Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Episode 12: Overtime everywhere, plus St. Lawrence's Julia Gosling

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Episode 12: Overtime everywhere, plus St. Lawrence's Julia Gosling · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:04
Hi, everyone. Mind's Todd Luski here with Nicole Hosey on the podcast and
0:08
that we are excited about an interview we'll have in our second segment. Nicole
0:13
had this interview with Saint Lawrence's Julia Gosling, who whose team is coming off
0:18
a pretty big weekend. That's where we're going to lead things off here.
0:23
Two wins for Saint Lawrence beating Cornell and then beating Colegate in overtime, and
0:29
Nicole, that's we know how tight things are in the ECAC. That made
0:34
it a little bit tighter, didn't it. Yeah, absolutely, And that
0:37
Colgate win come from behind just I think a huge, massive, you know,
0:42
ego boosts, confidence, boost and just it keeps them in the conversation.
0:47
I think if they regular regulation win or tie, then they clinch home
0:53
ice in the ECC playoffs in that first round. And by so, just
0:58
they really put themselves in this wonderful position with two weeks left of the regular
1:00
season in the ECAC. And yeah, just kind of all of the bits
1:04
that we've seen from them throughout the course of the season that haven't necessarily all
1:08
come together in one game, I felt like really did for them. For
1:12
both games, this weekend just absolutely crucial for Saint Lawrence to really you know,
1:17
sort of put a fine point on that. Like we've been talking a
1:19
lot about Colgate and Clerkson, but Sat. Lawrence is a team to be
1:25
reckoned with, and that's a big weekend for them. Also in terms of
1:30
pairwise, they are sitting I believe seventh now, just kind of making sure
1:37
you you don't lose the space that you have there in the pairwise and really
1:42
it's the NPI that we're looking at the numbers, that's what's what's changing here.
1:47
The pairwise is following NPI I think all the way down right now.
1:52
But yeah, big big weekend for Saint Lawrence. Two to one over Cornell
1:56
on Friday, Melissa Jeffries broke a one to one tie early in the third
2:00
in that one. And then on Saturday, uh three two in overtime,
2:04
Anna Sagetti overtime goal, her second goal of the game. And that's you
2:09
know, we're talking, you know with the Saint Lawrence side, but on
2:12
the Colgates that's also a a two loss weekend because they lost to Clarkson on
2:17
Friday, so a little bit of a shake up there, a little bit
2:21
of a just when we thought things were getting settled in ECAC, let's shake
2:27
it up again, and uh now it's looking it's Colgate having a one and
2:31
a half point lead over Clarkson in uh e c AC hockey and then it's
2:37
a four point lead for Colgate over Saint Lawrence. So yeah, not with
2:42
two weeks ago. We should we should mention that too, that it's it's
2:46
a longer postseason for ECAC hockey. Uh And maybe you want to, Nicole,
2:51
get get into how that's working with a three week calendar for freec I
2:57
see hockey when everyone I leave, everyone else has two weeks. Yeah,
3:01
well they this is the first year I believe that the ECAC all twelve teams
3:06
are going to make the postseason, which I think is important and I'm glad
3:09
that they're doing. But at the moment we were talking about this before we
3:14
start recording, I am not sure about a three weekend conference championship. But
3:19
it's what they're doing and so we'll see. We'll definitely see how it plays
3:23
out. So they that final weekend of the regular season when most everybody is
3:27
still playing regular season games February twenty third or twenty fourth, they're hosting.
3:32
They're doing single elimination round for the opening round, so the five through twelve
3:38
seeds will be playing each other and the first four seeds will have a bye,
3:42
so it's five verse twelve, six, verse eleven to seven, verse
3:46
ten, eight versus nine, and then the one, two, three,
3:49
and four seeds will be hosting the following weekend March one through three, that
3:53
I believe are three best of three series that is not enumerated here, but
4:00
it specifically says single elimination the first time around, so I'm pretty sure that's
4:02
the best of three. And then the following weekend March eight and ninth,
4:05
the highest remaining seed after the corner final will host semi finals and finals at
4:12
that school site. So yeah, three weekend ECAC tournament, first time out.
4:16
So I you know, I will reserve judgment until we see how it
4:19
plays out, but it definitely feels like that's a really long time to sort
4:25
of stretch it out in terms of like top teams and getting them in the
4:29
right position heading into the NCAA tournament. But there's plenty of teams that will
4:33
be happy to have that weekend off those top four seeds that can be a
4:39
good rest and recovery heading into that that final grind. So yeah, interesting
4:43
tournament set up. Like I said, I'm really glad that it's all twelve
4:46
seeds. We've seen some very close matchups or standings from the eight, nine,
4:53
and ten seed the positions in the past couple of years where they're you
4:56
know, teams have just been missing out and you know, as they're firing
4:59
up towards the end of the season that like probably could have pulled some upsets.
5:01
So I think it's really important to give you know, as we've talked
5:05
about sort of the difficulty of jumping up in a tough conference, giving some
5:13
of those seeds in a single elimination the chance to really give themselves a chance
5:17
to go further in the tournament. I think it'll be really exciting. Yeah.
5:21
I think you can look at it a couple different ways, and different
5:26
teams might look at it differently. When you see that first round by and
5:30
that weekend by as a top four team, as being a incentive to finish
5:34
in those top four spots, but also it could be that, you know,
5:39
maybe you don't want a weekend off that close to the end of the
5:42
season where you want to just keep rolling. If you've got something good going,
5:46
you want to keep putting it on the ice and playing and being in
5:48
competitive situations. There is that quarter final weekend, I guess to work out
5:57
some of the bugs. I would guess if after having a week off,
6:00
But uh, yeah, I'd be interested that interested to know kind of the
6:05
you know, who's on who is on what side of that, whether it
6:08
was a unanimous decision of ECAC Hockey coaches to go uh in that direction,
6:14
or you know, if there's some you know some well let's see how it
6:16
looks and maybe reevaluate after this this season, to uh to know a little
6:21
bit more, because you know, it's it's different and everyone's going to experience
6:25
in different ways. I think, yeah, absolutely. It would also be
6:28
interesting to know, like what the coaches thought of it when it was just
6:30
a theory, you know, when they made this plan however long ago,
6:33
and now when it's the actual the actuality of like yet my team will be
6:39
playing or won't be playing, I'll be curious to know if the mind's changed.
6:42
But yeah, I mean I would assume you know that this is what
6:46
they decided on for now, but nothing is you know, set in stone,
6:48
and it's probably pretty fluid and you have to try something and we'll see
6:51
how it goes and and there'll be a lot of feedback after the first year.
