Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Championship rematch for No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Ohio State

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Championship rematch for No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Ohio State · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Us cho dot com. Welcome to the podcast. My name
0:12
Speaker 1: is Todd Mluski here with Nicole Hosey from us cho
0:15
Speaker 1: dot com once again, and Nicole, this is becoming a
0:19
Speaker 1: little bit of a pattern that you look back at
0:22
Speaker 1: last week's results and you go to some of them.
0:27
Speaker 1: I wish, wish one of those that we saw last
0:31
Speaker 1: week the results, and we'll get into a lot of
0:32
Speaker 1: them here in the next couple of minutes. But what
0:36
Speaker 1: were the head scratchers for you in the last weekend?
0:39
Speaker 1: And and you know why do you think maybe it
0:40
Speaker 1: is that that we're having these kind of results that
0:44
Speaker 1: he was like, well, didn't expect that, couldn't have predicted that.
0:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're at the point where and every
0:50
Speaker 2: any given weekend I look back and I'm like, I
0:52
Speaker 2: can't explain what just happened there, which is not a
0:55
Speaker 2: wonderful feeling, as you know a journalist covering the sport,
0:58
Speaker 2: but is fun for the fire. What's the biggest head
1:02
Speaker 2: scratcher from last week? Maybe Cornell losing to Vermont, and
1:06
Speaker 2: maybe I didn't expect Brown to go win list this weekend.
1:10
Speaker 2: And then I think probably the third one I did
1:11
Speaker 2: expect Ohio State to win. I did not expect Ohio
1:14
Speaker 2: State to take down Clerks and ate nothing. So those
1:18
Speaker 2: were just a couple of the things that were just like, Wow,
1:20
Speaker 2: what is going on? And in Cornell, I think over
1:23
Speaker 2: the past two to three weeks it's been a bit
1:25
Speaker 2: of a head scratcher after how they started. But yeah,
1:28
Speaker 2: it's you know, I've always said I'm team chaos and
1:32
Speaker 2: I love that, and I think, you know, probably the
1:35
Speaker 2: reason or some of it is just that we continue
1:37
Speaker 2: to like the base of really good hockey players is
1:41
Speaker 2: no longer spread among a small amount of teams, Like
1:45
Speaker 2: there's just the growth of the sport means that there
1:47
Speaker 2: are better players that are filling rosters at schools that
1:51
Speaker 2: didn't previously get top tier talents. I don't like, that's
1:56
Speaker 2: not a value statement on anyone. It's just that there
1:59
Speaker 2: was a smaller pool of you know, you sort of
2:01
Speaker 2: had them going to programs that had historically won championships
2:06
Speaker 2: and things like that, and now you're seeing players that
2:09
Speaker 2: are breaking out and some from other countries, some that
2:12
Speaker 2: maybe just grew up in their final two years, right
2:16
Speaker 2: like so they they necessarily weren't commit huge commits at sixteen,
2:20
Speaker 2: but have been really impactful at eighteen and nineteen. But yeah,
2:23
Speaker 2: I think I think it says really great things about
2:25
Speaker 2: the growth of girls in hockey in the country or
2:30
Speaker 2: in North America. But yeah, that's probably like the most
2:35
Speaker 2: sensible answer to the question in terms of like why
2:38
Speaker 2: this is happening. But it does. It does make every
2:42
Speaker 2: week I just think, like I it makes you feel
2:45
Speaker 2: like you're not very good at what I'm doing, right,
2:47
Speaker 2: because I just am like I wouldn't have predicted that,
2:49
Speaker 2: and I'm saying that multiple times a week. I mean,
2:52
Speaker 2: you and I are constantly texting each other results like
2:54
Speaker 2: did you see this? Because it's just highly unexpected, And
2:58
Speaker 2: I think, I mean that's right, Like that is so
3:01
Speaker 2: good for this sport. I think that it's great when
3:03
Speaker 2: things aren't predictable and that a lot of people were
3:06
Speaker 2: getting sick of the same teams over and over and
3:09
Speaker 2: over again. And I don't know if we're past that yet, right, Like,
3:12
Speaker 2: I do feel like we're got a pretty predictable tournament
3:15
Speaker 2: just at the end of the season, likely or at
3:17
Speaker 2: least most of the teams that'll make the tournament. But
3:21
Speaker 2: I do think we're particularly in one and done situations
3:23
Speaker 2: we're seeing that, like there's a lot more opportunity for upsets,
3:26
Speaker 2: there's a lot more opportunity for a team to maybe
3:29
Speaker 2: make a run in their conference tournament, and uh, it's
3:33
Speaker 2: just it's things are a lot less predictable and that's
3:36
Speaker 2: totally good for everybody, except for you and I who
3:38
Speaker 2: have to try and talk about this out lega believe.
3:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we are seeing that there is still
3:45
Speaker 1: a top heaviness to a lot of it, where you know,
3:49
Speaker 1: we get a seventeen to two game when Wisconsin plays
3:52
Speaker 1: Stolen Hill, or we get Ohio State running through a
3:55
Speaker 1: couple of teams we didn't necessarily see them running through.
3:58
Speaker 1: But there is a little bit more of a the middle.
4:04
Speaker 1: The next group is it feels like it's a lot
4:07
Speaker 1: more compressed than it was maybe five years ago, where
4:11
Speaker 1: there was, you know, a couple of teams every year
4:13
Speaker 1: that you knew, okay, they're they're gonna be in the mix.
4:15
Speaker 1: Maybe they're a frozen four team this year. And now
4:19
Speaker 1: it feels like that that pool, the next pool, I guess,
4:23
Speaker 1: is maybe a little wider, and I think there's there's
4:27
Speaker 1: something to be said for that as as growth. While
4:30
Speaker 1: there's also something to be said. For man, it's it
4:33
Speaker 1: just really feels like it's tough to unseat Wisconsin or
4:37
Speaker 1: Ohio State or sometimes Minnesota near the top of things.
4:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'd argue, like I think maybe we would
4:45
Speaker 2: have said there was a slightly bigger top group, right,
4:47
Speaker 2: like maybe it was six to eight teams, and you
4:50
Speaker 2: know we're talking back like when BC was consistently in
4:53
Speaker 2: it and things like that, and so now I think
4:56
Speaker 2: that elite group is smaller, and then you know, like
4:59
Speaker 2: it doesn't definitely winds out in that next group, as
5:01
Speaker 2: you said, And I think two, I mean, we've seen
5:06
Speaker 2: for a while that like teams are sort of like
5:10
Speaker 2: growing the program overall. Right, Like we weren't talking about
5:12
Speaker 2: Colgate what before twenty eighteen or so. Heck, we weren't
5:16
Speaker 2: talking about Ohio State before around that time either. But
5:21
Speaker 2: you know, you sort of see like a build and
5:23
Speaker 2: it does tend to last. It's not we're not talking
5:25
Speaker 2: just like sort of one class or one maybe for
5:28
Speaker 2: your rotation, but you sort of like see some of
5:31
Speaker 2: the groups, you know, even Clerkson, it's been longer for them,
5:34
Speaker 2: but you know, twenty fourteen, it was sort of like
5:35
Speaker 2: before that they weren't in the mix as much, and
5:37
Speaker 2: so you are seeing programs grow and sort of be
5:40
Speaker 2: able to be sort of more consistently in the mix
5:45
Speaker 2: and fighting for those spots in a way that maybe
5:47
Speaker 2: ten years ago, fifteen years ago, we weren't.
5:50
Speaker 1: Right. Well, let's go through some of the results from
5:52
Speaker 1: last week, and I want to start in Boston, where
5:55
Speaker 1: we previewed this last week, a matchup of top ten
5:58
Speaker 1: teams that were four Penn State playing at number seven Northeastern,
6:02
Speaker 1: and right off the bat on Friday, Northeastern handed Penn
6:06
Speaker 1: State its first loss of the season after the Nittany
6:08
Speaker 1: Lions came in sixteen and zero, three to two for Northeastern.
6:14
Speaker 1: In the first game of that series, Lily Shannon scored
6:16
Speaker 1: a goal and then assists as Northeastern built the three
6:19
Speaker 1: nothing lead after two periods, and then you're thinking it's over.
