Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Looking ahead to the Olympics, another meeting between No. 1 and No. 2

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Looking ahead to the Olympics, another meeting between No. 1 and No. 2 · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:04
Speaker 1: USCHO dot com and welcome to the podcast. I'm Todd
0:12
Speaker 1: Blowski here with Nicole Hosey. We're from us e h
0:15
Speaker 1: O dot com. We're gonna be talking a little bit
0:17
Speaker 1: of Olympics later in this week's episode, because that starts
0:22
Speaker 1: on Thursday. The Women's hockey tournament does before the opening ceremonies,
0:26
Speaker 1: like usually happens, you have to stretch that out an
0:29
Speaker 1: extra day so we get bonus day of Olympics. Really
0:32
Speaker 1: two bonus days of Olympics to call if you're a
0:34
Speaker 1: curling fan, because you get mixed doubles curly on Wednesday,
0:37
Speaker 1: which I know all of you are big curling fans,
0:40
Speaker 1: so you should be a fear.
0:43
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of every obscure sport possible when
0:46
Speaker 2: it comes to the.
0:47
Speaker 1: The greatest thing about the Olympics is the sports you
0:51
Speaker 1: never see. And my summer's Olympic sport is handball, and
0:55
Speaker 1: I'm like, I just love watching elite level handball for
0:59
Speaker 1: no goody. So there you go.
1:02
Speaker 2: No, I'm going to become like the world's foremost fan
1:04
Speaker 2: of ski mountaineering. Next week is that it's a new
1:09
Speaker 2: new sport this year. Yes, can you hike up the
1:12
Speaker 2: mountain with your skias on your back and then you
1:14
Speaker 2: have to ski back down.
1:16
Speaker 1: Why not put all the all the efforts together, right absolutely?
1:21
Speaker 2: Yes?
1:21
Speaker 1: Okay, well yes, anyway, also a great start here because
1:26
Speaker 1: there's been a ton going on. We had a series
1:29
Speaker 1: last week between the number one and number three team
1:32
Speaker 1: in the country, Wisconsin at Minnesota, that ended in a split.
1:35
Speaker 1: We've got a series of this coming week between number
1:37
Speaker 1: one Wisconsin and number two Ohio State, which I don't
1:41
Speaker 1: know how that's going to end up. I mean, one
1:44
Speaker 1: of the things that we talked about last week was
1:47
Speaker 1: what is the impact going to be of the players
1:51
Speaker 1: that are off at the Olympics and away from their teams.
1:54
Speaker 1: And there are a bunch of them. There are a
1:56
Speaker 1: lot of teams that have been impacted by this. We
1:59
Speaker 1: definitely saw it in the Wisconsin Minnesota series last week.
2:02
Speaker 1: We saw it in a few other places too. Ohio
2:04
Speaker 1: State losing some players didn't seem to bother them. They
2:07
Speaker 1: they kept scoring, they they played pretty good defense in
2:10
Speaker 1: sweeping Minnesotada luth It may have, you know, hurt some
2:15
Speaker 1: teams like Saint Claud's State, who's goalie Emilia Krico is
2:19
Speaker 1: off in the Olympics and Jojo Shoback goes in and
2:25
Speaker 1: it gets the Huskies overtime against Saint Thomas, but they
2:30
Speaker 1: lose that game and then the next day too. It's
2:34
Speaker 1: it's it's a real thing. But we're all seeing some
2:36
Speaker 1: opportunities for players to jump in and make names for themselves,
2:40
Speaker 1: like we saw in Minneapolis last week.
2:43
Speaker 3: Honestly, yeah, apologies to Avery Hoblin, but when she scored
2:49
Speaker 3: the goal from Minnesota on Friday, I went, I'm sorry
2:52
Speaker 3: who And it's not a name that I had heard,
2:54
Speaker 3: you know, through play by play or you know, obviously
2:57
Speaker 3: we are often in the building for it.
2:59
Speaker 2: But yeah, she definitely was a highly visible part of
3:03
Speaker 2: what Minnesota did this weekend. And so I mean that's
3:06
Speaker 2: the thing that we've talked about, is like, who's going
3:08
Speaker 2: to step up and take these opportunities as they're presented, right,
3:11
Speaker 2: And I think she was my winner this week for
3:13
Speaker 2: for most obvious player that got more time and did
3:17
Speaker 2: what she needed to do with it. I thought also
3:19
Speaker 2: maybe not as obvious, but like the I thought the
3:21
Speaker 2: Minnesota defense stepped up offensively, and so you know, Molly
3:26
Speaker 2: Jordan scoring, Sidney Morrow scoring neither of them are like
3:29
Speaker 2: a surprise or players that haven't already been involved, but
3:32
Speaker 2: they're not necessarily the ones that that team is looking
3:35
Speaker 2: to to sort of support the offensive effort that way.
3:39
Speaker 2: And then both of them did gorgeouschool by Molly Gordon
3:43
Speaker 2: Molly Jordan to win in in overtime, So uh yeah,
3:46
Speaker 2: I think we'll continue to see that. I think, you know,
3:48
Speaker 2: we saw some players that were surprises, like at Ohio stage,
3:52
Speaker 2: just the name most stepping into an even bigger role. Right,
3:55
Speaker 2: She's already a huge part there, but she just showed
3:58
Speaker 2: that she's she's ready to take on what they need
4:00
Speaker 2: as well. So I think we'll continue to see who's
4:03
Speaker 2: who steps up in the coming weeks as well.
4:08
Speaker 1: Yeah. That Minnesota Wisconsin Cerius. It was a three to
4:10
Speaker 1: two Gophers win on Friday. Hannah Clark had a great
4:15
Speaker 1: game for the Gophers. In goal twenty five says stop
4:18
Speaker 1: Cassie Hall on a breakaway in overtime right before the
4:21
Speaker 1: Gophers would went the other way and scored. But then
4:25
Speaker 1: the Badgers did turn around and win six to one
4:28
Speaker 1: on Saturday. Cassie Hall stymied on Friday's game, scored three
4:33
Speaker 1: and added an assists Vivian Jungles, the defender, scored two
4:36
Speaker 1: goals for the first time in her collegiate career. Ry
4:41
Speaker 1: Stewart the goal miss.
4:43
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Vivian Jubbles is a former
4:47
Speaker 2: Minnesota in miss hockey and she just seems to find
4:49
Speaker 2: that extra level when she's playing the Gophers, and I
4:52
Speaker 2: appreciate that level of petty for her. I'm a big
4:55
Speaker 2: fan of people who can find that little that little
4:58
Speaker 2: extra and she just she is a a sort of
5:00
Speaker 2: more quiet player, but she just she seems to perform
5:04
Speaker 2: particularly well in those situations. So good for her.
5:07
Speaker 1: And she's I've been talking to a few people about this.
5:09
Speaker 1: She's deep pairs with Caroline Harvey. So when KKs, oh, yeah,
5:14
Speaker 1: you're gonna take You're gonna take second fil oh right,
5:17
Speaker 1: this is Vivian Jungle is kind of time to shine now.
5:20
Speaker 1: So yeah, and she she did a pretty good job
5:22
Speaker 1: with that. On Saturday. Brian Stewart, the goalie for Wisconsin,
5:26
Speaker 1: who was making her first WHA start with Aba mcnatton
5:29
Speaker 1: off at the Olympics, made twenty four saves on Saturday
5:31
Speaker 1: for the win there. Wisconsin says two points ahead of Ohio.
5:35
Speaker 1: State and is now five on Minnesota with three week
5:39
Speaker 1: left in the WHR regular season. We'll try and kind
5:42
Speaker 1: of give you an idea where some of these conference
5:44
Speaker 1: races stand as we go through things this week. But
5:48
Speaker 1: I wanted to turn to Ohio State right away because
5:52
Speaker 1: had they had Minnesota Louth in their building. Got a
5:56
Speaker 1: six two win Friday and the three to one win
5:57
Speaker 1: on Saturday. Hayley McLoud gooding goal for the buck Eyes.
6:02
Speaker 1: Jocelyn Amos when a hat trick on Friday and then
6:07
Speaker 1: another goal on Saturday. You mentioned her scored four in
6:10
Speaker 1: the first in the opener opening period on Friday, chasing
6:15
Speaker 1: f Gascon, and that was I think a little bit
6:18
Speaker 1: of a statement of Kay, you can take a lot
6:19
Speaker 1: of people out of our lineup, but we're still here.
6:21
Speaker 1: That's what it felt like to me, is like four
6:24
Speaker 1: in the first off we go.
6:26
Speaker 2: I mean they were playing with thirteen skaters, I think,
6:28
Speaker 2: which is impressive on its own right, like to go
6:32
Speaker 2: out and just play two complete games that way. So
6:34
Speaker 2: to do that and then, like you said, to do
6:35
Speaker 2: it emphatically to score four against any one, but we
6:38
Speaker 2: know how good of of Gascon is. Just kind of
6:41
Speaker 2: everything they did everything right, and to me, it was
6:44
Speaker 2: we I think we definitely saw in the Wisconsin Minnesota
6:48
Speaker 2: game that little tentativeness in that first gear that series
6:51
Speaker 2: as they both teams tried to find their footing without
6:54
Speaker 2: the players that they have, and clearly ohios D just
6:57
Speaker 2: didn't have that, I mean the way that they want.