6:55
But regardless of the the way the format works out, Like, I'm
6:59
just a very hard on the side of like, it's great that everybody gets
7:02
invited to the tournament and everybody has a chance. So if there are bugs
7:06
to work out and that, that's one thing. But I do think it's
7:10
it's really important that we're going to see you know, I mean we're talking
7:13
like there's this the conference kind of breaks down in three groups of four,
7:16
right in terms of like points, and so there's that top four that's a
7:20
little you know, above everybody, and then in the middle there's another group
7:24
that's are all close in points, and then you know the bottom for all
7:28
close and points. And so I just I think it will be very interesting
7:30
to see what these teams can do. You know, we saw Brown push
7:34
you know, Colgate a couple or Clerks in a couple of weeks ago and
7:38
get a win this weekend, and so I just I think there's there's opportunities
7:43
for a lot of chaos and fun from some of the lower seeds in this
7:46
in this conference and the standing, so it'll be I'm excited for for what
7:49
could could happen in all of that. Right, and looking at the ECAC
7:54
standings, Colgate, Clerks and Saint Lawrence and Cornell are right now the top
7:58
four and then Quinnipiac is five points behind Cornell in fifth place. And that's
8:03
where I think, from my perspective, you start looking at, Okay,
8:05
this might become more of a grind than we wanted to. If you're Quinnipiac
8:11
and you're thinking, you know, you still have legitimate and see a tournament
8:16
at large bid hopes. Are you going to have to play three weekend weekends
8:22
in a row and is that going to be really taxing if you then do
8:26
get into the tournament to have to then keep that going. You know,
8:28
the potential of playing one game, then three games, then two games,
8:33
and you know over a three week stretch, Yeah, it evens out to
8:37
to what you normally do, but it also is really high intensity playoff hockey,
8:43
and that's that's more of a grind. I think. Then just a
8:48
normal two game weekend, right, and then you talk with the expanditency tournament
8:52
then there would be that extra game there too, So yeah, I mean,
8:56
you know, we're in new territory for some of this stuff as we
9:00
figure it all out, So I definitely imagine there'll be some conversations and we'll
9:03
be paying paying close attention to, you know, if we see see teams
9:07
looking tired or looking like it's a lot. Yeah. Looking at the results
9:13
on Saturday, one of the things that stood out to me is that there
9:16
were twenty two games, so all forty four teams were in action. Ten
9:20
of the twenty two games ended up in overtime, which tells you a little
9:22
bit of where we're at right now in season of in terms of how close
9:26
some of these games are. For me, that's great to see. I
9:30
mean that there's a lot if you're going to a gamer, you're watching it
9:33
on TV or a stream, you're seeing some really competitive action, regardless of
9:39
what league you're looking at. Last weekend on Saturday, all three of the
9:45
games in the CHA and then in overtime. You and I were both at
9:50
the Wisconsin game against Saint Cloud's State that went in the overtime at lebon Arena
9:54
here in Madison. Caroline Harvey scores in overtime her first goal in it felt
10:00
like a really long time, uh, and it actually had been I think
10:03
it was October her last goal. So two to one win for Wisconsin.
10:09
And I you you talked to Husky's coach Brian Adolski after the game, and
10:16
I wonder if you want to share a little bit of you wrote a little
10:18
bit about this and in the weekend recap, but or in the recap from
10:24
that game, but can you share a little bit about what he was talking
10:28
about in terms of just what it's like to try and move up in the
10:33
w c H And I guess really then in the national picture too, sure,
10:37
Right, like when you're doing a postgame and and when you're with the
10:39
visiting coach, you're sort of literally standing in all way trying to talk over
10:43
the sound of the zamboni and cleaning up the ice, right, And so
10:46
just like the icebreaker, I was like, oh, you have to you
10:48
know, you have to be really happy with how your team played, even
10:50
though it was a loss, right, And he was quiet for a minute
10:52
and then kind of gave me a pet answer and like a good answer.
10:56
It wasn't nothing, but it was I was like, Okay, Well,
10:58
you pause, Does that mean there's stuff you weren't happy with? And he
11:03
paused again and got like a little choked up and a little emotional, and
11:07
so I just totally had misread it. And he didn't pause because there were
11:11
things he was upset about. He paused because it he was collecting himself,
11:15
and it isn't He basically said, there's only so much you can sort of
11:22
handle emotionally and physically in terms of playing close games and not coming out with
11:28
those wins. And so for Saint Thomas, they're in this position, you
11:31
know, to be what the fourth in the the wha and weake in and
11:37
wake out. They're playing, you know, two games against Ohio State,
11:39
two games against Wisconsin, two games against Minnesota to two games against Minnesota and
11:45
not necessarily coming out with wins as much as they would like. And also
11:50
with he basically was was talking about the amount of work that goes in to
11:52
be a team like Saint Cloud State. When I mentioned all those other teams,
11:58
you know, three of them being ten schools, huge massive state flagship
12:03
universities. UMD is still in the University of Minnesota, you know, system
12:07
so has has a lot of that the resources not the same amount, but
12:13
not none. And so Saint Cloud's state being, you know, this small
12:16
university, they're competing with these massive programs and resources and what they can offer
12:24
to students and prospective student athletes. And so the fact that Saint Cloud is
12:28
going out and doing what they're doing and they are a top ten ranked team
12:31
and they're getting wins off some of these programs is really quite massive. And
12:37
he talked about, you know, the toll that it takes, he said,
12:41
you know, he was being very compassionate, but pointed out that,
12:43
you know, on the East Coast, with the way that the schedule goes
12:46
for most of them, them not playing series like that for the most part.
12:50
You know, you might with the travel partners, you know, and
12:54
the way that teams are this year, you might get you know that back
12:56
to back with with Clerkson and Colgate, or or Clerkson in Saint Lawrence or
13:01
whomever it is. But to have to, you know, several weeks in
13:05
a row, go out, play your absolute heart out, lose in overtime
13:11
and heartbreaking fashion, and then come back and do it again the next day.
13:15
He's like, it's just it takes a mental toll on you that he
13:18
said, I think a lot of people don't understand, and I think you
13:20
could. Just for me, I just felt the frustration, and not at
13:24
his team and not at anything in specific, but just the situation of being
13:31
a small school with limited resources. And I think he was also talking about
13:35
the transfer portal and the state of you know, NCAA athletics and what you
13:41
know, Ohio State has what what did we say? It was like ten
13:48
grad students this year with the fifth year and just looking at sort of all
13:52
of that, he was just I think feeling overwhelmed at how do you go
13:56
into a locker room week after week and sort of talk about moral victories in
14:01
terms of like, you played really well, you did everything I asked of
14:05
you, and then you still don't come out with the win. So I
14:07
feel like I'm not necessarily explaining that super well, but it just it was
14:11
it was really poignant and really unexpected. You know, I wasn't expecting such
14:18
a sort of honest and raw answer from him, but it was just clear
14:22
that that losing a game like that where his team just plays, executes the
14:26
game plan and does everything that he wants them to do and doesn't come out
14:31
with a result is just a really difficult situation for a coach and then also
14:35
for student athletes. You know, he's supposed to go into that locker room
14:37
and keep up their morale and ask them to keep doing this week in and
14:43
week out, and he just you know, you could see the ware of
14:46
that and wondering like why I could go and not put any of that effort
14:50
in and end up in the same place. You know. I think any
14:54
coach who's rebuilt or tried to rebuild a program his experience a lot of that,
15:00
and there are different I think stages you get through, uh in in
15:07
the rebuilding process. And I think we've all seen anyone who's seen Saint Cloud
15:11
State play the season has seen a lot of improvement and seen a lot of
15:16
you know, not just you know, they're getting great goaltending, which they
15:20
are, but they're also being able to control more parts of the game than
15:24
we've seen in the past. And that was you know, they they they
15:28
scored first in both games against Wisconsin. Wisconsin went Sunday five to two,
15:33
but Saint Cloud had the lead in that game too, and deservedly so it
15:37
wasn't just a fluke. They they worked for it. And they got a
15:39
lead it. But for me, when when you're talking about, uh,
15:45
you know that mental toll, it's if you're rebuilding, it's it's not easy
15:52
to do that when you're playing in the w c h A and you're you're
15:54
truck looking up at Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota kind of locked into these
16:00
top three spots in perpetuity. It seems like sometimes, so can you be
16:08
happy with competing for fourth place? I mean to a degree, but you
16:14
know, I think everyone realizes that Brianondlski has higher visions than that, and
16:18
so maybe you know, in future seasons we're talking about something else, But
16:25
for right now, that's I can imagine where a little bit of that frustration
16:29
comes from. Yeah, and I think, honestly, I think some rebuild
16:33
isn't even necessarily fair. Like I think he does have the team that he
16:36
wants to have, but just like the state of the game is that certain
16:41
recruits go to certain places and just all I honestly thinking talking about it afterwards
16:48
to my husband and like thinking about it, I felt like there was this
16:51
wasn't just the frustration of two years at Saint Cloud, but the build of
16:56
building that on top of the frustration he would have felt at North Dakota,
16:59
which is in a similar situation. And we talk about this, We've talked
17:03
about it in the ECC too, where there's just like there is there is
17:06
a line, and there are the teams that are above it and the teams
17:07
that are below it, and getting past that line is really really difficult.
