Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / OT drama in Hockey East leads into conference championship weekend

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OT drama in Hockey East leads into conference championship weekend · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: USCHO dot com. Hi everyone, welcome to the podcast. Todd
0:14
Speaker 1: Moleski here with Nicole Hasey from usc ch O dot
0:17
Speaker 1: com and oh boy, we had a Wednesday night full
0:20
Speaker 1: of awesome hockey and Hockey East and we had two
0:25
Speaker 1: semifinals deciding who is going to play for the championship
0:29
Speaker 1: in New ha. We also have the other three conferences
0:34
Speaker 1: getting ready for their championships this weekend, a big week coming,
0:39
Speaker 1: ending with the selection show on Sunday. We'll get to
0:42
Speaker 1: that all as we go conference by conference this week.
0:45
Speaker 1: Let's start with Hockey East because those games we got
0:48
Speaker 1: a chance to watch, and man, it's some good entertainment tonight.
0:54
Speaker 1: As we're recording tonight. Wednesday night in Hockey East, a
0:59
Speaker 1: three to one for Northeastern at Yukon, coming back from
1:03
Speaker 1: a goal down entering the third period. Skyler Irving scored
1:07
Speaker 1: the tying and go ahead goals for the Northeastern Huskies,
1:12
Speaker 1: and then Boston University gets a double overtime four to
1:15
Speaker 1: three win against Boston College and the Battle of com
1:18
Speaker 1: Ab the play two. What did I say? I said
1:22
Speaker 1: four to three? Well there was three two. Then I
1:25
Speaker 1: apologize I'm reading the wrong numbers. Here because I think
1:29
Speaker 1: there are four goals originally on this box store, but anyway,
1:32
Speaker 1: three to two, thank you Lindsay Bachna with a double
1:37
Speaker 1: overtime goal there for the Terriers. So we end up
1:42
Speaker 1: with Northeastern and Boston University playing at Yukon because it's
1:46
Speaker 1: a predetermined site, that game being Saturday noon Eastern time
1:51
Speaker 1: on ESPN News. That should be. So those are a
1:57
Speaker 1: couple of teams that have had their bumps, ups and downs,
2:01
Speaker 1: as everyone in Hockey East has at some point this
2:03
Speaker 1: season or multiple points this season. One of them is
2:07
Speaker 1: gonna make the NCAA tournament and be a Hockey East champion.
2:12
Speaker 1: Let's have had it there, Nicole, What what are we
2:16
Speaker 1: looking at here as Saturday? And then we'll kind of
2:19
Speaker 1: circle back and talk about what we saw last week too.
2:23
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, if we're just going by what we
2:25
Speaker 2: watched tonight, I mean I almost feel like Northeastern it's
2:28
Speaker 2: kind to be the favorite like they especially if they play.
2:30
Speaker 3: They played in the third period, but.
2:33
Speaker 2: You just looked a little discombobulated and not quite as
2:37
Speaker 2: good as we can have seen them play, and so
2:39
Speaker 2: I think they definitely have to take a step up
2:41
Speaker 2: if they're gonna win that title. That being said, you
2:44
Speaker 2: know they've won their last two games in overtime or
2:46
Speaker 2: overtime and then double overtime. You know, they had the
2:50
Speaker 2: regular season title essentially in their grasp and let it
2:54
Speaker 2: slip away. I mean, if there has ever been sort
2:57
Speaker 2: of a wake up call and all that sort of stuff,
2:59
Speaker 2: like they you would think that they're sort of the
3:01
Speaker 2: team that wants this the most at this point, right
3:05
Speaker 2: just there's there's kind of so much backing up that
3:07
Speaker 2: comes down to this game. But I don't think it
3:11
Speaker 2: is a coincidence that Skyler Irving, who is one of
3:14
Speaker 2: the most experienced teams, particularly in postseason in Hockey East,
3:18
Speaker 2: is the player that made the difference for Northeastern. I
3:21
Speaker 2: think that's one of the things that you know, sort
3:23
Speaker 2: of they have above some.
