Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Previewing the 5 days of NCAA women's hockey conference championship week

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Previewing the 5 days of NCAA women's hockey conference championship week · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com and welcome to the podcast. Todd Molesky
0:13
Speaker 1: here when Nicole Hosey from us cho dot com and Nicole,
0:17
Speaker 1: we are fully into the playoffs, and we are fully
0:19
Speaker 1: into playoff upsets with maybe more to come. Question mark
0:24
Speaker 1: this week as we get into conference Championship week, which
0:27
Speaker 1: is really a week because we've got games Tuesday night,
0:30
Speaker 1: Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and all five championship
0:33
Speaker 1: games on Saturday, which is a cool way of of
0:36
Speaker 1: kind of spreading this out over over a longer period
0:41
Speaker 1: of time. But I want to get into the first
0:47
Speaker 1: off a couple of the upsets that we saw over
0:49
Speaker 1: the weekend. There were some game upsets, but two upset
0:55
Speaker 1: advancing teams out of last weekend's games. And the first
1:00
Speaker 1: and I want to get to is Minnesota State defeating
1:03
Speaker 1: Minnesota d Luth in three games in the WHA, that
1:06
Speaker 1: being the four to five series, which always tends to
1:09
Speaker 1: give us the best matchup. I guess it was a
1:15
Speaker 1: come from behind series victory two for the Mavericks. Lost
1:20
Speaker 1: to nothing in the first game, one in double overtime,
1:23
Speaker 1: two to one in the second game, and then to
1:24
Speaker 1: to one again in game three, and We were kind
1:28
Speaker 1: of going back and forth on a text chain and
1:31
Speaker 1: saying that, you know, four goals is no way to
1:33
Speaker 1: win a series if you're Minnesota Luth. But four goals
1:36
Speaker 1: was exactly what Minnesota State got to win a series too.
1:39
Speaker 1: So it really did just did feel like whoever was
1:42
Speaker 1: going to find the last balance in that series was
1:45
Speaker 1: going to go to advance and man Cato is the
1:48
Speaker 1: one that did it.
1:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, forgive me for mixing my sports, but good lord,
1:53
Speaker 2: does ev Gascoon need some run support. She's gonna be
1:57
Speaker 2: the goalie of the year in my opinion, Like she's
1:59
Speaker 2: the front runner. She's had just another outstanding season. Plenty
2:02
Speaker 2: would argue she should have been last year, and she's
2:05
Speaker 2: just not getting the offense for her team. And I mean,
2:09
Speaker 2: we continue to say this, there's kind of no excuse
2:12
Speaker 2: for Minnesota dilute. There's plenty of offensive power on that team,
2:15
Speaker 2: and yet they just can't seem to make things connect.
2:18
Speaker 2: It's almost frustrating or like painful to watch as a
2:22
Speaker 2: fan where you're just like, why what's happening? Why did
2:25
Speaker 2: you make that decision? Why did that bass go? But
2:28
Speaker 2: I thought, you know, Minnesota State sort of read the
2:31
Speaker 2: writing on the wall. Played it really well, played great defense,
2:34
Speaker 2: did very good on the fore check. They put a
2:37
Speaker 2: lot of pressure on UMD cutting out of the back
2:40
Speaker 2: and didn't necessarily score immediately off a turnover, but like
2:45
Speaker 2: cause enough chaos and eventually would like end up with
2:47
Speaker 2: the pucking and hold the zone. So it was doubt
2:50
Speaker 2: to me, was interesting just in that it wasn't like
2:52
Speaker 2: turnover a turn and shoot. And I also just overall,
2:55
Speaker 2: I think we'll come back this a few times this weekend.
2:58
Speaker 2: We've talked about this past weekend, pup possession face offs
3:02
Speaker 2: just were such a huge part of why some of
3:05
Speaker 2: these scenes were able to do what they were able
3:06
Speaker 2: to do. But yeah, but Mankato played a spectacular game
3:11
Speaker 2: as much as we talked about, I guess got Haley
3:13
Speaker 2: Hansen was outstanding in net for man Cato made like
3:17
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty saves or something on one hundred
3:20
Speaker 2: and forty four shots, just absolutely played out of her mind.
3:26
Speaker 2: I just, yeah, all the things came together for Mankato.
3:29
Speaker 2: It was a great series. I didn't have any rooting interests,
3:32
Speaker 2: but we all know I love an underdog so and chaos,
3:35
Speaker 2: so in that case, I was reading for Minnesota State
3:38
Speaker 2: on Sunday, just because good for them, you know, just
3:41
Speaker 2: wasn't what anybody would have expected to come out of
3:44
Speaker 2: that series. I think Minnesota Duluth, you know, you you've
3:48
Speaker 2: been playing with some of the predictors, and at Luth
3:50
Speaker 2: really put themselves in a tough position looking for an
3:53
Speaker 2: uncia at large bit, especially because everybody that they're sort
3:58
Speaker 2: of competing with that are still playing and they have
4:01
Speaker 2: to sit around and eat and watch the MPI and hope.
4:04
Speaker 2: So huge, huge weekend from Mankato. We just looked up
4:11
Speaker 2: it was the last time a lower seed went to
4:14
Speaker 2: the final faceaus since twenty eighteen.
4:16
Speaker 1: Correct, that was, but Midgie State beating Duluth that year
4:22
Speaker 1: in three games. Twenty eighteen the last time they bottom
4:25
Speaker 1: four seed won a series in the WHA. It's I mean,
4:31
Speaker 1: so you mentioned Haley Hanson. I did some quick math
4:34
Speaker 1: here in my head. I think one hundred and thirty
4:36
Speaker 1: nine saves on one hundred and forty three shots is
4:40
Speaker 1: a heck of a weekend. And it's you never know
4:46
Speaker 1: how far you can go with the hot goalie in
4:48
Speaker 1: the playoffs, right, And that's absolutely one of the key
4:52
Speaker 1: components to any team that wants to make a run
4:55
Speaker 1: is to have that. Whitney Tunnel scored both of those
4:58
Speaker 1: goals in Saturday his game to including the overtime, double
5:02
Speaker 1: overtime goal in that one. It just felt like kind
5:09
Speaker 1: of paying attention to that while was watching other games too,
5:12
Speaker 1: like the Mavericks were just kind of holding on, holding on,
5:15
Speaker 1: holding on, and then found their chance. And that's that's
5:18
Speaker 1: the opportunistic nature that I think they're gonna have to
5:20
Speaker 1: carry through again. They're gonna have to play Wisconsin and
5:23
Speaker 1: the semifinals of the WHGF Final face off, which we'll
5:27
Speaker 1: talk about in a little while, but that's really their
5:30
Speaker 1: chance goaltending, opportunistic.
5:32
Speaker 2: Offense, patience and the commitment to sort of holding onto
5:38
Speaker 2: their plan playing how they wanted. I said to this
5:41
Speaker 2: to you off camera, but it just really reminded me
5:43
Speaker 2: of like how Switzer Whin played their way to a
5:46
Speaker 2: bronze medal in the Olympics this year. I thought it
5:48
Speaker 2: was very similar, which was, you know, stick to what
5:51
Speaker 2: you're trying to do, ride your hot coalie and like
5:54
Speaker 2: you said, be opportunistic. And I thought even the same
5:57
Speaker 2: from some of that for check and putting pressure on
5:59
Speaker 2: and forcing to and overs. They didn't try to be
6:02
Speaker 2: a team they aren't. They didn't try to, you know,
6:03
Speaker 2: sort of offensively put three hundred shots towards somewhere near
6:07
Speaker 2: the net. Nope. They were just really smart with the
6:10
Speaker 2: puck and patient and took their chances and their opportunities.
6:13
Speaker 2: And that game winner in double overtime from Whitney Tuttle
6:16
Speaker 2: was a wrap around that she just snuck at the post.
6:18
Speaker 2: I mean when you're facing a goalie like Gascone. No
6:22
Speaker 2: offense to Heala handsOn, but like this was a huge
6:24
Speaker 2: weekend for her guests, gone, this is what she does, right,
6:26
Speaker 2: Like she she's just really a difficult goalie to beat.
6:29
Speaker 2: And so they didn't they didn't try to pretend that
6:32
Speaker 2: they're you know, they're Abbie Murphy or Kaka Harvey, right, Like,
6:35
Speaker 2: they just they they found the small vials that were
6:38
Speaker 2: there and just really yeah, I think it was just
6:41
Speaker 2: really smart, really patient, like you said, really opportunistic play.
6:46
Speaker 1: The other upset game in the w c h A
6:51
Speaker 1: was Say Cloud State winning game one of its series
6:54
Speaker 1: at Minnesota, which was we were talking about this kind
6:57
Speaker 1: of uh surprisingly, it's all the second time the Huskies
7:01
Speaker 1: have ever won at River Arena. I believe the last
7:03
Speaker 1: one was just last year, the other one of the
7:09
Speaker 1: recent years, and it was just like amazing that a
7:13
Speaker 1: team has played so many times in Arena and never
7:16
Speaker 1: won until just recently and getting a big playoff win
7:20
Speaker 1: with Grace Wolf scoring right off of face off emediate
7:23
Speaker 1: career goal, forty two saves for the shutout in that one.
7:28
Speaker 1: The Gophers came back with a four to one win
7:31
Speaker 1: on Saturday behind two goals from Abbie Murphy and then
7:35
Speaker 1: kind of ran away with a six to one win
7:37
Speaker 1: on Sunday, bella finale and Justphine Buvang scoring two goals
7:41
Speaker 1: each in that one. So the Gophers advanced. But there's
7:44
Speaker 1: a little bit of cracks there, you would think, And
7:47
Speaker 1: you know, especially with the players that are coming back
7:49
Speaker 1: from the Olympics and trying to get them some rest.
