Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / NCAA committee chair Janine Oman describes the selection process, plus a playoff lookahead

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NCAA committee chair Janine Oman describes the selection process, plus a playoff lookahead · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: USCHO dot com. Hi, everyone, Welcome to the podcast. Todd
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Maluski here with Nicole Hasey from us Echo dot com
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and Nicole, we are in playoffs officially for everyone now.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We had a couple of leagues start their postseason last weekend,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: while three of the conferences finished the regular season. But
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I do want to start with one of the crazy
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: finishes to the regular season we saw last weekend that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: was in Hockey East where we had seen and we
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: had talked about how Yukon had kind of put itself
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: behind the eight ball but going into the final weekend
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and then they needed to sweep BEU in a home
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and home series to win the championship, and lo and behold,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: they did win the championship. So they five points behind
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: going into the weekend, and they emerged one point ahead
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to claim that championship, the second straight Hockey East title,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: or one win on Friday at home and a three
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to one win Saturday at Walter Brown Arena in Boston
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: if a rinker broke a one to one tie a
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: five and a half minutes the third period for Yukon,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Tiashan thirty three saves in that win after Megan Warner
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: got the win, made twenty four saves in the first game. Uh,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: just your reaction to that turn of events in Hockey
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: East where we had been talking about all the year,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: who's going to step up and win this thing? And
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: sure enough final last weekend, we had someone step up
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and win it and not like back into it.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, kudos to Yukon. And I think the really important
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: part of that for me is that they the players
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that scored in that game for Yukon were all like
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: non traditional scorers for them, and so I just think
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: it's really important, like that's you need players to step
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: up in big games and for them, like you had
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: a several players where it was like their first goal
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: of the season or first or second goal of the season,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and you had young ploorers, you had defenders, aver rinkers,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: a defender, and so it wasn't sort of their highest scorers.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: And though their goalies were as solid as we know
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: they always can't be, it wasn't like the goalie stood
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: on their heads. It was players from you know, other
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: parts of the lineup that really stepped up and made
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the difference there. And I have to say, like I'm
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: a little shocked and like I'm sorry to both Yukon
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and Bu. I think they puts insulting to both of
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: them in different ways. But yeah, I kind of thought
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: there's no way b you doesn't get out of this
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: weekend with a point, right, like it'll go to overtime
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: or whatever. And on Saturday, but you made the decision early.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: It was two to one and they pulled their goalie
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: with like quite a few minutes left because they just
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: needed to force overtime and couldn't hold possession like they
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: had that player advantage, and uh, Yukon scored pretty early
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: on in that in that empty net, and so yeah,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: like kudos to Yukon, as we said, as you said,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: they stepped up big time. But yeah, I was watching
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: those games and know Yukon had a one o lead
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and then be You tied it and it was like
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the tension was like amazing in that way. But you know,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: heartbreaking for beu uh sort of their Cinderella story, right.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: We've been talking about them literally from the first episode
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: of the season, and they were picked I think to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: fish finish fit or sixth, and so we really I
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: was really rooting for them, and then just because you know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I love an underdog and it's uh so it's tough
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: for them. But on on the other hand, like this
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: was just the regular season title, like they still I
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: think have everything to play for in terms of if
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: it comes down to these two teams again for the
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Hockey East title, it would be a very interesting game
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: to watch again and and for that autobid right.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And we knew going in that that game was going
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to be at anyway. You guys a set location for
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the championship game and picked Yukon for that, but no,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: it would have been there anyway. I guess if you
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: want to if it comes down the Yukon being in
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: the championship game, uh since they get the one tied
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and then we'll have to go for a second to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: get into the NCAA tournament because it's looking more and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: more like Hockey East is a one mid league this
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: season and so that tournament champion is going to be it.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just I was struggling to get my my
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: paragraph up. I just want to put out it was
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: freshman Sadie Hoddles had I apologize, that's not how you
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: say her last name had one goal all season. She
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: scored on Friday, Martha Malbark scored her second goal of
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: the season on Friday, and then Averrinker the two goals
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: on Saturday were her second and third goal of the season.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: So I just was really impressed, you know what, You
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: don't really recognize that as you're watching the game, and
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: then when I was writing up the recap, I was
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: just like it, you know you really it's so crucial
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: for players that aren't getting the attention from the defense
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: and that can can find that extra time and space
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: to make that decision, to make those decisions, to make
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that impact, and that's what you con did.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: We will look ahead to all the playoffs matchups coming
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: up later in the show, but it is important to
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: mention that Hockey East does have a round of playoff
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: games on Wednesday night this week, so make sure to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: pay attention to those give into the schedule a little
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: bit later. So Hockey East was the last of the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: five conference champions to be blamed. New How was the fourth,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and that happened Friday, with Long Island wrapping up its
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: third straight championship with a two to one win at
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Saint Anselm. Genie Walner and Grace Babington scored the goals.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Abby Thompson made twenty six saves for the Sharks and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: that ended. You know, they were a bit aheaded going
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: into the weekend. Sacred Heart was in second, but Sacred
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Heart didn't end up in second because Franklin Pierce got well.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: They tied second, essentially had the same number of points,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: but Franklin Pierce got the second seed in the playoffs,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: which will be important potentially with two four nothing wins
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: at Saint Michael's and then Sacred Heart getting a split
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in a home and home series with post winning one
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: nothing on Saturday on a Brook Larsen first period goal
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and Hannah Saunders twenty seven saves for the shutout. A
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: little bit of a change there in New Highs. They
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: got to the finish line. We had been looking at
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Long Island and Sacred Heart kind of going neck and