6:59
Speaker 2: And it's unsurprising right like that, Uh that's their mo
7:03
Speaker 2: to play super confident and just truly like believe that
7:05
Speaker 2: they nobody can really match up with them. And so
7:09
Speaker 2: it doesn't surprise me that uh Muzzrel had them, Nadi
7:11
Speaker 2: Musrel had them prepared for that. But yeah, I think
7:15
Speaker 2: if we were gonna say, there's you know, five or
7:17
Speaker 2: six teams that were looking to see how they handle
7:18
Speaker 2: missing so many players in that first game, and they
7:20
Speaker 2: went out and scored four goals quickly, it was like, okay,
7:23
Speaker 2: well and not only that, but we've talked about UMD
7:26
Speaker 2: scoring struggles, so like that put the game out of
7:29
Speaker 2: reach for UMD pretty much immediately. And so yeah, I
7:33
Speaker 2: was I was really impressed with I know that you
7:36
Speaker 2: Ohio stated is dealt with some injuries in skating short
7:39
Speaker 2: and they were ones that had moved you know, joy
7:42
Speaker 2: done to defense when they needed to, so that bit
7:44
Speaker 2: has not been new to them. But yeah, I thought
7:47
Speaker 2: of all the teams this week, they were the one
7:49
Speaker 2: that was had the least amount of issue with adjusting
7:53
Speaker 2: to their missing their missing teabades.
7:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. So the story for this season in ECAC
8:01
Speaker 1: hockey has been that we've seen, We've talked about this
8:05
Speaker 1: a lot. Teams look like they're about to go on
8:08
Speaker 1: a run that gets cut short, and then teams that
8:11
Speaker 1: have been on a run take quick steps backward with
8:14
Speaker 1: two lost weekends. And we kind of saw both of
8:17
Speaker 1: that happening this last week in a couple of results
8:20
Speaker 1: I want to highlight here Clarkson beating Quinnipiac for to
8:23
Speaker 1: one on Friday, and then Quinnipiac losing a second game
8:27
Speaker 1: of the weekend to Saint Lawrence three to one on Saturday,
8:31
Speaker 1: but then Clarkson also losing on Saturday to number eight Princeton,
8:35
Speaker 1: And so it just felt like a Clarkson, who is
8:37
Speaker 1: right on right on the edge of NCAA tournament, right
8:41
Speaker 1: on the bad side of the edge right now of
8:44
Speaker 1: the NPI for the NCAA tournament, needs to string together
8:49
Speaker 1: to win weekends, and they couldn't get done this week,
8:54
Speaker 1: that six to one loss at at Clarkson or against Clarkson.
9:00
Speaker 1: I guess, Kristan, sorry, yes, is uh really the margin there?
9:06
Speaker 1: Surprises me that that one got away from them.
9:11
Speaker 2: Princeton scored two short hunged goals on one penalty kill
9:15
Speaker 2: and that was pretty much the end of of I
9:18
Speaker 2: think the hopes there. Yeah, I mean, I think what
9:21
Speaker 2: you know, we can. We've talked about Elsie's about sort
9:23
Speaker 2: of taking opportunities when they're presented to you, and Princeton
9:27
Speaker 2: sort of handed it to the rest of the ECA
9:29
Speaker 2: Seattle platter last week, and quitt PA found themselves at
9:32
Speaker 2: the top of the standings heading into this weekend and
9:35
Speaker 2: promptly lost both of their games. You know, it's just
9:38
Speaker 2: like there have been chances and Princeton now turns around
9:41
Speaker 2: and as would we say, a four point lead in
9:43
Speaker 2: the standings after this weekend. So it's just it's I know,
9:49
Speaker 2: it's not so simple. I certainly am not. I don't
9:52
Speaker 2: think that it is, but I it consistently fascinates me.
9:57
Speaker 2: These are high level, super competitive, real hardcore athletes and
10:01
Speaker 2: like to not grasp the opportunities sometimes fascinates me. To like,
10:05
Speaker 2: not when you have a bad loss to not respond
10:07
Speaker 2: and come back and prove yourself. That's the sort of
10:11
Speaker 2: things that kind of baffle me in the the ECAC
10:13
Speaker 2: this year.
10:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's a three point lead for Princeton over Clarkson.
10:17
Speaker 1: Now with what did we decide? How many weeks? And
10:23
Speaker 1: they did we decide? They have two weeks? Two weeks
10:26
Speaker 1: left in the season.
10:26
Speaker 2: Okay, so acc in the h A right are the
10:31
Speaker 2: ones that are only have two weeks and everybody else
10:34
Speaker 2: has three?
10:35
Speaker 1: Yes, that's all right? So yeah, some important results there
10:42
Speaker 1: too for QUINNIPIACU came in on it came into the
10:45
Speaker 1: weekend on a seven game winning streak that ends with
10:48
Speaker 1: the loss of Clarkson, but then losing to unranked Saint
10:53
Speaker 1: Lawrence on Saturday. It kind of, you know, hurts in
10:58
Speaker 1: a few different ways there. Yeah, big NPI hit. But
11:02
Speaker 1: also now they're down in fourth place behind Princeton, Clarkson,
11:08
Speaker 1: and Yale.
11:08
Speaker 2: So I mean, like from a fan perspective, amazing to
11:14
Speaker 2: got Princeton to be at the top to go you
11:17
Speaker 2: know Quinnipiac the next week, can know Quinnipiac with two
11:20
Speaker 2: games and they're fourth, Like amazing amazing for the chaos
11:25
Speaker 2: of it all. And I'm still I think it's so
11:29
Speaker 2: much fun that work this far into the season and
11:31
Speaker 2: then one or two losses can can just change things,
11:33
Speaker 2: you know, like not only you take care of your stuff,
11:36
Speaker 2: but everybody else too. But yeah, I just how frustrating
11:40
Speaker 2: for them, and They've had such a strong, consistent season
11:43
Speaker 2: and I'm probably one of the best in recent memory
11:47
Speaker 2: for Quinnipiac and now to come at this point and
11:49
Speaker 2: have that happen and it just has seemed super detrimental
11:53
Speaker 2: to their their postseason hopes, just in terms of like
11:56
Speaker 2: who they could draw on the e SEC tournament and
11:58
Speaker 2: then also NPI.
12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, Emma Sophie Nordstrom with thirty five stays for St.
12:03
Speaker 1: Lawrence and that win on Saturday. Another one to mention
12:08
Speaker 1: upset out of ACAC hockey last week on Saturday, Harvard
12:11
Speaker 1: beating the number twelve Cornell three to one. Zoe Bousamra,
12:15
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I probably got that one wrong, but scored
12:18
Speaker 1: two goals, So uh for that's amazing, that's all I know, Yeah, right,
12:26
Speaker 1: that's all.
12:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a lot.
12:31
Speaker 1: Well, we're starting to see where the line is. Lines
12:37
Speaker 1: are being drawn in the SAC hockey a little bit
12:39
Speaker 1: where the difference between fourth and fifth means you get
12:43
Speaker 1: a bye or you play in the first round, right
12:45
Speaker 1: and fourth right now is Quinnipiac get thirty five and
12:48
Speaker 1: a half points. Fifth is Brown at thirty two, Sixth
12:51
Speaker 1: is Cornell at thirty one and a half. So obviously
12:54
Speaker 1: a lot can change over two weeks, but we've seen
12:58
Speaker 1: a lot change in two weeks in the e c
13:00
Speaker 1: SEE pretty regularly this year. But that's starting to shape
13:05
Speaker 1: up as the the gap between four and.
13:08
Speaker 2: Five there, Yeah, that's not, I mean insurmountable, but in
13:13
Speaker 2: two week that's a lot of room to make up,
13:16
Speaker 2: like I would imagine.
13:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was.
13:21
Speaker 2: Looking Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale left on their schedule.
13:26
Speaker 2: So yeah, so that of a trap schedule.
13:32
Speaker 1: It it is a little bit, but I mean it's
13:35
Speaker 1: it does feel like there is opportunity there for some
13:39
Speaker 1: teams to at least make a run at either solidifying the.
13:43
Speaker 2: Top four spot or for sure yeah.
13:45
Speaker 1: Lining back into a to one of those. And I
13:49
Speaker 1: don't think I'm feeling secure necessarily if I'm Yale with
13:52
Speaker 1: thirty six points either, that's I mean, that's.
13:54
Speaker 2: No, Yeah, it's it's that it's right on that edge
13:57
Speaker 2: of like well, but normally I would say, like while
14:00
Speaker 2: I would be shocked for that a bunch of that
14:02
Speaker 2: to flip. But the movement we saw in the top
14:05
Speaker 2: four in the last two weeks makes me feel like
14:07
Speaker 2: anybody's gonna like has the opportunity to flip that pretty
14:11
Speaker 2: easily at this point. What's going to be interesting is
14:14
Speaker 2: the half points. If we see ties, I just that's
14:19
Speaker 2: I mean, we hate them and I hate one conference
14:22
Speaker 2: having it different from everybody else. But also when we're
14:24
Speaker 2: this close, that's that's going to fascinatingly come into play.
14:28
Speaker 1: Sure. A big series last weekend in Hockey East with
14:35
Speaker 1: Northeastern playing holy Cross in a home and home ish
14:39
Speaker 1: series because like we've talked about, Northeastern doesn't really have
14:41
Speaker 1: a home, so they played their quote unquote home game
14:43
Speaker 1: in Walter Brown Arena at BU that ended up a
14:47
Speaker 1: three to three or sorry to two tie on Thursday night.
14:51
Speaker 1: After holy Cross jumped out to a too nothing lead,
14:54
Speaker 1: Northeastern rallied in the back half of the third to
14:58
Speaker 1: get a to two ties rules Constantinople, scoring with thirty
15:02
Speaker 1: one seconds left to force overtime. Nowhere there, but Northeastern
15:06
Speaker 1: did get the extra point where they one nothing shootout
15:09
Speaker 1: win in six rounds, so that was a kind of
15:15
Speaker 1: a stalemate for most of that one. But Northeastern did
15:19
Speaker 1: win the Saturday game at holy Cross two to one,
15:24
Speaker 1: and so that five point weekend for the Huskies opens
15:28
Speaker 1: up a thirteen point lead in hockey, so with six
15:32
Speaker 1: games left, so pretty much settled there as much as
15:36
Speaker 1: anything really is settled.