7:52
Speaker 1: Having to play that third game when the semi finally
7:55
Speaker 1: is on Thursday, it kind of really shortens that week
7:58
Speaker 1: and it shortens that preparation, the rest that the Gophers
8:02
Speaker 1: can get before they're gonna have to go and play
8:04
Speaker 1: Ohio State.
8:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, at least they have the bonus of
8:08
Speaker 2: playing in town. I guess they're the travel they don't
8:10
Speaker 2: have to worry about. But yeah, what was great about
8:14
Speaker 2: that Saint Cloud win is that it too was not stolen,
8:17
Speaker 2: like they controlled that game. They that was the game
8:20
Speaker 2: they wanted to play, and at no point was the
8:22
Speaker 2: Minnesota able to sort of break through that or for
8:25
Speaker 2: force force their hand or sort of rest control back
8:28
Speaker 2: of the game. And that is what I thought was
8:30
Speaker 2: so impressive about it was the way that Saint Cloud
8:33
Speaker 2: went in with their play on And you know, kudos
8:35
Speaker 2: to Minnesota for adjusting for in games two and three,
8:38
Speaker 2: like obviously they they made didn't allow that to happen
8:42
Speaker 2: to them again. And I think that's a huge one
8:44
Speaker 2: we should too. Sort Of unrelated, but the Abbey Murphy's
8:47
Speaker 2: goals in that second game, She's now the Minnesota career
8:52
Speaker 2: goals leader with one hundred and forty one because the
8:55
Speaker 2: first one broken. I think she had been tied since
9:00
Speaker 2: friored to the Olympics with Adi Masral for most goals
9:03
Speaker 2: in a Gopher career program career, and she she broke
9:08
Speaker 2: through in that second game, So kudas to her. I
9:11
Speaker 2: think we'll have some probably have some fun sound bites
9:14
Speaker 2: and stuff about that this weekend at the w c
9:16
Speaker 2: h A tournament. But that's some of those old records.
9:22
Speaker 2: The game was so different, Like, I just don't know
9:23
Speaker 2: that they'll ever be touched. And Abby obviously needed the
9:26
Speaker 2: extra year to even to do this. But yeah, we'll
9:30
Speaker 2: have the little asterisk on the extra games played. But
9:32
Speaker 2: of course, just an absolutely phenomenal number of goals. I
9:36
Speaker 2: mean it's she's essentially like a goal per game in
9:38
Speaker 2: her her career, which is nuts.
9:42
Speaker 1: Yes, also in the w c h A, Ohio State
9:44
Speaker 1: swept Saint Thomas and Wisconsin swept. But as you say that,
9:47
Speaker 1: the Badgers needed overtime in game two in that game
9:53
Speaker 1: two to sweep that series. So we move on to uh. Well,
9:59
Speaker 1: before move on, I do want to mention you talked
10:01
Speaker 1: about a predictor. U s e HO dot com does
10:04
Speaker 1: have an NPI predictor. You can get to it through
10:08
Speaker 1: the quick links on the women's homepage. We will also
10:11
Speaker 1: put it in the show notes here a link to that.
10:13
Speaker 1: It's fun just to you know, try and change around
10:17
Speaker 1: some match ups and see what what comes out in
10:20
Speaker 1: terms of who makes the tournament and who doesn't. The
10:22
Speaker 1: the luth people might want to pay attention to a
10:25
Speaker 1: lot of those. We'll we'll talk a little bit more
10:27
Speaker 1: later in the show about some of those scenarios and
10:30
Speaker 1: how things get a little bit weird there potentially for Duluth.
10:34
Speaker 1: But if you have some time you want to check
10:37
Speaker 1: out how that works, make sure to hit that link up.
10:41
Speaker 1: The other upset was in Hockey East where the number
10:45
Speaker 1: six seed Vermont beat number three seed Boston College three
10:49
Speaker 1: to one. That one really felt like it, you know,
10:55
Speaker 1: it was a close game, was a one nothing aim
10:56
Speaker 1: until Ona Havana scores with I think eleven seconds to
11:00
Speaker 1: go in the second period to make it a two
11:01
Speaker 1: nothing game, and that, you know, gives Vermont a little
11:06
Speaker 1: bit of room, a little bit of separation there to
11:08
Speaker 1: go into the third period and it's enough to get
11:13
Speaker 1: a road win. As they moved on to the what
11:20
Speaker 1: round do we end Everyone's everyone's in the semi finals,
11:24
Speaker 1: You're right, move on to the semifinals there this week,
11:30
Speaker 1: So the other series or the other games Hockey East
11:34
Speaker 1: to play single games, Northeastern beating bu in double overtime
11:37
Speaker 1: two to one, Yukon beating Maine six to one, and
11:41
Speaker 1: Holy Cross being New Hampshire five to four. What are
11:47
Speaker 1: your takeaway from what you saw in Hockey East this week?
11:51
Speaker 2: Well, I think if you had totally at the beginning
11:53
Speaker 2: of the year the final four teams were Ucon, Northeastern,
11:55
Speaker 2: holy Cross, in Vermont, I mean I would have never
11:57
Speaker 2: put money on that. Maybe Yukon is the only one, right,
12:01
Speaker 2: like we weren't. Nobody was sure what Northeaster was doing.
12:04
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, sort of, no matter what
12:06
Speaker 2: happens from this point, like those are huge milestones for
12:09
Speaker 2: Vermont and holy Cross. Holy Cross has sort of quietly
12:13
Speaker 2: had just a spectacular season for them, and you know,
12:16
Speaker 2: I'm not sure it will go past this round, but
12:19
Speaker 2: I just think for them, there's so much to build
12:21
Speaker 2: on from this, and it's just really it's it's always
12:25
Speaker 2: good to see a team that you know hadn't been
12:28
Speaker 2: in this position really start to push back and find
12:31
Speaker 2: their way and they're, you know, a program that I
12:34
Speaker 2: think is sort of reset a few years ago and
12:37
Speaker 2: trying to figure things out. I'm impressed by Vermont. I
12:40
Speaker 2: was impressed with sort of the not just the offensive push,
12:45
Speaker 2: which we've sort of known they've had. I think their players,
12:47
Speaker 2: a couple of players that came back from the Olympics
12:49
Speaker 2: were very helpful, but I think Havanda's had a couple
12:51
Speaker 2: of really great goals in the past couple of weeks,
12:54
Speaker 2: and I'm not sure what to think it'll be interesting.
12:56
Speaker 2: There were two very close games and two very much
12:59
Speaker 2: not close those games in those Hockey East quarterfinals, and
13:02
Speaker 2: so I'm unsure to think about like what what comes next,
13:06
Speaker 2: you know, I'd like, I didn't expect quite so many
13:10
Speaker 2: quite such a big bloats and those other g games,
13:12
Speaker 2: and I didn't necessarily expect double overtime or obviously Vermont
13:16
Speaker 2: taking the win there. So I'm no closer to figuring
13:20
Speaker 2: out Hockey East, I suppose, But I do think that
13:22
Speaker 2: it could be very interesting with Vermont playing with nothing
13:26
Speaker 2: to lose and sort of riding that high and the
13:30
Speaker 2: momentum and the confidence. But they're playing a really balanced
13:35
Speaker 2: game for them right now, and I think that that
13:38
Speaker 2: will be an interesting matchup, especially if they can maybe
13:42
Speaker 2: get an early one on Luca Johnson.
13:45
Speaker 1: The Northeastern has home ice through the tournament as the
13:52
Speaker 1: top seed, but of course they don't have home ice
13:54
Speaker 1: right quote unquote home ice, so they actually had to
13:56
Speaker 1: beat Bu at b U's Walter Brown Arena the last
14:01
Speaker 1: the home team while being the home team, and and
14:03
Speaker 1: again they're coming back to Walter Brown to play Vermont
14:07
Speaker 1: this week. So again it's so unusual situation. I don't know.
14:14
Speaker 1: I did not see anything about that, but.
14:17
Speaker 2: I yeah I did either. But that's interesting.
14:19
Speaker 1: You got a room there, they might as well just
14:21
Speaker 1: let them use it. I don't think anyone. I hope
14:23
Speaker 1: that anyone's not gonna play those kind of games of like,
14:25
Speaker 1: oh no, we get your room sort of thing, but
14:29
Speaker 1: or that the league maybe stepped in and said, look,
14:32
Speaker 1: just like as the.
14:33
Speaker 2: Higher seed, do they Yeah, it wouldn't it wouldn't necessarily
14:36
Speaker 2: be their choice.
14:37
Speaker 1: I have heard of those kind of snarians happening in
14:40
Speaker 1: the past of look, you know where the where the
14:44
Speaker 1: higher seed we get, we get your bench because it's
14:49
Speaker 1: next to the penalty box or whatever like that.
14:51
Speaker 2: But I didn't think to check that. So interesting, Okay,
14:56
Speaker 2: So I mean it was just a fun weekend. Like
14:58
Speaker 2: when was the last time do you think we had
14:59
Speaker 2: five of Sunday games? Because it feels like eighty it's
15:02
Speaker 2: recncy bias, but usually we get in one, maybe two
15:06
Speaker 2: three games series.
15:07
Speaker 1: It feels like there's been five, yeah, one in the
15:11
Speaker 1: w c h A every couple of years. I don't
15:16
Speaker 1: I feel like it was an ECAC game in there,
15:20
Speaker 1: but yeah, five five seemed like a lot for a
15:23
Speaker 1: Sunday and it was, you know, it stretched him out
15:28
Speaker 1: throughout most of the day too, because so that was
15:30
Speaker 1: interesting to follow throughout throughout. Now, okay, let's turn to ECAC,
15:34
Speaker 1: where the top four teams all advanced. Yale Princeton, Quinnipiac,
15:39
Speaker 1: and Cornell Princeton did need three games, however, as did Quinnipiac.