6:21
Speaker 1: Penn State's top player, Testa Janicky is ejected for a
6:24
Speaker 1: hit from behind, but in the third period, Penn State
6:27
Speaker 1: and makes a game of its scoring two goals but
6:29
Speaker 1: can't get the third. Lacy Johnson makes thirty four saves
6:34
Speaker 1: to seal the victory. In that Friday game, Penn State
6:37
Speaker 1: comes back with a Saturday win four to one. After
6:40
Speaker 1: falling behind one nothing, the Nittey Allons scored two and
6:42
Speaker 1: a second two in the third. So Penn State is
6:45
Speaker 1: seventeen and one and number three in the NPI, Northeastern
6:49
Speaker 1: thirteen and three and number six in the NPI. And
6:51
Speaker 1: these feel like teams that are right near the top
6:54
Speaker 1: of that next group that we're just talking about. They
6:57
Speaker 1: behind Wisconsin, Ohio State who will play this week to
7:00
Speaker 1: kind of just define a little bit for now, who
7:02
Speaker 1: is the top of the top. You've got Penn State
7:05
Speaker 1: and you've got Northeastern. They're showing that, Yes, they are
7:08
Speaker 1: part of that next group.
7:10
Speaker 2: Right, and we probably expected that out of Penn State.
7:13
Speaker 2: But if you'd have told me that in September about Northeastern,
7:15
Speaker 2: I would have not been skeptical but said I would
7:18
Speaker 2: like to wait and see, like I want to see
7:20
Speaker 2: what they're showing. I think an important thing to point
7:22
Speaker 2: out about that that first game is that Penn State
7:24
Speaker 2: absolutely dominated that first period. Northeastern kept them off the
7:30
Speaker 2: board and then scored with their only shot of the
7:33
Speaker 2: period with like twenty five seconds left in the first
7:37
Speaker 2: and Penn State did go I mean it did even
7:39
Speaker 2: a little ass things went on. But like the fact
7:41
Speaker 2: that Northeastern won that game based I honestly kind of
7:46
Speaker 2: had it in hand weirdly, despite the dynamics on ice,
7:49
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously Penn State pushed him the third, but yeah,
7:52
Speaker 2: that was such a strange game. And unfortunately the second
7:54
Speaker 2: game was played out in Gloucester, and which is cool.
7:58
Speaker 2: I'm so glad they want it in the community, but
7:59
Speaker 2: then is not streamed, and so in terms of having
8:02
Speaker 2: watched that first game, I would have loved just to
8:04
Speaker 2: see the different dynamic and how things looked for Penn
8:07
Speaker 2: State to get that win in the second one. But yeah, absolutely,
8:11
Speaker 2: I think those two have shown to be not unbeatable,
8:17
Speaker 2: but to be really difficult to be Obviously, Penn State,
8:20
Speaker 2: we know, literally had gone unbeaten it to this point.
8:24
Speaker 2: I think it's probably good for them to get that
8:25
Speaker 2: loss out of the way. I think we are in
8:28
Speaker 2: a situation I don't feel like we're going to see
8:31
Speaker 2: an undefeated season ever. Again, I don't know that I
8:34
Speaker 2: thought that ever, but particularly with the way the game
8:36
Speaker 2: has changed since the Gophers did it, and I think
8:40
Speaker 2: you would rather, you know, do that now sort of
8:42
Speaker 2: had that recoup, and I think it's important for teams
8:46
Speaker 2: to lose and learn from that too. So Penn State,
8:49
Speaker 2: you know, gone to the postseason twice and not cotten
8:53
Speaker 2: the results they wanted, not really been able to show
8:55
Speaker 2: what they want to do. So I think if if
8:57
Speaker 2: Penn State wants to be a different team as we
8:59
Speaker 2: head into the NC tournament there, things like that are
9:02
Speaker 2: what you're going to put them in a different position
9:04
Speaker 2: than they've been in the past two years.
9:07
Speaker 1: In the Washington, DC area, the D one in d
9:11
Speaker 1: C event brought in two teams from the w c
9:15
Speaker 1: h A Saint Cloud State in Ohio State and two
9:17
Speaker 1: from ec AC Hockey Colgate and Clarkson. And I guess
9:20
Speaker 1: that the takeaway for me there is Ohio State. You
9:24
Speaker 1: touched on it before, but just running over Clarkson ate
9:27
Speaker 1: nothing in the their first game and then getting another
9:31
Speaker 1: shut out five to nothing over Colgate in the second game,
9:35
Speaker 1: and like you mentioned before, not not surprised by the
9:42
Speaker 1: team that ended up on the winning side, but the
9:45
Speaker 1: margin there being the interesting thing. Hilda Spenson, who's putting
9:49
Speaker 1: on a pretty good campaign for National Rookie of the
9:52
Speaker 1: Year here so far with a hat trick in five
9:54
Speaker 1: points in that game against Clarkson. Joey Dunn also five points,
9:57
Speaker 1: and the big the number for me there was third
10:01
Speaker 1: period shots on goal twenty to nothing for Ohio State,
10:05
Speaker 1: and that tells you just how far in control they
10:07
Speaker 1: were in that game. There was nothing, nothing after one
10:10
Speaker 1: and then Ohio stated broken up when I think with
10:12
Speaker 1: four and second and then band just just poured it on.
10:16
Speaker 2: Nine total shots for Clarkson, like they didn't even reach
10:18
Speaker 2: double digits and then didn't have a shot and that
10:20
Speaker 2: third I had read that and forgot about it. I'm
10:22
Speaker 2: glad you brought that up. Yeah, just absolute domination from
10:25
Speaker 2: the the Buckeyes. And I think too, like you look
10:28
Speaker 2: at the spoorn and you're like, oh, they dominated offensively,
10:31
Speaker 2: but like obviously, and we don't talk as much about
10:33
Speaker 2: their defense, mostly because they possessed the buck so well,
10:36
Speaker 2: it just kind of don't have to play it in
10:38
Speaker 2: the same way. But I think it's important there to
10:41
Speaker 2: point out that, like, obviously the defense was just absolutely
10:44
Speaker 2: shut down, you know, made it through that first period,
10:47
Speaker 2: and then the way that they can just kind of
10:49
Speaker 2: turn things around and just take a game from close
10:53
Speaker 2: to out of hand so quickly, it is going to
10:55
Speaker 2: be so demoralizing for opponents. Yeah, they're they're obviously there's good.
11:00
Speaker 2: You know, they're as advertised what we expected from them
11:03
Speaker 2: looking at their incoming talent. Things like that. And hilbis
11:06
Speaker 2: fens in so excited that I've been talking about her
11:09
Speaker 2: since the beginning of the year, like to like the
11:12
Speaker 2: make that hit. But obviously, I mean she's been already
11:14
Speaker 2: playing with this inter national team in Sweden. We knew
11:17
Speaker 2: what she could deliver. Yeah, I I well, first of all,
11:21
Speaker 2: I mean, just based on how their seasons have gone,
11:23
Speaker 2: I didn't expect Colgate to fare better against Ohio State
11:26
Speaker 2: than Clerkson. Did. I maybe surprised by so uh Saint
11:32
Speaker 2: Cloud's State getting the win over Colgate. I mean it
11:34
Speaker 2: was the Sofiana so Sutherland show. She had a great
11:37
Speaker 2: game Sunderlin. But yeah, I that who that whole series
11:42
Speaker 2: is slightly head scratching, not necessarily in the end results
11:45
Speaker 2: of the numbers, but just how those games played out.
11:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was three to and overtime, Saint Cloud
11:52
Speaker 1: got the win over Colgate, and then Clarkson beat Saint
11:55
Speaker 1: Cloud on the second day to nothing. That that was
12:00
Speaker 1: one event that I was really looking forward to to
12:04
Speaker 1: seeing I guess, especially on the side of the ECAC team,
12:09
Speaker 1: is how how that was going to shake out. We're
12:12
Speaker 1: still looking for that. The definition of who's where and
12:15
Speaker 1: who's who's up and who's down right and and feels
12:18
Speaker 1: like that's changing in our minds every weeks in some
12:22
Speaker 1: way or another. You mentioned before, and I think we'll
12:24
Speaker 1: talk about it again in a minute. Brown losing twice
12:26
Speaker 1: this week, Well, okay, they're down again. They've been kind
12:29
Speaker 1: of showing. Well, okay, maybe there's some progress there. Oh Nope,
12:32
Speaker 1: back it down. They're going to come back up. They're
12:34
Speaker 1: going to go back down. So I don't know what
12:39
Speaker 1: I'm pulling out of this for for Colgate and for
12:44
Speaker 1: Clarkson other than it's going to be if either of
12:47
Speaker 1: them has to face Ohio State in the tournament, it's
12:50
Speaker 1: going to be very very tough.
12:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think what everybody has to take
12:54
Speaker 2: away is the valid fear of wild State at this point.