3:25
Speaker 3: Of the other teams.
3:26
Speaker 2: It's just been there before, know how to get through
3:28
Speaker 2: this sort of thing. You know, Again, we've harped on.
3:31
Speaker 3: This, but like be you was the what fifth or
3:34
Speaker 3: sixth place.
3:34
Speaker 2: Team going picked going into this in the off season.
3:38
Speaker 2: This is not a team that expected to be here,
3:40
Speaker 2: or maybe they did and nobody else did, and so
3:43
Speaker 2: there's something to having been there before. And so I
3:45
Speaker 2: just think watching what Northeastern did, sort of be patient,
3:49
Speaker 2: hold on, keep that game close, Lisa Johnson and net
3:52
Speaker 2: as a rookie has just been so good. And like
3:56
Speaker 2: that first Skyler Irving goal was what on five? I mean,
4:00
Speaker 2: she took on everybody, went down the link of the ice,
4:02
Speaker 2: got a really great shot off by herself in the
4:04
Speaker 2: slot even though there were five people around her, uh,
4:07
Speaker 2: picked up her own rebound and backhanded it into the net.
4:09
Speaker 3: I mean it was a beauty.
4:12
Speaker 2: And so you watched that and then you watch some
4:14
Speaker 2: of the sort of the things that you wasn't able
4:18
Speaker 2: to make work for them, and it's it's hard for
4:20
Speaker 2: me to say that I don't think that Northeastern has
4:22
Speaker 2: the edge going into that championship game, and you know,
4:24
Speaker 2: they would be the first five seed to ever win
4:27
Speaker 2: that tournament game per the broadcast.
4:29
Speaker 3: I guess I should say I didn't actually check it.
4:32
Speaker 2: But yeah, uh that being said, Hockey's is absolutely a
4:37
Speaker 2: toss up. I mean we said that about the w SHA,
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Speaker 2: but I think here I say it because every one
4:43
Speaker 2: of these teams has won and lost against each other,
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Speaker 2: and every time you think you understand how they're gonna
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Speaker 2: play and what they're gonna do and what.
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Speaker 3: They're capable of.
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Speaker 2: They defied those expectations and so like positively and negatively.
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Speaker 2: So I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen,
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Speaker 2: do you.
4:57
Speaker 1: When we got to the third period in that uh
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Speaker 1: North Eastern Yukon game, Northeastern really started forcing the issue
5:03
Speaker 1: in the offensive zone on a for check and that's
5:05
Speaker 1: how they score their goals. I think all three of
5:08
Speaker 1: their goals were off of turnovers kind of you know,
5:12
Speaker 1: misplay of the park somewhere along the line, and that's
5:16
Speaker 1: a you know when when you're talking about that part
5:22
Speaker 1: of it. But also be you looking a little like
5:26
Speaker 1: you said this cambobulated at times in their semi final
5:30
Speaker 1: game against BC that maybe, you know, gives some more
5:38
Speaker 1: towards your your thought of Northeastern maybe being or having
5:42
Speaker 1: the advantage going into this on paper, and well, uh,
5:45
Speaker 1: we'll see. I mean, anyone can get a great goaltending performance.
5:51
Speaker 1: We know Northeastern has historically over the years, and I
5:57
Speaker 1: would I would be interested to see that one shakes out.
6:00
Speaker 1: That's the first game of a five game Saturday championship Saturday,
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Speaker 1: and I hope that sets a tone for what Saturday's
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Speaker 1: games will be that they'll be close and there'll be
6:13
Speaker 1: some drama going into the third period, and that's let's
6:18
Speaker 1: see what happened, because I think that's gonna be Ah,
6:22
Speaker 1: you know, you got experience on Northeastern side. You got
6:25
Speaker 1: a little less of it on BU side in terms
6:27
Speaker 1: of deep playoff runs.
