Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Reflections on early results and a conversation with WCHA commissioner Michelle McAteer

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Reflections on early results and a conversation with WCHA commissioner Michelle McAteer · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Usc cho dot com. Hi, and welcome back to the podcast.
0:12
Speaker 1: My name is Todd Maluski. I am here with Nicole Hasey.
0:15
Speaker 1: We are here to talk about the first two weeks
0:19
Speaker 1: of the NCAA Division One women's hockey season, which has
0:23
Speaker 1: brought some surprises, some of what we expected, a little
0:27
Speaker 1: bit of everything. Nicole, tell me what what stands out
0:32
Speaker 1: about these I don't know what we've had about twenty
0:35
Speaker 1: some games now twenty six.
0:37
Speaker 2: I think they counted.
0:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a couple of results right away in the
0:42
Speaker 1: first weekend that jumped out, But just give me what
0:46
Speaker 1: what your your take is so far? The overall, for.
0:49
Speaker 3: Sure, I think it'll feel like we end up picking
0:51
Speaker 3: on Ohio State a little bit. But yeah, overall, I
0:54
Speaker 3: think the freshmen have come up big early. I think
0:58
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of penalties, which always happens to
1:01
Speaker 3: start the season, but feels like maybe I haven't done
1:03
Speaker 3: all the digging yet on that maybe like there might
1:05
Speaker 3: be more than normal. And uh, I think the biggest
1:10
Speaker 3: impression is that, like, I, how do I say this, Well,
1:15
Speaker 3: we don't know what we're talking about.
1:16
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's just like.
1:19
Speaker 3: My side, I'm sure well, I just feel like things
1:23
Speaker 3: that I thought would happen or would not happen have not.
1:25
Speaker 3: So I just I feel like we're in a I mean,
1:28
Speaker 3: as I always say, team chaos for the win, but
1:30
Speaker 3: uh definitely has.
1:31
Speaker 2: I'm glad I no longer do picks because I.
1:34
Speaker 3: Would be like over. Yeah, It's just it's been fascinating.
1:37
Speaker 3: I think it's great as a fan. I think it's
1:39
Speaker 3: great for the sport, but it does mean like, yeah,
1:42
Speaker 3: trying to sort of predict or or preview some of
1:46
Speaker 3: these these series has been interesting already, just because there
1:49
Speaker 3: have been so many interesting outcomes.
1:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, the ones that stood out, as I mentioned the
1:54
Speaker 1: first weekend, Minnesota Duluth went into Ohio Say which started
1:58
Speaker 1: season ranked number one in the US dot Com Pole,
2:02
Speaker 1: and won two games to really close games that went
2:05
Speaker 1: right down to the wire to one the first day
2:08
Speaker 1: of the season, and then four to three to back
2:11
Speaker 1: it up to walk away with a sweep and go
2:14
Speaker 1: right to the top of the WHA because the first
2:16
Speaker 1: day of the season, the first weekend of the season,
2:18
Speaker 1: you're playing conference games, which.
2:20
Speaker 2: Is right, you know, and you're the only one thing.
2:22
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that you know, we know that
2:28
Speaker 1: Ohio State on the first weekend is not necessarily what
2:31
Speaker 1: Ohio State will be on the twelfth weekend or the
2:33
Speaker 1: twenty fifth weekend, right so.
2:35
Speaker 3: For sure, right like they lost in they dropped a
2:37
Speaker 3: game in the opening series last year and still won
2:39
Speaker 3: the national championship. I do not I think that game
2:42
Speaker 3: taught me more about UMD than it did Ohio State.
2:45
Speaker 1: Right, That's a good point because there I think there
2:49
Speaker 1: was some definitely interest in UMD because the goaltending is
2:55
Speaker 1: back that you know, there's segments of that that are
2:59
Speaker 1: coming back from last season, which had a all in
3:02
Speaker 1: all a pretty good year. Even though they only finished
3:04
Speaker 1: fourth in w c CHA, we still see that as
3:06
Speaker 1: being pretty good nationally when you're fourth.
3:09
Speaker 3: And the relatively they did not lose a lot to
3:11
Speaker 3: graduation or transfer, right Like.
3:14
Speaker 1: So, I think that you know, there's some you know,
3:17
Speaker 1: thought of well, this first weekend it is as a
3:23
Speaker 1: bear for Delutha have to go to Ohio State. But
3:26
Speaker 1: when you do what they did, I mean, that's that's
3:29
Speaker 1: a heck of a way to kick off a season,
3:30
Speaker 1: and who knows where it goes from here. I mean
3:32
Speaker 1: that that could be the kind of thing that spins
3:34
Speaker 1: forward for the next few months and kind of just
3:37
Speaker 1: carries you confidence wise.
3:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, confidence wise, momentum and I think like comfort right,
3:43
Speaker 3: Like they have a couple you know, newer players. Obviously
3:47
Speaker 3: Caitlyn Kramer made a huge exclamation park that first weekend,
3:51
Speaker 3: and but it usually takes younger players a little while
3:54
Speaker 3: to transition and just kind of find their their balance
3:57
Speaker 3: in there. So the idea that U m D hit
4:00
Speaker 3: the ice, you know, we know that in NCA hockey,
4:03
Speaker 3: like the team gets to practice for like a couple
4:05
Speaker 3: of days before they have their first official games. So
4:07
Speaker 3: the idea that they could go out and do this immediately.
4:11
Speaker 3: So this just isn't about two wins or sweeping Ohio
4:14
Speaker 3: State or sleeping Ohio State at home. It's about doing
4:18
Speaker 3: all of those things in that first weekend and just
4:20
Speaker 3: like kind of accelerating the the development of the team.
4:24
Speaker 3: Like to me, that puts this team at you know,
4:26
Speaker 3: week six or seven in terms of the mental side
4:28
Speaker 3: of it in a way that a few other situations
4:31
Speaker 3: I think could have.
4:34
Speaker 1: We saw then the the buck Eyes come back just
4:38
Speaker 1: this last weekend and go to Bamigi State for another
4:41
Speaker 1: conference series. Right off, the bad get a couple of
4:44
Speaker 1: wins kind of get back kind of where I guess
4:49
Speaker 1: we thought that Ohio State would would be pointed early
4:54
Speaker 1: in the season, and it's I don't know that. I
4:58
Speaker 1: don't think there's any concern there. I mean, there's no
5:01
Speaker 1: This is a team that's introducing a lot of new people.
5:06
Speaker 3: They are scoring, Yeah, they he leads the country in scoring.
5:12
Speaker 2: They'll be funn Yeah, I don't.
5:13
Speaker 3: To me, that was again like less about Ohio State
5:15
Speaker 3: and more about UMD and so yeah, I don't think
5:18
Speaker 3: there's any sort of like house on fire in Columbus.
5:21
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously Nadi motherl isn't happy that that's how
5:25
Speaker 3: that went down. But I also think that that's a
5:27
Speaker 3: team that's really disciplined, particularly mentally, and could really like
5:31
Speaker 3: take that, use it and kind of compartmentalize it and
5:35
Speaker 3: put it away.
5:36
Speaker 1: You know, a couple of interesting sets that came out
5:40
Speaker 1: over this last weekend. Wisconsin, in a twelve nothing win
5:44
Speaker 1: over Lyndon would tie the NCAA record at that point
5:47
Speaker 1: for goals in a period with eight in the first period.
5:50
Speaker 1: Clarkson the next night says and drops carried yeah, drafts
5:56
Speaker 1: ten in the third period of a fourteen nothing win
5:58
Speaker 1: over Saint Michael's so that that didn't last long, I
6:04
Speaker 1: guess Wisconsin.
6:05
Speaker 3: And it was not a brand new record like that
6:08
Speaker 3: had that record had been around for almost a yeah,
6:11
Speaker 3: so I know, and just stupid me, like I was
6:15
Speaker 3: writing recaps on Sunday and it didn't even I was like,
6:17
Speaker 3: and they got ten goals and like, yes, that's a
6:19
Speaker 3: new record.
6:20
Speaker 1: Uh.
6:20
Speaker 3: Someone's parent pointed it out to me on Instagram or
6:23
Speaker 3: on Twitter, and I apologize for Sunday evening writing up
6:27
Speaker 3: recaps and not not doing that math at all, Like
6:31
Speaker 3: that was a miss Snap's inspire on my end. But yeah, uh,
6:35
Speaker 3: I thought it was cool Wisconsin when they did it
6:37
Speaker 3: was a bunch of different players. I think only two
6:40
Speaker 3: of the ten goals were like four, so four the
6:43
Speaker 3: sen goals were scored by the same two people.
