Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Ohio State gets a sweep at Penn State, and other observations on Week 2

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Ohio State gets a sweep at Penn State, and other observations on Week 2 · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of the podcast from USCHO.com.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I'm Todd Molesky here with Nicole Haase. And we've got
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: a new format this season. We've had some preseason episodes,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: but during the season we are going to be giving
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: you hopefully two new episodes a week. One... Uh, early
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: in the week, we'll look back on what we learned
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: out of the previous weekend and one later in the week.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: We'll maybe get in some more topics and then have
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a look ahead to what to be on the lookout
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: for that weekend. So, uh, early week episode here, Nicole, uh,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: we saw a big series last weekend in state college
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: where last year's frozen four. played out. These two teams
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: didn't play in the Frozen Four last year. They were close.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: If Penn State had gotten an overtime win against Wisconsin,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: that would have been the national championship game, but Ohio
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: State comes away with a pair of 2-1 victories against
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Penn State at Pegula, and one of them in overtime,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the first game in overtime on Thursday. This seemed like
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a series where there just was not a lot of
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: separation for Ohio State, even though they had a pretty
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: comfortable shots advantage in both games. I wonder what you
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: make of that. The fact that, you know, Penn State
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: has been right there. They were knocking on the door
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: all last season, got to the Frozen Four, finally made
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: that entry into things. And this, I felt like, was
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: maybe their chance to say, hey, we're still here. And
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: to a degree, they did. To another degree, there's maybe
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: still a little bit of work to be done there.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, maybe fair or not, but I didn't
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: expect Penn State to return this year at the same
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: caliber we saw from the last year. They just graduated
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: so many players, several that were drafted in the P-Dub.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: There was a big turnaround, probably the biggest being Annette
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: with Katie Deesa. She started three years worth of games
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: for them with very little other options for anybody else.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: They went ahead with Morgan Stickney, the rookie in the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: first game, and she had a spectacular game, former U18, U.S.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: U18 goalie. And she played really well, 44 saves, you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: carried her team into the overtime, as you mentioned, like
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: huge shot disparity. There was a huge possession disparity. Like
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Ohio State put a ton of pressure on Penn State,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: particularly through the first two periods, and just didn't capitalize. Yeah.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I think that's one of those things I want to
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: put a pin in. Like it could just be that
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: it was the first series and their things didn't work
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: out and get out. And even though, you know, they're returning,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: you know, Jocelyn Amos and Hilda Sensen and Joy Dunn,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: they also still graduated a bunch of seniors and like
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: are looking to figure out, you know, who they are
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: and where that, how that shakes out with new lines
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: and stuff. So right now that's not so concerning, but
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: it is something that I feel like in a couple
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: of weeks we might look back at and be like, huh, Um,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: but yeah, I, Ohio State, you know, dominated possession, really
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: like hemmed them in, really pushed them. So like, kudos
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: to Penn State for hanging around that game, um, and,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: and being able to push it to overtime and, and,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: you know, make that a much, I think, closer looking
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: game than it probably actually was. So, yeah, I don't know. I,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I think, I think that's asking a lot of Penn
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: State after graduating such a huge class, sort of their
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: like program defining class, because this is still a relatively
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: new program. to go out there against Ohio State, who
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: is Ohio State, pure and simple, but also is Ohio
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: State on a pretty, like, long revenge bender at this point.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I just think, like, I felt like I didn't
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: expect points from Penn State, and it says less about
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: them than it does about how much I think Ohio State,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: you know, is going to really push things this year.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, all in all, I think, based
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: on the paper, I'm not sure I thought Penn State
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: would keep it that close in two games. playing a
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: rookie goalie straight off the bat, things like that. Like
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: they threw Morgan Stickney in the deep end and she
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: absolutely was thriving. So both teams, I think, played a
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: different goalie in each game. So I think they're both
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: trying to figure that out. But yeah, I think it
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: was really interesting. It was very good high-level hockey for
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: a first weekend. Well, it wasn't, but yeah, first real weekend,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: first full weekend where we saw most everybody play.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: So.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that there's anything
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: to take out of it, but it's definitely something I
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: feel like I'm going to look back on in a
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: few weeks and be like, okay, was there growth from that?
