Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / A wild finish to the ECAC Hockey regular season

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A wild finish to the ECAC Hockey regular season · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com. Hi, and welcome to the podcast on
0:13
Speaker 1: Todd Mlusky. Here with Nicole Hosey from a us cho
0:15
Speaker 1: dot com and Nicole, we've got some Olympic stuff to
0:18
Speaker 1: talk about later in the show. It'll be the US
0:21
Speaker 1: and Canada on Thursday for the gold medal again. But
0:26
Speaker 1: it's we cannot overlook what happened in ECAC hockey last weekend,
0:30
Speaker 1: which is we've been looking forward to the chaos all year,
0:34
Speaker 1: and boy did they deliver on the last weekend extra
0:37
Speaker 1: attacker goals, deciding who finishes first and second in some
0:44
Speaker 1: way or another. It seems missing out on a chance
0:48
Speaker 1: to move up on a Friday and then not fully
0:51
Speaker 1: getting things done on Saturday craziness. But should we have
0:54
Speaker 1: expected any less out of ACAC hockey this year?
0:58
Speaker 2: Yeah?
0:58
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it was exactly I think, well I probably not exactly.
1:01
Speaker 3: We wouldn't have dreamed up exactly what it came down to,
1:04
Speaker 3: but they delivered, you know.
1:06
Speaker 2: The same chaos that's been happening, especially for.
1:08
Speaker 3: The last couple of weeks. Definitely felt a little like
1:11
Speaker 3: who actually wants to win this thing? And kind of
1:14
Speaker 3: hilarious that in the end it came down to Yale
1:17
Speaker 3: and Princeton, who probably weren't in our conversation to start.
1:21
Speaker 3: So yeah, absolutely, I mean fun, a lot of fun,
1:26
Speaker 3: a lot of what's we've been talking about in terms
1:28
Speaker 3: of not having any idea who's gonna take what and
1:32
Speaker 3: knowing that that tournament still I think could be to
1:34
Speaker 3: anybody getting that auto bid.
1:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yale and Princeton end up sharing the title at
1:39
Speaker 1: forty six points. Yale gets the number one seed because
1:42
Speaker 1: of a head to head tiebreaker there. Quinnipak finishes a
1:45
Speaker 1: point back at forty five. But how we got there
1:48
Speaker 1: was so Yale beat Princeton in the head to head
1:50
Speaker 1: match up to nothing Friday at Howie Baker Rink, Jordan
1:53
Speaker 1: Ray and Maria Ralph with goals in the first two
1:56
Speaker 1: periods there, and Samson Fry again for Yale coming up
1:59
Speaker 1: with another sh out twenty three saves, so that gives
2:02
Speaker 1: Yale the leg up. But then on Saturday, Quinnipiac it
2:05
Speaker 1: comes in and beats Yale in overtime four to three.
2:08
Speaker 1: Yale leading three to one going into the final two
2:11
Speaker 1: minutes of regulation with the you know with right on
2:17
Speaker 1: its stick there to have a solo championship. But then
2:21
Speaker 1: there's Kiln Marsh with an extra attacker with one h
2:24
Speaker 1: two left, There's Ainsley Tavio with twenty four seconds left
2:28
Speaker 1: and another extra attacker goal the Force overtime, and then
2:32
Speaker 1: there's LaMarsh again with her thirty fifth goal of the
2:34
Speaker 1: season in overtime to give Quinnipiac a four to three win. There,
2:38
Speaker 1: Yale still gets the share of the title, but that's
2:42
Speaker 1: got a sting, got a sting.
2:44
Speaker 3: A little bit way to go Quinnipiac two for putting
2:48
Speaker 3: themselves in that position.
2:49
Speaker 2: Insan To Tavio had three goals this weekend.
2:52
Speaker 3: Someone we haven't talked about much, and she really had
2:55
Speaker 3: a huge weekend to make sure that her team was
2:57
Speaker 3: still in the conversation. Yeah, you know, the best part
3:01
Speaker 3: of about that for me is Princeton hadn't won an
3:05
Speaker 3: easy AC title yet in all their times. So feel
3:08
Speaker 3: a little bad for Yale in sort of letting it
3:10
Speaker 3: slip out of their grasp, But I'm happy that there's
3:12
Speaker 3: sort of a small positive comes out of that. Yale
3:14
Speaker 3: still gets the one seed, but yes, that had what
3:17
Speaker 3: shades of the twenty four gold medal game. Like that,
3:21
Speaker 3: that is in your grasp and you let it slip away,
3:23
Speaker 3: very very upsettingly just a couple of minutes time, right.
3:29
Speaker 1: Princeton can also say the same thing though, because they
3:31
Speaker 1: on Saturday needed overtime to beat Brown after having a
3:35
Speaker 1: lead with two minutes to go, India mc dotty scored
3:39
Speaker 1: it with an extra attacker for Brown force overtime there
3:41
Speaker 1: with a minute thirty left, and so Princeton was that
3:44
Speaker 1: close to getting that extra point that would have put
3:46
Speaker 1: them into the solo first spot. And the number one
3:51
Speaker 1: seed is he wanted to score in overtime, but that
3:53
Speaker 1: again is only two points instead of three points. Forty six.
3:57
Speaker 1: Forty six is where the tie ends up. Just a crazy, amazing, incomprehensible,
4:03
Speaker 1: beautiful finish the ECAC Hockey season regular season.
4:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is just.
4:09
Speaker 3: The conversation about the top couple of teams, right, So
4:13
Speaker 3: everyone is every one of those teams that affected everybody's position, right, Yeah,
4:18
Speaker 3: absolute chaos in the best possible way. It will be
4:21
Speaker 3: interesting to see if we'll be talking about, like what
4:24
Speaker 3: would have happened if you were the one seed or
4:25
Speaker 3: the two seed, and how those the teams match up
4:28
Speaker 3: as the tournament now kicks off for them. Because all
4:31
Speaker 3: of that trickles down into where they place and who
4:34
Speaker 3: they're they're gonna play in the e SEC tournament.