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: neck for a while there. Long Island pulled away a
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: little bit and then Franklin Pierce caught up to.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when we were talking last week, we kept we
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: were looking at the different times ties, and we kept
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: leaving Franklin Pierce out of the conversation. So apparently they
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: took that personally. No, I'm just teasing, like, but I'm
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: glad for them. In fact, in knew how we had
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: two different ties, and their second tiebreaker is Winden conference wins,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: and so that's why Franklin Pierce finishes ahead of Sacred
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Heart their seventeen conference wins over sixteen per Sacred Heart,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: and then with Assumption and post Post finishes above Assumption
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: because they have eleven wins, Assumption has ten. So that's
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: where that came down to. There's definitely some confusion. Some
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: of the standings were wrong in different places, and so
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I just want to make that clear because I went
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: to the source, I went to their community patients person,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and I think they actually a few emails went out
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: on Saturday clarifying all of this. So so that's how
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: that broke down.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: We'll get back to the w c h A and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: how their regular season finished in a minute, but let's
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: look at some of the playoff series or there's games,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: single game eliminations that happened on the first weekend AC tournament.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: There was one upset and that was the eight nine
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Series eight nine, and I called a series everything. I'm
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: calling a Series eight nine game where Union beat Brown
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: to nothing. Harrianne Engelbert two goals and Sophie Matsukis. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: hope I'm saying that right. I'm probably not. I'm so
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I apologize if I'm not. Thirty five says for the shutout,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you're saying something that's Union's first ever postseason win. Is
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that christ Union's.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: First ever postseason win? First pose the winning program history.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Let's see, that was a new D one, So the
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: school Union has had a program. They were D three.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: So when we're talking about records here, they are their
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: D one records, not overall program history. But Carrie and
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Engelbert's set a new school record for points by a
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: rookie in D one, tied the schools D one rookie
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: scoring record. Senior captain Mayreon Friday assisted on both of
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: those goals to become the all time points leader against
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: among Union Blue Liners with fifty career points. Junior Stephanie
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Bork recorded her twenty second point of the season, moving
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: into first place on the school season single season list
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: for points by a defender, and Matsukis tied the program
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: record for career shutouts with six. So it was an
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: absolute banner day for the Garnet Chargers. And you can
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: just tell like a so excited for them. What a
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: big you know, first post I mean ECAT tournament just expanded,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: So that's that's part of it. They just didn't even
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: get to play in the postseason tournament for many years.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: But yeah, good for them.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And week because it was announced last week that you
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: we'll host next year's next season's Icebreaker tournament at their
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: new Mohawk Harbor Arena October seventeen nineteen in St. Ansel.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Vermont and Wisconsin are going to be in that event,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: the fifth ever women's icebreaker. So, I mean, big things happening,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and you never know what effect that the building is
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: going to have on a team. We've seen some tools
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: where that really you know, helps with recruiting and gets
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: people in the door or gets them in a conversation
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: anywhere where they hadn't been before. And I wonder whether
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Union maybe takes a step because of that. And you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: we see with an icebreaker tournament as a bit of
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: a welcome to your new building here.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Right, And you combine that now with the first you know,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: like the first program postseason win, like you see growth
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: within the program and what the program's being able to do.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, there are not very many seasons removed from
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: a winless season, and so yeah, just massive changes and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: improvements happening there. And you know, their men's side has been,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: uh has had some great seasons. They won a title,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: right yes, making that up. And the women's side just
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: hasn't had that same success. And so I'm hoping that
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: all of these are good signs and and we'll get
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: a little bit more or a little bit more cohesion
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: there between those two programs and see see the Union
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: women continue to do well and grow and start reaching
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: that that same height.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Elsewhere in ec AC last week, Princeton bwp I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: three two, Quinnipa two nothing over Harvard and Yale for
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: one of the Dartmouth to advance into the quarterfinals, which
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: are best of three series this week again, chat about
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: those in a little while. Atlantic hockey first round games.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: One of them was a doozy Syracuse trailed Robert Morris
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: two to one late into the third period or Brins
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Sarah Las scored with three fifty nine left to tie
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: it at two. Worst overtime where kept going And I
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: think we mentioned before we loved the chaos of multiple overtimes,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and we got one right away Syracuse won it in
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: double overtime two minutes into the second OT on a
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Peyton Armstrong goal for a three to two win to
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: advance into the semi finals. This week, rit also advancing
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: with a four nothing win over Lyndon Wood. So we
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: got our first multiple overtime games, so I know, we
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: love love checking those off the list.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had turned that one on in overtime and
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I kind of felt like I jinxed it, like I
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: was switching between all the games I turned. I was like, oh,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: second overtime starting, let me switch back, and then the
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: game end and I was like, well, well, so much
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: for that. I was all excited to watch them along
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: along second overtime, but they were done playing. Apparently they
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: were like, we're good here. Thanks.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: And the WHA radio season wrapped up last week. There
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: was a race for second place. Wisconsin had already clinched first.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Minnesota was trying to catch up to Ohio State, but
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Wiow State held them off. Ohiose State got a home
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: sweep of Saint Cloud State five to three on Friday
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and three to two on Saturday. It was a jocely
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: On Amos hat trick in that first game, giving her
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: At that point, she had seven goals in a four
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: game stretch, which is the way you really loved to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: go into the postseason on a heater like that's that's
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: pretty exciting. The Saturday Saint Cloud rally from a two
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: to nothing deficit with Emma Gentry and Abby Promersburger goals,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: but McKenna Webster scored the winner with two twenty two
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: left for the Buckeyes. Over in Minnesota, a couple of
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: really close games. Ella Huber broke a one to one
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: tie in the second for the Minnesota up for good
