Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Episode 19: Reviewing the Frozen Four and Ohio State's second NCAA championship

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Episode 19: Reviewing the Frozen Four and Ohio State's second NCAA championship · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

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Usccho dot com. Ohio State is the twenty twenty four NCAA Women's hockey champion.
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Hi, welcome to the podcast. I'm Todd Maleuski here with Nicole Hosey.
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We are back from New Hampshire where we saw Buckeyes win their second championship
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in three seasons. And Nicole that's you know, we we've seen it.
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It's only been a few teams that have won championships and we added Ohio State
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to that list a couple of years ago, and winning a second one in
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three years really does speak well to where that program is headed and where it
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has come in the last really five six seasons, doesn't it. Yeah?
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Absolutely, And you know, over the weekend, Nadine mauserrel talked about wanting
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to build a legacy and to you know, she noted that, you know,
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prior to the championship game, she's like, you know, my program's
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not a story. It as what Wisconsin has done or what you know,
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Minnesota has done. And so she didn't want them to be one and done
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right. She didn't want that to be a one off. She was excited
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that they had won one, but was looking to you know, really build
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on something and show that this is this is something that the legacy they want
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to prepare, a dynasty they want to become, and so yeah, you
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know they I think all along they were the team to be right, particularly
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after those first couple of weeks of the season, it felt like this was
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their championship to lose, and they went out and did exactly what they needed
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to do. So kudos to them, and you know, they're well on
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their way to building something even bigger there at Ohio State. Yeah, we're
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going to talk on this episode a little bit about the Frozen four, about
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what we saw in New Hampshire. We'll have some some audio from you for
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you from the postgame news conferences on Sunday, and we'll look into what's what's
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coming ahead. New coach at a new program, and we've got some transfer
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portal news happening, as we expect this time of year. Now, this
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is kind of the thing. We get to see who's who's on the move,
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and there's a potential for a lot of movements from what we've seen so
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far. But first let's go back to last Friday, the NCAA semi Finals.
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We had Ohio Sate get past Clarkson four to one, and we had
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Wisconsin get past Colgate three to one, setting up the All WHA Final,
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And both of those games were you know, they ended up being you know,
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multiple goal victories, but they were not that way for most of those
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games. Those those games were tight throughout, and I think, really what
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we expected for a couple of semifinal games between really high ranked teams, isn't
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it? Yeah? Absolutely, I you know, I have to say,
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I think of the four teams, the one that surprised me the most was
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Clarkson, which is maybe you know, I was unfair to them to start.
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I think I said that in my you know, after they lost,
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like they just they played Ohio State really well, being tired after their long
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game. You know, they were talking about leading into their game like you
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can't you kind of can't prepare for for the speed or how some of that's
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gonna come. And man, they really, you know, they scored the
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first goal. They they really held Ohio State and check and their defense.
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I was worried when they were talking about going defense defense first that they just
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never get out of their zone and and that wasn't the case. So I
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thought, you know, we had two really high level semifinals. It really
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was the four best teams in the country facing off and that was exciting.
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I'm glad that it was high level hockey. I'm glad the fans got to
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see that. I'm sad that it was not televised as always, but yeah,
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those were those were really good games. It was really fun to see
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the different styles matching up, see them be successful. See how you know,
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the chess that was played between the two teams to try try and find
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an advantage. The thing that set out for me on Friday was Clarkson got
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the start it wanted right, It scored early, it got out to the
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lead, but that didn't seem to phase Ohio State at all. The Buckeyes
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came really right back and decided we're going to keep playing the way we play
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and they eventually got a goal, but kind of Webster got the game even
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before the end of the first period. But then it just kind of developed
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in this thing where it was getting really difficult for the Buckeyes to beat Michelle
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Posesschnik and you know, join the club, right, I mean, that's
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pretty much the way it's been for a lot of teams this season. But
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it took until the third period for the Buckeyes to get the lead, and
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with about seven minutes left, it took them to get a two to one
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lead, and then they they scored another one with about three minutes ago.
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Joey Dunn, who you'll hear about and hear from later in this episode,
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made it three one. Sloane Matthews was the one who made it two to
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one. Empty net goal made it four to one. So the third period
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really did feel like a you know, it had just tipped all the way
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to the buck Eyes and was kind of a matter of like can possession and
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do enough to get this overtime? And it turned out that the buck guys
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hadn't had too much, no, and you know, kind of counterintuitively,
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the Clerkson scored that early goal in the Buck I said that actually like helped
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them because they said they went out like kind of afraid to lose as opposed
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to playing to win. So the players themselves said that, you know,
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they just didn't have the right mentality going in, and that is a team
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that you know, sort of goes out Their swagger is part of what makes
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them so good, right, and so when Clerkson scored so early, it
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really shook them out of it and allowed them to reset in a way that
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had Clarkson not scored, I'm not sure they would have you know, maybe
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till period break, maybe later, maybe not at all. So counterintuitively and
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kind of unfortunately for Clarkson putting that goal in, you know, sort of
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awakened to the beast of the top team in the country. But yeah,
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it was was interesting, and you know, clarks afterwards, Nadye Mazral said,
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you know, she knew how good Clarkson was six on five, so
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that joy Done goal to make it three to one was just so crucial in
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that game because they knew that Clerkson was going to pull the goalie and try
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to even things up late. So yeah, like you said, well here
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a lot more from joy Done. But you know, one thing that stood
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out to me all week and two that the Ohio State students student athletes said
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a lot was basically that they were just trusting in all the work that they
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had put in throughout the year, and so like, if things are going
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wrong, if the puck's not doing what you all those sorts of things.
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But the goal that joy Done scored, she said, you know, I've
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I've practiced that shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times, and so they
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really were served well by sort of being being able to be on autopilot,
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for lack of a better term, that they were they had put in all
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the work over many many months to be in the position that they were in,
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and they could rely on their instincts to carry them through. Yep,
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the night game Colgate and Would Wisconsin ended up being well, you know,
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give Kristen Simms a chance to score in the slot with nobody round her.
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I mean really, I mean they they did a good job of this on
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the broadcast of highlighting that there you could draw a circle around there was no
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one within ten feet of her in the slot, and that which had to
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be like the only five seconds in that game, right, she didn't have
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somebody in her spirit really the weekend, because by by Sunday the same thing
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happened again. Yeah, but KK Harvard did a good job of drawing some
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defense over to her on the right side. This is all about midway through
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the first period of a scoreless game and Sims scores puts the Badges up one
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nothing, and that was I think an important point for the Badgers to play
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with the lead, even though they knew it was gonna be a little bit
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of physical. It was going They're going to get some challenges that way from
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Colgate because that worked for Saint Lawrence a lot of the game in the quarterfinals,
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you know, you know, just being right in Wisconsin's face. They
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had to know that was coming again and to have a lead. Maybe they
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relied on Avin mcnonttin a little bit too much as sometimes in that game,
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but I thought they were able to play with that and kind of dictate the
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way things were going for a long, long stretch of that game. Yeah,
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late in the second, early in the third, there were some defensive
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lapses from the Badgers, just some some lazy clearances and some of that stuff
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that they're really lucky that MacNaughton either bailed them out or they were able to
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recover. So yeah, there was definitely in retrospect, knowing how the championship
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game went, there was signs that maybe the mental game wasn't all fully together
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in this final weekend of the season for the Badgers because they were playing with
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small margins and just making some decisions late in the game where you were like,
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I don't like why aren't you challenging? Why are you making that pass?
