Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Episode 14: The postseason begins (for some), USA Hockey's Katie Million joins the show

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Episode 14: The postseason begins (for some), USA Hockey's Katie Million joins the show · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:04
It is playoff time in women's college hockey. At least four three of the
0:09
conferences two more have one more week of rail season play. Welcome to the
0:15
podcast. I'm Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hasey and Nicole. Let's dig right
0:20
into one of the big things that happened last week. We saw a little
0:24
bit of a shake up in the pair wise, Colgate losing on Friday to
0:29
Yale three to one decision that really sent some teams bouncing around through the rankings,
0:37
and then kind of a reshuffle again after Saturday. What do you take
0:42
out of what we saw last weekend and then kind of what that did to
0:46
the top not the top top, but the two, three, four five
0:51
in the pairwise. Yeah, well, I think one of the things we
0:54
got to see this weekend is how much things can change from one game to
0:57
the dext or from one weekend to the next. You know, been an
1:00
ongoing question with us. How much can one game affect someone's you know,
1:04
NPI score. How much can one weekend do it? And so you know,
1:07
like we saw that like Minnesota losing in over time to Wisconsin and then
1:12
losing uh in regulation in the second game they they lost over a point of
1:18
NPI, like one point one five seven points in the NPI, so that's
1:21
quite a bit of movement. So I think that's uh more than I would
1:25
have thought would happen. And then I wanted to say too, I don't
1:27
remember the exact numbers, but I think it was Saint Lawrence overall moved like
1:33
a neglige. It was like a hundredth of a point net over the course
1:37
of the weekend. So really kind of a wide scale of what we can
1:40
see moving over the course of one or two games, so we can just
1:44
really see the ripple effects, which I think is interesting because of the way
1:47
that the math works. So you know, one team losing doesn't just affect
1:51
their opponents, can also affect you know, all those opponent opponent things that
1:55
we that we get into the complicated math with the MPI and the way that
1:59
it multiplies. Uh yeah, really interesting weekend. I don't know what to
2:01
make of that Coldgate loss. You know, they had most of their roster
2:06
back in play. They obviously had the the different people sitting out, and
2:10
they were all back on the ice, and they had a really convincing win
2:14
on Saturday against Brown, who has you know, shook things up themselves here
2:19
at the end. And so I, yeah, I don't know what to
2:20
make about that win by Yale and and what that could mean. I definitely
2:24
think it means the SAC tournaments even more interesting heading into it. Yeah,
2:30
and uh that we're going to get into that who's who's playing who and and
2:35
all those kind of things and later in the show. But you mentioned Colgate
2:39
getting back to a win on Saturday that clinched the ec a C championship.
2:44
Uh for half a point? Half a point? Correct? Which will is
2:50
the difference of what an overtime win? Yeah, it's uh, you know,
2:53
Ties getting up point and a half. H every game being worth three
2:59
points, so they don't you shoot out, so Ties each team gets point
3:05
and a half. So yeah, it's it's basically the difference between winning a
3:07
game in overtime and finishing at a tie. Right, interesting way to do
3:13
it, but hey, that's that's what they set up. But just the
3:16
through a course of a whole season to come down to that half point is
3:20
kind of crazy. Yeah, and that was you know ec a C came
3:27
down to that. It was in the CHA that Penn State ended up as
3:34
the champion. We saw last week where Ohio State clinch the w c h
3:40
A Championship with a week to spare. They have a seven point lead eight
3:45
point lead sorry over Wisconsin going into their series, which we will also touch
3:50
on later in the show. When we talk about winning a regular season championship,
3:57
I just want to maybe take a side a sidebar here. I've often
4:02
heard of that being talked about as the toughest championship to win, and I
4:10
think there is there's kind of a you can make an argument for that that,
4:17
you know, that's over the course of four or five months. You
4:21
have to be really good over that stretch and whereas you can get hot in
4:27
and win a conference tournament or an NCAA tournament. How much do you put
4:30
into that that, you know, the regular season championship is really the you
4:35
know, the long haul victor of a season. Yeah. Well, I
4:42
think the eccin kind of showed that how that played out, right, because
4:46
it's about consistency. It's not just being good, it's being consistently good,
4:49
and it's not building towards the end. It's being able to do that that
4:53
whole time, right, Like essentially Clarkson, you know, like an early
4:56
game that went one way or another. It is the different it's in them
5:00
not winning the title this year. And so yeah, I mean the coaches
5:03
particularly like to really sort of harp on that, right, like this is
5:06
the toughest one to win. It means the most. I get what they're
5:12
saying, and I understand, you know, when you're putting in the work,
5:14
it's that is the reward of doing that week in and week out.
5:17
But you know, the tournament's the one that matters. So it's a little
5:21
hard to I both understand it and think like, well, like, you
5:26
don't need to win that if we've seen plenty of regular season champions not win
5:30
their conference tournament. Actually, in the ECC for several years now, it's
5:33
it's been split that way, and so yeah, I obviously another conferences too,
5:39
but that's going off the top of my head, I know has been
5:42
Yeah, I think for the for a coach, for the reward of it,
5:46
it's for that's for you know, that's for them, and the tournament
5:49
is for sort of for the fans and for everybody else. Yeah, no
5:53
one's no one's getting a parade for winning a regal season championship. Is I
5:57
guess what it comes down to doing and at any level of sports, right
6:00
because you could make that that claim for pretty much any sport that that has
6:05
a long season and a short postseason. Yeah, and there's you know,
6:10
probably an argument that, like it, the long season is the one that
6:13
should matter, right, Like, but I like the case. I mean,
6:16
I have said I like the cast, but I like that anybody has
6:18
that opportunity. That's why I think it's so important that some of these conferences
6:21
have extended their tournament to all the teams. Like, the entire point is
6:26
that, you know, the dream is still alive for everybody. Everybody has
6:30
an opportunity, and we're like, how tough your path is? Is?
6:33
It comes from how will you do during the rest of the season. But
6:36
I mean, I just like, I don't want to harp on that half
6:40
a point, you know, I'm not trying to drive in the stake on
6:42
Clerks and bands. I just it is so cool and such a good thing
6:46
for women's college hockey that we are over the course of of however many games,
6:50
you know, we're talking thirty what thirty four games that Clerkson played,
6:55
Like in the end, it came down you know, to essentially like one
6:58
outcome, and so the fact that teams can get better and players can get
7:02
better as this year the season goes on, but like those those early games
7:06
they still matter, you know, And so I just I think that's like
7:10
the cool part of it to me, that like it's not about who conditions
7:14
well, who trains the best over a course of you know, and has
7:18
their players already right there at the end, but like who has been doing
7:21
this, who put in the work before the season to ensure that they're like
7:25
earning all those points that they can get come September really September October we start
7:30
conference play. So yeah, I think but I just think it says really
7:34
good things about the game. Like I'm excited that we're talking about it and
7:38
that it's not one team running away with everything every year. So we salute
7:42
you the conference champions, Penn State colegate, Ohio State, joining Long Island
7:46
who won the New HA few weeks ago, and there's one left to decide.