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: on Friday, and then Abby Murphy scored the only goal
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in a one nothing win on Saturday. I scored that
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: with eight and a half minutes left. Hannah Clark getting
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: both of those wins for Minnesota with the shutout in
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: twenty two saves on Saturday. Shout out to v gust
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: going for forty eight saves and a one nothing loss.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: That's that's a rough one. When you make forty eight
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: saves give a one goal, it's you know, and.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: It's the flukiest goal, like clubhouse leader for weirdest goal
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: of the season, if not ever.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a rough one.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I if anybody didn't see it, the the
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Abby Murphy took a shot, went over the top of
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: the net, heads off, the back glass, comes back over
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: the net, doesn't hit the ground, sort of like listen,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't there's no way to describe this.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And as they said during the prodcast, there's basically like
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: seven events happening at Minnesota at the same time. So
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: the like they were working sort of on a skeleton
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: crew in sorts of like being able to get different
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: camera angles and clips and things. And so the goal
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: was reviewed and called good. So I'm assuming the overhead
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: shot showed it the best. But yeah, the goal sort
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: of mid air crosses the line and then a gascon
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: kind of swipes at it, and and yeah, it's a
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: it's a weird, weird goal, and it was the only
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: one that happen in the game. And that's a creddy
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: way to get a loss.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Well, I I stayed to finish second in the WHA
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: two points ahead of Minnesota, so gets fourth. I suspect
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: we will be hearing from those schools again. Will have
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: stayed in Minnesota fairly soon with finishing second and third,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: that would match them up in the semi finals of
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the conference tournament if they both get through the first
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: round this week. Okay, that's the regular season. We're going
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to turn our attention to the postseason even more for
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: all the conferences in a little bit. But next up,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: we have an interview coming up after the break with
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Gene Omen, who is the chair of the NCAA and
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Committee, and she's going to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: talk to us about the selection process, what the committee
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: does on the days before the brackets come out, and
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: what they do the rest of the season. Stay with
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Moleski and Nicole Hasey with you, and our guest this
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: week is the chair of the NCAA National Collegiate Women's
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Ice Hockey Committee and also the Senior Deputy Athletic Director
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and Senior women's Administrator at Ohio State. That's Janine Omen. Janine,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. A pleasure to have you with
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: us and talking about kind of what's coming up in
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks with the selection process.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for the invite and we're very excited
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: for what's to come in the season.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: So I know this is the big time of the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: year that the selection or that the committee kind of
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: determines how the bracket is going to look. And I
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: was hoping you can take our listeners through kind of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: how that selection process happens. We know it's basically you're
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: given a list of teams and their seeds, then you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: have to put them in a bracket. Can you walk
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: us through how that works, what you get and just
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: maybe the timing on it all.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, as you know, the NCAA does use the pair
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: wise and so and I'm somebody who's served on a
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: number of different sport committees and actually from a hockey perspective,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: there's less selection in that sense because the numbers are
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: the numbers what are there, So the pair wise with
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: the NPI factored in or what we use. So we're
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: going to have the numbers from one down, you know,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: So we first have to determine who are the five aqs.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: So right now there's obviously the tournaments will be beginning,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: so we can get updates from that, and then there
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: will be six at large selections from that, and again
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: it is really based on the numbers that are there.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: So once we have those you'll have number one through
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: four are going to be the one seeds, and so
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: they're going to be if they've the bids, they will
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: be hosting for that. So we've been doing sourcing making
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: sure we have bids for those that would be in
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: contention to host. Then the numbers five through eight really
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: are number two seats, and then nine through eleven are
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: three seeds. With that so four and five will always
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: play each other. And then what we have to do
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: is one of the criteria is in first round games,
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: we don't want to pick conference opponents against each other.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: The only time that what happen is really in the
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: four or five games, so we try to avoid that.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: And then after that it's really putting those seeds in
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: place ones, twos, and threes together.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: My first question is have you all come to a
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: consensus so what to call those first round games?
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: I call them first round games.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Sorry I will.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: I can defer to my NCAA folks if I'm a
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: label that wrong, but I refer to them as a
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: first round game.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: With the expansion of the bracket a few years back,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: we ended up I feel like everybody has a slightly
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: different name for those that before the games before the regionals,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: and so I was just curious, it's coming from you all?
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: What you called them? Yeah, and I also wanted to
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: ask because I had never heard, so what happens. I
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: did not know that they had to submit a bid.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: What happens if they don't submit.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: A bid to host, then we would What we would
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: have to do is our NC DOUBLEA representatives who are
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: a really great job, so Caleb is who we have now.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: They reach out to the individual institutions that are in
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: the running for hosting bids to make sure that there's
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: not any issues and they just have to submit a
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: bid by a certain date that's there and submit on
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: the information along with that. So so yeah, that's where
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: we do. You actually have to submit a bid to
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: be able to host that. So that's pretty common across
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: the NC DOUBLEA and other sports as well.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense. It was just something I had
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: to come across before. It is there like protocol for
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: if something happens and somebody isn't able or doesn't want
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: to host.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to defer to Caleble on that,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: but essentially you would go down to the next highest
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: seed in my opinion, but I'll have him correct me
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: if I'm wrong there. But that's what we've done in
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: other sports. I can't tell you that it's ever happened
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: in my time on sport committees, but I think that's
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: what we would do.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: We have Caleb on the call. So is that right?