6:28
Speaker 2: So no, I think that's a really good point about
6:31
Speaker 2: I mean, part of what we were saying about BU
6:33
Speaker 2: is they were playing sloppy right, like the passes were
6:36
Speaker 2: going into skates and and not b C wasn't able
6:39
Speaker 2: really to capitalize on any of that, or b you
6:41
Speaker 2: was able once they turned it over to get it
6:43
Speaker 2: back pretty quickly. And I don't know that that's gonna
6:46
Speaker 2: happen against Northeastern. I feel like they're going to be
6:48
Speaker 2: taken off down the ice before BU has a chance
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Speaker 2: to recover. So yeah, that's just a really good point
6:54
Speaker 2: about what Northeastern was able to do and why we're like,
6:58
Speaker 2: you has to be cleaner. They just can not make
7:00
Speaker 2: those kinds of mistakes against Northeastern. And I don't I
7:02
Speaker 2: don't think that if they play like they did tonight
7:05
Speaker 2: that they will come out victorious.
7:08
Speaker 1: B You got to the semifinals with a four to
7:11
Speaker 1: three overtime win over Vermont last Saturday. Vermont led three
7:16
Speaker 1: times by a goal in that game, and Riley Wallsh
7:18
Speaker 1: scored to give be You its first lead in overtime.
7:22
Speaker 1: Northeastern got to the semifinals with a three to two
7:25
Speaker 1: win at Providence, with Skyler Irving uh Being having a
7:30
Speaker 1: hand in that one as well. She and Ali Lalan
7:33
Speaker 1: scored to give Northeastern a to nothing lead in the
7:35
Speaker 1: second period. Providence twice cut that lead to a goal,
7:40
Speaker 1: but the Huskies got got to the finish line and
7:46
Speaker 1: and got to the semifinals and got another, you know,
7:50
Speaker 1: another road win. So they've got to be feeling pretty comfortable.
7:53
Speaker 1: You know. It's it's neither team's home ice when it's
7:56
Speaker 1: being played at Yukon.
7:58
Speaker 3: Just the two.
7:58
Speaker 2: Boston teams going to Yukon to play for the championship
8:01
Speaker 2: is a little funny.
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Speaker 1: But so they've won two games on the road already,
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Speaker 1: so you know, they've got to feel be feeling pretty
8:09
Speaker 1: good about that.
8:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there's just we I feel like we
8:12
Speaker 2: could go back and forth and I could make a
8:14
Speaker 2: pretty good case for any for either of these teams
8:17
Speaker 2: to win, right because of how they played against each
8:20
Speaker 2: other in previous games, of the momentum of all of
8:23
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff, Which is why I really do
8:25
Speaker 2: think I just I based on going on the gut
8:29
Speaker 2: feeling of what I watched tonight. Yeah, Like my my
8:31
Speaker 2: gut is with Northeastern, But before watching these games, I
8:34
Speaker 2: kind of felt like, be you has the you know,
8:36
Speaker 2: has the chip on their shoulder, has something to prove
8:38
Speaker 2: after letting that slip away.
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Speaker 3: So which of those sort of two things prevail here?
8:43
Speaker 3: I'm not sure.
8:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, And if you're going off of you know, results
8:49
Speaker 1: down the stretch, you know, be you, like we talked
8:52
Speaker 1: about earlier, lost two games to yukon Final weekend and
8:56
Speaker 1: then had to you know, wait a week to to
8:59
Speaker 1: do something about that. And they got it done in overtime,
9:03
Speaker 1: but it was exactly, you know, a convincing win for
9:06
Speaker 1: never having had a lead until the overtime. God. Yeah,
9:12
Speaker 1: and it's Wednesday night against BC. It was back and
9:18
Speaker 1: forth a lot of the time there, and I guess,
9:20
Speaker 1: as you'd expect with a game going to double overtime,
9:23
Speaker 1: they had a lot of chances they could have finished
9:24
Speaker 1: that one BC did as well. But yeah, I'm with
9:30
Speaker 1: you that I feel like Northeastern probably has a little
9:33
Speaker 1: bit of an edge here, but I don't know how
9:37
Speaker 1: much that matters when it comes down to one game
9:39
Speaker 1: on neutral site and have at it.
9:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I sometimes have made the joke that
9:47
Speaker 2: nobody wants to win Hockey East. And what I mean
9:50
Speaker 2: by that is that there's just often opportunities there that
9:52
Speaker 2: I think aren't grabbed. I mean, and just that that
9:55
Speaker 2: BUBC game tonight, Man, that game could have ended probably
9:58
Speaker 2: seventeen different times, and like on difficult plays, like like
10:04
Speaker 2: wide open goals that were finished on and rebounds that
10:07
Speaker 2: weren't picked up and things like that. And so that's
10:09
Speaker 2: when it's just like who is gonna Who's gonna be
10:12
Speaker 2: the one who's gonna see this opportunity and want to
10:14
Speaker 2: seize it. And if you look at those final few
10:16
Speaker 2: weekends of regular season play, every one of these four
10:19
Speaker 2: teams lost games they probably shouldn't have lost to teams
10:23
Speaker 2: that they like arguably are better then, right, Like it's
10:25
Speaker 2: all objective subjective, but looking at all of that just
10:29
Speaker 2: makes it be like, I think that a team needs
10:33
Speaker 2: to step up, and nobody has proven thus far that
10:35
Speaker 2: they want to be that team.
10:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's uh a little bit of the story of
10:42
Speaker 1: hockey this season. That's okay, Let's take a trip over
10:48
Speaker 1: to newha where the shutouts have reigned supreme in the
10:52
Speaker 1: playoffs so far. The Wednesday games, Long Island getting a
10:57
Speaker 1: too nothing win over Posts and Sicker Hard to getting
11:00
Speaker 1: a three nothing win over Saint Anselm, both higher seeds,
11:03
Speaker 1: advancing to the championship game Saturday, which is Sacred Heart
11:06
Speaker 1: at Long Island seven o'clock Eastern. I guess not surprising
11:13
Speaker 1: that the defenses kind of rule the day on Wednesday
11:18
Speaker 1: in New high and especially after seeing how both of
11:22
Speaker 1: those teams, you know, use the shutout to get there
11:27
Speaker 1: get into the semi finals. During the quarterfiles, Long Island
11:31
Speaker 1: has not a loot of goal in three games now.
11:34
Speaker 1: They swept Saint Michael's four nothing and two nothing. Abby
11:37
Speaker 1: Thompson not having to make a ton of says thirteen
11:40
Speaker 1: in game one, twenty five in game two, and then
11:43
Speaker 1: fourteen and Wednesday's shutout against Post. So that's a good
11:50
Speaker 1: place to be when you're going through a playoff run.
11:52
Speaker 1: To have your your defense and goaltending playing well.
11:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and interestingly, Like, you know, we in the past
11:59
Speaker 2: couple of years when we've talked about lu and goaltending,
12:01
Speaker 2: we've been talking about Tingderholme, and you know, we you know,
12:04
Speaker 2: she was sort of ongoing one of the better goalies
12:07
Speaker 2: in the country and she transferred, and so we're talking
12:12
Speaker 2: about new goaltending here and like the fact that they're
12:14
Speaker 2: still keeping that up and even though we weren't really
12:17
Speaker 2: talking about Abby Thompson at points through this season, like
12:20
Speaker 2: just really impressed that they're still pulling it off and
12:22
Speaker 2: still you know, building off that strong defense.
12:26
Speaker 1: Basically, the Sacred Heart win over st Anselm Kylie Green
12:32
Speaker 1: fifty saves for the shutout there and three nothing shut out.
12:35
Speaker 2: If it's got to be the performance of the weekend
12:37
Speaker 2: rights for I'm reading is right.
