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Digging into NCAA women's hockey rule changes and this week's games · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hi and welcome back to the podcast. Todd Molesky and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Nicole Haase here with you again this week. This is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: our second episode of the week. If you missed our
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: first episode, go back and check that one out. We
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: looked back on last weekend's results. This is our, I guess,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: looking forward part of the week. What our second episode
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: will be. That's our plans anyway. We'll see how it goes.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: If you have feedback, make sure that, uh, give us a,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a message on, on social media or an email. You
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: can find that, uh, those, uh, links in our, uh,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: show notes. Uh, but Nicole, the, um, the thing we
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  Speaker 1: want to start with this for this episode is it's, we're,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: we've been talking a lot about the rules. You and
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  Speaker 1: I can kind of been going back and forth about
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this offline and just, we, you know, we have, uh,
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  Speaker 1: taking in some of the rules changes this year, which
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  Speaker 1: you can find on the NCAA site. We'll include a
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  Speaker 1: link to that as well in the show notes. But
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  Speaker 1: one of the big things.
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  Speaker 2: It's not going to be this week, but I hopefully
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  Speaker 2: will write it up for everybody so we can have
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  Speaker 2: some exact wording and some stuff like that.
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  Speaker 3: Apologies, but I'm going out of town, so it won't
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  Speaker 3: be till next week.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but so there are a lot of kind of,
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  Speaker 1: I guess you might call mundane changes, things that really
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  Speaker 1: get in the weeds. But one of the big ones
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  Speaker 1: for me is an attempt to really try and clarify
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  Speaker 1: what is and what isn't body checking. And so it's
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  Speaker 1: a women's hockey specific rule because that doesn't obviously apply
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  Speaker 1: on the men's side. So this has been the one
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  Speaker 1: rule in the combined rule book that has been specifically
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  Speaker 1: for women's hockey. And so it's always been a little
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  Speaker 1: bit open to interpretation, at least from my perspective, of
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  Speaker 1: how that rule is enforced. And I think they're trying
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  Speaker 1: to maybe take some of that out and provide some
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  Speaker 1: more examples of what is a penalty and what isn't
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  Speaker 1: a penalty. And so I will open it up to
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  Speaker 1: you because we were talking about a play that was
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  Speaker 1: shown as an example of, okay, this is not body checking,
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  Speaker 1: but it to me looked like there was a raised elbow.
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  Speaker 1: And so shouldn't that have been part of it? a
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  Speaker 1: factor in it, but apparently not. This is just something
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  Speaker 1: that it's going to be so difficult to come to
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  Speaker 1: a consensus on, I feel.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they sort of laid out four.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of like guiding principles. One of them, parallel possession pursuit,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: which is the shoulder to shoulder moving in the same direction.
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  Speaker 2: And wall pursuit, which is, you know, behind the goal when,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: you know, you sort of see the players crash into
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the end boards. Forward angle and cutback, which is the
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  Speaker 2: one video that we saw where we were like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we don't understand.
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  Speaker 3: Um, and that's about like a defender holding.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: An established lane, meaning like if the, the offensive player is,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: you know, skating with the puck and turns around or
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  Speaker 2: turns into somewhere a defender already is.
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  Speaker 3: And that did happen in this video. But then also,
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  Speaker 3: as you said, there was like the whole, the stick
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  Speaker 3: goes flying and like, that doesn't happen if there's, it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't matter. And 50-50 puck battles. So those are sort
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: of like the areas that.