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Is that the accurate way of looking at it?
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Yes, I, like Janine said, it's it's very uncommon, especially
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: in a sport like ice hockey where you can see
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: a visible ranking, so there are is obviously a chance
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: where something might be going on. They weren't ever expecting
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: in the beginning of the season to host, so there's
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: other events going on. If that were to happen, Yes,
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: we'd be looking at the lower seeds, you know, to
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: put in a bid to host, and then higher seed
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: who'd earned the right toast, would go on the road.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: So it depended on the scenario and who was missing
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: a bid and what that meant for the rest of
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: the bracket, and then making sure we had some of
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: those lower seed bids in which we will get those.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: You know, we'll have bids from all different schools just
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: knowing that our bid deadline is coming up and they
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: want to be in contention. If if things change over
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: the next two weeks or so.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: That's interesting. It's just a part of the process. I
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: hadn't heard before.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Jadine when when you said that the the one thing
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that's kind of locked in is that the four teams
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: going to play the five team that's that's rights has
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: decided that's the way it wants it to go. Were
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: you part of that original decision on that when the expansion,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Can you kind of clue us in why that was
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: important to make sure those two teams got locked in,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: because there's a difference when you're talking about a five
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the five overall to with the six overall in terms
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of the number of games you have to play and
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: where you often play them.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I was not involved with that. I could
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: suppose when you look at bracket integrity, the NCAA has
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: a lot of depending on the sport and then the
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: sports sponsorship, you can have some all numbers that are there.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: So it's not like all sixty four or thirty two
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: or forty eight. There's a number of sport nc Double
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: A championships or collegiate championships that may have seven, they
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: may have nine, they may have eleven. So I think
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: when you look at it, and Calebe can weigh in
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: as well. It's looking at from a bracket integrity and
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: what makes the most sense, but in looking at those
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: that have earned one seeds and those that are four
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: or five. So it's really the bracketing principles and making
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: sure they're creating a really good bracket that has bracket integrity. Caleb,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: is there anything different on that?
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: No, I think you said it right, Janine. You know
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: that that four or five matchup is something the committee
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: has prioritized wanting to maintain that integrity and having that flexibility.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: So it's great that it is, uh in writing and
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: in the manual.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Sure, when you have a team as a committee member
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: that happens to be your team that you're discussing where
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: to see or things like that, how does that impact
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: you because Janine, your team, well, how state is always
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: involved in this?
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Uh?
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Well, mini member.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's interesting. So in all my committees, that's
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: been true. I've been the committee chair of my team's
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: won the national championship in men's volleyball, I've been so
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: essentially we recuse ourselves, so I either if it's an
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: in person, I step out of the room, when they're
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: discussing Ohio State. In the case of a call, which
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: is more of what men's volleyball and women's ice hockey,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: I dropped off the call. So my job is the
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: chair in working with Caleb as we set up the
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: framework and go through the ground rules with the committee members.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: This is what it has to look like. But when
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: they're actually making decisions or the seating and like where
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: your brackets. In compiling the bracket, I hop off there
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: we do when we run scenarios before we're actually making selections,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: we're working with any of the committee members or questions
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: and things like that. But actually on that Saturday night,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: I will hop off the call.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: One Saturday night, so the brackets are done by the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: end of.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: That's the bowl.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: As I said, this one is the numbers are the numbers,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: and so in building brackets compared to other ones, this
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: one is not as challenging as other sports where you're
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: building a bracket.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: You had mentioned, you know, the avoiding intraconference matchups in
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: those first round games. What are the priorities that you
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: guys have in terms of like when you're moving teams
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: and deciding sort of who gets moved where how do
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: you what is the sort of process and what are
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: you considering when you have to change out of you know,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: direct seed seating because of interconference. Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: So again, one of the things we've always heard loud
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: and clear from the coaches is Bracken integrity is very
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: important to them. So what we look at is I
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: mentioned to you there's going to be one seats, there's
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: two seats, and there's three seeds. And this holds true
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: for out all a number of the championships committees that
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: I've been on. Two seats can be interchangeable and three
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: seats can be interchangeable. So if we have to make
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: a change that if somebody was a two, right, we
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: would switch out in that same seed line for it.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: So we could exchange a three for two. So we
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: would have to look in that same seed line where
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: we look at it probably a little bit closer, and
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: some conversation comes in as if there's a large gap
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: and an NPI that we're looking at between those two seeds,
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: between those within those two seeds. If there's a large gap,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: we will look at that as well. But for the
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: most part, you're looking at two seeds. Just you could
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: potentially swap out two seeds in there, or if it's
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: the three seeds, you'd swap out of three three seeds
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: for a three seed.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: If that, if you understand, I can imagine that there
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: are you know, maybe it has happens where some people
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: might want to see it happen one way, some people
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: might want to see it happen another way. And there
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: are five people on the committee. Does it come down
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to a vote at some point if if there just
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: can't come to a consensus.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all committees and a I'll like Caleb, he's kind
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: of Roberts rule of order person, but yeah, they do
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: come down to a vote. When you look at that
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: and it's a it's a conversation that happens and everybody's
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: way in. And what we're trying to do is create
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: a bracket, you know, that's a very competitive bracket that
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: really maintains integrity.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: We uh, we hear about the committee on this this
