Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Early PairWise tiers, surprising finishes to 2024 and a look ahead to 2025

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Early PairWise tiers, surprising finishes to 2024 and a look ahead to 2025 · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Us cho dot com. I have one welcome back to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the podcast todd Leski here with Nicole Hosey from us
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: ho dot com. Nicole, last week in women's college hockey
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a lot of surprises. I don't know that I saw
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a lot of the results that we ended up seeing
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: coming before the weekend because a bunch of games with
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the overtime, a bunch of results that maybe maybe we're
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: not the ones that we thought of. I guess that's
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the way things go in middle of December hockey, when
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: you have some teams that are getting into exam period
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that it gets a little stressful. It's a it's a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: weird time of the season, and I don't know if
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: that's the reasoning for it or if it's just that
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you never fully know what to expect here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I love When I first started this role,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we used to do every week, and goodness was I
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: bad at it. And I'm so glad we don't have
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to do that anymore because I feel like every time
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I feel like I've got a grasp on what a
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: team's doing and what they're gonna, you know, how they're
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: going to perform, like that all turns on its head.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So I mean, where do we want to start. Was
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: it maybe Boston College losing to holy Cross Friday?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Right? Holy Cross takes Boston College overtime, holy Cross the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: home team and gets away with a two to one
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: overtime victory. Which you know, Boston College has been on
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a you know, not necessarily a completely straight upward climb,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: but you know, there's been a few bumps here and there.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: But I thought they'd kind of iron some of that out.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And then they get thirty nine shots on goal and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: only score one goal for for holy Cross. Abbey Horning
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: with the thirty eight saves to get the overtime win.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Holy Cross scorers that it's only goal only shot of
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: overtime from a.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: And but that was a beauty of a play. If
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: folks haven't seen that, holy Cross has that on their
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  Speaker 2: Instagram or i'm sorry, on their their ex their twitter, uh,
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  Speaker 2: and you should go find it because that's a it's
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  Speaker 2: a pretty good individual effort. But yeah, and not only
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: did holy Cross take that land, but they take the
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: season series. The two had sweit their games before, so yeah,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they have the two wins over BC this season. And yeah, again,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I just didn't mean to cut you off. But yeah,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: just super surprising. I BC has been much better, much
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: more offensive than that. So I mean, kudos to the goaltender,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: kudos to Holy Cross's defense, but yeah, they've they were
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say scoring it will, but just really really
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: tactively offensive and picking out their spots and really scoring
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  Speaker 2: goals that way. So surprising that they only got the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: one here and then yeah, just you know, we've talked
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: about this like it's so it can be frustrating, which
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: is like unfair, baby, but like I get frustrated when
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you have all this opportunity, like it was
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: on the table in front of you, You've done so well,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and like these are points you have to take. These
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: are points that you can't be giving up. No affronts
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: to Holy Cross, like obviously kudos to them, and like
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: it continues to show that, you know, parody is much
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: more it's much better than it you know it has
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: been in the past, and you can't take any game
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: for granted. But yeah, I just not mad. I'm just disappointed.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Boston College. I just really was like me and I
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: feel like of all the teams, I feel like maybe
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: I'm extra hard on them or something, but of all
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  Speaker 2: the teams in Hockey East, they're the team that whenever
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: like I feel like they're starting to climb up, like
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: they have games like this where I'm just like, oh,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: so frustrated for you, because I just I think the
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: opportunity is there for them, and I think the talent
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: is there, and so when you do stuff like this,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they put themselves. They're now third place in
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  Speaker 2: Hockey East standings heading into the winter break, and it's close. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: I think they're one point behind Yukon in number in
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  Speaker 2: the number two spot, but still it just I have
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  Speaker 2: a feeling some of the stuff's gonna come down to those,
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  Speaker 2: you know, single points. It's in goodness if you're gonna
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: end up in that tie, in that situation, at the
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  Speaker 2: very least, you can't give up the overtime.
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  Speaker 1: So I do have to take something back that they
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: did have three shots on goal hol Across. I was
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: reading it the wrong way, so they outshot Boston College
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  Speaker 1: three nothing in the overtime, So take that back. But
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  Speaker 1: also Boston College is We're gonna talk a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about this later in the pair. Wise, they're in
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a decent spot right now. They're sitting sixth, but that's
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  Speaker 1: a it's a really sharp drop off from from there.
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  Speaker 1: So overtime losses obviously count less than regulation losses in
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  Speaker 1: in the arithmetic that goes into the pair wise, so
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  Speaker 1: it's not as much, and road overtime losses count even less.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: It's not as much of a hit. But when you're
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: when you're playing teams that are far below you in
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  Speaker 1: the pair wise, those are ones you got a win,
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  Speaker 1: and that's you know, Holy Cross sitting at twenty third,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: that's that's a pretty uneven matchup and in that perspective,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: but credit to the Crusaders for getting that done and
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: coming out of there with a win. And that makes
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the holiday season a lot brighter when you get into
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: those kind of results for Holy.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Thow Right, and I think the other thing for Boston
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: College is you just have to think about the fact
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  Speaker 2: that like your opponents and the and the teams you're
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: fighting against for those final eleven spots, whatever they may be,
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  Speaker 2: they are in w CCH and in ECAC are getting
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: more credit for playing other ranked teams, and in Hockey
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  Speaker 2: East just overall, your strength of schedule isn't the same
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and you don't have as much of an opportunity to
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: make up some of that ground, and so you're sort
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of already starting at a disadvantage with some of that stuff.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And that's why things like these losses are kind of
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: frustrating and disappointing, just because there are games you're gonna lose.
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  Speaker 2: There are games against other, you know, top teams in
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  Speaker 2: your conference, like you're you're gonna take some hit, So
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you have to be taking all of the points that
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: you can get in other opportunities. And so yeah, that's
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  Speaker 2: that's why I feel so like strongly about like, ugh,
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  Speaker 2: this is so you got to do better than this.
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  Speaker 1: Also on Friday in New Ha, post seventh out of
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  Speaker 1: eight teams in New Ha at home the Sacred Heart,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and I had to double check on this one post
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  Speaker 1: three Sacred Heart zero. Not the direction of the score
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  Speaker 1: that I was expecting to see there, especially when.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Post that was their fourth win of the season.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and is outshot forty six to eighteen, but gets
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a power play goal, gets a I I don't know
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: if it was a shorthanded goal or not, and in
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: another goal early in the third to make it a
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: three nothing game, and off they got a pretty rowan
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  Speaker 1: ringor is the goal scorer of two of those goals,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: by the way for Post, so two goal game there.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And she's having a great season. She's a freshman and
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  Speaker 2: leading their team and goals and among new HAU leaders.
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  Speaker 2: So somebody to keep an eye on there. For sure.