17:12
Like you you, no matter how how well you're playing, how much preparation
17:19
you do, there's just sort of like a hump, and there's that that
17:22
extra level of where teams are. And you know, we've seen it,
17:26
like we saw Yale be really really good for a year or two and then
17:29
you know, like are struggling this year. Like it's just it is really
17:32
hard to consistently be that team. And and again, particularly what Brian's talking
17:37
about in the w c h A, when you're talking about just these massive
17:41
schools with massive resources and massive histories that just have can offer student athletes and
17:48
experience and and and sort of a promise of what's possible as opposed to having
17:56
to convince a certain type of player to be the person that's building. It's
18:00
just like it's a whole different approach to the game, right that you can
18:04
take for granted at Wisconsin or Minnesota or Ohio State. And I mean we're
18:10
making generalizations of course on some of this, but yeah, like in order
18:15
to build up a program like Saint Cloud to be able to compete consistently,
18:19
like I'm not entirely sure that's possible in the state of athletics in twenty twenty
18:26
four, and so, you know, I just it was like, I'm
18:30
so thankful that Brian was so you know, sort of raw and open and
18:33
just really you know, said what was going on in his head. And
18:37
I just so felt for him and for his team in terms of, you
18:41
know, he's like to work. What he said was you have to work
18:44
so hard to even be in the ballpark and like to do all of that
18:48
to go out there and put absolutely everything on the ice have a performance like
18:52
he did from his you know, from the goaltenders have you know, they
18:56
Wisconsin sort of caught up in overtime on that Saturday game, but they dominated
19:03
Wisconsin in the face off circle, which like for a team was like Wisconsin,
19:06
who wants to have possession at all time? To really that was just
19:10
massive in the way that they interrupted how Wisconsin wants to play the game.
19:14
You know, they they basically did everything to their game plan, executed it
19:18
and still you know, like they I mean, he said, you know,
19:21
KK Harvey's a generational talent like that, It's unlikely that Saint Cloud is
19:26
going to get recruits like that and and in the end she's going to do
19:30
something like that and just end a game that his team is not in a
19:33
position to do something like that. Yeah, the face off thing was interesting
19:41
because I noticed that kind of really midway through the second period of the Saturday
19:48
it was basically double yeah, basically doubled them up. Yeah, and it
19:52
and so went back to look and like, well, Saint Cloud's got to
19:56
be pretty good at face off set there were thirtieth thirtieth in the country and
20:00
face off percentage, and Wisconsin was first coming into that game. But then
20:03
you look back at when Wisconsin and Saint Claud played in November. Saint Claud
20:07
did the same thing. So it's I mean, Emma Gentry is is I
20:11
mean, she was the way she has come on. I mean not that
20:15
she was not, you know, but her second half has been just absolutely
20:21
gargantuan. And a huge part for them is that she didn't play the overtime
20:25
because she was injured at the end of regulation. You know, like that
20:27
was that was a huge hit to their ability to win that game in overtime.
20:32
Then Wisconsin won all three base offs in overtime. And you don't want
20:37
to give Wisconsin three on three possession, which they pretty much had the entire
20:41
time until they scored. It ends poorly for you when you do that.
20:45
And that's that's what happened. But the point, I'm sorry, just like
20:52
one amazing Why has no other team figured that out or tried it against?
20:55
Like I just I'm just so impressed with Brian A. Delski. I mean
20:59
I was before the Like I wrote about it last year. I named him,
21:02
you know, USHL Coach of the Year. Like I just he thinks
21:06
about the game in a way that I haven't seen other coaches. Like I
21:10
just really appreciate the way he approaches things and looks at like he knows what
21:12
he has and he knows what his programs are and he finds ways to make
21:18
the disrupt what you know, more talented, more resourced, more and whatever
21:25
how you want to say it, programs. And I like that's the fact
21:27
that he wasn't a coach in college for so many years in between North Dakota
21:32
and last year. Is some school's got to be kicking themselves for not figuring
21:37
that out. Yeah. Absolutely. I had mentioned those ten games that went
21:41
to overtime on Saturday, and all three in the CHA. So linden Wood,
21:45
Penn Stayed, rit all got home wins in overtime on Saturday. That's
21:51
great for sending the fans home happy. But that linden Wood Syracuse series was
21:56
more interesting. Two score lines I've seen in a long time. So Friday
22:00
seven to seven tie, So okay, that's you know, you score fourteen
22:07
goals and you can't get one in the five minutes of three on three.
22:11
That was like the well what happened there? How that shut off? But
22:15
and then linden Wood gets a five to four overtime win on Saturday to complete
22:22
the series. Syracuse scored twice in the last two thirteen I believe in that
22:29
game, the seven to seven tie on on Friday, I should say Tatum
22:36
White scored with eight seconds left to tie that to make it seven to seven.
22:40
So that was a pretty remarkable couple of games from at least from a
22:45
distance. From from reading the box scores about them. Yeah, absolutely,
22:51
and like what it's been fun to see Linden would stream together some of these
22:56
these wins in a way that they just hadn't been in previous years. You
23:00
know, they've they're just the they've been an NCAA, you know, a
23:04
D one program for like what like twelve years, and they've they've only had
23:07
i think two seasons in that time with double digit wins, which in both
23:12
of those were ten, and they have eleven. They're eleven fifteen and two
23:15
this year, and they were they won five games last year. So to
23:18
see them being successful and stringing wins together and being in those sorts of positions
23:25
where they're they're pulling out tight games or they're at least pushing opponents to the
23:27
brink says really good things for them. But yeah, it's it's their most
23:32
win since moving to the NCAA from the from being a club squad, so
23:37
just really outstanding for them. You know, they averaged like less than two
23:40
goals a game last year. They were at like one point seven goals per
23:42
game last year. So to see a weekend like this, you're like,
23:45
uh, what now, you know they're they've basically, you know, doubled
23:48
their output. So obviously defense I think still since need some work, but
23:55
generally what we've seen, you know, is from these teams trying to like
23:59
sort of work out of of holes, like you know, become better and
24:02
improve the program overall is scoring and so the fact that they have the offense
24:07
is just a huge start for them. So pretty I I was happy to
24:11
see it and excited to see sort of what's next from linden Wood and what
24:15
they can they can keep doing. And yeah, I don't know, it's
24:18
it's it's nice to see and it's a you know, big for first year
24:22
coach. So hats off to you for for lynden Wood for coming away with
24:29
the win on Saturday, and hats off to Syracuse too for that comeback on
24:33
Friday. Pretty uh, pretty pretty good one there too. Yeah, and
24:37
just going back you mentioned all those overtimes. I think there's like two games
24:41
on Saturday that were more than three goals. Like most of it was one
24:45
or two goal difference in pretty much every game that you know, we had
24:48
a couple outliers, but but generally, just like the parody right now is
24:52
pretty amazing and makes it a lot of fun to watch. We are going
24:57
to take a break and make sure you you stick around for our next segment.
