Latest / College Hockey Mouth / Episode 12: Linden Palmer | MTSU and Veterans Cup Preview

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Episode 12: Linden Palmer | MTSU and Veterans Cup Preview · College Hockey Mouth

• speaker-0: Welcome back everyone to the College Hockey Mouth Podcast, a College Hockey South series, episode number twelve, with our friends Devin Serra alongside Gavin Coker and Danny Bohm, the original trio. Getting ready for a Veterans Cup. Before we talk about that boys, what went on in your world this weekend? speaker-1: This weekend, I don't know. So I'll I'll start with something today. I got a couple of things. When I was coming back ⁓ from the park today, I saw like a soccer mom van. So just picture this, it's soccer mom van completely blacked out. Like flat black paint job, the windows completely tinted, the wheels with the rims and everything. So I don't know like but it was just like a regular like minivan. I don't understand the purpose of that. Someone's getting picked up from their like six years soccer practice. And just like their mom's coming correct. So I thought that was funny. And number two, Texas with another big win this weekend, beating a top ten bandy team, which is weird to say. So back in the playoff conversation, not a big deal. And book it right now. They're gonna go into Athens two weeks from now and beat Georgia. speaker-0: Okay, so some big words from the South Carolinian. ⁓ hey Gavin, how was your Halloween? I saw you and the missus dressed up a little bit. speaker-2: Yeah, so my sister, funny enough, her birthday is on Halloween. She turned twenty one. So I'll just let you ⁓ think about what happened from there. I'll I'll leave that there. But ⁓ yeah, did that and then we had a work party the next night, so a little bit of a action pack weekend, and then followed some small college basketball for my school, which was a good time start to the NCAA D two season. And then I think the biggest win this week was ⁓ my fantasy win. in the ⁓ CHS Puck Talk League. And I gotta bring it up because it was me versus Devin and ⁓ I came up on top. You know, I'm on a three game win streak, so we're feeling pretty good. speaker-0: Well, full disclaimer, I forgot to set my line up three out of those six days in our game. Brush it off. I'm three and one. I'm feeling good. I'm not close to last. I'm definitely not finishing last this year. Danny though, on the other hand, you better watch out, man, 'cause you're gonna have to do Listen, we we've got the punishment set. We're not gonna reveal it on this pod. If you know, you know. You better step it up, man, because ⁓ it's getting scary for you. speaker-1: But speaker-2: I don't need an excuse. speaker-1: No, I mean I I took the dub this week and you know, I'm I'm kinda like the Dodgers. Like you had a chance to to put me away. I was ⁓ and three and you didn't. So I'm all I'm saying is I'm like the Dodgers. You might end up like the Blue Jays guys. speaker-0: Well, rest in peace to the Blue Jays. World Series run. Hell of a game seven, by the way. Congrats to the Dodgers and their fans on a second consecutive World Series. My weekend was pretty relaxed, in all honesty. Halloween we called me and Wesmore the Miami and FAU game in ACDC ⁓ three. Pretty fun. FAU was ⁓ able to get back on track in a win there and and they had a pretty bad loss to Lynn, we'll talk about a little bit later. All things though considered I had a relaxed Halloween. I Probably the first time in six or seven years I have not gone out on October thirty first. So that was a little weird, but ⁓ made the most of it. It was good. But enough about us. We've got one of our most special guests coming up on this episode. He is a all time points leader, games played, any category you wanna name at middle Tennessee. He probably holds the record for it. The captain of the Blue Raiders. Please welcome to College Hockey Mouth, Lyndon Palmer. Lyndon, welcome to the pod. Mr, Mr, Mr. Where do we begin? You guys are off the one heck of a start. You lead the charge. You're from Tennessee. You're from the heart of the bluegrass state, baby. Tell us about you growing up in hockey and how you got to where you are. speaker-3: Boys, thank you for having me. Yeah, so went to a Predators game when I was I think three and instantly fell in love with it. So my dad took me to a public skate and kinda kinda took off from there. He said that the second second time I went out, I quit holding the boards and I was four years old. So he he kinda knew that it was meant to be and ⁓ so he throws me in house league. Kinda I mean, I do pretty well in that. So at the time it was It was the Ice Tigers, I believe. And then they turned into the Nashville Flyers. So played that for a couple years. When the junior preds came around, played that for I think I was like eight U to all the way to fourteen U. And then I went back to the Flyers and finished out all through eighteen U and then decided to go to MTSU and stay local. So stayed local all my life. We we talked about going off and billeting with another family, playing junior hockey, but I felt I don't know, I felt the need to stay around here and just just go straight to college. And thankfully I did. speaker-1: Yeah, well you've you've turned into Mr. MTSU hockey for sure. ⁓ I'm gonna take you back a couple of years. ⁓ you guys just missed out on conference playoffs and in turn, missed missed out on nationals. And really since then, your team's been on a mission. You know, you ended up winning conference championship last season, national semifinalist at at nationals, AAU nationals, and you're tearing it up through the first part of this season. Do you think that was a a big turning point for your program? speaker-3: Absolutely. I mean, I think that year that you're talking about where we just slightly missed, we focused so hard that off season in bringing in good good recruits, good talent. And we landed a guy named Brendan Ogle and he I mean he catapulted this team. And so we got him, then we he brought in another guy named Ethan DeMumbrum. And then he came along. That's when we had our big breakout season. It's it's just adding these depth pieces, even though I mean they're both first liners. It's bringing everyone down a line and just having that much depth. And then we do that and everyone sees sees us and sees how we're growing. They love what we're doing. I mean, our coach J J Murray does a fantastic job every off season. We have probably a Zoom call every week, maybe two a week, just talking to recruits, giving them what campus life is like, trying to bring them in. And so it's it's really refreshing to see people actually wanting to come to MTSU now 'cause in the pat well, when I first started here as a beer league team and it wasn't even a glorified beer league team, that's what it was. So just seeing where we are now and the level of talent that we have is really refreshing. speaker-2: Yeah, and you've talked about all that talent and you guys have a lot of key players. How did you end up becoming captain and what does that mean to you personally? speaker-3: Well, my sophomore year I I decided that I wanted a piece in leadership and so ⁓ I took over as vice president in my sophomore year and was voted assistant captain. And then my junior year I got handed presidency and I was voted captain, took