15:44
Speaker 1: Two of those game threes on Sunday were in the ECAC,
15:48
Speaker 1: Princeton winning that game three five to one after dropping
15:52
Speaker 1: Game two. It was, you know, against Harvard, you know
15:55
Speaker 1: Ansley tough, he's gonna gonna come with something, and she
15:57
Speaker 1: sure did forty one saves in a three to one
16:00
Speaker 1: and win in Game two on Saturday. But the Tigers
16:06
Speaker 1: opened up a big lead in the Sunday game and
16:09
Speaker 1: took the series. Quinnipiac it Okay, did not follow the
16:16
Speaker 1: first couple of games. Stats wise saw the scores one
16:19
Speaker 1: six to three in Game one, lost three to two
16:22
Speaker 1: in overtime in Game two. Margo norhad with the goal
16:26
Speaker 1: in that one and then Game three got wild five
16:30
Speaker 1: four is how it ended for Quinnipiac, but they were
16:32
Speaker 1: up five to two before Brown scored with.
16:36
Speaker 2: Extra that much left.
16:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, and had I think extra attackers for the last
16:40
Speaker 1: two with a one goal deficit two minutes and change.
16:44
Speaker 1: I don't remember the exact number, but man, that that
16:48
Speaker 1: went down to the wire. Kaylin and Marsh unstoppable seven
16:53
Speaker 1: goals hat trick in game three to get the forty
16:58
Speaker 1: three for the season. Really really impressive, and Quinipiac needed it.
17:05
Speaker 1: I mean they they are in a situation where nothing's
17:08
Speaker 1: guaranteed yet, so they absolutely needed to to get through
17:12
Speaker 1: that series to have some breathing room.
17:16
Speaker 2: Kayla La Marsh said, it's forty three, right, The next
17:19
Speaker 2: to the highest school score team has fifteen. The third
17:23
Speaker 2: Highes School Store has five, like only Carrie in the Bobcats,
17:29
Speaker 2: kalb LaMarsh and again Caliber Marshallly had like this one.
17:33
Speaker 2: I definitely don't know, but it was in the teams.
17:35
Speaker 2: She had like eleven goals as a freshman, like fourteen
17:38
Speaker 2: as a sophomore and has forty three this year. Like
17:40
Speaker 2: just absolute bananas. Don't know how to wrap my head
17:45
Speaker 2: around how to even talk about what Kyla LaMarsh is doing,
17:49
Speaker 2: because you know, we've talked about this with someone like
17:51
Speaker 2: em Murphy things like that, but like everybody knows what
17:54
Speaker 2: she's doing and nobody's stopping HER's like absolutely crazy. Not
18:00
Speaker 2: to take away from the other bobcats, I don't like,
18:02
Speaker 2: I don't want to say she's doing it single handedly.
18:04
Speaker 2: But also she's got triple the goals of anybody else
18:06
Speaker 2: in her team and nine times the third highest score
18:09
Speaker 2: on team. So yeah, Also, Felicia Frank's playing really well
18:14
Speaker 2: and net for them. I think there have been some
18:16
Speaker 2: other really big goaltenders that we've talked about quite a
18:19
Speaker 2: bit or you know, maybe came out of uh nowhere
18:22
Speaker 2: for us, like Aidsly Toughy, but Felicia Frank deserves some
18:26
Speaker 2: of that conversation tell as well. I just think she's
18:30
Speaker 2: sort of quietly been this really solid backs up for them,
18:33
Speaker 2: somebody that I was impressed with when she was in
18:35
Speaker 2: the eighteens, and it's cool to see her sort of
18:38
Speaker 2: settle in and really give them that defensive background so
18:42
Speaker 2: that a player like Kayln can can do what she's doing.
18:45
Speaker 2: But yes, I just seven goals forty three for the year,
18:48
Speaker 2: so many more than everybody else. I just it's nuts.
18:51
Speaker 2: And the fact that like no off or no defense
18:55
Speaker 2: has really figured out how to slow her down is
18:58
Speaker 2: kind of crazy.
18:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a matchup nightmare for any team in the
19:02
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament. Then if you know the Bobcats, you know,
19:07
Speaker 1: make sure to get there. Uh, that's that's someone you
19:12
Speaker 1: don't want. Do you want to have to game plan
19:14
Speaker 1: around because you know you can say, let's shut her down.
19:17
Speaker 1: But everyone's tried to do that so obviously hasn't.
19:21
Speaker 2: It's not like there aren't other talented players. Like if
19:24
Speaker 2: if you overload her like you can, it's not like
19:27
Speaker 2: the rest of the team can't also do things. So yeah,
19:31
Speaker 2: I would be interested to see her against some of
19:34
Speaker 2: these teams that are really like pride themselves on being
19:36
Speaker 2: so stalwart and defense. But I definitely think it would
19:39
Speaker 2: test them, so, you know, just from a cross conference
19:45
Speaker 2: sort of like a study of things, I would love
19:49
Speaker 2: to see it. I hope they figure it out and
19:51
Speaker 2: get themselves to the NCAA Tournament.
19:53
Speaker 1: Yeap over in Atlantic Hockey, both series in the semifinals,
19:57
Speaker 1: with Chalk Penn State sweeping Syracuse seven of and to one.
20:02
Speaker 1: So again, like we saw with Wisconsin, Midgie State, really
20:08
Speaker 1: lopsided game and then a really close game. Abby Stonehouse
20:13
Speaker 1: scored the goal ahead goal for Penn State with the
20:15
Speaker 1: mid eleven left in the second period and they were
20:19
Speaker 1: a hold on there. Mercy Year sweeping linden Would two
20:23
Speaker 1: to one and three to two in double overtime. So
20:25
Speaker 1: a couple of close games there too. Berlin Lollacker scored
20:30
Speaker 1: in double overtime after Linden Would led to nothing in
20:33
Speaker 1: that game, had a really good push and then the
20:37
Speaker 1: Lakers clawed their way back into it to move into
20:41
Speaker 1: the championship game on Saturday at Penn State. Your thoughts
20:45
Speaker 1: on what happened this weekend, This last weekend in Atlantic hockey.
20:52
Speaker 2: We've talked about this a lot. He's like two game
20:55
Speaker 2: series where one is a blowout and one is you know,
20:58
Speaker 2: eked by and I still don't understand it. I I'm
21:02
Speaker 2: really excited for Limit one. I mean that probably doesn't
21:04
Speaker 2: feel like it right now, but like that was a
21:06
Speaker 2: huge step for them for them to be in the
21:08
Speaker 2: semi finals and then to be in those games to
21:11
Speaker 2: to really like honestly let that one slip away. Like
21:14
Speaker 2: they they haven't been the team that is the most
21:17
Speaker 2: competitive in that conference for a while, and it's been
21:22
Speaker 2: a shame. So I really hope that that was a
21:24
Speaker 2: sign of what to expect from them and what we
21:27
Speaker 2: could see going forward. And I hope that they can
21:29
Speaker 2: really build on that and grow from there, because it's
21:31
Speaker 2: been a while. It it's the team that I just
21:35
Speaker 2: would have assumed wasn't going to be a big player
21:39
Speaker 2: in the postseason, so based on sort of past results, right,
21:43
Speaker 2: So I think Mercyhurst probably has some work to do
21:47
Speaker 2: if they It's one of those things where we've been
21:49
Speaker 2: talking about, like what could happen with pair with NPI,
21:53
Speaker 2: and like one of the big things is if Mercy
21:56
Speaker 2: Hurst can beat Penn State, and like, based on the
21:58
Speaker 2: trouble mercy Hurst town this weekend and also how darn
22:01
Speaker 2: good Penn State's been. I don't know how outflausible it
22:05
Speaker 2: is to think about that happening, that's for sure.
22:08
Speaker 1: It was like a long shot, but never know. In
22:13
Speaker 1: New Ha the top four seeds all advanced there Franklin,
22:17
Speaker 1: Pierce Assumption, Saint Anselm, stone Hill Assumption. The two seed
22:22
Speaker 1: needed three games to get past Post one. Two to
22:25
Speaker 1: one in Game one in overtime, Jody Gratton with the
22:30
Speaker 1: overtime goal. There then lost game and two to Post
22:33
Speaker 1: two to one as well, before taking Game three four
22:37
Speaker 1: to two. Again. That one got a little while too.
22:40
Speaker 1: Assumption ran out to a three to nothing lead and
22:43
Speaker 1: Post cut it to three to two, but Assumption able
22:47
Speaker 1: to move on with that one. I thought there may
22:52
Speaker 1: have been some upsets in in New ha last weekend.
22:56
Speaker 1: It turned out now I was the top four that
22:59
Speaker 1: that that move on.
23:01
Speaker 2: I think I think it's fascinating that it's, you know,
23:04
Speaker 2: second to last place ten win Post. That was the
23:07
Speaker 2: team that that was the closest to pulling it off,
23:10
Speaker 2: you know, like that it would have been. I just
23:15
Speaker 2: always I expect craziness from that tournament, which is fun.
23:18
Speaker 2: But yeah, I did based on how up and down
23:21
Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks of that regular season and
23:24
Speaker 2: the fact that there's like less than ten points separating
23:27
Speaker 2: you know, first from what fifth in that in their
23:30
Speaker 2: final standings, I did expect maybe a bit more.
23:35
Speaker 1: There.
23:36
Speaker 2: But I mean, good for the top teams to step up.
23:38
Speaker 2: I mean that's what you have to do with this
23:39
Speaker 2: time of year. So that will be continued to be
23:41
Speaker 2: interesting to see how the rest of that because those
23:44
Speaker 2: DUP four teams are of beat each other up a ton,
23:48
Speaker 2: and I wouldn't I think you could roll the ice
23:51
Speaker 2: and get better odds on and who's gonna win than
23:53
Speaker 2: if you tried to pick it based on anything else.