25:02
Here Nicole has a great interview with Julia Gosling from Saint Lawrence. We'll
25:06
be around with that next on the podcast. Hi, welcome back to the
25:15
podcast. I'm Nicole Hasey. He's Todd Maleski, and we're about to have
25:18
an interview that I did earlier today with Julia Gossling from Saint Lawrence. We
25:22
had some audio difficulties and so by the time we got around to actually chatting,
25:26
I didn't do an intro with her, so definitely apologize to Julia for
25:32
that. But we were speaking with, you know, captain of Saint Lawrence
25:36
Saints who had a huge weekend, fined themselves, currently in force in the
25:41
ECAC, and just talk to her a little bit about what has come together
25:45
for Saint Lawrence after several seasons of not not having it come together, having
25:52
showing the sparks, but not getting to that point. So thanks so much
25:57
to Julia for talking to us. I'm sorry I I didn't do a great
26:00
intro when we were when we were on the zoom. What I have found
26:03
interesting about Saint Lawrence has sort of been the ups and downs and then you
26:08
know that's I feel like it really culminated for you guys this weekend with everything
26:11
coming together. So you know, can you just talk a little bit about
26:17
maybe what has worked, what hasn't, and like maybe why why maybe as
26:22
the season has gone on, that has come together for you guys. Yeah,
26:26
I think we've had a good group of girls just from the start,
26:30
So I think that made it really easy. Just we started off strong and
26:33
had a few lows and then we kind of brought it back and then went
26:36
down again and brought it back. So I feel like we just know how
26:40
to pick each other up. And I mean every team's going to have their
26:42
downs, especially when you're playing against some of those good teams, you kind
26:45
of realize the things you need to improve on. So I think we just
26:48
communicate very well with our coaches and with some of our resources and kind of
26:53
just keep coming together and try to find new ways to get better. And
26:57
lately we've just been trying to outwork every time team and I think that worked
27:00
this weekend for us, So we are pumped about that and for for some
27:07
teams like so what's so important is to to be coming together at this time
27:11
of the season, right, Like when when you want all of that stuff
27:14
working is definitely in February. Uh, if it's not going to be also
27:18
working in November, right exactly? You guys have you know, kind of
27:25
a team that has come you know, you guys have gone through a lot
27:29
together. What is it about sort of your teammates and the returners that has
27:33
helped you guys sort of you know, be in this position, be in
27:37
third place in ECAC, be in striking distance of first or second? Like
27:42
what has the build been like to kind of get you guys to to this
27:45
point? Yeah? I think at first started off just in practice, like
27:49
all of our returners work so hard and every practice we're competing with each other,
27:53
so the level of practice is just insane. And then off the ice
27:57
kind of everyone's getting a long there's no issues at all, Like we just
28:02
have fun with each other and pick each other up and compliment each other on
28:07
things that they do well on the ice. So I think overall the returners
28:11
kind of just have brought everyone together and everyone's just having fun, so can't
28:15
complain. And then for you obviously having you know, just this really great
28:19
season coming together basically already equaled your points from from last season. What did
28:25
you maybe work on in the off season, what's been your focus, What
28:27
has sort of come together for you personally to have the season that you're having.
28:33
Yeah, I think, first off, just getting stronger. The league
28:36
is getting more and more and more physical, and you can see the Pro
28:37
League giving getting very physical, So just trying to get stronger it was kind
28:41
of my off ice stuff. And then quicker feet, trying to get faster.
28:45
The faster you are in the game, I feel like, the better
28:48
you will be and the better off you'll have on chances. But on I
28:53
stuff, I feel like I've been trying to improve on my shot and trying
28:56
to drive the net use my size, and then trying to get out of
29:00
quick turns quickly and bringing bucks to the net and trying to get as much
29:06
offense as possible and kind of staying lower so I can win those battles too.
29:11
It has felt like, I know, I mean we kind of covered
29:14
or I kind of asked this, but like it has felt like a little
29:15
bit of a slow build for you all, and and then not having you
29:18
know, necessarily winning season and just it's a very tough, tough conference.
29:23
You know, there's like, what five of you ranked in the top ten
29:26
from the ECC, So what is what is? How do you guys sort
29:33
of mentally like that it's tough right to like to kind of feel like you
29:34
can't get over that hump, and I feel like there's those those top teams
29:41
and then there's like a bit of a gap and it feels like you guys
29:42
really stepped into that gap and found found a way to find a new level
29:47
this year. So can you just talk a little bit about sort of what
29:51
it feels like to be talking about like an nc like a maybe a com
29:55
playing you know, into the conference championship and looking at an NCAA berth after
29:59
you know, a couple of seasons were that like wasn't even on the radar
30:03
necessarily. Yeah, it's honestly crazy to think about just thinking back to freshman
30:07
year in twenty nineteen, like we kind of had a losing season there and
30:11
we've been trying to build off that since then. So I've kind of been
30:15
a part of it and kind of kind of I kind of know, I
30:18
feel like how our team is now and I feel like it's the biggest thing
30:21
is confidence. I feel like we've gained a lot of confidence over the years
30:25
and those close games we had last year, like we were super close with
30:27
some of those top teams, so we knew we were right there. And
30:30
then this year it was kind of we just from a start, we had
30:33
high expectations of everyone and we knew that we could like compete with all these
30:38
teams, and we got some bounces. And obviously we're playing a lot of
30:41
good teams and they're always close, but I feel like we're on the other
30:45
end, like on the good end this year. So I think confidence might
30:49
just be that extra thing just I mean there's probably a few plays where we
30:53
backed off maybe last year, but this year we're like full force. We
30:56
know we got this. So I think it's that belief in our team.
31:00
We know that we're a really good team and can compete with everyone. What
31:03
is it for you with your line mates, Like what what works with Sarah
31:07
and Taylor and what makes I'm I mean, all all of the lines have
31:11
been been producing, but like particularly your top two lines, what makes you
31:15
guys sort of work so well together? Yeah, I think it's just building
31:21
off of each other's strengths. Lumbers very smart, good four checker, and
31:26
pretty shifty, and Marshie very smart, also can find people and has some
31:30
of those nifty plays and a good shot. And then I'm pretty fast and
31:36
meet people, feed me the puck for shots. But I also can four
31:38
check too, So I feel like we have some similar strengths with some differences
31:42
and they kind of just all combined together where I feel like we just get
31:45
a lot of offense from that. How important has it been with the growth
31:51
of the conference where you know, maybe your freshman year we have we wouldn't
31:55
be talking about five teams, you know, ranked and things like that.
31:57
How important heads the strength of your conference as a whole sort of improved.
32:02
You know, you're you're fighting week in and week out. How does that
32:06
helped you all improve and helped raise the game for Saint Lawrence? Yeah,
32:09
I think it's been awesome. I mean, I feel like every game in
32:12
the ECAC is a toss up, like if you are off, like you're
32:15
gonna lose probably, Like you need to be on your game every single day.
32:19
And I think it just keeps you accountable and keeps you at your best
32:22
and keeps improving you. So I've enjoyed it a lot. I feel like
32:24
I'm improving every game, and every game is a challenge, which I enjoy.
32:29
I don't want any of those easy games, Like it's more fun when
32:30
it's challenging. So I think that just shows how good the eca C has
32:35
gone over the years. And now we have five ranked teams, which is
32:38
awesome, and I mean I play against those teams and they're they're really good
32:42
teams, so props to them. So it helps helps us out and we
32:45
try to help them out too. What is your maybe your favorite part of
32:51
your game, Like what do you when you've got the puck and your stick,
32:53
Like what are you looking for and what are you what do you think
32:57
that you do best in that situation. I think I'm good at skating the
33:00
puck down the ice. Over the years, obviously it's gone I feel like
33:05
easier, but I feel like I can just weave through people and they're always
33:08
like trying to get me, so I find it very fun just trying to
33:13
get past them. I mean, it's hard to score on these goalies these
33:15
days, so it's a little more challenging to do that now. But I
33:19
like I know I can get through people at least, so that's probably my
33:22
most fun part, and then if I can get a goal off of it,
33:24
that's got to be the best part. It feels like too, like
33:28
you are always looking at opportunities to dish the puck too, and like it's
33:31
not not that you aren't goal focused, like I don't mean to imply that,
33:36
but that you're you're seeing like kind of all of the possibilities that that's
33:39
out there. Yeah, And I feel like my vision has just gone better
33:43
in college, especially like certain teams will try to not let let me shoot,
33:47
just as I'm a goal scorer's sometimes teams are like, oh, we
33:51
got to get on here. So it allowed me to kind of get a
33:53
better vision of the game and see my line mates and give them some opportunities
33:59
or some of the de and stuff like that, or on the power play.
34:00
So it's been fun to develop that side of my game too. You
34:05
talked a little bit about like the physicality, and we do see that,
34:07
like the game generally has gotten more physical obviously with your size as well too,
34:13
Like when you talk about moving down the ice, like people don't necessarily
34:16
expect that or think about that with somebody that's that's listed at five to eleven.