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Were those first-week engineers, or are there questions here?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: It was Joy Dunn getting the overtime goal on Thursday
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: to give the Buckeyes a win, and that just feels
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: like the eventuality.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: In under a minute, they won the face-off. They had possession.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Joy put it in. It was that bit was like,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: of course they did. That was vintage Ohio State, right?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: How many times have we seen that over the years
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: where teams get to overtime with Ohio State and feel, hey,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: we've got a chance. And the Buckeyes just kind of
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: like say, nope, no you don't. And your victory was
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: getting to overtime with us. Congratulations. And now we're going
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: to take that win away from you. And it feels
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: like Joy has done that over and over again where
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: she gets space in overtime and just has that lethal shot,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: and it's like, no, that's over.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: No.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the last thing you want to do is give
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: her specifically, but them in general, all that open ice, right?
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: And I think Penn State, it's three on three. Possession
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: is 90% of the game, all of that. And, you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Penn State, I think, didn't quite know how to line
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: up in that situation. I think they kind of collapsed
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: back and gave Ohio State way too much ice. And also,
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure that it would have mattered. So, Two-fold there.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Well, let's keep moving around the country from last week's games.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: One of the on-paper upsets was St. Cloud State at
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: home winning a pair of games against the number seven UConn,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: 4-2 on Friday. And, well, again, 4-2 on Saturday. A
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: pair of 4-2 wins. Ellis Sorial was really the highlight
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: of that one, scoring two. two goals and an assist
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: in the first game, tying goal, and then the go-ahead
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: goal for the Huskies, or for the St. Cloud Huskies.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I can't just say Huskies in that one again. And
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: then she scored again on Saturday and added two more assists.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: So shooting right to the top of the, or sharing
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the top of the national scoring chart after the first
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks here with six points. A great start
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: for St. Cloud, a team we've talked about a lot
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: in previous years of, you know, You know, being ready
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: to take a step and just needing to find what
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that next step is in some ways, because in the WCHA,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: it's so hard that we've talked about it over and
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: over again of getting into that top four when no
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: one's taking a step back, really.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, they were picked sixth in the WCHA, you know, like, yeah.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's still a lot of weird. Yeah. So I
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: feel like it feels like there's a lot of unknowns
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: with the program and the direction. And maybe how fast
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: the direction turns is maybe the better way of saying it.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah. That was interesting, too, because Herb works arena under
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: construction or whatever they're doing. Construction doesn't feel like the
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: right word, but they were in a community rink. It
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: was like open door, free tickets. It seemed like a
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: fun atmosphere. And then they went out and did what
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: they did. And yeah, I think that was a good
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: wake up call for UConn. I think UConn, I think,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: you know, Northeastern probably has the advantage in hockey East,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: but like UConn's proved over the past couple of years
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: that they are going to push them and can and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: will stay with them. And yeah, it's not great to
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: be the number two, possibly number one hockey East team,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: number seven in the country, lose to the fixed best
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: WCHA team. And not necessarily in close fashion either. Like
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: I really felt like St. Cloud directed those games and
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: played the games they wanted to play. So yeah, I
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: think there was a little bit of a gut check there.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Lucky for them that early on and there's a lot
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: to figure out still. But yeah, I just, I was
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: really impressed and I was impressed sort of down the
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: line sheet for St.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Cloud.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Like obviously Alessorial was the highlight, but the headliner, but
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: there were plenty of player rookies with multiple points, things
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: like that. So just a lot to, be positive about
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: their first big cloud um but weirdly the our poll
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: came out today and they're on so they made the
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: poll so now there are six wch18s on in the
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: top 15 but uh they ended up right below yukon
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: in the poll so i think they're 12 and yukon's
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: 11 something like that a very strange very very strange
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: yeah matt wallens and i both said on blue sky
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: today like oh that's not how they were ranked on
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: my page so i'd love to see what everybody else
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: did but it's amazing yeah early on.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Early in the season, the polls.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: It doesn't matter.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you really get into some of that discrepancy between
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: what you've seen actually on paper and what you think
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: is going to maybe the ceiling for that team. Right, exactly.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: So UConn last week was number seven. They fall to
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: 12 after this week. But yeah, St. Cloud not ranked
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: last week up to 13 in this week's rankings.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sorry.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: So it's, yeah, I think. For UConn, if you're looking