6:45
Speaker 2: Otherwise it was all one offs.
6:46
Speaker 3: So again just showing the depths of the teams. And
6:49
Speaker 3: and you know, we talked about this a little bit
6:50
Speaker 3: in the previews, but I think Clerkson was maybe a
6:53
Speaker 3: little underrated by folks like put in that preseason poll.
6:56
Speaker 3: And we can dig in that on the ECAC two,
6:58
Speaker 3: right because Colgate had that to rising over time loss
7:01
Speaker 3: to Mercy Hurst, and so it definitely seems like things
7:04
Speaker 3: are a little more up in the air in the
7:06
Speaker 3: e CEC and maybe not as straightforward as as maybe
7:09
Speaker 3: those preseason polls and thought folks might have thought.
7:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, the big Cross Region series of last weekend was
7:19
Speaker 1: Minnesota going out the Yukon and Minnesota won for to
7:24
Speaker 1: one on the first day and then had to come back.
7:28
Speaker 1: I believe they were down for almost well a good
7:31
Speaker 1: chunk of that. The second game did tie it early
7:36
Speaker 1: in the third period, so they're down for most of
7:38
Speaker 1: the first two periods, tied it early in the third,
7:42
Speaker 1: fell behind a couple of seconds later, but then got
7:46
Speaker 1: a time goal and in overtime Abbie Murphy scores the
7:48
Speaker 1: winner early in overtime and the Gophers take away a sweep.
7:55
Speaker 1: That's a a good road sweep for the Gophers. But also,
7:59
Speaker 1: don't I don't think that that tells you a little
8:02
Speaker 1: bit about Yukon too, that they're I mean, they are
8:05
Speaker 1: right in the fight with a lot of these teams.
8:07
Speaker 1: I mean they're ranked number nine. We know they're a
8:09
Speaker 1: good team, but it's always the question of when when
8:12
Speaker 1: they go into these games against the wha teams you
8:17
Speaker 1: know that are ranked in the top three, top four
8:20
Speaker 1: in the country, where's it going to shake out? They're
8:22
Speaker 1: going to be right there. I don't think there's a
8:25
Speaker 1: lot of doubt here that they are part of that group.
8:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I might still be complaining about this in March,
8:33
Speaker 3: but it's just a shame that we didn't get to
8:35
Speaker 3: watch that game. Something happened the espn c's weren't working.
8:38
Speaker 3: Yukon put it on their website but didn't really tell
8:41
Speaker 3: anybody that.
8:42
Speaker 2: So I will live bitter.
8:44
Speaker 3: That I didn't get to see that second game for
8:47
Speaker 3: a while because I would love to see what Yu
8:48
Speaker 3: Khan did, you know, and how they how they were
8:52
Speaker 3: sort of hemming Minnesota in and keeping them away. I mean,
8:55
Speaker 3: we know that Connecticut has some of the best goaltending,
8:58
Speaker 3: you know, not in Megan Warren, are Antia Chan and
9:03
Speaker 3: so just like no matter what they are in a game,
9:05
Speaker 3: because of their top tier goaltending, and there's just nothing
9:09
Speaker 3: much given up depending on who's a net So you know, Warner,
9:13
Speaker 3: I think had forty five saves in that second game,
9:16
Speaker 3: and that's so that's going to be make a difference.
9:18
Speaker 3: But like I don't think that this was just a
9:19
Speaker 3: win because a goalie stood on our head. I think
9:21
Speaker 3: that Yukon really learned from that first game and really
9:25
Speaker 3: did a good job of settling down what the sort
9:28
Speaker 3: of the ice wasn't as tilted in that second game, right, like,
9:32
Speaker 3: because when Minnesota gets going downhill with the offensive talent
9:36
Speaker 3: they have, that makes a difference. And I think Yukon
9:38
Speaker 3: was able to sort of even die out in the
9:40
Speaker 3: second game, But I wouldn't know because I couldn't watch
9:41
Speaker 3: it to be mad about it for a while.
9:44
Speaker 1: Uh, just for everyone out there in the TV business,
9:49
Speaker 1: the cole holds grudges on TV. Come on, let's take
9:53
Speaker 1: care of this.
9:53
Speaker 2: Just it was such a gig.
9:55
Speaker 3: We don't get these cross conference matches, particularly against ranked teams.
9:59
Speaker 2: They're so oh rare.
10:00
Speaker 3: You know, we're we're paying for freaking service to be
10:03
Speaker 3: able to watch it.
10:04
Speaker 1: It.
10:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just frustrated, like I you know, I complained
10:06
Speaker 3: on Victory Press, you know about like if you subscribe
10:09
Speaker 3: to all the different ways to watch the D one
10:12
Speaker 3: women's college hockey games, it would be well over three
10:14
Speaker 3: hundred dollars, you know. So I just just frustrated. And again,
10:18
Speaker 3: like I thought you kind did it. It was great
10:20
Speaker 3: that they made it available on their website because the
10:22
Speaker 3: ESPNFE wasn't working. But like every team puts out a
10:26
Speaker 3: game day thing that has like here's the time, here's
10:29
Speaker 3: the place, here's the opponent, and in that one first
10:32
Speaker 3: for the second game, they changed ESPN Plus to you know,
10:35
Speaker 3: Yukon Plus, And so if you didn't read that tweet
10:38
Speaker 3: very well, that was the only way for someone to
10:40
Speaker 3: be able to know. And so I just wish that
10:42
Speaker 3: they had been more forthcoming about announcing that and putting
10:46
Speaker 3: out that, like you could watch this game in another place,
10:48
Speaker 3: because I spent my whole time on ESPN, like going
10:50
Speaker 3: out of one ESPN Plus, going out of one game
10:52
Speaker 3: and going over there and hoping that the technical difficulties
10:55
Speaker 3: had ended. So I feel I'm sorry you conned people
10:58
Speaker 3: that I'm picking on you, but I just disappointed I
11:00
Speaker 3: didn't get to watch you play this game and do
11:02
Speaker 3: so well.
11:04
Speaker 1: The new USHL dot com hole this week had a
11:09
Speaker 1: bit of a shake up. It was the first poll
11:10
Speaker 1: since the preseason one, so we didn't have one last
11:13
Speaker 1: week after the really only couple of games out weren't exhibitions.
11:18
Speaker 1: Wisconsin goes to number one, Minnesota number two, Minnesota a
11:22
Speaker 1: lood that jumps to number three from number seven, and
11:24
Speaker 1: Ohio SI falls in at number four. And we'll talk
11:26
Speaker 1: about this with our guests Michelle Mcatteer then the commissioner
11:30
Speaker 1: of the w c h A in our next segment.
11:32
Speaker 1: But the four WHA teams being in the top four
11:36
Speaker 1: spots of the rankings, I don't remember that happening for
11:41
Speaker 1: a while. That there wasn't a whether it's an ECAC
11:45
Speaker 1: team or a Hockey East team somewhere in that mix.
11:48
Speaker 1: And you know, this is it's early. We've we haven't
11:50
Speaker 1: seen a lot of you know, consequential non conference games.
11:56
Speaker 1: I guess I would say other than that the one
11:58
Speaker 1: we were just talking about there, so that there will
12:02
Speaker 1: be more to say later in the in the season
12:05
Speaker 1: if it says this way. But that's a little bit
12:09
Speaker 1: of where the picture is right now for for nationally,
12:12
Speaker 1: is that it seems like the people who would do
12:16
Speaker 1: the voting, the people that are doing the watching are
12:18
Speaker 1: seeing the WA teams as the teams to beat right now.
12:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, you know, teams that were ranked
12:24
Speaker 3: a little bit lower, like someone like Clerkson, you know,
12:26
Speaker 3: when you play a new hot team in your only series, like,
12:29
Speaker 3: it's difficult to against convince people that something should change
12:32
Speaker 3: above that. So I do expect some of this will
12:35
Speaker 3: shake out differently, and of course as those top teams
12:37
Speaker 3: start playing each other, they'll leave that too. But yeah,
12:40
Speaker 3: I mean we talked about you know, Colgate, and there's
12:44
Speaker 3: just some of these other teams in the top ten
12:46
Speaker 3: didn't have most auspicious weekends, and so yeah, it's gonna
12:49
Speaker 3: be it's gonna be difficult to do anything other than
12:51
Speaker 3: I think what the polls did. So it's hard because
12:54
Speaker 3: I know there's plenty of w c h A fatigue
12:57
Speaker 3: from people outside the western part of the College Women's
13:01
Speaker 3: Talk College Hockey loving fandom don't don't love seeing that
13:05
Speaker 3: and with like something new and are very happy that
13:07
Speaker 3: that hasn't happened in a while. So yeah, I expect
13:11
Speaker 3: that we will see, you know, teams like Clerks and
13:15
Speaker 3: some others be making a push towards the top of
13:18
Speaker 3: the rankings.