presidency into my senior year and so I've been it's my third year as captain now. ⁓ I don't know. I think partially it came from being president, but I I view myself as a good leader by example. I'm not the the most outspoken guy on the team, but I keep people what's the word? Accountable. I keep people accountable every practice, every game. I give constructive criticism. I d I'm not one to, you know, go into somebody's face and tell them they suck and do better. I think JJ Murray, our coach, put in put a lot of trust in me and I put a lot of trust in him 'cause when our my coach resigned my sophomore year, I basically just asked JJ to take over as head coach. And I would say that that was the best decision that we made. But yeah, I think he just put a lot of trust in me and I felt that. So I wanted to to run with it and build this program up. speaker-0: Hey Lyndon, we'd be remiss if we did not talk about your father commentating on Middle Tennessee games. Brady Palmer, he's one of the the most popular guys around college hockey south. Do you ever feel ⁓ any pressure from him calling games? Has it has it been like something your teammates rag you on, or what's it been like having him around your program? speaker-3: See there's there's no pressure to me, but just this year they've started giving me a little crap about I don't know why. they s they say that, you know, he freaks out if I do something and they claim that he doesn't freak out as much if anyone else does it. But you go back and listen and Matt Siciliano will toe drag somebody and he goes crazy about it. So I don't know where this started, but I don't know. He's he's done it since my sixteen U year. He started just videoing and then my eighteen U he He decided to start commentating it. ⁓ he carried it into MTSU just as a hobby. And now he's not paid or anything, but he genuinely loves to do it. And I asked him at nationals, I was like, is this gonna kill you not being able to commentate these games? And he's like, Yes. Because it it gives him a sense of, I guess, and not having to stress over the game. He just goes with the flow of it. So it is cool to have him doing it though. We all we all appreciate. speaker-1: Yeah, ⁓ shout out to Penalty Box Radio. He does a great job. ⁓ another thing I had to bring up, and this is something we brought up a whole bunch of times on the podcast, conference championship game against South Florida. You guys have come out, have a great first period. I think you go up three nothing. And then I think something may have happened in that first intermission. Yeah. Do you wanna you wanna take it from there? speaker-3: Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, we came out hot and first intermission we our coach comes in, he's ⁓ it's gonna be an hour delay. The the Zamboni broke down and they didn't pick up what is the it's not the edger. I don't know what it is, but it digs into the eye. It dug like this deep hole. And so they were they were like, ⁓ it's gonna be an hour delay. They were trying to fix it. Then he comes back in about 30 minutes after saying it's gonna be another hour delay. So We're all annoyed and frustrated as crap. And luckily there is I think that rink had two other sheets and there was a men's league game going on. Well supposed to go on, and they they so graciously offered their ice to us so that we could finish. And apparently that was a big ordeal getting all the camera stuff over there. My dad was stressed about that. No, that was I mean, it sucked for us and USF. I I can't imagine what they went through down three ⁓ I guess I guess they thought that they would have a better chance. 'Cause you know, we lost all our momentum. They're a great team, don't get me wrong. Grant Grant Dietz is a great player. He's it took all of us to shut him down. But yeah, it was it was a ⁓ big hiccup in our in our momentum. speaker-1: If I can ⁓ I I have one follow-up because the game you guys continued your momentum, ⁓ ended up winning a four to nothing. And it it it sounds like a blowout, but your goalie, Aiden Kopeck, had he had to you know, he worked his ass off. He made a bunch of saves. I don't remember the exact number. But seconds are tickened down, you guys come off the bench, big celly, but he goes straight to the bench and then yaks in the trash can. I don't know if you remember this, but your whole team, the boys went crazy. Mm. I that was one of my favorite moments of the entire season last year. speaker-3: Yeah, big shout out to Kopech. ⁓ I think the third period alone, we kinda lost our legs a little bit and he had to have faced thirty shots in that third period. I mean, they were just shelling him. And he's the goalie when when he's getting shelled, he gets in a rhythm. And that's honestly when he's best. So yeah, but him going over to the to the trash can and just yakking. It's so funny. speaker-0: Hey ⁓ real quick, I gotta ask, what's better, winning a conference championship or seeing your ⁓ buddy get married on the ice with Copec? Getting engaged. speaker-3: Yes, engaged. Me personally the the championship was cool. I don't know. I'd have to ask him what he preferred if if the engagement was cooler to him. speaker-1: hope that the engagement was cooler for him. No offense to to the conference championship game, but speaker-3: Yeah, you would hope so. He did allow I think I think they scored like five on us though. So I think he was a little upset about that, but luckily we still won. No, no absolutely not. speaker-1: You can't propose after a loss. speaker-2: I feel like that's a part of ⁓ the captain holding him accountable. I think if you let that happen, that's it's probably not doing too great a job as captain. But we were talking about you guys getting the conference championship and now you guys have it's still early in the season, M3 rankings came out, and you guys are number one on that list. What's that like for your team? speaker-3: But I think it's just a huge testament to what this team puts in. Each and every each and every player, you know, they they come in Tuesday mornings, work their rear ends off, Wednesday nights, it's the same story. So ultimately they they won it. We were we were so close last year at nationals and I think that's what brought a lot of us back. You know, we have I think we have two or three guys leaving after this first semester and then come next year we're gonna I think we're gonna have another five guys leaving. So it was it was just kind of coming back with vengeance. I guess you could say it's kinda cringy, but yeah, we just we wanted to make a statement and make a statement early so that we we want everybody's best game and being number one, that's exactly what you're gonna get. speaker-0: You guys are gonna play another big weekend Veterans Cup. Now we know it's it's not gonna be an easy test for you. What do you I think your team is capable of out in Huntsville and ultimately what do you guys wanna get out of that along with the championship? speaker-3: Yeah. We just wanna see the momentum keep going, you know. We we played in it I think two years ago and we played really well. I think we started with might have been Bama. I can't remember, but we played really well, came up short in that first game. So I would like to think we're going into this as a favorites and ⁓ obviously that brings a lot of