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: at it from their perspective, that's a team that is
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: trying to put some pieces back together. And everyone is,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: at this point in the year, you're trying to find
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: where your roles are, who's got this role and that role.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: And maybe you try to spin this forward a little
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: bit and, hey, we saw where we need to be
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: better and go to work at that now. Yeah.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's the time of season you want this
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: to be happening. um I think it'll be interesting to
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: uh Claire Murdoch was announced today to be at that
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: uh Hathi Canada camp um and so they're gonna be
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: missing her in two two weeks not this weekend next
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: weekend um just in terms of like trying to fight
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: figure out what you're doing and what your team looks
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: like losing your star player for um a week's games
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: is like not helpful in that progression but I digress.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you listen to our interview with Brian
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Idalski from Syracuse, he talked about just some of the
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: changes this year that are happening, or maybe that might
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: be happening in the future because of the World Championship
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: now being in November, and then there's training camps in October.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: And so there's a lot of upheaval happening early in
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the season here with rosters and just who's going to
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: be in and out of some lineups for some really
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: pretty critical games when it comes down to it.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: And I know that they only get so many chances
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: to have national team camps, but 48 people for a
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: 25-person roster means you're taking away a lot of people from,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: or a lot of collegians, because there's 15 collegians of
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: those 48. And let's be honest, very few of them
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: are probably going to make the world championship roster unless
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Hockey Canada has completely redone their approach, which they might have.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: It's the first of a quad. But in the past,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: we would say that most of those players are not
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: going to make national this world championship roster. So they're
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: being pulled from their teams to go to a camp
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: for what is, is the question. So, I mean, I'm
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: willing to, to wait and see how that plays out
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: and not fully pass judgment, but yeah, 50 players for
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a camp is, uh, kind of nuts.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Let's put a pin in that too, because I
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: feel like we're going to be talking about a few times. No,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: it's absolutely worth discussing. We're just going to be talking
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: about that a few more times, uh, in two weeks, probably,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: especially when those players are missing for, uh, some, uh,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Pretty key games, including a possible number one versus number two,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: having five players out of that series for Hockey Canada's camp.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: But we'll get there when we get there. In Maine
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: last week, we got our first look at Quinnipiac. And
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: they fell behind Maine, played for more than a period
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: with the lead on Friday with a Lily Fetch goal.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: But Quinnipiac came back with an Ella Johnson power play
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: goal in the second half. and Alex Lago with just
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: under five minutes to go in the third period to
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: take a 2-1 win. Casey Clawson made 35 saves for
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: the Bobcats. And that was a, you know, it's good
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to be challenged early in the season. You like those,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: you know, for one of your first games to be
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: out there and to have some adversity. Coaches are going
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: to look back at that and say, look, this is
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: what we need. We need to find out who's going
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: to step up when it counts. And Quinnipiac found a
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: couple of those players. They also then got a 4-1 win.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: to get the sweep on Saturday. But those are pretty
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: valuable games early in the season, the ones that happen
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think probably to their advantage, I think
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: the empty netter was scored by Keelan LaMarche. So of
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: their six goals, they were not relying on last year's
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: leading scorer. And I think that's a good thing. I
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: think they can't rely on her um, and I think
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: we saw that sort of as the season wound down
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: and in the NCAAs last year, um, when the entire
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: offense was sort of get the puck to her and
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: she was sort of kind of taking out the neutral
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: zone and it, it just, it did not, it wasn't
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: the type of hockey that's going to win you tournament games.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: And so, um, I think it's really good for them.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: I'm a big fan of Alex Law. Um, I started
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: at U23, like, or U18s, I'm sorry, in 2023. And, um,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: She was injured. I don't think Boston University was the
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: best fit for her. So I think like it's really interesting.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I'd like to saw her score in each of the
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: first two games. And I feel like if she sort
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: of remembers who she is and can really fulfill that
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: potential that she showed. I think, you know, when you're
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: talking U.S. Canada at the U-18s, if it's somebody that
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: like I remember three years later, that says a lot,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: you know, we've seen all of the biggest names. currently
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: in college hockey go through those tournaments in the past
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: few years so yeah I think um Quinnipiac like you
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: said that adversity is good and and it'll it'll be
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: interesting to see but also good for me good for
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: me to get that like we are outclassed here like