23:55
Speaker 1: Yep. Absolutely, Okay, still to come. In today's episode, we're
23:59
Speaker 1: going to talk out the championship week, leaning into Saturday's
24:04
Speaker 1: championship games and then Sunday's Selection show, and we'll also
24:07
Speaker 1: talk about some of the NPI possibilities and what is
24:12
Speaker 1: locked in and what is still to play for in
24:14
Speaker 1: these last well as of the time, we're recording the
24:17
Speaker 1: thirteen games left to play in the conference tournaments. Yeah,
24:23
Speaker 1: it's crazy. We're down to thirteen games and then we're
24:25
Speaker 1: down to ten games after that in the NCAA, So
24:27
Speaker 1: it's really coming down to it now. Okay, we'll take
24:30
Speaker 1: a quick break. Stay with us. We will be back
24:33
Speaker 1: on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd,
24:52
Speaker 1: Nicole is here along with me as usual. Let's talk
24:57
Speaker 1: about this week that we've got coming up with us.
25:00
Speaker 1: Like this format, we've got one league playing semi finals
25:04
Speaker 1: each of these following four days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
25:08
Speaker 1: Friday leading into the Saturday championship games. I think if
25:11
Speaker 1: you if you are just kind of interested in watching good, competitive,
25:17
Speaker 1: high stakes hockey, you you're gonna find a lot of it.
25:20
Speaker 1: Oh these next few days, starting Tuesday night, Hockey East
25:26
Speaker 1: number six, Vermont at number one, Northeastern number four, Holy
25:30
Speaker 1: Cross at number two, yukon both of those games happening
25:35
Speaker 1: six o'clock Eastern. I am interested in after be you
25:42
Speaker 1: pushed Northeastern into double overtime to see whether Vermont can
25:48
Speaker 1: kind of follow a little bit of the same formula,
25:50
Speaker 1: and they Lacy Johnson I think, made thirty nine saves
25:54
Speaker 1: in that game, so be You got their chances ken
25:57
Speaker 1: Vermont do the same. That's what it's going to come
26:00
Speaker 1: down to for me.
26:02
Speaker 2: Well, they played three games this season and Vermont lost
26:06
Speaker 2: two of them by a goal, one of them in overtime,
26:08
Speaker 2: So it's not like it would be coming out of nowhere.
26:12
Speaker 2: Uh So there's that. I think it's just like always
26:14
Speaker 2: looking back and seeing what they were able to do
26:16
Speaker 2: this season is sort of the first place I check.
26:19
Speaker 2: And so that plus the fact that I think Vermont's
26:21
Speaker 2: just been playing much better hockey these past couple of weeks.
26:24
Speaker 2: They've done a really good job of peaking at the
26:26
Speaker 2: right time. It helps, you know, they're getting the Julian
26:30
Speaker 2: messped back from the Olympics and having that experience, and
26:35
Speaker 2: uh yeah, I it's so funny. You're right that it's
26:38
Speaker 2: really great that all the games are spread out, but
26:40
Speaker 2: then these two are scheduled at the exact same time,
26:42
Speaker 2: same time. Yea, si, I was gonna praise because a
26:49
Speaker 2: bunch of the games this weekend were at the same time,
26:50
Speaker 2: So like, not only can you not watch them, but
26:52
Speaker 2: then all at the intermition at the same time, which
26:54
Speaker 2: is so dumb.
26:55
Speaker 1: Let's let's help the ESPN plus has the multicast or whatever.
27:00
Speaker 1: You can put those two gameside. So if anyone out
27:03
Speaker 1: there is and can do that, help us out.
27:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had this. This is going to be I
27:09
Speaker 2: think the game of of sort of which offense, which
27:13
Speaker 2: stars sort of pick up the mantle and and sort
27:16
Speaker 2: of carry their team in that way. I think, I think,
27:20
Speaker 2: you know, you've got some good goaltending, You've got some
27:22
Speaker 2: good goal scorers. There's a lot on the line. I
27:25
Speaker 2: think Vermont having nothing to lose is just like I
27:27
Speaker 2: never discount that, Like, they are in a spot they
27:30
Speaker 2: never probably thought for real could be in, and so
27:33
Speaker 2: now they have this chance to pull off something Bige,
27:37
Speaker 2: and I think they have the confidence of where they are,
27:40
Speaker 2: but also the confidence of having played Northeastern close the
27:43
Speaker 2: rest of the season, and so yeah, I think that's
27:46
Speaker 2: a it's a right for an upset. I feel like
27:50
Speaker 2: I think Vermont's in a good position leading into that,
27:53
Speaker 2: But like you said, I think the most important part
27:55
Speaker 2: is that, like Lisa Johnson looked fallible for lack of
27:58
Speaker 2: a better word, and I do think obviously she's still strong,
28:02
Speaker 2: but like you said, there were chances to be had,
28:04
Speaker 2: and I think that's the most important part.
28:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yukon looked really strong and beating Maine six to
28:10
Speaker 1: one on Saturday, and so they'll take that into playing
28:14
Speaker 1: at home against holy Cross, which was able to squeak
28:20
Speaker 1: out a five to four win against New Hampshire even
28:24
Speaker 1: though New Hampshire made another run, they scored two goals
28:26
Speaker 1: into an empty net with an extra attacker, sorry, with
28:29
Speaker 1: an empty net behind them to make that a little
28:32
Speaker 1: closer than it appear before. So I didn't like love
28:37
Speaker 1: the vibes there from holy Cross and laying that get
28:39
Speaker 1: close at the end, and was a little bit more
28:43
Speaker 1: convinced by the way Yukon took care of business. So
28:47
Speaker 1: I feel like that's for me, a pretty good look
28:51
Speaker 1: at the way these two teams come into that one.
28:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agreed. I think, you know, if we're talking
28:57
Speaker 2: about from at peaking at the right time, I feel
28:59
Speaker 2: like that was holy Cross maybe not in the same
29:02
Speaker 2: sort of positive place. I will say when they played,
29:05
Speaker 2: I mean they did. They last played in late November,
29:08
Speaker 2: and I'm sorry Yukon took to one goal win. So
29:12
Speaker 2: it was four three and three two. And again I
29:14
Speaker 2: think getting goals on the really good goaltending at Yukon
29:18
Speaker 2: is always a sign of like, you know, there's a
29:20
Speaker 2: chance there there's a possibility they weren't. They forced Yukon
29:24
Speaker 2: to score themselves and really play a tighter game than
29:28
Speaker 2: you know, I think they have and obviously, like last
29:31
Speaker 2: week at all, so holy Cross has to be hitting
29:33
Speaker 2: on all their cylinders. They're a team that I think
29:37
Speaker 2: really outperformed what I expected from them this year, and
29:40
Speaker 2: so it makes it harder to sort of predict what
29:44
Speaker 2: they could do in a situation like this. But I
29:46
Speaker 2: feel like, as you said, like you based on vibes
29:49
Speaker 2: from last weekend, I think this is Yukon's game to lose.
29:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, Wednesday is for the New HA which has two
29:57
Speaker 1: games at different times at three o'clock Eastern Assumption hosting
30:01
Speaker 1: st Anselm seven Eastern, Franklin Pierce hosting stone Hill. So uh,
30:06
Speaker 1: if you are looking to watch both of those, that
30:09
Speaker 1: there's your opportunity. They're they're separated by a couple hours,
30:12
Speaker 1: so you get a chance there. I'm given the way
30:16
Speaker 1: that we saw, you know, the fluctuation of the standings
30:20
Speaker 1: throughout the second half of the season, I don't know
30:22
Speaker 1: that you can really what anyone is in as the
30:26
Speaker 1: favorite other than Franklin Pierce. An Assumption hosting games maybe
30:30
Speaker 1: gets them a little bit of an advantage.
30:34
Speaker 2: Yeah right, I mean if I think other conferences are
30:40
Speaker 2: a toss up, I don't even know what the terminology
30:42
Speaker 2: is here, Like I have, I have like nothing smart
30:44
Speaker 2: to say. I don't what I think could happen Rohodert, Yeah,
30:52
Speaker 2: I mean, I think Franklin Pierce is a team that
30:55
Speaker 2: has also sort of been playing there some of their
30:57
Speaker 2: best hockey except for that very last game. Of the
31:00
Speaker 2: season where they you know, they took that big loss,
31:02
Speaker 2: but they were on a winning streak heading into that,
31:05
Speaker 2: and you took care of business with Saint Michael sort
31:09
Speaker 2: of no problem, as they should. But yeah, I I
31:15
Speaker 2: think Franklin Pierce suffers a little bit from from maybe
31:18
Speaker 2: some experience in terms of like being the front running
31:22
Speaker 2: team and being in this position and being the team
31:24
Speaker 2: that that people are gutting for, and so I think
31:27
Speaker 2: it's maybe a little bit of sort of how they
31:28
Speaker 2: handle themselves this week. And again, you know that little
31:31
Speaker 2: bit of short turnaround going from Saturday to Wednesday when
31:34
Speaker 2: you're you're used to having a whole week. There's just
31:37
Speaker 2: a lot of variables here that doesn't even take in
31:39
Speaker 2: the chaos that we saw all season long. So yeah,
31:44
Speaker 2: that's what I've got. I think there's these games will
31:47
Speaker 2: be interesting. If you've got a chance to watch during
31:51
Speaker 2: the day on Wednesday, I highly recommend it, and then
31:54
Speaker 2: obviously Wednesday night with the Stonehill Franklin Pierce. But yeah,
31:57
Speaker 2: I don't I don't have any idea what's going to happen,
31:59
Speaker 2: and that's what makes fun.