34:20
So can you just you know, tell us a little bit about like
34:22
how you sort of came into using your size and finding that balance of you
34:28
know that there's physicality to the game, but that obviously there's also a limit
34:31
to that, and that can be called and it can be called different every
34:35
game. How do you where do you find that limit and how do you
34:37
use your size to advantage? Yeah, I feel like it took me a
34:40
bit to like actually use my size, so I didn't realize how tall and
34:44
strong I am. Just I mean, it's an advantage already, so I
34:47
feel like I'm just starting to get into that. Even this year, the
34:51
past year is when I've started to use it. I feel like I could
34:53
still get a lot better at it, But I try to use it just
34:57
to drive the net and battles, Like as a center. I'm always battling
35:00
in the corner, so using it for that and trying to help out my
35:05
teammates too. So it's tough sometimes as I'll run into someone and if they
35:09
fall over then I sometimes I just get a penalty and I'm just like I'm
35:14
I'm not being dirty, Like I'm not that type of player, So I
35:16
think that's only the tough part is when it's like I'm not meaning to like
35:20
sometimes I deserve a penalty, but it's more of those ones where I'm like,
35:23
it hasn't been called all game, but in the end, I feel
35:28
like they're letting us do more like physical whyse like battling. So I've been
35:31
trying to use that as much as I can, so I can separate people
35:35
from the puck and so we can get some more offense. So that's how
35:37
I use it. Do you favor a longer stick with your long reacher a
35:40
shorter stick? I started using a longer stick this year. I was using
35:45
it, I mean, not a short stick, but like average probably for
35:47
my size. But I went to a longer one this year actually, and
35:51
it's it's nice on the PK and in the zone to just poke pucks away.
35:55
So yeah, has it taken Like, was that an adjustment to the
36:01
normal or shorter stick, like can be easier for puck control, but with
36:06
your with your wingspan, I would assume the reach would having a longer stick.
36:08
It is just but I would assume there's some adjustment there. Yeah,
36:13
there's a bit at the beginning, but I felt overall my shot like maybe
36:15
was a little more accurate weirdly with the longer stick, so I kind of
36:20
liked it so and then I just got adjusted to the stick handling part.
36:23
But I only did it by it like a half inch, so it wasn't
36:27
too bad. How has you got the opportunity to play with Team Cannon in
36:32
the rivalry series and how were you what did you learn there that you were
36:37
able to bring back and how has that affected college game? I feel like
36:40
I'm always learning from all the veterans, Like there's great leaders, great people.
36:45
I feel like I'm always trying to figure out, like what can I
36:49
bring back as a captain to my team, Like how can we improve?
36:52
Like and just how hard they work every day in practice and some of the
36:55
moves they do in practice, I'm like, wow, I should I should
36:58
try that and try to bring that to my team. So overall, there's
37:01
just so many things that I bring back that's captain. What do you sing
37:07
to the team, like when you know, you guys, you had a
37:08
strong start, and it's like when when the losses came, they kind of
37:12
came, you know, in groups, and it's you know, kind of
37:15
a disheartening weekend and that weekend where you lose to Colgate and Cornell and coming
37:19
into the second half. So as a captain, how have you handled the
37:22
ups and downs of the season and keeping the team, you know, sort
37:25
of believing in that you can do like what you did last weekend. Yeah.
37:30
I think just as a leadership group, we always kind of go back
37:32
to our we have their team rules, or they're not really rules, it's
37:36
just kind of what we want to focus on, like hard work, like
37:39
giving your one hundred percent every day, like being a good teammate, stuff
37:44
like that. So I think we usually just go back to those and try
37:46
to focus on those and then it'll come in the game and outworking. So
37:51
we usually just do like a little meeting and get together and we know like
37:53
we're a good team. So I think sometimes when need a little refresh and
37:58
yeah, and what are you guys focusing on I didn't even realize, like
38:02
the two regular season weekend through you all, what are you focusing on in
38:07
these these final you know, four games, final two weekends heading into postseason?
38:12
Yeah, I think just at working them. I mean, in the
38:14
end, if we do that, usually things will go well and in your
38:17
favor. So I've worked well against col Gain and Cornell, Like, they
38:22
were two really good teams, and they put up a really good battle and
38:24
we got a few of those bounces. So that's what we're hoping for that
38:29
if we'll just keep working hard, those bounces will come to us and then
38:31
we'll end up winning those games. So I think that's kind of our overall
38:36
motto for the last four games. Do you feel like going through some of
38:42
what you guys went through and some of the lotses over some of the bounces
38:45
not going your way, do you feel like that sort of coming back from
38:47
that and playing strongly in the final few weeks, Uh, sort of helps
38:52
you all be in a better position for the postseason, like knowing that you
38:58
like can handle that sort of stuff and come out on the other side.
39:01
Yeah, I think it's huge. We've had a few of those losses where
39:06
some of those teams haven't really dealt with those. So with losses, you
39:09
kind of get to regroup as a team and grow on certain things or know
39:13
how to push through those. Especially I mean against Kolgate, we were down
39:16
and I feel like the belief never went away in our team, so I
39:20
think that'll be huge in the playoffs, just no matter what happens, like
39:22
to keep going. And I think that's one part that our team has that
39:28
maybe some other teams haven't been able to. I mean, they just have
39:31
won so many games, so they haven't felt that as much. So I
39:35
think that might be advantage to us in the playoffs. It kind of goes
39:37
back to what you started with with the confidence, right, It's like being
39:39
able to believe in yourself and know that you can pull out those kinds of
39:43
games. Yeah, is there anything like that you think people should pay more
39:47
attention to you with your team or stuff that like maybe doesn't get noticed that,
39:51
Like it's so hard watching games on streams and just in general getting the
39:55
pay attention to a bunch of stuff. So since you're in it every day,
39:58
I just wondered if there was some and that you think that, like
40:00
you guys do really well that maybe people haven't been paying attention to or noticed.
40:06
Yeah. I think we have a wide range of talent on our team,
40:08
and you can see people are working very hard every game, Like our
40:12
goalie has been playing phenomenal, so props to her, So if you want
40:15
to watch a good goalie, she's a goal you should watch. And then
40:20
just overall, like every single person on our team has a huge impact and
40:23
gives it there all every time. I mean, we have some pretty good
40:27
passing plays sometimes if they work or not, they're pretty fun to watch.
40:30
The chemistry on a lot of our lines, So I think overall that's kind
40:34
of if people want to watch that type of game. We kind of overall,
40:37
I feel like, have a pretty fun game of pretty physical, fast
40:40
make some cool moves. So yeah, it's a pretty fun game to watch,
40:45
I would say. And then because you guys are sort of in a
40:47
position that you haven't been before. How there's focusing on the next couple of
40:53
games and not getting too far ahead of yourself, but also being in a
40:58
position and talking about playoffs in a way that you guys haven't experienced. Have
41:01
you. It's like the coaching staff talk to you or how have you have
41:04
you all talked a little bit about like sort of what how to handle the
41:07
the different pressure of the postseason that way. Yeah, honestly, I feel
41:12
like most of us haven't felt really any pressure from it. Like we're pretty
41:15
confident and just believe in ourselves. So I think just going back to that
41:20
that's been helpful. And we know like when we play our best, so
41:23
we've been doing that. So if we just keep doing that and there's not
41:25
only pressure, and we're hopeful that we'll have home our home advantage for ice
41:31
time or for the games and the playoffs. So that's kind of our main
41:36
goal and we're close to clinching that. So I think if we just keep
41:40
going for these last four games, then we'll be satisfied. Awesome, And
41:45
then I just wanted to ask you or you know, you're tied for the
41:47
team lead with Abbie Hustler, and I just wanted to ask you a little
41:51
bit about her game and what makes her such a dynamic forward and you know
41:54
how cool it is to have you know, another another teammate, you know,
41:58
performing at the level like you are. Yeah, she's been playing unreal,
42:01
especially in this last month. She's kind of really went off, so
42:06
it's awesome to see. She's obviously not my linemate, so right, I
42:08
don't get to see her full everything, but I get to watch her on
42:12
the bench every time. But a lot of people know she has a really
42:15
good shot but I feel like people don't always realize that she's a really good
42:19
playmaker too, and she's been setting up her linemates a lot or just drive.