pressure, but you know, people say pressure makes diamonds. So hopefully we play our best hockey and we can come home with that trophy. So speaker-1: With with the game growing down here in the South specifically, club hockey, recruiting has become more of a a commonplace. If you had to pitch MTSU hockey to someone considering coming here in thirty seconds, what would you say? speaker-3: In thirty seconds. Wow. speaker-1: Or whatever however long y you need. speaker-3: I would start with our campus for sure. Our campus life is awesome. Just everybody everybody around it. I've never gone to parties, but they say parties are cool. Our biggest pitch is, you know, we're 30 minutes from Nashville, so really easy to get to Broadway. That's what a lot of people like to come here and do. You know, we've got Preds and Titans. It's n it's not so much what MTSU has to offer as it is just what our area has to offer. Now in terms of In terms of hockey, we have a super devoted coach. I would have to say he's the most devoted club hockey coach in the country. You know, as as president, he was I mean, we would have text messages throughout, I mean, at least ten hours a day, just texting nonstop, nonstop, trying to figure figure things out, figure out sponsors. And so when you have a coach that's dedicated like that and wants to genuinely win and build a program, I think that's that's where you get the most interest from. And Our president now is Zach Giblin. Unfortunately, he's hurt and can't play this season. That's what really brought him here. You know, I I pitched that he would make a big difference with this program because when I was getting him, we were nothing. So he loved to hear that and he wanted to feel that he could make a difference in a program rather than just going and be some third liner that, you know, this sounds bad, but nobody cares about, but obviously everyone cares about everybody. But yeah, so Just having a coach that cares and wants to see you succeed is I think our biggest our biggest I speaker-2: I gotta ask, 'cause you you talked about Broadway and we saw the ⁓ photo shoot on Broadway with the new uniforms. How did that come about? What was that n experience like to see that for your team? I don't speaker-3: I don't really know how that came about. We got I I think y'all know her. Kara Short. She she kind of took over as our photographer and she had the idea to go to Broadway. And shout out to her. She's great. She does a lot of good work. But I think I think we put out a poll in our group chat and said, you know, if you want to go, this is the time. You gotta have rollerblades. I got a lot of text messages about that though, just from people being on Broadway and seeing it. They're like, Why are your teammates down here in full gear? taking pictures. I like I don't know to be honest, but it it's gonna be cool. Just pay attention. Yeah, that Kara does a she does a great job. speaker-0: One of the conference's finest photographers and ⁓ we know she worked her tail off on the media day official. You guys got all the pictures with the trophies and stuff, I know you guys got a kick out of that. We've got some lightning round questions to rip off at ya, so answer these as quick as possible. First one we're gonna start with is give us your funniest locker room moment. speaker-3: It's gotta be PG. Yeah. Can we circle that? speaker-0: We'll bend it. We can bend reality here. You can spread a little close, it's fine. ⁓ speaker-3: Okay, I'll I'll just go with team court. Team court is always funny. There's not a specific moment, but it's always funny. There's good stories. So is speaker-1: Someone like specific the the judge, is it the same judge every time? speaker-3: It's Aiden Copec. So he's not very fair. No. Anytime you anytime you try to find a rock, it goes through. It doesn't matter what it is. Your car could break down. You it's a rock blanket. They need to come pick you up. speaker-1: Okay, so n next one. Who's the most underrated player on your team? ⁓ speaker-3: I'll say Cam Hawkins and I I always tell him he's he's a fourth line little gritty player, but he knows his role and I mean you're gonna get everything out of him every shift. So he's he's such a he's just a solid player. speaker-2: Then one word to describe your leadership style. speaker-3: Yeah, I would I would say accountability. speaker-0: What's the biggest lesson Hockey's said that like Canadian, what's the biggest lesson Hockey's taught you that applies off the ice? speaker-3: I would say trusting in others. You know, hockey's a big trust game. Just and this goes into the the workplace, you know. You you trust your employees to do the right things, you trust your teammates to do the right things. speaker-1: Okay, and d this isn't even a question, but if you guys could slow your goal pace a little bit, we have such a hard time not making one of your teammates or you one of the three stars of the week every single week. You guys score like six, seven goals a game is like, Man, we have another MTSU player, but we had like two last week. Well speaker-3: I would like to say we will, but ⁓ we won't. speaker-1: Yeah, probably, yeah. speaker-0: Tommy's getting close to the no fly zone on the three stars list. Yeah, right. For the for the right reasons not making the list. Well hey Lyndon, pleasure talking with you, man. You guys are rolling. We know we're we're gonna see you later in the season and you're gonna be one of the teams to rep the flag when it comes to that nationals bid. We hope you make it and we wish you and MTSU the best of luck the rest of your season. speaker-3: That guy's unreal. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. speaker-1: Thanks for coming on. speaker-0: Thanks to Lyndon Palmer for joining episode twelve of College Hockey Mouth MTSU set for big things and a big weekend out in Huntsville. Let's get to our game recaps. The game of the week. The battle boca. Lynn and FAU M3 and Lynn gets the upset over the M3 Owls. Guys, they led this game by a lot. Six to two as it got dwindling down. FAU had some poor breakdowns. Their goalie got pulled. This was Lynn's Dare I say best game of the season up to this point. speaker-1: Sure. This ended a eight game a losing streak for Lynn in the battle for Boca, so this is a big moment for them. They played with a lot of emotion and passion. You could tell they wanted this one for sure. They played the M2 team last Sunday and that didn't go very well. It is important to note that FAU was on their third game of the weekend and you never know what what the legs are feeling like, especially once you get to the the second period and you know Lynn started to pile on the goals. It's gonna be hard to try and dig deep. to manufacture a comeback. Wanna shout out Ian Uram, who, like Will Smith in the top of the eleventh, swatted it out of the air. He didn't hit it over the left field wall like Will Smith did. Congratulations to the Dodgers again. But he buried it and Lynn got the big win. ⁓ the Fighting Knights. speaker-2: Yeah, and we talked about it. FAU ⁓ three has just struggled to find offense and I mean and some of that might be third game of the weekend. I I can't imagine playing that much, but their offense has gotta figure it out. There's no reason that this game went the way it went. I mean FAU had such a different team last year