12:58
Speaker 2: You know, as you mentioned, we will be seeing Wisconsin
13:02
Speaker 2: and Ohio State this weekend. In Ohio State that we'll
13:06
Speaker 2: talk about that coming up. But like, what an amazing
13:08
Speaker 2: timee for that peak peak scheduling a plus we have
13:12
Speaker 2: built to that. As e Stea said, Oh, maybe we'll
13:15
Speaker 2: figure out, but I just assume. I assume anytime we're
13:17
Speaker 2: looking for like definition of something, it'll just be a
13:19
Speaker 2: street split and we will learn nothing. Uh standard, No,
13:23
Speaker 2: it's standard. We're gonna learn nothing and just be like
13:25
Speaker 2: Indian like, Oh, that's exactly what we thought.
13:29
Speaker 1: Yep, that's what I'm going with for now on. Yep,
13:31
Speaker 1: that's kind of what it feels like we're in for here.
13:34
Speaker 1: The Nutmeg Classic in Connecticut had a ranked matchup in
13:38
Speaker 1: the first of two days. Number eight Yukon beat number
13:41
Speaker 1: nine Quidimpiac four to three. In the Friday game, Megan
13:45
Speaker 1: Woodworth broke a three to three tie with just over
13:48
Speaker 1: three and a half minutes left that game, Tia Chan
13:50
Speaker 1: made forty saves, and then Yukon beat Yale three to
13:53
Speaker 1: two on Saturday for the championship of that tournament. Julia
13:56
Speaker 1: pellerin with the game winning goal with about ninety seconds
14:00
Speaker 1: left in that one. So a couple of late earned
14:04
Speaker 1: victories for Yukon to win kind of the state championship.
14:08
Speaker 1: If you if you will for for Connecticut, Yeah, come
14:14
Speaker 1: back to that.
14:14
Speaker 2: I just want to say you were mentioning ECAC, like, oh,
14:18
Speaker 2: trying to figure it out like we would have said
14:19
Speaker 2: Quinnipiac is the one that had separated themselves and now
14:22
Speaker 2: like that too here and and that leads me into saying, like,
14:26
Speaker 2: Hockey East, we're sorry, like we kind of feel like
14:29
Speaker 2: we begged on Hockey East a little to start. Now
14:31
Speaker 2: they've got I think four teens in the top fifteen
14:33
Speaker 2: of the NPI, including holy Cross, who we have not
14:37
Speaker 2: talked about at all. So sorry at bully Cross, we
14:39
Speaker 2: owe you, we owe you some. But yeah, I looking
14:44
Speaker 2: at the NPI right now is a little little nuts,
14:46
Speaker 2: not at all what I expected. But also like, you know,
14:48
Speaker 2: kudos to the Hockey East teams that are really showing
14:51
Speaker 2: it out. And I thought, you know, obviously Yukon was
14:53
Speaker 2: at home. We know they're a very good team. We
14:55
Speaker 2: know there's a lot of pride on the line there
14:57
Speaker 2: and a lot of pressure and they went out and
14:59
Speaker 2: delivered and just they responded a lot in their games,
15:03
Speaker 2: which I think is going to need to be the
15:06
Speaker 2: theme for for most everybody this year, Like you have
15:08
Speaker 2: to be able to come back in games, you have
15:10
Speaker 2: to be able to respond and probably do it more
15:12
Speaker 2: than once, and so yeah, I thought I thought you
15:15
Speaker 2: can show really well. I don't. It's not that I
15:18
Speaker 2: thought Quinnipiac played badly. I just thought, like, as we're
15:22
Speaker 2: talking ECC and we're looking for someone to separate themselves.
15:25
Speaker 2: Like we're still in a week where the team that
15:26
Speaker 2: I thought had separated themselves also lost, and so it's
15:29
Speaker 2: a it's definitely an interesting I February is gonna be amazing,
15:36
Speaker 2: and you know, we still haven't even dealt with any
15:39
Speaker 2: of the players leaving much so for any of the teams.
15:42
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's uh, I feel bad for for how
15:46
Speaker 2: we the Hockey East. We didn't.
15:48
Speaker 1: We did not.
15:48
Speaker 2: You know, I was not familiar.
15:52
Speaker 1: I'm familiar with their game. I apologize, right, Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
15:56
Speaker 1: In Nashville they Smashville Showcase, which was a three team,
16:00
Speaker 1: three day event. I don't know what to make of that. Really,
16:05
Speaker 1: it was an odd concept and it, I guess turned
16:10
Speaker 1: out how everyone thought it was going to. Mercy Hears
16:12
Speaker 1: beats stone Hill six to one on Friday. Number one
16:15
Speaker 1: Wisconsin beat Mercy Heris five to one on Saturday, and
16:18
Speaker 1: stone Hill, which had the day off between games, just
16:21
Speaker 1: got completely run over by Wisconsin seventeen to two on Sunday,
16:25
Speaker 1: a game that tied the NCAA record for most goals
16:28
Speaker 1: in the game, both by a team and by two teams.
16:31
Speaker 1: Harvard also be also won a seventeen to two game
16:35
Speaker 1: over Boston College January twenty eighth, two thousand and three,
16:40
Speaker 1: so that one's been on the board for a long time.
16:43
Speaker 1: Wisconsin set its program record for goals in the game. Obviously,
16:47
Speaker 1: they had just said it last year with sixteen and
16:50
Speaker 1: now hitting seventeen this year. Eighty seven shots on goal
16:55
Speaker 1: also a program record. It was one of those days
16:57
Speaker 1: where we're just flipping through pages of the record book
17:00
Speaker 1: to like find what's the next.
17:02
Speaker 2: Thing, your idea that this HiT's Todds like everything he loves,
17:07
Speaker 2: like he could do every record right now. He knows
17:10
Speaker 2: them all. He went and looked them all up.
17:12
Speaker 1: I decided I had to finally cut myself off from
17:15
Speaker 1: looking them up on Sunday just to get the story
17:18
Speaker 1: in and posted on the website, because that could have
17:22
Speaker 1: gone on this cab. Yes, thank you very much. Nine
17:26
Speaker 1: goals in the second period for the badgeries. Also that
17:29
Speaker 1: one did set an NCAA record, I believe because it
17:32
Speaker 1: was eight was the record, So yeah, a lot of
17:36
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's really worth spending a whole
17:38
Speaker 1: lot more time on that one because it was it
17:42
Speaker 1: was lopsided, it was expected to be lopsided, and we
17:45
Speaker 1: got it.
17:45
Speaker 2: I guess the biggest question was, don't he'll change goalies
17:49
Speaker 2: after I think the twelfth goal, which I just was like,
17:52
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe get her out of their suitor. I
17:56
Speaker 2: don't know. It was an odd time to make choice.
18:00
Speaker 2: I think the on the other side, Wisconsin's Rise Stewart
18:03
Speaker 2: got the start. Presumably she's going to spend time in
18:07
Speaker 2: net if a McNaughton is with Team USA. I have
18:11
Speaker 2: often said I thought she should be in net a
18:13
Speaker 2: little more to start this season, so that you know
18:17
Speaker 2: that was a good thing. I yeah, I don't know that.
18:21
Speaker 2: There's a lot to say. We tried to spit it
18:24
Speaker 2: nicely last weekend, but I just these I don't I
18:26
Speaker 2: don't know what that accomplished. I don't It's not very
18:30
Speaker 2: nice to Stonehill. I you know, like Wisconsin's in a
18:33
Speaker 2: no win situation there for them. I mean, as an opponent,
18:37
Speaker 2: you don't want your the team against you to just
18:39
Speaker 2: stop trying like that's more insulting. So yeah, I I
18:45
Speaker 2: the choices that were made here did not set either
18:48
Speaker 2: Mercyhurst or stone Hill up to end up in a
18:51
Speaker 2: good situation. And you know that's not any of the
18:54
Speaker 2: three teams fault. So I hope that we make some
18:58
Speaker 2: better decisions as Organs in the path in the future.
19:03
Speaker 2: I think two particularly like looking at how good things
19:06
Speaker 2: were in DC where we had these four ranked teams
19:08
Speaker 2: and this was the other option, you know, just really
19:12
Speaker 2: starkly stood out as like, I'm not sure what this
19:15
Speaker 2: does for the border any of the teams. So I
19:19
Speaker 2: hope that the girls tournament in Nashville enjoyed it and
19:22
Speaker 2: got to see lots of great stuff. I hope, you know,
19:24
Speaker 2: that bit was accomplished. But I hope that we don't
19:28
Speaker 2: subject teams to this again because I just I don't
19:31
Speaker 2: like it. I don't I don't like it. I feel
19:33
Speaker 2: really bad for Sonthill. It's just it's bad.
19:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is. Moving on into some other non
19:41
Speaker 1: conference games. Last week you touched on this briefly, Vermont
19:45
Speaker 1: beating number five Cornell four to three on Friday. Lauren
19:49
Speaker 1: O'Hara scored the goal late in the second period that
19:51
Speaker 1: put the Catamounts ahead for good. Ellie Simmons then stopped
19:55
Speaker 1: all thirteen Cornell shots in the third period, and at
19:59
Speaker 1: that point after that lost, Cornell was two three and
20:01
Speaker 1: one in its last six games after a seven and
20:04
Speaker 1: zero start, and we're starting to wonder, well, Okay, which
20:07
Speaker 1: Cornell team was the real one here? The Big Red
20:11
Speaker 1: did come back with a five to one win on
20:13
Speaker 1: Saturday to show Okay, maybe that's the direction they can go,
20:18
Speaker 1: but it's also they can't really have these one up,
20:22
Speaker 1: one down kind of weekends if they're gonna want to
20:25
Speaker 1: stay near the top of the the rankings, the NPI
20:28
Speaker 1: and eventually when you get into it the ECAC.
20:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was I mean, not only is it surprising,
20:35
Speaker 2: but like they almost looked as surprise as the right,
20:38
Speaker 2: Like the team just really looked a little show shocked,
20:41
Speaker 2: like they didn't know what to do, which is a
20:43
Speaker 2: little surprising, Like A, it wasn't their first loss, and B,
20:47
Speaker 2: I like, there there's experience there. This is I mean,
20:50
Speaker 2: if nothing else is a team that lost, you know
20:52
Speaker 2: in the Frozen poor last have experience being in sort
20:55
Speaker 2: of situations where things are not going your way, not
20:58
Speaker 2: doing what you want to do and like they responded
20:59
Speaker 2: really great in the semi final last year, but yeah,
21:02
Speaker 2: I just kind of felt like they looked a little lost,
21:05
Speaker 2: as though they aren't weren't a top five team that
21:10
Speaker 2: is capable of coming back down from down multiple like
21:14
Speaker 2: have one of the best goalies.
21:15
Speaker 1: It just was.
21:16
Speaker 2: It was a really interesting and weird I assume there
21:18
Speaker 2: will be lots of lessons learned for them and lots
21:20
Speaker 2: of time to sort of look at this and talk
21:22
Speaker 2: about it, not from a like, ugh, what did you
21:24
Speaker 2: do wrong? But from understanding mentally, like what got them
21:28
Speaker 2: to the point where they just looked like they weren't
21:30
Speaker 2: sure how to handle that situation, you know. In this
21:34
Speaker 2: is one of those where I think it's important to
21:36
Speaker 2: remember their student athletes, right, and you're talking somewhere between
21:39
Speaker 2: eighteen and twenty two years old, Because I felt like
21:42
Speaker 2: I haven't watched a game in a while where I
21:44
Speaker 2: felt like I am watching children going through it a
21:47
Speaker 2: little bit, you know, So I think that was a
21:52
Speaker 2: every once in a while, I think with the peed
21:54
Speaker 2: up two and knowing some of the players are going
21:56
Speaker 2: there and some of the players playing in fifth veryous
21:58
Speaker 2: Olympic teams, it's a good reminder again that they're they're
22:01
Speaker 2: student athletes and still learning and growing and developing for
22:04
Speaker 2: the little were developing Greens because that watching the game,
22:10
Speaker 2: it's a little what I felt.
22:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. Continuing on with the theme of Hockey East
22:18
Speaker 1: having a pretty good weekend against ECAC teams, you had
22:22
Speaker 1: Providence beating Brown number eleven ranks Brown three to two
22:25
Speaker 1: on overtime on Saturday for the Mayor's Cup. There in Providence,
22:28
Speaker 1: Audrey nap what they second, her second goal of the
22:31
Speaker 1: game to win it in overtime, and then New Hampshire
22:34
Speaker 1: beat Brown four to one on Sunday. Danicabatterol broke a
22:38
Speaker 1: one to one tie early in the third period and
22:39
Speaker 1: the Wildcats added a couple of empty net goals. Brown,
22:43
Speaker 1: now having lost three of its last four games, default
22:46
Speaker 1: to eight five and one overall. And I wonder if
22:51
Speaker 1: there's this is kind of pulled Hockey East a little
22:55
Speaker 1: bit closer to ECAC in terms of the non conference
22:58
Speaker 1: records directly, but between the two, ECC still has the
23:02
Speaker 1: better record in non conference play overall and indirect comparison
23:07
Speaker 1: with Hockey East, but seeing that gap shrink a little
23:11
Speaker 1: bit has made it possible for more hockey East seems
23:15
Speaker 1: to be in those, like you mentioned, the top fifteen
23:18
Speaker 1: of the NPI at this point the season. Now, again
23:21
Speaker 1: we're still very early. We're in the first half of
23:22
Speaker 1: the season, so the NPI is a little finnicky there,
23:25
Speaker 1: but you're starting to see it become a little bit
23:27
Speaker 1: more reliable in terms of giving a look at who
23:31
Speaker 1: could be a factor in the second half of the season.
23:35
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, all those two games did for me
23:38
Speaker 2: is reinforce the feeling that at any given time, everybody's
23:43
Speaker 2: pretty beatable right now, and there is nobody should be comfortable,
23:49
Speaker 2: particularly in those two leagues. But you know, it felt
23:52
Speaker 2: like Brown had put together this strig of really great
23:56
Speaker 2: outings and so not that I thought they were never
23:58
Speaker 2: going to lose or anything like that, but I did.
24:01
Speaker 2: Those were surprising to me in that that didn't feel
24:04
Speaker 2: like the same Brown team I had seen sort of
24:07
Speaker 2: come from behind and do some of the things they've
24:09
Speaker 2: done for the past few weeks. And so yeah, I
24:12
Speaker 2: think it's just a it's I think it's a it portends.
24:15
Speaker 2: What we're gonna see is this is the season keeps
24:18
Speaker 2: going in January and February, in that we're only going
24:22
Speaker 2: to see more and more really close margins we're in
24:25
Speaker 2: in conference, all those points and half points because sort
24:29
Speaker 2: docket e CEC will matter, And then I just think, yeah,
24:33
Speaker 2: it really reinforces that I think we're we're gonna see
24:35
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot more upsets or or maybe surprising.
24:40
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're upsets for anybody at this
24:43
Speaker 2: point anymore. It feels like the not right word to use,
24:45
Speaker 2: but yeah, I would the fact that we've moved to
24:50
Speaker 2: more one and done in playoff formats definitely feels like
24:52
Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna be seeing it's in chaos upcoming.
24:57
Speaker 1: Very much. So. You can also see the rest of
24:59
Speaker 1: the skoo from last weekend. The schedules for this week
25:02
Speaker 1: coming up at uscho dot com, so make sure to
25:06
Speaker 1: check those out. We are going to take a quick
25:09
Speaker 1: break when we come back. We are going to look
25:11
Speaker 1: ahead to the number one versus Number two matchup in
25:14
Speaker 1: Columbus this coming week, and we are going to look
25:17
Speaker 1: back at Nicole's appearance on television last week. So stay
25:22
Speaker 1: with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast,
25:32
Speaker 1: tod Nicole with you for the second segment Here which
25:35
Speaker 1: we'll start with a look at games that the last
25:40
Speaker 1: eleven times at Wisconsin and Ohio State have played, going
25:43
Speaker 1: back a couple of seasons, it has been number one
25:45
Speaker 1: versus number two, which tells you how how in control
25:49
Speaker 1: of those top two spots in the rankings these two
25:51
Speaker 1: teams have been. It'll be Badgers and Buckeyes rematch of
25:55
Speaker 1: the last three NCAA Championship games on Friday and Saturday
25:59
Speaker 1: in Columbus, their first two meetings of the season, and
26:03
Speaker 1: it's an important two meetings of the season, Nicole, because
26:06
Speaker 1: these are the only ones where at least in the
26:09
Speaker 1: regular season, nothing's guaranteed in the postseason. But in the
26:12
Speaker 1: regular season, both of these teams are gonna have their
26:14
Speaker 1: full teams because when they play in February, you're gonna
26:18
Speaker 1: have players gone for the Olympics. So you think about
26:22
Speaker 1: it that way, this is a real chance for both
26:25
Speaker 1: of these teams to put a stamp on control of
26:30
Speaker 1: the w CHA was goes in with a one point lead,
26:33
Speaker 1: but that's, you know, pretty negligible when it comes to
26:39
Speaker 1: teams having still to play four games against each other.
26:43
Speaker 2: Like what I'm look, what the number of points either
26:47
Speaker 2: team gets is far less important than sort of the
26:49
Speaker 2: vibes that come out of out of this weekend in
26:52
Speaker 2: terms of like who feels like the team that is
26:55
Speaker 2: most likely to be in charge heading into the season.