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: we can play in this you know in the at
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: this level and so um I think just those boosts
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: those are the things you need early on especially as
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I've like we've been talking about everybody's sort of unsure
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: of themselves not super confident um don't have everything settled
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: yet so In.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Duluth, the Bulldogs got out to a good start with
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: a pair of shutouts. Ev Gascon making 26 saves one
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: night and then 18 saves the next night. Minnesota Duluth
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: beats Mercyhurst 2-0 and 4-0. Caitlin Kramer scoring in both
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: of those games. Scoring two goals in the second game,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in fact. These are the names that with Duluth you're
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: going to know. There's going to be more of them, obviously,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: but if it's Duluth is going to have a really,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: really good season. It's going to be Ev Gascon handling
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: things in goal and Caitlin Kramer being one of the
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: stars up front.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Yes. And, you know, coincidentally going back there, they both
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: were pulled for that Canada camp. So, um, yeah, I, I,
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: I want somebody else to be stepping up for them.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: I think, um, they're both very good. Caitlin's do it
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: all on her own on offense. Uh, so we, but
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: you know, I think as, Tying the program record for
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: shutouts in the first week of her senior year is pretty,
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: pretty impressive. And we will tie Emma Soderbergh. So like,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: you know, Patty Katz, finalist and things like that. Yeah,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: like you said, this is who they need. But I
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: just I think we need to see at least one
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: or two other sort of regular scoring threats from UMD
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: if they're going to be in the conversation at the
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: end of the season. So. I'm glad that Caitlin is
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: at playing, you know, she's at fighting, fighting weight here
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: to start the season. So hopefully it can kind of,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: you know, bring everybody else along.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Number one, Wisconsin got a road sweep of St. Lawrence,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: six to two and six, nothing, but may have come
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: at a cost of Ava McNaughton, the goalie being injured
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: in that first game. Day-to-day is her status. She didn't
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: dress for the Saturday game. Um, so there's some question
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: there about, uh, well, you know, Wisconsin kind of thought
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: they were going to be without Nick Naughton for part
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: of this first half because of world championships. And now
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: it might just be longer and might be earlier. Raya
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Stewart came in and got the, well, it didn't give
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: up a goal in the, the rest of the weekend. Um,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: it came in, I believe when it was two to one, uh,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: for St. Lawrence on Friday and then Badgers stormed back and,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: and took that one scored 12 straight goals after St.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Lawrence took a two nothing lead in, the first game,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: but it's, um, that, that could shake things up pretty, uh,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: significantly depending on how long of an absence of that
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: might be.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. But also I think, you know, Ryan entered, uh,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: you know, played well, you know, was at the Olympics and,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: and showed that she's capable of playing at the really
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: high level too. I mean, um, I don't think it, like,
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: it's not fair to Raya to compare her to Ava,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: like in terms of like, yeah, obviously it's probably, you know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: like a quote unquote step down or whatever, because Ava
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: is at a level that nobody else is at having
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: already been to an Olympics. But yeah, I don't think
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: for Wisconsin's sort of money, they're, they're not, I don't
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: think it's a huge issue for them if Raya is the,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: the regular starter. And, you know, I think they're, the
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: plan is for her to be the starter for the
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: next year or so. I thought to just to mention like, yeah,
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: they did go down to nothing to St. Lawrence in
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: that first game and really responded. I mean, they looked
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: as sort of unsure as we thought they would after
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: graduating the class that they did there, you know, passes
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: weren't connecting, saw that stuff, the early season things, but they,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: they figured it out, which I think is important. You know, we,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: we've talked before about their tendency to a slow start anyway.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: So that the first period of the first game was
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: not a, what they would have wanted was that thoroughly surprising. Um,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: just want to point out their, their third line is
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Adela Shefalova in the centering Nella Lopushinova and Maggie Scallon.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: I think that's a crazy third line. I think that's, uh,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: you're going to be seeing a lot from that group. Uh,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: they did score a couple of times over the weekend
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: and I just, you know, Adele went from last year, she,
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: she centered Layla and, and Kirsten Sims, um, and in
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: the second line. And as this is now the third line,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: and I just think, I think all three of those
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: are going to Those players are poised to do some
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: really interesting and fun stuff this year. So that was
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: what I was paying attention to. And as you pointed
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: out to me via text, the defense has some work
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: They got some, I'm sure, some clips sent to them,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: shared with them in the last couple of days after
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: those games. Absolutely.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: On the St.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Lawrence side, I thought that, you know, it was a really...