4:36
Speaker 2: So chaos now for fun, but also it really has
4:39
Speaker 2: some implications.
4:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, it gets a real now over the next three
4:43
Speaker 1: weeks of the playoffs for ECAC Hockey. We'll go into
4:47
Speaker 1: the pairings a little later in the show w c
4:50
Speaker 1: h A. Last week, Ohio State and Minnesota, number two
4:52
Speaker 1: and number three in the country, met in Columbus. Ohio
4:55
Speaker 1: State came away with a sweep four to two on Friday,
4:58
Speaker 1: three to one on saturd Maxine Simmaroni with two goals
5:02
Speaker 1: and to assists in the series, Kaya Malakino with a
5:06
Speaker 1: goal and three assists. Those are some names that maybe
5:08
Speaker 1: hadn't heard of a lot until recently, but they've been
5:12
Speaker 1: definitely making an impact in the stretch with five players
5:17
Speaker 1: gone for the Buckeyes.
5:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:19
Speaker 3: Simmaroni a rookie too, right, so just really stepping up
5:23
Speaker 3: and coming into her own.
5:24
Speaker 2: Malachino came over from Colgate. I think that experience probably helps.
5:28
Speaker 3: So just interesting, sort of two different paths to being
5:31
Speaker 3: really impactful players.
5:33
Speaker 2: But Cimmaroni, I maybe what hell is Swinson Svenson is
5:36
Speaker 2: out there doing what she was doing as a rookie.
5:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, at Ohio State and sort of leading all those
5:40
Speaker 3: I feel like maybe Simmaroni wasn't getting as much attention
5:43
Speaker 3: or the conversation, but clearly, you know, making big impact
5:47
Speaker 3: early on.
5:47
Speaker 2: And that game had one of.
5:50
Speaker 3: You know, our favorite asterisks type weird things in that
5:53
Speaker 3: there was a challenge at the Ohio State second game
5:56
Speaker 3: had a challenge at the second intermission that was granted,
5:59
Speaker 3: so the two had gone to the locker room and
6:01
Speaker 3: then they pulled the teams back out to replay the
6:03
Speaker 3: last minute in four seconds of the second period, which
6:06
Speaker 3: is when Ohio State.
6:07
Speaker 2: Scored their goal of head goal.
6:10
Speaker 3: So yeah, that was that was a complicated, interesting set
6:15
Speaker 3: up there. I had a lot of messages on Blue
6:17
Speaker 3: Sky going what is happening?
6:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was really confused because I saw a score
6:21
Speaker 1: one score at the end of the second period, and
6:25
Speaker 1: then came back later and saw a different score at
6:27
Speaker 1: the end of the second period and hadn't watched the
6:29
Speaker 1: video yet, so I was like, wait, which was I
6:32
Speaker 1: forgetting something? Did I miss it? Or did the score
6:34
Speaker 1: is not update right or it's Yeah, that was a
6:38
Speaker 1: strange situation. But yeah, once we saw the video, we
6:41
Speaker 1: were like, oh yeah, okay, that does make sense. You
6:43
Speaker 1: go back to the time and you have to play
6:45
Speaker 1: the rest of that time. That's that's left over in
6:48
Speaker 1: the period, So there you go.
6:51
Speaker 3: I think I thought that they were going to do
6:52
Speaker 3: it at the beginning of the third the way it
6:53
Speaker 3: was described to me, So I was not prepared for
6:56
Speaker 3: them to go pull everybody back out of the locker
6:58
Speaker 3: room like ten minutes after they sent them there, and
7:01
Speaker 3: then replay right away and then go back to intermission again.
7:05
Speaker 1: I think they could have. They could have, but technically
7:09
Speaker 1: the intermission isn't supposed to start untill the referees leave
7:12
Speaker 1: the ice, and I don't think they had left the
7:15
Speaker 1: ice officially or that there had been the conversation of
7:19
Speaker 1: a challenge, So it gets into the question of okay,
7:22
Speaker 1: how you know, how long do you have to challenge? What?
7:26
Speaker 1: What's the timeframe there? You know, I believe it's before
7:29
Speaker 1: referees leave the ice, So, not seeing how that was
7:34
Speaker 1: actually done in the building, I would imagine that was
7:36
Speaker 1: the conversation taking place of like, okay, well, since we
7:41
Speaker 1: haven't technically started the intermission yet, started at the fifteen
7:44
Speaker 1: minute clock, let's just bring them all back now, And.
7:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, a minute later is somewhat leap, but not like,
7:53
Speaker 3: certainly not out of the realm of possibility for challenging.
7:55
Speaker 3: Particularly how we know, with women talking like, there's just
7:59
Speaker 3: less stoppage and less opportunities for some of that stuff.
8:02
Speaker 2: So it certainly was like the appropriate time for Ohio
8:06
Speaker 2: State to make that challenge.
8:07
Speaker 3: But yeah, very strange, very clear that the were student
8:12
Speaker 3: student broadcasters had no idea what was happening.
8:16
Speaker 2: So very interesting. Definitely something I hadn't seen in women's hockey.
8:20
Speaker 3: And while I mean i've it's happened once or twice
8:23
Speaker 3: in men's college hockey in the last couple of years,
8:24
Speaker 3: I remember, but yeah, I hadn't seen that here, so
8:27
Speaker 3: uh yeah, in the end, it I think, to me,
8:30
Speaker 3: what the important part was they gave the five minute
8:32
Speaker 3: major and Ohio State scored on that, right, that was
8:35
Speaker 3: the goal ihad goal, and then I think they added
8:37
Speaker 3: an empty netters essentially that that penalty turned into the
8:40
Speaker 3: game changer and kind of turned it around. Minnesota had
8:44
Speaker 3: scored first in that game, and I think that that
8:46
Speaker 3: just really turned things around and made for probably a
8:49
Speaker 3: very strange third period for the players.