27:01
Speaker 2: I just think like this is a really important gut check,
27:03
Speaker 2: probably most likely for Wisconsin in terms of of just
27:08
Speaker 2: like knowing where you stand knowing I mean, I think,
27:11
Speaker 2: you know, they're obviously both very talented teams that are
27:14
Speaker 2: both going to play you know, their absolute best. But
27:18
Speaker 2: you know, I think the questions are, as we mentioned
27:20
Speaker 2: a little bit, is we don't see a ton of
27:22
Speaker 2: defense from Ohio States. That's not to say that I
27:24
Speaker 2: don't think they have it. We just it's hard to
27:27
Speaker 2: know how they'll handle sort of the You're talking to
27:31
Speaker 2: teams that are pretty relentless against each other, right Like,
27:33
Speaker 2: it's wave after wave of talent, and so there's there's
27:37
Speaker 2: not really any time to take off the you know,
27:40
Speaker 2: take your foot off the gas, or that any time
27:42
Speaker 2: to really catch your breath. And so in terms of
27:45
Speaker 2: an Ohio State defense that isn't super tested week after week,
27:50
Speaker 2: how do they handle you know, being tested by by
27:53
Speaker 2: literal you know, Olympic World last talent and on the
27:56
Speaker 2: other side of the reason I think Wisconsin this is
27:58
Speaker 2: probably more important for them is that they've they've had
28:01
Speaker 2: some bobbles, right, Like, we've just seen some real like
28:04
Speaker 2: mental breakdowns, some real maybe sort of like check out
28:08
Speaker 2: laziness at times, like not clearing the puck. Well, you know,
28:12
Speaker 2: we saw it against Saint Cloud State, We've seen it,
28:14
Speaker 2: we saw it about against Minnesota, all those sort of
28:18
Speaker 2: little things that honestly they've done against other teams, but
28:21
Speaker 2: those teams haven't been able to make them pay for it.
28:23
Speaker 2: And Ohio State absolutely will exploit every one of those things.
28:27
Speaker 2: You better believe they're going to be for checking and
28:29
Speaker 2: looking for all of the bobbles and all of the
28:31
Speaker 2: things that that Wisconsin's been doing wrong at times this season,
28:35
Speaker 2: Like there's just going to be no room for error
28:37
Speaker 2: for them. And if they can't play to the best
28:39
Speaker 2: of their ability to play the game and that we've
28:42
Speaker 2: seen them capable of, or or maybe maybe what that's
28:46
Speaker 2: going to tell us is that they're not capable of.
28:47
Speaker 2: Maybe we're just saying this is the team we saw
28:49
Speaker 2: last season, and we assume because they were to most
28:51
Speaker 2: of the roster, that they're going to do it again
28:53
Speaker 2: this season. But yeah, I think Wisconsin's got a lot
28:56
Speaker 2: of questions to answer. They you know, have depth, and
29:00
Speaker 2: they have talent, and they've won games that maybe they
29:02
Speaker 2: shouldn't have based on some of the stuff that some
29:05
Speaker 2: of the lapses that they've had. And so to me,
29:08
Speaker 2: like that's what I mean by the vibe check, Like
29:10
Speaker 2: does Wisconsin step up and play what we how we
29:13
Speaker 2: think that they can how they like their roster says
29:16
Speaker 2: that they should be capable of it. Can they you know,
29:18
Speaker 2: go toe to toe with Ohio State? And if they don't,
29:21
Speaker 2: then I think there's probably conversations to be had about
29:24
Speaker 2: like are they are they in that conversation like is
29:28
Speaker 2: it them in Ohio State and maybe you know a
29:32
Speaker 2: couple other teams at the top or is it just
29:33
Speaker 2: Ohio State?
29:37
Speaker 1: Right Wisconsin has been number one in the USAHO dot
29:40
Speaker 1: Com pole since well last September, I think, or very
29:46
Speaker 1: very early the second week of the twenty four to
29:49
Speaker 1: twenty five season won the national championship by beating Ohio State.
29:54
Speaker 1: Last season, Ohio State number one in the MPI right
29:57
Speaker 1: now though Wisconsin second and like you men and State
30:00
Speaker 1: a point up in the WHA standings. Badgers have the
30:04
Speaker 1: first ranked offense in the country. Ohio State is second.
30:07
Speaker 1: These are all the things that have been happening every
30:09
Speaker 1: year where these two teams are right there, neck and
30:12
Speaker 1: neck with each other in a lot of statistical categories.
30:15
Speaker 1: Caroline Harvey leads the country with thirty seven points as
30:19
Speaker 1: a defender for Wisconsin, which is, I mean, something we
30:22
Speaker 1: need to talk about at some point is is it
30:25
Speaker 1: going to be feasible for someone like kk Harvey to
30:28
Speaker 1: win a Patty Kaz with a Olympic absence, So her
30:35
Speaker 1: stats are going to suffer hilldos fence and for Ohio
30:40
Speaker 1: State leading fresh with thirty one points, it's going to
30:43
Speaker 1: be all these things are going to factor. And we've
30:45
Speaker 1: touched on this, like real early in the season on
30:48
Speaker 1: what that's going to mean, and I think we'll we'll
30:49
Speaker 1: get to that when it gets closer to that time.
30:52
Speaker 1: But these are obviously teams that have players that are
30:58
Speaker 1: on a level that most teams in college hockey don't
31:02
Speaker 1: have women's college hockey do not have. So when you
31:05
Speaker 1: put them together, the level of play is and we've
31:10
Speaker 1: seen it in March in the last few seasons, the
31:14
Speaker 1: level of play is just ridiculous where we're spoiled having
31:19
Speaker 1: had the chance to see those games the last few
31:22
Speaker 1: seasons and just the details of them, of how how
31:27
Speaker 1: crisp they can be and how much they do pay attention,
31:31
Speaker 1: especially in those games that have been so close to
31:35
Speaker 1: how important it is to get the puck deep and
31:37
Speaker 1: how important it is to go fight for it. Those
31:39
Speaker 1: little things do show up in these kind of games
31:41
Speaker 1: where in a lot of games, you know, it's nice
31:44
Speaker 1: if it works, but it's not going to hurt you
31:46
Speaker 1: if it doesn't. These are the games that that definitely
31:49
Speaker 1: does matter.
31:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I think too. These are the type of
31:55
Speaker 2: games where their game play, into some extent, goes out
31:57
Speaker 2: the window, like it's not necessarily going to be pretty hockey.
32:01
Speaker 2: They don't both they're both not going to get to
32:03
Speaker 2: play the game they in a perfect girl world would
32:06
Speaker 2: want to play. And it's how they handle what they
32:10
Speaker 2: do with a whole lot less time in space, all
32:13
Speaker 2: of the like when all of the things that have
32:15
Speaker 2: worked for them and have gone well are out the window,
32:18
Speaker 2: Like who's the team that's still playing poised, Who's still
32:21
Speaker 2: you know, like you said, doing those little things, remembering
32:23
Speaker 2: their details, playing the kind of hockey that their coach
32:27
Speaker 2: wants them to be playing right, like, which is really
32:30
Speaker 2: hard to do when you you know, got joy done
32:32
Speaker 2: sprinting down the ice that you to four check, you know,
32:34
Speaker 2: like that's you have to make the right decision quickly
32:39
Speaker 2: in that timeframe. And and you know it's the same
32:41
Speaker 2: in the other end. Like if Kk's for check, it
32:44
Speaker 2: got you like, what are you doing? You know, if
32:45
Speaker 2: she's got the puk, you know she's leading the country
32:48
Speaker 2: with just nine goals with twenty eight assists. Like the
32:52
Speaker 2: thing that Caroline is leveled up this year, KKs leveled
32:54
Speaker 2: up this year is her sort of her vision and
32:57
Speaker 2: her playmaking on her ability to not just move the puck,
33:01
Speaker 2: but move the puck to her teammates like with I
33:06
Speaker 2: don't know it like decisively, like she will take a
33:08
Speaker 2: step and open up a lane or pull a defender
33:11
Speaker 2: and then perfectly place the puck in a way that
33:13
Speaker 2: I think is more detailed and more nuanced than maybe
33:17
Speaker 2: she had done in previous seasons. But all of those
33:20
Speaker 2: that little stuff like if you are or someone that
33:22
Speaker 2: really loves the game or someone that's looking to learn
33:25
Speaker 2: the game, watch this game and watch the details because
33:29
Speaker 2: this is all literal world class talent on both of
33:31
Speaker 2: those two teams. They are playing overall at a level
33:36
Speaker 2: similar to, if not better than, some of the p
33:39
Speaker 2: WHL stuff you're seeing like this is this is top
33:41
Speaker 2: tier tailent doing all of those tiny small things to
33:46
Speaker 2: make a difference in a game. And that's what makes
33:49
Speaker 2: it fun. And also because it is it is chaotic.