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Impressive first period Friday from the Saints, just in the
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: fact that, you know, you've got the two-time defending national
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: champion coming in in your building, you don't know.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: They did not care.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: No, they didn't care. You know, St. Lawrence had a
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: couple of exhibition games to get ready for, and so
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: they'd had a little bit of time to gel a
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: little bit, but you've got that team coming in and
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: they were standing right up there and took the play
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: to the Badgers for a good portion of that first period. Now,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I think that the tank empties pretty fast when you
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: have to try and keep up with Wisconsin and the
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: speed and the physicality. And we saw that through the weekend,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: but credit the St. Lawrence. I think Chris Wells has
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: a good foundation to build from there this season after
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: that weekend. And I think that's like we talked about
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: with other teams before is something that they can say, Hey, look,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: we know where we're at now. It would look at
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: who we just played. We know what it's going to
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: take to, get somewhere close to there.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but not being intimidated and being able to just
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: walk out there or skate out there. As you said,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: I think that's one of those things you can't learn
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: or teach. So having that base level to be able
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: to be like, this is our ice and we'll play
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: anybody that comes in here, I think is something that's
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: going to serve them well as the season goes on
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: as well. So I think if they can, you know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: obviously the scores didn't end up where they wanted it
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: to be. And if they can kind of put that
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: in the rear view and just really take what they
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: did positively, like you said, particularly that first period and
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: even some of the second. I think, like you said,
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: it's the pace. Once the Badgers kind of found their
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: footing and picked up the speed, then suddenly I think St.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Lawrence was just a little shell-shocked on that. I think
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: particularly because it didn't start that way. So, like, they
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: had acclimated to it. Sealords had acclimated to a different game.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: And then the Badgers kind of kicked it up on speed. But, yeah,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: like you said, I was impressed. They were not intimidated.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: They did not care that that was the two-time defending
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: national champion coming up on the ice. So, good for them.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: A couple other results to mention as we wrap things
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: up here for this first episode of the week. Number 12, Clarkson,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: got a home sweep of RIT 6-3 and 8-1. Number 14,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Minnesota State got a home sweep of RPI, 4-1 and 5-3.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Going back for a second to that Wisconsin series, Kelly
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Gorbitanko scored goals in both games. She shared the high
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: for goals in the weekend with Robert Morris' Greta Berezinski.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I hope I'm saying that right. Who also has the
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: share of the points lead for the weekend with 6
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: with Alice Soriel from St. Cloud State. So, stick taps
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: to them. We have a lot more to cover, but
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: like I mentioned earlier, we're going to be doing that
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: in a separate episode this week, so make sure to
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: be on the lookout for that later. Any last thoughts
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: on what you saw this last weekend, Nicole?
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I wanted to shout out Post, who got a
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: win over Robert Morris. They said it was their first
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: win over a non-conference, like a D1 non-conference conference opponent,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: meaning like someone that isn't in Nuha. So just a huge,
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's a team that has only won a
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: couple of games overall last year. So huge big win
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: to kick off the start of the season.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And I think.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: I love the chaos of New Ha, like part of
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: the dreads writing the New Ha previews because I'm always like,
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: who knows what's going to happen? But like, gosh, it's
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: so fun. And I really think that like there's going
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: to be kind of a bit of a dogfight there.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: And if Post is now getting in that like more power,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: it's going to be so much fun. But also just
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: it's hard to lose as many games as some of
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: those teams do towards the bottom of New Ha. And
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: so I'm excited for them to get a huge big
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: win and hope it means more for them for the
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: rest of the season.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you haven't checked out those season previews, conference
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: by conference, over on uscho.com, I highly suggest that you do.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I know Nicole spent hours and hours and hours and
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: days and weeks working on those recently, and there's more
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: content up there, too, with Transfer Portal Movement, and just
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: a great way to get you into this season. We're
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: going to try and do that here on the audio
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: and video side, but if you're more into the reading...
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Nicole's got a ton more there to check out.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Okay. Put some links in the notes.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Yes, we will absolutely put the links there. That is
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: going to wrap up this early week episode of the podcast.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I am Todd Molesky for Nicole Haase. We thank you
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: for joining us and we will talk to you later
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: this week.