8:51
Speaker 2: So in the end results of Ohio.
8:54
Speaker 3: State got the sweep, We've got Ohio State two points
8:56
Speaker 3: back of Wisconsin and the w c h A standings.
9:00
Speaker 3: Things fluctuated a bunch, but in the end now NBI
9:03
Speaker 3: seems to still have Minnesota in third.
9:08
Speaker 1: We were yeah, as of this moment before somebody sneezes
9:11
Speaker 1: again or there's a gust of wind, currently with Minnesota
9:14
Speaker 1: leads Penn State. Because over the weekend we were sending
9:17
Speaker 1: messages back and forth. It's like, hey, did you see
9:19
Speaker 1: that Penn State now went ahead of Minnesota after I
9:23
Speaker 1: think it was Sunday's Merrimac win over Vermont. That was
9:27
Speaker 1: the one game that was in Sunday we saw that change.
9:31
Speaker 3: There was also Northeastern somebody there was, but that was
9:35
Speaker 3: later those two games.
9:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, you're right, right, and then the later result
9:40
Speaker 1: put it back the way it now stands as we
9:44
Speaker 1: record on Monday evening, which I believe goes through because
9:47
Speaker 1: there aren't games at all Thursday, if I remember right, So,
9:52
Speaker 1: which is Wisconsin one, Ohio State two, and those two
9:55
Speaker 1: are separated by a pretty good amount, then Minnesota three,
9:58
Speaker 1: Penn State four, and there also separated by a pretty
10:01
Speaker 1: good amount from I believe it's Northeastern and five. I
10:06
Speaker 1: should have that up here, but I don't.
10:09
Speaker 3: So sconsin separate, only separated by point to the point
10:14
Speaker 3: one point five point one five.
10:17
Speaker 1: Two of them pretty far down.
10:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, Minnesota's five points back after that, and then
10:23
Speaker 3: Penn State is give or take one point nine, say
10:28
Speaker 3: point nine behind Minnesota. Yeah, just very interesting how much
10:32
Speaker 3: it was fluctuating by on teams that we thought you
10:35
Speaker 3: would have thought did not super impact those numbers, right.
10:39
Speaker 1: And so it was two losses for Minnesota overkeand but
10:42
Speaker 1: Penn State also had a loss and overtime loss, so
10:44
Speaker 1: that not doesn't count as a full loss, of course,
10:46
Speaker 1: because you get partial points for the win and partial
10:49
Speaker 1: points for the loss as in overtime results. But rit
10:52
Speaker 1: defeated uh then a Lines three to two in overtime
10:56
Speaker 1: on Friday with a Cassie Barnes goal in the extra session.
10:59
Speaker 1: That's his first win at Penn State since twenty fourteen.
11:04
Speaker 1: Penn State did come back and win the second game
11:05
Speaker 1: of that series four to two to end the regular
11:08
Speaker 1: season nineteen points ahead of Mercyhurst as Atlantic Hockey Champions.
11:15
Speaker 1: Another result in Atlantic hockey. That was interesting was a
11:20
Speaker 1: two two tie between Syracuse and Mercyhurst on Friday, and
11:22
Speaker 1: Syracuse winning the shootout won nothing there Jackson Kinsler scored
11:27
Speaker 1: a Tian goal with a minute and a half left.
11:29
Speaker 1: Mercy Hears then won the second game seven nothing. So
11:32
Speaker 1: that a couple of splits are a couple of you know, yeah,
11:37
Speaker 1: split decisions on points. Anyway, finished this season for Atlantic hockey,
11:41
Speaker 1: which makes things a little more interesting as we go
11:43
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. That's phrases the you know, well, we
11:48
Speaker 1: don't really know what's going to happen for sure situation.
11:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it.
11:55
Speaker 3: Every The confidence in the way that it can sort
11:57
Speaker 3: of change sort of the mindset going into some of
11:59
Speaker 3: the those games is what I think is the biggest impact,
12:02
Speaker 3: right Like I certainly wouldn't have believed rit would would
12:07
Speaker 3: pull those points off Penn State after the way we've
12:09
Speaker 3: sent we've seen Penn State sort of bulldoze over everybody.
12:13
Speaker 2: I hope they know no offense on that.
12:15
Speaker 3: I just I'm not sure I expected anybody to take
12:17
Speaker 3: a lot of points from Penn State at this point.
12:19
Speaker 3: So that was a heck of a result for them,
12:21
Speaker 3: and that they did so well in the the shootout
12:25
Speaker 3: as well. Just just so much confidence to be built
12:28
Speaker 3: from that, from from scoring those goals and from for
12:30
Speaker 3: the goaltender as well. And as we've seen in the Olympics,
12:32
Speaker 3: the goaltender can basically steal the whole game. So it's yeah,
12:36
Speaker 3: definitely made me more a little more apt to watch
12:40
Speaker 3: some of those games that kind of felt like they
12:41
Speaker 3: might already be predetermined, adding into.
12:44
Speaker 1: It right right, and again, we'll talk about the start
12:47
Speaker 1: of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs at a later point in
12:50
Speaker 1: the show today, I did want to mention on Sunday,
12:53
Speaker 1: Boston College beat Northeastern one nothing in the overtime, so again,
12:57
Speaker 1: not a result that had a big impact on the
13:00
Speaker 1: Ortheastern negatively still stayed at five in the NPI, but
13:05
Speaker 1: Ava Thomas scored the only goal of the game on
13:07
Speaker 1: a power play in overtime. Grace Campbell makes thirty eight
13:10
Speaker 1: saves for the Eagles there, and that's a that that
13:14
Speaker 1: just seemed like one that you know, I think I
13:18
Speaker 1: mentioned it last week as a here's a Sunday afternoon game,
13:21
Speaker 1: and I always wonder about Sunday afternoon games. You're kind
13:24
Speaker 1: of it might be tough for to get up for those.