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  Speaker 1: It fit into the weekend results. I guess when you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: look at it, it's like, oh, it's like, oh, okay,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: this is gonna weekend we shake things up a little bit.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I feel like, didn't I text you about this one
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: because you were at the bagmen's game and I was like, uh,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: so that happened. Uh, just because we've been talking so
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: much about what a great start Sacred Heart had had
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff that this just really
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: felt like it came out of left field. And I
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  Speaker 2: wonder if this is one of those like looking ahead
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to winter break in the fatigue of the season and
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. But that being said, the
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: two teams tied in the second game and Post won
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  Speaker 2: the shootout, so it's not like it was a one
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  Speaker 2: off for Post and Sacred Art came out the next
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  Speaker 2: day like learn their lessons sort of thing. So it's
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  Speaker 2: the two EAMs in a row that's probably the more
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: concerning part whenever they're sort of that that the worst
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  Speaker 2: thing going back for a second form Boston colladoris they
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: like can't bounce back from that, Like they have to
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  Speaker 2: sit on that. There's no like coming back and like
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  Speaker 2: proving themselves for a full month. So so in this
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  Speaker 2: particular series, I just thought it was interesting that that
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: like Sacred Heart didn't take that loss. So you usually
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  Speaker 2: see sort of a bounce back from from the better team,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and and so it was it was telling
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  Speaker 2: to me that that that second game also didn't go very.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and the Sacred Heart still leads New Hot, but
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: it's lead is only one point over l i U,
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  Speaker 1: both those teams having fourteen conference games played, so that
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  Speaker 1: that race was pretty much eliminated.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, any lead they head is you.
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  Speaker 1: Know, I'm here for for races that go right down
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  Speaker 1: to the wire. And absolutely I'm not loving the margin
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  Speaker 1: that there there is in like there c h A
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  Speaker 1: for instance, or Wisconsin's up eleven points on Duluth in
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  Speaker 1: second place, but there's I think the intrigue is much
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: greater when you get in those last couple of weeks
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  Speaker 1: and you've got one point or two points separating teams
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes they even play each other and for sure
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  Speaker 1: against each other to decide those championships.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I put into twos. We're recording on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 2: LU just lost to Princeton for two, which is still
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: a loss. But Princeton's the team that just went out
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  Speaker 2: and scored all of those goals two weeks ago, two
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  Speaker 2: weekends ago, and it's just this offensive powerhouse and so
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I you know, like I said to you before we started,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: I was not expecting Princeton to score half as many
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: goals against LU as they did against BU. So I
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: for me, just because we're talking about LU, like that's
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: a really good sign for the Sharks and like what
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: they're going to be able to do in New Hot
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Like if they they're scoring on a very good team
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: and not allowing quite as many goals as is pretty
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: much everyone else that's had to face Princeton lately. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I think that that fight for between LU and Sacred
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  Speaker 2: Heart is going to be really interesting. And LU has
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the bonus of having run away with the regular season
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  Speaker 2: last year and then sort of fizzled out in the playoffs,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: so they have they have some and finished business. So
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: they're a team that really wants to push through to
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: the end, and I feel like, you know, sort of
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: that that anger could really carry you in those tough fights.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Ye speaking of Princeton back into the Usho dot Com
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: pole at number fourteen this week after a two to
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: one overtime victory over number nine Quinnipiac. And that was
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: one of those games we highlighted last week as being
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a little of a test of which team's style of
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: game was going to come out, and maybe it still
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: was Quinnipiac's style of game. It was two to one.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: It wasn't, you know, like we were talking about it's
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: twenty five goal weekend for Princeton or anything like that again,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: But the Princeton got the win, and it had to
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: come back and to do it, Lawrence Fnette had Fornetti
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: had the goal for Quinnipiac in the second period. Sarah
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Paul scores six twenty seven and the third to tie
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: it on a power play, and that scores again in
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: overtime to win it for Princeton in front of a
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: pretty good crowd at Hope Baker Rink two eleven eighty
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: two listed as the attendance there, which is kind of cool.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: To see that, you know, people recognizing that there were
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: some pretty good hockey being played there last Saturday, and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: I just don't know. Okay, So here we are with
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Princeton at now nine and five, what are what are
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: we making of this? I guess is where what I'm
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: getting at, there's still there's still not tenants, pretty far
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: down the ECAC standings. They have some games to make
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: up on some of the teams that are ahead of them,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: but I'm still not totally sure what the make of
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: things here right now.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I mean I would argue that they just had a
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: really slow start. I mean, all but one of their
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: losses came in the opening weeks of the season, right
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: like they they started with a series and wins against
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Robert More, but it's lost to Yale, lost to Brown,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: lost to Saint Lauris, lost to Clerkson, and then things
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: turn around and they have to win over Colgate and
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: it's the one goal lost to Cornell is the only
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: one they have after that. So you know, it took
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: him a little while to heat up. And you know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: we've talked before about Ivy League teams and coming in
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: at a disadvantage, and so yeah, I think for them,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: it's about continuing to build and prove that the beginning
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: of the season was the fluke and what we're seeing
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: now is is who they really are. And if they
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: continue on this trajectory, I think, you know, well, we
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: they'll be fire up in the standings and we'll be
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: this this conversational and be a distant memory. So I mean,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I think the way that we've seen them play, you know,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: in the last couple of weeks, is probably more indicative
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: of who they are. And yeah, it's up to them
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: to continue to prove that. And they're just going to
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: have to keep winning those games, those really important games.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: They you know, they come back and they have RPI
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Union right away to start the season, and like, those
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: are games they have to win. Those are teams well
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: below them in the standings. But then they go through
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: that gauntlet of Kwinnipiac, Yale, Cornell, Colgate and uh yeah,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: that's that's where they're gonna have to prove themselves. They
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: have to come out of that with like several wins
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: and and a lot of points. That's the only way
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: they're they're gonna make up for what the beginning of
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the season did to them, Right, And I do want
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: to just you know, maybe I should apologize to Kaylee
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Doyle from Quinnipiac, the GOALIEO I touted last week is
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: one of the best in the conference because she had
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: to come out of her net to play a puck
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: in overtime. Uh, got it past the past Sarah Paul,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: who was the one that was pushing at her, but
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: as she played it off the boards, that went right
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: to Jane Keele and she is the one that carried
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: it in and Kalle Doyle got back to her crease.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: But obviously with scrambling and brilliant play by Jane Keele
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: who held the puck until the last second and then
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: passed it back behind Kalle Doyle through the crease to
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Sarah Paul at the back post to win. I mean,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: absolutely gorgeous play, killer patients and vision from Jane Keel
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: to It's a really rough situation for Khaley Doyle, right
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: like she's got to come out and play that puck
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: because Sarah Paul's coming down the ice and she's not
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: gonna let the Princeton player just have that puck for
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: free in on her. But yeah, I feel maybe after
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: like tout and how great she was last week. I'll
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: apologize to Hiey Doyle if I gave her any jinks,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: because that was an unfortunate way for that really great
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: game to end for Quinnipiac. But a really gorgeous player
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: from Jane Keel, who's definitely of all the people we've
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: been talking about from Princeton in the scoring, she's not
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: been one of the ones we've talked about, so absolutely
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: the hero of that game.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a podcast Jinx, I haven't
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: heard of it yet, but maybe I.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Just felt like that's just such an awful way to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: lose that game.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: In Atlantic hockey last weekend a result a couple of
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: results I wanted to point out, Syracuse got a pair
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: of four to one wins over Robert Morris, so eight
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: goals scored in the series, five of them by Brince Saraala,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: which is, you know, heck of a weekend. Three goals
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and an assist on Friday, two goals and an assist
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, so seven of the eight goals she had
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: a goal or assist on uh tip of the cap
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: there for for that performance, uh for the Orange and
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: getting a couple of wins there, but really for the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the the individual performance there, which is something that you know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: really stands out when so on the front page of
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: us c h O dot com on the on the
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Division one women's homepages, a little little box that shows