32:01
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, Thursday is the start of the WCCHA final
32:06
Speaker 1: faceoff in Saint Paul the le and Penny Anderson Arena. First,
32:10
Speaker 1: your venue at St. Thomas is hosting that event. We
32:14
Speaker 1: will see if that becomes a fixture or if this
32:16
Speaker 1: is a one year thing and we're into somewhere else
32:20
Speaker 1: next season. But Minnesota State, fresh off that upset of
32:25
Speaker 1: Minnesota Duluth, plays Wisconsin at four central, followed by Minnesota
32:30
Speaker 1: at right against Ohio State seven thirty central. I don't
32:37
Speaker 1: remember the actual numbers in my head on Minnesota State Wisconsin,
32:42
Speaker 1: but it's something like Minnesota City has won three out
32:45
Speaker 1: of one hundred and nineteen games ever played against Wisconsin upset,
32:53
Speaker 1: but one of those was in the WHA playoffs a
32:57
Speaker 1: game two at Lebon twenty fourteen ish range somewhere in
33:03
Speaker 1: that era. So it's happened before. It's a tall ask,
33:08
Speaker 1: but you can't rule anything out. I think Wisconsin did
33:14
Speaker 1: get a bit of a wake up call on Saturday
33:17
Speaker 1: against Lemage State, though. When that, when they're not at
33:21
Speaker 1: top level, they open the door for anyone to come
33:25
Speaker 1: in and be right there with them and maybe sneak
33:28
Speaker 1: out a couple a goal off of a couple of
33:31
Speaker 1: Wisconsin bodies that ties the game and then who knows
33:34
Speaker 1: going in overtime. So I'm interested to see if that
33:38
Speaker 1: provides a little bit of an incentive for Wisconsin to
33:41
Speaker 1: be on its game right off the opening face off
33:45
Speaker 1: on Thursday.
33:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a couple of things have to well.
33:51
Speaker 2: I think that Minnesota State will probably attempt to do
33:53
Speaker 2: pretty much what they did in Minnesota to lose. The
33:56
Speaker 2: difference is the scoring ability between the two opponents, right,
33:59
Speaker 2: I think so obviously they have to have a huge
34:02
Speaker 2: goaltending performance again, and you know, poor Heley Hanson. It's
34:08
Speaker 2: like they're just gonna face three hundred shots in six
34:12
Speaker 2: days or something like that. I think that what Minnesota
34:18
Speaker 2: State has to figure out is that balance of if
34:20
Speaker 2: they do that for check, will they just get beat
34:22
Speaker 2: in transition. I just think that's it's a much bigger
34:26
Speaker 2: problem what you're playing Wisconsin. And I think I agree
34:31
Speaker 2: Wisconsin has done this on and off all season where
34:34
Speaker 2: it's like that. I don't think it's lazy. I think
34:39
Speaker 2: it's a like they've been at the top and things
34:42
Speaker 2: come so easy that I think there's just maybe like
34:44
Speaker 2: a lack of focus where they kind of forget to
34:48
Speaker 2: to do all the details and do all the things
34:51
Speaker 2: and like they're so good at like like if you
34:55
Speaker 2: be if you steal the puff from Kak Harvey, you
34:57
Speaker 2: beat her. She's tracking you down in a couple of strides.
35:01
Speaker 2: And so I think this idea that they can fix
35:03
Speaker 2: their mistakes makes them sometimes a little too lax in
35:08
Speaker 2: the focus and the details. One would have thought the
35:11
Speaker 2: playoffs would have been enough to rid them of that mindset,
35:15
Speaker 2: but maybe Saturday's game did it as well. I'm sure
35:19
Speaker 2: Mark had some Mark Johnson had some thoughts about that
35:22
Speaker 2: for them afterwards. But yeah, I think it's just if
35:25
Speaker 2: Wisconsin is being smart with the puck, if they are
35:28
Speaker 2: not trying to be too cute, if they are not
35:32
Speaker 2: forgetting sort of the fundamental, the basic stuff, then they're
35:35
Speaker 2: a really tough team to beat. The problem for them
35:38
Speaker 2: is they've shown that they forget how to do that
35:40
Speaker 2: or they don't do that, and it's not just it's
35:43
Speaker 2: been a good handful of games this season and so
35:46
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, what it takes to get
35:48
Speaker 2: the right mindset at this point of the season, it's
35:51
Speaker 2: a little to me. That was the more concerning part
35:53
Speaker 2: was that like they weren't already sort of locked in.
35:56
Speaker 2: And maybe it was the relief of the kids would
35:59
Speaker 2: play in so much extra time with the Olympian's gone,
36:02
Speaker 2: and they were able to, you know, take a deep
36:04
Speaker 2: breath and not play quite as much and as hard
36:07
Speaker 2: as they had, And maybe it's the transition back for
36:09
Speaker 2: the Olympians. But I definitely think it's been one of
36:13
Speaker 2: those things where everyone I'm sure you're getting this too,
36:16
Speaker 2: but here in Wisconsin, people are asking me like, oh,
36:18
Speaker 2: is this the best Wisconsin team ever? And now are they?
36:20
Speaker 2: Just is it inevitable? And I'm like, I don't know,
36:24
Speaker 2: just know, first of all, the best thing ever, don't
36:28
Speaker 2: I don't know how you quantify that because the game
36:29
Speaker 2: has changed so darn much. But the inevitable part, I'm like,
36:32
Speaker 2: I don't like that if it comes to Wisconsin and
36:35
Speaker 2: Ohio State and it's coin flip, just like the gold
36:37
Speaker 2: medal game was, and particularly like I just haven't seen
36:42
Speaker 2: the same mental mistakes from Ohio State as Wisconsin has had,
36:45
Speaker 2: so uh yeah, that's that was a whole tangent, But
36:49
Speaker 2: I just it will be interesting to see not only
36:53
Speaker 2: have been a state Minnesota state can do what they did.
36:55
Speaker 2: But I think the problem that comes as doing it
36:58
Speaker 2: for a full sixty minutes or more if necessary, particularly
37:02
Speaker 2: with sort of the transition and pace that Wisconsin likes
37:04
Speaker 2: to play with. It's one thing to sort of assert
37:08
Speaker 2: your will early on and to do it well, but
37:12
Speaker 2: it's just being able to maintain that level, especially after
37:14
Speaker 2: they just played the three games, and the adrenaline and
37:16
Speaker 2: the push of having beaten Minnesota. It's certainly for many
37:20
Speaker 2: reasons not pill battle for the Mavericks.
37:24
Speaker 1: We haven't even talked about Ohio State and Minnesota yet.
37:26
Speaker 1: That's the other one that could be really really good there.
37:29
Speaker 1: The Buckeyes swept the Gophers in Columbus not too long ago,
37:34
Speaker 1: but it was when Olympians were away from both teams,
37:39
Speaker 1: so that that changes some of the dynamic in that game.
37:44
Speaker 1: We also have Minnesota having had to play, like we said,
37:47
Speaker 1: three games in the first round versus Ohio State getting
37:51
Speaker 1: out with a sweep. It's last year Minnesota came back
37:57
Speaker 1: and won this game, this two three semi final game
38:02
Speaker 1: up in Duluth, and I I would imagine that the
38:09
Speaker 1: Buckeyes get reminded of that a few times this week.
38:15
Speaker 2: I feel like most the season has been driven by
38:18
Speaker 2: the National Championship laws, but like, well, look, we could
38:21
Speaker 2: also yell at you about this one, not yellow you
38:24
Speaker 2: whatever you have to r Yeah, turn this grow a
38:26
Speaker 2: little bit more. Yeah, I think what will be interesting
38:30
Speaker 2: to me in this is if everybody can keep their cool.
38:34
Speaker 2: It was not bad in that last series, but again
38:36
Speaker 2: the sort of the the bigger names were gone, but
38:39
Speaker 2: that series at Ritter earlier in the season is the
38:43
Speaker 2: one that had the postgame fight. So and now there's
38:47
Speaker 2: just so much more riding on it in the line
38:50
Speaker 2: and on the line. We will get into this with
38:53
Speaker 2: the NBI. But Minnesota, with that loss to Saint Cloude
38:58
Speaker 2: State and some other stuff, they they're like not in
39:01
Speaker 2: the position they'd like to be going into where they
39:05
Speaker 2: will be fitting into that NCAA bracket. And I guess
39:08
Speaker 2: you've played with it more so I don't know if
39:10
Speaker 2: they can, if they can change that at all, But
39:13
Speaker 2: four versus five, well three versus four versus five are
39:15
Speaker 2: very different positions to be in this weird eleven team bracket.
39:19
Speaker 2: So Minnesota is gonna want to do as much as
39:22
Speaker 2: they can to control that destiny. So yeah, I think
39:27
Speaker 2: even you know, sort of taking us side, I just
39:29
Speaker 2: think who can control the special teams and not getting
39:34
Speaker 2: baited into some of this stuff and not getting not
39:36
Speaker 2: just giving up power plays and things like that is
39:39
Speaker 2: just I think really going to be important in that game.
39:44
Speaker 2: I thought overall, Ohio's date is the team that weathered
39:48
Speaker 2: their Olympians being gone the best. I felt they had
39:51
Speaker 2: very little pump in the road transition, and so I
39:55
Speaker 2: think they put themselves in the best position sort of
39:58
Speaker 2: now that they've got them back. And I will say
40:01
Speaker 2: that there is something in the fact that they didn't
40:04
Speaker 2: get super tested right like they cruised through those two games,
40:07
Speaker 2: whereas Minnesota really had to work and adjust, and there
40:11
Speaker 2: could be something to that putting them in a better
40:14
Speaker 2: position for these one and done games in the semifinals
40:17
Speaker 2: and possibly the finals.
40:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay. ECAC is the last of the semi finals
40:23
Speaker 1: on Friday in Lake Blacid, Yale the top seed playing
40:30
Speaker 1: four seed Cornell at four Eastern, two seed Princeton playing
40:33
Speaker 1: Quinnipiac the three seed at seven Eastern. That seems ambitious
40:38
Speaker 1: to have games three schedule three hours apart. I feel
40:41
Speaker 1: like that never actually works out, So give it a
40:43
Speaker 1: little bit more time. If you're paying attention to that
40:46
Speaker 1: one I'm Cornell, is the one team that has to
40:53
Speaker 1: win the tournament to continue its season into the NCAA Tournament.
40:56
Speaker 1: The other three are not guarantee heed of being in
41:01
Speaker 1: yet but can be given some results going their way
41:07
Speaker 1: this weekend. So well is in if.
41:10
Speaker 2: They win, and out if they don't, Like there are
41:12
Speaker 2: no other scenarios that put them in.
41:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, I mean there's just it feels like there's
41:19
Speaker 1: so much to play for given that nobody is out
41:22
Speaker 1: and nobody is in, Like there's like you don't know
41:26
Speaker 1: for sure you're gonna be playing next week if you
41:27
Speaker 1: lose your first game on Friday. A lot a lot
41:32
Speaker 1: building into those games this week, and I.
41:36
Speaker 2: Feel like I still don't have a super great read
41:39
Speaker 2: on like what kind of team or like what to
41:42
Speaker 2: expect from Lee. They had such a strong second half,
41:47
Speaker 2: but like early on, we're some losses that you wouldn't
41:50
Speaker 2: have expected, and so it's like I don't know that
41:53
Speaker 2: I like have a good take on like what we're
41:57
Speaker 2: going to see from them and what they can do
41:59
Speaker 2: against corner else sort of defense and goaltending. Yeah, I
42:04
Speaker 2: everybody's there's so much riding on these games for everyone,
42:07
Speaker 2: Like you said, some of it is about being in
42:09
Speaker 2: the tournament. It's still about seating as well, and so
42:12
Speaker 2: when it there is so much for it to play for,
42:16
Speaker 2: I feel like that just adds so much more variables
42:19
Speaker 2: to the situation.
42:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, it should be fun seeing that in like Placid
42:25
Speaker 1: as well, getting everyone in one location for the uh,
42:30
Speaker 1: you know, one neutral side location as opposed to a
42:32
Speaker 1: home site. We'll see how that goes in terms of tenants.
42:35
Speaker 2: I guess yeah, it does. You know, it does take
42:38
Speaker 2: away like a homeice advantage for for Yale as well.
42:42
Speaker 2: I did. Look, they split with Cornell two games this season,
42:45
Speaker 2: so definitely nothing nothing to take away from there that
42:48
Speaker 2: can help us figure out what happened. And you know,
42:50
Speaker 2: Quinnipiac and Princeton also split. We have no I'm sorry.
42:53
Speaker 2: Quinnipiac lost both games to Princeton three four in overtime
42:57
Speaker 2: and two nothing Princeton one. So yeah, I think Princeton
43:03
Speaker 2: has a little more scoring depth and a little more
43:06
Speaker 2: that they can do sort of up and down the lineup.
43:10
Speaker 2: I you know, what Kilan Marsh has been doing has
43:12
Speaker 2: been the focus. But Iusy Wonder is just spectacular with
43:17
Speaker 2: the puck. McKinzie Alexander is probably the most untalked about
43:20
Speaker 2: or underrated scorer across the country. So yeah, that's gonna
43:25
Speaker 2: be an interesting game. I feel like goaltending could be
43:29
Speaker 2: a really huge part of that one. And yeah, the others,
43:33
Speaker 2: I feel like I don't know what's gonna happen because
43:35
Speaker 2: chaos and nothing, you know, like there wasn't any But
43:38
Speaker 2: in this one, I'm just like, I think they're really
43:40
Speaker 2: close games and that's why I'm unsure who's gonna pull
43:44
Speaker 2: it off. But that should make it fun.
43:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what we're expecting. Yeah, then we get in
43:52
Speaker 1: the Saturday, which we know one of the championship games already.
43:55
Speaker 1: That's Atlantic Hockey. It's Mercyhurst at Penn State. That's two
43:58
Speaker 1: o'clock eastern. They'll be the the first one on the
44:02
Speaker 1: ice unless they knew how game gets scheduled before that.
44:06
Speaker 1: We don't know what time there yet because I believe
44:08
Speaker 1: it has to do with who's hosting it, so Mercy
44:13
Speaker 1: heres Pen Sate. We talked a little bit about this
44:15
Speaker 1: before it. It feels like a real heavy lift for
44:17
Speaker 1: Mercy Hears to to go in to Pagoula and and
44:22
Speaker 1: get a win. But I don't. I guess I don't
44:28
Speaker 1: necessarily love the way the last few weeks of the
44:32
Speaker 1: season have gone for Penn State. Now I guess you
44:36
Speaker 1: can you can go into that, but they had this
44:38
Speaker 1: wrapped up how many weeks ago, you know, five weeks earlier,
44:43
Speaker 1: you know, four weeks to go in the regular season,
44:45
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But they've put themselves in a position
44:50
Speaker 1: where every game they play, they play the rest of
44:53
Speaker 1: the way is at Pagoula, or this game in the championship,
44:58
Speaker 1: regional game frozen or all there. So I feel like
45:04
Speaker 1: at some point there's going to be that the draw on,
45:06
Speaker 1: there's going to be the look you know, yeah, maybe
45:09
Speaker 1: the last few weeks it's it's you know, there's been
45:11
Speaker 1: a few games that maybe should have been closer than
45:15
Speaker 1: they should have been. But time to dial it up
45:19
Speaker 1: and time to be present and commit to doing what
45:23
Speaker 1: you think you can do to uh put this team
45:26
Speaker 1: where they think it should be.
45:30
Speaker 2: I mean, I think Penn State has had this circle
45:34
Speaker 2: to the calendar probably for years, like maybe since the
45:37
Speaker 2: last time they have hosted the National Championship, like this
45:41
Speaker 2: canon should be us and so like you said that,
45:44
Speaker 2: this is this is what they've been working for. This
45:46
Speaker 2: is what they like have wanted. They are in this
45:49
Speaker 2: spectacular position to you know, sort of be in the
45:52
Speaker 2: driver's seat as the hosts, even not as the top seed.
45:55
Speaker 2: And yeah, so it's it's time to sort of put
45:58
Speaker 2: their money where there mouth is. I think there probably
46:01
Speaker 2: is something to coasting through those last couple of weeks
46:04
Speaker 2: after wrapping up the championships so early. But I think,
46:07
Speaker 2: you know, the thing that Penn State has always had
46:09
Speaker 2: to overcome is that they just don't play as tough
46:13
Speaker 2: of a schedule. Like the difference between them and the
46:15
Speaker 2: rest of their conference is so so different, and so
46:20
Speaker 2: I'm kind of like coasting isn't going to prepare you
46:24
Speaker 2: for for what you're about to face. And they haven't
46:27
Speaker 2: done so well in the NCAA tournament when facing you know,
46:31
Speaker 2: teams from other conferences they are ranked higher, they are
46:34
Speaker 2: did do even better this year, But like, yeah, I
46:38
Speaker 2: do think Penn State is a little in the like
46:41
Speaker 2: prove it part of their their program journey, right, Like,
46:47
Speaker 2: so yeah, I think I think they have to, you know,
46:53
Speaker 2: not just win this conference tournament, but maybe do it
46:56
Speaker 2: a little decisively and really like sort of play to
46:58
Speaker 2: their their strength and really show that like this is
47:00
Speaker 2: a team that is in the conversation to be playing
47:03
Speaker 2: for a national championship in a couple of weeks.
47:05
Speaker 1: Yep. The rest of Saturday is WHA Championship at two
47:10
Speaker 1: o'clock Central, Hockey East, three thirty ECAC at five Eastern,
47:17
Speaker 1: and then the New Hog again TBD on the timing
47:20
Speaker 1: on that one. Then the selection show happens ten thirty
47:24
Speaker 1: Central on ESPNU on Sunday morning, so make sure you're
47:29
Speaker 1: up for that. We will have all that covered on
47:32
Speaker 1: ushr dot com. And it's it's gonna be fun these
47:37
Speaker 1: next five days here of of hockey watching and experiencing
47:41
Speaker 1: and everything. But I'm just kind of like hoping there's
47:47
Speaker 1: a there's a magical moment out there. I mean, it
47:51
Speaker 1: happens when when you know champions are won, but when
47:54
Speaker 1: it's done in dramatic fashion, it feels like it's it's
47:57
Speaker 1: even more And so I'm hoping we get a you
48:00
Speaker 1: of those throughout the week and that will just kind
48:03
Speaker 1: of make it a little bit more special.
48:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the audience is there and primed to
48:10
Speaker 2: be pulled in. I mean, I you know, sort of
48:14
Speaker 2: made a much more secure transfer to Blue Sky. With
48:18
Speaker 2: the Olympics, Sports seemed to finally make that transfer, and so,
48:22
Speaker 2: I I mean, I'm using X because that's still where
48:24
Speaker 2: all the teams are putting their videos. But you know,
48:27
Speaker 2: I reposted and brought the game winner from Layla and
48:31
Speaker 2: a few other goals over to Blue Sky, and that
48:35
Speaker 2: post got a ton of play, like the audience is
48:38
Speaker 2: there and sort of thirsting to see more of these
48:43
Speaker 2: players post Olympics, And so I mean, it sucks that
48:47
Speaker 2: it's gonna take another you know, sort of big play,
48:50
Speaker 2: big game, a national championship like we had last year,
48:54
Speaker 2: which seems impossible, But yeah, I think that there is
48:57
Speaker 2: this is there's a window and some opportunity here. Unfortunately,
49:01
Speaker 2: all these games aren't paid streaming, and so you know,
49:05
Speaker 2: it does have to be something that gets shared and
49:07
Speaker 2: maybe breaks containment because you know, if you want to
49:11
Speaker 2: watch a bunch of these games, you have to pay
49:13
Speaker 2: for Beta and ESPN Plus and flow Hockey and and
49:18
Speaker 2: so and bet and changed too. I don't even think
49:21
Speaker 2: you can get just like for the month. You have
49:23
Speaker 2: to like still pick school and stuff. So I mean
49:26
Speaker 2: I hope that, you know, I hope that people get
49:28
Speaker 2: to watch. I hope that some of it breaks containment.