13:30
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's really the case, but I
13:33
Speaker 1: always felt like Sunday afternoon games are a little bit different,
13:35
Speaker 1: even Saturday afternoon games. I don't know why it is.
13:39
Speaker 3: That was the one that was out in Bugley too,
13:41
Speaker 3: so it just feels like it was a weird sort
13:44
Speaker 3: of aberration game in terms of like, yeah, there's extra travel,
13:48
Speaker 3: not a ton, but like not down the street like
13:50
Speaker 3: they're used to, and just yeah, a strange little game.
13:53
Speaker 2: I watched some of it yesterday and I it was
13:57
Speaker 2: a little like a video game or something like. It
14:01
Speaker 2: was just strange.
14:02
Speaker 3: It was like everybody had opportunities and things weren't going
14:05
Speaker 3: through and I was like Amy watching a glitch. It
14:07
Speaker 3: was just it was a strange, interesting game. And then
14:10
Speaker 3: for it to be decided on a power plane overtime
14:13
Speaker 3: was really interesting. But yeah, both teams, both goalies played
14:15
Speaker 3: really well. Both teams had plenty of opportunities, but like
14:18
Speaker 3: just could not put the puck in the net.
14:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, real quick. Holy Cross slump continues now six games
14:25
Speaker 1: without a win, after one one tie with Merrimack on
14:29
Speaker 1: Friday and Merrimack winning the shootout to nothing and then
14:32
Speaker 1: a three to two loss to Providence on Saturday. Jesse
14:35
Speaker 1: Pellerin scoring two goals on Saturday for Providence Crusaders having
14:40
Speaker 1: a little bit of a rough goal as a approach
14:42
Speaker 1: to playoffs, which has got to be a little bit
14:44
Speaker 1: concerning for their chances to make a run in the postseason.
14:49
Speaker 2: I wonder if sort of like fatigue or mentally, I'm curious.
14:54
Speaker 2: They played so well and it went so well, but
14:56
Speaker 2: this is seriously uncharted territory for them, for them to
14:59
Speaker 2: be made be.
15:02
Speaker 3: Like favorites going into some of these games and to
15:05
Speaker 3: just be sort of competitive at this point in the season.
15:09
Speaker 3: And so I wonder if there's just some lessons learned
15:11
Speaker 3: here in terms of like what it takes to still
15:14
Speaker 3: be peaking and still be at your best come the
15:16
Speaker 3: end of February and headed into March. So yeah, I
15:21
Speaker 3: think there's lots of stuff that they will be looking
15:23
Speaker 3: at and you know, trying to learn from this. But
15:25
Speaker 3: it's it's been a rough go for them after has
15:28
Speaker 3: really been a highlight season for them prior to this.
15:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, for a new HAF. The standings keep moving around here.
15:39
Speaker 1: It ends up right now with Franklin Pierce at fifty
15:41
Speaker 1: four points, Assumption at fifty one and st Anselm at
15:43
Speaker 1: forty nine. After Assumption got a five through win over
15:48
Speaker 1: st Anselm on Friday and a four to two win
15:52
Speaker 1: on Saturday. So the sweep of that series along with
15:59
Speaker 1: others else san ansel now has lost four in a
16:02
Speaker 1: row and has really lost that hasn't lost a chance
16:06
Speaker 1: at the title, but now needs basically well, I for
16:10
Speaker 1: sure to sweep this week's series.
16:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, they play Franklin Peers, I.
16:15
Speaker 1: Guess Franklin Pierre's home and home Friday and Saturday. But
16:18
Speaker 1: also now they're gonna need some help from Sacred Heart
16:21
Speaker 1: to limit the points Assumption gets. So it's gonna be
16:26
Speaker 1: fun there to see how that finishes. But there's again
16:29
Speaker 1: that's another team that you know down the stretch, has
16:31
Speaker 1: you know, hit a bump here.
16:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, I again, I think you know these are these
16:38
Speaker 3: are teams this I think the season has been a
16:40
Speaker 3: lot more competitive, sort of head to head every game,
16:44
Speaker 3: particularly in this conference, in a way that maybe we
16:47
Speaker 3: haven't seen. You know, it was more like one team
16:49
Speaker 3: would would kind of a little bit run away with
16:51
Speaker 3: it and be the front runner. And so I think
16:54
Speaker 3: there's probably just lots of lessons in terms of fitness
16:57
Speaker 3: and mental preparation and all the things that come with
17:00
Speaker 3: being someone fighting for that top spot we get in
17:04
Speaker 3: week out when it comes when you come back from
17:06
Speaker 3: the break, you know, because I just think that we've
17:09
Speaker 3: seen some some some fatigue and I mean that, you know,
17:11
Speaker 3: physically and mentally from some of these scenes that maybe
17:14
Speaker 3: had had the puck on their stick and had the
17:17
Speaker 3: conference title within their grasp and kind of let it
17:20
Speaker 3: slip away a little. So, I mean, it's this it's
17:24
Speaker 3: fun that it goes down to the very last weekend
17:25
Speaker 3: in several of these conferences. You know, when we're talking
17:27
Speaker 3: about Penn State winning by nineteen points, I'm very excited
17:30
Speaker 3: that we're talking about this that you know, ECAC went
17:34
Speaker 3: down to the n w C HA is going to
17:35
Speaker 3: come down to the end and luckily hearing new how
17:38
Speaker 3: the two of the three teams we're talking about are
17:40
Speaker 3: playing each other, which is makes it extra fun.