15:39
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's a bummer over a series for holy
15:41
Speaker 2: Cross because I think any other set of circumstances they'd
15:46
Speaker 2: be real happy with a one goal loss and a
15:48
Speaker 2: tie and shootout loss against Northeastern, like that's massive improvement
15:52
Speaker 2: for them. But they're, you know, they're sort of not
15:57
Speaker 2: really on the bubble. They're on the bubble of the bubble,
16:00
Speaker 2: but I mean they have some hopes right now, and
16:03
Speaker 2: to pull some points there more than they did would
16:05
Speaker 2: have been really big for them.
16:06
Speaker 1: And so.
16:08
Speaker 2: I hope that even though they're disappointed in not getting
16:11
Speaker 2: a win or not holding gun to that game that
16:13
Speaker 2: was Thursday, right, that was a weird it was a
16:17
Speaker 2: really great series from pulling Cross and I felt kind
16:19
Speaker 2: of like prove that. I mean, at this point you
16:22
Speaker 2: can't be ranked where they are and be a fluke, right,
16:24
Speaker 2: Like the numbers don't lie. But I just thought it
16:26
Speaker 2: was a really good proof of what they've accomplished there
16:29
Speaker 2: this year, and like the team as a whole, what
16:33
Speaker 2: they can do. Northeastern tide that because they pulled their
16:37
Speaker 2: goal and had the extra attacker, So like that holy
16:40
Speaker 2: Cross is doing that to a team and pushing them
16:42
Speaker 2: to the very limit, I think because it's so cool
16:44
Speaker 2: and so huge, and I hope that it's just a
16:47
Speaker 2: sign of what else we could expect from them coming forward.
16:50
Speaker 1: Right. And also in Hockey East on Saturday, New Hampshire
16:55
Speaker 1: got an upset win at Yukon three to two in overtime,
16:59
Speaker 1: Julian Cabral scoring the goal for the win there. Miami
17:03
Speaker 1: Martinez forty nine saves for the Wildcats there. That's a
17:07
Speaker 1: pretty good night's work, especially in an upset that getting
17:12
Speaker 1: that done, and you know Yukon that, I mean, it
17:17
Speaker 1: didn't look like it. It pushed them down, I believe
17:20
Speaker 1: in the MPI, I don't have six full but they
17:25
Speaker 1: were so maybe they stayed six because Northeastern was five
17:29
Speaker 1: last week and so maybe they stayed six. I don't
17:31
Speaker 1: remember the exact numbers, don't have that in front of me,
17:33
Speaker 1: but it's those opportunities that you know, overtime losses don't
17:39
Speaker 1: count as much as regulation losses obviously, but it's still
17:45
Speaker 1: a chance missed there for Yukon.
17:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and it's there's the difference between four
17:54
Speaker 2: and five and the NC Tournament is a big one
17:57
Speaker 2: or I'm sorry for yeah, well.
18:00
Speaker 1: For five and five and six, right, those are big
18:03
Speaker 1: changes all down the line there. Yeah, so keep an
18:07
Speaker 1: eye on that as we go on here. Outdoors at
18:11
Speaker 1: Beaver Stadium in State College last Friday, Penn State beat
18:14
Speaker 1: Robert Morris three nothing in an afternoon game played on
18:17
Speaker 1: some rough ice, shall we say, a lot of stoppages
18:23
Speaker 1: That sounded like and look, we know this is kind
18:27
Speaker 1: of what you sign up for when you're in outdoor games.
18:31
Speaker 1: It's not going to be pretty. It's there's going to
18:33
Speaker 1: be some weather and ice related issues they're going to
18:38
Speaker 1: have to deal with. But it was part of a
18:41
Speaker 1: bigger weekend of outdoor activities there at Penn State hockey
18:47
Speaker 1: games a few different levels. Penn State, which has already
18:52
Speaker 1: clinched the HA title. I neglected to mention that last
18:58
Speaker 1: week they took care of that. They're fourth straight in
19:02
Speaker 1: either the CHA or the AHA, depending on which ye're
19:05
Speaker 1: in format you're looking at. Who care that? And then
19:08
Speaker 1: also one five to two on Saturday, even though they're
19:11
Speaker 1: down to nothing early in the second, then reeled off
19:14
Speaker 1: five straight goals starting pretty quickly after they fell behind
19:18
Speaker 1: too nothing, so Penn State in hand there, and really,
19:22
Speaker 1: you know, we know they they've got the regular season
19:24
Speaker 1: championship locked up. They're playing for that number four or
19:29
Speaker 1: better overall seed in the tournament because if if they
19:34
Speaker 1: get that, that means their road to a championship. They
19:37
Speaker 1: don't have to leave their building.
19:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, the outdoor game experience can be starticulated
19:48
Speaker 2: for the players. I don't want to take that away.
19:49
Speaker 2: I also, I mean I literally turned the game off
19:53
Speaker 2: because we were standing around for so long trying to
19:55
Speaker 2: figure out difficulties, Like there was no continuity to that game.
19:59
Speaker 2: And that sucks because it was a conference team. And
20:02
Speaker 2: so I mean, I guess it doesn't matter that the
20:04
Speaker 2: since the conference is already wrapped up, And I'm glad
20:06
Speaker 2: that it didn't matter to the greater you know that,
20:09
Speaker 2: like Robert Morris wasn't you know, looking I don't know,
20:12
Speaker 2: I just it was. Uh. It also just it makes
20:15
Speaker 2: me mad. There seventy seven thousand people watched the men's
20:19
Speaker 2: game in eighteen hundred was the announced attendance for the
20:21
Speaker 2: women's game, and that seemed really generous based on the
20:26
Speaker 2: TV these that was a re a new record attendance.
20:30
Speaker 2: Rector for Penn State women's hockey is also a bummer, like,
20:33
Speaker 2: just all around like that. What was this super exciting
20:37
Speaker 2: thing on the men's side was just a super bummer
20:39
Speaker 2: to me. On the women's side. I hope that it
20:41
Speaker 2: was a good experience for the players, but yeah, just
20:45
Speaker 2: a not ideal situation. Also, the women need to play
20:49
Speaker 2: at one o'clock on Friday afternoon.
20:50
Speaker 1: So also a not an ideal situation, right, absolutely. I
20:55
Speaker 1: was actually having a conversation, Oh go ahead, I was
20:59
Speaker 1: just gonna say I was having a conversation with someone
21:01
Speaker 1: in Minneapolis this weekend about just when players prefer to
21:07
Speaker 1: play games, and the question came up of would you
21:10
Speaker 1: rather have? I think it was would you rather play
21:17
Speaker 1: Friday Saturday or Saturday Sunday? And my thought is, well,
21:20
Speaker 1: you know, wouldn't you rather have kind of the spotlight
21:23
Speaker 1: of the Saturday Sunday and have those slots both for yourself.
21:28
Speaker 1: But I guess the results when people have polled players
21:33
Speaker 1: is that they would rather play the Friday Saturday. So
21:35
Speaker 1: even though the Friday afternoon games are not well attended,
21:40
Speaker 1: it sounds like that's what players actually prefer to be
21:42
Speaker 1: kind of more on a traditional schedule, to have a
21:45
Speaker 1: Sunday off and then reset for Monday and not have
21:49
Speaker 1: you know, different weeks, having different days off and kind
21:53
Speaker 1: of a short week here in a long week the next.
21:55
Speaker 1: But I just thought that was interesting.
21:58
Speaker 2: I mean, I would want to go from a game
22:00
Speaker 2: on Sunday to platsroom Monday morning. So I get that
22:03
Speaker 2: from a student athlete perspective.
22:05
Speaker 1: I don't know.
22:06
Speaker 2: I think I'm just very of the opinion that, like people,
22:10
Speaker 2: and I think we've seen this that like when when franchises,
22:14
Speaker 2: when colleges, when leagues treat women's sports like they matter
22:21
Speaker 2: or don't like that tells the public how to treat them.
22:25
Speaker 2: And so putting the women's game at one o'clock on
22:29
Speaker 2: Friday afternoon is intentionally or not putting out into the
22:34
Speaker 2: world like that this is not important and we don't
22:37
Speaker 2: expect you to be there or treat it well. And
22:40
Speaker 2: so to me that was a bummer. I mean, I
22:44
Speaker 2: feel like I also could say, how do you feel?
22:46
Speaker 2: The So it was bordered back a week in Minneapolis.
22:50
Speaker 2: So the badger men at Mariucci, which Marucci and Ritterer
22:55
Speaker 2: like they share as essentially a Zamboni tunnel, is the
22:57
Speaker 2: best way I can think to just like I can
22:59
Speaker 2: see the Ridder or the the mary Ucci ice if
23:05
Speaker 2: I'm over on that side of Ritter underneath. That's why
23:08
Speaker 2: I was laughing through a world for us. So they
23:10
Speaker 2: were like, look at this long wat for Ridder, and
23:11
Speaker 2: I was like, you can see the mary Rider. Shut up.
23:15
Speaker 2: But anyway, uh, those being started at our apart. So
23:18
Speaker 2: the women started at six and the men started at seven,
23:21
Speaker 2: and so uh again, I you know what's gonna happen there.
23:26
Speaker 2: It's not going to be a sellout at the women
23:28
Speaker 2: and fewer people at the men. And I just I
23:32
Speaker 2: don't know what to think, Ritter, how to say about it.