13:19
Speaker 1: There when we come back, as I mentioned before, we
13:22
Speaker 1: will have WA Commissioner Michelle Mcatteer joining us for her
13:26
Speaker 1: first stop on the podcast, and it's I think I
13:30
Speaker 1: think she said, is her first podcast interview, so we're
13:32
Speaker 1: happy to have that and we'll have that for you
13:34
Speaker 1: when we come back on the podcast. Welcome back to
13:43
Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm pod Luski here with Nicole Hase and
13:46
Speaker 1: our guests this week, the new very new Commissioner of
13:49
Speaker 1: the w c h A, Michelle Mcatteer. Michelle, thanks for
13:52
Speaker 1: joining us, and welcome to the podcast.
13:54
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me.
13:56
Speaker 1: It's you're only two months in about into your time
14:00
Speaker 1: commissioner of the WHA correct that it seems like maybe
14:03
Speaker 1: a little bit longer, but maybe sometimes it's not that long.
14:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't even know if I've hit the two
14:09
Speaker 5: month mark yet. Uh, it's been a whirlwind. Somebody mentioned
14:14
Speaker 5: November today and I thought like, oh, that's months away,
14:18
Speaker 5: and then I looked at the calendar and like, okay,
14:20
Speaker 5: I have no concept of time, So I yeah, I
14:24
Speaker 5: think in that sense, it's it feels like it has
14:27
Speaker 5: been a while, but it's it really has only been
14:29
Speaker 5: I think about six six seven weeks officially, but it's
14:33
Speaker 5: been definitely a lot at this time of year and
14:37
Speaker 5: working through it and adjusting.
14:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, i'd imagine some of it is, like you probably
14:42
Speaker 3: didn't want the season to start for a while, and
14:43
Speaker 3: other in other ways, it's just like, yeah, let's jump
14:46
Speaker 3: right in and get to it.
14:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, And it certainly starts a lot earlier
14:52
Speaker 5: than when I played, uh and and so the calendars
14:56
Speaker 5: have shifted a lot of bit a lot. But but
14:59
Speaker 5: honest I think that part is actually the most comforting,
15:02
Speaker 5: like getting into the rink again. So I was able
15:05
Speaker 5: to get to some games last weekend and you know,
15:08
Speaker 5: pretty much every weekend having been involved with hockey for
15:12
Speaker 5: so long, Like that's my comfort place. So I'm excited
15:17
Speaker 5: that the season has started, and it provides definitely more
15:20
Speaker 5: structure and hopefully a little bit of normalcy will start.
15:23
Speaker 4: To creep in soon.
15:24
Speaker 1: You mentioned that you played, and you've played in the league,
15:27
Speaker 1: You've coached in the league, You've been a coach at
15:31
Speaker 1: the D three level and then D one level. What
15:34
Speaker 1: and what attracted you to this job? Why did you
15:38
Speaker 1: think that this was the next turn for your career.
15:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been involved in nanc DOUAA hockey, you know,
15:46
Speaker 5: my entire professional career, and so I've I'm clearly really
15:50
Speaker 5: passionate about the game and the sport and and you know,
15:55
Speaker 5: my experiences as a player and a coach, we're the
15:58
Speaker 5: most incredible experiences of my life. So I'm just a
16:02
Speaker 5: big believer in the value of the role sports can
16:06
Speaker 5: play in your personal development, your professional development, your character development,
16:10
Speaker 5: and obviously your academic development and athletic development. So I've
16:18
Speaker 5: always wanted to continue to in athletics, and coaching has
16:23
Speaker 5: been my passion for you know, I think the first
16:26
Speaker 5: twenty years of my career, but I you know, was
16:30
Speaker 5: at the point where trying to figure out where where
16:33
Speaker 5: I could grow and looking at you know, should I
16:37
Speaker 5: explore getting back on the Division one side as a
16:40
Speaker 5: coach and the pros and cons of all that and
16:42
Speaker 5: then or potentially pursuing an administrative path. And that's really
16:48
Speaker 5: what I've been trying to do, you know, the last
16:51
Speaker 5: six seven years while as a Division three head coach,
16:54
Speaker 5: was to gain more administrative experience, and so I I
16:59
Speaker 5: was on NC double amittees, the rules committee, championship committees,
17:03
Speaker 5: I was our sac advisor on campus. I helped it
17:08
Speaker 5: took on, and I volunteered to assist with compliance. Nobody
17:13
Speaker 5: volunteers to assist with compliance, but you know, just thinking
17:18
Speaker 5: about things that could really develop my resume on the
17:20
Speaker 5: administrative side, so that if an opportunity like this opened up,
17:24
Speaker 5: you know, I would potentially be a good candidate, having
17:28
Speaker 5: both the playing experience, the coaching experience, and then now
17:31
Speaker 5: some administrative experiences. So I don't think anyone was expecting
17:36
Speaker 5: the job to open up this summer, especially as late
17:39
Speaker 5: as it did. And even Tracy, the our former commissioner,
17:42
Speaker 5: you know, he renewed his contract in May, and I
17:46
Speaker 5: think all sides were indicating that he was going to
17:48
Speaker 5: continue on, and so I think it caught everyone by surprise,
17:52
Speaker 5: including me. So you know, I threw my name in
17:55
Speaker 5: the hat, not knowing that if it would be a
17:58
Speaker 5: good fit. But you know, I think really quickly it
18:01
Speaker 5: just it just felt like it was and it worked out,
18:04
Speaker 5: and just got to roll with it, even though timing
18:07
Speaker 5: may not have been ideal, but it was it was
18:10
Speaker 5: certainly the opportunity I couldn't pass up.
18:13
Speaker 3: This is a time of masses of uncertainty and NCAA athletics,
18:17
Speaker 3: and I know that there's you know, you can go
18:19
Speaker 3: down in a rabbit hole with all of those questions
18:21
Speaker 3: and what ifs, but it's also been I mean, you
18:24
Speaker 3: were I think what the fifth commissioner and about five
18:26
Speaker 3: fourth commissioner about five years for the conference, it's just
18:29
Speaker 3: been a lot of change and turnover, and with Tracy
18:32
Speaker 3: as an interim, there's been maybe a little bit of
18:35
Speaker 3: stasis waiting out some of the NCAA stuff. So maybe
18:38
Speaker 3: can you just talk a little bit about, you know,
18:40
Speaker 3: finding some security and some and putting the conference, you know,
18:45
Speaker 3: as secure as it can be in this kind of
18:48
Speaker 3: massively upheaval times of the NCAA.
18:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely a lot, a lot to unpack in that question.
18:56
Speaker 5: But I think, like first and foremost, just the I think,
19:00
Speaker 5: I think the fact that I've been in hockey for
19:02
Speaker 5: as long as I have made me made me, you know,
19:06
Speaker 5: it helped my my my application because I clearly care
19:10
Speaker 5: about the sport.
19:11
Speaker 4: I clearly care about the game.
19:12
Speaker 5: I'm highly invested in collegiate women hockey, and so I
19:16
Speaker 5: want to see the game continue to grow and and
19:20
Speaker 5: and be able to adapt to all the uncertainty that's
19:25
Speaker 5: unfolding in front of us. And you know the fact
19:28
Speaker 5: that the landscape is so unpredictable right now. That's been
19:31
Speaker 5: a constant part of the interview process with every every
19:34
Speaker 5: coach conversation that I've had every administrator, every conversation I've
19:38
Speaker 5: had with administrators, We're all talking about it.
19:41
Speaker 4: And in some.
19:42
Speaker 5: Ways, you know, I'm not at a disadvantage because yes,
19:49
Speaker 5: I'm new to this role, but even talking to the
19:53
Speaker 5: commissioners who have been doing this for twenty years, we're
19:56
Speaker 5: all in the exact same boat of nobody knows what's
19:59
Speaker 5: coming uh, and everyone's trying to to anticipate and to
20:03
Speaker 5: peak around corners and to UH and we're all processing
20:07
Speaker 5: the same information at the same time. So you know,
20:11
Speaker 5: there is this united sense in college hockey of how
20:15
Speaker 5: is everything going to impact our conferences in our sport. So, yeah,
20:21
Speaker 5: there is a lot of uncertainty, but I think being
20:24
Speaker 5: a coach, and having been a coach, I'm I'm an optimist,
20:28
Speaker 5: and women's hockey has continued to grow through a lot
20:31
Speaker 5: of uncertain times. And you know, you know, looking at
20:34
Speaker 5: collegiate athletics and Title nine was supposed to derail, and
20:38
Speaker 5: Cuba hockey and and COVID was supposed to derail and
20:42
Speaker 5: to hockey and and all I was supposed to you know,
20:45
Speaker 5: and we we can figure out ways how to grow
20:47
Speaker 5: and adapt. And I think with just people who have
20:51
Speaker 5: that attitude and and and and are willing to willing
20:55
Speaker 5: to work and communicate. I think I think we'll find
20:59
Speaker 5: our way forward. We just don't know which way that
21:01
Speaker 5: is yet.