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: weekend that we're talking about coming up in March every year,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: but I know there's more work that throughout the year.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Can you kind of clue us into what what some
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: of that is as as you meet in the off
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: season and then again meet occasionally during the season too
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: to set the you know, kind of the framework of
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: what's being done around women's college hockey.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so as you look at when we're in an
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: academic year, so really our focus at that point is
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: on the championship that will be upcoming in March. So
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: we're working whether with it's the host institution, making sure
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: that they have their plans for the championship and how
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: are they going to execute the operations. Do a site
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: visit to that institution where where we look at hotels,
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: we're looking at the site that's there and kind of
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: reviewing all the logistics with them. So that's usually on
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: the committee chair side, but the rest of the committee,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: what we're doing is just having conversations about planning that event.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: So our calls are really around maybe the Patty caaz
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: where's the location that Patty Cas do we want to
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: do something different with that. We're having conversations with Chrissy
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Lane on the official side, and so she's providing us updates,
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: whether it's on rule changes and really her structure and
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: as she is going into selections for officials of what
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: that process looks like. So it's really then nuts and
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: bolts of running that championship, because that's what you're on
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: an NCAA Sport committee. That's really your charge is to
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: run those championships because we're the member institutions, so we
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: are selected by our conferences and in this particular case,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: to represent our conference so that all voices are heard,
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: if you will, so that during the academic year it's
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: really based off of running that championship. Then we'll go
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: once the championship is over, there is you know, the
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: coaches conventions, so there's usually meetings in April, you know
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: in Florida. May depends on the year. This year, I
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: believe it's May, so to do some debriefs and we'll
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: meet uh with coaches as able and those types of things.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: If it's a rules year, we will really be learning
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: more about what are some of the proposed rules changes,
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: and so somebody from the n CUBA will work with
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: us on that. We do a meeting usually in the
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: summer that's going to be a recap from the previous
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: year and then looking at forward planning for the next year,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: and so one of the things you look at. It
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: depends also if it's in a big cycle for site selection.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: You know, our NCAA representative will give us the updates
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: some where we're at with that, and then the other pieces.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: Everybody's term is usually four years on the committee, and
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: so we may have people rotating off, so we may
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: have to review people that have been submitted to sit
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: on this committee in the future. So those are kind
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: of the things as we look at it. So it's
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: really focused heavily on running that championship in what's that
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: environment we could create and ultimately support women's iceacking at
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: the highest level and showcase really the great sport that
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: it is.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: You mentioned a little bit about reviewing site bids and
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: if it's it's a cycle for that, how much how
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: are you how much are you involved in terms of
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: selecting those sites and reviewing the bids and if you
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: can give any insight to sort of what you're looking
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: for when you when you look at those bids.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so know and this is true across UH the
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: UH Sport n C double A committees I've been on.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: What you're looking at are essentially what from a fan perspective,
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: from a ticket perspective, what are the hotels like finances?
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: You know, what are incentives? You know? So what's that
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: whole package look like. But again we were we can
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: only review who submits that's there, and you know, and
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: I think it's trying to look at location like where
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: is it right and is it in a place that
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: will be a good draws that a place has never
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: been that you know, there's lots of conversation that goes in,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: but it's really we don't know what we have until
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: they're actually in the portal that we can look at it.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: But it's usually around those types of criteria that we're
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: looking at and those are the conversations and then kind
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: of we review them, have a conversation and you know,
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: provides feedback to our n C double a rep as
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: to good places or that a bit that would be
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: great options to go.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Uh frozen fours in Minneapolis this year, and I know
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: we've all been there before and we know how the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: environment that can be when that building gets sounds like
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: tickets have just about sold out, if not sold out,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: So I know that's that's really encouraging. And I wonder
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: you mentioned that you're talking about, you know, where the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Patty cas ceremonies and things like that, and I think
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of people have been excited last years that
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: that's right there in the building and right part of
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the environment. And I wonder if if there's been any
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: movement this year to have any more of those kind
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: of not that you have another reward to give away,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: but you know, any more of those kind of fan
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: engagements that might be able to you know, add a
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: little bit more to that and whether that's I guess
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a priority for the Committee and the NCAA going forward.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: You know, any type of fan engagement that you can do,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: I think is helpful to the environment that's there right. So,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: you know, I think one of the great things with
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: moving Patty Kaz where you know, there's a lot of
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: youth clinics associates, so you're seeing a lot of the
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: young girls that are playing hockey right so that they
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: can see themselves and the young women that are in
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: front of them. So so I think that you know,
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: as we look at those, we're always looking at what
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: fits in with what we're doing and what are ways
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: that we can engage the fans to bring them out.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Because the really great thing on women's ice hockey, there's
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: so just outstanding young women who play who are really
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: great role models and for people to learn more about
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: the stories that are there and uh, you know, really
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: draw and really continue to grow that sport, and so
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: we see young girls that want to play with it.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: So with that, you know, Caleb's usually are our intake
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: of a lot of the different types of activities that
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: can come in, you know, and part of it is
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: just you make it work within the context of everything
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: else that's going on without overloading and putting too much
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: stressful the system or the teams that are there, because
