that. And I think maybe like mentally, Faians
48:57
Speaker 2: and like maybe even us like haven't been there just
48:59
Speaker 2: because there has been that separation, and like we said,
49:02
Speaker 2: there were a couple of the stumbles, and so I
49:04
Speaker 2: feel like, yeah, like you said, it's a really good
49:05
Speaker 2: to end of January is a really good time to
49:08
Speaker 2: sort of put your foot tone and really establish yourself
49:10
Speaker 2: and say like we are we are not messing around.
49:12
Speaker 2: We are here to play yep.
49:14
Speaker 1: Up the road in d Luth, the Bulldogs host Wisconsin.
49:18
Speaker 1: As we mentioned earlier, with boy a four game losing
49:22
Speaker 1: sting for the Bulldogs going in to that and Wisconsin
49:25
Speaker 1: having gone fourteen undefeated. This this is the place Wisconsin
49:31
Speaker 1: has had trouble before.
49:32
Speaker 2: Though yes they have Minnesota Dluth, they seems to just
49:38
Speaker 2: really get into their head and get into their game
49:41
Speaker 2: in a different way when they're up in Duluth. And
49:44
Speaker 2: and you know, we could we could talk forever about
49:46
Speaker 2: why that is. But I think in terms of mentality
49:51
Speaker 2: and psychologically, that first game is it's kind of must
49:54
Speaker 2: win for both these teams. Obviously, Wisconsin will be okay.
49:58
Speaker 2: You know, they have the WC, they have such a
50:01
Speaker 2: huge lead, and they have that huge NPI lead at
50:03
Speaker 2: the top of the pairwise, but I just think after
50:06
Speaker 2: their game on Sunday, they really sort of want the
50:09
Speaker 2: same idea, come back out and establish like we we're
50:12
Speaker 2: the team to be and that wasn't who we are,
50:14
Speaker 2: this is who we are. In Minnesota, Duluth is in
50:18
Speaker 2: a precarious place at this point, I would say, so
50:22
Speaker 2: that adding all of that into a game with more
50:26
Speaker 2: than a month to play is really interesting, right.
50:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. Over in ECAC hockey, the top four
50:35
Speaker 1: teams all face off kind of against each other this weekend,
50:38
Speaker 1: and that should be pretty exciting. On Friday, it's number
50:41
Speaker 1: nine Clarkson playing at number four Colgate, number seven Saint
50:44
Speaker 1: Lawrence playing at number five Cornell, and then on Saturday
50:47
Speaker 1: you get Clarkson at Cornell, Saint Lawrence at Colgate. Again,
50:52
Speaker 1: I was just looking at the standings and you talked
50:54
Speaker 1: about it that it's you know, half a point here
50:56
Speaker 1: then two points back. Then it's a little bit of
50:59
Speaker 1: a gap there to Clarkson, but that could change in
51:02
Speaker 1: a big way. After this weekend. Of course we say
51:05
Speaker 1: that all the time. Then they end up splits and
51:07
Speaker 1: then we're right back where we started from. But it
51:08
Speaker 1: could change in a big way this year.
51:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and I all of those teams have
51:15
Speaker 2: have sort of punched each other this year, Like there
51:18
Speaker 2: hasn't as as sort of evidenced by the closeness in points,
51:21
Speaker 2: but like there's to me, there's no clear cut one
51:24
Speaker 2: number one team in that conference right now, and so
51:27
Speaker 2: again there's an opportunity for someone to really take a
51:29
Speaker 2: stand and be like we won both of these games,
51:31
Speaker 2: like we established ourselves. They're all in a fine position nationally.
51:36
Speaker 2: But yeah, I just it, there has not sort of
51:39
Speaker 2: been one team that has shown that they're they're like
51:42
Speaker 2: if they go out there, I'm odds on they're gonna win, right,
51:45
Speaker 2: Like these matchups it is a it is a coin toss,
51:47
Speaker 2: right now. Did you know who's going to come out
51:49
Speaker 2: of those with those w's and so a similar concept.
51:54
Speaker 2: But also I just think like you're talking a half
51:56
Speaker 2: a point for a conference title or not, Like goodness gracious,
52:00
Speaker 2: and these teams know each other really well. You've got
52:02
Speaker 2: a lot of great goaltending on these teams and as
52:06
Speaker 2: evidence last weekend, it could be six or five, it
52:09
Speaker 2: could be one.