17:43
Speaker 1: Yep, that'll be fun to watch. Okay, that's gonna be
17:46
Speaker 1: it for our first segment. When we come back, it's
17:48
Speaker 1: time to talk Olympics and US Canada Part two for
17:51
Speaker 1: this season anyway or this year's tournament. Stay with us
17:55
Speaker 1: on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Nicole
18:05
Speaker 1: with you to talk some Olympic hockey. It's a US
18:09
Speaker 1: Canada final, as it has been now in seven of
18:11
Speaker 1: the eight women's hockey Olympic tournaments, after the US beats
18:16
Speaker 1: Sweden five to nothing on Monday, followed by a two
18:20
Speaker 1: to one Canada win over Switzerland, a game that got
18:24
Speaker 1: really close in the third period. In your close score wise,
18:27
Speaker 1: Canada did still feel like I was in control of
18:29
Speaker 1: the game, but being one goal apart and you're never
18:33
Speaker 1: secure there, Nicole, I am am I wrong to feel
18:37
Speaker 1: a little bit disappointed, not with the the fact that
18:41
Speaker 1: it's US Canada again. I think everyone loves seeing those games,
18:44
Speaker 1: but just the that up until that two to one
18:47
Speaker 1: game and in the game that still was massively you know,
18:50
Speaker 1: had a massive shots margin for Canada, that there weren't
18:55
Speaker 1: some closer games throughout this tournament, especially involving the US
19:01
Speaker 1: and Canada, that there weren't teams that maybe we felt
19:04
Speaker 1: like could have challenged or going into the tournament may
19:06
Speaker 1: have been more of a challenge to them that didn't
19:08
Speaker 1: really show up that way.
19:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I do think, you know, you eight teams.
19:16
Speaker 3: Particularly this year, everybody's talking about sort of the gap
19:19
Speaker 3: has widened again, and I think to some extent that's
19:22
Speaker 3: cyclical and until we get sort of full time better
19:27
Speaker 3: buy in from some of these federations, that that is
19:29
Speaker 3: just the nature of this that sometimes that like that
19:32
Speaker 3: we can't get sustained advanced development for some of the
19:37
Speaker 3: European or non North American countries. So it will depend
19:41
Speaker 3: on sort of of how they play per game and
19:43
Speaker 3: who's available and all that sort of stuff, and so
19:46
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, yeah, absolutely disappointing. I think I
19:49
Speaker 3: expected more from Czechia. I thought the US CAN or
19:53
Speaker 3: the U S Suiteen game would be closer. I thought,
19:58
Speaker 3: you know, that we would just see little bit more.
20:00
Speaker 3: I mean, some of the games against you know, from
20:03
Speaker 3: some of the Group B teams and things like that
20:05
Speaker 3: were interesting. But yeah, overall, I don't feel like there
20:07
Speaker 3: were a whole lot of question mark games in this
20:09
Speaker 3: just the one or two upsets or you know, quote
20:11
Speaker 3: unquote upstates that we saw, and I don't know that
20:14
Speaker 3: they were the huge upsets, but yeah, I do think
20:17
Speaker 3: that to some extent, it's just a little cyclical. I think,
20:19
Speaker 3: you know, the thing about the PWHL is that it
20:22
Speaker 3: not only did it does it help some of the
20:24
Speaker 3: other players develop, but all the North A Mckian players
20:27
Speaker 3: are sort of at their best and peak as well.
20:29
Speaker 3: And so I think that there's just still there's gonna
20:33
Speaker 3: be a gap because there isn't full buy in from
20:36
Speaker 3: some of these federations and players are having to go,
20:39
Speaker 3: you know, play in the NCAA and play overseas and
20:41
Speaker 3: do all the things they have to do to develop themselves.
20:44
Speaker 3: I thought there was some really interesting coaching choices in this.
20:48
Speaker 2: In this tournament that maybe played into.
20:51
Speaker 3: Some of that, you know, that that made some of
20:53
Speaker 3: the games maybe a little less interesting or a little
20:55
Speaker 3: less fun. I mean, Switzerland really effectively played the sort
20:59
Speaker 3: of Magee state defense, Minnesota state defense that we've seen, right,
21:03
Speaker 3: and they used it to their effect all the way
21:06
Speaker 3: into the semi finals and really like kept it to
21:09
Speaker 3: a one goal game with Canada, right like even as
21:11
Speaker 3: you said, Canada held the puck more, but like Switzerland
21:15
Speaker 3: did what they wanted to do, which was to like
21:17
Speaker 3: limit their ability to put the puck in net and
21:18
Speaker 3: give themselves an opportunity. But yeah, I think we're just
21:22
Speaker 3: we're going to be there until there's more there's more investment,
21:24
Speaker 3: and where we see I mean, I think particularly what
21:27
Speaker 3: we're seeing is that gap in development at a younger age.
21:31
Speaker 3: And frankly, the US and Canada aren't super good at it.
21:34
Speaker 3: They just have better like youth federations and and like this.
21:38
Speaker 3: They rely on their state and province stuff. But I
21:42
Speaker 3: just there's not the same amount of depth and they're
21:45
Speaker 3: not pulling from the same pool, and they're not having
21:49
Speaker 3: the opportunity, you know, like there their top twenty three
21:52
Speaker 3: is is pretty much the best. Like there's not another
21:55
Speaker 3: twenty three waiting for those spots at this point, right,
21:58
Speaker 3: And so I think I think that's just the biggest
22:01
Speaker 3: thing that we're at. I mean, the lack of centralization
22:07
Speaker 3: for the Olympics, I think wasn't an impact. It honestly
22:11
Speaker 3: probably put to the US in Canada maybe even a
22:14
Speaker 3: little more ahead in that all of their players were
22:16
Speaker 3: playing top tier hockey at all times and not looking
22:19
Speaker 3: to play you know, major junior teams to get time
22:22
Speaker 3: on the ice.
22:23
Speaker 1: Right, all right, So let's look ahead at this US
22:26
Speaker 1: Canada game. US has won all five senior level games
22:30
Speaker 1: against Canada in this season. The four at the rivalry
22:34
Speaker 1: series and then a five nothing win in the preliminary
22:39
Speaker 1: round and a lot of those games haven't been close yet.
22:43
Speaker 1: Is this kind of where Canada wants the US to
22:46
Speaker 1: be that maybe feel a little overconfident and all right,
22:49
Speaker 1: Mury Filelam wasn't playing in the preliminary round game. She
22:53
Speaker 1: comes back and scores twice in the semi finals and
22:56
Speaker 1: shows like, you know, okay, she's back, She's ready to go.