7:51
Hockey East Yukon has a five point lead atop the the conference over North
8:00
Eastern home and home with Boston University UH this week, the Huskies can wrap
8:05
that up with two points to clinch the outright title. One point gets them
8:09
at least a share. You have to clarify your huskies here. Oh you're
8:13
right, thank you. You can win that with the two points, Uh,
8:20
to wrap that up and go into the postseason with the the number one
8:26
seed. And well, I want to get into later in our final segment
8:31
some of the you know what's on the line in Hockey East, because it's
8:35
it's kind of fascinating when you get into into a little bit deeper of of
8:39
you on on things there. But any thoughts of you to ask me Christmas
8:46
if Northeastern would have a chance to win the conference? I mean I would
8:48
have laughed, all right. They they have lost one game since the winter
8:52
break. They have one loss and two ties and that's it. And so
8:56
you know, kudos to Northeastern for you know, kind of just as we
8:58
were talking about, like building throughout the season, learning from their mistakes,
9:01
and uh, you know it is it's it's still a bit of a hailmy
9:05
ariat that five points. But like the fact that the final weekend did they
9:09
have a chance, Uh, they're within striking distance of winning this conference is
9:13
like unfathomab to me, Like I you know, I was talking about other
9:16
teams getting a chance for the first time in several years since Northeastern has had
9:20
this stronghold on the conference. And uh yeah, you know, kudos to
9:24
the Huskies the other Huskies. Is uh think Cloud State being the other other
9:31
Huskies when you're talking about them. Uh, but what kudos to Northeastern because
9:35
I just you know, no way was this you know, on the radar
9:41
for them in November and December, like it was a rough start. Things
9:43
didn't come together and you know, one loss in it was an overtime loss
9:48
in January, and two ties and that is those are the only blemishes on
9:50
their records since coming back from winter break is pretty impressive. You mentioned Sate
9:56
Cloud State there, and the hard luck Huskies kind of reached the new level,
10:00
it seemed like last weekend where they gave up one goal in a series
10:05
and did not win either game one nothing lost to Minnesota Duluth on Friday,
10:11
a zero zero tie on Saturday. Saint Cloud did win the shootout after that
10:15
one, which was a surprisingly scoring field shootout. Five scores, six scoring
10:22
goalies. Right now, nobody scored in the game, and then five of
10:26
the six shooters score in the shootout. So three of the four goalies between
10:31
those two teams are are all four are like Goalie of the Year semi finalists,
10:35
like those are some of the best goalies in the country. Yeah,
10:37
Jojo Chobac played both games for Saint Cloud, which we haven't seen in I
10:43
would have to look, but I don't know if we've seen that all season.
10:45
While right, she made twenty eight saves Friday, thirty saves Saturday for
10:50
Duluth, Haley McLeod thirty nine saves and Gascon thirty nine saves. So Saint
10:54
Cloud brought the pressure, had had the shots, just not able to the
11:00
getting through there, and and so Duluth clinched the fourth place spot in the
11:05
w c h A. Saint Cloud will be fifth. So those teams are
11:09
right back at again next week in the first round of the playoffs, back
11:11
up into Luth. Uh So, I don't know if we'll see another UH
11:16
one zero one zero one zero, maybe three different or different ways in that
11:22
series in next week, but it should should be an interesting one to follow.
11:28
Yeah, it was one of those, like you said, hard luck
11:31
for the Huskies, but interesting for U m D too. Right, Like
11:33
they clinched there, they clinched home ice for the playoffs, but they are
11:37
on the cusp when it comes to n p I pairwise right now, Like
11:41
they are, you know, sitting kind of on the outside looking in and
11:45
really could have used the points that would have come come from getting a more
11:50
like not ending in that tie there. And so they're they're in a position
11:52
where they really need to get some points off of Minnesota this weekend to to
11:56
sort of boost their their mp I rating. Yeah, Minnesota is just behind
12:03
Quinnipiac in for eighth in the pairwise, and that's the cutoff with with three
12:09
teams coming from outside of the what's in the top in the pairwise right now?
12:16
In the top you have three automatic qualifiers, so I guess that aren't
12:18
in that top group. So it'll be eight and then nine will be sitting
12:24
out and you'd really hate for a yeah, and overtime you know, decision
12:31
or you know, not having to go to overtime instead winning a relation being
12:35
the difference between a small margin of being in or out of the tournament at
12:41
the end. Yeah, And then I just wanted to point out, I
12:43
mean the Chas has kind of had their stuff. We just had to figure
12:48
out sort of however he played out, but serious with Robert Morris and Linden
12:54
Wood. We had a seven to five win for our Friday and a six
13:01
to three win on Saturday. Quite the shootout happening there, I don't I'm
13:05
not sure anybody expected that to be how that played out, but yeah,
13:09
really impressive from them, and it's good to see both the seams scoring too.
13:16
While we're in the CHA. Tip of the hat to ri I T
13:20
for the weekend that they went through. In case you didn't see it.
13:26
Friday, I believe after the morning skater, before the morning skate, something
13:31
to do around noontime, their bus caught fire at Penn State. No one
13:37
was injured, no, no equipment was lost, but their bus was a
13:41
total loss. According to the story they were able to, they were all
13:46
off the bus, they walked over to Pagoula Ice Arena, and apparently the
13:52
weekend went on for them and they ended up getting the point that they needed
13:56
in the standings through a one to one tie with Penn State on Saturday to
14:01
clinch the fourth spot in the standings, uh and make the CHA playoffs,
14:05
so they get to go right back to Penn State. I'm sure on a
14:09
on a bus a different bus. I hope, and uh play in the
14:15
first round of the playoffs this week. If you've got to go through that,
14:20
Uh, you might as well clinch a playoff spot as part of it.
14:24
Yeah. What a what a crazy story. So glad that you know
14:26
everybody was safe and and you know, lucky that it happened right there on
14:30
campus and it you know, just yeah, thoughts for everything there, because
14:35
that's that's a heck of a situation to do. I think it a back
14:37
out on the ice. When we come back, we will have an interview
14:41
with Katie Million of USA Hockey. She sat down with us for quite a
14:46
long time to talk about how how college hockey plays in with USA Hockey on
14:52
the women's side, and the future of centralization and the p w h L
14:56
and and just a lot of fascinating conversations and I think you'll enjoy that,
15:01
So stay with us on the podcast. Hi, welcome back to the podcast.
15:11
This is Nicole Hasey. He's Ted Maleski. We are thrilled to be
15:16
joined with Katie Million, who's the director of women's national team Programs for USA
15:20
Hockey. Before taking that role, she was the commissioner of the w c
15:22
CHA, which is how we both got to know her and one of the
15:26
main reasons we wanted to talk to her. She's got lots of experience with
15:28
the collegiate game and before that she was the director events with the Olympic Regional
15:33
Development Authority in Lake Placid. Katie, thanks so much for being on,
15:37
Thanks for having me. Todd and Nicole really really excited to be here with
15:41
you. Katie, what is the director of women's national team programs do?
15:46
Well? I can honestly tell you that no two days ever look the same.
15:52
It's a lot of everything, a lot of travel, but what it
16:00
boils down to mostly is, you know, I set the vision for our
16:04
women's national teams. So when a young woman becomes a player under our U
16:11
eighteen umbrella, that's kind of when they move from player development to under the
16:15
national team umbrella and under my my vision. So we follow that player like
16:21
someone who made our U eighteen team, and let's just let's just say a
16:26
Josie Saint Martin, and you know she'll will follow her career through the U
16:32
eighteen process, her college career, and then hopefully we see some of those
16:37
players go on to our nation, our women's national team, So you know,
16:41
we we follow a pretty large pool of players again, starting with you
16:48
know, those sixteen fifteen, sixteen seventeen year olds in the player development camps,
16:52
right up through through the professional league and then you know, building our
16:56
Olympic team. So you know, as I said, I'm kind of probably
17:02
more the visionary and like looking at what's ahead of us, and we're already
17:07
planning for Milan FOURTEENA in twenty twenty six. In fact, I was literally
17:15
supposed to be on a plane in a day or two to go to Italy
17:18
and do a site visit, but we postponed it until the next visit with
17:23
the USOPC. So a lot of coordination with the USPC, the IOC,
17:29
the IAHF. I also sit on the IHF Women's Committee, so we gather
17:34
probably four times a year to talk about not only things happening within the IHF,
17:41
but how we can grow the game globally and what we can do to
17:45
support other nations in growing the game and getting more girls playing hockey. So
17:51
again that's pretty a broad brush stroke, but then when it comes down to
17:56
like the day to day, you know, we're ordering equipment, ordering up
18:03
harrol, putting staffs together, deciding which players we invite to which camps,
18:10
going to a lot of games, which is the fun part. So yeah,
18:15
like I said, no two days are ever ever alike. I hope
18:19
I answered the question as best I could. I want to put a pin
18:26
in that that when you mentioned Milana Cortina, that that brought up something.