and so their offense just has to figure it out. speaker-0: say this, Drew Renzi, Sam Watson carried the load. They had a very good weekend against Miami ACDC. Different scores there, but like you said, when it came to their rivals, the game that mattered, they didn't have enough production and they struggled both ends of the ice. And that M3 team still seems like they're searching and congrats to Lynn. Massive win and what a bounce back after they got trounced in that battle at the beach tournament. Two weekends ago. Moving things along, USF took on Tampa in the battle for Tampa and it was all bulls in this one, guys. More of the same. One of the best teams in College Hockey South and now one of the best teams in the country, slotting into the top five in the nation. They take down the Spartans six to two and nine to five, respectively. Grant Dietz, Jacob Duhaim, guys we've mentioned every single week on this pod doing the things they do. And speaker-2: USF and Tampa are very similar in their play style. They'll they'll do a lot. They're physical. They get under your skin. But USF is just, I think, the better team at getting physical and staying composed. And they're so deep. And you mentioned Grant Dietz. They he was unstoppable in that series. I mean, hat tricks in both games. And Lyndon Palmer mentioned it. You gotta shut that guy down. And Tampa was not able to do that in this game. speaker-1: Right. And this was the first game was ⁓ came on the same day, I believe, as the initial ⁓ three rankings came out. Tampa number two, USF number four. Wow, right? I mean, some kind of series. Whoever picked the game of the week really missed the mark. Anyways, huge win for USF. They were coming off of the Clemson series, which they split. Grant Deeds didn't blame the first game that series, something to to mention. But right back on schedule, they're have a ton of depth. It's not just the Grant Deeds show. There are other guys who contribute, so they're gonna be very dangerous the rest of the way. speaker-0: Before we get along with the game recaps, we have got to acknowledge this ranking. What a monumental moment for College Hockey South to be with six teams in the top twenty-five. Gavin, is that correct? Danny. Look, I've seen ACHA M3 the last couple of years. It's been dominated by the Michigan squads. You've had some newcomers in Central Man, Community College, St. Vincent, but nothing compares to what College Hockey South just matched. This is the most teams. speaker-2: Yeah, six teams. speaker-0: That I can remember from a conference, not the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference. Strength the schedule certainly favor these guys and just what do you think this does for a confidence level and the representation for the league? speaker-1: First, I'll ⁓ I'll read the exact rankings. How about that? So we can have ⁓ the proper context. At number one, which we mentioned already, the winners of ten straight games, yes, yes, middle Tennessee State University, at number two, the Tampa Spartans, three, South Florida, seven, University of South Carolina, eight, Clemson, number fifteen, Central Florida. So it's six in the top fifteen. And what's important to note there is that the top sixteen make it the nationals. So if the season were to end right now, six college hockey South teams would be in that top sixteen. ⁓ really good representation throughout the rest of the, you know, the top half of the rankings from the conference, which is a really good sign, right? This is like this is a a tone setter, if you will, for what the rankings will look like the rest of the way. And I think it's a good sign if you're college hockey south. speaker-2: fan. And I've got to say this. I mean, this is my favorite thing to say, but hockey belongs in the South. And it's an honor to be a part of this pr ⁓ conference and get to push and watch these teams break into the top fifteen and put themselves on the boards for nationals. So it's it's exciting to see that Southern hockey is starting to come into the forefront and like you mentioned breaking into what typically was run by Michigan and Minnesota and pro and northern states and we're getting to see more of that representation from the southern states. speaker-0: As this evolves, the rankings are going to shift, teams are going to come in, teams are going to fall out. Thanks to all the teams that submitted your results. Because you did that, you're got a ranked team in College Hockey South if you're in that bunch. If you haven't, get your games submitted so that you have a chance to join this club and help represent the conference tremendous. And as we get closer to the end of the year, guys, we're going to get even more What does it mean? Who could they play at Nationals? Because when you make it in there and it's a pool play style, three games, you get a semifinal and then a championship. It really can be anybody on any given day. We've seen that the last couple of years. We've had different champions each year. Awesome to see for the entire conference. Keeping it along in our matchups, Florida got their first ever win, the woman, Lady Gators. First one program history. Jeez, guys, ten to one. Another crazy Women's game score. Hats off to everybody involved with that program. Yeah. speaker-2: And there were there were two hat tricks by two Florida players as they're kind of breaking into the scene. You know, we mentioned that they played a double header last week before taking on Florida State this week. And this kind of maybe maybe felt like a good game for them. You know, it's their first day where they play one game and they're gonna match up with Florida State next weekend for a two game series. So potentially another chance to really find that groove, get going, mesh as a team, and just it's exciting to see that program get their first win. speaker-1: Congrats to Florida for that. Florida will be an interesting team to follow the rest of the way. I talked to a few players from the Tampa women's team who got the first crack at him last weekend or two weekends ago. And they were really surprised by, you know, how competitive that game was. You don't you know, you don't want to look down on anybody, but it was two to one heading into the final period, I believe. A Florida goaltender ⁓ did a tremendous job holding him in that game. And ultimately it end the score, you know, kind of stretched out a little bit. But to play with a team like Tampa, who we've talked at length about throughout the podcast, to hang with them is a really, really good sign in a first year and first game ever. speaker-0: Danny, it's okay. Your Gamecock heart can be a little bit hurt by that score. We're gonna digress it though and get you your three stars of the month, starting with the men's division two league. Number one goes to Liam Likeshua out of Florida. ⁓ a goal and five assists through two games, a really strong series. I believe this was against Tampa ⁓ a little bit ago where they had a very competitive series. We talked about that on last week's episode. Alex Muller stops in there at number two, part of the Tampa squad, four goals. Five assists good for nine points in seven games. And Cole Vale, six goals, two assists for eight points in six contests. In the ⁓ three league, it's Tommy Chunchikov, one of our soon to be banned players, because