21:02
Speaker 1: One of the really interesting things about the w c
21:04
Speaker 1: h A to me is that the variety of voices
21:08
Speaker 1: there are in that room when you talk about administrators,
21:11
Speaker 1: Because on one side, you've got, you know, schools that
21:15
Speaker 1: are predominantly Division two and operate in that sphere. And
21:18
Speaker 1: on the other side you've got you know, some of
21:20
Speaker 1: the biggest athletic departments in the country with big ten schools,
21:24
Speaker 1: and obviously the resources are are different on on both
21:28
Speaker 1: of those sides, and you know, the spectrum it kind
21:31
Speaker 1: of goes all the way through there. What have you
21:34
Speaker 1: learned in these last couple of months about what it's
21:36
Speaker 1: like trying to trying to represent and trying to understand
21:40
Speaker 1: all of those sides of not only the conversation of
21:43
Speaker 1: the broader you know, college athletics picture and where that
21:47
Speaker 1: goes going forward, but just what it means inside the
21:49
Speaker 1: w c h A, and what how you can represent
21:53
Speaker 1: all of those voices equally and make sure they're all
21:57
Speaker 1: you know, no matter, you know, how small the school
21:59
Speaker 1: that they all have of uh set at the table.
22:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've learned that there's just great people. And I
22:07
Speaker 5: mean I knew that before, Like I wouldn't say I
22:09
Speaker 5: learned that. I would say that, it's just been reaffirmed
22:12
Speaker 5: that there is great leadership. And you know, looking at
22:15
Speaker 5: the sport administrator group, highly qualified, experienced, diverse group of
22:22
Speaker 5: people who you know, have have done different roles or
22:26
Speaker 5: have been a different you know, but just they have
22:28
Speaker 5: so much depth of knowledge to offer and that's been
22:32
Speaker 5: really and they've been incredibly welcoming and understanding and gracious
22:37
Speaker 5: and patient and supportive. So just a great group of uh,
22:43
Speaker 5: incredibly qualified professional INDI professional individuals. And then you know,
22:48
Speaker 5: even talking to the coaches, who I would say most
22:50
Speaker 5: of them I did know before, I do know before,
22:53
Speaker 5: I know both all of them really well, it's just
22:56
Speaker 5: reconnecting on a different level and under different circumstances. So
23:00
Speaker 5: I think the people have been phenomenal, and I think
23:04
Speaker 5: looking at it through the w CJ lens, you know,
23:08
Speaker 5: I would say everybody wants the same thing. We want
23:12
Speaker 5: the WCJA to survive, We want the WCJ to continue
23:18
Speaker 5: where it can be the number one conference in the
23:21
Speaker 5: country like it is on a consistent basis and manage,
23:26
Speaker 5: you know, manage things in a way where people are
23:31
Speaker 5: able to compete and consistently without huge, huge discrepancies and resources.
23:37
Speaker 5: And I know the coaches want that, I know the
23:39
Speaker 5: administrators want that. And I think the hard part is
23:42
Speaker 5: that what we want for women's hockey may not be
23:46
Speaker 5: in our control. That like these things, some of these
23:49
Speaker 5: big changes are being legislated at the large, multi sport
23:53
Speaker 5: conference level where we don't necessarily have that voice. And
23:57
Speaker 5: I know the Commissioners Association is is working to rectify
24:01
Speaker 5: that and and and give us more direct lines to
24:04
Speaker 5: communicate with the NC double A. So you know, we're
24:07
Speaker 5: we're we're we're aware of where we're at as a
24:10
Speaker 5: sport and how we fit into the massive cog of
24:14
Speaker 5: all of NC double A and and and you know
24:16
Speaker 5: we're advocating for for our sport and our conferences.
24:22
Speaker 4: So it's just it's just taking all that.
24:24
Speaker 5: In is that we all know what we want, but
24:26
Speaker 5: I think we also know that what we want isn't
24:29
Speaker 5: necessarily what we're what's going to happen. And that's the
24:32
Speaker 5: other part is just you know, is trying to anticipate
24:35
Speaker 5: if there are changes, how can we manage those changes?
24:38
Speaker 5: How can we help can we negotiate those changes? And
24:41
Speaker 5: then that's where we're looking at things. It's not just
24:43
Speaker 5: our league, like looking at what's going to happen nationally,
24:47
Speaker 5: you know, So can we come up to can we
24:50
Speaker 5: come to some sort of consensus across all of NC
24:54
Speaker 5: double A Division one women's hockey, you know, because we
24:57
Speaker 5: don't want to get in a situation where the East
25:00
Speaker 5: is doing this and the West is doing this, and
25:03
Speaker 5: you know, I think we're all seeking consistency and an
25:06
Speaker 5: even playing field, and even as a relative word, because
25:10
Speaker 5: it's never going to be even. It never has been even.
25:14
Speaker 5: There's always been programs with more, you know, but it's
25:17
Speaker 5: easier to manage more if you're talking about apparel or
25:21
Speaker 5: per diem money. You know, like some of those things
25:24
Speaker 5: is small potato as compared to you know, what is
25:29
Speaker 5: possibly being considered now in terms of you know, pay
25:33
Speaker 5: to play and all those things that hopefully is not
25:35
Speaker 5: going to be a common occurrence in our game.
25:42
Speaker 3: You be new to the role and with sort of
25:44
Speaker 3: like accepting that there there is sort of fad air
25:47
Speaker 3: of uncertainty over everything. What are your sort of maybe
25:50
Speaker 3: short term and long term goals now that you you
25:53
Speaker 3: know the games have started. As you said, you know
25:55
Speaker 3: the coaches really well sort of what are you looking
25:57
Speaker 3: at being able to accomplish and like as the sort
26:00
Speaker 3: of the path the w c H needs to be on.
26:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know, not only am I new, but
26:06
Speaker 5: we have we have a new communications coordinator Mackenzie is
26:09
Speaker 5: doing a phenomenal job on social media. Definitely follow our
26:13
Speaker 5: accounts if you're not, because she's killing it. We have
26:16
Speaker 5: a new Assistant Commissioner, Byron sinstant Guard, so he's he's
26:20
Speaker 5: done a great job in taking over the operation side.
26:22
Speaker 5: So we have three rookies on staff and we have
26:25
Speaker 5: two veterans and Bill Brophy and UH and Greg Shepherd.
26:29
Speaker 5: So you know, we're just trying trying to figure out
26:33
Speaker 5: our routine, our groove as a staff. So I think
26:37
Speaker 5: knowing that we're all we have three new players, three
26:39
Speaker 5: new additions, you know, we're just trying to make sure
26:43
Speaker 5: that the operations of the league are are up to
26:45
Speaker 5: our standards and things are running the way that they should.
26:49
Speaker 5: Making sure that you know, things are booked people are
26:51
Speaker 5: getting paid, you know, and and that that we're not.
26:55
Speaker 5: We don't we're not stumbling on any of those logistical things.
26:59
Speaker 5: But I think the first year, you know, for all
27:01
Speaker 5: of us is like we're really focusing on getting to
27:05
Speaker 5: know our membership, you know, again, especially for me, for
27:09
Speaker 5: the administrators, and you know, I want to be really visible.
27:14
Speaker 5: I want to I want to get to know the administrators.
27:16
Speaker 5: I want to want the players to know who I am,
27:18
Speaker 5: and I want to be able to interact with them,
27:21
Speaker 5: uh and know that I'm there.
27:22
Speaker 4: I'm My job is to advocate for them, so you.
27:26
Speaker 5: Know, building a lot of relationships with with all the
27:29
Speaker 5: key stakeholders in our league and then you know, advocating
27:34
Speaker 5: for us and looking to for ways to continue to
27:38
Speaker 5: to generate revenue and sponsorships and partnerships. You know, Tracy
27:41
Speaker 5: really set a great foundation in that area and really
27:45
Speaker 5: you know, it did some things that hadn't been done before.
27:47
Speaker 5: So we want to continue that and build on it.