23:01
Speaker 1: I wonder if the US stat has to make sure
23:04
Speaker 1: that they dial everyone back into the you know, this
23:07
Speaker 1: is still Canada. This is still the team that beat
23:10
Speaker 1: US four years ago. This is still a team that's
23:12
Speaker 1: you know, one six of the seven, right, it's five
23:17
Speaker 1: of the seven overall. I don't know how much they're
23:23
Speaker 1: gonna have to do that, but I'm sure it's made
23:25
Speaker 1: part of the conversation's gonna.
23:27
Speaker 2: See, do you so?
23:28
Speaker 3: One of the things I'm learning through all this is
23:30
Speaker 3: maybe some of some people are that haven't been they're
23:32
Speaker 3: younger than us or haven't been around as long. Don't
23:34
Speaker 3: know about like the US losing in twenty ten and
23:37
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, particularly the twenty four twenty fourteen Olympics. If
23:41
Speaker 3: you like to cry and be sad. You could go
23:45
Speaker 3: find those highlights. But the US had a one goal
23:49
Speaker 3: lead with under three to play. I don't remember the
23:52
Speaker 3: exact timee it was, it was minutes left on the clock.
23:55
Speaker 3: They then hit the post with a with the empty net,
23:58
Speaker 3: so don't score there. Canada ties the game and then
24:01
Speaker 3: wins in overtime. The trauma that long time women Talckey
24:05
Speaker 3: fans have over that is why many of us are
24:07
Speaker 3: not gung ho, Oh my god, the USA is gonna
24:11
Speaker 3: win everything because they're doing so well. We all feel
24:14
Speaker 3: like this can go away at any point. And i'd imagine,
24:17
Speaker 3: you know, half that team the US team lost to
24:20
Speaker 3: the gold last year league. I don't think that they're
24:22
Speaker 3: I don't think the overconfidence is going to be an
24:25
Speaker 3: issue in terms of like being smug or thinking they
24:27
Speaker 3: can be Canada. They may be overconfident in what they're
24:30
Speaker 3: doing and feeling like, you know, we're invincible in that way,
24:33
Speaker 3: but I don't think anybody takes Canada lightly. I also
24:36
Speaker 3: think that pretty much anything that came before this is
24:39
Speaker 3: thrown out the window. It's like when we talk about
24:40
Speaker 3: you know, Wisconsin playing Ohio State, like whatever, happened leading
24:44
Speaker 3: into this whatever, both in their own seasons and against
24:47
Speaker 3: each other, Like it's it's a coin flip, and I've
24:49
Speaker 3: said it was gonna be a coin flip flip to start.
24:52
Speaker 3: I don't love that the US hasn't been scoring on
24:54
Speaker 3: the power play. I don't love that Canada has been
24:58
Speaker 3: happy to sort of just shoot from the outside and
25:00
Speaker 3: really wasn't like working to break down some of that.
25:04
Speaker 2: Defensive clogging of the middle.
25:05
Speaker 3: And when they played in their preliminary Canada was very
25:09
Speaker 3: bad at stepping to the US in transition. So there's
25:12
Speaker 3: a lot of things that I think play into like
25:15
Speaker 3: why you would think maybe the US is gonna win
25:18
Speaker 3: or whatever. But I also just think absolutely none of
25:21
Speaker 3: that matters when the puck drops. So I'm particularly because
25:25
Speaker 3: of twenty fourteen, very very careful. I like, I don't
25:28
Speaker 3: believe the US can win until they've got the medals
25:31
Speaker 3: on their necks, you know, the one the one they
25:34
Speaker 3: have won, they won, you know, by the skin of
25:36
Speaker 3: their teeth in a multi round shootout.
25:38
Speaker 1: So I.
25:41
Speaker 3: Think it's very I'm very happy for the people that
25:43
Speaker 3: don't have the same background and just think this.
25:46
Speaker 2: Is a very good US team. And I'm not been
25:47
Speaker 2: impressed by Canada.
25:48
Speaker 3: Of course US is gonna win, but I think there's
25:51
Speaker 3: gotta be you gotta pull back a little bit on
25:53
Speaker 3: that because I think both teams have shown some cracks
25:56
Speaker 3: that can be exploited.
25:58
Speaker 1: I think tossup is absolutely right. It's the it's just
26:01
Speaker 1: the way that consequential games in this series go. I
26:07
Speaker 1: mean not, you know, preliminary around is consequential still, but
26:10
Speaker 1: not with everything on the line. We're talking about, you know,
26:14
Speaker 1: gold medal games and World championships going to overtime and
26:17
Speaker 1: you know, finding a player who is going to to
26:21
Speaker 1: come through with that. How many times are we seeing
26:23
Speaker 1: that over the years between these two teams, and when
26:25
Speaker 1: it's coming down the light and third or in overtime,
26:29
Speaker 1: it's it just feels like you can do whatever you
26:32
Speaker 1: want for the first you know, fifty minutes of the game.
26:34
Speaker 1: It's whoever's gonna win that last ten or then beyond
26:37
Speaker 1: to to take care of things. So should be fun.
26:44
Speaker 2: It should be fun.
26:44
Speaker 3: It's going to be a lot of I wouldn't say
26:47
Speaker 3: it probably won't beautiful hockey. It's probably going to be
26:50
Speaker 3: you know, it should be and there's going to be
26:51
Speaker 3: slapping it pucks and a lot of fifty to fifties
26:53
Speaker 3: and all that sort of stuff. But it is going
26:56
Speaker 3: to be fun and it is going to be really
26:57
Speaker 3: good hockey. It's it's it's also you're talking to to coaches,
27:01
Speaker 3: to teams to everything. They know each other so well,
27:04
Speaker 3: there aren't secrets, right, like it's a chess match, and
27:07
Speaker 3: so you just have to wait and see what moves
27:10
Speaker 3: are made. And I think how teams adapt, and I
27:12
Speaker 3: think adaptation has not been great across the board at
27:15
Speaker 3: this tournament by all teams and coaches, and so I
27:20
Speaker 3: think how you make in game adjustments and how your
27:22
Speaker 3: players handle. You know, the US hasn't faced a ton
27:25
Speaker 3: of adversity, and we've talked about that, you know, I
27:27
Speaker 3: talked about that a ton of E eight teams and
27:28
Speaker 3: we've talked about that here in college.