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: the top weekly performances, and that one really stood out.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: There was an eight point performance by Addy Murphy three goals,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: five assists, eight points from Eddie Alvarez from r T
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: a goal and seven assists. But then there's this five
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: point five goal outing from britt Sarala that you know
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: shows up there and that's a you know, something something
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to remember I would imagine for for her.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and as you mentioned, she had to me off.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: We talked about before it. She she played four years
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: the Holy Cross and had something like twenty goals the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: entire time, twenty one goals and she's got ten halfway
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: through her single season so far with with Syracuse. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: just great, glow up, great you know, improvement and just yeah,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: like you said, that's going to be a weekend to remember.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Just a heck of a performance from her. And we
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: apologize if we're saying your name wrong. There wasn't a
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: pronunciation guide on the roster.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Eighteen points this season already better than any of her
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: first four seasons at holy Cross. So yeah, that's a
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: start to the season. And yeah, that's what you like
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: to see from an individual perspective. I mentioned the Abbey
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Murphy result there. Minnesota did get a pair of wins
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: over Saint Thomas last weekend, and we had looked at
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: looked ahead to that as one of those well let's
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: let's take a look at this. Yeah, there is to
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: see if there's anything to look at here, and it
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: really was Minnesota taking care of business.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Five to.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Nothing was the score on Friday, and I believe it was.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: It was a big score in the next six to two. Yeah,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: so h that's that's Minnesota doing what it needed to
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: do on a on the other team's home ice. Elsewhere
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: in the w c h A though, we had the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Minnesota loose sink Cloud State series and the luth got
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the better of that one.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: It was a one to one tie on Friday, and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I didn't write it down, but I thought the luth
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: got the extra point that I am I okay, and
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: then the Luth with a three to one win on
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Saturday to wrap that series up. That is one of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: those for me that and I'm interested in your perspective
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: on this too, But we had kind of thought that, Okay, here,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: here's a series that might separate these teams in the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: standings down the road, and it's the Looth that's got
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: a pretty good leg up right now and vaulted the
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Bulldogs in the second place in the conference, ahead of
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Ohio State, ahead of Minnesota, and so a pretty good
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: place to start the second half of the season from
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: for Duluth.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I mean, they were close games, they
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: were hard fought games, and I think it's just really
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: sort of empowering to come out of that right in
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: the position that they're in. And I think, you know,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: looking at the rest of the teams in this conference,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I don't think if we'd have told Daluth that they'd
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: be the number two team in the WCA going into
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: the winter break, they'd have happily, you know, happily taken that.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: So I think sort of of all the transfers and
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: some of the bigger name players and stuff, I'm impressed
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: with what sort of Duluth has done without all that
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: sort of attention and that sort of stuff. Kitlyn Kramer
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: continues to come along and just be probably my favorite
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: rookie to watch so far this year. I just really
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: enjoy the way she plays. I enjoyed watching her U
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: eighteens and she continues to come into her own and
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: really I think game her confidence within the college game
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: and with a UMD system. Yeah, I'm not sure what
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I expected out of the series, and in some ways,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: you know, the outcome is exactly what we'd have expected
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: in that, like they were pretty close games and that
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: sort of thing. But yeah, I Minnesota luth coming out
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: and where they are at this part of the season
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: is definitely wasn't on my Bengo card. What about you?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think my my perspective changed right
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: away the opening weekend when the Luth went to Ao
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: say it and won two games, And so then you're
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: you're thinking, well, okay, I got to recalibrate some things here,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and maybe that's and really I don't know if that
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: pushes them over the top at the end into a
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: second or third position, but uh, it did maybe reframe
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: some of the expectations I had for this season.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Definitely made the ceiling you seem a lot higher.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Right, a change of a season, right because you got
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a new head coach Laura Schuler, You've got a you know,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: some massive players for them that moved on after last
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: season and and I didn't fully know what to expect there,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: And for seeing that, I think that that pushed things
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: ahead and maybe move things along a little faster than
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I thought. Maybe they'd go for the Bulldogs now looking
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: ahead the things I look at of that. Okay, so
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: they've already played at Ohio State and at Wisconsin. They
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: they've played Minnesota at home. So in the second half
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: they have to go to Minnesota, but they get Ohio
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: State and Wisconsin coming to them. Now State, it's gonna
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: be geared up for that one, shall we say, when
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: that one happens. But having those opportunities to play them
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: at home, you might end up being in their favor
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: when when we start adding things up towards the end here.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: But it's and really it might come down to that
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: last weekend of the season. As I'm looking at their schedule,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: at Minnesota on the final weekend is got a pretty
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: good chance of deciding. Yeah, some of the spots in
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the league, So yeah, that will definitely be fun to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: watch as we get closer to that one. Okay, when
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: we come back. We will talk a little bit about
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the pairwise rankings. Yes, it's just about time to start
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: talking about the pairwise rank rankings. I will give in
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to that now and say we're ready as we get
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: close to the middle of December and get ready for
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the second half of the season, stay with us on
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd Maluski
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: here with Nicole Hasey. Nicole, it is the middle of December.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: It is We've only got a few games left in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four before we get into the real stretch
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: run of the season, the last two months January and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: February of the regular season. So I'm going to say
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: it's time to talk about the pairwise rankings.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: And you have teamed it, so I have I do.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I have this problem where I'm I'm always worrying about
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: looking at it too early and reading things into it
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: too early, because you know they were designed to be
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: read one day a year, and that's everything is done.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: That's no fun.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: You're right, but that's no fun. That would not get
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: us through the I would love to wildly when you
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: know sunset is at four fifteen and uh in in
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: December and then in the January. No, that would not
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: help us out there. So let's look at it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Please here for your logic. I don't like, let's wildly
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: speculator here for all right.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Let's start doing that. I thought maybe it would be
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: interesting to look at the pairwise in terms of tears,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: where teams stand right now, and how we can kind
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: of divide U divide them up a little bit into
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: you know, who's competing for what when we start up
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, and it's really clear where we're
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: looking kind of at where the NPI number is. That's
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: one of the components of the pair wise. You're compared
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: in your NPI ranking, in your common opponents, in your
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: head to head matchups against every other team. That's where
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: you get the pairwise number, how many matchups you win
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: against the other forty three teams in the country. So
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin right now is pretty clearly almost nine full points
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: ahead in number one in the pairwise and it's just
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: seems like they've pushed themselves up there with a nineteen
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to one record. No one's close to that. It's in fact,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the number two win percentage is Clarkson at sixteen three
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and one. So there's the Badgers are up there. I
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: think they're in a tier by themselves. When we're talking
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: about pairwise, I don't necessarily think we're talking about them
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: being in a tier by themselves competitively, because I will
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: put Ohio State in the same tier as Wisconsin competitor
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: just because of the way they've played each other and
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: knowing they are.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, we are looking at the numbers right now.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: These are no no, no commentary on anybody's quality of play,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: because if.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: It comes down to Ohio State and Wisconsin championship game
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and w and C A championship exactly, it's it could
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: go either way, so that that is a little bit
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: different there. But in terms of the pairwise, Wisconsin tier
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: one by themselves, and I think that's a pretty safe
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: assumption just from what we're seeing by the numbers for sure.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: And I think maybe just wanted to say that, like
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: we do. I we can maybe put it in the
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: show notes and I'll put it out on Twitter and
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Blue Sky as well. But we do have a little
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: breakdown of like what the NPI is and it's how
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: some of that is calculated. And I do not math.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: We are writers. We are journalists, so I try to
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: explain it as simply as I can and also possibly
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: very wrongly, but yeah, these are all just the different
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: calculat This is what the selection committee is going to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: look look at. And so we switched from RPI to