49:30
Speaker 2: Will do our best to keep sharing some of those
49:32
Speaker 2: highlights and getting them out there. But was it a
49:35
Speaker 2: good goal from Labla?
49:37
Speaker 1: Yeah?
49:37
Speaker 2: Was it anything super spectacular?
49:39
Speaker 1: No?
49:39
Speaker 2: And the reaction it got was that it was way
49:43
Speaker 2: better than how it actually played out, which is no
49:46
Speaker 2: offense to her. I just people are looking for for
49:49
Speaker 2: these to be able to watch these players, and so
49:52
Speaker 2: I think we're just in a chance that I hope,
49:55
Speaker 2: like you said, some of these games really sort of
49:57
Speaker 2: reach outside that and show off with the best of
50:00
Speaker 2: what the sport has to give.
50:02
Speaker 1: The w c h A games are on over the
50:04
Speaker 1: air TV in the Twin Cities and in Madison. I
50:07
Speaker 1: know those for sure. Those aren't necessarily the markets you
50:10
Speaker 1: need to hit. However, those are already pretty pretty good.
50:13
Speaker 1: But and the Hockey East Championship game is on I
50:17
Speaker 1: can't remember if it's ESPN You or ESPN News one
50:20
Speaker 1: of those.
50:21
Speaker 2: Platforms of them.
50:24
Speaker 1: So those are basic cable I guess, uh opportunities uh,
50:31
Speaker 1: and a basic cable opportunity for the Hockey East Championship game.
50:34
Speaker 1: So uh, it's something. It's not everything being covered, but
50:37
Speaker 1: it's something. So if you if you're able to watch. Yeah,
50:41
Speaker 1: it's it's a good chance to take a glance. Okay,
50:45
Speaker 1: one more break and then when we come back, we're
50:47
Speaker 1: going to talk about some of those n p I
50:49
Speaker 1: permutations that I spent way way too much time looking
50:54
Speaker 1: at a spreadsheet on earlier today. So, uh, stay with us.
50:59
Speaker 1: Oh it is, but I had to kind of cut
51:02
Speaker 1: myself off at some point it was too much. All right,
51:05
Speaker 1: stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast.
51:24
Speaker 1: Todd and Nicole here to wrap things up with a
51:26
Speaker 1: look at the NPI and make sure you check out
51:28
Speaker 1: the np predictor on us c HO dot com. You
51:31
Speaker 1: can find it off the main Women's hockey page and
51:35
Speaker 1: also we'll link it in the show notes here.
51:39
Speaker 2: There are, but we will also drop a link for
51:43
Speaker 2: what the NPI is and how it's calculated, especially if
51:45
Speaker 2: you're new around here or if you're not a mathew
51:48
Speaker 2: person like either of us I did. We'll drop a
51:50
Speaker 2: link to something I wrote about that recently when we
51:54
Speaker 2: changed over to the NPI, just in case you're like,
51:55
Speaker 2: what are we talking about. It's just the percentage index.
51:59
Speaker 2: It's the math that the committee uses to rank the teams.
52:03
Speaker 2: Based on what they did all season. So sorry for interrupting, Dot,
52:06
Speaker 2: I just want.
52:07
Speaker 1: To go right. Well, we had talked about in years
52:10
Speaker 1: past being the pair wise has been replaced by the
52:13
Speaker 1: NPI in full this season, so that's the only thing
52:16
Speaker 1: that's being used to select these teams. If you are
52:21
Speaker 1: a fan of Minnesota Duluth, you probably need to get
52:26
Speaker 1: the candles out or the thoughts circle or whatever you
52:30
Speaker 1: need to do, yes, because the Bulldogs have put themselves
52:36
Speaker 1: in a situation that is not great. However, it doesn't
52:45
Speaker 1: require for to get them in the tournament, doesn't require
52:48
Speaker 1: all sorts of upsets or things like that. They need
52:51
Speaker 1: the opposite. They need teams that are favored to win
52:57
Speaker 1: their games in the conference tournament this week. So if
53:00
Speaker 1: h teams that are already in the top nine of
53:02
Speaker 1: the NPI ahead of the Louth win the four non
53:07
Speaker 1: New HA Championships, the Atlantic Hockey, the ECAC Hockey, w
53:14
Speaker 1: h A, the looth will get in. So there's that
53:18
Speaker 1: to hold on to. Uh, the numbers don't look great
53:21
Speaker 1: because there's so many other possibilities out there. It's just
53:28
Speaker 1: for Duluth, I felt like, you know, they had turned
53:30
Speaker 1: a corner beating Minnesota a couple of times, and then
53:34
Speaker 1: it didn't go in the the the best of three
53:37
Speaker 1: first round series. There's there's so much hoping that the
53:43
Speaker 1: Bulldogs have to do to try and get in this week.
53:47
Speaker 2: I just like imagine what Etsy witches and summonings, their
53:55
Speaker 2: goals and all the fun stuff that could imagine happening here. Yeah,
54:00
Speaker 2: it's interesting, you know, particularly because of the chaos We've
54:02
Speaker 2: talked about so much that like in the end, it's
54:06
Speaker 2: please everybody do what you're supposed to, which you know,
54:08
Speaker 2: for the most part, you know, we talked about some
54:10
Speaker 2: upsets and and chaos, but then the top four seeds
54:12
Speaker 2: went through, and so I think there is a lot
54:15
Speaker 2: to hold onto there for Bulldog fans that yeah, definitely
54:19
Speaker 2: did not do themselves any favors.
54:22
Speaker 1: So as it stands, and this is before Tuesday's start
54:25
Speaker 1: of the conference tournament championship week, there are nineteen teams
54:30
Speaker 1: that are still having hopes either they're in or they
54:34
Speaker 1: have hopes of being in the the eleven team tournament.
54:38
Speaker 1: Six of them have clinched. And this is courtesy of
54:42
Speaker 1: an analysis done by our publisher Tim Brooley, who ran
54:45
Speaker 1: through all eight thousand whatever one hundred and ninety two
54:50
Speaker 1: permutations there are with thirteen remaining games. Yeah, sent me
54:55
Speaker 1: a spreadsheet, YEP, it very helpfully summarized it. But let
55:02
Speaker 1: me go into some of these crazier scenarios. So the
55:06
Speaker 1: six teams that are in that we know of our Wisconsin,
55:08
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota and Northeastern and Yukon. There
55:14
Speaker 1: are nine teams that have to win their tournament championship
55:18
Speaker 1: to get in. So all of New Ha that's you know,
55:22
Speaker 1: Franklin Pira's assumption, Saint Anton stone Hill Mercy Hurst has
55:27
Speaker 1: to win to get in. At Minnesota State, and the
55:29
Speaker 1: WHA has to get in. Cornell and ECAC Hockey and
55:32
Speaker 1: Vermont and holy Cross in Hockey East, those are the
55:35
Speaker 1: teams that have to win the auto bid to get
55:36
Speaker 1: in the tournament. So that leaves Yale, Printing Quinnipiac as
55:40
Speaker 1: teams that could either get in as a large team
55:43
Speaker 1: or as a auto bid for winning the championship. Quinnipiac
55:49
Speaker 1: is in pretty good shape. I believe it's ninety five
55:53
Speaker 1: percent of scenarios gets the Bobcats in Yale is pretty good.
55:57
Speaker 1: Princeville is still is above fifty percent. Those are not
56:01
Speaker 1: the numbers you love to see that when they're not
56:03
Speaker 1: one hundred percent and you're if you lose that first
56:06
Speaker 1: game on Friday in the acac oh, you're you're sweating
56:09
Speaker 1: through another day's games.
56:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, And just like four people like the the MPI
56:16
Speaker 2: is a like sort of self. It's a low calculation.
56:23
Speaker 2: And so it's not just like it's how the other teams.
56:25
Speaker 2: It's the teams that you faced as well and so
56:28
Speaker 2: and then how they played each other. I'm not saying
56:30
Speaker 2: this well, but the point is that like your loss,
56:32
Speaker 2: it's not the only thing that affects right, So like
56:35
Speaker 2: it's how other teams are doing, and then that gets
56:38
Speaker 2: rolled into this long calculation as well. And so like
56:41
Speaker 2: you know, for someone for you like UMD, it's just
56:43
Speaker 2: it's like them sitting and waiting and watching these numbers
56:46
Speaker 2: flux based on every game that finishes. And you were saying,
56:50
Speaker 2: like for someone like Princeton, it's like how stone Hill
56:52
Speaker 2: does could affect ruin D because they played in the
56:56
Speaker 2: Like that's where how like finite some of this gets
56:59
Speaker 2: because it's this sort of perpetual calculation of your team strength,
57:07
Speaker 2: the schedule and and how you played it. Yeah, I
57:09
Speaker 2: think it's it gets overly complicated, But the point that
57:12
Speaker 2: I wanted to be clear was just that it's this
57:14
Speaker 2: sort of ongoing forever calculation and one little change in
57:18
Speaker 2: that permutates out to a lot of different things.