27:30
Speaker 2: And so what happens if they go down a goal? Right, Like,
27:33
Speaker 2: how do they respond? How do they react?
27:35
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I think there's just we could talk
27:38
Speaker 3: about this for three hours and never come up with
27:40
Speaker 3: an answer. I think the US is in as good
27:43
Speaker 3: a position as they can hope to be based.
27:45
Speaker 2: On the tournament they had.
27:47
Speaker 3: And but Yeah, I don't love that they haven't faced diversity.
27:51
Speaker 3: Like I said, I really don't love how the power
27:53
Speaker 3: play hasn't scored. Though it has looked good. They have
27:55
Speaker 3: moved the buck well, they just haven't put it in
27:57
Speaker 3: the net. But I fear that specialty teams, as you're
28:01
Speaker 3: talking about one, one puck drop could make a difference
28:04
Speaker 3: in this game.
28:05
Speaker 2: That that to me is one of those question marks
28:07
Speaker 2: going into this game.
28:11
Speaker 1: And then after that we will see how a lot
28:13
Speaker 1: of those players come back to their college teams. Uh,
28:15
Speaker 1: we're gonna start seeing that trickle in again this week,
28:18
Speaker 1: you know, with some players who were whose teams were
28:19
Speaker 1: eliminated earlier getting back. But uh, it's I can only
28:26
Speaker 1: imagine what the physical and emotional toll is going to
28:29
Speaker 1: be like for those players playing for a gold medal
28:33
Speaker 1: and turning around a week later and being in the
28:35
Speaker 1: first round of league playoffs or or beyond. It's it's
28:42
Speaker 1: gonna be taxing. I know that much.
28:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it'll be interesting to see if it's a
28:47
Speaker 3: good distraction, Like if you lose, does it help to
28:49
Speaker 3: come back and have something else? Did you?
28:51
Speaker 2: But also.
28:53
Speaker 3: Do you just want to like have five minutes to
28:56
Speaker 3: yourself that you don't you don't get to have. So yeah,
28:59
Speaker 3: it's a it's a really weird situation, and as it
29:01
Speaker 3: has been the last couple of weeks, we just have
29:03
Speaker 3: to wait and see how it plays out.
29:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, check that one out Thursday noon Central time
29:12
Speaker 1: one pm Eastern, I believe on the start for that
29:15
Speaker 1: one on TV here in the States. When we come back,
29:20
Speaker 1: we will look ahead to the first round of playoffs
29:22
Speaker 1: in two conferences and the last week of the regular
29:24
Speaker 1: season in three others. Stay with us on the podcast.
29:35
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Nicole here for our
29:38
Speaker 1: final segment, which is about the week ahead. And so
29:42
Speaker 1: let's start with Atlantic Hockey because they're the ones that
29:44
Speaker 1: are going to be starting off the postseason first on
29:48
Speaker 1: Thursday night this week. Their new format this year because
29:51
Speaker 1: of a seventh team in the conference, with Delaware being added,
29:54
Speaker 1: a six versus seven matchup at the site of the
29:58
Speaker 1: number three seed. The winner will then go on and play.
30:01
Speaker 1: So Thursday night, Robert Morris versus Delaware in that six
30:04
Speaker 1: to seven game, with the winner playing at number three
30:08
Speaker 1: seed linden Wood. So that game happening in Saint Charles
30:11
Speaker 1: or it's not Saint Charles anymore. It's Maryland Heights maryln
30:15
Speaker 1: Heights at linden Wood on Thursday, Winter playing linden Wood,
30:21
Speaker 1: and then on Saturday. The other game in Atlantic hockey
30:25
Speaker 1: this weekend then is number five seed Syracuse at number
30:29
Speaker 1: four seed rit That also happening Saturday. So those two
30:35
Speaker 1: winners will then go into the the last four with
30:41
Speaker 1: series best of three series. Then these are first round?
30:45
Speaker 1: Is there single round games this weekend just being single round,
30:47
Speaker 1: but then the second weekend is best of three series
30:51
Speaker 1: at the top two remaining seeds.
30:54
Speaker 3: So the h draws their tournament out just a little
30:58
Speaker 3: bit here. Oh but yeah, i'mgoing drama for them.
31:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. Yeah. Also, ECAC gets going
31:06
Speaker 1: right away here on Friday. Two games Friday, I believe,
31:09
Speaker 1: two games Saturday. The top four seeds got buys into
31:13
Speaker 1: next week quarterfinals. Those are also best of three of
31:16
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals. But this week again is single games. Number
31:21
Speaker 1: twelve seed Union at number five, Clarkson eleven, RPI at
31:25
Speaker 1: six Colgate, ten Dartmouth at seven Brown, and nine Saint
31:28
Speaker 1: Lawrence at eight Harvard. Those four winners then everything will
31:33
Speaker 1: be reseeded and shuffled and you'll get the the next
31:38
Speaker 1: round at Yale, Princeton, Quinnepiac, and Cornell next weekend. So
31:44
Speaker 1: I think there's some potential for upsets there. We've talked
31:48
Speaker 1: all year about e c AC hockey. If if this
31:50
Speaker 1: ends up being the the eight, the five, six, seven,
31:55
Speaker 1: and eight teams winning those games, I miss read things.
32:00
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, but don't ask me to pick which ones. No, exactly,
32:05
Speaker 2: it's as likely to be any of them.
32:07
Speaker 3: But yeah, I do think that, yeah, the all of teams,
32:10
Speaker 3: those teams have shown that there's just there's I don't
32:13
Speaker 3: think anybody is safe.