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: NPI last year, and one of the things that I
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: tried to keep a little bit of track of is
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: how much an NPI number could change week to week.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: And we did see occasionally a movement of as as
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: much as a whole point right like or or even
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit more so when you're looking at these numbers, like, yes,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: if you get a win over a team ranked over you,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: who has you know, like I don't know what we're
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: talking about. Like if somebody further down, like Saint Cloud
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: State got a win over Wisconsin, they would get a
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: huge bump from that, right like, not just because of themselves,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: but because of who it is they're beating. But generally
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: we're seeing movement of between I'd say like point three
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: one point six per game if there is a jump
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: in NPI. Just to give people an idea of what
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: we're talking about, I also just wanted to say that, like,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: so Minnesota's NPI right now in number, they're the number
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: two team is sixty one point eight twenty five. Saint
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Cloud State is currently eleven, and there's this fifty six
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: point three. So you were talking, I wish five and
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: a half points between number two and a number eleven.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Just to put into perspective, that nine point lead that
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin hads is pretty massive when you compare how close
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: everybody else is.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And one other thing I want to point out
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: about the values of games is that that changes as
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the season goes on to because it because right now
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: there's you know, only half of the number of games
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: that there will be in the pool. So you can
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: see where where one of those games means a lot
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: more than it will when it's one of those games
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: means more when it's one of eighteen compared to when
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: it's one of thirty four or thirty six or whatever
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: you're looking at at the end of the conference season.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Because it's like a batting average in baseball. You know,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: your first day of the season one at bad changes
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: at a ton you're last at bad of the season.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: One at bad changes it by a point here and there,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: you know, a couple points, So that that does factor
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: into it, too.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Right, And so just because of the way that the
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: NPI is calculated, it's sort of like an ad infinitum
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: like all of how what's a better way to say that,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: It's just a consistent calculation that like goes on forever.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: He never stops you want it unless you want it
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: to write.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So that is part of like not only your your
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: sort of baseball analogy, which I actually think is really useful,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: but just the idea that like, because these calculations are
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: constantly happening, it is both a calculation of your own
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: NPI but also all the teams you played and so
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: there all of that information goes into that calculation. And
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: that's why Todd's like, Hm, is it too early to
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: talk about it, because there's so much more information that
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: will go into this before we get to the end
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: of the season.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're right, at some point we just have
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to say, Okay, time to start with this, because you know,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the difference between December one and December eleventh is is,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: you know, minimal at this point, So let's let's just
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: get in it right now. So I think Tier two
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: when we're talking about after Wisconsin, we've got Minnesota and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: second Ohio State and third Minnesota, d Luth and fourth
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and Colgate and fifth. Now the difference there Minnesota at
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the top of that tier sixty one point eight two five,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Colgate and fifth at fifty nine point one sixty three.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: So a little bit of separation there, not a ton,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: but there there is a little bit of a separation
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: between five and six. So that that group of four
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: there Minnesota, Ohio State, Minnesota, the Luth and Colgate. So
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the obvious thing there is that that's three WHA teams
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: one ECAC team. So those WHA teams are gonna be
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: playing each other, and and there's you can't both get
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: all of the NPI points then obviously for that, so
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: there's gonna be some movement around there. I would imagine
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: there's gonna be some with Colgate two because I don't
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I don't see anyone necessarily running the table here, and
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: so you're gonna bounce, You're gonna bounce up, you're gonna
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: bounce down. It's gonna happen. But I see more volatility
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: with that two, three, and four in the w c
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: h A potentially because of the games that they have
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to play against each other. But I think Colgate might
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: then you know, have have that opportunity to or enter
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the conversation Boston College down there in six two when
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: you're talking about four and five. The difference there, of
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: course is hosting that first game or that the round
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: of eight game in the NCAA tournament. So yes, not
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: having to play the Thursday game, right, So a lot
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: on the line there is you get in the four, five,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and six discussion of where you are in the pair
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: wise So I, I guess I'm just interested in your
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: your take on where you see those teams, I mean, Minnesota,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: House State, Minnesota, Colgate kind of existing at this point.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: You know, it's been a challenge in some stretches for
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: all of these teams.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I I like the idea of tears because
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: I think I agree with you that I'm barring some
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: you know, major changes for any of them if they
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: continue to play the way you've seen them play. Like,
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I expect these teams to finish within this area of
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: the pairwise right to get a top five ish seed
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: in the NCAA tournament. But it's so hard to tell.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: I will say that I'm tried to track just because
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: of the NPI getting new, being new, trying to track
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: how much could win or lose. But when you're talking
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: teams playing each other, that that sort of adds a
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: whole new dimension to it. But like, and then when
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: we get into MPI, because they take out they take
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: out wins that would hurt your ranking, and so like,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I don't I'm not entirely sure.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Right where your ranking losses that help your ranking both
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: get there's some adjustment for both sides there, right.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: And I'm not clear on like if like Minnesota the
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: loose forst Minnesota, Like where if Yeah, I'm not saying it.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's so. On ushl dot com when you
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: go to the pairwise page, you'll see there's an asterisk
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: on some teams NPI numbers. There's a pound sign on
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: some team's NPI numbers. The asterisk means that they have
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: won a game against a team that is low enough
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: in the pairwise that it or in the NPI that
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: it brought down the winning team's NPI number, which isn't
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: allowed to happen, so those things get taken out. The
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: pound sign means a team has gained points by losing
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: to a strong team, and so those also get thrown out.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: It's just a function of trying to make wins valuable
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: and losses hurt, I guess, and not let you know
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: who you're playing, or let who you're playing only matters
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: so much not not taking it over, you know, like
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: changing the direction of the gauge from negative depositive right.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: So you can't like schedule only bring to teams and
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: just hope that all of your losses end up right
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: like I think that's.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: At the bottom, right, and just feed off the fact
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: that you're winning everything.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, trying to account for that.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot in there. I know a lot
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: of our listeners are probably better at math and better
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: at either of us.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Is never feel as stupid as when I'm talking about this.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Well it's uh, sometimes you just got to keep talking
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and it's maybe it starts making sense. I don't know,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: but anyway, Yeah, that's tier two. Tier three gets into
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: a big mix of tea teams from the way I'm
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: looking at it in the with the NPI numbers, and
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: we're starting at at number six with Boston College. That's
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: BC's fifty seven points six seven seven.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: So there's not a planet if you told me to
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: guess where BC's pair wise was, right, now that I would.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Have got six, No, exactly, wasn't wasn't expecting that. But
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: then you go down and keep going, keep going. So
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: within two points in the NPI you get to thirteen,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and that's Northeastern at fifty five point seven ninety seven.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: So between six and thirteen, which is a massive, massive
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: number of teams considering they're forty four total. That that's
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: that's that's everyone. That's everyone that's in the mix right
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: now for an at large spot. Uh And they're in
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: that within two points of each other in the NPI range.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And that's wild. So we know this is going to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: shake up in the second half of the season. You're
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: gonna get teams playing each other, teams getting on a
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: run and moving up, teams falling off and playing themselves
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: out of contention. But I'm loving this that that there's
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: all these teams that are, you know, a stone's throw
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: from each other and able to make a lot of
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: change happen week to week.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean it's good for the sport, right,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Like it's good for the fans, it's good for motivation.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: It's just like it's amazing to say that, Like, I mean,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: even if we get generous and go down to like
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: three points. That takes us, like it still takes us
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: to like seventeenth. Like the idea that there are this