42:22
She drives really hard to the net. I feel like that's been helping
42:24
her and just her one timers insane, and then she's been making some good
42:29
place to her linemates, So I think overall she's just getting also more confidence.
42:34
She's a junior now, so I think that's also helping, and she's
42:37
working hard in all areas of the ice, which I feel like gets her
42:40
the pock more so they get some more ozone time. But yeah, she's
42:45
she's been doing awesome and she's a great teammate, so I'm happy for her
42:49
awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time, Julia. I
42:51
really appreciate it, no problem, Thanks for having me. Welcome back to
43:01
the podcast. My name's Todd Maluski. Here with Nicole Hasey and Nicole we
43:07
are seeing this week the semi finalist being named for the Women's Hockey Goalie of
43:12
the Year Award. It's an award that's presented presented by the Women's Hockey Commissions
43:16
Association. It's a group of eleven goalies, four Division one conferences represented.
43:23
It was voting from coaches, administrators, media members around the country. Uh,
43:30
and we've come up with eleven juniors, seniors, graduate students. Uh.
43:36
And the final semi finals, I'm sorry are Saint Cloud, San Diiajola,
43:40
Quinnipeac's Logan Angers, Minnesota d Luis v gascon Long Island's Tinder Holme,
43:46
Ohio State's Reagan Kirk, Minnesota de Luce, Haley McLeod colegates, Hannah Murphy
43:52
colegates, Kaylie Osborne, Clarkson's Miselle pet Posessionik. I'm going to get that
43:57
one of these days. The first time. Northeastern is Gwyneth Phillip and Yukon's
44:00
Megan Warner. A very decorated group, as you can imagine, it would
44:05
be, Nicole. Your thoughts on that list coming out this week and what
44:12
you'll be looking for out of them, maybe as we finished a season before
44:16
deciding on who might be that winner. Yeah, well, you know,
44:21
we talked in previous episodes about how much they are splitting time and goalies a
44:27
splitting time for teams across the board, and how that might affect voting.
44:30
And we've got two pairs of teammates on here, so that's I guess that
44:34
answers that question right of Gascon and Hanley McLeod from Minnesota Duluth, and then
44:38
the two Kogie goalies, Hanna Murphy and Kaylie Osbourne. I will point out
44:42
I thought it was interesting that I think it's eight of them are from Canada,
44:47
so one each from Finland, Sweden and the United States and then eight
44:51
girls from Canada. So definitely a little Canadian invasion in terms of the goalkeepers
44:55
this year, which is fun. Also cool for Gascon as a fresh to
45:00
be on the list, so that's awesome. And Heley McLeod, her UH
45:05
goal mate, is a sophomore so to underclass run from Minnesota Dluth both making
45:08
the list. But yeah, it's it's an interesting list. It covers a
45:12
lot of ground. I don't think there's any huge surprises on here. You
45:15
know, Michelle pa Setchnik is the one that has was a semi finalist for
45:20
the last two years, but Tinjo Holme and Gwyneth Phillips were also semi finalists
45:24
last year, and so yeah, it's a I think it's mostly the list
45:29
I expected. You know, Sania Hola getting the NOD for Saint Cloud State.
45:37
But yeah, is there anything on here that surprises you? I guess
45:39
that was where what I was going to ask about, was you know,
45:43
uh, Jojo Chollback's had a really good year for Saint Cloud State too.
45:49
Do you think that maybe that's a a representation of, well, we can't
45:53
do two players from three different teams on this list. I guess. I
46:00
don't know whether you know there's a when it was cut down to this number.
46:07
Was it cut down to a specific number or was it just basically who
46:13
got a certain percentage of the vote or anything like that. That's what I'd
46:16
wonder about how it got to eleven, and you know, could you have
46:21
had twelve? I guess what would have been my question. Yeah, my
46:25
understanding of it is that it's sort of where a natural there isn't a set
46:30
number, it's where a natural break comes in terms of the votes. So
46:35
that's kind of how how they look at it. You know, I would
46:40
I'd be curious to know if the vote would change after the way Jojo Chobac
46:45
played against Wisconsin this past weekend. So, you know, but Sania Hola
46:51
has the better numbers overall. I think that's why that's part of it.
46:54
You know, she's got her goals against. It was I'm looking at the
46:58
ballot that was sent to us. It's done. Here is one point one
47:00
six goals against in a nine to fifty four save percentage versus Chobex one eighty
47:07
seven goals against a nine to twenty nine save percentage. So yeah, it's
47:12
it's certainly difficult. I don't know how you narrow it down with that.
47:17
I'm looking at my it looks like the ten, the ten women I voted
47:22
for, are all on that list. So interesting, just curious because it's
47:27
not a huge committee, and so it is about, you know, sort
47:30
of who's getting the votes and who's getting more more than a couple of votes,
47:32
and so yeah, that's how how it gets narrowed down. There is
47:36
no set but usually there is a pretty definitive break in who gets several votes
47:43
and who gets one or two here or there. You know, I was
47:45
glad to see Long Island represented with because it's you know, I mean,
47:52
let's be honest, it's it's easy to to to forget when you've got such
47:57
good goaltending going on at the schools that are in the top five and top
48:00
ten. It's easy to forget sometimes about you know, what's happening at Long
48:07
Island and the good things that are happening there too, And I was happy
48:09
to see that that Tingderholme Earn earned a place on this this list too,
48:15
I think to Megan Warner at Yukonda, obviously hockey skits more attention than new
48:20
hot does, but just she's been kind of quietly having a really strong season,
48:24
and so I was excited to see that she was got she got the
48:29
recognition that I think she deserves too. She's the ballot we got shows her
48:35
as having a point eight three goals against average. I'm not sure where that
48:37
stands right now, but point eight three and a nine to fifty nine save
48:39
percentage. I mean it basically blows everyone out of the water with those numbers,
48:44
and so pretty excited to see that she's getting that on her two.
48:47
Yeah. I mean sometimes one of those stats can lie where something. You
48:52
know, if your goal's against it or your your saf percentage is really good.
48:55
But when they're both that good, you know something's going right there.
48:59
Yeah, Yeah, absolutely, I think too. So I just wanted to
49:02
mention because we did talk about the the sort of splitting time and things like
49:07
that. And I had asked Brian A. Delski about that in our postgame
49:10
interview the other day, and he just talked about how from a goalie standpoint,
49:15
there is there's not that need for recovery and and sort of like basically,
49:21
you know your job, you go in and you do it really well,
49:23
and you don't have to think about like, how is this gonna affect
49:25
me tomorrow? And so that was just an interesting like kind of insight to
49:30
me in terms of like the splitting, splitting of time and why or a
49:35
coach that's he basically, you know, said, there's there's so many goalies
49:38
now and so many people are so many teams are doing it that there's not
49:42
necessarily like a negative to splitting time and that when you're getting positive, you're
49:45
getting big outcomes from both goalies. But he really said that like he feels
49:52
like it's it's important for the goalie to have that like go in, do
49:55
their job and go home and not have to worry about what the next day
50:00
look like. Looks like obviously they're still prepared or whatever, but it just
50:04
it was it was, yeah, an interesting way to think about it.
50:06
And look at it for me in terms of being able to sort of give
50:09
give your all in the day that is assigned to you. Yeah, and
50:15
for like for something like the w c HA where you know you're going to
50:17
get that second tough it was just yeah, was like, oh I hadn't.
50:21
I hadn't thought about it from that way, And so it just keeps
50:24
them fresh and less. It's just less were on your goalie. Yeah,
50:29
and if you can do it, if you're confident enough in both of them
50:31
that you can say you know you're getting this one, you're getting this one
50:35
and and don't have to worry about well, we the rest of the players
50:39
in front of us need to be even better than they were this day.