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Why are you like, what are you doing that? You know,
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Ultimately, seeing how the championship game went, it's like, oh, okay,
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yeah, that wasn't. That wasn't the mental lapses weren't new in the
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in the championship game or not feeling like they were. They had fully showed
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up for it. But they were lucky enough that mcdaughton came up big.
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And you know, I think Mark Johnson even said in the postgame conference,
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like, no one was happier about one of mcdont's saves than KK Harvey because
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she pretty much passed it directly to a Saint Lawrence, I'm sorry player at
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least a Peterman like right in the slot. So yeah, you know,
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I think in some ways they were lucky to come out of there with a
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win. I thought it was interesting. I think both Clerkson and Colgate talked
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about like they essentially played the games they wanted to play. They they felt
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like they went out and executed the game plan they needed to be to do
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to be in a position to win. So kudos to vote those teams for
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being in that situation and going out and doing what they needed to do.
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Yeah, the one that that really pushed things in Wisconsin's favor in the third
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period when when Colgy had a fifteen six shots advantage in the third period and
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so they were bringing it. Vivian Jungles, a Badger's defender who had only
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scored four goals all season, gets a really nice pass from Brittack Curl across
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ice and scores off of that to make it to nothing. And that was,
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you know, a critical point in that game, because you know,
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one nothing game, a bounce goes the wrong way, all of a sudden
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it's tied and you don't know where that ends up. And for Wisconsin be
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up to nothing obviously made a big difference when Calty Culton Covid scores in the
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last two minutes or a little more than two minutes ago with an extra attacker
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to make it to one. Laila Edwards gets an empty netter with twelve seconds
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ago to make it three to one the final and Badgers made the championship game.
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Even though you know some of that, you know, like we're talking
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about it, Colgate was right there. I mean, they had a lot
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of chances to equalize. The one that I think you mentioned it was the
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Beiedermann breakaway that McNaughton saved, and something that stood out to me and I
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thought about it later, was we saw Casey O'Brien with a breakaway in the
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championship game two days later, and Reagan Kirk made a save back end five
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hole because really, I'm and O'Brien said this after the game, I probably
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should have done something different because that's her move. And you know, when
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you're in w C h A playing at that team that you know, uh,
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not a lot of surprises there. So but the the beiederman versus McNaughton
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breakaway, they'd played together and played against each other so many times growing up
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that McNaughton says she knew what was coming there. And so it's just as
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it's all these these you know, games within the game that fascinate me of
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being like, even though it may have been six years ago, you have
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a scouting report within a second on someone when they've got a chance. That
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is like you're calling back to something that happened a long time ago and and
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going off of that and who knows if that's you know, the reality of
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it, or if that was just a good thing to say afterwards, But
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I thought that was that was fascinating that those those couple of moments were were
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really important in those two games. Yeah. The other thing I would say
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too that we need to talk about is the penalty kill for the Badgers,
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right, they killed the five on three. The big thing for Colgate was
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not scoring on a power play, which they had plenty of, and so
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I just think like that gave the Badgers so much confidence and momentum too.
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So yeah, that, like I think in retrospect that we talked about it
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in the moment, but with the championship game and stuff, it kind of
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got lost. But yeah, there was penalties. That was the only game
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all weekend where penalties played a huge part, and the Badgers killing that five
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on three was really really crucial. Yep. So that set up the Sunday
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championship game. But on Saturday first, we had the awarding of the Paddy
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Kasmier Memorial Award, which I believe was this is year twenty seven. If
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I'm remembering from the ceremony, is that's all right, twenty Semer twenty eight.
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I believe it's twenty seven. That's just like okay, now I feel
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old but for sure hearing that that few those two times during the ceremonies like
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wow, that's uh, We've been around this for a long time. Yeah.
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But so it was Isy Daniel from Cornell and Wisconsin's top two duo of
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Casey O'Brien and Kirsten Simms as the top three vote getters, all of them
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in attendance, and Izzy Daniel was announced as the winner. And I don't
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the crowd was largely Wisconsin based, maybe not based, but Wisconsin fans,
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because you know, they were already there, they had been at the game
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of the night before, and I think a lot of them were expecting to
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hear one of their two players' names called. But there was Izzy Daniel as
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the winner of the twenty twenty four Patty Casmier Award. My Twitter mentions were
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quite a few people that wanted an explanation. Yes, yes, and yeah,
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absolutely, And the explanation is that's the way it got voted. I
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mean, there's nothing sinister about it here. There's team people on that committee,
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we have one of them here, But that's that's the vote. I
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mean, it doesn't get much clearer than that. You can you can take
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the criteria for whatever it means to you, and that's how you have to
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vote. I don't know what your your thoughts on on that were in terms
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of, you know, require an explanation or anything, but but yeah,
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that's how it's. It's sad with me. Yeah, I think there's a
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couple of things here. So I would say I had my vote was Casey
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O'Brien one, Isy Daniel to Kirsten Simms three. I put Casey first for
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a number of reasons. But you and I've talked about, like, I
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think she is a more complete player, right with the face sauce in the
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two hundred foot game and so and being so close in points, being like
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the eighth or ninth person ever to record fifty assists UH in a season,
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So that for me, Casey was the clear cut number one. I think
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that there is a discussion, well, you know, you can kind of
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hypothesize, right, is it players splitting votes from the same team? Is
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it? You know that a bunch of people had you know, Daniel too,
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but switched there, you know, between O'Brien and Sims at one and
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three, and then that kind of evens out. I would say for me,
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there is one and you know let me I'll just start here and then
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kind of go through it. But there is there's I think a valid argument
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to say that like Cornell is not a postseason team, does not make an
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ncaight quarterfinal, is not the team they are without Izzy Daniel on that team.
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And if you are talking about a most valuable player, she is incredibly
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valuable to her team. What a friend of mine said and reply to that
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is you can't punish a player for being on a good team. So like
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that, you know, if using that logic then means that, like I'm
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saying, you know, Sims and O'Brien, like Wisconsin's probably still you know,
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frozen four team without either one of them, one of them not on
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the roster, right Like they have such depth and power that somebody else buills
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that role. So you know, I guess I don't know how to think
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about that or how you want to like sort of argue if one's you know,
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more valuable than the other. But I think it was that it was
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just this outstanding, standalone season in a conference of really good teams. You
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know, she she stood above and beyond, and and that she she made
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the rest of her team better as well, which you know, it all
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gets into semantics and as you said, like it's how everybody weighs everything else.