27:50
Speaker 5: You know, we're actively looking for for companies and businesses
27:54
Speaker 5: who align with our values, recognize the strength of our league,
27:59
Speaker 5: and it's such an exciting time for women's sports, So
28:02
Speaker 5: you know, we want we want to uh, we want
28:05
Speaker 5: people to recognize that and associate with us. Uh. And
28:09
Speaker 5: so we're we're looking, we're looking to build those relationships,
28:12
Speaker 5: maintain the existing ones, and then build new ones. So
28:15
Speaker 5: if there's any businesses out there that want to connect
28:17
Speaker 5: with the w c h A my web my emails
28:19
Speaker 5: on the website, don't hesitate to reach out. Yeah, So
28:24
Speaker 5: I think like it's a lot, you know. And then
28:26
Speaker 5: we have the our our fa R group, you know,
28:29
Speaker 5: we that's that's a that's another constituent that I'm you know,
28:33
Speaker 5: looking to get to know and welcome their their feedback,
28:37
Speaker 5: their experiences, and then working with the other Hockey Commissioners
28:42
Speaker 5: that they've been very helpful. It's a tight knit group,
28:46
Speaker 5: so learning from them, asking questions, uh. And you know,
28:51
Speaker 5: there's a lot of firsts in this this this year
28:54
Speaker 5: for all of us. So we just started the season.
28:57
Speaker 5: You know, it's going to be the first time that
28:59
Speaker 5: we're running the turn a minute, the first time that
29:01
Speaker 5: we are that we're you know for our playoffs, first
29:04
Speaker 5: time for annual meeting. So we just kind of have
29:07
Speaker 5: to like take things step by step and try to
29:10
Speaker 5: do everything to the best of our ability. And then
29:12
Speaker 5: hopefully evaluate at the end of the year and figure
29:15
Speaker 5: out what did we learn, what did we screw up,
29:17
Speaker 5: what can we do better?
29:19
Speaker 4: And move forward.
29:21
Speaker 1: Last question from my side before I turned back over
29:24
Speaker 1: to Nicole is when you played at Minnesota Duluth and
29:29
Speaker 1: that was late nineties, early ninety nine to two thousand
29:32
Speaker 1: and three? Am I remembering that right?
29:34
Speaker 4: Correct?
29:34
Speaker 1: Okay, what do you see think back on then and
29:40
Speaker 1: see that's different now for players that just like, what
29:45
Speaker 1: would have boggled your mind had you thought about that
29:47
Speaker 1: when you're leaving UMD in two thousand and three as
29:49
Speaker 1: a player, but also spending that forward, what do you
29:53
Speaker 1: think might be coming that might boggle the mind of
29:57
Speaker 1: players today, you know, fifteen years from now. I don't know.
30:01
Speaker 1: It's it's an interesting exercise that's kind of trying to
30:04
Speaker 1: think that far out. But what would you like to
30:06
Speaker 1: see that could really be transformative to the next generation
30:11
Speaker 1: of players? So it's too a part of the.
30:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I'm really proud that I'm part of that
30:18
Speaker 5: pioneering group in ninety nine too, you know, like we were.
30:22
Speaker 5: I was part of the the first ever team at
30:28
Speaker 5: NCAA team at Dluth and part of the WJA and
30:32
Speaker 5: and so we, you know, players of my age, we
30:36
Speaker 5: take a lot of pride in that and really proud
30:39
Speaker 5: that we have three head coaches in our league that
30:42
Speaker 5: are alums. I'm really proud that I'm an alum. So
30:45
Speaker 5: I think it's just remarkable that we're at that stage
30:48
Speaker 5: now that we can have these leadership roles in the league,
30:52
Speaker 5: because you know, we certainly didn't imagine that when I
30:55
Speaker 5: was eighteen years old and strolling onto the un D
30:58
Speaker 5: campus that that one I was going to be the
31:00
Speaker 5: one at the helm.
31:03
Speaker 4: So that's that's cool.
31:04
Speaker 1: Uh.
31:04
Speaker 5: I mean even Saturday, I watched you know, Bmigie and
31:09
Speaker 5: Ohio play on Fox nine local like local TV here
31:12
Speaker 5: on and that was a that was a really I
31:16
Speaker 5: paused and I let that sink in because we were
31:19
Speaker 5: never on TV, Like there was never a television game
31:23
Speaker 5: on that I can It wasn't even talked about. And
31:25
Speaker 5: so that was, you know, something that we didn't even
31:28
Speaker 5: imagine when when I started. And so there's been there's
31:32
Speaker 5: there's been so many moments of like that, and just
31:34
Speaker 5: even walking into the venues now and seeing how these
31:38
Speaker 5: players are supported and invested in, and you know, the
31:43
Speaker 5: equity is tremendously better than than what it was when
31:48
Speaker 5: we did and you know, UH, or what it was
31:52
Speaker 5: when when we played. So there's so many areas that
31:55
Speaker 5: that we've seen such growth in and that as an alum,
31:58
Speaker 5: you know, you want the experience to be better than
32:01
Speaker 5: what you experienced. And you know, I'm pretty confident that
32:05
Speaker 5: everyone who is participating in the w c JA UH
32:09
Speaker 5: can can say that now. And we want to make
32:11
Speaker 5: sure that we keep heading in that direction. And you know,
32:15
Speaker 5: so I think we just we can't stop. We can't
32:19
Speaker 5: be satisfied. You know, like the ceiling always has to
32:22
Speaker 5: move because the king the game keeps growing and so
32:26
Speaker 5: as it grows, we got to just keep we just
32:28
Speaker 5: got to keep busting through those ceilings. So you know
32:31
Speaker 5: what I what I wouldn't want an envision for for
32:33
Speaker 5: the w CJ and for women's hockey is you know,
32:36
Speaker 5: like we want our Kaitlyn Clark moment.
32:38
Speaker 4: You know, we want like we want the.
32:41
Speaker 5: Nation to get excited about Chloe Primorano and Kaitlyn Kramer
32:46
Speaker 5: and UH and you know the Sims and Harvey and
32:51
Speaker 5: you know, like all the primetime players. You know that
32:55
Speaker 5: that then there are there are incredible players on every
32:58
Speaker 5: single team. Uh and that was I think demonstrated just
33:01
Speaker 5: in the first couple of weekends. So you know where
33:04
Speaker 5: we can really move move the needle in terms of
33:10
Speaker 5: more more than just regional exposure, because you know, we're
33:15
Speaker 5: coming up on an Olympic year and I think every
33:18
Speaker 5: you know, with the the the the expansion of the
33:21
Speaker 5: p WHL, like, we're just I think, you know, coming
33:25
Speaker 5: up to a really exciting time for women's hockey where
33:28
Speaker 5: everyone who's involved with women's hockey we know how incredible
33:31
Speaker 5: it is. It's just we want more people to see it.
33:34
Speaker 5: We want more eyes on our game. We want we
33:37
Speaker 5: want it to be we want these players to be
33:39
Speaker 5: you know, household names, and you know it'll it'll take time,
33:44
Speaker 5: but I think we can get there.
33:47
Speaker 3: You mentioned how many you know, sort of alums are
33:50
Speaker 3: there are getting that involved and also just that that's
33:54
Speaker 3: not something you ever could have thought about at eighteen.
33:57
Speaker 3: Can you just talk a little bit about how important
33:58
Speaker 3: that is for the growth of the game and for
34:00
Speaker 3: the current generation to see you all getting involved, and
34:04
Speaker 3: how important it is for for current players and recently
34:08
Speaker 3: graduated players to stay involved, whether it's coaching or playing
34:11
Speaker 3: in the ped up, or officiating or administration. Just I
34:14
Speaker 3: think that's to me a really important part of continuing
34:17
Speaker 3: to make the game, grow the game and make the
34:19
Speaker 3: game sort of feasible on a bigger scale.
34:22
Speaker 4: Yeah.
34:23
Speaker 5: Absolutely, you know, there was when I played, it was
34:27
Speaker 5: highly unusual to have females as head coaches and and
34:31
Speaker 5: UMD was you know, ahead of the curve back then,
34:35
Speaker 5: having you know, an all female coaching staff and strong females.
34:39
Speaker 5: But you know, it's it's it's taken that that didn't
34:43
Speaker 5: necessarily wasn't a common occurrence, and it wasn't common for
34:46
Speaker 5: a long time. So and it's not that you know,
34:51
Speaker 5: we have a lot of great men in our league
34:53
Speaker 5: who are advocates for reddings.
34:54
Speaker 4: Of course, not about that.
34:56
Speaker 5: But I think what is exciting is that the men
35:00
Speaker 5: in our league are really excited that we have an
35:03
Speaker 5: alum as commissioner and that they and that they that
35:06
Speaker 5: there are alums now coaching at the head coaching ranks
35:09
Speaker 5: and certainly at the assistant coaching ranks.