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: many teams within like one good or one bad weekend
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: of making the NCAA tournament like in December, that's awesome,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: And like that's not saying that teams below that couldn't
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: because like Princeton's at seventeen right now, and as we said,
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: like we expect that to change for them. But yeah,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: the idea that like this is so volatile. I mean,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: my most used phrase is here, but like team chaos man,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: like I love this. It is so good to be
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: able to know that, like I mean quite literally every
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: game matters, and you know, going back to the beginning,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: like when I'm harping on like you can't have these losses,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: like this is why because the margins are so thin
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: right now and there's so many teams in contention, and
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: I always go back to you know, Cass Turner saying
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: last year that she felt like Quinnipiac was one goal
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: was the difference in them making the postseason or not.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: So you know, when they like broke it down and
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: looked at their their outcomes and that sort of stuff
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: like that's that's nuts, but that's how things have have
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: become in women's d WANT hockey, and it's like it's amazing,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: Like I just I think this is so cool. I mean,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: we're we were talking. You know, it's too many, maybe
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: too many WHA teams at the top, but like right
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: now you've got four four Hockey East teams in this
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: tier that we're talking about, Like one of them is
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: gonna win the conference and it's possible the other three
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: don't even make the tournament. That's craziness. But in the
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: best possible way.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: We're at six is Boston College. I mentioned seven clarks
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and eight Cornell, nine Quinnipiac. So you get that run
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: of three straight ECAC teams there that will be competing
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: for the championship and competing for all sorts of things
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: against each other in the second half.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: But then and arguably Cornell's will because Cornell's only got
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: what eleven until thirteen games. You know, this is the
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: first IVY league we're talking about, and they're just like
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: their number is going to be like their number is
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: going to be more vild hel because they still got
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: so few games played compared to.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Everybody else, So bus at ten, Saint Cloud eleven, Saint
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Lawrence twelve, Northeastern thirteen. Then you get into the Penn State, Connecticut,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: man Cato. The teams that really are not in a
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: great position to be talking about anything at large wise
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: right now would have to go on an incredible run
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: to make themselves a factor in there, because the cutoff
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: is really for an eleven teen tournament where there are
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: two bids coming from conferences that don't currently have a team,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: any team in this neighborhood. The cutoff then is after nine,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: and right now that's between Quinnipiac and Boston University, and
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: they are separated by less than one tenth of a
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: point as I'm looking at it here in zero. So
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: it's that that it's going to come down to the
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: last the conference championship weekend, who's playing, who's not playing,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Who makes it to the final, who doesn't make it
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: to the final for that that last spot. We're looking
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: a little farther down the line here when we're talking
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: about into March. But to be.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Clear, this is why I'm talking about, like, you can't
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: afford that loss, so you can't have lost that in
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: overtime because this is how close the margins are and
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: it's only going to get continued like this, Like that's
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: not we will have movement within us, but for the
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: most part, like those those that cloteseness, like the difference
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: between making the tournament and not is going to end
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: up being mighty small.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's I mean, when you've got forty four teams,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: that's the way it's going to go. Because yes, there's
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: a team that's pushed itself way far ahead of everyone
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: else in terms of the numbers, but everyone else is
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: kind of like in the same mix and playing the
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: same thing. So that's that should be really entertaining as
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: we give them the meat of the season here in
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the January and February.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like teams have to look at it
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: that like, if I'm not winning this period, if I'm
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: not winning this game, if I'm not winning this weekend,
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: somebody else that I'm competing with is you know, when
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: you're talking what did we say five through but you
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: know something something like eight teams, Like one of those
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: teams is getting the job done this weekend if you
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: are not. And so that's got to be the thing
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: that drives you know, sort of every you have to
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: win every twenty minutes, every every everything, because the margins
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: are just so little and the NPI is just that close,
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: and things like getting a win that you were supposed
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: to win, you know, getting the win that you're supposed
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: to or dropping a game that you shouldn't have really honestly,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: could come down to the difference between plague and the
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: postseason and not and when we come to March and
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: we're talking about like maybe losing especially now more of
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: the conferences have gone to single elimination as supposed to
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: to three game series. Like if you get knocked out
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: of your conference tournament early, like not only are you
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: not affecting your own NPI, but the teams that are
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: still in it have an opportunity to grow their NPI.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: And so that's like the that's why all of this
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: matters because getting an easier opponent a lower ranked opponent
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: in your conference in the conference tournament depends on where
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: you finish in your conference, which is why, like we
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: could talk this ad infinitum, but all of those little
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: things go into deciding that sort of thing. So if
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: you're not placing high enough in your conference, then you're
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: getting a harder first round game and you're prone to
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: an upset, and then you're not earning those NPI points
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: and then suddenly you're not in the tournament when you
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: expected to be. And so that's like, you know, part
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: of it is stilly talking about like I'm not mad,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: I'm just disappointed in December, but also like all of
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: that matters, And that's why I say that sort of thing,
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: because I do think we're going to come down to
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: some of these teams ruining some of the things that
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: happened in some of the games they let slip away
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: from themselves when it comes down to it.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for instance, maybe Boston College is a little bit
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: closer to fifth then it is, then it is the
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: seventh right now. So if that gaming as Holy Cross
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: goes a different way.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: So, right, which is the difference between playing a first
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: round game in the NCAA tournament and also possibly having
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: to go play you know, one of the top seeds
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: in the second round and the round of eight. So
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: that's a massive difference, right.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, and that's something I think we're going to
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: keep tabs on this season as we get towards the end.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: You know, we always kind of focus in on, well,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: who's in is the one overall seed, and that that's important,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: But I don't I don't know that it's as important
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: necessarily as who's in the four, five, and six, because
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: we've seen a six win a national championship. That was
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin two years ago in a six spot, having to
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: win a first round game then a game on the
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: road to get to the Frozen four. It's just that
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: that difference between the four to five and the six
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: just feels so massive. And that you're in the four, great,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: you've got a home game. You've got to win one
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: game to get the Frozen four, and it's at home.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: If you're in a five, great, you miss you miss
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: having to play the Thursday game. But you've got to
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: go on the road to win a game to get
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: to the Frozen four. If you're in the six, you've
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: got to win two games and the the second of
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: them is gonna be against one of the top three. Uh,
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: you know, depending on how it shakes out, it should
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: be six against three, but we never know for sure.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Oh that's gonna work out with the bracketing, but you're
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: gonna have to do that on the road, not to
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: say it can't be done because it's been done, but
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: just a change between and those could be so minute
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: numbers between the NPI, or maybe it's a comparison that
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: flips because of head to head ranking or common opponents
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: or something like that. But man, that feels when.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: You're talking March after a six and a half month
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: season and sort of fighting and clying for everything, and
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: the difference between being able to be home and play
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: one game versus having to travel and play two games
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: in the weekend and if you win your you know,
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: your prize is to go to play two harder games hopefully.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: It's just it's just a massive difference being able to
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: go into the Frozen four without having that extra game
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: on you, without having to overcome you know, a much
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: higher seed. Like It's just it changes the path to
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: a possible championship like immensely.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think that anyone's happy about eleven team tournament,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: but I do say that that this one little wrinkle
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: is add some intrigue to it anyway. I mean that
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: We have things to like about this ridiculous side.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that this is the way it should
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: be Okay, we go on the numbers and it's forty four,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: and so you take twenty five percent, that's eleven. I