18:30
I want to bring it back to that in a little while. But first
18:33
off, you were correct me if I'm wrong here, But you were the
18:34
first person in this role for USA Hockey. It's specific to women's hockey,
18:38
correct, it is women's hockey. There are there have been a few others.
18:44
I mean they changed titles and whatnot, but Reagan Carrey was in the
18:48
position prior to me, and then Michelle Amadon before that. Don't even ask
18:55
me years because they all blend together. But yeah, there, I am
18:59
not the first, although it may be a title change that kind of thing.
19:03
Okay, that was I think where I was getting at is that what
19:06
in that title? I guess have you had to make for your own of
19:11
how how will you take this job and maybe do it differently than it's been
19:15
done? For USA Hockey before. Yeah, And to be honest with you,
19:18
when I took the role, I long story short, I had to
19:26
take it like I love my job with the w c h A, but
19:29
my with my Olympic background, and when USA Hockey came calling, I was
19:33
just like, I gotta do this. I would kick myself in the shorts
19:37
if I didn't do this and see it play through, just given my background.
19:41
So it's been definitely exciting and really fun. And to be honest with
19:45
you, Todd like, there was very little for me to go on from
19:52
the past, like you know, right down to event invitations and stuff.
19:56
I was kind of creating everything for my own. Obviously, have like great
20:03
staff and volunteers around me. I'll say, you know, Joel Johnson in
20:08
the beginning of my career with USA Hockey was a huge help and really helped
20:14
me along because he'd been involved so long with the programs on the women's side.
20:19
Obviously it was our Olympic coach in twenty twenty two, so you know,
20:25
I had a lot of help from a lot of great people like Joel
20:27
getting back to the Olympics in twenty six. Then there's been some talk about
20:33
Will these sites be ready, and you mentioned a site visit and things like
20:36
that, and just came up with the NHL and their discussions to go.
20:42
How far along do you see those being and are we looking at you know,
20:48
things coming down to the wire in terms of having adequate facilities for hockey
20:55
being built in twenty six You are absolutely right and obvious sleeve, both on
21:00
the men's and women's side. We've been in very close contact with the i
21:03
HF and what the plans are and the build out, and even like I
21:07
mentioned, I was supposed to go on a site visit with the USO PC
21:11
here coming up pretty quickly, and we we decided to postpone it because for
21:17
hockey there's not really anything to look at yet, and so it's very nerve
21:22
wracking for for everyone, including all the folks at the i HF. But
21:29
from what we understand, the men's venue is underway as far as construction,
21:34
and then what we're hearing is the women's venue is going to be like a
21:41
temporary rink built in this like convention center. It sounds interesting, Yeah,
21:51
you're not exact, I mean are going up And I can see Nicole's faith
21:56
on this one that that I can imagine that's taking a lot of people nervous
22:03
and or maybe a little upset. Well, you're you're you're not wrong,
22:10
and it is like upsetting, like obviously we feel like we deserve something better
22:15
than a than a just a temporary rink, and you know, honestly,
22:18
it's part of that bigger picture of awarding events to cities that can host and
22:26
can host at the highest level. And hopefully, you know, we're we're
22:30
moving toward a movement where we're we're having those games in sustainable places like Salt
22:36
Lake City where we're not building things over again or you know, maybe renovations
22:41
and whatnot. But you know, hopefully we can we can be more like
22:45
that in the future where we're we're competing in venues that are already there.
22:49
Maybe we've even had competitions there already, that kind of thing. So,
22:55
yeah, it's it's definitely nerve wracking. Well, well, keep our fingers
23:00
crossed aside from your position, you know, and wanting to talk to you
23:07
for that, Like one of the reasons we wanted to have you on this
23:07
particular podcast is your experience with the college game, and so we just wanted
23:11
to talk a little bit about you know, sort of how nc and the
23:15
college game are part of the greater USA hockey women's landscape, and then you
23:19
know just how you view that and how much the like your role or some
23:25
of the scouting and things, and how how the college game plays into that.
23:29
I think you know that. I you know, I've talked a bunch
23:30
about the NCAA is sort of the driver of women's hockey development and internationally,
23:36
and so yeah, we just considering how much experience you have with the college
23:40
game before you took this role, we really wanted to sort of dig into
23:41
that with you. Yeah, as you guys know, it's very close to
23:45
my heart and I love it and miss pieces of it, but there is
23:51
it's a huge part. And icle you mentioned it like, not only for
23:53
US as a development tool, but for so many countries and for some of
24:00
those elite players to come over here and play in the NCAA and then go
24:03
back to their home countries and play for their their federations is huge. And
24:08
I don't know that people realize how huge it is for not only US but
24:14
all of those countries. So huge, huge, you know, development tool
24:18
there for US. I mean it's no secret, we've gone a little younger
24:22
with our roster. We're getting ready to send invites hopefully by the end of
24:27
the week here to our March selection camp, and I think you'll you'll see
24:33
a pretty good mix of veteran leadership in that in those invitations and then quite
24:38
a few college players. So it's a huge part for us. We see,
24:42
you know, some of those college players and it's worth the investment,
24:45
if you will. They're young, they're fast, they're strong, they have
24:49
a trajectory that we're looking for, and we can work with them and mold
24:55
them into the player that we need them to be when they're with our our
24:59
team. So you know, we're really excited. It's no secret you guys
25:03
know you know the likes of Brita curl Kk, some of the Wisconsin players.
25:11
It's it's really fun to have that youthful energy within our teams too.
25:15
So yeah, the college the college group plays a huge role for us,
25:21
and we we really see quite a few of them probably being with us for
25:26
that twenty twenty six mon Cortina Games. USA Hockey is also has a lot
25:32
to do with the Patty Casmier Award, obviously, as being I don't know
25:36
what the exact terminology is of the trustee of the awarder, but it's basically
25:41
it's a USA Hockey operation. Now, how much of that do you see,
25:48
you know, being kind of a leading edge of what women's hockey is
25:52
for USA Hockey having to do with that, because these are the best and
25:56
the brightest of the college game, the future of women's hockey in a lot
26:00
of ways, that seems like a really important way of I guess promoting some
26:06
of the faces that we're going to see in women's hockey at the international level
26:10
over the next you know, ten to fifteen years in some respects. How
26:14
big is that for USA Hockey to be a part of that, Well,
26:18
I think it's definitely a factor. And as you go back and look at
26:22
the history of the Patty Caz you'll see most of those US players were likely
26:29
on our national teams, with Taylor heis being our last one, and obviously
26:34
Sophie Jakes, you know, had had a great career at Ohio State and
26:38
now in the p WHL and kind of wish she was American, but you
26:42
know, but no, the Patty Caz is an aw awesome representation of some
26:51
you know, some of the best players. Obviously, that's what the whole
26:53
whole point of that is, you know. But I will say, even
26:56
when you get to the top three or the top ten, like, some
27:00
of those players are just incredible and it's just a it's an incredible honor to
27:03
be selected in that top ten group. And I know, I'm super excited
27:10
to see that group come out. I am, you know, even though
27:14
it's a USA Hockey driven and organized award, I'm not on the committee or
27:18
anything, so I don't even know like the process and who who when,
27:23
when the timeline is and stuff. So I'm just as excited to use guys
27:27
to see when that comes out. Yeah. I was just double checking my
27:30
math here, but every player dating back to twenty fourteen that won the award
27:34
it's currently playing in the PWHL. So definitely has been a pretty good predictor
27:41
of some of the top talent for sure. Absolutely. I you know,
27:45
I was interested to hear like, how how many of them were still playing?