35:12
Speaker 4: And you know, having been in.
35:14
Speaker 5: Sports my entire professional career, I truly believe it's really
35:18
Speaker 5: important for for women to to see leaders and uh,
35:24
Speaker 5: and two and two and to because it's still shocking
35:27
Speaker 5: how many women's hockey players still haven't had a women's
35:31
Speaker 5: hockey head coach.
35:33
Speaker 4: So it's it's important for women.
35:37
Speaker 5: To to to see that and uh, to be able
35:40
Speaker 5: to command a room and uh and you know, for me,
35:45
Speaker 5: I'm talking to representatives from the NHL and the p
35:47
Speaker 5: w h L and Men's Division one and and those
35:53
Speaker 5: can be intimidating spaces, uh if you haven't had a
35:57
Speaker 5: lot of mentorship, been opportunity, you know, as as a
36:02
Speaker 5: woman and as a female leader in sports. So I
36:06
Speaker 5: understand my role and I understand that the visibility is
36:09
Speaker 5: incredibly important. And I'm incredibly grateful for all the mentors
36:16
Speaker 5: and coaches and and colleagues that I've had that that
36:20
Speaker 5: have helped me developed my leadership skills to be confident
36:24
Speaker 5: in the space that I'm in right now. And that's
36:26
Speaker 5: a big thing. You know when I go to meet
36:28
Speaker 5: with the teams, is that you know, I want them.
36:31
Speaker 5: I want them to be obviously I have great have
36:34
Speaker 5: great seasons and and and achieve their hockey goals, but
36:38
Speaker 5: most importantly be in an environment where they can grow
36:42
Speaker 5: as confident young women who can enter the world knowing
36:44
Speaker 5: that it's playing hockey in the w c HA gave
36:48
Speaker 5: them life skills that are gonna going to help them
36:51
Speaker 5: be successful in all areas of their lives. And like
36:54
Speaker 5: that's it, Like that's what NCAA Sports is all about.
36:57
Speaker 5: At the bottom line, it's about it's about becoming a
37:00
Speaker 5: better person, uh and and and getting a great education
37:04
Speaker 5: and pursuing the game that you love and your goals.
37:07
Speaker 5: But so just recognizing that they have that they're in
37:13
Speaker 5: a great place to develop in all areas of their lives.
37:17
Speaker 5: So yeah, and I you know, I'm constantly talking to
37:22
Speaker 5: former players, former coaches recruiting women to pursue these opportunities,
37:30
Speaker 5: because that's also the other challenging part is that women
37:34
Speaker 5: need to be recruited. And you know, by nature, a
37:39
Speaker 5: lot of times we don't necessarily throw our hat in
37:42
Speaker 5: the rings when these when these opportunities arrive. So you know,
37:45
Speaker 5: when there are coaching opportunities or efficientting opportunities, you know,
37:50
Speaker 5: saying to a young woman like you can do this
37:53
Speaker 5: can be a life changing moment. And because I know it,
37:57
Speaker 5: that's how my career started. So I want to make
38:00
Speaker 5: make sure that I'm meeting as many people players as
38:04
Speaker 5: lum as I can and say, you know, we can
38:05
Speaker 5: do this, we can get involved, we can make a difference.
38:08
Speaker 5: Your experiences matter, your voice matters. Uh, let's let's let's
38:13
Speaker 5: be active in advancing our game.
38:15
Speaker 1: Well, Michelle, thank you very much for joining us. Best
38:18
Speaker 1: of luck reading everything going in this season with the
38:21
Speaker 1: w c H, which by the way, has the top
38:23
Speaker 1: four teams in this week's usc cho dot com pole.
38:26
Speaker 1: I didn't want to let you get away without having
38:28
Speaker 1: a chance to maybe you know.
38:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not going to let that go. Like I
38:33
Speaker 5: have the flex on that, Like that's that's a big flex.
38:37
Speaker 5: And I was really excited to see that. You know,
38:40
Speaker 5: I think I think people in the West, people in
38:44
Speaker 5: the w c J believe that on a regular basis,
38:47
Speaker 5: we don't always get that same recognition on a national level.
38:51
Speaker 5: So I think the fact that that statement was made
38:53
Speaker 5: so early really says a lot about our league and
38:57
Speaker 5: uh and there their dominance from top to bottom. And
39:03
Speaker 5: I know our top four teams are getting a lot
39:05
Speaker 5: of recognition, but you know, I think I think our
39:09
Speaker 5: I think our entire conference is only going to get stronger.
39:11
Speaker 5: I have so much faith in the coaches that we
39:14
Speaker 5: have and uh, and I know our teams who want
39:16
Speaker 5: to climb are are putting in a lot of work
39:19
Speaker 5: and eager to do it. So it's it's a great
39:23
Speaker 5: It's always a great day to be in the w
39:25
Speaker 5: c J, but after this pole week, it's.
39:27
Speaker 4: An even better day.
39:29
Speaker 1: Michelle McTier, Commissioner of the w c h A, thanks
39:31
Speaker 1: so much for joining us.
39:33
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
39:35
Speaker 1: We will be back on the podcast. Welcome back to
39:44
Speaker 1: the podcast. Todd Bleski here along with Nicole Hasey and
39:47
Speaker 1: a couple of bits of news I wanted to get
39:49
Speaker 1: into before we get too much further into our final segment. Here. Uh.
39:53
Speaker 1: The future sites for the the for the Women's Frozen
39:57
Speaker 1: four we are announced earlier this week. We know twenty
40:01
Speaker 1: twenty five this season is at Ritter Arena in Minneapolis,
40:04
Speaker 1: and we already knew twenty twenty six is at Pagoula
40:08
Speaker 1: Ice Arena and State College Pennsylvania. But the two that
40:11
Speaker 1: were added onto that, twenty twenty seven will be going
40:14
Speaker 1: back to Duluth, Minnesota for the Frozen Four at am
40:18
Speaker 1: Sooil Arena, last hosted in twenty twenty three, so not
40:21
Speaker 1: very long ago and not very long between trips there.
40:25
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty eight going to Fairfield, Connecticut, where Sacred Heart
40:28
Speaker 1: roll hosts for the first time at Martyr Family Arena,
40:30
Speaker 1: a fairly new venue that we'll be getting some pretty
40:35
Speaker 1: big exposure there. What are your thoughts on, You know,
40:41
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of keeping the East and West shuffle going,
40:45
Speaker 1: of going kind of back and forth. While State College
40:47
Speaker 1: is technically a Western site, it's really easier to get
40:50
Speaker 1: to from the East. If there's any easy getting the
40:54
Speaker 1: State College, yeah, thank you. But so this balance here
41:00
Speaker 1: of kind of going back and forth between the East
41:03
Speaker 1: and West, which is probably a fair way of continuing
41:06
Speaker 1: to do this as long as the there's interest in
41:11
Speaker 1: hosting in both regions and interest in attending what we
41:16
Speaker 1: see in the end, I.
41:17
Speaker 3: Feel like it's exciting that Sacred Heart stepped up with
41:20
Speaker 3: this right like it's we haven't had anything there, it's
41:23
Speaker 3: their first time they have this fairly new complex. But yeah,
41:27
Speaker 3: I think it's just exciting to not be returning like
41:29
Speaker 3: kind of recycling through the same places in fair Field,
41:33
Speaker 3: being so close to New York, like it's a really
41:34
Speaker 3: accessible place for people to be able to go so
41:38
Speaker 3: in that way, I'm also really excited. You know, we've
41:41
Speaker 3: had professional women's hockey in that area and so I
41:45
Speaker 3: think that there can be some hype and some crossover.
41:47
Speaker 3: And so obviously it's a few years out, but that
41:49
Speaker 3: one for me was just exciting knowing that that's not
41:52
Speaker 3: an area that has really been reached for the Frozen four, right,
41:58
Speaker 3: Hampton is a much.
41:59
Speaker 2: Harder place to get too than the Fairfield.
42:02
Speaker 3: So yeah, and then I think too, just that that
42:04
Speaker 3: du Luth is doing it again and really just kind
42:07
Speaker 3: of stepping up and hosting more stuff because it was
42:09
Speaker 3: basically Minnesota. That was if it was in the West,
42:11
Speaker 3: it was gonna be at Minnesota right like it felt
42:13
Speaker 3: like almost every other year. And so just I think
42:16
Speaker 3: it's good that other places are doing it, you know,
42:19
Speaker 3: from a having to get their standpoint to Luth and
42:22
Speaker 3: Penn State are not ideal and traveling to Duluth in
42:25
Speaker 3: mid March is something. Uh, but it was a great
42:33
Speaker 3: frozen for It was a great experience. The town knew
42:35
Speaker 3: what was going on. You know, I've already told had
42:37
Speaker 3: people who are not hockey fields people tell me that
42:39
Speaker 3: they can't wait to be in the stands and so
42:42
Speaker 3: in that way, I'm excited about it, and I think,
42:45
Speaker 3: you know, not the hockey town.