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But I will say I was, you know, like I guess swayed
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for less lack of a better word, by what the ECAC coaches talked about
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how how important Isy Daniel was to Cornell. I also, you know,
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like I I just struggle with like I see the Badgers in person, and
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it is so much easier to understand how good a player is when you watch
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them all the time. And so I really wanted to make sure I wasn't
16:55
being swayed by that. I mean, it was interesting to me to watch
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Pasechnik in person because she I noticed more about how much she moves. She
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is a mobile goalie in a non dangerous way, Like she doesn't go from
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wanders. She is outside of her you know, of her creed and things
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like that, and that's something I wouldn't I didn't catch on streams, right
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because unless the camera is on her. But yeah, so it just it
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really that watching for such made me realize or made me like sort of validated
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for me that like you have to know that the stream is not showing you
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the full picture of a player. But yeah, I mean, I guess
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that's I don't know, it's I don't as you said, that's how people
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voted. I don't know how other people voted. I don't I voted and
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yeah, so you know, if people wanted an explanation, they're like,
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well, Kirsten's not the top score in the country, so she would have
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won. And it's not an award for the top score in the country exactly.
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That's there's an award for the top score. It's the you know,
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it's not actually an award, but it's being the top scorer in the country.
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That doesn't guarantee you anything. No, So you know, like if
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you if you want to harrass other people who voted and ask them why,
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you're welcome to you. I mean, like I said, I put my
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vote my ballet out there, but I don't I'm not I should have known
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not to say that. Uh yeah, so I just you know, like
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you could be happy or unhappy. It's Cornell's first win and they have certainly
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had some of the best players in the country and in Canada. I mean
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half the Canadian national team went to Cornell. Uh so you know, they're
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like it's a worthy program. She's a worthy player. It doesn't you know,
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your fandom and the fact that the Badger's scored more points don't mean that
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Izzy shouldn't have won. She she had an outstanding season. She is I
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think also a really good model for sort of She is not a player that
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was on you eighteen team. She is not a player that stood out that
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people that was highly recruited. She's from Minnesota and went to Cornell and and
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so you know, both she and her coach, Doug Dara talked a little
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bit about like this is such a good you know, role model and such
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a good I don't know, like that they rewarded and that you can see
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that, like the top player in the country doesn't have to be someone that
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was within their national program by the time they were sixteen. Right, there's
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room to grow, and there's room I mean, you don't have to do
19:17
that growth when you're fourteen, fifteen, sixty years old. It happens when
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you get to college too, And that's that's I think definitely something you see
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from a lot of players and just you know, maybe they don't always get
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the recognition that Eazy Daniel got this season. Yeah, I understand people are
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frustrated, but please, don't you know, harass anybody else, and please
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don't take it out on easy Daniel exactly. Well, when we come back,
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we will look back on the championship game and we'll have some audio from
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you for you from the championship game in the postcam press conferences. Stay with
19:51
us on the podcast Welcome back in the podcasts. I'm Todd Mleski here with
20:00
Nicole Hasey. We're looking back on the Frozen four and we are up to
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the championship game on Sunday. Ohio State number one in the country, Wisconsin
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number two in the country. And it's been that way for really the last
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three months, two months, four months, whatever it's been since November,
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Wisconsin gave up the number one spot to Ohio State and this was kind of
20:22
trending that way for quite a while, that the championship game was going to
20:25
be these two teams, even though they both had to work to get there.
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I guess Nicoley want to start with this, what kind of game did
20:34
you expect going into the championship game? And did you see what you expected?
20:44
I wasn't sure what to expect. It felt like I had an idea
20:48
like of maybe three or four different ways it could go, and you know,
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once you saw a couple of minutes, you kind of felt like you
20:53
knew which way it was it would trend. So I think once things got
20:59
started and they were pretty clearly up and down the ice, it was like,
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Okay, this is gonna be uh where we could be in for the
21:04
long haul here. I yeah, I think for the most part, it's
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the game that a game I guess that I expected in that no team really
21:15
steamrolled the other one, No one had a super strong advantage, nobody could
21:19
really hold the zone for very long. I think Wisconsin was less like they
21:29
They just weren't as good at sort of moving the They were really reliant on
21:33
the boards and using the backboards, and you know, Ohio State was clogging
21:36
up the middle and so they were trying to find another way to move the
21:38
puck. But I didn't find that particularly effective. They just kind of got
21:42
smooshed against the boards a munch instead. So I thought that was an interesting
21:48
tactic. But yeah, generally, do you do you feel the same way
21:49
that, like, once it was clear that it was back and forth that
21:52
like, this is the game we're gonna get Yeah, because looking back on
21:55
the five games that they had played before that this season, the first one
21:59
was really the only one that was and I was going to use the word
22:03
uncompetitive, but that's not really really even the right word, maybe just you
22:10
know, so strongly tilted towards one side. Uh So that first game was
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I believe it ended up three nothing o Hoose State and Columbus. Uh And
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and looking at that, looking back at that one, I remember thinking,
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boy, this is you know, Wisconsin does not look very good here,
22:27
more so because Ohio State is making them not look very good, right,
22:32
that the gap between the two is bigger than maybe we thought, right and
22:34
because I think they were you know, Wisconsin was twelve and zero at that
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point and beaten a lot of you know what we considered to be weaker teams
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and had run up the score on a lot of them. And uh so
22:44
you're thinking that, well, okay, this this is gonna be the real
22:47
test of things here to see where this team is at. And that that
22:49
first game it was like, well, okay, they are not a finished
22:53
product that that we thought maybe they were. Uh. They brought that back
23:00
a little bit the next day and lost in overtime, So that was you
23:03
know, more of a you know, an equal game, even though in
23:07
all of these games, Ohio State really had the possession stats tilted way in
23:11
their direction. And that's something that we normally see with Wisconsin. Wisconsin's usually
23:17
doing that to other teams. Ohio State now and over the last couple of
23:19
years has done that to them. It was interesting too, because they so
23:22
they were keeping them from getting in they were maybe keeping them from scoring as
23:27
much, but they like couldn't keep them from controlling the puck. Was that
23:30
like two thirds three quarters of the way there and a lot of block shots,
23:34
which we saw again in this game on both sides. But then when
23:38
we got to the end of the season where we saw them play at Labon
23:42
Arena on the final weekend of the regular season, Ohio State comes back to
23:47
win one game, Wisconsin comes back to win the other game, both and
23:49
each other's long winning streak, and then we go into the playoffs two weeks
23:55
later and Wisconsin just runs over Ohio State for the first couple of peer is
24:00
on the scoreboard anyway, I mean the shots weren't I mean it was it
24:03
was still a pretty low number of shots for Wisconsin to get six goals,
24:06
but they got six goals. But they was just so clear that they had
24:08
that, like they had control that came from start to finish, right and
24:12
and it So that's what to me made you know, wonder, Okay,
24:17
how what which one of these games are we going to see? Well,
24:21
the other thing is those two games that ended the regular season, is that
24:26
like Wisconsin dominated the first half of that first game and then Ohio State dominated,
24:29
Like it was never closely back and forth at the same time, it
24:33
was sort of one team exerting their will for parts of it and like then
24:37
the other team flipping it back. So in that way, I do think
24:41
the championship game was this This title game was interesting because neither of them really
24:45
held serve that way as we had seen in some of the other games.