27:51
And I that's a that's a great stat Just going back to what you
27:56
were saying about the college team, and not to necessarily put you on the
28:02
spot, but with the the second reverse sweep in the Rivalry series. One
28:07
of the theories that that I heard some people talking about was that the college
28:11
players aren't playing in that left a Rivalry series game, and when you all
28:15
have sort of gone younger, that means that not only are they not the
28:19
players that you've been depending upon in those games, but they are are players
28:22
that might be new to the program or that might be getting an up opportunity.
28:27
So I just wanted to ask you about, like if if that's something
28:30
that's that that's that theory going around is something you agree with and just and
28:33
how much the that can play into like what the team looks like. Yeah,
28:37
that definitely played played into it. We we for sure missed our college
28:41
players, but we knew that going in. We know every February. Hopefully
28:45
that narrative can change a little bit in the future, we'll see I know
28:51
college coaches that like to give up their players to us in February, and
28:53
I don't blame them, but definitely, you know they we did miss them
28:59
a lot. I always try to look at the positive in it, though,
29:03
and the positive for me is being able to give other players opportunities to
29:06
see where they fit in in our player pool, and so we had,
29:10
you know, we had a bunch you know of players that fit that bill
29:15
that you know, got opportunities that might not have if our college players were
29:18
were eligible for that rivalry series. But you know, I mean a rival
29:22
series. Rivalry series is really important to us, and of course we want
29:26
to win every single game against Canada, but I really want to win the
29:30
one that counts, and that's the one in April. The well hopefully too
29:36
in April that we face against them. So you know, I look at
29:38
the rivalry series as a good training tool for us. And again the opportunities
29:45
that are given to some of the players, but April wouldn't really count.
29:52
The rivalry series came about to give those players a more opportunity to be playing
29:56
each other when when there wasn't necessarily elite. Do you foresee it continuing the
30:00
same look like looking the same in the future now that the p WHL is
30:03
there. Yeah, obviously with the p WHL, our landscape is changing a
30:07
little bit and we are foreseeing some changes to the way things may play out
30:15
in the future. One thing I'll share with you guys right now is we're
30:18
likely going to drop to a five game series where we do two events,
30:23
one in November and one in February with our players. So that is something
30:30
that we do foresee happening. Us in Hockey Canada have kind of agreed on
30:34
that. Now that the p WHL is up and running and they have their
30:37
games and hopefully more next year and starting maybe earlier, you know, those
30:42
games won't be as much needed by our players because they're getting enough games in.
30:49
But with that said, we also want to not lose that December international
30:53
break with some competition, and what our hope is is to put together a
30:57
college team to maybe we'll see. Things are still working out in the details,
31:06
but definitely Hockey Canada and I and US are in alignment on creating this
31:11
college college series and potentially having some international events as well. So a lot
31:21
more details to come, but we do see that changing just slightly for the
31:25
future, given the given the new p WHL. Do you you recently spoke
31:30
with the Athletic a little bit about the possibility of like a World Juniors or
31:33
you twenty U twenty two uh for for women, and so that was a
31:37
good possible segue there talking about that. So would you are you when you
31:41
say collegiate. Do you mean like you twenty two type like and something that
31:45
is in that middle area between U eighteens and seniors. Yeah, definitely,
31:49
I mean I think we we think that, you know, having another touch
31:52
point with the college players is huge and as you said, I don't want
31:57
to go to my grave until I a women's you know, similar to a
32:01
World Juniors, whether that's a U twenty two, U twenty three, U
32:07
twenty what that looks like. But we're missing that piece for sure. We
32:12
know that. We realize maybe the rest of the world isn't where we are,
32:17
but it's got to start somewhere, and that's what we keep pushing the
32:21
IHF in is like the U eighteens had to start somewhere as well, and
32:25
this grouping needs to start somewhere. So hopefully with us, you know,
32:30
creating this December college event, it can kind of turn into that fingers crossed.
32:38
Yeah, like when you mentioned the international players that come over here for
32:42
development, like that is really great and good for them, but also it
32:45
would be awesome if they didn't have to do that in order to be competing
32:50
at a top level like they're doing that because there's not options at help exactly
32:53
exactly, and you know, I don't know. We'll see what happens,
32:58
you know, internationally, but like I don't see that going away at anytime
33:02
in the near future. Like players are still going to come over here and
33:06
hopefully play in the NCAA, but to have another touch point, you know,
33:13
with their peers competing against, you know, the US and Canada hopefully
33:20
just jump starts that that World Junior type event for us, that that's the
33:24
hope when we look into the future then, of uh, it's not really
33:30
that far away. We're talking about an Olympic year. We mentioned that before.
33:34
But with the p WHL being in existence, how do you imagine that
33:40
changing. We talked about last week how centralization might look different, And I
33:46
know there's probably not a lot of details yet, but I would imagine some
33:51
things will have to be different because of of the p WHL being there and
33:58
players being out for months at a time. Probably isn't the preferred outcome from
34:06
the league standpoint. What can you tell us about where things are at there
34:09
and what we might be looking at, what the options might be. Yeah,
34:15
it's still it's still very unknown, to be honest. I know that
34:19
you know, the PWHL just got up and running January first, which honestly
34:23
was what seven weeks ago now, like, it's still so new, and
34:29
I know they're still getting their feet under them, and so we don't even
34:34
necessarily know exactly what the schedule looks like for next year, let alone that
34:37
twenty five twenty six year. But if I've definitely stressed to Jane Hufford and
34:46
Annie Kaymans and the leadership group there that you know, we're going to need
34:50
to make some decisions here pretty quickly. And to your point, we do
34:53
see centralization as something completely different moving forward, probably looking a lot more like
35:00
the men's side, where you know, we'll get the players a week to
35:05
ten days to two weeks before the games and that's it. With that said,
35:10
though, and because our pro players have the international breaks written into their
35:16
CBA, we're really hoping that we can still have touch points with our with
35:21
our selected players, like even like starting in August of twenty twenty five,
35:28
you know, hopefully we'll have that August national festival that we always do and
35:30
have those players there, have another touch point in September, another one in
35:36
October, in November, you know, hopefully we were again, having that
35:40
team together during that international break, even if the p w JEL is going
35:45
on and we're playing you know, Hockey Canada or maybe another country during that
35:50
time period. Same thing in that December break, and then you know,
35:53
January, we're announcing a team, and you know, whenever the PWAH releases
36:00
those players to us, then we'll likely go overseas train and go right into
36:05
Milan. So if I had to, you know, well, if you
36:09
saw my calendars and my papers, that would that's kind of what it would
36:13
look like. But that's kind of my crystal ball right now, without having
36:16
like exact dates and commitments and things like that doesn't sound well. I was
36:22
just gonna say, it doesn't sound much like my bold idea as possible then
36:25
of having a Team USA and Team Canada as part of the PWHL for that
36:30
season. I thought that would be awesome, kind of like along the lines
36:34
of the national team development program has in the USHL on the men's side,
36:39
there would be I think that would be an awesome, cool idea. I
36:44
just don't think it's technically possible, but it seemed like a a a deal,
36:50
you know what. That's not a bad idea and maybe if they're ready
36:53
to expand to two more teams, you know, we could do that for
36:58
twenty five Katie. How do you see that playing out for the college students,
37:05
because that, uh, you know, is where I think things get
37:07
really tricky in terms of do they red shirt and if they aren't playing between
37:14
those international breaks, like how do you make sure that they It's basically that
37:17
taughts up. Are they red shirting and like taking a year off or are
37:21
they going to miss that much of their season? I think that's the big
37:24
question marks for me. I mean, aside from the fact that I cover
37:27
the college game, it's just there's a lot more sort of unknowns for what
37:30
a what a college player would do in that situation. Yeah, and you're
37:34
absolutely right, and like it's a tough, tough call to make because as
37:38
you know, like you know, as we talked about, if we're getting
37:43
players in late January, in three weeks in February, that's a huge chunk
37:47
and especially the you know, the back end of that you know, college
37:52
season that you know those players could miss will likely miss. So red or
38:00
not is definitely going to be a coaching player decision. And I think that
38:06
that that January February is the is the you know, the most effective to
38:10
the college players, right if we if we get together in August, September,
38:16
October, outside of those international breaks, I don't think it's gonna be
38:21
all that long where you know, a college coach is going to be upset
38:25
for missing that player for for that long. But it's the January February that's
38:30
going to be the tough call on whether to whether to take that risk or
38:37
or not. So the question becomes, if I read shirt, what am
38:40
I doing in those at that time between camps, Like how are you making
38:44
sure that those players are still like progressing through that? That's that's a great
38:50
point. And you know, I know, for for us, like even
38:54
Coach Robo, when the pup players aren't playing like we do like go sessions
39:00
where hey, you guys want to come in and train for you know,
39:04
this week in September, coach is going to be in Blaine. You're welcome
39:08
to join for as many sessions as you want or not. And I think
39:15
we would you know, definitely have those opportunities for those players as well,
39:19
and hopefully you know, if they're still going to school or whatever, hopefully
39:23
that they'd still be able to train at their schools and you know, continue
39:28
to get on the ice with their current teams even if they are red shirting.