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, they're there too for
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: one thing, and that's straight to win a championship.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: So can I just ask about so one of the
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: things with the growth the popularity of women's sports in
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: general growing and then the advent of the PWHL and
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: women's hockey sort of having its particular moment. One of
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: the things that came up in the last year I
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: heard as feedback from fans was all four regional games
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: were taking place at the same time. So as from
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: a fan perspective of somebody that couldn't be, well, you
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: can't possibly be at all of those. They could only
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: watch one game or maybe two if they had an
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: extra screen. So I know that right now or I believe.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: I understand that you guys allowed the host to decide
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: what time the game should be, and we and prioritize
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: in person attendance. But we were curious and we had asked,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: maybe in years past about if there's been any thought
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: to sort of staggering those times at all so that
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: you're sort of getting an all day audience and really
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: allowing people to see, like, this is the very best
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: of women's college hockey, and if they're all at the
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: same time, that's it feels a little bit like maybe
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: a waste of an opportunity to showcase those.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, So those are you talk about what we do
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: all year? Uh, those are the types of conversations we
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: have right is, and we do rely on the host
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: institutions as to what works in their facilities, but also
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: what's also going on on their campuses, and so you know.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: To just a busy time of year, it's.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: A time there's a lot going on. But we have
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: made to ask, you know, to see if we can
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: have some some movement around some of those right to
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: answer that question, so it's not so jumbled. I think
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: the other piece of it that you have to recognize too,
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: is the later you have it. If you have somebody
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: that's a visiting team advancing, they got to get back
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: home and then get to another location relatively quickly, and
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: so depending on where they're at, it may be difficult
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: for them to get out that evening to get back
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: to their home location, so they can make arrangements to
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: get them, in this case, back to Minneapolis, right. So,
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: I think there's probably a little sensitivity depending on the
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: location of where things are at and who's there and
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: how they're getting there. Right. So I'm a little bit mindful,
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: and I mean we were home last year and had
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: to figure out right how to get to New Hampshire
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: in a pretty short period of time with that, so
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: I think there's a little bit of stress on the system.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: We can make it happen, but so I think that
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: adds a little bit to it as well. But we've
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: definitely heard that feedback and we're trying to address it
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: so they aren't to see if there's some flexibility in
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: that to your point to allow people to see more
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: of the games.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Well, Jane, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: with the rest of the season and good luck with
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: the selection process and all of that, and we hope
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: for your sake that it's an early night on Saturday.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: That's right. Well, and let me just say I want
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: to thank you too for your passion for women's ice hockey.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: It's really great to have people that you know, really
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: support a sport that most people are just starting to
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: learn about, and that this has been a passion for you,
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: and that you really tell us stories in a great
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: way of these young women and the teams that and
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: the great work that they do.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks for saying that. We are going to take a
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: quick break. We'll be right back on the podcast. Welcome
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: back to the podcast. Todd Molusky and Nicole Hasey here
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: for our last segment this week, and we're going to
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: talk about all of these playoff series that are coming up,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: and mostly series some games. Atlantic Hockey plays best of three,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Hockey East is all single games as they go through
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: their tournament quarterfinals, and w CHA New haw ECC are
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: all best of three. So lots of games coming up
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: with a lot of meaning to them. Where do you
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: want to start? I guess when you look around the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: country in terms of maybe where we might get our
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: most bang for our buck.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: I feel like it's got to be quinnipiack at Clerkson,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: doesn't it because not only is that within the tournament,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: but those are two teams like on the cusp of
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: whether or not they get to make the like if
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: they would get in at large bid. So for me,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're getting a ten to nine like national
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: ranked update in the second round of their tournament, like
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: before we even get to the semi finals or finals.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: So to me, that game is like Circle Star gonna
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: be I think, a fight to the finish, two tech
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: teams that are very good on defense. I just it's
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: everything you want a playoff game to be, and we're
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: getting it in around like weeks before, you know, a
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: week or two before I would expect something that good.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Expect that to be you know, a semi final game
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: or a championship game when yeah, stakes on the line
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: for you know, whoever loses that series might as well
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: pack it up because you're not gonna be in contention
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: for a large spot after that.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, there's just so much on the line for
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: a game that sort of early. I know it's not,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: but you know how I'm I'm not saying it well,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: but yeah, there's just so much on the line for
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: that game like that is win or go home. And
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: I mean that's the case for lots of teams, you know,
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: in terms of elimination tournament. But like when you've sent
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: all season, you know, on the vergein hoping that you
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: can make the NCAA tournament. To have this one game
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: be the sort of the deciding factors. It's kind of
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: nuts and kind of fascinating and great for fans. And
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: we also have another in ec AC We have another
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: ring to match up with Princeton at Colgate. Know that
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Princeton can score in bunches. I Isy Wonder has come
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: on huge, even more so at the end of this season.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Here her and Sarah Paul sort of with I always
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: think it's interesting when an IVY leaguer is in the
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: top of the scoring because they play fewer games and
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: so both of them are among the scoring leaders in
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: the country. Uh, and so you know, we've also seen
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: games where they're they're not doing that. So depending what
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Princeton team comes out, yeah, that could be. It could
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: be one of those no defense games where we just
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: see a really huge score. That one I think is
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: also interesting and I'm very glad those teams those games
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: are not at the same time, So one Quinnipiac at