24:49
Right, And I go back to last season in Duluth where Wisconsin won won
24:55
nothing, but it was able to play with the lead a lot for a
24:57
lot more of the game. We saw how State play with the lead in
25:02
this game. And it's just in terms of tension in a game. I'm
25:08
looking back at at last year and this year and just I'm thinking I don't
25:14
know, if I've experienced two games that have had just kind of that just
25:19
you don't know where this is going to happen, where this is going,
25:22
and what's happening next quality of them that we've seen in those two games.
25:29
Yeah, it was funny. And in Durham, I was sitting at a
25:33
table with Helly Salvian from the Athletic who, you know, it's just starting
25:37
to cover the college game as part of her her coverage of you know,
25:40
the pro leagues and the pro league in the international game, and so she
25:44
she's quite literally she's Canadian. She has no you know, no dog in
25:47
this fight. And she was so tense and she was just like this is
25:49
awful, Like how do you do this? So it was quite funny,
25:53
and it made me feel like, Okay, I'm not just like nervous or
25:56
like feeling the tension, you know, for one team or the other.
26:00
So like somebody who had who had absolutely no reason to care who won this
26:03
game also was like, oh my god, this is awful because it just
26:07
it was so back and forth. It felt like you know, somebody falling
26:11
on the ice something, you know, something catching on the ice up bouncing
26:14
put It just really felt like something dumb was going to be the thing that
26:17
ended this game. So I guess I'm thankful that it was such a pretty
26:19
goal in play that like nobody has to be, you know, extra sad
26:23
that it was it was something out of their control that decided this one.
26:27
Let's talk about that goal, because I mean, there were there were big
26:30
plays on both ends of the ice there and and really it goes to something
26:36
you said a couple of minutes ago that there were kind of the chances that
26:40
both ends a little bit one right after another, because this could have been
26:44
a brit of Curl chance for Wisconsin. Uh. It was essentially on a
26:48
breakaway. Uh. In comes cayleb Barnes kind of from from an angle from
26:52
the side, uh and and just makes a tremendous play to break up to
26:57
kill the play and and and win the puck back. And like two very
27:03
different sized humans. Yeah, so like Kyla kind of behind, not as
27:07
long of a reach, just like an absolutely a massive shutdown defensive play from
27:12
her, but she's able to recover the puck cleanly too, and then transition
27:17
that right away into the puck going back the other direction, and she feeds
27:22
it up to Henda Bilka goes up the right side into the right circle,
27:26
drops it back for Joy down and like like you mentioned, just an incredible
27:30
shot over Avian mcnonton's right shoulder, top left corner than that one nothing Ohose
27:38
with seven to twelve left, and it was you got that feeling then that
27:45
this was the equivalent of Wisconsin scoring in the game it won one nothing,
27:51
even though in that game, I felt like there was more to happen left
27:55
to happen in that game, just because it felt like there's no way Ohio
27:59
State at score exactly whereas this one. When I think when Ohio States scored
28:03
is it's like, oh yeah, It felt like that's that's the goal.
28:07
I mean, maybe they add an empty netter, or maybe they they add
28:10
on to it later, but it felt like that was it, especially because
28:14
Wisconsin had had chances earlier to break the deadlock. Yeah, Casey O'Brien had
28:21
a break away right there was Britta stole a put like Riggan Kirk misplayed the
28:26
puck behind your own net, Britta stole it and fed it in front of
28:29
the net, and it was Cassie Hall. I think that just Whift missed
28:33
it like hit her stick and popped over the top just as she was trying
28:37
to make contact with it, like rolled over instead of bouncing off and going
28:42
towards the net. Yeah, so a little quite little we say wide open
28:47
net and the net sometimes like two thirds of the net is open. This
28:48
was quite literally an empty net. So you know when things don't like that
28:53
don't go, then you start to think like, oh no, like that's
28:56
you know if Mark Johnson said it in the post game, you know,
28:59
like he the longer the game went scoreless, the more he thought, like,
29:03
you just got to get to one. Yeah, whoever gets to one
29:06
first is gonna win. I thought to like, you know, in retrospect,
29:08
that play from Ohio State, the one that they scored on, was
29:11
such a microcosm of who they were this season, right, which, strong
29:15
defense, amazing transition. The two assists went to the two BC transfer portal
29:22
pickups, you know, two national team players that went to Ohio State wanting
29:26
to win a national championship to joy done, you know, sort of a
29:30
legacy Ohio State player freshman. It just like so many pieces of that were
29:34
like exactly how Ohio State story has been written this season and sort of if
29:41
you'd have asked me at the beginning of the season to like imagine one play,
29:44
I would have said, you know, quick transition. I would have
29:45
said, you know, something from these transfer players. Like it was just
29:48
it was all of the pieces that Ohio State have put together in the off
29:52
season coming together and scoring that goal. And I mean just an absolutely it
29:56
was obviously from a different part of the ice, but it it is the
30:00
exact same shot that Dunn had scored on in the semi final. It's her
30:03
you know, absolutely massive rister where she can just pick where she puts.
30:07
It was great play by Bilka. You had mentioned, you know, the
30:11
the badger goal that Kirsten scored where kk pulled some of the defense up.
30:15
What Bilka did right, Like she she pulled it, pulled some of the
30:18
attention to her side. And yeah, it was. It was a beauty
30:23
of a goal. Like I don't, like, you can't be mad about
30:26
that other than maybe the defensive coverage. But just to watch that and see
30:30
what Ohio State did to going from like oh my god, Wisconsin might score
30:33
to they have the lead in the game in a manner of like less than
30:37
twenty thirty seconds was just it was unreal, right, like the roller coaster.
30:41
Yeah, and that that was a little bit of the I believe that
30:45
came not long after Wisconsin time out, after they had iceed the puck,
30:51
the face off happened and came back down. Brett Curl had had what looked
30:55
like it was gonna be a chance, broken up transition the other way,
30:57
and and so that's the which would have been like sort of the storybook for
31:03
the Badgers, right, win a win, a face off, which was
31:06
has been their thing. Britta the fifth year, six year captain, because
31:11
she took you know, like there it was whiplash to go from like,
31:15
oh my god, it could be this to oh my god, it was
31:17
this. And that's felt what felt like that game was a lot of it.
31:22
Yeah, you're going one way, then the other, and then you
31:26
you end up with a chance and there it goes. But Reagan Kirk made
31:30
that stand up twenty six saves for the shutout. She got the most Outsetting
31:37
Player award. But what an amazing story, right like she was Robert Morris
31:42
when they shuttered their program. I do want to give the mention that Joy
31:49
done though too. Goals in both games championship winning goal in the third period.