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  Speaker 2: We're, we're talking about and, One of the things they
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  Speaker 2: really focused on was like a collision versus a penalty
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  Speaker 2: and sort of a distinct moment of impact, not continuous
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: angling and shared lane contact. So like anything that's an
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  Speaker 2: opposite direction hit, contact from behind, if there's driving through,
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  Speaker 2: if there's overt extension. So those are sort of all
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  Speaker 2: of the sort of keywords that they talked about. What
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  Speaker 2: they really wanted, the first time we've had it, we
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  Speaker 2: had a little webinar and it was for sort of
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  Speaker 2: women's hockey media, including, you know, the people that are doing, um, streams,
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  Speaker 2: they're doing, you know, the, the play by playing color
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  Speaker 2: on streams. Um, and he just really wanted to sort
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  Speaker 2: of like emphasize a collision versus a penalty and not
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  Speaker 2: calling everything checking just because there's contact. Um, so I
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  Speaker 2: thought that was just really interesting that they want to
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  Speaker 2: like sort of clarify and make sure people are using
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  Speaker 2: the right wording, but I mean, it was 20 minutes
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  Speaker 2: of talking to not feel like we.
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  Speaker 3: Were ready for, like, does it still feel really ambiguous
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  Speaker 3: to you?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. It does to the point
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  Speaker 1: that I, I understand. And I, I appreciate that they
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  Speaker 1: have these specific scenarios, kind of the ones you mentioned
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  Speaker 1: laid out. Yeah. And, and I appreciate that you're, you're
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  Speaker 1: talking about Steve Piotrowski, who is a, the secretary of
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  Speaker 1: rules editor of the, the, the, the NCAA for, for
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  Speaker 1: ice hockey. And, someone that I have a lot of
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  Speaker 1: respect for. I've known him for a lot of years.
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  Speaker 1: And like you mentioned, I appreciate that they went through
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  Speaker 1: specifically on women's hockey rules this year and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the changes that happened to say, look, these are
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  Speaker 1: the things that are specific to the women's game because
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  Speaker 1: this is a little bit of what's happening. There's been
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: a split in the men's rulebook and the women's rulebook
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  Speaker 1: and how things are going to be addressed there. There
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  Speaker 1: are different rules committees there. moving forward. And so there's,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of this that's going to happen, but yes,
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  Speaker 1: in this specific instance, it's like, I, I, I, I
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  Speaker 1: appreciate that there's an effort to clarify this and, and
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  Speaker 1: it has to happen because at the, the pro levels
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  Speaker 1: of the game, this is changing a lot faster than
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  Speaker 1: I think anyone may have expected in terms of, you know,
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  Speaker 1: going from no checking in, in college to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there's a pretty decent amount that's okay now. So I
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  Speaker 1: think this is one of those things that just is
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  Speaker 1: going to have to get more and more experience and
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  Speaker 1: more and more of a, yes, this was a penalty,
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  Speaker 1: this was not a penalty, and here's why. And that
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  Speaker 1: kind of thing doesn't happen overnight.
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  Speaker 2: No, and I will say that overall, well, it felt like,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you would know this better than I, but it felt
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  Speaker 2: like even beyond this, this felt like an obscene amount
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  Speaker 2: of rule changes. Some of it was really minutiae, some
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  Speaker 2: of that, but I was just like, oh my God,
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  Speaker 2: this is so much in one year.
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  Speaker 1: I keep this on my desk and people who are
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: watching the video will see this. It's a printout of
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the 2026 and 27 ice hockey rules changes. It is
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  Speaker 1: 13 pages in a horizontal, so landscape printout format because
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  Speaker 1: it covers everything and it says which rule changes apply
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  Speaker 1: to Division I men, National Collegiate women, D3 men, D3 women,
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  Speaker 1: because they all can be a little bit different now.
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  Speaker 1: And that is, for people who watch multiple versions of
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  Speaker 1: the game, for lack of a better term, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking, you know, D1 men or D3 men, D3 women,
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  Speaker 1: D1 National Collegiate women, could it be kind of a
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: nightmare to try to figure out, well, no, wait, that
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  Speaker 1: was a rule in this game that I watched yesterday.
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  Speaker 3: What if you're an official that works between, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: That has come up and how, so if you're an
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: official that works men's and women's games and maybe some
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  Speaker 1: minor pro games, you're working on three different rule books.
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  Speaker 1: And then, you know, youth games, you're working on a
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  Speaker 1: different rule book there through USA Hockey.