32:15
Speaker 1: And it's you know, when you're talking about Clarkson playing
32:18
Speaker 1: in a twelve to five game, Clarkston is playing for
32:20
Speaker 1: its season right now. If they lose that game, they're done.
32:22
Speaker 1: They're not making the tournament based on where they are
32:24
Speaker 1: in the NPI, So obviously a lot going on there,
32:28
Speaker 1: and in a single game, that's that's a lot.
32:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's tough, and and maybe just a situation they're
32:37
Speaker 3: not they haven't super, they haven't been in a while,
32:40
Speaker 3: so just really an interesting you know, like Union is
32:45
Speaker 3: gonna be is gonna play list like it's their national
32:47
Speaker 3: championship game, right, Like, they have an opportunity to sort
32:49
Speaker 3: of ruin this season of one of their opponents, and
32:51
Speaker 3: so I think, yeah, it's just a really the way
32:54
Speaker 3: that the tournament shakes out with the one one and
32:58
Speaker 3: done to start really.
33:01
Speaker 2: Where I think a lot of people were used to
33:03
Speaker 2: the three game series.
33:05
Speaker 3: It just it really changes the way that you approach
33:08
Speaker 3: a game and really, like you said, ruin their dreams
33:12
Speaker 3: in one game of the postseason.
33:14
Speaker 1: So right. We talked a little earlier about the new
33:18
Speaker 1: hot decider happening with the Franklin Pierre Saint Anselm series,
33:24
Speaker 1: but also assumption having some something still play, a lot
33:28
Speaker 1: still to play for obviously possibly sneaking in there too
33:31
Speaker 1: as a champion there, so a lot to watch there.
33:35
Speaker 1: WHA is coming down to the wire with Wisconsin and
33:39
Speaker 1: Ohio State going for the championship. Wisconsin hosts Saint Cloud
33:42
Speaker 1: State Saturday and Sunday. Ohio State is at Pamigi State
33:46
Speaker 1: Friday Saturday, so we'll know that that Sunday game is
33:49
Speaker 1: the last regular season game and women's college hockey for
33:51
Speaker 1: the season. We will know what's on the line there
33:54
Speaker 1: for Wisconsin. Another game, excuse me, another series in the WHA.
33:59
Speaker 1: To keep an eye on is Minnesota at Minnesota on
34:02
Speaker 1: Friday and Saturday. Frankly, I need to see something from
34:08
Speaker 1: both of those teams. That's It's I feel like Dluth
34:12
Speaker 1: has fallen short in a lot of these bigger games
34:15
Speaker 1: and Minnesota has been on a little bit of a
34:18
Speaker 1: roller coaster lately. So let's see where that ends up.
34:24
Speaker 3: Right, And as we've talked about the NPI moving so easily,
34:27
Speaker 3: like UMDs is also possibly playing for their their postseason,
34:30
Speaker 3: their NCAA hopes, and Minnesota, I mean, it's just gonna
34:34
Speaker 3: be a very big difference if they are not the
34:37
Speaker 3: number three team in NPI, So just a lot for
34:39
Speaker 3: them and and sort of their path to the national
34:43
Speaker 3: championship that they want if they can't hold onto that.
34:46
Speaker 3: So I'm just a reminder too that like Sat Cloud
34:48
Speaker 3: State tiede and tiede Wisconsin earlier in the season back home.
34:52
Speaker 3: So I don't know if if you're hearing that thinking
34:54
Speaker 3: like Ohio is step image Wisconsin Saint Cloud like those
34:57
Speaker 3: are givens. I definitely think Wisconsin to be very diligent
35:01
Speaker 3: and very careful in a way that they definitely weren't
35:04
Speaker 3: particularly back at that point of the season. I think
35:08
Speaker 3: they're probably happy to be home, but they need all
35:10
Speaker 3: those points like period, So.
35:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, they Wisconsin can clinch the number one seed with
35:17
Speaker 1: four points and shut out Ohio State a chance for
35:22
Speaker 1: the championship with five. So regardless if that is, if
35:26
Speaker 1: Ohio State takes all six of its points, that's how
35:29
Speaker 1: that's what Wisconsin needs to do. So in Hockey East,
35:35
Speaker 1: important one potentially for you know, if they seems meet
35:39
Speaker 1: again in the playoffs, just for the vibe, but Northeastern
35:43
Speaker 1: at Yukon on Friday, obviously there's still NPI points in
35:48
Speaker 1: play there and so there's there's some intrigue there, even
35:54
Speaker 1: though the the regular season championship is is well in
35:58
Speaker 1: Northeastern sands.
36:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you said, just for the vibes.
36:03
Speaker 3: I mean, I think likely both of those two teams
36:06
Speaker 3: are making the NC Tournament, but I think, you know,
36:10
Speaker 3: it comes down to maybe one of Yeah, I just
36:13
Speaker 3: think it's very important for one of them to sort
36:15
Speaker 3: of stake their claim as the East I'm sorry, the
36:18
Speaker 3: Hockey East team to beat. And so I think neither
36:22
Speaker 3: one of them are exactly where they would want to be,
36:25
Speaker 3: you know, Northeastern doesn't love They just lost that game,
36:27
Speaker 3: and so I think, yeah, just just for the for
36:30
Speaker 3: the vibes for themselves and sort of what they're putting
36:32
Speaker 3: out to everybody else that's going to have to face them.
36:34
Speaker 2: I think it's an important game, all right.
36:37
Speaker 1: That's going to wrap it up for us this week.
36:39
Speaker 1: Enjoy the Olympic gold medal game and the bronze medal
36:42
Speaker 1: game on Thursday. Enjoy the hockey starting playoffs starting this
36:46
Speaker 1: weekend in the real season finishing, and some other conferences,
36:48
Speaker 1: and we will talk to you about all that again
36:50
Speaker 1: next week on the podcast. Thanks for Johnny,