31:55
That's that's something that you know, probably maybe could have been a most
31:59
outsetting play recognition too. But I get the feeling she's going to have her
32:01
chances. Again. We had to turn we had to turn the ballots it
32:06
at the start of the third period. So apologies to Joy Dunne. That
32:09
was not that was all of the media think you were great. I mak
32:13
on that one wasn't great. But yeah, the I think Joe Dunn is
32:19
going to be around for a while here terrorizing other teams. Yeah, as
32:22
as Ohio State stays one of the one of the best teams in the country,
32:27
she's going to be around for that for three more years. Yeah.
32:30
I mean, just pointing out, these two teams averaged, you know,
32:32
well more than thirty shots a game. Final shot totals were twenty twenty six
32:37
in favor of the Buck guys. They averaged five or more goals a game.
32:39
We got a one zero again, So when we were heading into the
32:44
third period and all of us were feeling out our ballots, it was like,
32:45
well, it's the goalies guy, because like you know, obviously there's
32:50
going to be a game winner at some point, but yeah, you had
32:52
to shout out the goalies here. So Reagan Kirk when she transferred to Ohio
32:54
State, you know, Mazrel said, she told her that she was a
32:59
third or fourth line goal Like I have my two two players that are,
33:01
you know, battling for the starting spot, and Reagan put in the work
33:06
for the past couple of years and you know, like Amana Teelee was the
33:08
it's still on this Ohio State team and was the goalie that won their first
33:13
championship for them. And so Kirk won this starting role in her fifth year.
33:17
So that's it. It's a pretty amazing story from being on a cha's
33:21
team, you know, not recruited by some of those bigger dame programs.
33:24
Her school decides they're cutting all hockey. She makes the transfer knowing she's going
33:30
to be sitting on the bench and just keeps putting in the work. You
33:32
know, it's a I guess it's a little like we were talking about with
33:35
Izzy Daniel, like just putting in that work behind the scenes and becoming a
33:37
better player, and you know, then she got to be the most outstanding
33:40
player in the Frozen four. It's pretty awesome. Before we get to that
33:45
audio we were talking about from the postgame press conferences. Did you have any
33:49
thoughts about U n H as as a host for the event. I mean,
33:52
I I've been to a few of these. It's everyone has their quirks,
33:58
right in terms of trying to fit. Our media room was in a
34:02
dance studio. They were very good about letting us know that we had to
34:07
move about an hour ahead of time, but they did have to come and
34:10
tell us we had to get out of there because there was a six am
34:13
dance clothes the next morning and they needed to transform it back, which just
34:16
made me laugh. Like I appreciated. They all gave us plenty of warnings
34:20
so we were able to move when we were at a good point to move.
34:22
But it was also just one of those reminders that you're in a college
34:25
campus and things like get back to normal Monday morning. Yeah, And I
34:29
think I was just I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance of the championship game
34:34
being over four thousand. Yeah, and there were so many people there that
34:37
were not fians of the two teams. There were a ton of people that
34:40
just showed up to watch women's hockey, which is not something I feel like
34:45
we've seen at other Frozen fours in recent years. Sorry I talked over you
34:47
there. No, that's fine, because I was just going to go towards
34:51
the you know, is this a a benefit of the PWHL being in Boston,
34:59
having some buzz slash, probably having some cross promotion hopefully, and you
35:06
know, looking forward out of that for for next season. I'm gonna throw
35:08
this out there again, PWh as a team in Minneapolis, if there is
35:13
a pwhl L game Saturday night, a frozen four weekend, like everybody is
35:16
doing something wrong, Like there's just the NCAA is failing, the p WHL
35:21
is failing, Like that has to happen, and they've all heard this from
35:24
us. Now, We've told the NCAA, We've told the PWHL make it
35:29
happen here. Yeah. Yeah, It's just that's an absolute failure of cross
35:31
motion and understanding what's happening. I mean, there was one pup game this
35:36
weekend and it happened at the exact same time as the National Championship game.
35:38
And I know all the excuses of the quick schedule and things like that,
35:43
but like literally the only two hours we yeah, when we know, well
35:47
every year with what day and time the National Championship Game is. And I
35:53
will say like there were several p WHL Boston players that came. I didn't
35:58
see them all, but in retrospect, like O Hannah Brandt was there,
36:00
Hillary Knight was there. There were tons of players. Warren Cable came,
36:05
so many Cammi Cronish, different people that came because it was proximity. Yeah,
36:09
it's hard. New Hampshire. It's a good arena. It's Durham doesn't
36:14
have a hotel release, so like everybody was staying in Sportsmith or nearby,
36:17
so that's a little hard and frustrating. It's usually during their spring break,
36:22
so this small town is even smaller because lots of stuff it's closed. So
36:27
in that way, it's tough. Like it's kind of like how Penn State
36:30
was a great host and a great location, but it's not easy to get
36:32
to. But at least New Hampshire is easy for East Coasters, so it
36:37
did. You know, there are times when when it's frustrating to be out
36:40
there in the middle of nowhere and this isn't quite the middle of nowhere,
36:43
but yeah, I mean it was they they it ran really well from like
36:49
the behind the scenes. We had places, we had, you know,
36:52
a wark room to work in, We had all of the stuff that we
36:54
needed. We had a very attentive staff from you and H and NCA.
36:59
I think my one complaint would be that we the tables we were on in
37:02
the stands were tilted so you couldn't set anything on it, and like my
37:07
laptop slid off of it. You couldn't put a soda down, you couldn't
37:10
put a pen down, so like figuring out a way to eat it.
37:14
That out, Like I couldn't keep my very nice kid rack handy because I
37:16
was worried about it falling and breaking, so like that feels like just a
37:21
little wedge under each leg. That would be my big complaint, which means
37:23
we're doing pretty good. But as a fan experience, I mean there was
37:27
one the one only thing that I heard from from fans that was a little
37:32
off putting was I guess that there was only one souvenir stand open and the
37:39
line that line was, I mean it was it kind of was circling the
37:45
arena. It felt like at one point, is there a reason that couldn't
37:47
be opened? Before and after the patty or yeah, like set up an
37:52
auxiliary booth. They just and this is a problem in women's sports period.
37:57
I'm twenty fifteen at the Women's World Cup in Canada. Like the line literally
38:00
circled the whole concourse. People were talking about this at NWUSL like my,
38:06
why don't we tweeted about it. Cat Cornetta from the Boston Globe started and
38:09
I pivy it back like that was the most interactive tweet I got all weekend.
38:15
Uh, so it is. It's an ongoing problem. It shouldn't be
38:17
a surprise to anyone anymore. Put stuff online. Guys like Danca has it
38:22
online shop use it and if they are, I don't know anything about it
38:27
right in a tent outside where people can you know when they're waiting to get
38:30
in because there's a lot of people that wait. There was a massive lobby.