57:22
Speaker 1: Yeah. It it really does get into the like insanity
57:26
Speaker 1: level when you're thinking of, Okay, there's there's this one
57:30
Speaker 1: scenario we talked about where luth gets in if all
57:33
Speaker 1: of the higher seeds win. But there's one where the
57:39
Speaker 1: Louth can get in if Mercy Hears beats Penn State
57:43
Speaker 1: UH for the Atlantic Hockey Title. But then also Quinnipiak
57:48
Speaker 1: has to win ECAC Northeastern or Yukon wins Hockey East
57:52
Speaker 1: anyone but stone Hill wins New Ha and Wisconsin has
57:56
Speaker 1: to beat Ohio State in the w c h A Final,
58:00
Speaker 1: and some other things that I can't figure out to
58:02
Speaker 1: have to happen that get the Luth in. And that
58:08
Speaker 1: is because, like you were just talking about, those numbers
58:11
Speaker 1: of the NPI get so close between Duluth and Princeton
58:16
Speaker 1: that it flips back and forth based on some of
58:18
Speaker 1: those results involving teams that played other teams, and it
58:22
Speaker 1: all goes into this calculation like Stonehill, it's not even
58:27
Speaker 1: necessarily that stone Hill has to lose its first game.
58:31
Speaker 1: It can get to the championship. It just can't win
58:33
Speaker 1: the championship. So it's really convoluted and I can't figure
58:36
Speaker 1: it out. That's what I had to just give up
58:38
Speaker 1: on and say, nope, I'm done here. I know these numbers,
58:42
Speaker 1: but I can't figure it out. So it's a lot more.
58:46
Speaker 2: Also, got sent that spreadsheet and at no points did
58:49
Speaker 2: like I didn't even open it because I knew. I
58:51
Speaker 2: knew it would just like literal Greek to me. And
58:54
Speaker 2: like so I was like, here's what I wrote up.
58:56
Speaker 2: Does it make sense? And I'm like, well those words
58:58
Speaker 2: work for me, yes, but yeah, like two, we've got
59:01
Speaker 2: two types of people, and it's it's at Todd loves
59:03
Speaker 2: a spreadsheet and all of that. I it would have
59:06
Speaker 2: just made my eyes glazed. So I appreciate that you
59:09
Speaker 2: put it in the lurk on that because I'll.
59:13
Speaker 1: Credit to Tim for for for running all that. And
59:16
Speaker 1: those are the same things you can run with the
59:18
Speaker 1: NPI predictor on our site. So it's it pulls up
59:21
Speaker 1: the same kind of results in terms of seating Wisconsin
59:25
Speaker 1: and Ohio State. We've talked about this for a while.
59:27
Speaker 1: They're they're clearly the one and two. Uh that's locked in.
59:32
Speaker 1: Wisconsin has to win the w c h A title
59:35
Speaker 1: to get the number one seat, otherwise Ohio State will
59:37
Speaker 1: be the one, which is not necessarily what I thought
59:42
Speaker 1: would happen. Say, if you know, Wisconsin won a semi final,
59:46
Speaker 1: Minnesota beat Ohio State, and then Minnesota beat Wisconsin, Ohio
59:50
Speaker 1: Sate still moves ahead of Wisconsin in the calculation. It's
59:53
Speaker 1: a very small number, but it's yeah, it uh, it's
59:59
Speaker 1: it's a you know, we have to wait and see
1:00:01
Speaker 1: what happens on that. But that's how that goes with
1:00:04
Speaker 1: those two teams. Penn State is locked in as the
1:00:06
Speaker 1: number three overall seats, so they will get a regional
1:00:11
Speaker 1: where they're bringing in two other teams to state College
1:00:14
Speaker 1: next week, and then Minnesota and Northeastern are locked into
1:00:18
Speaker 1: the four and five, but we don't know the order yet.
1:00:21
Speaker 1: It is about twenty one percent of the scenarios Northeastern
1:00:27
Speaker 1: passes the Gophers. And the thing that surprised me was
1:00:30
Speaker 1: even if the Gophers win the WCCHA title, there are
1:00:34
Speaker 1: scenarios where Northeastern winning the Hockey East title still passes
1:00:38
Speaker 1: the Gophers for fourth and flips who host that regional
1:00:43
Speaker 1: final next week. So a lot of these things are
1:00:48
Speaker 1: we just have to let them play out and see
1:00:50
Speaker 1: what happens. I like knowing ahead of time what the
1:00:55
Speaker 1: possibilities are, but I do think you can also go
1:00:58
Speaker 1: drive yourself crazy trying to figure out every opportunity or
1:01:03
Speaker 1: every option here.
1:01:06
Speaker 2: It's crazy that Minnesota spent most of this year as
1:01:10
Speaker 2: the you know, number three team, and basically the last
1:01:14
Speaker 2: what two three weeks, those results turned them into a
1:01:18
Speaker 2: team that could have to go on the road and
1:01:20
Speaker 2: no longer host and not just go on the road,
1:01:22
Speaker 2: but like really go on the road and had to Boston. Sorry,
1:01:26
Speaker 2: my dog is nipping at me because we're late to
1:01:28
Speaker 2: feed him, and it tickled. That's why I was laughing.
1:01:33
Speaker 2: I apologize. Yeah, just completely changes the course of like
1:01:38
Speaker 2: their tournament and the caliber of who they have to
1:01:40
Speaker 2: play in the travel and all of that just kind
1:01:43
Speaker 2: of nuts. I think that NDD. I think we're still
1:01:46
Speaker 2: learning MPI and how much can change over the course
1:01:48
Speaker 2: of one game, and I feel like this season we
1:01:51
Speaker 2: learned how volatile and how much things can move not
1:01:55
Speaker 2: just with your own loss, but with what you know,
1:01:57
Speaker 2: what can happen from other games. And so I just
1:02:01
Speaker 2: I think that's a fascinating lesson to learn about sort
1:02:03
Speaker 2: of needing to play everything out and really take care
1:02:06
Speaker 2: of business. But yeah, it's a it's a huge swing
1:02:11
Speaker 2: for a huge difference from Minnesota based on on you know,
1:02:14
Speaker 2: really a couple of close games and those like two
1:02:17
Speaker 2: overtime losses to to Minnesota dilute. So just kind of crazy.
1:02:22
Speaker 2: And we should add to just something that we have
1:02:24
Speaker 2: talked because we talked to the Selection of committee there
1:02:27
Speaker 2: sort of is this isn't like basketball or there isn't
1:02:29
Speaker 2: really a conversation about who gets in the NCAA. You know,
1:02:34
Speaker 2: committee head has told us that like the eleven teams,
1:02:37
Speaker 2: the at large bids go straight from the NPI. And
1:02:39
Speaker 2: that's why we talk so much about this MPI number
1:02:43
Speaker 2: and sort of the prutations and the things that can
1:02:45
Speaker 2: come from it, because ultimately the final bracket comes from
1:02:51
Speaker 2: those teams that are ranked. Now if they're upsets and
1:02:54
Speaker 2: those teams, some teams get autobids, Like it's not necessarily
1:02:58
Speaker 2: the top eleven teams, right, Like, it's not eleven teams
1:03:00
Speaker 2: at the top NBI, but you know, like the number
1:03:03
Speaker 2: nineteen doesn't get in over the number seventeen. The number
1:03:06
Speaker 2: seventeen would take that priority. So they are going to
1:03:09
Speaker 2: fill in the autobids that come from the conference tournament winners,
1:03:12
Speaker 2: and then the rest of the large bids will go
1:03:14
Speaker 2: and order down down the NPI ranking. And so that's
1:03:17
Speaker 2: why there is so much conversation in this for us
1:03:21
Speaker 2: and sort of making sure you all understand the calculations
1:03:24
Speaker 2: and the way that really like hundred civil point could
1:03:28
Speaker 2: come into play here and be the difference between in
1:03:31
Speaker 2: or out hosting or not playing one of the opening
1:03:35
Speaker 2: round games or not. All of that can come down
1:03:37
Speaker 2: to not just your outcome, but many other games outcomes
1:03:41
Speaker 2: as well.
1:03:42
Speaker 1: And then you started if you're a team that just
1:03:44
Speaker 1: misses out or just misses out on hosting, or you
1:03:48
Speaker 1: start to think, well that tie that we were ahead
1:03:50
Speaker 1: in the last minute, oh man, that that doesn't feel great.
1:03:54
Speaker 1: And so the twenty twenty vision roof that gets awful
1:04:00
Speaker 1: that point, having seen a few of those teams that
1:04:02
Speaker 1: are just like, oh man, we just lost out by
1:04:05
Speaker 1: that much. Yeah, that that's a rough one. So that's
1:04:09
Speaker 1: why every game matters. That's why the you know, and
1:04:11
Speaker 1: it goes all the way back to the first games
1:04:13
Speaker 1: in September. They all count towards this and so everything
1:04:16
Speaker 1: is going to get considered toward the end here.
1:04:18
Speaker 2: So why we nitpick all of this because it does,
1:04:21
Speaker 2: you know. It's why we're ranking on somebody in October
1:04:25
Speaker 2: about a you know, a missed opportunity, because it can
1:04:28
Speaker 2: come back to by you.
1:04:30
Speaker 1: It does. It will end as yes, okay, a lot
1:04:34
Speaker 1: of fun coming up this week. We hope you enjoy it.
1:04:38
Speaker 1: When we talk to you next week, we will have
1:04:40
Speaker 1: that eleven team bracket. We will be able to look
1:04:42
Speaker 1: back on these championship games and we'll be a week
1:04:46
Speaker 1: away from the Frozen four, believe it or not. So
1:04:48
Speaker 1: it's getting crazy, it's getting right down there. We thank
1:04:52
Speaker 1: you for joining us. We will talk to you again
1:04:54
Speaker 1: next week on the podcast. E