39:32
I know, if kind of we've kind of focused on the like what
39:35
happens and sort of the negatives, but the positives too of of sce like
39:38
if moving away from centralization or residency as we know it, like the PWHL
39:44
players, like that is, you guys have to find teams for them to
39:46
play when you're when you're doing residency or when you're doing centralization, and and
39:52
you know oftentimes it has to be chunior players and things like that. So
39:54
just the positive of this moving forward would be that like the level of play
39:59
the players are getting to play throughout the season as opposed to maybe what they
40:01
would be doing in a residency. Yeah, exactly, And I think,
40:06
you know, it's always great every time we can have teams together in those
40:09
touch points and go over our systems and styles of play, But every time
40:15
we're not together, we want them to be competing at the highest level that
40:19
they possibly can as well. So you know, the PWHL is the perfect
40:23
fit for that, and we're so excited for our players to have that to
40:27
go to and get good coaching and reps and competition and games when they're not
40:31
with us. So you're absolutely right, Nicole. Last thing I want to
40:36
ask you about is kind of related to the time of the year. We're
40:39
in back half of February. Always gets to thoughts of Lake Placid in nineteen
40:45
eighty and I know you're well connected with that team and just from your time
40:51
in Lake Placid and from working with those players, can you just you know,
40:57
give us a thumbnail of what that group means to you and and how
41:00
that group, uh kind of shaped your your view of hockey. Yeah,
41:06
for sure. As you guys know that that team is very very special to
41:10
me. I got to know them back in my work in Like Placid where
41:15
I was director of events there, and you know, just got to know
41:19
those guys over the years, and you know, different events we'd have where
41:23
we'd bring a player to back back and you know, just really grew my
41:29
love of the game and that team. Because my office was in the Olympic
41:35
Center, I walked through those doors every single day. You know, you'd
41:38
you'd go, you'd go down the hallway for lunch and you'd you'd see people
41:44
like visibly emotional and crying at what that team did for our country. And
41:50
then once you get to know the guys and how amazing each and every one
41:54
of them are, and how humble and like you guys know from coach Johnson
42:00
that like he's just a regular dude, you'd never know that he was,
42:07
you know, the very best player on that team, and just how humble
42:10
they all are and just you know, just great guys. And so when
42:15
they asked me to work with them and help them out with some stuff,
42:19
I was just like, whatever I can do. I call it my side
42:22
hustle. But I love those guys and would do anything they asked me to
42:29
and and just really fortunate to have relationships and be able to work with them,
42:35
and and you know, fortunately USA Hockey has allowed me to you know,
42:39
continue my work as on the side with them as well. So it's
42:45
it's just a wonderful opportunity that I'm grateful for. How much did that influence
42:50
sort of your path in hockey? Oh a lot, for sure, you
42:53
know. I'll I'll never forget when the WHA commissioner job came about, the
43:00
first two guys to tell me about it, where Mark Johnson and John Harrington,
43:06
and they're like, Katie, you should go for the job. And
43:07
I'm like, I'm like, I don't even know what a commissioner is.
43:10
What do they do? I don't know. And then when you know,
43:14
I looked at the job description and compared it with my background. It was
43:17
eerily similar. And so I'm like, yeah, this is kind of cool,
43:22
all right, you know, because my job in Lake Placid, I
43:27
worked a number of events, all winter sports, entertainment events from September one
43:34
to about well all year round, but the heavy dose was September one to
43:37
April one and just I mean literally NonStop from those those dates twenty four to
43:45
seven. And so when that job came along and I was like, really,
43:49
I could focus on one sport. This sounds amazing, and so,
43:54
you know, one thing led to another, but yeah, it's it's been
43:58
a wonderful journey and I'm and I'm thankful for the WHA getting me out here
44:04
to Minnesota, and then USA Hockey coming to call and bringing my Olympic roots
44:08
all back together again. And then my last question, I just wanted to
44:13
ask about Utica and how excited that you are that we get to host in
44:16
the US and being able to put that on and maybe you can give us
44:21
the sort of the little spiel and get everybody excited about heading that way.
44:24
Well, I have to tell you guys. You may not know this,
44:28
but I'm originally from Central New York. So I am originally from Hannibal,
44:32
New York, which is near uswego New York and about an hour and fifteen
44:38
to an hour and a half away from Utica New York. So I'm incredibly
44:43
excited because it's an home event for me. Right But I'll tell you when
44:46
our events department told me that Utica New York was in the running for Worlds,
44:52
I was like, what on earth are you talking about. I did
44:59
not believe that, and I was like what So, you know, but
45:04
their their bid package was absolutely amazing and I've you know, I've gone on
45:07
a couple of site visits since then, and the venue is is great.
45:13
The hotel we're staying at, the Turning Stone Casino is phenomenal, and it's
45:17
going to be, like I think, it's just going to be an awesome
45:21
event for all of our not only our team, but for all the rest
45:24
of the teams too, because it's kind of one stop shopping. You know.
45:29
We we've got this amazing hotel with you know, the casino and shops
45:32
and restaurants and everything right there, and then you know, the rink a
45:37
half hour away, which is going to be an unbelievable atmosphere for everybody,
45:42
albeit a little bit small for a US Canada game that if you don't have
45:45
your tickets already, get them because it will sell out. But you know,
45:51
again, for for us, it's just an unbelievable a place to play
45:58
in a new set of fame for us to play in front of, in
46:02
a location that's going to be great. And I know that they've planned a
46:06
lot of extra curricular activities as well. You know, I've heard that there's
46:09
going to be bands and Ferris wheels and things like that for fans to do.
46:16
And yeah, I think, you know, again, when people said
46:21
you Toica New York, I'm like, what. But then the more I
46:22
hear about it, the more amazing it's going to be. And I really
46:25
do think that we're going to be set in the bar pretty high for hosting
46:30
because it's going to be an awesome, awesome event and super excited about it,
46:34
super excited to defend our gold medal and hopefully walk away on April fourteenth
46:39
with another one. Thank you so much, Katie for speaking with us.