38:34
Yeah, that lobby would have been great for it. Yeah, it
38:37
was the first time I did see brands there like giving away stuff. That
38:42
was nice. But like there, Yeah, there was an opportunity to do
38:44
some more interactive stuff in that lobby. Uh, but yeah, it was
38:47
Uh, it would have been nice that that Birch line was long the entire
38:52
weekend and again like just open it at other times, have one in town.
38:58
I don't know. There's just like there's so many ways that that could
39:00
have gone differently, and it is frustrating that it is the same problem over
39:05
and over and over and over again. I was lucky to have people in
39:08
town with me, so like they were able to get me something like I
39:13
just wanted to pin and I was like, I'm a stand in this,
39:15
Like I don't have the opportunity for that, you know, but like I
39:17
try to get a pin at everyone we go to and it was just not
39:21
wouldn't have happened had I not had friends going to stand in the line.
39:22
So yeah, it's just it is an ongoing issue in women's sports, particularly
39:28
I know we have it with the NCAA. So guys, figure it out.
39:31
You had nine million volunteers. Somebody else could have been doing that.
39:37
Yep. Indeed, Well we mentioned some audio. Let's get to that.
39:39
Now you're gonna hear in order here from WHA say coach Nadine Masral, goalie
39:46
Reagan Kirk, goal scorer Joy Don, and then from Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson.
39:52
Before we wrap up this segment, here is that audio from postgame on
39:58
Sunday, and just very humbled be sitting here. You have these visions throughout
40:01
the year, but when it really happens, it seems so surreal. Again,
40:05
First, congrats to the players and all their hard work that they put
40:08
in throughout the year. Congratulations to Wisconsin. That was on hell of a
40:13
game. Both teams really battled hard. You know, we knew it was
40:20
going to be a tough challenge because they have so much offensive power, and
40:23
we focused really on their transition side of the game and not giving up odd
40:28
man rushes and controlling the neutral zone. And then we did that very well,
40:31
I think, and we were getting our chances, as were they.
40:35
But I was very proud of their defensive side of the game today. I
40:38
was very proud of how they punched back after a tough loss the last time
40:42
we played against Wisconsin and the conference title. I think it showed a lot
40:46
of character of not letting that get to them on the high stage. But
40:52
Kirky, I mean to get a shout out against one of the best teams
40:55
in the country at a key moment in your career and way to end,
41:00
and just very proud of her and then you have a freshman just lighting the
41:04
lamp again and just unbelievable by two assists, by two kids who transferred in
41:08
who never won a national championship that really wanted to come to OSU to have
41:13
that opportunity. But sorry if I'm rambling, but I'm just feel like I'm
41:16
at the oscars have to thank everybody, but just very proud in the support
41:22
of our athletic department here at Ohio State with Janine and Jean and Ross and
41:27
the president being here and just shows a lot of love, a lot of
41:30
Bucky love, you know, just there's a lot of Bucky love that they
41:36
give to us. So very grateful and yeah, we're gonna enjoy this moment.
41:40
I think it's hard to put in the words and even just saying like,
41:44
I mean my gear, like that was my last college hockey game.
41:45
I think I need a moment before I take it all off. But just
41:49
yeah, like freshman year, I don't think would believe that I would be
41:52
sitting here today and after you know, program gets cut and you're on the
41:55
portal kind of thing and just getting to find a new home in Ohio State
41:59
and just the body of work that we put in every day and sure,
42:02
yeah we won the first one two years ago and it was a tough one
42:05
last year, and I think everyone had a chip on their shoulder this year,
42:07
the revenge tour you might want to call it, but even just like
42:10
how much work we put in day in and like day out, and we
42:14
just deserved so much. And I'm just so proud of everybody. I mean,
42:17
like going back to when I made my decision to come to Ihowa State,
42:21
like the goals was to win a national championship, to become a player
42:24
every day, and that's just kind of what happened, Like what Muz when
42:29
Muzz was recruiting me, Like everything she said was true and she meant it
42:34
and she cared. And this this team was so much of a family.
42:37
Like I like, yes, I scored the goal, but there's so much
42:40
in that game, blocks great saves, Like it took a team, it
42:44
took a village, it took behind the scenes work, it took our Monday
42:46
practices, like it took everything, and so just like like this is what
42:52
we worked for it. I'm just so thankful because this is an amazing team
42:54
to win a national championship with, first of all congratulate Ohio State on winning
42:59
the game. This afternoon seemed like a chess chess match, the at least
43:07
for fifty five or so minutes. But it stings. I mean anytime you
43:10
get in this position and you know, you work with a group of players
43:15
for an entire season and you're so close but yet so far away from,
43:22
you know, getting the championship trophy, I mean, it stings and it
43:24
hurts, and it should. I mean, these kids put a lot of
43:27
time, they put a lot of energy, they commit themselves, they go
43:32
through adversity. I mean we ended up winning thirty five games this year,
43:37
and as I told the squad after the game, I mean, once the
43:39
sting goes away and the hurt, you know, subsides, and you reflect
43:45
on your season, there's a lot for them to be proud of. I
43:49
mean, we still have a young team. I thought they did well this
43:53
afternoon. They gave us an opportunity to win the game. It seemed as
43:58
the third period was going on, it was going to be who would get
44:01
to one first, and unfortunately for us, that wasn't. It wasn't in
44:07
there, and the plans, as far as you know, giving up a
44:13
goal but it wasn't due to lack of effort. It was a battle for
44:20
space on the ice. There weren't a lot of quality scoring opportunities at both
44:24
ends, and so it's going to come down to one play. They made
44:28
the play, they win the game, and it hurts. Welcome back to
44:42
the podcast. Todd Musky here with Nicole Hasey as we wrap up the Frozen
44:45
Four and the women's hockey season. One last thing about the Frozen four weekend
44:51
that we collected to mention earlier, the Petticast ceremony, and it was in
44:54
its second year of being as part of the venue the site venue in in
45:00
the arena. It was in the lobby in the Louth in twenty twenty three.