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  Speaker 3: And 13 pages of changes this year.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a lot.
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  Speaker 3: So like part of the time you've learned it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so I.
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  Speaker 3: And I just like.
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  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to point out, like, you said this earlier, but, like,
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  Speaker 2: I just want to point out to people, like, within
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  Speaker 2: the past couple years, like, it was one rulebook for
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  Speaker 2: men and women, and literally the very last rule was
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  Speaker 2: women only.
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  Speaker 3: So it was a completely fair rulebook. There was no
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  Speaker 3: distinction between the two. And then, I mean, this new
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  Speaker 3: rule is Rule 94.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was Rule 93 was, like, and Rule 93,
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  Speaker 2: women's hockey.
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  Speaker 3: And, like, it was two paragraphs.
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  Speaker 2: And that was the entire distinction in this book between
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  Speaker 2: men's and women's collegiate hockey rules.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, there's a lot of changes.
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  Speaker 2: And I would say maybe the overarching theme is like
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  Speaker 2: they're trying to take out the subjectiveness of some of
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  Speaker 2: this or a lot of this.
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  Speaker 3: So they're attempting to. I shouldn't say they are.
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  Speaker 2: They are attempting to take out subjectiveness from a lot
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  Speaker 2: of these things. And so that's where I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's the sort of driving force between a ton of
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  Speaker 2: the decisions and changes made from, you know, what is
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  Speaker 2: a major or minor, reviews, all this sort of stuff.
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  Speaker 2: They're really trying to make it do the best they
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  Speaker 2: can to mean that whatever game is happening, sort of
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  Speaker 2: the same outcomes come from similar plays.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Would you agree?
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  Speaker 1: I think so.
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  Speaker 3: So that it's not like, why was that one was
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  Speaker 3: a major and this one wasn't?
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  Speaker 2: It's because there was a lot of stuff left to subjectivity.
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  Speaker 3: So anyway, so yes, we could.
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  Speaker 1: That, I think, is part of the challenge of being
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  Speaker 1: an official in any sport is that some things are
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  Speaker 1: just going to be up to your judgment. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what you have to accept when you're getting into a
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  Speaker 1: sport that is not black and white in terms of
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  Speaker 1: what interpretations can be on the rules.
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  Speaker 3: But that's why I think we have several pages of.
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  Speaker 2: what is body contact and what is checking so that
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  Speaker 2: we take some of that ambiguity out of it. So
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  Speaker 2: there is no question that you think it's one thing
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  Speaker 2: and the other ref thinks it's something else. Like here
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  Speaker 2: are very clear definitions of what we're trying to discuss.
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  Speaker 1: One of the, I just as an example, some of
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the rule changes, one of them is removing the goalkeepers
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: privilege area, which is obsolete in most other levels of hockey.
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  Speaker 1: It says, Um, but it's only being done in, on
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  Speaker 1: the men's side. And also, uh, along with that also
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  Speaker 1: being done on the men's side is you'll might see
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  Speaker 1: this on the ice in some games this year. There's
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a trapezoid like we've seen in most levels of pro
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  Speaker 1: hockey behind the net where the goalie can play the puck.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a thing in women's hockey yet. That hasn't.
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  Speaker 1: met with any approval in women's hockey. It's becoming a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more difficult.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure we're clarifying anything for anyone, but I
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: just felt like you and I, we sat through this
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  Speaker 2: webinar with so much information and I just wanted to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: pass on some of it. I will say one of
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: the things I wanted to point out that I thought
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: was really helpful.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Is, I'm sorry, what is his name again?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Steve Piotrowski, yes.
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  Speaker 2: What Steve said was officials are going to judge the
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  Speaker 2: action that created the content, not the contact, not.
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  Speaker 3: Just the outcome.