50:45
I think that's a that's a perfectly fine way of going through a season,
50:49
and we've seen now that it can work. Now, you know, when
50:52
we get into the Frozen four, then I really do have questions of do
50:58
you need to pick someone with a day off in between or even talking about
51:04
in the first weekend of the tournament, if you have to play two games,
51:08
then I mean things things get real then and there's there's seasons on the
51:13
line. I wonder if everyone is as committed to that rotation at that point
51:20
of the season that as they are now. And we've seen where teams have
51:24
been, right, Yeah, I mean I feel the same way. It
51:29
does seem like at some point you have to choose one, but I you
51:31
know who knows. And that's where I think too. It's interesting. I
51:36
would love to talk to a coach not in the w c h A where
51:40
you're used to this pair of games against the same opponent when you move into
51:45
the postseason and it's not like that, you know, So I wonder if
51:47
the approach is different or the thought process about when you're when you're a pair
51:52
of goalies preparing for the same opponent versus a pair of goalies preparing for different
51:57
opponents, and how that might change. Would an ec A C school not
52:01
worry about that as much in terms of like needing to choose one for the
52:06
postseason, because they are used to that. Their team in front of them
52:08
is used to them having someone behind them no matter. You know what I'm
52:12
saying. I am, I am I expressing that, but I yeah,
52:15
I just think I wonder if the way that the w c h A plays
52:19
their games their schedule affects the thought process and needing to choose a goalie.
52:24
I think it has to and to some degree, you know, but it's
52:29
not necessarily it's not just them obviously, it's it's a little bit you're you're
52:34
seeing that regardless of what the schedule is looking like for UH teams in EC
52:39
A C. So I I don't I don't know that you can you can
52:45
you know, cover everyone with one explanation for it. It really does have
52:50
to v a you know, comfort level with both of them and a trust
52:53
and a willingness from from both of those goalies do to understand we're there or
53:00
what their role is and that yeah, you are trying to you know,
53:07
be as good as you can to to get a number one, you know,
53:09
full time spot, but you have to be okay with that too,
53:13
that you're uh, you've got someone a teammate that's that's right there with you.
53:17
So that's that's as big of a of a thing for me as as
53:21
anything. Is that if you've got jealousy, if you're or if you've got
53:23
animosity between two of them, that doesn't work out either. No, And
53:28
then I would say to just we talked about this earlier with the ac AC
53:30
tournament. I would say the way that the different tournaments are set up also
53:36
would affect it. Because if you're if you're the Ohio state in the w
53:42
C h A tournament, you were playing, you know, the number eight
53:45
team, versus if you're the number one team in the e C A C
53:47
You're you're playing what probably probably an eight seed. Maybe like the level of
53:54
game you're getting as different, is what I'm saying. And so in terms
54:00
of like how many shots are faced and how much work the goalily does,
54:05
I don't know it could you just could be interesting that the different tournaments and
54:08
the ones that are playing three best of three series versus all single elimination like
54:14
Hockey East moved to all single elimination, and so just the different setups of
54:17
the tournaments could also affect that. But yeah, you know, like teams
54:22
teams top teams in the past, the parody was such that like a lot
54:28
of their games that their goalies weren't facing a ton of shots, they weren't
54:30
getting wear and tear in the way that they are now. Yeah, and
54:37
a lot of those teams that we were talking about in that list for the
54:40
women's hockey goalie of the year are represented in the upper ranking orper upper spots
54:46
of the pairwise rankings this week Ohose State of course staying at number one,
54:51
Colgate number two, Wisconsin up to number three, Clarkson fourth, Minnesota fifth,
54:55
Cornell sixth, Saint Lawrence seventh, Quinnipiac eight. And that's where the
54:59
break what happened right now, assuming no other upsets in other leagues, for
55:07
allowing the at large bids from Hockey East nowhah and Cha to move in as
55:15
ten or nine, ten and eleven. So if you're looking at it right
55:21
now, Minnesota, Luth and Sat. Cloud statea the first two out of
55:23
the tournament field as it stands. Obviously a lot to play for here,
55:30
but that's going to make those these last couple of weeks of the regular season
55:36
really critical for you know, you're talking about Sat Lawrence, Quentin piag,
55:39
Minnesota, Luth, Saint Cloud State being in that bubble there where it's fourteens
55:44
for two spots maybe essentially is kind of what it comes down to. Yeah,
55:49
if the tournaments play out in the way, you know, seeded way.
55:53
And then the other thing too is that like within those groups, we're
55:58
still talking about how we haven't you know, we haven't quite learned the NPI
56:00
how much does one game move things? Well, that the NPI number between
56:06
Colgate and Minnesota is is like one one NPI point basically uh. And then
56:13
when you talk about Cornell, Saint Lawrence, Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Duluth,
56:15
that's they're less than two points away from each other. Saint Cloud Is is
56:20
less than three away from number six Cornell. So how much did they move
56:23
and how much does you know? Say if I guess I don't even know
56:29
that, but like when Saint Cloud State plays Minnesota this weekend, if they
56:31
get wins there is that what does that mean versus if a team like Cornell
56:36
or Saint Lawrence is playing an unranked team. So we're I think we're really
56:39
going to see this week how much movement will be there and how much you
56:45
know a team can can jump or not jump over the course. And then
56:50
I think you know that this again two might be where that losing that last
56:53
week of the regular season for the ECC and moving into playoffs, if those
56:59
teams are idle the top, their top four seeds are idle, and you've
57:01
got you know, teams like Wisconsin and Ohio State playing each some of these
57:06
rink teams playing each other in that final week of the regular season would be
57:08
interesting. Yeah. You mentioned that Saint Cloud and Minnesota series. That's one
57:15
of the ones that I'm looking for this weekend because for both sides. I
57:19
mean, we talked about Saint Cloud having to play Ohio State, having to
57:22
play Wisconsin, and now having to play Minnesota. That's that's the gauntlet of
57:28
the w c h A, right, So Saint Cloud's right back into it.
57:31
They do. They get the Friday game at home. They Saturday game
57:35
is at Ritter Arena in Minneapolis. You know, Minnesota's got a lot to
57:40
play for here too. Pair wise wise, I should have said that there.
57:45
But they're in fifth, which you know is comfortably in the tournament,
57:51
but not comfortably obviously not in a home spot and not necessarily comfortably in a
57:57
space where you aren't from having to drop and then play a first round games.
58:04
So I can see a lot online in that series both ways. Yeah,
58:09
and we continue, I mean trying not to like be mean, but
58:15
like man, Abby Murphy is carrying that team, and you know she she
58:20
got a five minute major and a major in a game misconduct over the weekend,
58:24
and to be fair, like this time was not Abby being Abby.
58:30
I think it was just kind of an unfortunate collision and hit that it was
58:34
the right call, but you know, it was less of what we what
58:37
you might assume when you hear Abby Murphy got a game misconduct, But I
58:40
mean it just changes the whole tenor for them like that she continues to be
58:45
the driving force for them and other teams do not have an answer. So
58:50
you know, it's it's I'm waiting. There's talent on that roster, and
58:53
it's it's a little frustrating and hard to watch, just in terms of like
58:59
wanting them to to reach the potential and show what they're capable of. And
59:01
I'm not sure. I'm not sure it's going to happen. But to be
59:05
fair, they're twenty two to five and one and they're doing just fine as
59:08
they've been. But it's going to be a rough couple of final weeks this
59:13
season in the postseason for them. I think it'll it's definitely going to be
59:15
interesting. And if I were, you know, a team that can match
59:19
up with them physically, I certainly would be you know, looking to pin
59:23
Abby and go to a little and see what happens because their team just changes
59:28
so much, which she is not on the ice. You know, one
59:31
team I've noticed has been on a really good streak late land. We saw
59:36
it in the bean Pot. Northeastern has won seven in a row now,
59:40
the last two of them in overtime. Let's okay, by let's get out
59:44
their teeth recently, sure, and we're seeing them having the win games with
59:50
scoring more goals than we've had to see them need to in the past.