23:34
Speaker 2: I don't know if like an eight o'clock ASSX and
23:36
Speaker 2: an eight would have been nice where you could go
23:37
Speaker 2: from one to the other. It must have sucked for
23:41
Speaker 2: you to try covering both. I was joking with my
23:43
Speaker 2: husband that you were like running back when Wisconsin and
23:46
Speaker 2: when the women went to overtime indeed, But yeah, I
23:51
Speaker 2: just it's things like there there's schools out east that
23:54
Speaker 2: don't like require a ticket, like you literally just kind
23:56
Speaker 2: of show up and try more and get to walk in,
23:59
Speaker 2: and you know, I feel like that's just putting out
24:03
Speaker 2: how people. Why would I take it seriously if you
24:06
Speaker 2: don't as the university, you know, and so uh, yeah,
24:10
Speaker 2: that's all a greater conversation, but that the seventy seven
24:13
Speaker 2: thousand at the Penn State men's game in the eighteen
24:16
Speaker 2: hundred announce at the women's game was just a bummer
24:18
Speaker 2: for me overall.
24:20
Speaker 1: Yeah.
24:21
Speaker 2: I hope the players enjoyed it. That's all that ultimately matters.
24:24
Speaker 2: But sure, that and the some of the scheduling stuff
24:27
Speaker 2: we see is just kind of like, well, yeah, of
24:29
Speaker 2: course people aren't paying attention. You know, the marketing and
24:32
Speaker 2: the way things are presented and how the access and
24:35
Speaker 2: all of that stuff they matter and they make a
24:38
Speaker 2: big difference. And we like there's literal studies on it,
24:41
Speaker 2: and you know, we see bad feeds with inexperienced announcers,
24:46
Speaker 2: and we wonder why there isn't growth of a wire
24:51
Speaker 2: viewing audience. And you know, we have talked You and
24:53
Speaker 2: I have talked about like the NCAA tournament and when
24:55
Speaker 2: those games are available, and not playing all the pork
24:57
Speaker 2: finals at the exact same time and things like that.
25:00
Speaker 2: So I think we've got a long way to go
25:03
Speaker 2: in the in NCAA women's hockey with that.
25:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are all valid points, and a lot of
25:09
Speaker 1: it is prioritization, right, These are choices that get made
25:14
Speaker 1: and based on what maybe has always been done at
25:18
Speaker 1: places because you know, let's look thirty years ago, when
25:22
Speaker 1: there wasn't really women's hockey at the level we're talking
25:26
Speaker 1: about now, men's hockey always got the Friday night and
25:29
Speaker 1: Saturday night spots because that that was traditional, and so
25:35
Speaker 1: it's always felt like since then women's hockey has had
25:39
Speaker 1: to find its own spot around that, and whether that's
25:45
Speaker 1: on nights when the men's team is not there or
25:49
Speaker 1: on days before the men's game, when we're talking schools
25:53
Speaker 1: that play there and women's games in the same buildings,
25:57
Speaker 1: it's it. It really does feel like a convenience of
26:03
Speaker 1: historical you know, what's always been done, and yeah, for.
26:07
Speaker 2: Me, it's frustrating to look at it. I mean the
26:09
Speaker 2: you know this year the Gophers and the badger Men
26:12
Speaker 2: was a better matchup or well was on paper on paper,
26:17
Speaker 2: but like argue, but like looking at you know, you
26:19
Speaker 2: look at those things and you're like, these are two
26:21
Speaker 2: of the top teams in the country. Obviously the Olympics
26:23
Speaker 2: took away something, but like the idea Wisconsin Minnesota playing
26:27
Speaker 2: each other was on BTN plus, was not hyped at all,
26:32
Speaker 2: was not like they're just there was so much opportunity
26:34
Speaker 2: there that should be absolutely prime time BOST schools should
26:38
Speaker 2: be talking about it and pushing it out on their socials,
26:40
Speaker 2: and it's just it isn't It's it's like a I
26:43
Speaker 2: feel like both schools are very sort of ambivalent about like, yes,
26:46
Speaker 2: we have good women's hockey programs, that's great and all,
26:48
Speaker 2: but like they don't. It's not marquee to them. And
26:52
Speaker 2: so you know, the Penn State outdoor game being at
26:57
Speaker 2: the same time didn't help with BTN as well. But
27:00
Speaker 2: uh yeah, I just I feel like there have been
27:03
Speaker 2: a couple of key marquee matchups we've seen, not just
27:06
Speaker 2: in the w c h A in the e c
27:08
Speaker 2: AC when you've got these high rate teams playing each
27:10
Speaker 2: other and like it just feels like, I mean, the
27:13
Speaker 2: teams aren't even you know, tweeting about it or sharing
27:15
Speaker 2: goal goal videos, and it's just like these all could
27:19
Speaker 2: be hyped and made to be bigger than they are
27:23
Speaker 2: and tell people what a big deal this is and
27:25
Speaker 2: how what great hockey they're going to see, and it
27:28
Speaker 2: just it still doesn't happen at really a grassroots level
27:31
Speaker 2: from their own schools. That's frustrating because I this is
27:36
Speaker 2: this is an easy cell, particularly in an Olympic year,
27:40
Speaker 2: but like easy cell, it's it's on a platter and
27:44
Speaker 2: it's not happening. And maybe I mean I think we're
27:47
Speaker 2: probably preaching to the choir anybody listening to this, But yeah,
27:50
Speaker 2: it's just, uh, it's there's an opportunity. I mean, we're
27:54
Speaker 2: in a in a great time from in sports period.
27:56
Speaker 2: We're in a great time for women's hockey with the
27:58
Speaker 2: p dub they're in a great time because of the
28:02
Speaker 2: Olympics and and all of that stuff, and and KK
28:05
Speaker 2: Harvey and Abby Murphy and Layla Edwards have been some
28:08
Speaker 2: of the biggest names pushed out pre Olympics for Team USA,
28:13
Speaker 2: and I just it's crazy to me that there's not
28:15
Speaker 2: more like there's not a connection that to come back
28:18
Speaker 2: to that, it's just kind of like, well, yes they're
28:19
Speaker 2: at Wisconsin, but that's you know, they're there Minnesota or
28:22
Speaker 2: there you know Tessa Penn State. So I just think
28:25
Speaker 2: there was there's probably better pr and marketing than all
28:29
Speaker 2: of those places could do in connection to that. Oh,
28:31
Speaker 2: I did want to say I want to shout out.
28:33
Speaker 2: I saw today Franklin Pierce is doing watch parties on
28:36
Speaker 2: their campus. They have a player on Team Italy, and
28:39
Speaker 2: they were putting out stuff about doing watch parties on
28:42
Speaker 2: campus and doing like free snacks and things, which like
28:44
Speaker 2: college kids are always going to show up for that,
28:46
Speaker 2: but I just thought it was really cool and cute
28:48
Speaker 2: and it's I mean, it's not to say that's not
28:50
Speaker 2: happening other places, but I just it was the sort
28:52
Speaker 2: of thing where it was like, Yes, this is what
28:54
Speaker 2: we should be doing to celebrate these players on an
28:57
Speaker 2: international stage and making sure that other people know about it.
29:00
Speaker 1: That is cool. Yeah, a couple other things I want
29:03
Speaker 1: to get to before we take a quick break and
29:05
Speaker 1: then come back and talk Olympics, mentioning Franklin Pierce in
29:11
Speaker 1: a little bit of a rough patch, all three and
29:13
Speaker 1: one in their last four games, and it's now cost
29:15
Speaker 1: them first place in the New HA. Sant ansel now
29:18
Speaker 1: four points up after.
29:20
Speaker 2: Sweeping past Oh, we shouldn't have noticed. We shouldn't have
29:22
Speaker 2: talked about that and should have.
29:24
Speaker 1: Like let them be under the right, right and then
29:26
Speaker 1: I it's just flipping back and forth here, but uh,
29:30
Speaker 1: sant ansel sweets post Franklin Pierce gets swept at home
29:33
Speaker 1: by Long Island U two to one overtime game and
29:37
Speaker 1: then a four to three loss. So, uh, six games
29:40
Speaker 1: left there and might rarely come down to that last
29:43
Speaker 1: weekend where Franklin Pearson sant Anselm have a home and
29:46
Speaker 1: home series, So it could be something to look for there. Yes,
29:50
Speaker 1: every twentieth and twenty first that last weekend of the
29:53
Speaker 1: regular season, that in New Ha and uh yeah, that's
30:00
Speaker 1: uh something to look forward to in a couple of weeks. Okay,
30:03
Speaker 1: we've covered last week. When we come back, we're going
30:06
Speaker 1: to cover what's coming this week with the start of
30:08
Speaker 1: the Olympics and then after that the NCAA games coming
30:13
Speaker 1: up this week. Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome
30:24
Speaker 1: back to the podcast, Todt Nicole with you. Let's talk
30:26
Speaker 1: some Olympics. The women's hockey tournament begins Thursday morning in
30:30
Speaker 1: the US time, bright and early. I think that's a
30:34
Speaker 1: is that a six o'clock a certain starting remember, yeah, yeah,
30:41
Speaker 1: And so it's uh that that one Sweden Germany is
30:44
Speaker 1: the one that kicks it off. That's a Group B
30:50
Speaker 1: contest in the The format that gets used Group A
30:56
Speaker 1: is the top five teams in the rankings, So the US, Canada, Flynn, Chechia,
31:01
Speaker 1: and Switzerland they all automatically moved through into the quarterfinals
31:05
Speaker 1: in some order that the round robin of pool play
31:09
Speaker 1: will determine. Uh, and the top three of the Group
31:13
Speaker 1: B teams, which are Japan, Sweden, Germany, France and the
31:17
Speaker 1: host Italy make it into the quarterfinals as well. So
31:22
Speaker 1: that's a format that's been in place for quite a
31:25
Speaker 1: while now if I'm remembering it right. Where they're going
31:30
Speaker 1: the direction of having play each other.