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  Speaker 2: So if a player goes down, that doesn't automatically mean
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: there's a penalty. And I think that one's really important too,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: as the game has evolved in terms of like a
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: player of, you know, Layla Edwards size versus a player
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: of like Kendall coin size, like those two players are
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: going to experience contact differently. Right. And so, um, just
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  Speaker 2: using those two players as an example, but just the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: size disparity and that sometimes like a player is going
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: to bounce off another player.
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  Speaker 3: That doesn't mean a penalty happened.
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  Speaker 2: So I really like sort of that clarity of it's
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: not just what happened, but the action that created the contact.
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  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, so there, the ruling is a body
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  Speaker 2: check is a distinct definable moment of impact using overt
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: slash latent hip, shoulder, arm, or torso action meant to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: separate the puck carrier from the That is the baseline
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: that we started with and worked from, and everything sort
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: of came out of there. We can get really in
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the weeds on all of those things, but I would
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: say those two sort of sentences are the guiding principles
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: of what we're looking at.
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  Speaker 1: So getting back to something you said earlier, actually a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: couple of things. Sorry. No, that's okay. Judging the action
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and not the result. So somebody's stick going flying is
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the result. It's not necessarily the action. It could be
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a perfectly legal contact. but just catching someone's hand or
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: arm in the right way to send their sick flying, which,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: you know, gets people thinking, well, that was obviously a hit.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: There's a, that that's gone over the line. That is
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: kind of where you're getting into that definition of like,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: what's the action and what's the reaction. And so that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: is important to know, um, I don't really remember what
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the other thing I was even thinking about now because
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: we've gone over so many different things and all along this,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: but no, it just gets into the, the fact that
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: this is a time of real heavy change in terms
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of rules. And it's not just at this level, but
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it's kind of being brought in from the PWHL and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: pro levels too. Yeah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: There's a work, a work to align them more, I believe.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Right. A couple of things I wanted to mention, some
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: of the other smaller ones that I think just like really,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: you know, sort of detailed fans would notice. And I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: assume the people that bother listening to us every week
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: are like this. A hand pass that starts and begins
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: entirely in the defensive zone is not a.
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  Speaker 3: Hand pass anymore.
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  Speaker 1: Now illegal again, right?
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: And then illegal again. And then maybe you can explain
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: it better.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know how to like shorthand this, but the
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: offsides were the continuous motion. So it's not just puck
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: must beat player. yeah like you could be moving backwards
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: into the zone if you are like sort of continuously
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: possessing the puck through that whole process that's going to
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: be an interesting one because it's very much about the
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: possession and and um control of the puck um and
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: that is the subject subjectivity of the official there but
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: um i just think those are the sort of things
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: where like people are watching me like oh my god
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: that's off sides and so there were just a couple
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: small things i'd Can you say.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: That better than I did?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Well, the offside one is the important thing there is
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that that's not necessarily a change as much as just
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: kind of trying to emphasize the fact that possession does
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: not necessarily mean the puck is on the player's stick
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the whole time. Possession in hockey, you can be moving
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the puck back and forth on your stick, but it
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: might not always be in contact with the blade. But
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: before you go into the zone, if you're backing in,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: so if your skates are in first... and you don't
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: have the puck on your stick. If the puck has
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: touched your stick before that, and you follow through on
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the other side of the blue line and get control
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: back again, that is onside, where it might look offside
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: because the player is in first for the puck. It
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: only happens very infrequently that you get somebody turned around
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: enough that their skates are fully in before the puck
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and the stick, but it does happen. Um, I don't
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: know if there's a good way of saying this, but yes,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: if you're able to watch the rules video this year,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and I'll try and find a link to it, there
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: are going to be some examples in there that show what,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: what we're talking about and, and show how there's a
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: difference between the puck being in possession. And it has
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to be on the stick. It can't just be in
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: someone's skates. It has to be possession with the stick.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: That's a difference that I think people may not always
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: be aware of. You can't, One of the examples they
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: showed was a pock hitting somebody in the chest as
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: they're backing in. They don't control it on their sick