52:09
Speaker 1: Nothing really good potential goalie matchup happening on Saturday in
52:16
Speaker 1: Hockey East Northeastern net Yukon. Obviously we've seen Northeastern get
52:22
Speaker 1: on a role here. Yukon needs to get on a
52:25
Speaker 1: role here and obviously have have the goaltending to do it.
52:31
Speaker 1: Do they have the fours to do it? The scoring
52:33
Speaker 1: you do it is really kind of what it boils
52:35
Speaker 1: down to.
52:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, while Northeastern's out here sweeping their series
52:39
Speaker 2: and winning, what did you see it? It was like eight
52:41
Speaker 2: of ten or Connecticut bu we'll b C had a
52:48
Speaker 2: loss in an in an ot win against Providence. Providence
52:51
Speaker 2: out here just messing up everybody's season. Loving that for them.
52:54
Speaker 2: These last couple of weeks, they're like, hey, nobody's running
52:57
Speaker 2: away with this thing. But yeah, there's the teams aren't
53:02
Speaker 2: picking up all the points that are possible for them.
53:04
Speaker 2: And fascinating in Hockey East, how different they're national and
53:08
Speaker 2: their pairwise rankings are versus how their standings are in
53:11
Speaker 2: their conference. It's always a little bit for me, I'm like,
53:15
Speaker 2: where should I be voting these people? What's happening here
53:18
Speaker 2: because it doesn't necessarily match up. But again, I just said,
53:24
Speaker 2: you know, a few weeks ago, Northeastern wasn't in the
53:26
Speaker 2: conversation to win that conference, and that is definitely not
53:29
Speaker 2: the case anymore.
53:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, the numbers there, I mean, be you and Yukon
53:33
Speaker 1: are tied at forty two points, but BU has a
53:35
Speaker 1: game in hand there and then BC back at thirty nine,
53:40
Speaker 1: Northeastern at thirty eight. So yeah, the results go the
53:45
Speaker 1: right way, and all of a sudden that could flip around,
53:47
Speaker 1: and then you do kind of get closer to matching
53:50
Speaker 1: what the pair why says in terms of how the
53:53
Speaker 1: hockey's you know, teams are ordered, But.
53:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, Northeastern's fourth and their ninth in the pair wise, Like.
54:00
Speaker 1: What, Yeah, it's uh, I guess it's which games you win,
54:05
Speaker 1: which games you lose for sure.
54:07
Speaker 2: It's just it is it feels like the it feels
54:10
Speaker 2: like the math does not compute. I feel like I'm
54:12
Speaker 2: getting like a four or four err or something like.
54:14
Speaker 2: I just it doesn't It's not clean, and I don't
54:18
Speaker 2: complicated math is hard for me. But yeah, it's uh,
54:23
Speaker 2: Hockey East, I feel like there's just there's so much
54:25
Speaker 2: to blay for and there's so little room for error,
54:28
Speaker 2: and Northeastern going out and taking a bunch of points
54:32
Speaker 2: from Yukon this weekend would be would be huge for them.
54:36
Speaker 2: And and at this point there, I feel like they're
54:38
Speaker 2: the odds on. They're they're the ones doing it consistently
54:41
Speaker 2: right now.
54:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, uh that's I mean, really, given the recent performance,
54:49
Speaker 1: that's the team to watch for me right now. See
54:50
Speaker 1: how how much they can stretch that this run to uh,
54:57
Speaker 1: you know, potentially into a championship.
54:58
Speaker 2: And right they've got the momentum, they've got the confidence,
55:01
Speaker 2: they've got the hot goalie, they just took the bean pot,
55:04
Speaker 2: like all of the things, you know, it's all coming
55:07
Speaker 2: up Northeastern for them right now.
55:08
Speaker 1: The things we weren't saying about them at the start
55:10
Speaker 1: of January, for sure, Yeah, now we are right absolutely.
55:13
Speaker 2: And and and vice versa. The things that we were
55:15
Speaker 2: saying about these other teams, like, I mean, you picked
55:17
Speaker 2: be you early, but like things a plateau a little.
55:20
Speaker 1: A little bit, yeah, And that's I mean, when you
55:24
Speaker 1: haven't necessarily been in you know, this this kind of
55:28
Speaker 1: situation in the season.
55:30
Speaker 2: Before that intangible of having been there before.