this guy makes it every single week. Eight goals. Eight six assists for fourteen points. ⁓ Danny, it's gotta happen. You know, poor Kelly, she has to make this graphic every week for MTSU. I say that jokingly, being, you know, Clemson and stuff, but ⁓ Will Will Van Sicklin's right then there. Seven goals, three assists for the Clemson Tigers, ten points in five games, and then Christian Souza for Kennesaw State. How about that? One of the leaders on that squad. He's got nine apples in four games. That's good enough for your three stars of the week in ⁓ three. Any notes on that, boys? speaker-1: Christian Sousa, you can't pux blah blah blah. Easy for me to say. You can't pass the puck into the net. There's a lot of P's in that. Feel free to leave that in, Gavin. We're we're all human. Sometimes we we stutter. But they often say you can't pass the puck into the net. Christian Sousa, feel free to shoot the puck anytime, man. You'll probably score, but you know what? He he led everyone an assist this month. ⁓ defenseman carrying the mail and leading the offense for Kennesaw State, who we'll see in the Vets Cup this weekend. speaker-0: We will see them. speaker-2: Who knows? Like maybe Sousa is shooting the puck. You know, I love a good blue line shot, but sometimes they just get tipped and they go in. And I mean, you can't complain about that if you're ⁓ Sousa. You still end up on the stat sheet, but it would be nice probably for him to see that turn into a goal. speaker-0: I don't know about you guys, but some guys just live for the apples because that is some of the most satisfying stuff. But more times than not, you're the one that makes the play when you get the assist. Hats off to him and gonna be big for a Kennesaw State group that's been banged up to start this year in a tournament that I think they're a sleeper dark horse because they play a physical brand of hockey and they've been better as of late, as we get to the middle part of the regular season. For the AC D C League, Nerd Collegiate Development Conference, Brayden Curry from Florida Tech on his monumental You called it Gretzky like run, Danny, not to compare him to the great one, but six goals, six assists, and twelve points in six games. That's a lot of ⁓ number sixes in there. Shout out Drake and the ⁓ Toronto Blue Jays, who didn't win the World Series again. Alex Jensen, Florida State had the hat trick and the game winning goal. Well, one no game winning goal. He kind of did, but ⁓ hat trick in the game of the week for Alex Jensen versus Florida. Battle at the beach, it was our college hockey south. ⁓ Game to watch. Very impressive there. They probably that into the championship, obviously. And then Nick Bowers had eight goals, three assists, eleven points in four games. Those are your three stars in the ACDC conference. And finally, for the Women's League, Nina Molina, Clemson Prodigy, 12 goals, four apples, and sixteen assists, or sixteen points, excuse me, in three games. Claire Carson from Alabama with six goals, seven assists, thirteen points in four games. Third star goes the Gray Seaman out of South Carolina. Five goals, five assists for ten points in three games. You guys didn't hear that. That was totally a perfect run of those three stars. That's all of them for the conference. I like this format a lot better than just the three stars because we don't get the blown out woman's game scores. We don't get Tommy Chunchikov. We love the guy, but dang, we gotta get some better representation in there. We do with each of the conference's ⁓ three stars. speaker-1: I think we're gonna have to start charging Nina Molina, Braden Curry and Tommy Chunchikov like for advertising for how much we we put their pictures on our accounts and everything. I mean, my god. And it's for good reason, obviously. They're having great seasons. But man, maybe maybe they need to go on the island of like let's let's give ⁓ a rest a little bit. Chloe Valente maybe too. speaker-2: Maybe we'll ⁓ maybe we'll hold team court and ⁓ Danny can be the judge. Actually that might be a that might be a biased party. Danny is the one who keeps putting him on there, so may maybe maybe Devin should be the judge. speaker-1: We don't know who decides the three stars of the week, by the way. That is unfounded. speaker-0: Well, I would say besides the three stars, maybe we could start making up our own categories. Heart Charger comes to mind. Maybe the best dressed person, maybe the wackiest celly. I don't know. I think we should make it as silly as possible so that we get some different names in there. You can't always be a goal scorer, but you can be a beauty. And I think that's what we like to find on Kalachaki Mouth. So, flipping the page, looking at some games to watch, and it is time for the Veterans Cup happening at the Huntsville Ice Sports Complex out in ⁓ Huntsville, Alabama. Is that right? Mm-hmm. Thanks. All right. I'm glad I didn't get the state wrong. Not not from Alabama myself, but Huntsville gonna be active this weekend, guys. We've got a great four team bunch there with middle Tennessee State taking on Tennessee. That is for the game of the week, Saturday, November eighth at eight fifteen PM Central Time. You know, we haven't talked about Tennessee a whole lot. Their ⁓ two team has been the impressive one going up against Tampa, upsetting them a few weeks ago. For a team walking in there like middle Tennessee State, he said Lyndon Palmer that his team is the favorite. But what do you see out of both sides to make this one a game? speaker-2: I think ⁓ obviously we saw they matched up two weekends ago. And so maybe that was a good look for Tennessee to figure out what they need to work on before they match up with them at the Veterans Cup. I mean, Linda Palmer sounds really confident in his group. I mean, there's no reason not to be. You you drop your first two games and go win 10 straight. There's there's something going on there. I mean, there's a there's a reason they're doing that. So Tennessee's just hoping maybe getting that first look allowed them to adjust their game plan and practice for this one a little bit better. And maybe. It'd be a team to upset Middle Tennessee State. I I love a good upset, but ⁓ like Lyndon Palmer said, I do think MTSU is a favorite going into this. Right. speaker-1: And middle t ⁓ well, Tennessee, their ⁓ three team, was the latest starting college hockey south team. They didn't play their first game until the month of October, which is which was crazy to look at at the you know, when the schedule started to come out. So maybe they start to, you know, find their footing a little bit. ⁓ that's a really, really proud hockey program over there at Hockey Top. Both teams have seen a lot of s success and the game between the two ⁓ a couple of weeks ago ended nine to nothing. So you know that's not gonna sit well with Tennessee. They're gonna wanna get that lick back. So at the very least I expect ⁓ an impassioned effort and a much closer score than nine to nothing for sure. speaker-0: Our other game for the Veterans Cup, Alabama and Kennesaw State. I I don't know about you guys. This looked like the sneaky good one on paper for me. Mentioned earlier Christian Seusa, big for that squad. And I think Alabama is kind of this hot or not team. Some weeks they look on top of the world, others ⁓ you know, they're