31:34
Speaker 2: Worlds used to be like this and then moved away
31:36
Speaker 2: from it. But at the Olympics we're still here. So
31:38
Speaker 2: I think people like kind of forget that this is
31:41
Speaker 2: what we were at but yeah, I mean it ensures
31:45
Speaker 2: at least one US Canada game, which I think they
31:48
Speaker 2: are smart to ensure.
31:51
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, there's.
31:56
Speaker 2: Rankings are so interesting to be I mean, Switzer and
32:00
Speaker 2: five they you know, they're this kind of ongoing. I
32:04
Speaker 2: think Russia would still be like sixth overall in the
32:08
Speaker 2: ih F rankings even without playing at all in the squad.
32:13
Speaker 2: So yeah, the rankings are interesting to say the least.
32:17
Speaker 2: I think it's really helpful for Switzerland to be fifth
32:21
Speaker 2: and be in that top group. Sweden's got more work
32:23
Speaker 2: to do and I think, you know, probably a little
32:28
Speaker 2: and not necessarily unfair, but I think the level of play
32:31
Speaker 2: for Sweden is higher than that would imply. I think
32:35
Speaker 2: I think Sweden is a team that can compete for
32:39
Speaker 2: a medal at the very least, And so yeah, it'll
32:43
Speaker 2: be interesting. It'd also be you know, Italy brought in
32:46
Speaker 2: a bunch of players. They have, you know, former Canadian
32:49
Speaker 2: Olympians and a few other players, and so I don't
32:54
Speaker 2: know that they're necessarily something to count out. And the
32:56
Speaker 2: other interesting team is France, who did not technically qualify,
33:00
Speaker 2: but because Russia was ruled out, France was the best
33:04
Speaker 2: team left the best second place team left, so they
33:07
Speaker 2: get to be in here. And what's fun for them
33:09
Speaker 2: is the France is hosting the next Olympics, So if
33:13
Speaker 2: nothing else, this is a really great experience knowing that
33:15
Speaker 2: they're going to get to do this again in four years.
33:18
Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't I mean, I think there's some
33:22
Speaker 2: pretty interesting opportunities for upsets in that bottom group. I
33:27
Speaker 2: don't think we're I feel like Sweden is the team
33:30
Speaker 2: that I assume will come out of there, and then
33:32
Speaker 2: the other four spots, I'm not sure what's going to happen.
33:38
Speaker 1: I don't want to just keep like my focus on
33:42
Speaker 1: the fact that it's the US and Canada again, but
33:44
Speaker 1: it's it just feels like that's that's what I want
33:48
Speaker 1: to expect, right when you're when you're maybe taking an
33:50
Speaker 1: outsider perspective, that's just who's always been there, you know,
33:55
Speaker 1: ninety five percent of the finals seem to be right, Yeah,
33:59
Speaker 1: I mean just role yeah, everything. Yeah, but the Olympics, Yeah,
34:03
Speaker 1: it's up been all at one and it just feels
34:07
Speaker 1: like we're on that collision course again. Even though you know,
34:11
Speaker 1: Canada and the US have kind of taken different approaches
34:13
Speaker 1: to all their rosters look right.
34:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Canada, Well, Canada doesn't have any collegiate players.
34:20
Speaker 2: They went older they I mean, this is something they
34:23
Speaker 2: tend to do anyway. They really prioritize experience, not just
34:28
Speaker 2: like playing years experience, but like having been to the
34:30
Speaker 2: games before. Like they seem to really prioritize that, like
34:34
Speaker 2: the mental game of the Olympics, the string, the interruptions,
34:43
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff, Like they seem to think
34:45
Speaker 2: that it is important to have players that can handle
34:49
Speaker 2: that over maybe somebody giving somebody their first opportunity. I mean,
34:53
Speaker 2: to be fair, Canada has been much more successful at
34:57
Speaker 2: the Olympics than the Americans. Like Canada the you know,
35:01
Speaker 2: most of the gold medals, which is not what we
35:03
Speaker 2: see across world championships and things. So I don't love
35:07
Speaker 2: Canada's approach overall, but also it is successful for them,
35:10
Speaker 2: so it's hard to like knock whatever they've done, at
35:15
Speaker 2: least until it doesn't work right. I think for the US,
35:18
Speaker 2: this focus has really been on use and I get that,
35:22
Speaker 2: but also like this, all of the players that are
35:25
Speaker 2: in that conversation about youth have been at on Team
35:29
Speaker 2: USA and playing at World Championships. The entirety of this
35:31
Speaker 2: quot like, none of the this is not new for
35:34
Speaker 2: any of them. You know, Harvey and Ava Murphy will
35:38
Speaker 2: be in their second Olympics, and so there's, yeah, there's
35:43
Speaker 2: this big focus. Everyone keep talking about how young they are,
35:45
Speaker 2: the youth, and I'm like, I don't know. I mean,
35:47
Speaker 2: they're mid twenties at this point, and they all have
35:50
Speaker 2: several years of international experience. Like I do get it,
35:53
Speaker 2: I do. I do understand. Like it's a very easy
35:56
Speaker 2: contrast to make in One of the things about something
35:59
Speaker 2: like the Olympics is we're sort of all of the
36:02
Speaker 2: storylines will appeal to the lowest common denominator, right, like,
36:05
Speaker 2: don't look for in depth analysis for most places. But yeah,
36:09
Speaker 2: I think the US has had the Olympics in mind
36:14
Speaker 2: since that first roster was built post the twenty twenty
36:18
Speaker 2: two Games, and so I think, you know, there was
36:21
Speaker 2: a deliberate choice made to go younger, but also to
36:23
Speaker 2: get all those players that experience internationally at different World
36:27
Speaker 2: championships to make sure they would be in the best
36:29
Speaker 2: possible spot they could be heading into these games. I
36:34
Speaker 2: don't put a ton of of late on the fact
36:37
Speaker 2: that the US swept the Rivalry Series. I don't know,
36:40
Speaker 2: what do you think. I mean, for me, it's hard
36:41
Speaker 2: to like make any sleepy in the end, Like even
36:44
Speaker 2: World Championship Cold Battle all it's like nobody really blows
36:47
Speaker 2: anybody out when it comes to international competition here, Like
36:50
Speaker 2: it does feel like it's a coin flip and could
36:54
Speaker 2: be the bounce of one pock or you know, hit
36:56
Speaker 2: in the post and that sort of thing.
37:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's why, like when you said, you know,
37:04
Speaker 1: maybe not put as much stock into the Rivalry Series results,
37:08
Speaker 1: I I agree with that, because of the scores of
37:12
Speaker 1: some of those games, some of those really got away,
37:15
Speaker 1: and it's we don't really see that at the Olympics.
37:18
Speaker 1: We rarely see that at Worlds. It's it's it doesn't
37:22
Speaker 1: feel like that was you know, the real top, top
37:27
Speaker 1: level competition.
37:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, not indicative of what capable of Yeah.
37:33
Speaker 1: Right, So I yeah, I don't I'm inclined to say, yeah,
37:36
Speaker 1: don't don't put a lot of stock into those results.
37:39
Speaker 1: I will say, however, that I do like the the
37:44
Speaker 1: blend of USA's team in that there's there's the scoring,
37:50
Speaker 1: there's the grit, there's you know, the experiences, and and
37:54
Speaker 1: that's that could be in a couple of players too.
37:56
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it. It's a group that has a
38:00
Speaker 1: can I think check a lot of different boxes in
38:05
Speaker 1: terms of what kind of games they can win. And
38:08
Speaker 1: that's the thing. You know, there's gonna be a lot
38:10
Speaker 1: of games where they can just win just out skilling
38:12
Speaker 1: the other team there. That's probably not gonna be the
38:16
Speaker 1: way it works against Canada. So they're gonna have to
38:19
Speaker 1: be heavily invested in getting their hands dirty. And you know,
38:25
Speaker 1: we know there are a lot of players on the
38:27
Speaker 1: US team that that seem like they're okay with that.
38:30
Speaker 1: Some of them may be more than others, but I
38:34
Speaker 1: think it's valuable to have that as part of part
38:36
Speaker 1: of your team's makeup.
38:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, And honestly, the biggest thing I think that rivalry
38:41
Speaker 2: series sweep does is give the US confidence. I would
38:46
Speaker 2: have to imagine that regardless of all everything that you're
38:50
Speaker 2: supposed to say and do and everything, knowing that you
38:53
Speaker 2: are not the team that generally comes out of the
38:55
Speaker 2: Olympics with the gold medal is in the back of
38:58
Speaker 2: all of their heads. Somebody was saying that Amamalte was like, well,
39:03
Speaker 2: people are calling off Canada. Was saying people are calling
39:05
Speaker 2: off the underdogs, calling Canada in an underdog right now,
39:07
Speaker 2: It's hilarious to me who is doing this. I think
39:14
Speaker 2: that the US has is the one that has to
39:16
Speaker 2: prove themselves, and I think some of what has happened
39:21
Speaker 2: in previous Olympics is mental mistakes and things like that,
39:24
Speaker 2: you know, like they had you know, some games in
39:26
Speaker 2: hand and let them slip away in and so I
39:29
Speaker 2: think the having the confidence in themselves is one thing.