55:32
Speaker 1: Man, that's that's where you see Northeastern has done this,
55:36
Speaker 1: and I mean Yukon has kind of been there in
55:39
Speaker 1: it too, and so maybe that does mean something as
55:43
Speaker 1: we get in these last few weeks, that's what's gonna
55:46
Speaker 1: make it fun well.
55:48
Speaker 2: And I think to some extent it is about that
55:50
Speaker 2: is the thing that is. It's it's mentality, it's preparation.
55:55
Speaker 2: It's a long season. Like we say that in a
55:57
Speaker 2: lot it's a little cliche, but like friends, they've been
55:58
Speaker 2: playing since September and we have, you know, several weeks,
56:02
Speaker 2: like the Frozen four is late March, so this is
56:07
Speaker 2: a really long season. And if you aren't prepared, and
56:10
Speaker 2: you haven't, you have to know what you're able to
56:12
Speaker 2: give an October and what you're able to give a January,
56:15
Speaker 2: and what you're able to give in February. And you
56:17
Speaker 2: have to prepare and that is everything from training to
56:20
Speaker 2: nutrition to all of that sort of stuff. And if
56:22
Speaker 2: you've never sort of done that from start to finish.
56:25
Speaker 2: With a championship at like every it's the goal for everybody,
56:29
Speaker 2: but there's a big difference between like wanting it and
56:33
Speaker 2: knowing that you're in contention for it. Right, And I
56:36
Speaker 2: do think that there's just something too, that intangible of
56:38
Speaker 2: having gone through this really hard part of the year
56:41
Speaker 2: where you're not yet to the postseason, which is you know,
56:44
Speaker 2: sort of pumps it. You're in the the dregs of
56:47
Speaker 2: it right now, right like that, you're in the hardest
56:49
Speaker 2: part where there's you're just the championships on the horizon,
56:53
Speaker 2: but you've just got to get through these next few
56:55
Speaker 2: weeks and win all the points that you can, and
56:59
Speaker 2: you're you know, you just at a long break from
57:00
Speaker 2: school and all of that sort of stuff. I think
57:03
Speaker 2: is where the mental side of it and the sort
57:06
Speaker 2: of experience factor really comes in. And I think in
57:08
Speaker 2: late March, in early February or like I'm sorry, late January,
57:11
Speaker 2: early February.
57:12
Speaker 1: All right, any final thoughts and anything else you're looking
57:14
Speaker 1: forward to this weekend before we wrap this one up.
57:17
Speaker 2: No, I was gonna shout out did you have you
57:19
Speaker 2: seen any of the videos from the new BU facilities?
57:23
Speaker 1: Yes? The video?
57:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, I just I would say, I
57:28
Speaker 2: just want to shout out, like Eddie school that puts
57:30
Speaker 2: in in the time and effort and and it's treating
57:33
Speaker 2: their female athletes the way that they should be and
57:35
Speaker 2: so but for them to have their their own facilities
57:37
Speaker 2: at Walter Brown and they have state of the art,
57:40
Speaker 2: just a huge, massive locker room set up. I saw something.
57:45
Speaker 2: They were like, we might be the only because it's
57:46
Speaker 2: it's got an upstairs in the downstairs and so they
57:48
Speaker 2: have you know, eighty a compliance a little elevator, so
57:52
Speaker 2: you know, maybe the only D one women's hockey program
57:54
Speaker 2: with an elevator in there in their locker room. But
57:56
Speaker 2: it's just gorgeous. It's state of the art. It's what
57:58
Speaker 2: D one elite hockey players deserve. I hope that you
58:02
Speaker 2: know it it spurs on other like this is a
58:06
Speaker 2: recruiting tool, playing and simple, and few teams have that
58:11
Speaker 2: to give. You know, they have their own facilities and
58:14
Speaker 2: have not just their own rink, but all of that.
58:17
Speaker 2: And so it go watch some of those videos on
58:19
Speaker 2: Instagram and elsewhere. Regan Rust, one of their assistant coaches,
58:23
Speaker 2: does a ton of video and it's done some some
58:25
Speaker 2: locker room tours and things. But really nice to see
58:27
Speaker 2: them get the chance to go back to WALLIB and yeah,
58:31
Speaker 2: I just I want more of that for these players,
58:34
Speaker 2: and so I want to celebrate it.
58:35
Speaker 1: When we see it absolutely all right. Well, thank you
58:38
Speaker 1: for joining us again this week on the podcast for
58:40
Speaker 1: Nicole Hosey on Todd Muski. We'll talk to you next week.