33:52
Speaker 2: It's not it's not going out there and setting up
33:55
Speaker 2: your plays and doing what you always want to do.
33:57
Speaker 2: It's it's reacting and using instincts, right because there isn't
34:01
Speaker 2: time to actually stop and make a decision. So how
34:03
Speaker 2: well does their chemistry work, How well are they you know,
34:06
Speaker 2: able to find each other? All that sort of stuff.
34:08
Speaker 2: But that's what's going to make these games great to watch,
34:12
Speaker 2: and it's going to happen at a speed that is
34:14
Speaker 2: like several steps higher than we've seen from most other
34:18
Speaker 2: games this season.
34:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the games at Ohio say that the Osuo
34:23
Speaker 1: ice rink always seem to happen faster just because that
34:26
Speaker 1: it it feels like everyone's on top of each other
34:29
Speaker 1: more there. I don't know what the exact dimensions of
34:32
Speaker 1: that rink are different. Yeah, people on the Wisconsin side
34:39
Speaker 1: have said for years that's not two hundred and by
34:41
Speaker 1: eighty five, and I I think there's some of that
34:45
Speaker 1: that just feels because of building. Everyone is so close
34:47
Speaker 1: to you that the roof is low, the side, the
34:49
Speaker 1: sides are close to you that it feels like it's
34:51
Speaker 1: tighter than when you're in a different or a bigger
34:54
Speaker 1: kind of arena. But it does feel like part of
35:00
Speaker 1: it is a function of how how State plays teams.
35:03
Speaker 1: They get on you fast when you have the puck,
35:06
Speaker 1: so that makes it feel like that the ice is
35:09
Speaker 1: small as you I would imagine.
35:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is the first i Ue Srida that I
35:13
Speaker 2: had ever walked into where there's still like ice outside
35:16
Speaker 2: the dasher boards, Like as you're walking around, the ice
35:19
Speaker 2: is still, and like literally there you climb up a
35:21
Speaker 2: ladder into the press box and you are absolutely gonna
35:24
Speaker 2: get a puck by you because like as you said,
35:26
Speaker 2: it's a really low roof, uh, and you're sort of
35:28
Speaker 2: right on top of everything. It is. It is a
35:30
Speaker 2: fascinating barn. I know that Ohio State has grown to
35:34
Speaker 2: love it and their fans love it. I do think
35:36
Speaker 2: that's an affectionate choice and they I both understand it
35:40
Speaker 2: and think that team deserves so much better than that rink.
35:43
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's going to be loud in there.
35:45
Speaker 2: They will, you know, put as many people as they
35:48
Speaker 2: can there is particularly long behind the goalie there with
35:51
Speaker 2: folks pounding on the boards. I just, yeah, it's uh.
35:56
Speaker 2: I think even if we get like you know, boring
35:59
Speaker 2: split where it's like three two one way and three
36:01
Speaker 2: to the other, I do think there's still a lot
36:03
Speaker 2: of things that will we'll see and learn from these
36:05
Speaker 2: games that will tell us a lot about how things
36:08
Speaker 2: will we'll look heading into the postseason. And I think
36:12
Speaker 2: let's not forget that, like I'll have sus had this circled.
36:15
Speaker 2: I mean they would have anyway, but the way that
36:17
Speaker 2: the National Championship went out like they were, it was
36:20
Speaker 2: eighteen seconds away from winning the title.
36:22
Speaker 1: Eighteen nine right being the number.
36:24
Speaker 2: And like I mean, I've heard someone say it. I
36:27
Speaker 2: don't know if it's a joker not, but I fully
36:29
Speaker 2: believe they have a sign somewhere in their locker room
36:31
Speaker 2: that say it's eighteen nine, because that's how that's how
36:34
Speaker 2: that team operates. Like they they get they get a
36:39
Speaker 2: lot of energy, and they get they create an underdog mentality,
36:43
Speaker 2: which at this point nobody believes in them because you
36:45
Speaker 2: are you know, you've played in however, many national championship beams.
36:48
Speaker 2: What it works for them to feel like they are,
36:51
Speaker 2: you know, sort of fighting against expectations that they're being disrespected.
36:55
Speaker 2: They probably don't love that they're number one in MPI,
36:57
Speaker 2: but people aren't voting them number one in the polls,
37:00
Speaker 2: and they're going to use all of that and they
37:03
Speaker 2: have a point to prove, and that's when Ohio State
37:06
Speaker 2: is the most dangerous. Like that that really works for
37:08
Speaker 2: them and their style and Muzza's style of coaching and
37:12
Speaker 2: sort of who they are as their ethos they're going
37:15
Speaker 2: to be. They're going to be out for I mean,
37:18
Speaker 2: even more so than any other one versus two or
37:22
Speaker 2: any other Wisconsin Oile Sea team like this this weekend
37:24
Speaker 2: is for them, is about proving a point and about
37:27
Speaker 2: that pride.
37:30
Speaker 1: Will be a lot for us to talk about after
37:34
Speaker 1: that one, So make sure you join us next week
37:36
Speaker 1: for more on how that finished off. Okay, let's take
37:40
Speaker 1: a spin around the rest of the country coming up
37:42
Speaker 1: this week. Also in the WCCHA number thirteen, Saint Cloud
37:47
Speaker 1: State at number twelve Minnesota State. The Mavericks have really
37:51
Speaker 1: taken a few steps here in the last few weeks,
37:55
Speaker 1: and it'll be interesting to kind of put the Mavericks
38:01
Speaker 1: and the Huskies together to figure out who's gonna make
38:06
Speaker 1: a run here at at Cracking the top four in
38:10
Speaker 1: the w c h A not can be very easy,
38:12
Speaker 1: because that's a pretty good good group that's up there.
38:18
Speaker 1: But let's see if if either one of these teams
38:22
Speaker 1: can get six points out of this weekend to make
38:24
Speaker 1: a difference there.
38:26
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, podcast favorite Mercury Bishof had another great weekend,
38:31
Speaker 2: scored a really pretty penalty shot. But you know that
38:36
Speaker 2: she's she's helped sort of had that team believe what
38:39
Speaker 2: they're they're capable of, and I think that's important. I
38:42
Speaker 2: also think this will just be an interesting meeting of
38:46
Speaker 2: two really different styles of hockey that sort of more
38:49
Speaker 2: European flair that that Saint Kyd State plays and and
38:53
Speaker 2: just so their their approach is different, and so it'll
38:56
Speaker 2: be interesting to see how they feel each other out
38:59
Speaker 2: and how they prepare for, you know, plague against that
39:02
Speaker 2: different style without losing their own identity.
39:07
Speaker 1: In ECAC there's a what I feel like is an
39:10
Speaker 1: important one for direction. As you get closer to the
39:14
Speaker 1: end of the first semester, you're going to take teams
39:16
Speaker 1: are going to take a break for a couple of weeks.
39:18
Speaker 1: Number nine Quinnipiac at number eight Cornell on Friday. Both
39:23
Speaker 1: of these teams kind of need or not necessarily turnaround,
39:28
Speaker 1: but just a readjustment in terms of where where they're
39:31
Speaker 1: pointed before they get into that break period. I think
39:37
Speaker 1: Cornell being at home that helps them, but we've seen
39:42
Speaker 1: that hasn't been perfect for them there either.
39:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's an important If people don't know,
39:49
Speaker 2: this is more or less our last weekend of games.
39:51
Speaker 2: There's a handful of games next weekend. There'll be some stuff,
39:54
Speaker 2: you know, or on the holidays, but more or less
39:56
Speaker 2: this is our last regular week of slate of until
40:02
Speaker 2: after the new year. And so yeah, I think, like
40:04
Speaker 2: you said, it's it's I don't think it's the be all,
40:07
Speaker 2: end all, but I think for both those teams it
40:09
Speaker 2: would be really important to set the tone heading into
40:13
Speaker 2: that break right like you want to be. You want
40:15
Speaker 2: to move into that holiday break and have some of
40:18
Speaker 2: that downtime on a positive note on things you can
40:21
Speaker 2: build on and not sentenced to on what could have been.
40:25
Speaker 2: And I think if Cornell drops some more points this
40:28
Speaker 2: weekend that will be be a lot less comfortable break
40:32
Speaker 2: for them.
40:35
Speaker 1: And then Quinnipiac on Saturday plays at number fourteen Colgate.
40:38
Speaker 1: Colgate hosts number eleven Princeton on Friday, and then of course,
40:42
Speaker 1: because of the travel partners, Princeton at Cornell on Saturday.