39:36
Speaker 2: Going out improving it game after game in the rivalry series, really,
39:39
Speaker 2: I think is an underrated sort of bonus for them
39:43
Speaker 2: that like, there's they believe in themselves, but the belief
39:47
Speaker 2: played out and they did it consistently, and particularly because
39:50
Speaker 2: the rivalry series has not gone well for them in
39:51
Speaker 2: the past years, you know, being reverslept and things like that.
39:54
Speaker 2: So I think there is I think the whole thing
39:56
Speaker 2: is seriously going to be a massive mental gain in
39:59
Speaker 2: being prepared, in arriving for the moment, in peaking at
40:04
Speaker 2: the right time. If you are going through a and
40:07
Speaker 2: you have a bunch of easy wins, what happens the
40:10
Speaker 2: first time you face the diversity or or vice versa, Like,
40:12
Speaker 2: do you get tripped up by Chechia or someone like
40:15
Speaker 2: that in an early round and can you respond. I
40:19
Speaker 2: think those are all those are all the things that
40:21
Speaker 2: will go into who is gonna win, you know, the
40:24
Speaker 2: gold medal here, and I think, yeah, I think Canada
40:27
Speaker 2: walks into that gold medal game knowing that, like, no
40:29
Speaker 2: matter what has happened elsewhere, they keep walking out with
40:32
Speaker 2: the gold medal the only way they didn't in the
40:35
Speaker 2: lifetime of these children on a pedalty shootout. So like,
40:39
Speaker 2: you know, that's yeah, so yeah, I don't know. I mean,
40:44
Speaker 2: I would be great to give further adalyse to be like, yes,
40:46
Speaker 2: I think this team has the advantage. I think the
40:48
Speaker 2: people that are really putting the US front and center
40:51
Speaker 2: and saying like this team has the advantage, YadA YadA,
40:54
Speaker 2: rivalry series like that that feels way overconfident to me
40:58
Speaker 2: in a way that I don't think it serves to
41:01
Speaker 2: USA or really tea Canada at all. So yeah, it'll
41:04
Speaker 2: be interesting things too, like goaltending right like this is yeah,
41:09
Speaker 2: Averney having a ton of experience versus Aaron Frankel and
41:12
Speaker 2: things like that. At this point, Aaron is not a newbie,
41:15
Speaker 2: but she is in this to be the starting goaltender
41:20
Speaker 2: at this point. Right like we were, we were mixing
41:23
Speaker 2: things up a little more. I don't know, there's there's
41:25
Speaker 2: there's a I really think you could flip a coin.
41:28
Speaker 2: I think the interesting thing will be if teams like
41:31
Speaker 2: Finland and Chechia and maybe Sweden are in contention for
41:37
Speaker 2: something other than a bronze medal, like can one of
41:39
Speaker 2: those teams trip up US Canada. I think it probably
41:44
Speaker 2: could be easy to look too far ahead and have
41:47
Speaker 2: your eyes in that gold medal game and so what happened?
41:49
Speaker 2: You know, we've seen and we've seen it at the Olympics.
41:51
Speaker 2: The US is you know, played for a bronze medal
41:54
Speaker 2: and things like that. So uh, I don't I don't know.
41:56
Speaker 2: I feel like the gap is still too big. I
41:59
Speaker 2: feel like we're in the World Championships that will we
42:01
Speaker 2: get to quarterfinals and semifinals. It doesn't feel like any
42:05
Speaker 2: one team fight has the ability to put sixty minutes
42:09
Speaker 2: against US, the North America teams, US or Canada. But
42:13
Speaker 2: what do you think? Do you think there's an opportunity
42:14
Speaker 2: for an upset there?
42:17
Speaker 1: You mentioned US opening with Chechia, and I really like
42:22
Speaker 1: that opening for the US because I think check is
42:26
Speaker 1: on the up upswing, and I think this may be
42:30
Speaker 1: that the Olympics where they really start to show that, look,
42:34
Speaker 1: we can we can be in if not one or two,
42:37
Speaker 1: we can be three for sure, and then start to
42:40
Speaker 1: challenge for one or two. Now, it doesn't always play
42:45
Speaker 1: out that way. It's still you know, it's still a
42:48
Speaker 1: shorter tournament, right where you play four games in the
42:53
Speaker 1: in pool play and then you're into the knockout round.
42:56
Speaker 1: So it doesn't always work out that way in that
42:59
Speaker 1: kind of tournament. But I think if the US needs
43:05
Speaker 1: to to show something in that game that you know,
43:09
Speaker 1: they're not just going through the motions in an Olympic opener.
43:13
Speaker 1: They need to look at that as a team that
43:16
Speaker 1: they might be playing in a metal round game. And
43:20
Speaker 1: we'll see there whether you know what the gap is.
43:23
Speaker 1: I guess it may close over the tournament, it may
43:26
Speaker 1: grow over the tournament. But I think that's a real
43:30
Speaker 1: good indication for the US, that first game of where
43:33
Speaker 1: they're where they're at going in the things.
43:36
Speaker 2: And I think Check You Too is probably the team
43:38
Speaker 2: outside of North America most consistently able to put up
43:42
Speaker 2: a physical, fast and skill the sixty minute game. Generally
43:50
Speaker 2: with the teams outside of North America, you get some
43:52
Speaker 2: variation of those three things in it in combination, but
43:57
Speaker 2: like not all at one hundred percent. You know, you see,
44:00
Speaker 2: like Sweden is very physical, but usually in focusing on that,
44:04
Speaker 2: they give up you know, some other things like they're
44:06
Speaker 2: not going to be as offensive and stuff like that,
44:08
Speaker 2: and so that might end up being if you face Sweden,
44:11
Speaker 2: might be more like a grinded out game, right But
44:14
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, I agree that it's really good for
44:16
Speaker 2: the US to hit that as their first game and
44:19
Speaker 2: really be forced to be on their on their toes
44:24
Speaker 2: and playing their best classible game right away. Ultimately, do
44:28
Speaker 2: opening round games that are for Group A not really.
44:32
Speaker 2: I mean, I think anyone in Group BAY should be
44:35
Speaker 2: able to handle their quarter final matchup against you know,
44:40
Speaker 2: a Group E team or the bottom ranking team in
44:43
Speaker 2: Group A. But it's there's room for error early on,
44:49
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of for error. But I do
44:51
Speaker 2: think it's it'll be important for them to set the tone.
44:53
Speaker 2: And again, I think that will test sort of all
44:56
Speaker 2: the different US facilities in terms of playing physically not
45:01
Speaker 2: getting pushed out of their game. What happens when systems
45:04
Speaker 2: go to hell and how you group and what that
45:07
Speaker 2: looks like. So yeah, like you said, I think that's
45:11
Speaker 2: a really good and early test for them.
45:16
Speaker 1: Well, by the time we talk next week, we'll have
45:18
Speaker 1: a bunch of games already in the books to kind
45:20
Speaker 1: of analyze where things might be headed early in the tournament,
45:25
Speaker 1: and we will do that again next week.
45:29
Speaker 2: But for EXTI to say, those games are scheduled to
45:32
Speaker 2: be on USA Network, and NBC is showing that some
45:36
Speaker 2: of those years will also be on play at night
45:38
Speaker 2: for people, and they also all stream on peacock. But
45:41
Speaker 2: it does look like USA Network is the home of
45:44
Speaker 2: women's hockey Live, and most games are taking place sometime
45:48
Speaker 2: between six am and three pm Eastern time. That's the
45:53
Speaker 2: start times. It's like on a SPOT game day, it's
45:56
Speaker 2: like six, eight thirty ten and you're eleven and three
46:02
Speaker 2: will be your approximate start times.
46:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the helpful hints that I saw, if
46:06
Speaker 1: you don't want to subscribe to peacock, but you are
46:09
Speaker 1: already subscribed to cable or satellite, you can sign in
46:12
Speaker 1: using that on the NBC Olympics site and get those
46:15
Speaker 1: live games or live everything throughout the Olympics. UH, streaming
46:20
Speaker 1: that way too, so that will be helpful for those
46:23
Speaker 1: early morning games that may not be on live or
46:25
Speaker 1: may you know, there's a couple of games that overlap
46:29
Speaker 1: in the middle of the schedule there, so that'll be fun.
46:34
Speaker 2: I like to tell myself what watch the game, but like,
46:37
Speaker 2: let's let's be.
46:38
Speaker 1: It sounds good, but yeah, stay in a real ofant
46:43
Speaker 1: I don't know. It might be one of those ones
46:45
Speaker 1: that I turn on at five o'clock, but then by
46:47
Speaker 1: five or five I'm back asleep with the TV on.
46:50
Speaker 1: So it has happened before. Okay, we're gonna take a yes, right,
46:56
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick pause here. When we come back,
46:58
Speaker 1: we're gonna look ahead the number one Wisconsin against number
47:01
Speaker 1: two Ohio State and other games upcoming this weekend in
47:04
Speaker 1: NCAA women's hockey. Stay with us on the Podcorst Welcome
47:15
Speaker 1: back to the podcast. Todd and Nicole here to wrap
47:17
Speaker 1: things up for the week, talking about number one Wisconsin
47:21
Speaker 1: against number two Ohio State Saturday and Sunday in Madison.
47:25
Speaker 1: Saturday game is on Big ten Network, so that one
47:28
Speaker 1: does get a little bit of national run this week,
47:31
Speaker 1: as is very well deserved. When these two teams get together,
47:36
Speaker 1: it's going to be the fourteenth and fifteenth straight times
47:39
Speaker 1: they've played with both those teams in the number one
47:41
Speaker 1: and number two spots in the poll. So that just
47:45
Speaker 1: gives you a little bit of a window into what
47:47
Speaker 1: these last few years have been like in women's hockey.