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: until it's fully into the zone. That is offside because
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the possession didn't happen with the stick before the zone
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: entry happened. So, yeah.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: It's part of the fluid movement.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Right. So, yeah, there's a lot, a lot, a lot
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: of different interpretations or... changes small changes to the rules
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: this year um not.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: All of them there was a lot of face-off movement
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: i like yeah just if this is your if this
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: is your specific nerdery like we i promise we'll write
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: about this and link to so you can go look
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: at some of this stuff because there there is a
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: lot in here um but i think the other one
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: that i was going to mention is just that they
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: said an area of emphasis is going to be.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Embellishment yes um which is.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Moderately infrequently called I just thought it was interesting that
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: that came up in all of this.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I just, that was one I'm like, well,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: we'll see. We'll see how much more of that we
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: might see.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I did a locking of my, or zipping my lips
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: motion for a minute, but no, I'm going to open
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: it up on this one because this has been something
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: that I feel like I've heard for 20 years as an,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: as a point of emphasis. And honestly, I, from hearing
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: from some people that are in these rooms, when they
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: make these decisions on, on what rules change, they are
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: kind of, fed up with the fact that teams have
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: not done more to police this themselves. And, and so
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: there is a real kind of, look, if you guys
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: aren't going to do it, we're going to have to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: do it for you. Uh, sort of mentality in terms
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of embellishment. So we'll see where it, where it goes,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: because again, we've talked about this for years in the, uh,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: rules change cycle. Um, And it's still a problem, so
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: they say. So they will have another go at rooting
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: it out. And does it come to a point where
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: officials go into a game kind of with the mentality of,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I know who the players on these teams are who
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: have been known to dive, and I'm not going to
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: get suckered in by that. I believe that does happen.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: It's... you know, once you're in someone's book.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because you'll see it called on certain players that
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: probably it shouldn't have been called, and then those players
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: in other games will get away, and you're just like.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, totally. The inconsistency. Anyway.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Anyway, that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: So we will, you.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Know, if other things come up, we will circle back
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: to some of this, but we just wanted to share,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: because this is the first time I have ever spent
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: this much time learning about the rules with a webinar.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that, like, not trying to be
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: super flippant, just, like, there was a lot this year,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: and they really appreciated the time put in by the NCAA,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: but also I was just, like, I don't know how
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: much of this, like, minutiae about where face-offs are going
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: to take place is something that.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: I can submit to memory. We will be referring back
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: to that.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Yes. There are the big things that you know you
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: will observe, and there are the small things that, oh,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I think maybe I heard about that along the way. Yeah.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: All sorts of degrees in between there, too, so... Okay,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: let's talk quickly about what's coming up this week in
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: women's college hockey. A series between number nine Clarkson and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: number 12 UConn Friday and Saturday is one of the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: series between two ranked teams. UConn struggled in finishing last
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: weekend in a pair of losses at St. Cloud State. Clarkson,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I think, is looking to kind of build an early
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: season resume here. Important matchup on both sides of this one.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Clarkson had a great weekend, but they
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: should have.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: So now they need to show that they can do
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: that and be putting up those kinds of numbers and
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: getting hat tricks from the second and third line and
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: that sort of stuff against a tougher opponent. And so
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I think that's the, as you said, I mean, I
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: think all coaches that are looking to be involved at
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the end of the year have to be building their
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: schedule this way. At this point, you need those resume
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: wins and you need to, you're either in a conference
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: that isn't going to get them for you, or you're
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: in a tough conference where you're going to get beat
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: up a bunch.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: So you need to be getting some of these wins.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Knowing that you're going to play other ranked teams week
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: in and week out in the ECAC, in Clarkson's case,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: you're looking to get some of these other wins to
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: be on your resume. But yeah, I thought Clarkson looked
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: really good, but I don't know that we learned a
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: lot about what they can do sort of throughout the
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: season based on those two games. So now I want
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: to see if that's repeatable. And I think we want
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: to see UConn reply, right?