42:46
Speaker 2: That's people.
42:47
Speaker 3: They're gonna come and it's not gonna matter if there's
42:48
Speaker 3: snow on the ground or not.
42:50
Speaker 2: So, you know, Penn State was great. It's such a
42:53
Speaker 2: great arena. It just stinks.
42:54
Speaker 3: It's such it's so difficult to get to and like
42:57
Speaker 3: last year, you couldn't decide to go to that Frozen four,
43:01
Speaker 3: like once you knew what the teams were, because no
43:03
Speaker 3: hotels were available. They were hosting a whole bunch of
43:05
Speaker 3: other stuff in town that weekend, and so like several
43:08
Speaker 3: people I know were like, uh, we can't find a
43:10
Speaker 3: hotel room. So I just hope their city plans for
43:14
Speaker 3: a lout. Like there was like something learned, because if
43:17
Speaker 3: you didn't book ahead of time, you couldn't you couldn't
43:19
Speaker 3: really just decide to go the weekend before it happened.
43:22
Speaker 2: And so in that way, you.
43:24
Speaker 3: Know, particularly because it's a city that's used to bringing in,
43:26
Speaker 3: you know, eighty thousand people for a weekend football game.
43:29
Speaker 3: I don't know regardless, there was logistical things about that,
43:33
Speaker 3: but the arena is great. The tournament went well, and
43:36
Speaker 3: so I think Juluth too just really showed out. It
43:39
Speaker 3: was a good experience and that first time getting to
43:42
Speaker 3: have the Patty Caz right there, and so, uh yeah,
43:45
Speaker 3: I'm excited for all of that.
43:46
Speaker 1: I think the north of one hundred thousand then at
43:49
Speaker 1: Penn say for football, but your point is made, Yeah, yeah,
43:52
Speaker 1: maybe more so.
43:53
Speaker 2: But things I yeah.
43:56
Speaker 1: Right. The other bit of news I want to mention
43:58
Speaker 1: is we learned recently that the uh there's going to
44:02
Speaker 1: be a tournament in Europe for the first time. There
44:05
Speaker 1: have been games as part of the whatef. It's called
44:08
Speaker 1: a Friendship Series or or something like that. In Belfast,
44:11
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland. They on the men's side. There's been a
44:13
Speaker 1: Friendship four for a decade now, I'm not sure the
44:17
Speaker 1: number of years, but it's been going on for quite
44:18
Speaker 1: a while. That's being extended to women's hockey coming up
44:22
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six. The tournament will feature Boston University, Harvard,
44:26
Speaker 1: Quinnipiac and Minnesota Duluth, which I mean, honestly, it sounds
44:31
Speaker 1: like a really cool event and you know, a.
44:34
Speaker 2: Good reason to travel.
44:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, you go a lot of travels. I
44:38
Speaker 1: don't know that that one's right in the middle of
44:40
Speaker 1: the season too, so that that might be a little
44:43
Speaker 1: bit trickier. But I mean for those schools and the
44:46
Speaker 1: people that get to go along for that, that's that's
44:47
Speaker 1: gonna be an awesome experience.
44:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, And there's there's like kind of a cool like
44:52
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say underground, but like like upstart hockey community
44:56
Speaker 3: in that area, and so that's where like they play
44:58
Speaker 3: at a professional rink. I believe they've done a couple
45:02
Speaker 3: a couple of women's teams have gone and played, like
45:03
Speaker 3: two teams gone and played one game. But this is
45:05
Speaker 3: the first time that they're going to do the tournament
45:07
Speaker 3: style and include the women. So I mean, what a
45:10
Speaker 3: great experience for the players. I think it's really cool
45:12
Speaker 3: to extend, you know, the women's game that way. Yeah,
45:16
Speaker 3: like I said, I'll be putting it on the calendar
45:17
Speaker 3: and hoping to make it work, right, that'll be plus,
45:20
Speaker 3: it's just often we see some of these tournaments, whether
45:23
Speaker 3: they're here or elsewhere where, it's kind of clear who's
45:27
Speaker 3: probably going to come out ahead before the games are
45:30
Speaker 3: even played. And so I'm excited just like the quality
45:32
Speaker 3: of the teams that are going it should be a
45:36
Speaker 3: whole set of really good games.
45:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, let's look ahead to what's coming this week,
45:41
Speaker 1: which is a lot of non conference games between ranked teams,
45:44
Speaker 1: and a lot of them again like we were talking
45:47
Speaker 1: about before, with Minnesota and Yukon being you know, East
45:51
Speaker 1: versus West. So I mean, just going down the list,
45:56
Speaker 1: you've got, well, let's see, say going to Saint Lawrence,
46:03
Speaker 1: is that for one game or two that's for two games?
46:07
Speaker 1: Minnesota going to Colgate, it's this Yeah, this feels like
46:13
Speaker 1: one of those you know, show me as many games
46:17
Speaker 1: as you can kind of we can stare.
46:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, how many threams can I have set up at once?
46:21
Speaker 3: Yeah? And that game also feels like it could be
46:24
Speaker 3: sort of like a precursor to a postseason matchup that
46:27
Speaker 3: we might see in the NCAA tournament. And just talking
46:31
Speaker 3: other you've got Connectic or Penn State going to Connecticut,
46:34
Speaker 3: and mercy Hurst coming to Saint Cloud State, and then
46:38
Speaker 3: Quinnipiac going to Northeastern. And then beyond that that are
46:42
Speaker 3: not they're not all ranked, but you have Vermont at
46:44
Speaker 3: Clarkson and bu at Minnesota. So yeah, I just there's
46:49
Speaker 3: a really amazing sleet of games this weekend. And I
46:52
Speaker 3: I this is the sort of These are the sort
46:54
Speaker 3: of things that we can look back later in the season,
46:56
Speaker 3: like when when we used to talk about like RPI,
46:58
Speaker 3: it was like your opponent's opponents, And so it's nice
47:00
Speaker 3: to be able to get some context, right like when
47:02
Speaker 3: you see how good Saint Cloud State is against Mercyhurst
47:06
Speaker 3: or how good Mersey Hurst is against Saint Cloud State,
47:08
Speaker 3: then you can look at how you can make better
47:10
Speaker 3: educated guesses about how they might match up to teams
47:13
Speaker 3: and other conferences. It's it can be just really helpful
47:17
Speaker 3: when we get towards the end of the season and
47:19
Speaker 3: it's just really interesting.
47:20
Speaker 2: You know, there's different styles of play.
47:22
Speaker 3: I think Mercyhurst for Saint Cloud State, it's going to
47:24
Speaker 3: be a fascinating matchup with those two coaches like Sisty
47:27
Speaker 3: and Brian and Telski are just kind of two very
47:30
Speaker 3: like cerebral and successful coaches, and so I'm excited to
47:34
Speaker 3: see how those They also are two teams that have
47:36
Speaker 3: a bunch of European players, which affects the way that
47:39
Speaker 3: the game's played, so that one I think will be
47:40
Speaker 3: really fun. I think it'll be interesting to see the
47:42
Speaker 3: physicality with Minnesota Duluth and Colgate and how Colgate sort
47:47
Speaker 3: of bounces back Saint Lawrence. I think got a really
47:51
Speaker 3: good sort of education at the NCAA Tournament last year
47:55
Speaker 3: about like what they need, how they need to be playing,
47:57
Speaker 3: and what they can do. I thought that I think
48:00
Speaker 3: that that'll really help them when they're facing Ohio State
48:02
Speaker 3: this week. And then I actually think one of the
48:04
Speaker 3: more fun ones will be Quinnipiac Northeastern because again two
48:07
Speaker 3: teams sort of trying to find their place in the
48:11
Speaker 3: greater conversation of like where will they find themselves towards
48:16
Speaker 3: the postseason? And so I think they both can make
48:17
Speaker 3: a statement and we'll just sort of see what what
48:21
Speaker 3: each team is capable of. So I think that one
48:24
Speaker 3: should be fun too, And I think, like I always
48:27
Speaker 3: talk about their defense, and so how Northeastern handles that
48:30
Speaker 3: defense is I think something that will just be worth
48:34
Speaker 3: watching for.
48:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, so a lot out there to stream this weekend,
48:37
Speaker 1: but it's also one game. If you don't have any
48:40
Speaker 1: streaming services and but you do have cable or satellite
48:43
Speaker 1: and you want to catch some women's college hockey, you
48:44
Speaker 1: are in luck this week because Friday, six o'clock Eastern
48:49
Speaker 1: on espn U number one. Wisconsin plays at Boston College,
48:52
Speaker 1: which you know, I appreciate the effort of getting getting
48:58
Speaker 1: a game on you know, cable network because this is
49:02
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity that everyone wants to see more
49:05
Speaker 1: more exposure for women's hockey and and you know, more
49:10
Speaker 1: availability out there for people who you know, who don't
49:15
Speaker 1: pay for all of the streaming services to be able
49:18
Speaker 1: to see some games.
49:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you know that series when Boston
49:22
Speaker 3: College came to Wisconsin last year, Like Wisconsin had one
49:25
Speaker 3: big blow game, but there was like there are closer
49:29
Speaker 3: bits of that from Boston College. And they are older
49:31
Speaker 3: and smarter and playing at home and you know, in
49:34
Speaker 3: the spotlight. So I think this could be an interesting game.
49:37
Speaker 3: I think, you know, there's every chance it could be
49:40
Speaker 3: like Wisconsin, we just know what they're able to do
49:42
Speaker 3: scoring goals, right, But I think there's every chance that
49:45
Speaker 3: this could be sort of less of a blowout game
49:49
Speaker 3: than I think maybe people are expecting.
49:51
Speaker 1: All Right, any final thoughts, anything else you're paying attention
49:55
Speaker 1: to this week or that's across to your desk on
49:58
Speaker 1: the College Hockey World or.
50:01
Speaker 3: No, I mean I think I, like I said, I'm
50:03
Speaker 3: going to keep being I'm keeping an eye on the
50:06
Speaker 3: way that games are being called, particularly when we're looking
50:09
Speaker 3: at these cross conference matchups.
50:11
Speaker 2: I just it feels like there have been I mean that.
50:14
Speaker 3: The one Ohio State UMT game felt like they weren't
50:18
Speaker 3: playing it even strength for like more than a period,
50:22
Speaker 3: and then one of the games last weekend was the
50:23
Speaker 3: same way, and so you know, it affects the flow
50:26
Speaker 3: of the game, and it also affects like how players
50:28
Speaker 3: are going to play out the rest of the season
50:30
Speaker 3: if they're they're afraid of some of that stuff. And
50:32
Speaker 3: we saw that there were some changes in the way
50:34
Speaker 3: that things are gonna get called, and so I continue
50:37
Speaker 3: to watch for like one of those boarding calls, or
50:40
Speaker 3: we did see a minor contact to the head in
50:43
Speaker 3: one of the games this week and last weekend, and
50:45
Speaker 3: so yeah, to me, I'm just keeping an eye on
50:47
Speaker 3: that officiating and seeing any changes in that because there's
50:51
Speaker 3: been like hundreds of minutes and we still only had
50:54
Speaker 3: twenty six games, and so there's always that period of
50:58
Speaker 3: getting used to playing again and the freshmen and things
51:01
Speaker 3: like that. But yeah, I don't know, it's not fun
51:04
Speaker 3: to constantly be watching you know, a game that's stopping
51:07
Speaker 3: and starting like that, right, What about you?
51:10
Speaker 1: Well, I'm you know, kind of well, I'll be paying
51:14
Speaker 1: attention for my job to Wisconsin BC obviously, But you
51:18
Speaker 1: mentioned the BU Minnesota game, and I had caught some
51:21
Speaker 1: of Bu's exhibition game that the day before the season
51:28
Speaker 1: really started two weeks ago, and I I mean, you know,
51:35
Speaker 1: you factor in the competition level because they're playing in
51:37
Speaker 1: a Canadian school and then it's early in the season
51:39
Speaker 1: and everything like that. But I thought BU looked really
51:45
Speaker 1: for that point in the season, really composed and really
51:47
Speaker 1: put together. And I you know, I have nothing to
51:51
Speaker 1: compare that to. You know, obviously, it was September what,
51:54
Speaker 1: twenty whatever, and you should maybe bold declarations about games
51:58
Speaker 1: on September twenty first or whatever. But I'm interested to
52:04
Speaker 1: see how that one shakes out as as a game
52:07
Speaker 1: that maybe doesn't fall into that category of the ones
52:09
Speaker 1: we were talking about of teams that are both ranked.
52:12
Speaker 1: So yeah, we'll see. I mean, the Gophers went out
52:16
Speaker 1: the Yukon and got a couple of really good results,
52:19
Speaker 1: and I would imagine they're you know, looking for the
52:23
Speaker 1: same kind of thing again this weekend. But we shall see.
52:27
Speaker 1: That's why you gotta play them.
52:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think be Use one of those teams
52:30
Speaker 3: that really could like take a big step forward now
52:33
Speaker 3: that their coaches, you know, like they're starting their recruiting
52:36
Speaker 3: and she's tears more settled in and just like that
52:39
Speaker 3: as her team.
52:40
Speaker 2: And so.
52:42
Speaker 3: We've just had so much coach turnover in the last
52:44
Speaker 3: couple of years that I think you're kind of in
52:46
Speaker 3: this constant. It takes a couple of years to really
52:49
Speaker 3: like get your handle and sort of get settled in
52:52
Speaker 3: and have it be your squad. So like that, combined
52:55
Speaker 3: with what you're saying about the exhibition game, makes me
52:57
Speaker 3: think that could be a sneaky interesting team this year.
53:00
Speaker 1: One of that I should have mentioned too that I'm
53:02
Speaker 1: interested to see how Minnesota luth comes back after So
53:06
Speaker 1: they they beat Ohio Sate twice on the opening weekend
53:08
Speaker 1: on the road. They came back to play Syracuse last week,
53:10
Speaker 1: but those games were postponed because Syracuse wasn't able to
53:13
Speaker 1: travel because of the remnants of the hurricane. Yeah, so
53:20
Speaker 1: then they now it's coming back and going to coliate,
53:23
Speaker 1: So there's.
53:26
Speaker 2: I would imagine schedule.
53:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, they would have really liked that week to kind
53:30
Speaker 1: of come down from from the high beating Ohio Sate
53:32
Speaker 1: and getting back and focused on on playing your game. Uh,
53:35
Speaker 1: maybe they were able to do that in practice, Maybe
53:37
Speaker 1: they were able to. It's kind of the time a lapse,
53:40
Speaker 1: says has taken some of that away. So but yeah,
53:44
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see how that, uh you know, how
53:48
Speaker 1: that spins forward. I guess, like we were talking about earlier,
53:50
Speaker 1: how that what they were able to do at Ohio
53:52
Speaker 1: State continues on for them, and we'll we'll get a
53:55
Speaker 1: good look at it this week against Colgate.
53:57
Speaker 3: Yeah. Sometimes I like I don't always buy in, but
54:01
Speaker 3: coaches talk a lot about the routine throughout the season,
54:04
Speaker 3: and I do think the players do get really used
54:06
Speaker 3: to sort of the pattern of their week, and so
54:09
Speaker 3: when you mess with that when it's not something they
54:11
Speaker 3: planned on right like they practice so they were going
54:13
Speaker 3: to a game day, like, how that can affect you particularly?
54:17
Speaker 3: I mean we were talking about does that help them accelerate?
54:19
Speaker 3: Like I said, I think that probably accelerated them mentally.
54:21
Speaker 3: Does this following week does that put any like bumps
54:25
Speaker 3: in that where you're set back because you're just kind
54:27
Speaker 3: of throwing you're thrown a little bit off kilter on
54:29
Speaker 3: what you were expecting, So that's a really good point.
54:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well, thanks for joining us this week.
54:36
Speaker 1: We will be back again next week talking more looking
54:39
Speaker 1: back at some of those games, and if Nicole did
54:43
Speaker 1: put out something on social media asking for questions, we
54:47
Speaker 1: will have some kind of a mail bag episode at
54:50
Speaker 1: some point. So if you want to hit us up
54:53
Speaker 1: with some of those questions you have about women's college hockey,
54:57
Speaker 1: you can find us on social media at Malesky at
55:00
Speaker 1: Nicole Hasey. You can send them to me email Todd
55:03
Speaker 1: dot m I L E W s k I at
55:06
Speaker 1: U s C h O dot com. I will make
55:07
Speaker 1: sure they get into the mailbag. So appreciate your feedback
55:13
Speaker 1: and your support, and we will talk to you next
55:16
Speaker 1: week on the podcast.