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: Clarkson three o'clock eastern, Prince at Colgate six o'clock eastern.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: So excited for that. Those are sort of the two
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: games for there that I'm really looking forward to. Oh
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: that's things. I didn't realize that quinn cla Kirkston was
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: three in the afternoon on Friday. Didn't put that together.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I will be watching and I have writing about it
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: on social media if you want to check it.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: So Cornell hosting Union and St. Lawrence hosting the other
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: two quarterfinals series. We mentioned earlier that Hockey East has
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: its first round on Wednesday night this week holy Cross
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: at Vermont, Merrimack at New Hampshire single games. As life said,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: we said, they play single games all the way through
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: winners going into the quarterfinals on Saturday to play the
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: top two seeds Yukon and bu Then Saturday also has
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Maine at Boston College and Northeastern at Providence. That the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Northeastern Providence one. It really it usually probably comes down
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: to the five four or five matchups as being the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: ones that are maybe the most enticing. But there's really
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: no question for me that that one is going to
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: be one to watch because, uh, you know, Providence gets
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: to host it. Northeastern has a lot of experience in
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: big games. I I'm intrigued.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like Providence is me be more interesting this late
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: this part of the season, like how they put the
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: last weeks in their offense, just what they've been able
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: to accomplish. I think they've just been shown like a
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: lot of growth and creativity in the Northeastern has Lee
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Sanson and goal and so like that's your that's your
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: push pull. And of course, like you said, the experience,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: like a player like Skyler Irving could take that over
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: and you know, sort of in no time. She she
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: is a big game player and has all that experience.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: So I think that, yeah, like you said, the push
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: poll there is really interesting. But I actually like Tomorrow's
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: games in I'm sorry, Wednesday's games in Hockey East too.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: The thing about holy Cross, mayor New Hampshire is all
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: of them have had big wins, Like all of them
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: have pulled out interesting over you know, victories over teams
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: below them in the standings, and so like for me,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: both of those are massive toss ups and I feel
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: like whoever wins those games has that momentum. And the
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: thing about the top two seeds, you know, having that
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: break is is that getting a big win here in
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: this first game of Hockey East tournament could be just
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: a really big sort of boost heading into those games. Right,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: But like we saw Merrimac with some big wins like
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: they beat BC and yeah, Vermont had just beaten Northeast Northeastern,
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: So I yeah, I to me, I mean, go big
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: picture at Hockey East's tournament is one giant toss up.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: I assume like you could put like balls in a
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: bingo turner and like get a more a clearer picture
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: of what's gonna happen. But that's what makes it fun
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: to me, Like I have no and I don't mean
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: this is like negative to Ukon, but like I don't
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think like it's clear that Yukon's gonna
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: win the tournament and win the auto bid, like there's
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: just any one of these teams on any given day,
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: and because it is single elimination, like we're just we're
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: gonna see I think some interesting matchups and some interesting
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: upsets in this tournament. And I say that, so of
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: course it'll probably not be at all. But the way
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: that this conference has gone all season, where there hasn't
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: been one team just sort of just dominating everybody else,
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: means that I think we're going to get a lot
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: of fun in a bit of a like if it's
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: win or go home, then you play it. You're allowed
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: to play it very free and play a different sort
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: of game when there's nothing on the line.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Well said, that's very true, I think, and that's what
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: we hope to see through the playoffs. Really wha best
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: of three quarterfinals. But Midgee State at Wisconsin. St. Thomas
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: at Ohio State, Minnesota State at Minnesota, Sat Cloud State
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: at Minnesota LU. Interesting thing about the Ohio State series,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: So if you know about the OSU Ice Rink, it's
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: across the street from Ohio Stadium and there's a fairly
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: major event happening on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. The stadium
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: series is going on with the Blue Jackets playing the
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: Red Wings.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Right, yes, it's Detroit.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: So I saw somewhere that there is going to be
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: some recognition of the Ohio State national champions in football
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: and women's hockey. So we'll be part of that. But
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: they've got a game to play. During the afternoon, so
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: it should be an interesting kind of environment right around
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: there to to take in everything there and you know, hey.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a three o'clock game. It's not like it's
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: a Newton game like that's fascinating. They're gonna like what
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: walk right over right after the well right, I'm very
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: I have logistics lies. I have so many questions.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Again, the four or fives, there is Minnesota d Luth
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and Sat Cloud State, who we know have had some
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: pretty good games in the past and we know have
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: been in this exact scenario before, Sink Cloud trying to
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: take that next step, the Luth trying to fight them off,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: thoughts on.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: That it should be an amazing goaltending duel of gascon
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: it has been so good. And then Sink Cloud with
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: both Snia Hola an Amelia Kirko. Uh, yeah, I don't know.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: I have no idea. Both teams uh sometimes struggled to
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: find the back of the net, and both teams are
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: good on defense and have great goalies. So these could
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: just be some duels about you know, who gets who
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: gets that one or one or two goals. Saint Cloud
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: State has been really good on transition and scoring in
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: sort of breakaways, So deLuce got to watch out for that.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I would I wouldn't bet any money on
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: the outcome of that. You know, the three game series
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: is always gonna give you know, I think a bit
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: of an advantage to the higher seeded team. You know,
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: if this were a one off game, I would think
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: Minnesota Duluth would be more worried. But uh, yeah, I
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: mean I believe in Saint Cloud State and what they're
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: able to do, and so yeah, that's probably if you know,
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: you asked me about early on about that would have
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: been the other series for me that Quidipiac and Clarkson
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: is one game and then this series I think are
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: the ones that are most likely to produce sort of
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: the best hockey and the most fun to watch.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: This weekend, Ohio State hosting Sat Thomas in the two
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: seven matchup. There, you've got that that maybe more intriguing
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: than a two seven matchup normally, is is what you're thinking?