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Like respond to what happened and prove that they're.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: A team that's in contention to be talking about the
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: NCAA tournament in a few months, which is kind of
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: nuts to be saying in the second week. But like,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: that's where we're at at this point, especially, you know,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: like I know where some of these are going to be.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: This isn't, this is non-conference, but like.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: The ECAC was decided by like four total points Best
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: year between like first and eighth place. So it's just,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: you can't pretend that games don't matter. Again, this one
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: is non-conference, but I just, you can't let any points
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: sit on the table when that's how.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: It's looking at the end of the year.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: And when the NPI is going to also, you know,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: be calculating all those down to little fractions. So yeah,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I think that's probably the marquee matchup, the one that's
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: going to be the most interesting. And then, you know,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: we've got, st cloud state against minnesota state first couple
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: wcha series are taking off and so that's our other
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: two ranked matchups um and those are two teams that
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: are both looking to you know push their way into
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: the top half of the wcha you know that it's
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: wisconsin uh ohio state minnesota umd one through four in
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: some order pretty much ad nauseum recently and so you
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: know both of those teams are looking to prove that
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: they um are gonna fight to be up there and
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: and then as such, be higher up in the national
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: rankings and be part of a national tournament conversation.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: It is not even October yet. Well, it is just
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: October now, I guess. But we've already had a mention
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: of the MPI on the podcast. I just want to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: highlight that, the fact that... Sorry. No, but that gets
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to the point that, yeah, these games are going to matter.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Your non-conference games, especially, are going to matter. Especially if
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: you're in the you're not at the top of your conference.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: If you're in the third place, fourth place, you need
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: a pretty strong non-conference record.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I say this, like, honestly, if we'd
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: been doing this in another month, I probably wouldn't bring
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: it up. But I just did all those season previews
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: where I looked at everybody's schedule and looked at, you know,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: where they finished and, you know, tried to sort of parse, like,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: why did you end up seventh versus whatever? And again, like,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was being slightly sarcastic on the four points,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: but it was not much that separated, like, one through
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: eight in the ECAC. It was a matter of one
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: or two games worth of difference.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: In either direction.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: And they and they also had a tie at the
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: top um so I part of me thinks it's ridiculous
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: to bring it up and part of me knows that
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: like things that happened early last season were were part
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: of the reason why some teams made it and some
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and others didn't and like you said we're coming down
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: to you know who's gonna get.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: The 11 12 13 11 10 11 seed in the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: um the tournament like.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Those are, that's going to be fractions and that's, what's
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: going to make the difference. And so, yeah, part of
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: me thinks it's ridiculous. And part of me knows I
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: just parsed everybody's schedule and how they, you know, they
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: finished last year and, and yeah, for some of them,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: it was about like. One or two, like you didn't
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: sleep your weekend and you needed, you needed to walk away.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: With those points.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: So I think that's, that's the, probably going to be
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: the main message I'll see then is like you, you
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: can't leave points on the table. If you are playing
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: a team, you are supposed to be, you need to
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: walk away with your six points. Like it's just, or you,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: or if you don't do that, you know, a majority
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: of the time you are not in the conversation at
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: the end of the year period. Right.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: The other one, uh, home and home series Providence and
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: number six Quinnipiac. Quinnipiac got a couple of good wins last, uh,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: last weekend. Um, I, I feel like Providence is a
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: team that, um, maybe a little bit under the radar. We'll,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: we'll see more about them. you know, through the first
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: half of the season.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: I feel like the ceiling's really high.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: But, right, there's maybe some, you know, they don't have
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a ranking, so we're not maybe paying as much attention
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to them as maybe we should, but that's a team
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: that could do something in Hockey East this year.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I feel like even, like, it's twofold, right?