59:55
Last week it was three to two at New Hampshire and then four to three
1:00:00
at home against New Hampshire, both of those in overtime, and it's I
1:00:06
feel like Northeastern might be building up for a playoff push here. They're they're
1:00:10
I think, unless something crazy happens that I am not expecting. They're not
1:00:16
in a at large position for a position to be challenging for an at large
1:00:21
spot in the tournament, But they are. I would it would be wrong
1:00:27
to rule them. Oh god, yeah, I consider them, you know,
1:00:30
as a strong candidate to win the Hockey East Championship and get the automatic
1:00:36
bid. Yeah, I mean, you know, for them, it'll be
1:00:38
interesting because right they're eight points behind Connecticut and they're currently third in Hockey East
1:00:43
and three points behind Boston College. It would be interesting to see for me
1:00:47
where like if that push, you know, raises their profile before they even
1:00:52
get to their conference tournament. But yeah, they're they're pulling out. I
1:00:57
mean, they're pulling out the close games. And like you said, for
1:00:59
me, it's the goal scoring, whereas like they've had just several one and
1:01:01
two goal games this season. They you know, they put what four on
1:01:06
the board three of their last four games and and three in the other one.
1:01:08
And and they're actually a team that I think like they're better and over
1:01:13
time they they're better in that with that wide open space, they have the
1:01:16
room for passing and uh, you know that's a team I would not want
1:01:21
to take to three on three. But yeah, it's it'll be interesting.
1:01:24
They don't have any They've got yukon this weekend yukon Maine, than two with
1:01:30
Boston College and two with Vermont. So it's a tough stretch for them to
1:01:34
finish out. But they they're certainly doing their best to to prove that you
1:01:37
shouldn't count them out. And I just think they've got so much experience and
1:01:42
so much sort of pride and momentum in terms of what they've been able to
1:01:47
do in the postseason that I yeah, you you would definitely be doing yourself
1:01:52
a disservice to cut them, to count them out. And then it's it
1:01:57
seems like a pretty normal weekend in the ECAC. You're gonna have some This
1:02:01
is kind of what we come to expect now. It's it's gonna be some
1:02:06
some pretty tough battles among the teams at the top. And like we mentioned
1:02:09
before, only two weekends left, so uh, it's it's it's crunch time
1:02:14
now and if and if anyone wants to make a run, it's it's time
1:02:16
to do it. Yeah. I with their half points and the way that
1:02:23
how close things, I sincerely like you could give me free money and I
1:02:28
would not bet uneasy asy outcomes. I'm sort of notoriously bad at pickam.
1:02:34
There's a reason we stopped doing it on the site. But yeah, I
1:02:36
just I'm never quite sure what we're going to see will be interesting. I
1:02:39
mean, one of the things that Colgate left because they were playing, you
1:02:43
know, they were playing without CULTI, Culton, Couva, Cova and they
1:02:45
were playing without Sydney morro and so they were a very different team without them,
1:02:51
and pretty shows how important they are. I would like to know a
1:02:54
little bit more about what's going on there because there's there's some rumors about why
1:02:59
some of that sitting happened, and but yeah, it really showed how important,
1:03:05
you know, some of those players are to clog. Is such a
1:03:09
team team. I didn't say that well either, but just it is not
1:03:14
about one player for them, but they they are infinitely better than some of
1:03:17
their parts. And I say I mean that is a compliment. Like they
1:03:22
when they come together as a team, they play at a different level.
1:03:24
So when you're missing pieces of that, it is not about the individual talent,
1:03:30
but the breakdown of how the team flows that I think makes a difference
1:03:35
for them. And so as opposed to to you know, sort of individual
1:03:38
lines or individual players really being the generator for other other squads. I just
1:03:44
I know I said really poorly to start, but I just for for Colgate
1:03:49
to me, their strengths and their ability to play as a team is sort
1:03:55
of what makes them one of the more unbeatable teams. And when you we
1:04:00
remove pieces of that, I really do think it hurts them more than just
1:04:06
the missing individual talent of a player. Yeah. One thing I forgot to
1:04:11
mention in our first segment was rentse Lair one is its first weekend since when
1:04:17
that they won both games of the series since twenty November eighteen. Yeah,
1:04:24
first weekend sweep. Yeah, and there, of course their reward is to
1:04:30
play two games against ranked teams this weekend on the road at corn Now on
1:04:36
Friday and at Colgate on Saturday. So good luck. What do you have
1:04:46
to say there? Right? Yeah? And you know they continue to get
1:04:50
really good goaltending, which is something they've sort of had in their back pocket
1:04:54
at times. You know, Luis is the lander before a lesser rom Pado
1:04:58
now. But yeah, I just it's been fun to see. I mean
1:05:03
everyone will always say things like, you know, there's no weekend off and
1:05:09
it can be true, but I like, I'm just I'm living for and
1:05:13
loving that, Like, you know, two weekends ago Brown tiede Princeton and
1:05:17
beat Quinnipiac and then this weekend lost to RPI and just sort of never knowing
1:05:23
what any one of these teams can bring. So like, as much as
1:05:27
I say good luck to ARPI. I also think like, hey, weirder
1:05:30
things have happened. So that's what's making the ECAC so fun this year is
1:05:34
that it's it's not sort of like lip service about up and down. There's
1:05:38
there's quite literally I would never know what the outcome is going to be of
1:05:42
any of the games. And that's ultimately I am always for teen chaos.
1:05:45
It's what makes this fun. That's what we love this time of the year
1:05:48
too. Absolutely, I don't know if we'll see any chaos in the Rivalry
1:05:53
series, which is back this this week weekend coming up Wednesday, Friday a
1:06:00
Sunday. Yeah, so this is the stretch where obviously because college players are
1:06:05
you know, kind of busy, h we're going back to p WHL players
1:06:11
exclusively. What are you looking forward to out of this this uh this week
1:06:16
coming up with with those matchups? Well, I'm going to the Sunday game
1:06:20
in Minnesota, so very excited about that. Just haven't you know, gotten
1:06:26
to see it's fun to be able to I just get so much more from
1:06:30
this by seeing it in person, just always as somebody who watches a lot
1:06:33
of not really great streams and you know, it's just it's so much different
1:06:38
to be able to see how players work together in in person, and so,
1:06:44
you know, it's a really interesting there's it's basically a who's who of
1:06:46
like the last two years of really good college players for the most part,
1:06:50
on this roster, and so just excited to see, you know, how
1:06:55
those players work together and flourish, you know, every Maggie Flaherty, Morning
1:06:58
Murphy, Madison bis All, Jesse Knfer, nap Upbinder, Taylor Heisei.
1:07:04
It's just it's a really cool list, Gabby Hughes, Claire to George.
1:07:08
So I think it will be fun to see who gets their chances, you
1:07:12
know, and who makes the most of this and stands out. We saw,
1:07:15
you know, the last go round, we got to see you know,
1:07:18
like Kristen Simms and Leila Edwards premiere and so they did, you know,
1:07:24
Kristin s Gordon had her sort of coming out. And so now I'm
1:07:27
interested to see which of the players that are is getting an opportunity. Here
1:07:32
is the person that like really stands out and sort of grabs everybody's attention.
1:07:36
I was excited to see Sophie Shirley get her chance, you know, back
1:07:40
with hockey Canada, So yeah, I think it will be. It's always
1:07:45
more fun to see in person for me, so I'm pretty excited about that.
1:07:47
And yeah, I think that we're gonna see the fact that these players
1:07:53
have all been playing a full month and a half of hockey. I guess
1:07:58
it's early only in the month, but going into this that they were all
1:08:00
at PWHL stuff, I think makes a huge difference. And so it could
1:08:06
be could could see you know, more people make kind of standing out in
1:08:13
a way that we hadn't in the past. Well, that is where we
1:08:15
will wrap it up. So whether it is at the rivalry series or watching
1:08:19
it on TV, or at a college rink, or watching that on TV
1:08:23
stream or listening on the radio. We hope you enjoyed this weekend's and see
1:08:27
women's hockey schedule and hopefully you will join us again here next week for another
1:08:31
edition of the podcast. Thanks everyone, we'll talk to you next week.