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: get it. But we've been doing different things elsewhere before.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: But this part of it does add some complexity to
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: it and adds a little bit of, like I said,
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: intrigue to where this ends up and not I do
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: appreciate that. I think that's something that I know I'll
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on here as we get in the
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: second half of the season, because this is going to
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: be a really interesting chase for those couple of spots.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: No, I agree, and it definitely is some innutition. It
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: does get into the nitty gritty, but there's only so
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: much we can talk about every head to head weekend,
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: and it's not always right teams playing each other. So
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: this is the sort of overarching We get into the
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: micro every week. But the macro thing to watch here
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: is this. And I mean, I'll give you that about
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: the eleven teen tournament, but there's probably nobody that hates
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: it more than I do. I just I think it's
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: the dumbest thing. If you have never read my column
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: about expansion to eleven, just google Nicole hawse Us eho
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: and you know, expansion to eleven because I have some
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: thoughts about malicious compliance and the NCAA's decision on what
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: numbers matter and don't when they're deciding this, But yeah,
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: it is what we have. I can't change that. So
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna, you know, pretend that I may. I made
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: my thoughts on that very well known when I wrote
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: that column. But yeah, I choosing to find the intrigue
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: and the joy in what we do have. Is this
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: part of it is finding you know, I'd like to
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: say it. I'd argue that we probably shouldn't. Like this
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: thing that we're talking about is kind of ludicrous that
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: like some teams get to play, but it's what we have,
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: So let's let's take the joy in it. I suppose.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: There you go. That's that's the spirit of the season.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: A very long you need I needed. I had to
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: work through some stuff there, you guys.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: All right, when we come back, we're gonna wrap up
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: the first half of the season, and so stay with
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: Moluski and Nicole Hasey with you to wrap things up
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: for the first half of the season. But before we
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: get there starting on Wednesday morning, US time, the Six
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Nations tournaments starting in Finland, with a whole host of
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: college players, UH, the entire rosters of the US and Canada,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: and then the other four teams, UH, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: and are sending their full women's national teams for that tournament,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: and so we're bringing in It's an interesting look there
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: for a lot of college players against the full teams
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: of some other countries. And I'm we talked a little
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: bit about this last week, but I think now that
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: we're getting into this, this seems really valuable for a
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: lot of players, not necessarily even in just their national
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: team pictures, but for what they can bring back from
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: an international experience when they come back and start playing
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: again for their college teams in a couple of weeks. Yeah,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: there's a needed break for a lot of players that
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: have been going in for twelve weeks straight, feels like,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: and not even continue accounting what they do in the
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: summers and everything like that for school starts. But this
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: is high level hockey I think helps anyone that's in
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: it when they come back to their college programs. And
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: so that's so that's one of the things I feel
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: like I'm looking forward to is that let's see some
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: benefit of this for a lot of players, because we're
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: seeing a lot of players in the US and Canada
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: teams that are gonna be coming back next the next
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's at least a couple of NCAA players
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: and every other roster as well. The other thing is
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: that while some of the rosters that were announced to
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: begin with had p WHL players on it, it does
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: not look like p WHL players are going to take
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: place so take part. So one of the things that
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: means is that several teams have had called up other players,
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: so it's this mix of like, yes, it is their
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: senior national team, but like with an asterisk, and so
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: we're going to see some new players that way too,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: which I think is really cool. I definitely saw a
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: couple of the standouts from last year's E eighteens get
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: added to a few of the rosters, and that'll be fun.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: And also some of those players then would possibly consider
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: be NCAA eligible in the near future as well, So
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: there's some stuff for that, and I will have rosters
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: and some previous stuff over on Victory Press later tonight
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: and early tomorrow. I'll have it up before the game starts,
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: so definitely if you want more information check there. There's
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: also several players on each of these teams that are
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: committed to the NCAAA but have not started playing yet.
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: So yeah, sorry, all of that was an aside to
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: your question, which is what they can bring back. I
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: think one of the important things is just adaptability and
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: the ability to be put on different lines. And you
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: get comfort comfortable in your college career, right, and obviously
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: lines change a little bit, but like you get you
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: get very close as the team you play with consistently
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: for several months out of the year, usually all summer too,
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: And so the change to the international game just allows
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: them to learn about like maybe you're a top line
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: player right you your college, but when you go to
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: this in your national team, you're not. And so I
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: think everybody just needs to learn about that adaptability and
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: like what you can learn from like if you're used
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: to being the top line but now you're on the
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: third or fourth line, like what you can still bring
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: to the team. I think it's an important sort of
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: like ego check for some players, and like you know,
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: US national team players have talked about this about like,
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: you know, like Taylor Heizie, you know, got cut at
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: one point or got put on a third or fourth
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: line at one point, and like how that changed the
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: way she viewed the game and viewed herself and what
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: she can bring to the team that's not just like
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: her skills on the ice, And so I always think
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: about what these players can learn sort of about themselves
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: and off the ice and about being a teammate and
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: sort of the not obvious, the not like straightforward like
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: hockey skills part that that I think is really important.
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: And then the other is just that that high level
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: right like we see players for some of the other
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: national teams that play maybe in the AHA or play
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: in New Hah and so like going to play against
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: this top level talent that they don't necessarily get week
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: in and week out in their conference, that's really important.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: And I think just overall this helps grow the level
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: of the game. I think the point of this tournament
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: to begin with with the four European teams was like
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: they looked at something like the rivalry series and how
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: the US and Canada were trying to get more time
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: on the ice and more time against each other, and
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: like this is I'm not saying this is exactly that,
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: but the idea was that, like none of the international
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: squads play each other very often. They don't the teams
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: that are not US and Canada never did centralization, and
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: so they get this chance now three or four times
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: a year with the Women's European Hockey Tour to play
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: against each other. And that's stone sharpening stone, like that's
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: playing the best. That's only going to make everybody better.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: And so if you're all separate and playing in different
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: clubs and you only meet a couple of times a year,
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: there's just limits what you can do. And so I
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: think that's the important part here, is getting more ice time,
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: more high level ice time for all of the teams.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: So this is the first of two big events happening
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: in Finland in the next few weeks, the Six Nations
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: happening through the end of the week championship game on Sunday,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: but then in a couple of weeks and Nicole will
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: be there for this the under eighteen tournament. It's going
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: also in Finland, and so some some news that we've
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: you've seen there Nicole in the last few days from
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: Canada's roster for the U eighteens as as it relates
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: to college.
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Chloe Pernorano is on the Canada EU eighteen roster.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: We talked about this maybe last week that she was
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: still age eligible, and so when Canada released their six
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: Nations roster and she wasn't on it, I hypothesized that
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: this might be the reason why. And yeah, I Canada's
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: like I said, we record on Tuesday, Canada release the
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: roster today and I just haven't had a chance to look.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: I want to do some research. I wonder if there's
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: been a collegiate on a U eighteen team in the past.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: It's definitely if it has happened, it's definitely pretty rare.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: We already knew Chloe was. You know that she was
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: the MVP of the tournament last year at sixteen, so
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: she we already know. She's one of the top players,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: if not the top player in her age bracket. And
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: so the fact that she is played with has played
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: with senior team in the rivalry series, UH, is playing
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: at Minnesota and now is getting to go back and
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: play at you eighteens UH definitely feels like a little
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: bit of a cheat code. For for Canada. Definitely a
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: bonus for them. But yeah, that's it's definitely an interesting quirk.