getting swept by Middle Tennessee State. But ⁓ you know what do you guys watch for in two groups that are probably gonna duke it out in ⁓ what's actually a college hockey south tournament rematch? speaker-1: Yes. ⁓ two teams that kinda expected a little bit more from on on both sides coming into this season. Kennesaw has had some injury issues. Alabama just hasn't had the consistency that you really expected from them. They they they played tight with Middle Tennessee in a series that was in Nashville about a month back, but not not getting the results. Their ranking reflected that, right? KSU is a They're a rough and tumble bunch. You know, whether they they have their top guys out there, they're gonna play an in your face style. So I wouldn't expect or I wouldn't be surprised if this one, you know, had a a few penalties in it. speaker-0: We know James Kravis on the captain side for Kennesaw State is a chippy guy. Expect a busy one at five thirty PM Central Time. Same day on Saturday. Championship day two looks like this. We've got the third place game with the losers from either side on Saturday. November ninth at ten AM Central Time. For those of you on the East Coast, that is ⁓ eleven AM Eastern. And then on the winner championship game, we got twelve forty five at Central Time. First place and second. Gonna be interesting to see which teams rise to the occasion. Meadow Tennessee seems like the favorite. You never know in these ⁓ big style meetups with the conference as we get rolling. And ⁓ gosh, we're almost to the break, guys. Can you believe it? I mean, second semester ⁓ I get our first semester break, I guess, is I wanna say only like three weeks away. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean well I think Gavin's the only active student. He he would have the the best idea. ⁓ yeah, it the season's kinda rolled right along. Unfortunately. You know, you wish they they would play a little bit longer, but ⁓ yeah, we're starting to get down to the nitty gritty, the rankings coming out and everything. ⁓ we got some series this this weekend that'll affect the next ranking. speaker-2: I will say with the semester break coming up, I was looking at the ⁓ schedule earlier today. Luckily there's still hockey games going on. I know there's break, but some teams still wanna stay on the ice, still got the action. So we'll we'll have a couple less games than normal, but at least there's still hockey going on in December and into January. speaker-0: Yeah, it's almost like this pause between I mean it's a pause, but like when you compare it to like college football, they've got like that national ranking period and it almost feels like another season begins, at least how I look at football or college. And it feels the same way. Like once you finish that first semester, the second semester kinda opens up like the serious games. The ones that are the haves and have nots for seating, for nationals, for just conference playoffs, whoever's gonna be featured in this tournament and the rest of the nation around the ACHA. But the rest of our conference games look like this for the week. South Florida travels to South Florida. A little funny to say that, right? They go east as the Bulls are out of Tampa. USF sits atop ⁓ three right now, guys, eleven two and one on the year twenty three points. But this Miami ⁓ three team split with Tampa a number of weeks ago and I feel like this one is a a trap game for USF. Well speaker-1: It very well could be. Miami is a really ⁓ Jekyll Jekyll and Hyde type group. We've seen that. Who did they upset? My god, my memory isn't serving me right now. Ups ⁓ there's Tampa. Tampa lost their first game to Miami. ⁓ you know, I'm supposed to know this conference. But ⁓ yeah, and and for a team that's on the outside of the rankings right now in Miami, this is a huge opportunity. USF just took down Tampa, who was number two and they're sitting in the fourth spot themselves. Huge opportunity for Miami, right? speaker-2: Yeah, and I've said this and you mentioned it, Jekyll and Hyde, very very hot, very cold. I mean, they've they've been like that the past couple of years though. And it's just a matter of which Miami team is showing up this weekend. I mean, are they gonna get completely run over? Are they gonna shut Grant Dietz down? Is the schooling gonna get another hat trick and a big win? I mean, that's the guy for Miami that they really need to get going and allow him to see the game if they wanna even get one game with USF. speaker-0: I'll say this, I I saw a Stillian touch the puck maybe seventy percent of the game they had against FAU on Friday Halloween. So like you just said there, Gavin, it's gonna need their top scores to come up big and we're gonna find out November seventh and eighth. UCF takes on Embury Riddle, one of our favorite teams to talk about right now, Bob Joyce's squad. Ember Riddle is coming off that loss to Tampa. Nothing to hang their heads about though, is that Tampa team one of the best in the country, top three in the nation. And ⁓ UCF is gonna have some new sweaters. speaker-2: I gotta say I'm really excited about these UCF sweaters. I mean, I grew up ⁓ military, so anytime you see something ⁓ salute to veterans. I'm a big fan of that. But I I like the jerseys a lot. I don't spend my money on jerseys too much. If they're not lightning jerseys, they don't typically get my money. But I saw this today and I was I was already scrolling through their team store, but you gotta if you're gonna get one of those, you gotta act quick. I think they said it was to like the sixteenth. And but UCF continues to show why they're one of the best branded teams in hockey because they constantly are releasing new jersey. I mean, I'm sure ⁓ Luke, who we've talked about before, did the photo shoot for them. Those came out great. It it's just exciting to see those jerseys, and I'm even more excited to see what they look like on the ice. speaker-1: Yeah, it's it's a cool thing to have these jerseys that ⁓ you know, i i it's one thing if they're new and fun and everything like the Battle of the Beach ones, but these ones specifically looting service and ⁓ also really cool for us to have ⁓ this tournament this weekend. ⁓ you know, saluting our ⁓ the people that have served served our country and you know, I always wanna thank those that have. Gavin, I'm right there with you. ⁓ you know, my my dad is a veteran as well, so happy veterans. Day to him. But I like I mentioned in the USF and Miami preview, UCF is in the field. They're one of the last teams. They're ranked fifteenth. Embry Riddle, hold on, is eighteenth. So this is a huge game. We're we're a long ways away from solidifying the rankings. But if you look at these teams and they'll probably both be on the bubble, you know, towards the the final rankings, this will be one of those series that will that could be ⁓ you know, the decider. speaker-0: Right. Those bubble spots are a premium and that nationals field, there are some autobid teams when you win your conference. They're gonna duke it out on a a weekend set. Also happening and possibly our most underrated game on the slate. People are gonna roll their eyes though when I mention the team name. Tampa travels to Fairfield for an ⁓ two matchup. But look, former AAU Nationals matchup, I feel like this is some juice for a Tampa squad that