46:44
We really appreciate it. We wish you good luck too. We will see
46:47
you in Utica or I will at least, and we'll see you at the
46:51
Frozen Foward as well. Definitely. Well, thanks so much for having you
46:53
guys. Really a pleasure always talking with you both, and anytime you need
47:00
you know where to find me. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd
47:10
Moleski here when Nicole Hasey and we will get into the playoffs, which are
47:15
starting in three of the league's in just a few moments. But we've got
47:17
two leagues that have to wrap up regular season play and there's a couple of
47:22
doozies here last weekend that the schedule makers set up in the w c h
47:27
A. We have a number one versus number two at Ohio State versus Wisconsin.
47:30
They played earlier this season when number one and number two. It was
47:35
flipped then, so Wisconsin was one. Now it's Ohio State. Ohio State
47:39
has been number one for I believe since that one then, Yeah, and
47:45
hasn't fallen off much at all. It's this one's in Madison Friday and Saturday
47:54
Saturday night eight pm Central, will be live on Big ten Network. Correct,
48:00
It's awesome. Ohio say It won that series in November three nothing and
48:05
then two to one in overtime. You know those games. I remember kind
48:10
of being impressed and not kind of. I was impressed with how well how
48:17
say commanded the games in possession, and I think if that happens again,
48:23
we're going to see pretty similar results. Wisconsin has to find a way to
48:28
limit how much Ohio say It has the puck. Yeah, but notably missing
48:31
in those games for Wisconsin were KK Harvey and Kirsten Simms. And Sims now
48:36
leading the country and scoring like those are that those are two notable, big
48:40
missing pieces, not just from like a scoring standpoint, but like quarterbacking the
48:45
offense, quarterbacking, special teams, things like that. So having the pup
48:51
right, yeah, puck possession. So you know, it's hard to say,
48:57
like Ohio Sate was so dominant in that series, like you said,
49:00
in the puck possession that it's it's hard to just be like, well,
49:02
these two players will make a difference because like, honestly, not sure if
49:05
they will, Uh we think that they will. They should uh to the
49:08
highest impact players you know in the country this season. But yeah, I
49:15
know those games had to be depressed thing for Wisconsin, uh to just sort
49:19
of go in as the number one and have Ohio State really sort of have
49:23
the antidote for everything that Wisconsin was trying to do. And uh, both
49:29
teams like to play a possession game. I don't don't. I don't want
49:30
to imply that Ohio State is sort of like hoppying Wisconsin, but like Ohio
49:35
State did Wisconsin's game better than Wisconsin does uh so that or did in that
49:38
weekend? Uh So, Yeah, Ohio State, you know, just just
49:43
was dominant in every part of the ice and did what, you know,
49:47
the game plan of what Wisconsin would have wanted to go out into. So
49:52
uh, you know, the Badgers looked better last weekend. They were you
49:54
know, sort of controlling the puck against Minnesota in a way that like often
49:59
the happen in border battle games. They're usually a lot more chaotic than that.
50:02
So that's a good sign for the Badgers. But and being at home
50:06
as well, I think it'll be fun too because there's nothing on the line.
50:09
So there's no sort of like we don't want them to win on our
50:12
home ice. We don't like, you know, we don't want to see
50:15
the trophy presentation. It's just, you know, really really good hockey between
50:17
the two best teams in the country right now. And I think for both
50:21
sides, you're looking to go into the playoffs with a you know, being
50:25
challenged and being made to play at your highest level because you wanted them just
50:30
take that right in the playoffs and keep going at that level. And I
50:34
think this is a perfect opportunity to do that. You mentioned that there's nothing
50:37
on the line in terms of there is in terms of standings Ohio State's one
50:42
conference championship. Yeah, locked in the second. There is something on the
50:45
line for Wisconsin in terms of the pair wise and the NPI we were talking.
50:51
Ohio State probably is locked into the number one seed overall, just from
50:55
how much of a gap they have more than four points in NPI over Wisconsin.
51:00
I don't know if they have enough losses left possible for them to fall
51:05
as much as would need to happen. Of course, we don't know,
51:09
you know, I haven't run any math there where neither of us. No,
51:14
we just think like it would have to be pretty extreme, like losing
51:17
both of these games and like losing early in the w c h A playoffs
51:21
and Wisconsin winning out, Like we think movement would have to go in both
51:24
directions right for that gap to be closed. So we're pretty sure Ohio State
51:29
is stuck in at that number one spot overall for the NCAA tournament, but
51:34
Wisconsin has has a lot to play for there and you know, making sure
51:37
they stay at a top or or you know, near the top of that
51:43
next pack of teams because Clarkson's right there, Cole Gates just after that in
51:47
Minnesota's right there. So they opened up a little gap with the with the
51:52
win and overtime win over Minnesota. I mean, they've got about a two
51:58
point lead on Clarkson, which is I think the big that's been in a
52:00
while. But yeah, those three four five, there's the difference between Wisconsin
52:05
and Minnesota is like two and a half and p i points, which is
52:08
kind of crazy, right if if you're looking at if Wisconsin loses twice.
52:13
Obviously, Clarkson and Colgar are not playing this weekend because of being the first
52:17
round of e C a C play. They have us, so they're not
52:22
going to move much. You know, some other games will will change the
52:25
numbers a little bit, but Wisconsin's gonna, you know, how they do
52:29
is going to dictate what what the the that next group looks like in in
52:35
the pair wise when we're talking next week, yeah, absolutely, it's you
52:38
know what we were sort of talking about the last weeks, the ECAC tournament
52:43
set up, so we're definitely going to see how that plays out now and
52:45
again when we were talking Saint Lawrence and Quinnipiac in Minnesota, Duluth, Uh,
52:51
Quinnipiac is playing this weekend. But yeah, it'll be it will definitely
52:54
be interesting to see what the idle teams versus the playing teams how that how
52:59
that out. Yeah. The only thing left to decide in the WHG standings
53:04
is seventh and eighth place, but Midgee State is in seventh at ten points.
53:09
Saint Thomas is an eighth at eight points. Midgie hosts Saint Cloud.
53:14
Saint Thomas has home and hobe with Minnesota State the the the winner of that,
53:21
whoever finishes seventh, gets to play at Wisconsin. The eighth place gets
53:25
to play at Ohio State. So not a outlook either way, but uh,
53:31
there's still something to be to be done in the Dewciation. Not everything
53:36
is locked up. The first six are, but seven and eight are not.
53:38
Yeah, and then the other conference still playing regular season is Hockey East.
53:43
As we mentioned before, Northeastern closed the GAAP enough that they you know,
53:47
Chian be playing for a title. You know, there's it's it's the
53:53
we lead Yukon to to score at least two points. It's in Hockey East.
53:58
Yukon, Northeastern and Austin College have clinched home ice. New Hampshire has
54:04
clinched a earth into the quarterfinals, and then from there it's Providence, bu
54:08
Vermont, Maine, Merrimack and holy Cross. So the opening round will be
54:14
seven at holy Cross and eight at nine and all of those are up for
54:19
grabs still. That will be Wednesday, February twenty eighth, and then they'll
54:23
go into quarterfinals next weekend. So definitely a lot still to play for in
54:30
hockey. Is that how that all shakes out can be will be very interesting.
54:32
The interesting one for me is that there's three teams in the race to
54:37
avoid having the play and for three teams for two spots to avoid having to
54:42
play in the opening round. That's Providence in fifth, BU and sixth and
54:45
Vermont and seventh, all separated by two points. So Providence has thirty eight,
54:50
BU has thirty six, Vermont has thirty four. So Vermont's got some
54:52
work to do and some some hoping to do with the other teams. But
54:58
Vermont also has to play at Northeastern, which you mentioned has been on a
55:01
pretty good role, so that you know, you wanting to wanting to avoid
55:06
if you can't get the home ice for the quarterfinals, at least that you
55:09
can avoid having to play in that that play in game, or if opening
55:14
round game, I guess you're calling it between the bottom four teams. So
55:16
that's something to keep an eye on for this weekend as well. Yeah,
55:21
it's fascinating like Providence technically could catch New Hampshire but also to be played in
55:25
the opening round, right, so uh yeah, it's definitely a little bit
55:30
of chaos over there. And unlike Hockey East does not always play paired weekends,
55:36
but this weekend, all the teams are playing the same team twice,
55:39
some in home and homes, so there will be there'll be a lot of
55:44
chaos happening, I hope. Yeah. And over in ECAC, uh,
55:49
I mean that's the start of playoffs for ECAC, New Ha and Cha.