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Like, they could actually push at the top of Hockey East,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: but I think if nothing else, they're really going to
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: screw things up for some other people.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, I think.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Early on, I feel like on paper, I think there's
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: just a ton of potential there. And so I have
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: high on them because I think there is a high ceiling. Now,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: whether or not they reach it, whether or not that
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: all comes together into fruition in time to coalesce and
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: work for them for a whole season, I don't know.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: But I feel like looking at sort of all the
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: positives there, and again, Bianca Berrettieri in the net for them,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: presumably the incoming goalie who pitched a shutout and 50.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Saves at the gold medal game at the latest U18s.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: There's just a lot of, there's a lot there that
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I think could come together really well. So whether that happens,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: I think we're, we don't know yet, but I definitely, yeah,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: they're a team I think to keep an eye on.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: And I think if Quinnipiac does not take this weekend seriously,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: I think it will be to their disadvantage.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: So yeah. And I just think I want to see
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: more from Quinnipiac too.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Like they played a really strong game, set of games.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: And so like, okay, now, you know, now do it again.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Which is, you know, kind of gets back to the
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: same conversation we were just having, you know, that repetition
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: of getting results and probably going to be talking about
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Alex Law a bunch because I'm just excited to see
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: her sort of reach that potential. So I feel like now,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: does she go out and do this again this weekend?
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Then I feel like, okay, yep, she's a player that's
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: going to be pushing this team forward. Yep.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: We'll get our first look at number five Northeastern game
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: on Friday at RPI, who is off to a rough
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: start 0-4 this season. Northeastern is one of those teams
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: that I am really looking to see, okay, where does
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: this go early in the season? Do they give themselves
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: a good setup? Because we know the challenges that are
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: coming for them. They're on the road all season. They
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: have quote-unquote home games, but they do not have a
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: home like we've talked about in the past, last season
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: with Matthew Zarina being in reconstruction and now that having
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to take a little bit longer even because of asbestos
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: being found in that building. So it's still, it continues
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: to be one of the most curious things for me
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: is this team, this experiment, this whatever you want to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: call it of being a team without a home. And
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: we saw it, they got to the Frozen Four last
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: year and that was a really a strong statement for
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: them that, look, we might not have a home arena,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: but we're still a pretty good team. I think with
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: where they're ranked earlier this season, people are giving them
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt that they'll be able to
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: figure that out again.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but can I also put the asterisk?
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Like, yes, they looked really good and they got to
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: the Frozen Four, and then they kind of weren't super
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: competitive in that semifinal game. And people are going to
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: be mad at me for saying that. But I think
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: the delineation between what it means to sort of run
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: through Hockey East and return to where they were and
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: be that top team still left them short of being able.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: To push to be in that championship game. And so.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I think, like you said, that's where this early season
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: matters because they know that they can they can push
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: and they can win the conference title. They had had
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: that down year, which we knew was coming, that graduating
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: class and things like that. But now, okay, you did
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: what you did. And so what can they show this
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: year that proves that they're going to be a team
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: to push for a national title, which is, I presume,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: their goal and what they want to do this season.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: And when you're ranked top five, I would imagine is
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: what we're talking about. So I think It's twofold, which
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: is that, like, yes, I agree. I thought it was
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: a great season for them. I thought, I mean, that
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: win over Minnesota was spectacular.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: They looked great.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: And then sort of the polar opposite the next weekend
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: in that semifinal. And so in between those two opponents
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: in that level and what can they find is sort
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: of the secret sauce for them this year, I guess,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: the big question mark. so that they can be pushing
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: to play and be in that semifinal game with a
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: chance to play for a championship. Because I don't think
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: they want to be happy with just getting to that
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: semifinal game.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Okay. Check out all of the schedule on uscho.com.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: We'll have scores there. Nicole will have the weekend wrap. Well,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: all of the normal goodness that Nicole comes with on uscho.com.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: over the weekend into next week. And, um, yeah, let
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: us know what you think about this new format. We
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: will happily take any suggestions. We, we love hearing from our,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: our listeners. And so drop us a line. Um, if
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: there is anything you want us to talk about, also
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: let us know. Um, but otherwise we hope you enjoy
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: this weekend's hockey and we will talk to you, uh,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: next week for Nicole Haase. I'm Todd Molesky. Thanks for
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: listening to the podcast.