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know St. Thomas has pulled points
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: away from Ohio State. They beat them, right like not
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: making this up or was it a yeah? So Saint
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: Thomas has has given them problems and I think that
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: three game series, and particularly here favors Ohio State. I
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: think Saint Thomas can definitely pull you know, one win,
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: can they pull two? Particularly you know if it comes
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: at it's it's the part where Ohio State is scarier
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: after the loss. Uh Naden is scarier after a loss.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I I think, like you said, this is
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: just a much more interesting matchup than a two seven
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: might normally be. And again, when you have nothing to lose,
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: it enables you to play in a different way. And
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: so I just think like that favors Saint Thomas here,
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: and they they they have all the confidence and the
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: momentum and knowing that they can take like they're not
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: going into this thinking like this is a hugely insurmountable hill,
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: right like they had that one to zero loss in
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: overtime at home against Ohio State and then Saint Thomas
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: continued sort of to just do well, they don't have
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: a win. I have wrong there, but I just want
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: I just think that there is more. This is going
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: I think to be a closer game than maybe their
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: more closer series than maybe Ohio State would be comfortable with.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: The Atlanta Hockey semi Finals are rit at Penn State
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: Syracuse at Mercy Hurst. See Syracuse having the time double
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: overtime success last weekend, I would think that would be
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: the Maybe the formula again is to keep that game
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: close as long as you can and then try and
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: get a winner toward the end or an overtime for
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: for Syracuse to try and pull an upset there.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, they get the time to recover. It's
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: not a massive travel for them over to Mercy Herst,
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: so that all works in their favor as well. Yeah.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: I think Syracuse has, you know, a pretty experienced team,
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: like they've got quite a few seniors in fifth years,
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: and I think that just plays into this that like
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: these are these are players that have been in situations before,
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: have played in the postseason, and you know, like you said,
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: sort of are able to grind down their opponent and
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: really hold on to that. I mean, that's that's a
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: skill in its own right, right, Like being able to
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: come from behind or hold on to a tie is
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: a specific skill set. And if they can do that
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: here and really grind versus Hurst down, I think, like
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: you said that that could be the key for them
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: to get that win.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: The quarterfinals in newha are Long Island hosting Saint Michael's,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Franklin Pierce hosting hosts, Sacred Heart hosting Assumption, and Stone
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: Hill hosting Saint Ansel. So, uh, we see where the
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: the loss costs Sacred Heart on last Saturday, dropping them
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: to the third seed, which if they get into a
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: semi final, would make them the lower seed than that
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: against if Franklin Pierce, I should say, and Long Island
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: also advance. So there's I think what we've learned in
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: the last few weeks is don't assume any results are
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: going to happen in New Hat because Post is taking
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: care of business. Saint Michael's has done pretty well, so
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: who knows what you'll see and when when it turns
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: to the playoffs there.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and for me, the I mean, I know they're
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: two seed, it wouldn't be like a mass of upset
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: or anything. But just in general, my eye is on
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: Franklin Pierce because of what they pulled in the postseason
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: last year. Like they were they were the cardiac kids.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: They came from behind, they won several games and overtime
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: like they just they put themselves through the paces. Uh,
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: and you can't sort of replace that experience like being
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: able to win those kinds of games repeatedly and and
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: never sort of count yourself out. You know. There's they're
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: already a favorite, you know, as the number two seed,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: but they're just there's someone that I will watch like,
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: especially during the postseason, just because of what they've been
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: able to do in the past. And I think that
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: that shows sort of what they're capable of and makes
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: them a little even scarier than just the fact that
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: they're the two seed.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Well, that's the wrap up of what's coming this weekend.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: This weekend weekend, I guess when include the Wednesday night
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: these games, Nicole, You'll be online to be watching all
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: these so if you're you're only able to follow on
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: on x, Twitter, whatever, Blue Sky.
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: I'll post on both.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: Give me the updates.
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's uh. I don't think that I'm going to
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: go to any games this weekend. I'm just gonna stay
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: home with all my screens. So that's uh. That's exciting
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: for me. And it's going to be a lot of
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: hockey starting tomorrow or starting Wednesday, so that's exciting. Sorry,
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: I keep saying tomorrow. When this is gonna post on
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: Wednesday Wednesday night for Hockey East. Yeah, that I'm just
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: really excited. As we've gone through this, I hadn't really
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: paid a ton of attention to the timing and a
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: lot of the games are staggered, so it's nice to
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: see that we're not going to have every game happening
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: at one time.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Even on Saturday, there was a good from what I remember,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: there's an afternoon cycle in an evening cycle, so that's yeah.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: Often, like when it's a Friday Saturday, like the Saturday
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: games are really kind of all done by like five o'clock,
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: and that's just not the case, right, you know, with
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: the schedule, so you really can I mean, the the
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: on Saturday, the Saint Cloud State Minnesota du Loose game
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: is at one Central and we have a game starting
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: at like seven thirty eastern, seven o'clock eastern. So yeah,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: there are it is a full day.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: It'd be exciting and should be a lot of good
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: hockey this weekend. So we hope you enjoy it. We
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: hope you reach out to us through social media through
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: the email that is in our show notes if you
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: have thoughts or comments. Otherwise, we will talk to you
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: next week on the podcast.