47:50
Speaker 1: A lot of teams chasing these two and not getting there,
47:54
Speaker 1: so mostly because they've only really lost to themselves a
48:00
Speaker 1: team in this group. I mean, Ohio State has lost
48:03
Speaker 1: a couple as well the other teams. Wisconsin's lost a
48:06
Speaker 1: few to Minnesota. But really, this is what it's come
48:10
Speaker 1: down to in the WHAU and nationally for the last
48:14
Speaker 1: couple of years, and I think we're there's nothing telling
48:18
Speaker 1: us that we're not headed that direction again. I mean,
48:20
Speaker 1: some other teams are gonna have a say about that
48:22
Speaker 1: in the NCAA tournament, but just looking at where this
48:26
Speaker 1: is gone, we might be looking at another national championship
48:31
Speaker 1: game between these two teams.
48:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like we could end up having most
48:36
Speaker 2: of the same conversation about these two that we just
48:38
Speaker 2: said about US Canada in terms of it's a quid flip, right, Yeah,
48:43
Speaker 2: it I feel like I feel like it was good
48:46
Speaker 2: for Wisconsin to have that bounce back when on Saturday.
48:49
Speaker 2: I think it was good that they did the same
48:50
Speaker 2: thing last time they lost to Minnesota. I, however, think
48:55
Speaker 2: it seems like Ohio State it's kind of in a
48:57
Speaker 2: better position right now in terms of handling their their
49:02
Speaker 2: different lineups. Both teams are short handed. You know, do
49:06
Speaker 2: you know, is Hannah Halferson out for longer than you know,
49:12
Speaker 2: the regular season or anything like that that had something.
49:15
Speaker 1: Yet Yeah, she she was. She was talking like it
49:20
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to be as bad as maybe it looked.
49:23
Speaker 1: She was on crutches on Saturday, but I think they
49:28
Speaker 1: were hopeful that it was uh that maybe that was
49:32
Speaker 1: more precautionary than anything that, you know, just.
49:35
Speaker 2: She didn't go back to play.
49:38
Speaker 1: Yeah she did, and I was kind of mildly stunned
49:40
Speaker 1: by that, given how it how it looked. But I
49:45
Speaker 1: don't know what that means for this week, but it's
49:48
Speaker 1: it's it was. It was definitely another blow to their
49:51
Speaker 1: their forward, uh core.
49:54
Speaker 2: That's the point of the point of the conversation, not
49:57
Speaker 2: that we not.
49:57
Speaker 1: That it meant that anything. Obviously, in the end, they scored.
50:00
Speaker 2: Six, so yeah, but it's about it's a numbers game
50:03
Speaker 2: for all of these teams right now as well. It
50:06
Speaker 2: was a Becknzie.
50:07
Speaker 1: Jones that went up in George from d Right.
50:12
Speaker 2: Again, both of these scenes are just you skating really
50:16
Speaker 2: thin benches for what they're used to, and so that
50:20
Speaker 2: every everything like that, every little twinge, every possible injury
50:24
Speaker 2: is just something that can can play a bigger role
50:27
Speaker 2: in these in this series than I think would normally
50:31
Speaker 2: otherwise be the case.
50:34
Speaker 1: I think the the more we get into this stretch,
50:38
Speaker 1: the third periods of games are going to be really
50:41
Speaker 1: fascinating to watch because by that point, you know, you're
50:46
Speaker 1: rolling three lines at best at forward and at Wisconsin
50:50
Speaker 1: it was on Saturday they had five defenders, but really
50:53
Speaker 1: we're using four and a half maybe, I mean just
50:58
Speaker 1: as it averaged out. So those defenders were playing a lot,
51:01
Speaker 1: a lot of minutes, and by the end of a
51:04
Speaker 1: Saturday a second game of a series, that does add up,
51:08
Speaker 1: and there's there's some opportunities to you know, let some
51:14
Speaker 1: things slide that normally don't, and so that might be
51:17
Speaker 1: some opportunity in a close game to take advantage.
51:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think too. If you think about like Oh,
51:25
Speaker 2: it's not that we're talking. These are two teams that
51:28
Speaker 2: would normally run like through their their whole roster, right
51:31
Speaker 2: like it would be four full lines on offense and
51:34
Speaker 2: if they do tighten up then and maybe run you know,
51:38
Speaker 2: two more offen or three more often. So it's not
51:41
Speaker 2: like I expect everybody on both these two teams to
51:44
Speaker 2: be incredibly fit and getting ready, but like these are
51:48
Speaker 2: we're just putting players in situations they're completely not used to.
51:51
Speaker 2: They're they're on the ice more, they're being called more
51:53
Speaker 2: off and they're on power play. And that's what's going
51:56
Speaker 2: to change things. It's not that they aren't you know
52:00
Speaker 2: it in in game ready. It's just if the game
52:03
Speaker 2: shortens up and your line is the one that is
52:06
Speaker 2: now sitting on the bench more often in a tight
52:08
Speaker 2: game at the end, and now we're expecting you to
52:11
Speaker 2: not just not have that, but also be playing consistently,
52:15
Speaker 2: and like you said, like by the third period of
52:17
Speaker 2: the second game, it could be could be quite interesting.
52:21
Speaker 2: I think the Badgers escaped something with Maggie Ciannel looking
52:25
Speaker 2: like she might have been injured and not being that
52:27
Speaker 2: that would have been a huge blow for them in
52:29
Speaker 2: terms of available for them in this short situation. The
52:33
Speaker 2: Badgers did win both the two games when these two
52:36
Speaker 2: teams played in Columbus. Wisconsin does tend to be quite
52:41
Speaker 2: good in their home arena. But I do you have
52:44
Speaker 2: any feeling, I mean, I think this is most likely
52:46
Speaker 2: to be a split again like last weekend. I don't
52:49
Speaker 2: know it'll be I Ohio State has Wisconsin this week,
52:54
Speaker 2: Minnesota next week. Wisconsin has a two point lead in
52:58
Speaker 2: the conference scening, so these are some pretty interesting games
53:00
Speaker 2: from that aspect as well, and likely NPI. I would
53:04
Speaker 2: imagine if Ohio State takes the majority of points this
53:07
Speaker 2: weekend that they would move up right.
53:11
Speaker 1: I think that's for Wisconsin. If you know, getting a
53:16
Speaker 1: split gets you a little bit closer to some of
53:19
Speaker 1: those goals of you know, at least getting out. If
53:22
Speaker 1: it's three points to three points, you know, you never
53:24
Speaker 1: know what split could mean overtime either way and that
53:27
Speaker 1: could adjust it. But if they come out of this
53:30
Speaker 1: weekend with a two point lead or better in the standing,
53:33
Speaker 1: I think they're feeling pretty good about themselves, and that
53:37
Speaker 1: probably also means they're still on top of the NBI
53:40
Speaker 1: and still on track for the number one overall seed.
53:45
Speaker 1: But there's also that chance in the NPI conversation that
53:51
Speaker 1: they could play again right before selection Sunday for a championship,
53:57
Speaker 1: and that could change things again right there. That that's
54:02
Speaker 1: still got a lot of wiggle room there the NPI discussion.
54:06
Speaker 1: But we're getting down a lot close to the end
54:09
Speaker 1: of the the regular season championship, and I think this
54:15
Speaker 1: is this is just such an unusual situation with the
54:19
Speaker 1: teams not having some of their best players and having
54:21
Speaker 1: to basically, you know, feel their way through getting through
54:26
Speaker 1: an entire game with the lineups that they have. And
54:31
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's the the best way to
54:35
Speaker 1: decide championships, but I do like the fact that Wisconsin
54:40
Speaker 1: is playing Minnesota, Minnesota is playing Ohio. Say, Wisconsin is
54:43
Speaker 1: playing Ohio. Say. These teams are playing each other through
54:47
Speaker 1: the stretch, and it's not just the well, you know,
54:49
Speaker 1: get get the good games out of the way, quote
54:51
Speaker 1: unquote good games you know that are gonna decide yes.
54:58
Speaker 1: So this is a real tests for these teams, and
55:03
Speaker 1: it's I really don't know. We saw a little bit
55:08
Speaker 1: of how much depth matters in your lineups last week,
55:14
Speaker 1: Like you were mentioning Avery Hoveland for Minnesota scoring a
55:18
Speaker 1: really important goal to tie that game against Wisconsin. I
55:22
Speaker 1: feel like there's players out there that are going to
55:25
Speaker 1: do that through these next three weeks too, and it's
55:28
Speaker 1: just gonna have to be, you know, a player that
55:32
Speaker 1: maybe has two or three goals on the season scoring
55:36
Speaker 1: a big one and we shouldn't be surprised by that
55:38
Speaker 1: when it happens. I guess no.
55:41
Speaker 2: The other thing I was gonna mention is there wasn't
55:43
Speaker 2: a ton of special teams in the Wisconsin Minnesota series,
55:47
Speaker 2: and so there usually is in Wisconsin states to put
55:52
Speaker 2: it delicately, and I that will be interesting from a
55:56
Speaker 2: Wisconsin standpoint because their top part play unit is all gone.
56:00
Speaker 2: Not only that, but that on zone is a problem
56:04
Speaker 2: problem that they have to overcome. But the beating quarterbacks
56:08
Speaker 2: on your like you can't replace KK Harvey as the
56:12
Speaker 2: quarterback and your power play. So what does not power
56:15
Speaker 2: play one but powerfulay two look like for Wisconsin? And
56:19
Speaker 2: that's not a thing that really got a lot of
56:21
Speaker 2: time to figure out this past weekend. So if special teams,
56:26
Speaker 2: which I think generally these, the games are physical, so
56:29
Speaker 2: I imagine that we're going to see more special teams in Wisconsin,
56:32
Speaker 2: Ohio states and what that looks like could be interesting, right.