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: You know. She she graduated her high school early and
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: went to college early, so she is still age eligible
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: and she will be at the eighteens hinfant in three weeks.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: It's just a like you're saying, it's a really interesting
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: dynamic of you know, yeah, we haven't seen it. I
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: don't think we've you can look, but I don't think
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: we're seeing this before because of that specific age, right,
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, someone that accelerates and finishes high school in
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: three years to be able to compete starting.
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: A lot of things had to happen for this to
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: get there, right her early in the like because you
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: have to it has to be you turn eighteen, the
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: in the year of the like in the season of
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: the tournament, like there's a whole so where her birthday
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: balls too is important in this and so yeah, all
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: of that has to come together for this to for
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: her have to been able to be eligible for this team.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm I'll be interested to hear from you, and
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll get to talk to her in some
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: mixed zones of just how you know, how valuable that
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: experience can be just knowing that you're you're doing that
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: instead of playing against college players, which I understand you
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: want to play for your country, you want to be
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: there at a U eighteen tournament, but you've already kind
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: of taken a step up into playing and playing in
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: the w c h A, playing against some of the
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: best players in the world at that age that, you know,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty two ish age.
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: I guess she'll do great her choice.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: Right, I think she'll do great. She'll be phenomenal in
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: that tournament again, But I don't know that it's necessarily
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: is you know, gonna for her personal like we're talking
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: about before with the Six Nations of being able to
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: get in the environment for a lot of college players,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know that that necessarily is the same kind
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: of avenue for improvement.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: Well, when she dominated last year, Yeah, she dominated the tournament.
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: She was the MVP. She kind of scored at will.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: She's you know, several tiers better than she was at
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: that point. Listen, I Canada won bronze last year. They
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: lost in the semi finals to Checkia. I don't think
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: they were very happy with that outcome. I think that
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: they feel that they have a lot to prove, and
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: I think that that was the choice of putting Chloe
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: Permorando on this roster versus the six Nations roster. Now,
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: I can't think that many other nations would have done
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: it Differently, Like, I don't want to pick on Canada, Like,
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: if you have this opportunity, you take it. They don't
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: see themselves as a bronze middle nation. That's not what
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: they want, and so this is what you do to
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: make sure that that doesn't happen again. And again not
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: picking on them, because I don't think if any other
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: of the countries participating in the EU eighteens had this
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: option that they would, you know, all, they wouldn't have
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: done anything different. And so yeah, for her personal growth,
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that it's the greatest choice, but I
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: you know, I do think it'll be very good for
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: the girls that are playing around her. I think she's
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: got a lot to teach them. I think she brings
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: you know, they have I think five players returning from
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: last year's team, and like I think about the twenty
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: eighteen Olympic gold medal that US won and how they
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: talked about how much they wanted to win that gold
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: for the girls who had come before them, from the
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: women that had come before them. So I think, you know,
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: sort of that rallying around these players and getting them
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: that gold medal is something that will do well for
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: this team. And I think the professionalism and the skill
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: level and the way that Chloe handles herself for all
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: things that her teammates will be able to learn from. Yeah,
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: it's a I definitely think it's a decision that's made
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: more for the team and the greater outcome than it
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: is for the player herself.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: Well, let's wrap this up and bring it back to
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: the college game. And there's only five games on this
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: weekend's schedule as everyone kind of gets in the uh,
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: you know, final exam period and and wrap things up
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: and kind of goes as separate ways for a break
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: before we get things rolling again around New year. Uh,
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: Minnesota State have a series Robert Morrison and Long Island
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: have a non conference series, and there's a single game
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: in Hockeys between Merrimack and Maine. So a little bit
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: of a shortened schedule, but you know, there's some games
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: that that could be worth keep an eye on there too.
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: Definitely. You know, my apologies to these teams because I
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: have basically been talking about the first half being wrapped up.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: We will definitely be paying attention to the games. I'll
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: be writing about them. But I think just mentally, it
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: was good for me to be like, oh done, So yeah,
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: like you said, five games on the schedule really really abbreviated,
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: and then particularly because of the days of the holidays
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: fall on, like we go immediately on the second, third
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: and fourth into the season after the new year. So yeah,
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: it's certainly been an interesting I feel like all I
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: know how to say about like every game, like, oh,
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: that should be interesting, because it is. It's fascinating to
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: see teams that we didn't expect. It's fascinating to see
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: the growth of players. You know, we talked about Britain
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: Sarla earlier, like there's just so many players that have
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: gotten on the radar and had breakout weekends. And that's
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: the fun of this. That's the part that's exciting about
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: following NCAA women's hockey as a whole and not just
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: an individual team. Every week I am delighted by some
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: new player. I get to watch some pretty delightful and
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: amazing goals and see teams do things they haven't done
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: in years and decades and before them, these players were born.
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: And that's to me, what like, that's what keeps bringing
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: me back. There's constantly stories to be told, and so
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: I think that's that's what's fun. So interesting is probably
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: like the least interesting word I could use about it.
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: But the first half was fascinating, Like there's just been
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: so much unexpected from that first series with UMD beating
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: beating Ohio State to now and the upsets we talked
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: about this last weekend. Every week brings something new and
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: so I kind of have no idea what to expect,
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: and that's that's the best part about it.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: That is fun. But let's let's kind of dig into
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: that a little bit before we finish. Who do you
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: see as as maybe having potential of surprising in the
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: second half compared to where they are now, and maybe
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: you want to look at that as where they are
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: in the pairwise, maybe where they are in their conference standings.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Who do you think can be a team that we
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: need to watch for championships in the second half, whether
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: it's you know, like I'm talking about a conference championship,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: are being in the national picture.
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: I think probably the best basically five hundred team in
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: the country is Yale. They have been very close and
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: on the verge. I think they're super capable of going
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: on a second half run. I think they're a team
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: I would not want to play in the postseason when
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: it comes down sort of to one and Doun's. I
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: think they're gonna keep learning from those close games that
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: they're losing. They just there's a lot of talent there.