45:04
It was in the lobby of the WD Moore Center Arena again in twenty
45:07
twenty four. You had I know you've had some thoughts about this, Nicole,
45:13
and it just seems like a really good thing to have that in the
45:15
building. But maybe there are a couple of things that much better, that
45:19
can be a little bit better, even improved out of that. We've seen
45:22
this is an improvement, but there's still a couple of things that might be
45:24
able to help there, right, Well, the biggest thing that it's broadcast
45:30
live on NHL networks. That means there's a lot of you know, logistics,
45:34
there's a big camera platform, things like that, and so I understand
45:37
that they want that the seats in front of that camera to be full,
45:40
that it needs to look nice. But this is the second year doing it
45:45
this way. In both times the space was too small, like there there
45:47
were more people that wanted to attend than could get seats or really be in
45:52
the area to see what was happening. So I think that USA Hockey and
45:55
the NCAA need to understand that this appeals to people. And so maybe then
46:00
is that there needs to be a camera, you know, a screen to
46:04
show to the people behind the camera platform and some seats back there. But
46:07
yeah, that lobby wasn't big enough, and I think, you know,
46:10
two years in a row now you see that there is a desire for people
46:14
to be there, and so I think they just need to plan ahead and
46:17
be using a bigger space to make sure that everybody is not sort of crowded
46:22
along walls and shoved in a corner. It was gross weather on Saturday,
46:27
sleep and freezing rain and it was rough to get there and everybody that came,
46:30
a lot of people had to be standing in the back and couldn't really
46:32
even see. So just want to point out that it's awesome that it's on
46:37
campuses now. It's so much better than the early Saturday morning brunch we used
46:40
to do. It was fancy, it was early, early being the main
46:45
problem, particularly if we had overtimes the night before. It's just it's such
46:50
a better setup. This was so cool to have Patty Kasmayer's daughter and granddaughter
46:54
there. That was the first time in the years that I've been doing this
46:57
that they I've seen that usually Laura Elderson, who played with Patty and his
47:00
friends with her as the rep from the family. So very cool to include
47:04
that. Definitely don't want to take away anything from it. Was handled really
47:08
well. You know, there was a power artage and things still went off
47:10
pretty well without a hitch. But it needs to be in a bigger space,
47:15
much like with the merch line that the demand is there, so please
47:17
please meet it. Yes. Well, speaking of increasing demand, We've got
47:22
some news this week from the coaching front. We heard a few months ago
47:29
that the University of Delaware is adding a Division one women's hockey program, and
47:32
they have their very first head coach, and that is Alison Komi, a
47:37
most recently associate head coach I believe, assistant coach at associate at coach,
47:44
yeah, at Penn State for the last really the length of the program,
47:47
no, not not quite, not quite all the way back. She came
47:51
a few years in, but that's a really experienced person to go with as
47:57
your your first coach, and I think that's probably a smart move. Even
48:01
though she hasn't been a head coach at the college level, she's been right
48:06
in there at a few different schools in terms of being highly involved with things,
48:10
and that's you know, that's that's part when you're building a program.
48:15
There are so many things to do, but you've got to be really dialed
48:19
in on how effective programs operate. And I think she's probably seen that at
48:22
BU and at Penn State, right And she was actually a student player at
48:28
Niagara when they started their D one program, so that I don't think the
48:34
selection list for a new head coach was has started a program from scratch,
48:37
but that certainly they just really she came in right after you know, Penn
48:40
State had started, had converted there, so she she brought all this extra
48:45
and like you said, I think it was just a matter of her needing
48:47
the right opportunity to move to head coach. So Allison I think is a
48:52
huge pickup already coaching in the CHA where Delaware is going to be so understanding,
48:57
you know, the other programs, understanding, you know where the recruiting
49:00
from. Yeah, I think she's a really great pickup. And then talking
49:02
to both her and the athletic director Chrissy rock at Ud, so Allison is
49:09
a very sort of like kind of measured, calm person and so like it's
49:15
very funny the athletic or at Delaware, Chrissy is like super affusive. They're
49:19
very different people. But one of the things Chrissy said that she liked is
49:22
that like Alison knows who she is and is very self aware and so like
49:25
we'll be bringing in you know staff that like someone someone needs to be super
49:30
high energy and hyping the team up. She knows that's not her and being
49:35
self we were like, we like a self aware person who knows their strengths
49:37
of their weaknesses. But yeah, I think that's a huge pickup for them,
49:42
you know, Allison was just reading for the right opportunity. And you
49:45
know, when I think I said this, when they announced, like I
49:47
was excited there was gonna be another team, and then when it was another
49:51
East Coast team, I was like, uh, but like understanding that Delaware
49:53
is hitting that Washington d CEA and Philadelphia market that no other college team is.
49:59
It's pretty exciting. In the flyer seem to be super on board,
50:01
so some historic partnerships there, and I just think everything the way it sounds
50:07
anyway, is everything about this is really exciting for the future of women's college
50:12
hockey overall, but in that area particularly. We have coaching moves, and
50:16
of course this is the time of the year where we have to start looking
50:20
at player moves too. Because the transfer portal is open, it is active.
50:23
We've seen some some experienced players go in already. If you're you're you
50:32
know, not aware or you know, the transfer portal isn't a public document,
50:37
but there are people who keep tabs on it and make it public.
50:42
Essentially. Our friends at Gopher Puck Live are among those who do that,
50:45
and so we've seen some names enter over the last you know, we can
50:51
change really a few goalies will be changing goalies. Yeah, we have Kayleie
51:00
Osborne from Colgate who is going for her final seasons somewhere else after I mean,
51:07
who wouldn't want a goalie for a year who would just put up a
51:10
nine one save percentage in one to twenty eight goals against. I mean that
51:14
that seems pretty uh like like she'll get a few calls out of the portal.
51:20
But also from Minnesota Luth Haley McLeod. She has two seasons of eligibly
51:25
remaining. And again that's probably one of the more surprising names thus far.
51:31
That's the gascon factor right where You've got a goalie that comes in and I
51:37
guess maybe, uh that is the you know, the future for the Bulldogs,
51:43
and Haley McLeod decides that, you know, maybe I've I've got a
51:47
chance somewhere else. All the writing on the wall, yeah, I mean
51:51
they ended up splitting time, but both of both. I mean, Haley
51:53
was in the conversation for Goalie of the Year. Maybe could Slash should have
51:59
made the top three. I mean this is that's a big name goalie that's
52:02
available and it's not just a one year rental. So I think that's probably
52:07
for me, maybe the most interesting name that's in there so far. Another
52:12
goalie is Olivia King, who spent the last year at Saint Thomas but was
52:15
with the Gophers before that. So it's someone with a lot of experience facing
52:21
some of those higher end teams. So I thought that her name in there
52:23
was interesting as well. This is I mean, we've seen where you know,
52:29
Ohio State benefits from the transfer portal and wins the national championship out of
52:34
it. You know that eight transfers, eight seniors or I'm sorry, not
52:38
eight transfer eight grad students, I believe in eight four the years and something
52:44
like that. There's they had a lot of them obviously a lot of it,
52:47
and you can see where that that benefits you if you're able to find
52:52
the right connections, the right combinations. It doesn't always work out out of
52:58
transfers. You sometimes get the ones that you know, this it wasn't we
53:01
thought it was gonna be a good fit. It sometimes doesn't work that way,
53:06
but we've seen where if you find the right combinations, you can not
53:10
only you know, build on what you've already done and be at a really
53:14
high level, but you can change an awful lot in a short amount of
53:17
time, like we maybe saw for a lot of the seasons at Saint Claude
53:21
State this season right where a new coach comes in and UH is able to
53:27
build a lot faster than in the past. Yeah, or you'll see,
53:30
you know, like maybe the team has recruited to fill a gap, but
53:35
the you know, that player isn't slated to come in for a year or
53:37
two, and so you know you might be able to bring in another defender
53:42
or another forward or another goalie. I mean you think, I think about
53:45
like Anna Wilgrin at Wisconsin where they have, you know, such a young
53:47
defense, so like bringing in a fifth year who had you know, national
53:51
team experience was you know really important and really big for them and and fit
53:54
in with the group really well. So yeah, it you know, when
53:59
these players are in the portal, that doesn't mean they're necessarily good to transfer.