56:37
Speaker 1: I didn't see Ohio state, but Wisconsin was essentially running
56:40
Speaker 1: their first Bower play as their top line and top
56:43
Speaker 1: dep pair, and the second was the second line and
56:46
Speaker 1: the second deep pair. Because that was really like you're
56:49
Speaker 1: saying that you don't have that right now, and so
56:52
Speaker 1: that's who you have, is who you have, and you'll
56:54
Speaker 1: you'll figure it out from there. I do want to
56:57
Speaker 1: mention a couple of other games going on this Weekekend
57:01
Speaker 1: Friday Night, number nine, Yale hosting number eleven Clarkson. We
57:05
Speaker 1: talked earlier in the show about Clarkson not getting the
57:08
Speaker 1: sweep last weekend, staying in eleven in the NPI, just
57:13
Speaker 1: outside of the the spot that would give them in
57:17
Speaker 1: that large bid if the tournament ended or the tournament
57:22
Speaker 1: was selected. Today, h Yale is, we have a Ripley
57:26
Speaker 1: appearance on the show.
57:28
Speaker 2: It sirs.
57:30
Speaker 1: If you're watching us, Ripley is, or if you're listening
57:32
Speaker 1: to us Ripley. Nicole's dog is making sad kind of
57:37
Speaker 1: eyes at the camera right now.
57:39
Speaker 2: So he's he that's all he does. Yeah, he just
57:44
Speaker 2: he just pushed his way.
57:46
Speaker 1: Well, hey, that's okay. Everyone wants to part of the podcast.
57:49
Speaker 1: I can understand that. It's it's another important step here
57:55
Speaker 1: for Clarkson to try and do whatever they can to
57:58
Speaker 1: push themselves into that spot at Minnesota LUTH's expense, because
58:03
Speaker 1: Minnesota Luth hasn't been you know, hasn't been doing great,
58:07
Speaker 1: keeps sliding down a little bit, down to ten now
58:10
Speaker 1: in the NPI, and so they are the last one
58:12
Speaker 1: in as things stand.
58:15
Speaker 2: See no conference upsets. I mean, we've have been loathed
58:21
Speaker 2: to ever use the must win, but it sure feels
58:23
Speaker 2: must win for Clarkson, doesn't it.
58:28
Speaker 1: I yeah, I mean I don't know that they have
58:31
Speaker 1: to necessarily win out, but so you know.
58:33
Speaker 2: There's no but against Yale, like and things like that.
58:38
Speaker 2: It feels like this of of the games that they've got,
58:42
Speaker 2: this one feels particularly important to me. And also just
58:45
Speaker 2: to sort of right the ship and put them in
58:47
Speaker 2: the ring. So they have Yale Brown Coal Game Cornille
58:51
Speaker 2: left on there, so Yale would be the only one
58:53
Speaker 2: with ranking them. So yeah, that's the one. This is
58:57
Speaker 2: the one that they need I think the most.
59:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds accurate. I do I'm gonna be like
59:11
Speaker 1: really paying attention to what happens when you get to
59:14
Speaker 1: the like this this in the EC, I see the
59:16
Speaker 1: second round of the playoffs, because the teams that get
59:23
Speaker 1: that buyer probably you know, there's gonna be some teams
59:26
Speaker 1: that are probably in the tournament. You're you're unless things
59:30
Speaker 1: really go haywire, You're Quinnipiac Princeton maybe looking pretty good.
59:35
Speaker 1: But then you're gonna have some teams that are kind
59:38
Speaker 1: of playing for their lives at that point.
59:40
Speaker 2: So an ability to pull upsets throughout the year.
59:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'm looking forward to that. There's a lot
59:50
Speaker 1: a lot to play before then, but that weekend is
59:54
Speaker 1: is gonna be fun to kind of scrutinize what what
59:57
Speaker 1: goes down there. Another big weekend here coming up for Quinnipiac,
1:00:03
Speaker 1: I think because just you know, had had come into
1:00:07
Speaker 1: last weekend winning seven in a row, lost two games. Now,
1:00:10
Speaker 1: where does it go. You don't want to drop any
1:00:13
Speaker 1: further in the NPI. You don't want to drop any
1:00:16
Speaker 1: further in the standings. It's Friday against at Harvard, Saturday
1:00:22
Speaker 1: at Dartmouth. So we've seen Harvard play pretty well against
1:00:26
Speaker 1: some of the better teams or the the higher ranked
1:00:29
Speaker 1: teams at ECAC Quinnipiac. You gonna have to be ready
1:00:34
Speaker 1: to go on that one Friday.
1:00:35
Speaker 2: Night, bring your bring your ability to beat the goalie,
1:00:38
Speaker 2: because it can be tough for you. It's not going
1:00:40
Speaker 2: to make it easy.
1:00:42
Speaker 1: M hmm.
1:00:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't think nothing. The e SC regular season
1:00:51
Speaker 2: title isn't going to come easy to never ends up
1:00:54
Speaker 2: being able to grab it. Like things right, it's there
1:00:57
Speaker 2: is no easy game. I mean we said that most
1:01:00
Speaker 2: of the year, but I think particularly right now, nobody
1:01:02
Speaker 2: wants to be the team that gets to be you know,
1:01:05
Speaker 2: like everybody's playing for pride at this point and it's
1:01:11
Speaker 2: really hard to There's no way QUINNIPIEC isn't feeling the
1:01:17
Speaker 2: effects of like you know, they're they're upset with themselves.
1:01:19
Speaker 2: They know what they did wrong and that it could
1:01:22
Speaker 2: hurt them so sorry. I just think that nobody's more
1:01:30
Speaker 2: conscious of it than they are. But that's a really
1:01:32
Speaker 2: hard come back to make, particularly when it feels like
1:01:34
Speaker 2: these games are must win and win it's it's it's
1:01:38
Speaker 2: down to the wire. So you know, they painted themselves
1:01:40
Speaker 2: into a little porter a bit, and I think they
1:01:44
Speaker 2: I think if they come out of this weekend very
1:01:47
Speaker 2: successful at bones well sort of for the rest of
1:01:49
Speaker 2: their postseason, Like I think they got to sort of
1:01:51
Speaker 2: prove their metal a little bit.
1:01:54
Speaker 1: Does Ripley have any games to watch this week?
1:01:57
Speaker 2: Really will be an approximately this same position. While I
1:02:00
Speaker 2: watched all the games this weekend, what I'll be interested
1:02:04
Speaker 2: in is we saw lu be able to you know,
1:02:07
Speaker 2: put a wrench in things for Franklin Peers, and they
1:02:09
Speaker 2: will be facing Saint Ansel this week, so we'll see
1:02:12
Speaker 2: what la you can do there to maybe change things
1:02:15
Speaker 2: up a little bit. And then on Saturday we have
1:02:19
Speaker 2: Boston College Yukon and I think that's one of those
1:02:22
Speaker 2: games that could kind of is less about where they're
1:02:26
Speaker 2: ranked and can just be about you know.
1:02:31
Speaker 1: Who.
1:02:31
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm not saying it well, but I
1:02:33
Speaker 2: just I think it doesn't matter that the BC's you know,
1:02:35
Speaker 2: maybe not as highly ranked as they were, not the
1:02:37
Speaker 2: same in the standings. I think you CON's got a
1:02:40
Speaker 2: tough road there to face them.
1:02:43
Speaker 1: Yes, well, between the Olympics starting and a bunch of
1:02:47
Speaker 1: good games in NCAA hockey, there's a ton to wash
1:02:49
Speaker 1: this weekend. We hope you enjoy that we hope you
1:02:52
Speaker 1: check out the schedule and the scores and the stats
1:02:54
Speaker 1: and everything, Nicole writes on us h O dot com,
1:02:56
Speaker 1: And also at Victory Press, you'll have a bunch of
1:02:59
Speaker 1: Olympic stuff happening there. Do you have anything you want
1:03:01
Speaker 1: to tease for the Victory Press side of what you've
1:03:03
Speaker 1: got coming.
1:03:06
Speaker 2: I will have previews for every one of the teams
1:03:08
Speaker 2: as well as sort of a tournament preview that should
1:03:10
Speaker 2: have all the leaks you need for being able to
1:03:12
Speaker 2: watch and find things. And hopefully in the middle of
1:03:16
Speaker 2: all this, I'll also get to finish up a story
1:03:18
Speaker 2: I was writing about Czerlan goalkeeping from you eighteen up
1:03:22
Speaker 2: to the senior level. So lots of good stuff coming
1:03:25
Speaker 2: over there. We also just put a piece out today
1:03:28
Speaker 2: talking to simple PWHL players about their thoughts and expansion,
1:03:33
Speaker 2: and I thought it was really nice to hear from
1:03:35
Speaker 2: them in terms of like, what are the things they
1:03:37
Speaker 2: want to see aligne and happen before the teams keep
1:03:42
Speaker 2: coming into the league. So uh yeah, definitely check out there,
1:03:45
Speaker 2: and we'll have stuff at usc CHO. I'll put up
1:03:47
Speaker 2: something with the players the collegiate players over there as
1:03:50
Speaker 2: well that are in the Olympics, so lots of coverage
1:03:52
Speaker 2: in both places.
1:03:54
Speaker 1: All right, If you have any thoughts for us, drop
1:03:57
Speaker 1: us a line. There's an email address in the show notes. Otherwise,
1:04:00
Speaker 1: we thank you for joining us this week. We will
1:04:02
Speaker 1: talk to you next week on the podcast.