has Gotta get their feet going. They have had a really tough stretch of games as of late with the likes of Lindenwood and Florida. If they're gonna do it, it seems like it's against Fairfield. speaker-1: Certainly. A team they they beat last year on their their way to winning the national championship. And yeah, they're they're they're sputtering a little bit and it's a very unfamiliar feeling for this squad that, you know, just outside of just winning the national championship last year, they've had a ton of regular season success, not losing many, if any, games. So I'm sure they're they're desperate to get back on the ice, even though I've heard some rumblings that, you know, some of the guys they're dealing with some injuries and ⁓ You know, sorry to hear that. Never wanna ⁓ deal with injuries and stuff like that, but it's just natural. speaker-2: But I will say this Fairfield matchup, I mean, that was the biggest gap that Tampa had at Nationals last year. Every other game was one goal, two goals, but this is the game they won by the most. Like the one by four goals at nationals. So they had Fairfield's number and so this, like we mentioned, is just a game where you get back into it, you get back to your team culture, your identity, and you just find a way to get this win out. And they do have a super busy weekend. So this Fairfield matchup is a big speaker-0: I think Kalachaki South fans will know well the rivalry that was and I think still is going with is it the Empire League the conference? So definitely gonna be interesting to see that at the ranks in Shelton over on the seventh and eighth as well. speaker-1: Shout out Gabe Takurry. Go ahead. speaker-0: should also mention this Tampa team will take on Quinepiac, another AAU team that upset Florida in overtime at AAU nationals. I really think that that Quinnipiac team you know, interesting fact about them is I forget his name, but they had a goaltender actually get called up to the N CAA Division One team from this squad a number of seasons ago. Don't know if they're gonna have exactly that level against Tampa, but they might need it, depending on how they do against Fairfield. Now, could have been our game of the week as well, but Florida Atlantic takes on Florida in a three-game weekend set all from Boca as the Gators travel back. This team plays a lot of road games. They are right now the best team in ⁓ two. You when you look at their record wise, how Liam Licashwa is playing, and I know that's a bold statement and Tampa fans aren't gonna like to hear it, but this Florida team is fighting their groove. speaker-2: You know, I'm I'm gonna say that I agree with that statement. I'm a I'm a big fan of Liam Lickishwa, and I know it's only a sophomore year, but there's a lot of potential for him to be, I'm gonna say it, probably one of the best players CHS might ever see. I mean, he he's fantastic on the ice, really generates a lot of offense for Florida, and you kind of expected them maybe to lose their groove with some of the guys they lost last year, but no, if anything, they've brought freshmen in and they've come in and surprised a lot of teams. I mean, we mentioned they've split every series against an ⁓ two team. so far that they've played this year. ⁓ but I think they've gotten better since they played Florida Atlantic last. And I could see them honestly going in and sweeping this series. speaker-1: Ooh, bold claim, producer Gavin. But but no, I mean, I think going into this season, looking at the three team Division II conference slate we had, we were thinking about the teams in naturally because they were coming off of national championships. We were talking about Florida Atlantic and Tampa. And what's happened? The team that's not talked about has come in and, you know, stolen the headlines. Florida's been doing the dang thing. So shout out to them. And ⁓ this is gonna be a a huge series for Florida Atlantic because coming off of the the Tampa sweep, which was ugly, couple of really ugly scores, and then kind of an embarrassing loss to Embry Riddle in at the Battle of the Beach, which was their tournament. Embry Riddle is a division three team, so Florida Atlantic needs to get back to their game. speaker-0: And expect Rocco Bruno to have a piece in this. We know the reigning goaltender of the year gets a lot of talk. We is a favorite of ours on the pod. He's a fan favorite overall. They need some help on that offensive production. We know that they have the talent there with Murphy, Jackson Newendike, that NCAA transfer. We'll see if they can get him going. And what's a big tilt over in Boca this weekend. ⁓ three takes on Tampa as well from Boca Ice Center. The ⁓ three team mentioned lost to Lynn. Tampa rebound opportunity for them after getting swept by USF. Those will happen November 7th and the 8th, both at 6.45 P.M. Eastern. I will be on the call for those games if you want to tune in on OWL TV. Florida ACDC takes on Florida State in the battle for Jacksonville. Two teams that play at the same ranks, guys. But they're going to take on each other at the ViStar Memorial Arena. And we got the preview of it. With our game of the week, Florida State winning, going on to win the battle at the beach. Could this one be a different story though? speaker-1: It it very well could be. Devin was on the call. I was I was working the camera for the for that game. It was very evenly matched. And I th the score certainly reflected that there was an empty net goal that pushed the margin to two. But Florida was right there the whole time. They had some fluky goals that got him back in the to the game on a a few different occasions. It was basically all three of their goals were of the strange variety. Yeah, it you could tell there were two very even evenly matched teams and ⁓ with the with the stage being It's brightest as you're possibly gonna get. I mean you're playing in a not an NBA arena, but you know, huge arena like that, rivalry game, before ⁓ e ⁓ professional hockey game, this is gonna be huge and Florida once they get there get back there. speaker-2: And Danny mentioned it last week, you know, the Chomp versus the Chomp. Or sorry, two weeks ago, but we talked about it last week. That's a patented phrase. ⁓ but yeah, I think this is exciting. And Florida AC D C they're a good team. ⁓ sometimes you see it in NHL games, sometimes it's about puck luck. And I'm not saying that was the case for Florida, but I think we'll see a different result potentially. You know, Florida, this is a big battle and we mentioned it. Bright lights, teams like to shine on that, so I think this is gonna be a good game no matter who comes out on top of this one. speaker-0: believe Florida's gonna have their traditional Gator logo on the front. I wonder what Florida State comes out with in this one. I believe they don't wear the black jerseys anymore. They have that FSU diagonally going off the front. I'm excited to see the jersey matchup. If you want to catch this one, tickets are thirty dollars. They're raising money for veterans ⁓ mental health this month of course part of you know veterans day festivities and ⁓ you can also attend a Jacksonville Iceman's game with a purchase of the ticket. Be sure to Go online for those on Jacksonville Iceman websites and then, you know, we mentioned the the matchup. I I don't think it gets any better and