55:52
This week we see the bottom eight teams in ECAC play in a single element
56:00
nation opening round games. So all these games are three pm Eastern on Saturday,
56:05
Winnipeac hosting, Harvard, Yale hosting Union, Princeton hosting Dartmouth, Brown
56:08
hosting rentse Lair. And I don't I don't know, do you do you
56:14
find any of those I mean, you always look towards the eight and nine
56:16
and maybe the seven to ten matchups as being the potentials for the chaos that
56:22
you were talking about. And Brown rentse Lair is you know, honestly could
56:27
be some of the most Kamela hockey of the weekend. Could be Yeah,
56:30
when you're talking about one game to decide who moves on into the into the
56:34
quarterfinals, yes please, Yeah, it could be fascinating. Yeah yeah,
56:40
I mean, for me, Brown has probably been one of the most interesting
56:44
teams in the last couple of years we've you know, there's there's a couple
56:46
of teams, Brown, Dartmouth, some of these teams that like got new
56:50
coaches and have have been rebuilding, but Brown seems to be sort of on
56:54
a more accelerated pace. They've gotten some of some big wins, and I
56:59
just I think the potential for Brown is just really interesting and will be fun
57:04
to watch. I think should they come out of this first round game,
57:07
I would not be wanting to play them in the best of three in the
57:10
corner finals no matter who who they get. So they will not be an
57:15
easy win and they're gonna put a lot of pressure on who they play that
57:20
maybe you wouldn't have expected from from an eight seed, right, So I
57:24
for me, E they're one of the most compelling teams week in and week
57:27
out. They're certainly like you know, we talked about the loss, the
57:30
six to zero loss to Colgate, but they you know, beat Cornell the
57:35
weekend before, and so I think there there's just so much potential there.
57:38
And they're a team obviously they at eight, they'd have made the tournament last
57:42
year, but they're a team that, like I wouldn't have wanted to play
57:45
in the postseason last season either, and because the tournament hadn't expanded yet,
57:47
they didn't make it. So yeah, I think Harvard has had games where
57:53
they just they come out looking like the very different team they've been all year,
57:57
and Quinnipiac has been flat at times. So that is a matchup I
58:01
think. I mean, it's kind of must win for Quinnipec in terms of
58:04
NPI, But yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see what Harvard comes
58:10
out looking like. I certainly don't have any idea. If they play like
58:15
they've played it in certain games this season, it's it's going to be a
58:17
much tougher game than than Quinnipeec would like. Yeah, and we knew that,
58:22
you know, with five ECAC teams in the mix, kind of in
58:27
the upper levels of the pair wise, that there was gonna be one of
58:30
these teams that wasn't gonna be able to make it and get the first round
58:34
by obviously those only go to the top four. So that ended up being
58:37
Quinnipiac in fifth. And that does kind of change the you know, the
58:42
path here when we're looking towards what the pairwise is going to look like in
58:45
a couple of weeks. Because let's say they do get past Harvard this weekend,
58:50
they're going on the road next week for a best of three, and
58:53
so that's you know, if you if you're quinnipe you kind of feel like
59:00
we've got to win that too, to at least get to the final weekend
59:04
to give ourselves a chance and not knowing what you know, d Luth is
59:09
going to be doing just below them in the pairwise right now, you don't
59:14
want to leave that up to you know, sitting on the sidelines on that
59:16
last weekend and not having a say in things. So at a lot of
59:22
the things happening there, I think to the way that the selection committees kind
59:30
of guidelines are written, there is the ability to waste things differently and and
59:34
sort of decide how how they want to interpret some of that stuff. And
59:38
the thing for me when we're talking like NPI right now is that like functionally
59:42
UMD and Quinnipiac are tied right Like it's such a small number. Well,
59:46
Quinnipiac has lost six of their final nine games, Like it's just been a
59:52
rough end to the season for Quinnipiac. Two overtime losses, you know,
59:55
just just the lost to Brown. It like recency of like how how has
1:00:01
this team looked? Is this is this the postseason team? Like I feel
1:00:05
like that UMD wins that comparison, and so I think for Quinnipeac, it's
1:00:09
not just winning the games to win those NPI points, but to like put
1:00:15
a better taste in the mouth, like what, what is this team capable
1:00:19
of? Go out and show that you can win games and that like you
1:00:21
are a postseason team. And I think sort of looking at those those final
1:00:25
ten games is something that the selection committee does, you know, and looks
1:00:28
at like what is the trajectory of this team? Uh? And good for
1:00:31
Quinnipiac coming back and winning their final two games of the season, but I
1:00:35
think they could really use sort of a perception boost by getting some big wins
1:00:39
as well. Now, if the committee is faithful to the pair wise,
1:00:43
which we think they are, but they have tude, right, But if
1:00:50
they're faithful pair wise, a game in September means the same as a game
1:00:54
in late February, because you know, and for a reason, I mean,
1:01:00
you don't necessarily control how you get scheduled. If you have if you
1:01:07
play that your league's toughest teams down the stretch, all of them lined up
1:01:14
in February. Kind of like if taking the idea from like the what sint
1:01:19
cloud just had to go through playing Ohio State, Minnesota, Yeah, Minnesota,
1:01:23
Duluth. If they had that more spread out, would their recent performance
1:01:31
look better? So that's why I know, back way back in the day
1:01:37
on the men's side, there was a criteria that was your record in the
1:01:39
last sixteen games was part of the pair wise and it got tossed out because
1:01:45
you don't control that. You don't control who is put on your schedule your
1:01:49
league does. I mean, to a degree, you do if you have
1:01:52
non conference games, But that's a little bit out of your control. And
1:01:57
so it gets to be a like, should we really be weighing this or
1:02:00
should every game mean as much as any other game? And I don't know
1:02:04
that there's a great answer to that, because I can see both sides of
1:02:07
that, where yeah, you want the teams that are finishing strong, but
1:02:10
some of that is not necessarily a product of their own, you know,
1:02:15
performance. Sometimes it's just you know, they've had a better schedule. Maybe
1:02:20
Yeah. I think, honestly think the Quinnipiac U of D comparison is going
1:02:23
to be like a case, say, I think we're going to be talking
1:02:25
about this for several weeks and it will definitely be interesting. You know,
1:02:30
like I said, I think they're functionally tied right now, and so we
1:02:31
have an unprecedented fifth team in Quinnipiac, a fifth ECAC team over a fourth
1:02:38
w c CHA team. When there they are, like we said, you
1:02:42
know, sort of as close as can be in the pairwise, and then
1:02:45
you know, like looking at UMD, their worst loss I think is QUINNIPIEC
1:02:47
themselves is Quinnipiac and Saint Cloud or they're sort of two worst losses, and
1:02:52
so yeah, it's a there's a lot of sort of crossover and like sort
1:02:57
of ways you can explain this and decide who you know, think who you
1:03:00
think should should get it. So yeah, I think it's going to be
1:03:02
down to some minutia when it comes down to choosing between these two teams unless
1:03:07
we see some major changes in the NPI. So you know, obviously to
1:03:12
some extent they control their fate like keep winning games, particularly when you're facing
1:03:15
the ranked opponents and your conference. But to me, this is a fascinating
1:03:22
study of like what matters, what what is going to tip the scale of
1:03:25
one way or the other. The thing that I I don't know worry about
1:03:30
is not the right way of saying it, But I would be really kind
1:03:34
of terrified if it got to a point where the teams at eight and nine,
1:03:38
and let's say it's Quentin Back and Minister were both within you know,
1:03:44
going down to the fourth decimal point, say to break the tie in the
1:03:49
NPI between them, and they're both off the conference championship week and so they're
1:03:54
really the difference then becomes how they bounce around because of other teams games.