40:46
Speaker 1: Those are a lot of the teams that are going
40:48
Speaker 1: to be I'm just pulling up the ECAC standings. It's
40:53
Speaker 1: you know, eighteen points for Cornell at the top, and
40:58
Speaker 1: you're midway through the pack and it's thirteen points, and
41:01
Speaker 1: so with Saint Lawrence down in sixth. So a lot
41:06
Speaker 1: of teams are going to have a big say in
41:09
Speaker 1: things in the race for the championship in the second half.
41:13
Speaker 1: And these kind of games here are the ones where
41:16
Speaker 1: you can get a little bit of an edge over
41:19
Speaker 1: some of the teams are going to be in that
41:20
Speaker 1: race with and so they may be Okay, you're just
41:24
Speaker 1: getting to the end of the first semester here, but
41:26
Speaker 1: these are going to be important games for the finish.
41:30
Speaker 2: We're talking about, you know, some of the ranked teams,
41:32
Speaker 2: but like it's entirely possible that Princeton sweeps their weekend,
41:36
Speaker 2: like they're a team that has gone out and got
41:38
Speaker 2: some big wins and just sort of hasn't really broken
41:41
Speaker 2: through to stay in the ranking. So yeah, none of those,
41:45
Speaker 2: none of those are easy wins for any of those
41:47
Speaker 2: four teams, so should be fascinating hockey. But yeah, I
41:50
Speaker 2: think all every one of them is looking to make
41:53
Speaker 2: a statement and really like put themselves in a position
41:57
Speaker 2: to really jump off into the second half. So I'd
42:01
Speaker 2: like to think the scheduler is for a lot of funness.
42:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And then in Hockey East, a one that stood
42:11
Speaker 1: out to me Number six Northeastern hosting Boston College on Saturday.
42:14
Speaker 1: It's the last game at Matthew's Arena for the Husky's
42:18
Speaker 1: women's hockey team, and it's it's interesting to have your
42:21
Speaker 1: senior Day in December, but that's what they're doing because
42:25
Speaker 1: the rest of their games they're they're not going to
42:27
Speaker 1: have a true home for a couple of years now,
42:30
Speaker 1: and so this is as that kind of goes on
42:35
Speaker 1: into the second half of the season. That is an
42:37
Speaker 1: important thing to watch with Northeastern. They've been off to
42:42
Speaker 1: a good start, they are nine and one at home,
42:47
Speaker 1: but they're not going to have the feeling of.
42:51
Speaker 2: Home home anymore.
42:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, I'm gonna be kind of trying to keep it,
42:58
Speaker 1: keep an eye on that and see if that has
43:00
Speaker 1: any factor in in how some of these games are
43:04
Speaker 1: are are going to go. And I guess which how
43:08
Speaker 1: it shakes out for the Huskies in the second half
43:11
Speaker 1: of the season.
43:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's that that will be a very big
43:15
Speaker 2: and emotional game for them this week. Uh and and
43:18
Speaker 2: BC will be looking to take advantage of that for sure.
43:20
Speaker 2: But that, yeah, that's a that's a little piece of
43:22
Speaker 2: hockey history, and particularly women's hockey history in Boston. So
43:28
Speaker 2: if you get a chance to tune in, you should
43:30
Speaker 2: just to get sort of that one more last look
43:32
Speaker 2: at at Matthew's. But that that's a really interesting point
43:34
Speaker 2: in terms of of the they love playing there, they
43:38
Speaker 2: love their fan base. They they much like I talked
43:41
Speaker 2: about Aho State, they sort of embraced their their old barn.
43:43
Speaker 2: And so I do think, yeah, like there, there isn't
43:47
Speaker 2: no home advantage when you don't have that home anymore,
43:51
Speaker 2: all right.
43:52
Speaker 1: So they're going to be playing a lot of different venues.
43:54
Speaker 1: I mean, Boston is an area that is lucky have
43:57
Speaker 1: quite a few college hockey capable venues, and so they'll
44:01
Speaker 1: they'll be playing in a few of them as their
44:04
Speaker 1: new arena is being built on the same site over
44:06
Speaker 1: the next couple of years. If you're in Boston and
44:10
Speaker 1: have never been to Matthew's Arena, take that opportunity to
44:13
Speaker 1: go check out Saturday's game. It's a I've been there,
44:17
Speaker 1: well for two days. I was there a couple of
44:21
Speaker 1: years ago, and it's a it's an interesting old barn
44:24
Speaker 1: and I'm glad I was there to see it for
44:26
Speaker 1: at least that brief period of time, because wow, that's uh,
44:28
Speaker 1: it took me back to some some some old days
44:32
Speaker 1: of old rinks that I was at when I was
44:36
Speaker 1: a kid, and man, that's a there's just so much
44:39
Speaker 1: history in there, and and they don't design buildings like
44:42
Speaker 1: that anymore with for good reason in a lot of ways.
44:44
Speaker 1: But it does have it's it's charm and uh.
44:49
Speaker 2: It's also but also it's just an old place.
44:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, right. I I did find the the worst possible
44:58
Speaker 1: seat there where you're like literally really staring at a
45:01
Speaker 1: poll for you know, the entire game. But hopefully they
45:05
Speaker 1: don't sell that one, but yeah, so I have. So again,
45:11
Speaker 1: check out the schedule page on us EHO dot com
45:14
Speaker 1: for all of the games this week. Nicole, before we go,
45:18
Speaker 1: I am so glad that the question about uh, written
45:24
Speaker 1: or read by JJ Watt about Reggie White as in
45:29
Speaker 1: Wisconsin Night, you got that one correct on Jeopardy last Thursday. So,
45:33
Speaker 1: first off, congratulations on home. Yeah there, there would have
45:37
Speaker 1: been some discussions there, but congratulations on just going through that.
45:42
Speaker 1: And it looks like it was a super cool, just
45:47
Speaker 1: kind of moment in time. I wonder if if you
45:51
Speaker 1: want to now that you can tell us everything about
45:53
Speaker 1: what happened instead of just you know, the parts that
45:56
Speaker 1: are not about the broadcast. But what what are you
46:00
Speaker 1: going to remember about that day of kind of taking
46:05
Speaker 1: that Allie in.
46:06
Speaker 2: Honestly, that question is what stuck with me. But can
46:09
Speaker 2: I admit that I didn't remember that J J Watt
46:11
Speaker 2: read it. I just remembered I got the Reggie White question.
46:15
Speaker 2: So I faced Harrison, who's a super champion at this point,
46:18
Speaker 2: he's like top twelve all time Jeopardy winner and so,
46:24
Speaker 2: and I watched him beat six other people before I
46:26
Speaker 2: had to go on. And also like warm up his
46:29
Speaker 2: his buzzer finger, which is the hardest part to begin with.
46:31
Speaker 2: And so yeah, yeah, at some point you're a little like,
46:35
Speaker 2: I can't believe I had all this build up and
46:37
Speaker 2: this is like a little bit afterwards, I was like,
46:40
Speaker 2: that's it. Like that, that's what I just built myself
46:42
Speaker 2: up for to be like bulldozed by this super champ.
46:45
Speaker 2: But I will say in the past like week or
46:47
Speaker 2: so of everybody being so kind and nice and excited
46:50
Speaker 2: about it has like totally not that I got over
46:53
Speaker 2: that pretty quick, but like has really changed my sort
46:56
Speaker 2: of lasting impression of doing this. I think I never
47:01
Speaker 2: it wasn't a lifelong goal because it wasn't something I
47:04
Speaker 2: had ever thought about doing, Like it just didn't really
47:07
Speaker 2: occur to me. And I did this a little bit
47:08
Speaker 2: on a whim, and it all went really.
47:10
Speaker 1: Well for me.
47:11
Speaker 2: And I'm sure there are people that absolutely hate me
47:12
Speaker 2: for that, but it's all it was all such a
47:15
Speaker 2: whirlwind that like it was a little like spinning a
47:20
Speaker 2: bunch and then just stopping and like trying to find
47:22
Speaker 2: your bearings coming out of app like getting my butt
47:24
Speaker 2: beat by Harrison and so so yeah, there was just
47:27
Speaker 2: a little like trying to find that equilibrium, but honestly
47:30
Speaker 2: it was it was hard to beat him on the buzzer.
47:32
Speaker 2: The buzzer is hard anyway, and then he was, you know,
47:34
Speaker 2: in his fourth game of the day and you're in
47:36
Speaker 2: your sweet spot in his thirteenth or fourteenth game overall.
47:39
Speaker 2: And so just getting in on some stuff was really nice.
47:44
Speaker 2: Getting the only sports category that happened the week of
47:46
Speaker 2: my tapings because they take five a day, so I
47:48
Speaker 2: got the NFL category and that was the only sports category.
47:52
Speaker 2: And then there was one that was literally on a
47:53
Speaker 2: tee for me, and I beat him. They beat Harrison,
47:55
Speaker 2: which was awesome. There was also one about Tottenham Hotspur. Actually,
47:59
Speaker 2: somebody commented that I was laughing about it being taught them.