two teams that play for the rivalry. Should be a good crowd too, and we hope everybody enjoys the trip out there to northeastern Florida. Final games to preview for you on the women's side. FSU and Florida in the second meeting. Continue of the battle of the Chop versus the Chop and boy, a big Florida win. Last time we just mentioned guys. You know, Danny Man, I I don't know, dude. I I guess Miami made it competitive against Florida Atlantic when they got blown out fourteen to nothing earlier this year. So could we see a team go from not a lot to a whole lot? speaker-1: You know they say any given night, right? Let's hope so. Florida State getting their start to their to their program. ⁓ wanna see them compete and and play hard, but ⁓ look, inaugural seasons, these things happen, you know, no need to ⁓ look down on them, but it's a rivalry game. That that's the the great equalizer sometimes. The chop versus the chomp. Has anyone said that yet? Am I the first one to mention that on this episode? Go ahead, Gavin. So I can stop talking. speaker-2: But yeah, I I think this is gonna be a good matchup. And Danny mentioned it, rivalries. Those are bigger games than most people expect. There's always an added heat to that. And they they just matched up. So you get a look and ⁓ maybe you make adjustments and practice. I mean, I know both of these teams we talked about it earlier, FSU has to travel two hours basically to practice. So I mean How are you preparing for this game differently than you prepared for the last one? But I I think no matter what, maybe we s we see a good series. speaker-0: Game to preview Georgia taking on High Point on the women's side, 11th, November 8th through the 9th. And team that we typically talk about with what was formerly AAU M2, now is ACHA M2 and High Point. And then a Georgia team that still represent the conference in the women's side. Now, High Point is coming off a loss to Liberty, one of the best teams in ACHA, a constant contender nationals. Does Georgia keep up in this series? We haven't seen them a whole lot. speaker-2: It'll be interesting. I mean CHS high points already had a matchup with South Carolina and they actually lost that game six to five. So it'll be interesting to see Georgia coming off that sweep of Auburn two weeks ago. I think this will be an interesting one. Obviously, Liberty's a really good program. I mean, we mentioned it ACHA Nationals and Tampa matched up with them earlier and had a similar result. So I I think this will be an interesting test once again to see what the women's division looks like outside of CHS. speaker-1: Gavin hit all ⁓ the major points there. ⁓ High Point played South Carolina a few weekends ago. Tight, tight six five decision there. And, you know, High Point and South Carolina have the common opponent and Liberty. And Liberty just looks to be a steamroller. You know, if you're able to do that to Tampa, you know, you're you're pretty dang good, right? ⁓ but Georgia, let's let's see how they how they do. They're they're trying to level up a little bit in their program. ⁓ they made it to the Columbus Classic Championship game. This would be a big one to even get a split. speaker-0: Final thing to mention, guys, before we wrap up the episode, I wanna bring up a interesting weekend set I saw out in Oklahoma. The Pokes. Oklahoma State had a combined forty five to seven goals against Creighton this weekend. This was something that went viral on X I saw this morning. It had two point five million views, these scores. This is one of the best teams in ACHA M2, if you didn't know. What is the Worst hockey score that you've ever seen besides this one. speaker-1: ⁓ it'd probably be an international game. You know, you see those like like the Olympic qualifiers when like the Bulgarian team has to play Canada or something and ends up being like like fifty five to nothing. Those are rough though. You know, ⁓ Creighton, I can't imagine which goalie started those games, but maybe maybe switch it up. Maybe try something different. Switch up the defense pairs. speaker-2: Yeah, Danny mentioned those international games. I'm sure I've seen one where a team shoots the puck and they're pretty much at a hundred percent. Maybe maybe there's like one save. They shoot fifty six shots and they put fifty five of them in the net. And I mean, what do you do for your goals against for that goalie? I mean that's not a that's not a fantasy goalie if you if you want to have one, but speaker-1: I think they were actually they're I think they were playing with a soccer net for the series. It was a special promotion and ⁓ yeah, they played with a soccer net, creating ⁓ my god, the save percentage too. Like I stopped thirty percent of the shots today. God almighty. Bless their hearts out there in Omaha, Nebraska. I don't know what they're doing though. speaker-2: Get me out there with a soccer net behind a goalie. I'll I'll make a few goalie. speaker-0: I will say Oklahoma State recruited some N Couble A guys, including one that's from the Michigan State N C double A Division One. If you don't think club hockey is college hockey by now, you're living under a rock smaller than Patrick Starr's. It's it's in the pudding. So man, that was the burger of the week that I saw. speaker-1: Have you seen ⁓ since we're we're wrapping up on on ⁓ club hockey talk and you brought up Oklahoma State, their their fan section that's gone viral the last like month, their football team is horrible. And this is the first time in a while. Super proud program and they've got like nobody showing up to their games. It's embarrassing. They fired Coach Gundy and there was just like one guy in a section who took his shirt off and I think he tied it to his towel and he was just waving it. And just like over the course of like fifteen minutes, the entire section filled up. Everyone was taking the tarps off and swinging it around. And then it was like three and a half sections completely full of people s swinging their shirt around. And now it's like their whole crowd is a meme. And the social media team is leaning into it. Their team, by the way, getting boat race while this is all going on. They're they are not getting any better. But the fans are on cloud nine. So I saw a whole section of dudes in banana suits. They're still, you know, taking their shirts off, the whole thing. Maybe we should see the Oklahoma State fan they'll have a good time, by God. They're scoring twenty goals a game at the at the hockey, you know. Take take the tarps off, swing ⁓ a swing ⁓ around. speaker-2: Yeah, putting up football scores out there. speaker-1: It's their higher scoring than the football team. Are you kidding me? speaker-0: Let's put the let's put the word out there. First team in College Hockey South that does something like this, whether you're scratches, if you got a student section, if you wave the tarps off, we'll mention you, we'll share it on the page. I don't know if we have anything to give away. We're not that big yet. We'll get there though. We'll keep you on ice. This has been the College Hockey Mouth Podcast. Boys, what a great week. Thanks to Lyndon Palmer for coming on. Good luck to everybody out at the Veterans Cup and in the rest of your games, and we'll see you. Next time this has been episode twelve of College Hockey Mouth, a college hockey south podcast.