1:04:02
That's I don't want to go there, but I I just kind of had
1:04:08
a picture in my head of like that would be terrifying if you're one of
1:04:12
those teams to be waiting to see what happens based on other teams when you
1:04:17
when you have no control over it and and you're just kind of waiting on
1:04:21
the sidelines. But like, how FASCINATD that they pleaded each other too,
1:04:25
Yeah this season, like that is a rare non conference matchup, and so
1:04:29
like both of them will be affected by some of the same ripples, which
1:04:32
is kind of fascinating. I it's nerve wracking, it's awful for the players
1:04:38
and the coaches and the fan bases. But like from a sort of like
1:04:42
overarching look at how this is playing out, like it's it's it's fascinating,
1:04:45
it's it's a lot of fun. I think, like it's cool that we
1:04:48
are in a position. Well, just the NPI is new. The way
1:04:53
that the selection committee chooses for the women's tournament is relatively new, Like we're
1:04:57
just it's a it's a different path in women's college hockey than it was in
1:05:01
the past, and the way that this plays out is all sort of new
1:05:04
and interesting, and I don't know, I love it. I love that
1:05:06
we get to talk about like you know, quinnipix overtime losses versus um D
1:05:14
not getting a point against Saint Cluds like they're the minutia of it is the
1:05:17
fact that we get to break it down that much and it still might not
1:05:19
come up with a good answer. Like I think that's us good things for
1:05:23
the game. Yep, it will be fascinating. We hope the playoffs will
1:05:28
be fascinating around the country here too. The CHA starts this week with best
1:05:32
of three semi finals. As mentioned before, Rit Back at Penn State and
1:05:36
then Robert Morris at Mercy Hurst. I don't know, I mean from it
1:05:43
those two teams Rit and Penn State just having played each other to a one
1:05:46
to one tie. You argue that, okay, it's a one versus a
1:05:50
four, it should be a formality. But I, like, I don't
1:05:55
think I'm not willing to go there, because it's you know, the more
1:06:00
teams you see, the more you see a team, and and the more
1:06:02
often the more you have a chance. I think as a lower seed that
1:06:05
to know what you might have to do to get the upset. And maybe
1:06:10
the the tie was rit is way into the next time saying well, we
1:06:15
we can look at this, but also maybe Penn State was saying, well,
1:06:20
let's uh give them anything to look at and uh yeah, save it
1:06:25
for next week too. So that's uh, that's the mental game here,
1:06:29
right, Like the confidence of our I t and yeah, it's I think
1:06:31
that's gonna be really fun from series to watch as well, and obviously Robert
1:06:34
Morrison Mrazyhurst as well, like those there some really good games. What's really
1:06:38
interesting for them, right is that semi finals, the championship games next weekend,
1:06:42
and they take a week the week off before the NCAAs. So kind
1:06:46
of like how we talked about the interesting and weird layout of the ECAC.
1:06:50
This is another choice that's made, like is the rest a good thing or
1:06:55
is you know, sort of ramping up towards that game a good thing.
1:06:59
So that's definitely something to keep an eye on. And these best of three
1:07:01
series, if they get pushed to the third game, maybe that rest weekend
1:07:05
is exactly what they need. You know, the CCHA hasn't really been able
1:07:10
to break through in the NCAA opening rounds and you know, sort of upset
1:07:15
one of those other seats, so maybe like maybe that's what the you know,
1:07:18
sort of thinking was that they can be prepared to play against the team
1:07:21
that just had to fight tooth and nail through their own conference tournament. Yeah.
1:07:27
Over in the New HA the four or five series is Sacred Heart hosting
1:07:31
Franklin Pierce. Sacred Heart beat Franklin Pierce by one point in the standings to
1:07:36
get that last home ice spot, and uh, that's you know where you
1:07:43
get into the team's being that close over the course of a season. You'd
1:07:46
think that that would be a pretty compelling first round matchup, But then you've
1:07:50
also got Assumption at Stonehill Post at Saint nancelm and Saint Michael's at Long Island
1:07:56
the conference champion. I don't I don't you know Long Island was was such
1:08:03
a runaway winner in the conference, uh, fifteen points ahead of Saint Ansel
1:08:10
and then then then the pack kind of narrowed from there. You had only
1:08:14
eight points between second and fifth. That's me says that, you know,
1:08:20
there could be some a couple of good series here, but we still have
1:08:27
a pretty compelling favorite in Long Island for the course of the tournament. Yeah,
1:08:32
I will say that, you know, Long Islands sort of had kind
1:08:35
of run out of the gate and left everyone behind. But their their games
1:08:40
towards the end of the season were all, you know, sort of closer
1:08:42
wins. They were two one goal overtime wins over Saint Ansel. There was
1:08:45
a one goal win over Sacred or Stone Hill and Saint Michael's on Senior Day.
1:08:51
They needed, like I l like, you needed over time to beat
1:08:55
them after beating them seven o the day before. So I feel like the
1:09:00
gap of the rest of the conference caught up to l Au a little bit
1:09:02
as well. I don't know that it's a run away the way that I
1:09:08
would have said it was in January, or that it's sort of like a
1:09:11
given In the same way, I do think that that they were you know,
1:09:15
returned to a lot of players and we're just at a higher level than
1:09:17
everybody else to start the season, and I think, you know, that
1:09:21
trajectory has definitely closed up a little bit. But yeah, it does feel
1:09:26
like it's l used to lose for sure. Well, I think it's all
1:09:30
gonna be fascinating. I love this time of the year. I'm imagining that,
1:09:32
Nicole, you do too, And there's gonna be a lot of There's
1:09:35
the great thing about this is that there's you know, games during the day,
1:09:39
there's games at night. You can kind of find your window of you've
1:09:42
got some time to watch. There's there's gonna be an opportunity to find a
1:09:45
stream uh and and and check out some playoff hockey or some you know final
1:09:49
season final weekend of the regular season hockey, uh for in the case of
1:09:54
the w C, h A and Hockey East this weekend. Yeah, I'll
1:09:58
be publishing something on U Show tomorrow that just sort of breaks down all of
1:10:02
the different matchups and where you can find some of them. So putting this
1:10:05
all in one place so you don't have to hop around to a bunch of
1:10:09
different websites to find out who's playing one and where. But yeah, if
1:10:12
you don't already have ESPN Plus, you're definitely gonna want it. That's the
1:10:15
best way to watch a lot of games. And uh, yeah, it's
1:10:19
uh the w c h A will be on BTN plus and like I said,
1:10:23
the second game the Wisconsin Ohio State Series is live on BTN, A
1:10:28
big ten network broadcast. Flow Hockey has all of c cha's games and several
1:10:33
of the new hot teams have free streams. LU is on ESPN Plus.
1:10:39
All of Hockey East is on ESPN Plus, so h much of ECA,
1:10:43
all the v C A C as well, right, so an International,
1:10:45
A lot of that is on stretch Internet. So there's there's lots of pretty
1:10:48
inexpensive ways to watch a lot of these games. So I would get several
1:10:53
screens set up. It'll be a lot of fun, that's a that's what
1:10:57
we'll be doing, right, and uh, we'll have some extra going in
1:11:00
the press box in Madison as well, So enjoy it. It's great hockey,
1:11:03
folks. I'll bring my tablet so we can bring bring it more games
1:11:09
to watch, all right, Well, that is it. We want to
1:11:12
Thank k Million again for joining us for our earlier segment and this is gonna
1:11:18
be fun. Make sure you enjoy some hockey this weekend. Everyone for Nicole
1:11:23
Hosey and tood Moleski, thanks for joining us on the podcast.