48:01
Speaker 2: They're like, oh, she must be an Arsenal fan, and
48:03
Speaker 2: I was like, actually, I was laughing because Erison lives
48:06
Speaker 2: in England and so I was just really excited to
48:08
Speaker 2: beat him to the buzzer on on something that very
48:11
Speaker 2: much was in his wheelhouse. Uh So, yeah, those, it's
48:14
Speaker 2: it's more the little stuff that I remember from that.
48:18
Speaker 2: The lasting I think has just been how sort of
48:23
Speaker 2: joyful and happy, like everybody's been so nice in a
48:27
Speaker 2: way that like is both uncomfortable and like truly delightful
48:31
Speaker 2: and like makes me happy. But uh, it's just been
48:37
Speaker 2: beyond like you couldn't have dreamed it. Like even if
48:40
Speaker 2: this was a lifelong dream, I still think it would
48:42
Speaker 2: have exceeded it. It just it just was a really
48:44
Speaker 2: cool experience. And I'm thrilled that I got to do it,
48:48
Speaker 2: and I'm thrilled that I didn't make an ass of
48:51
Speaker 2: myself un publiced in front of everybody. I didn't get
48:56
Speaker 2: any questions wrong, and my two things, I got the
48:58
Speaker 2: final jeopardy wrong, but also I couldn't lose second place,
49:02
Speaker 2: and so when it didn't come to me, I also
49:03
Speaker 2: didn't try very hard to get it. I was like,
49:06
Speaker 2: was a question that involves Avengers, I won't spoil just
49:09
Speaker 2: in case anybody else, I'll watch it. But I could
49:11
Speaker 2: not think of the third Avengers movie. Well, I'm like, well,
49:13
Speaker 2: it's not Infinity War and it's not Age of Ultron,
49:16
Speaker 2: and I could not come up with endgame, Like my
49:19
Speaker 2: head just would not go there. And I just was like, well,
49:23
Speaker 2: so I just took a time to like look around
49:24
Speaker 2: the studio and really soak it all in because it
49:27
Speaker 2: couldn't lose second place, and I will. A thing that
49:30
Speaker 2: I haven't talked about is they literally give you a
49:32
Speaker 2: sharpian a piece of paper to do the math for
49:35
Speaker 2: the final thing, and neither of the other two guys
49:37
Speaker 2: in my episode did that, like they just didn't care.
49:40
Speaker 2: I don't, but I wanted to make sure I stayed
49:43
Speaker 2: with a dollar more than double the guy in third
49:46
Speaker 2: And I'm journalist. Guys, we've talked about we do. I
49:49
Speaker 2: don't math. I do not, So like everybody is waiting
49:52
Speaker 2: for me as I'm like quite literally hand calculating and
49:56
Speaker 2: being like, don't screw this up. Don't screw this U.
50:00
Speaker 2: That was a funny moment, but yeah, it's it. Yeah,
50:05
Speaker 2: the whole thing is still entirely surreal. I was really
50:08
Speaker 2: excited to not have to sit and watch it in
50:09
Speaker 2: front of my entire extended family or my husband's exti family.
50:14
Speaker 2: But then on Thursday or Friday, we went to a
50:16
Speaker 2: bar and some friends came and I ended up being
50:17
Speaker 2: projected up on the wall, which is not something I
50:22
Speaker 2: want to repeat. But everybody was just really nice, like
50:25
Speaker 2: total strangers came over to watch and things like that.
50:27
Speaker 2: So it's been overwhelming like there were times in September
50:32
Speaker 2: when I was like, what is happening? Is like the
50:34
Speaker 2: hockey season was, I was like, I'm not meeting deadline,
50:36
Speaker 2: but then staying up till one in the morning studying
50:39
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. But it's it was entirely
50:41
Speaker 2: worth it. It's it's been a blast, And I think
50:44
Speaker 2: under the circumstances, I was like, would I have liked
50:47
Speaker 2: to not face here? Sisly like it felt like there's
50:50
Speaker 2: no way I'm winning. But I also like, at the
50:53
Speaker 2: midpoint of the game was close to him. We got
50:55
Speaker 2: a really hard board in the circuit round, and that's
50:59
Speaker 2: just how it went. I mean, we we've all stood there. Oh. Also,
51:01
Speaker 2: I what I learned is that I make a ton
51:03
Speaker 2: of faces, which I guess I kind of know watching this,
51:06
Speaker 2: but if you're watching this, you will notice that I
51:08
Speaker 2: close my eyes or look away quite a bit. But yeah,
51:10
Speaker 2: I am one giant reaction meme. During and during that taping,
51:16
Speaker 2: sidyat Thanksgiving and the episode showed some places and people
51:20
Speaker 2: are sending me screw like pictures of their TV with
51:22
Speaker 2: me making faces while I'm eating Thanksgiving dinner. So you know,
51:27
Speaker 2: what are you gonna do?
51:29
Speaker 1: Right? Well, and you got a shout out for women's
51:31
Speaker 1: hockey out there, so that was cool. So that was
51:35
Speaker 1: nice awesome. Well, yeah, glad that you had that opportunity.
51:40
Speaker 1: And if you didn't get a chance to see it yet,
51:42
Speaker 1: it is on the Peacock still for a couple more
51:44
Speaker 1: days as of our recording here early in the week
51:48
Speaker 1: and so you can check it out there. But yeah,
51:53
Speaker 1: pretty cool opportunity.
51:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.
51:55
Speaker 1: So how how did you for the last thing? I
51:58
Speaker 1: want to ask about that? If people are interested in
52:01
Speaker 1: doing that and getting on Jeopardy, how how did you
52:05
Speaker 1: do it? And what? Like what was the process of
52:10
Speaker 1: Like you did it on some website correct that they
52:13
Speaker 1: applied for it.
52:14
Speaker 2: Jeopardy dot com has an online test. You are not
52:17
Speaker 2: signing up to take the test. When you go in,
52:19
Speaker 2: the test will just start, so be prepared for that.
52:22
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. That probably helped me because I
52:24
Speaker 2: did not freak out it like the clock started and
52:26
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I'm just going to start answering questions.
52:29
Speaker 2: And I think too, it's important like while I do
52:31
Speaker 2: think you know, Jeopardy contestants are smart and do have
52:34
Speaker 2: a wide variety of knowledge, like also it's just look
52:37
Speaker 2: at the draw and what the questions are, you know,
52:40
Speaker 2: like we had a whole category in trees and we
52:41
Speaker 2: all just stood there. But they're probably people that are like, oh,
52:43
Speaker 2: why did you know that? And I think that, like
52:46
Speaker 2: you have to whatever. The twenty five question first test
52:50
Speaker 2: is like you just have to be able to hit
52:52
Speaker 2: some of that. So I did that. I took I
52:55
Speaker 2: got invited back to take a second test, which is
52:57
Speaker 2: fifty questions. It's still just typing on your computer, but
53:00
Speaker 2: ones on Zoom so they can make sure you're not cheating.
53:02
Speaker 2: And then the third round was like a game on Zoom,
53:06
Speaker 2: Like I competed against three other people and I had
53:08
Speaker 2: a little ten for my clicker and had to do
53:10
Speaker 2: an interview with the producers. So yeah, it's uh the
53:15
Speaker 2: process for me. I think I started right at the
53:17
Speaker 2: end of June and I was booked by mid September,
53:20
Speaker 2: and I taped on October twenty first, and then it
53:24
Speaker 2: aired on Thanksgiving, so super quick turned around. But if
53:28
Speaker 2: you fast all those you get put in the contestant
53:30
Speaker 2: pool for two years, so you could be pulled at
53:31
Speaker 2: any point. And if you're not pulled at the end
53:34
Speaker 2: of that two years, then you can start the whole
53:36
Speaker 2: process over again. A right, that's the short well the
53:40
Speaker 2: shortened version.
53:41
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so I'm sure there are some people out
53:44
Speaker 1: there that are rushing to that website jeparty dot com
53:47
Speaker 1: and going to take care of it right now. All right, Well,
53:50
Speaker 1: that's going to wrap it up for this week. We
53:52
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy this week's games. You can check out,
53:55
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, all of the the schedules and I've
54:00
Speaker 1: scores on us HL dot com and you can watch
54:03
Speaker 1: a lot of those games on streaming services. That Northeastern
54:06
Speaker 1: BC game is on Nessen Saturday afternoons, so you can
54:10
Speaker 1: check that out if you have nesson or if you
54:13
Speaker 1: have ESPN Plus, it'll be on that as well. So Forticle,
54:16
Speaker 1: I'm Todd. Thanks for watching or listening to the Bodycast.