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of is opposed to like being one player.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: They're getting contributions from a lot of places and also
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: have p a Ducrichen goal, which is a pretty great
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: place to build your team out of. So it's hard
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: to say, like they're sitting nineteenth in pairwise right now,
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: like as we talked about and all the close teams
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: in NPI, it's a little hard to be like, yep,
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: I think they can make a huge jump. But that
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: being said, like they're they're in this conversation, you know,
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: like they're NPI number fifty four, Like that doesn't put
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: them but two points out of the top ten, you know,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: And so they're a team that I just think if
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: they can I think the difference between their current record
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: and being like one of the top teams in the
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: ECAC is pretty small. It's pretty narrow. It's a couple
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: of different outcomes of games or even periods. And so
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: they're a team I think could, if not put themselves
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: in the national conversation, really mess up some other teams
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: conversations going forward. I mean, as we talked about saying
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: with Princeton, you know, I think Princeton is probably the flashier,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: more obvious pick. But Yale, man, they are a lot
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: of fun to watch, got to be the one of
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: the best. I think they are like fifty three percent.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: So we'll just say five hundred, five hundred teams right now,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: But they have the opportunity to really mess up some
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: of those entire teams seasons, and I think just have
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: been pretty consistent. They're just they're losing those close games,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: and so I think the adjustments would be small for
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: them to become a team worth paying attention to.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I so I was pretty early this season, uh
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: intrigued by bu and we talked about that in one
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: of our first episodes of you Know It, there might
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: be something there. It didn't start great.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: No, but the Glimmers.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Right. Uh, they lost that game, the first game of
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: that series at Minnesota one. Nothing. I was a like, Okay, well,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: if they get some goals scoring, maybe this is something
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: that can that can turn around. And they did get
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: some goals scoring here and there, but especially they were
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: able to really clamp down defensively. And that's for me,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: this is the the disparity in my head is, Okay,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: we're talking about a BU team that's in first place
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: in Hockey East but also is in tenth in the
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: pair wise, and so you're you're you're having a team
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: that's competing for a championship but also competing just to
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: get in it into a spot will.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: Be an at large at this point.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So that that to me, is gonna be one
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: of those things that's really worth watching in the second
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: half because we've seen the good there. We've seen where
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: they can go on or run. We've seen where they can, uh,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: you know, find a winning formula. I think they won
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: six or seven games in a row at one point. Uh,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: but then we've also seen where they can lose eight
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: one to Princeton and and and so it's it's it's
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a you know, okay, which
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: which team are we going to get in the second half?
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: All the real real be please stand up right, and.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: So you know we're gonna get right out of the
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: gate there at holy Cross and to at Vermont UH
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: to start the second half of the season. And those
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: are games that they.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: Need to win.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: They need to win, right, absolutely, they need to go
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: out there and you know, maybe you don't win both
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: games at Vermont and regulation, but you've got to win
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: that series. I mean that those are the things you
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: have to do when you're on the road to win
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: a conference championship. And and so we're gonna find out
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: pretty quick, you know, whether BU is in that conversation
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: or whether they're kind of going to start to fade
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: into the you know, second, third, fourth in Hockey East
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: and then really make it hard on themselves to be
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: in an at large spot in the pair wise when
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: it comes down to it, and whether they're going to
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: need to win a conference championship to get in because
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: as there a call and correct me if I'm wrong,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: but Hockey East only had one team in the tournament
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: last season or was the conference champion? Correct? And I
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: know that those teams want to fix that this year.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: They they do not want to be a one bid league,
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: and so b you is a team that has a
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: chance to do it. Boston College is in a pretty
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: good spot right now. But then you're talking about Northeastern
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: has has has made it difficult on themselves, Yukon has
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: has made it difficult on themselves. So the best chances
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: right now are BC and BU for hot for Hockey East.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: So so count me in on washing the Terriers when
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the second half starts. I feel like that's gonna be
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: a an interesting viewing to see where they pick up
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: when we get into January.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: I think probably the Hockey East is like the most intriguing,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: the most nailbiting. I mean, we've talked about, you know,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: the four teams atop the WCHA, but like we're pretty
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: sure they're in. But if you look at b at
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: ten and the pairwise Northeastern at thirteen, Connecticut at fifteen,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: and if you look at Hockey East innings, Boston University
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: has a game in hand, but the top four teams
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: are within four points of each other.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Heavy and then it drops off after the top four
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: teams because Northeaster an and fourth of twenty six points
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire and fifth at sixteen. So it's really the
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: top teams are winning, the bottom teams are not, and
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: so that's it's it's you know, you're seeing that separation
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: develop already, right, so.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: The fight is both for and at large bit and
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: to not have to worry about that when the conference tournament,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: and as we said, the standings, the final steandings in
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: the conference are what determines who you play in the
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: bracket that you end up in in your conference tournament.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: So yeah, in terms of like intrigue and like will
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: they won't they, I think Hockey East is by far
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: the one that's worth watching that way, just those four
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: points separating the top four teams and all all but
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: one of them not you know, not technical well I
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: guess be you at ten as. Yeah, they're all they're
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: basically all bubble teams at this point, and so they
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: all they they can't all do it right because they're
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: going to be playing each other. But yeah, somebody has
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: to be Like I I feel like that's a lot
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: in Hockey's like somebody needs to take that, Like the
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: opportunity is there, like please see it, trusting yourself, have
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: the confidence and like frickin' take it because it's there,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: it's sitting. I feel like it's it's like the puck
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: sitting out there in the crease and nobody going and
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: putting it in the net. And so yeah, just in
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: terms of like a massive difference between like I'm gonna
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: win the conference and lay in the NCAA tournament and
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be done and sitting at home over
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: four points in your conference standings.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know if nobody's going for it, but it's
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: like they're all running into each other going for the
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: loose puck in the crease. That's kind of what it
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: seems like to me.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, it's maybe an unfair What I mean
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: is that, like it just feels like I want someone
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: to see that opportunity and just be like darted, I'm
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: taking it and like go on a run and win
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: the games you're supposed to win and not drop those
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: points and like that. That feels like every year there's
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: a team that has that opportunity in Hockey East and
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: then like doesn't take it, doesn't really grasp it. And
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 2: so that's that's what I'm looking for. It's for someone
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: to like really buy in on themselves, see the opportunity
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: in front of them and say, e fit like this
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 2: is ours, you know, so wow in terms of intrigue
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: and sort of like the haves and the have nots,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: and like the difference between winning conference and staying at
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: home is so razor small in Hockey East and so that, yeah,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: you make a good point of that being probably the
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: most interesting thing to watch long term in the second half.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot of things that are gonna be
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: fun to watch in the second for sure. But we're
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: also looking forward to a little bit of a break
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: here as we kind of wind down for the holidays
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: and enjoy some time with family, and we hope that
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: you all have a wonderful next few weeks. We're going
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: to be back with a I don't know if it
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: we'll call it a primer on the U eighteen tournament,
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: but a little bit of a look at that before
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: Nicole takes off for that tournament. So be on the
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: lookout for that the you know, around the New year,
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: right around New Year's Day. Don't have an official time
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: to set. Yeah, yeah, So I want to say to
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: you and Nicole, to you and your family, happy holidays.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: It's great doing this with you, and this is some
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: of the best parts of my week is is spending
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: this time talking with you about about women's college hockey
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: and and doing you know, seeing that the joy that
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: you put into this is really what feeds me in
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: one well thankful.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: That's do not make me cry out our podcasts, all right,
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 2: I will not do that. But no, that's very sweet
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: and I appreciate it, and I agree. It's it's so
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 2: nice to talk to somebody else. Sometimes I feel I
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: feel like I'm gonna like color somebody at a party
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: and then be like, oh my god, get me out
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: of here. Uh. So it's nice. It's nice to yeah,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: be able to share like We've both got a lot
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 2: of time and effort into this and so I love
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: getting to talk about it and share the stories and
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: talk about the players that don't get to get talked about.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: And uh, just a reminder to people that they I mean,
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 2: we start right back in on on January second, you
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin and Ohio State play the first game of their
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: season before they go play at Wrigley Field that weekend.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: So uh, keep your take your little break, but don't
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: forget that we're coming right back at it with some thing.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: These are These are not throw awagians. Yeah, come it
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: to that, but yeah. Thank you so much for the
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: kind kind words. Happy holidays, tune your family, happeny holidays
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: to our listeners, Thank you so much for being with us.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: We really appreciate you guys. We wouldn't you know, have
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: a podcast without you.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: Absolutely and uh again. We'll be back right around the
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: new year, so enjoy the break. Thanks for listening. We'll
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: catch you soon.