54:02
So usually it's a mixture of the student looking for a different opportunity.
54:07
Maybe they're not being a rule for them going forward on their current team.
54:12
That fifth year, I mean you're recruiting several years in advance, and so
54:15
the fifth year that COVID added, which we've still got a handful of kids
54:21
still have theirs really sort of changed what was available on teams for spaces that
54:25
they had and you know, scholarship money and all of that sort of stuff.
54:30
So yeah, I think another couple of the other interesting names Sarah Swiderski
54:34
from Clarkson. She was with Canada U eighteens, so she's got two years
54:38
of eligibility left to defender. Sarah Bouchet was the leading scorer at Mercyhurst this
54:45
year and has one year of eligibility left, so she's on there. And
54:49
Rachel Bjorgen who was really big late for Saint Lawrence and they're late pushed to
54:52
the NCAAs. So those are a couple of the big names in the last
54:55
day or two that I saw that really I thought were interesting additions. Yeah,
55:00
and you would imagine there will be more. You get a few weeks
55:02
to uh, just let this really shake out and and we're going to see
55:07
some some players commit to new schools pretty soon here and that'll be you know
55:13
that there there will be a lot of movement over the summer, because there
55:16
there has been these last couple of years, and you really have to kind
55:19
of pay attention to see who's who's ending up where and the you know,
55:22
the schools that were even uh, you know, competing this last weekend really
55:28
have to have to be observant. And I think Nadine mentioned this point.
55:32
You have to know what's going on even if you're still playing that because you
55:37
can't if there's someone out there you want, you can't get beat to them
55:39
by someone else just because you still have games going on. Yeah. Oh,
55:45
I wanted to mention to the twenty twenty three more Herd winner, which
55:47
is the player of the year in D three. Darcy Madson is in the
55:52
transfer portal. So that's another interesting name. There were you know the I
55:55
think what was that. Technically there's some different das and so, yeah,
56:00
there have been some interesting names. I kind of forgot scrolling back how far
56:04
and we were talking goalies. Madison Fouchet, who had been at Franklin Pierce
56:08
and then went to the Midget State is in here. Yeah, there's some
56:15
there's some names, and every year, every time you check check it,
56:16
you're like, oh really, so uh it definitely always makes you wonder who
56:21
who's up for grabs, why they might be leading, and yeah, so
56:27
I it will keep track of this in the off season on your sho so
56:31
you know, keep following along. But yeah, there's some great opportunities out
56:35
there, and and you know, we're naming some of the players that had
56:37
big seasons, but sometimes it's just a chemistry thing. And so someone on
56:42
here with lots of eligibility left that maybe didn't get the opportunity they wanted could
56:46
really have a breakout year, you know, next year with a different team.
56:50
So, uh, there's a there's been a ton of names in the
56:52
past few days, so it will it will definitely be interesting to see how
56:55
this goes. Indeed, and uh, while this is our last regular weekly
57:01
episode of the podcast, we will have a few over the off season.
57:06
I believe we're planning one around the World Championship and we will with the essentially
57:14
with the high number of college connections that will be involved in that, we'll
57:17
have fun need to talk about there. But right I'll be in Utica for
57:22
the everything past the group round, so we'll definitely maybe do a group round
57:27
recap and then talk something towards the end. But we also want to hear
57:30
from you guys and know what you'd like us to talk about here too.
57:35
It's either this off season or going in the next season. It was nice
57:37
meeting a few listeners. It was Durham over the weekend, and we really
57:43
do appreciate everyone who's listened throughout this this first season of the podcast, and
57:49
Nicole, it's it's been great talking hockey with you, and I mean,
57:52
I'm drawing on your experience from this game has been really great for me and
57:58
I know for our listeners to to know more about what's going on. I
58:02
find myself in awe of everything that you know about this game and how much
58:07
that you watch and how much you pay attention to and I want to thank
58:12
you for for everything you've done to, you know, make this work and
58:16
make this a product that I think you know from what we've heard from people
58:22
too, that that people are enjoying and you know, bigger and better things
58:27
in the future for us. Well, thank you. Friends. Todd did
58:30
not tell me he was going to do that, so uh, I didn't
58:35
pay him and that was unexpected, but thank you. I mean, I
58:38
do this because I love it, you know. It was it was nice.
58:40
I met some parents who of various players infacted the semi final. I
58:45
had parents in front of me and one of the Dad said, you know,
58:50
like I appreciate that sometimes this is the only way we know what's going
58:53
on. And uh uh, he teased me. He's like, well,
58:55
I wish, you know, you did a little more out East, and
58:58
then I I, you know, I would love to. So you know,
59:00
if any if any wants to fund me going to games out East,
59:04
you know how to find me. But he also said, I know that
59:07
the fact that you watch and love the games that you go to is why
59:10
you do this, and so I appreciate it. You know, I do
59:14
try my best to work against those biases and watch as much as I can.
59:16
And I appreciate what you said, Todd. That's very kind, and
59:22
you know sometimes this can be hard and frozen four Weekend is definitely a sprint
59:25
at the end of the marathon and it's totally worth it, though, and
59:30
meeting listeners was really cool and hearing that people are loving this and loving getting
59:35
that insight. I'm glad, you know, Todd and I talked about this
59:37
kind of nebulously, nebulously and then we just like went for it. We
59:40
weren't really sure, so I'm glad that it has worked out and that people
59:45
are happy listening to it, so definitely tell us what more you want to
59:47
know and want us to talk about. And yeah, I'm rambling because Todd,
59:52
I'm threw me out. I threw off sorry, Yeah yeah. Reach
59:57
out to us on social We're easy to find on on Twitter, X and
1:00:02
Instagram and hit us up there with anything you'd like to see from the show
1:00:07
going forward. Thank you so much for listening. We love getting to talk
1:00:13
about this and I love giving to share it with you. We know that
1:00:15
hockey is the greatest game in the world, and we know that college hockey
1:00:20
holds a special place in our hearts. And we're I know for me anyway,
1:00:23
and I think I speak for Nicole. We just, you know,
1:00:27
love being able to do what we do and that's why we're here. And
1:00:30
so thanks for everyone who's listened and we'll continue to listen, for joining us,
1:00:37
for helping make this better production, for helping us know that there are
1:00:39
people out there who care and love this as much as we do. And
1:00:44
so thank you all. That's going to wrap it up for this edition of
1:00:47
the podcast. For Nicole Hasey, I'm Todd and Leski. Thanks so much
1:00:52
everyone. We will talk to you soon.