12:39
Speaker 1: That's the shots were fifty to forty one. I believe
12:43
Speaker 1: it was in that game, which is a heck of it.
12:48
Speaker 3: So we were just talking about defense.
12:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean, that's an impressive effort to make
12:55
Speaker 1: fifty saves and get a shut out. I don't see
12:57
Speaker 1: that an awful lot. Sacred Heart also swept or when
13:02
Speaker 1: they swept Assumption in the first round, they got a
13:05
Speaker 1: one nothing win in the opener in a six to
13:07
Speaker 1: two win in Game two. Kind of Green made thirty
13:10
Speaker 1: seven saves in that game one for a one nothing shutout,
13:12
Speaker 1: So it seems like she's doing okay with high volume
13:16
Speaker 1: of shots. And for Sacred Heart, that's you know, we
13:22
Speaker 1: we'd talked about Sacred Heart and Long Island kind of
13:24
Speaker 1: going neck and neck for a lot of the season. Well,
13:28
Speaker 1: Franklin Pierce caught up with Sacred Heart last weekend and
13:32
Speaker 1: got the second seed.
13:33
Speaker 3: But lost a post. So way to go post post.
13:36
Speaker 1: The seventh seed beat number two. Franklin Pierce won nothing
13:40
Speaker 1: and won nothing. We'll talk about a way to get
13:44
Speaker 1: a playoff series win. Scoring two goals total and coming
13:47
Speaker 1: out with a sweep is pretty amazing for the.
13:51
Speaker 2: Seventh seed in the conference too, Like just that's a
13:54
Speaker 2: team that has not scored a lot of goals, not
13:57
Speaker 2: fared very well, I mean, eleven conference wins, like that's
14:00
Speaker 2: the I don't know, I just it's such an amazing performance.
14:03
Speaker 2: It's such a gutsy like the pull out two one oh,
14:05
Speaker 2: Like that's just so good for them. And like I
14:08
Speaker 2: know they lost tonight and it was two oh, but
14:10
Speaker 2: I just there, I think there's got to be so
14:11
Speaker 2: much for them to learn and grow from what they
14:14
Speaker 2: were able to do this postseason.
14:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that gives a Sacred Heart at Long Island
14:19
Speaker 1: Saturday night Sharks having home ice. You think that means
14:24
Speaker 1: a little bit for them or a little bit of
14:25
Speaker 1: advantage for them?
14:27
Speaker 3: Oh goodness, I have no idea. I would like.
14:35
Speaker 2: I feel like Sacred Heart has been overall more dynamic
14:38
Speaker 2: this season. I feel like, you know, they're they might
14:42
Speaker 2: have a little bit more of the momentum and just
14:44
Speaker 2: sort of maybe outperforming expectations. And uh, I don't really
14:49
Speaker 2: have great reasoning. I just my gut is that it's
14:51
Speaker 2: Sacred Hearts game to lose.
14:54
Speaker 3: That isn't to.
14:54
Speaker 2: Say that I don't think LA you can win and
14:56
Speaker 2: you know, top seed at home all that sort of stuff.
14:58
Speaker 2: But I just kind of feel like they have been
15:01
Speaker 2: atop of the conference and like are you know, have
15:03
Speaker 2: been comfortably there and just doing doing their stuff sort
15:06
Speaker 2: of week in and week out for a couple of
15:07
Speaker 2: years now, and I don't know, I just kind of
15:09
Speaker 2: like the the upstirtness of Sacred Heart here and not
15:13
Speaker 2: that they haven't been among the top team, like the
15:15
Speaker 2: top half of the conference. But I just I really
15:17
Speaker 2: feel like they just found a new level this year
15:19
Speaker 2: and it pulled out some winds. And yeah, I don't know,
15:23
Speaker 2: it's I don't have a huge reason why, just my
15:26
Speaker 2: gut says.
15:26
Speaker 3: This is Sacred Hearts game.
15:29
Speaker 1: They have split four games this season, So if you're
15:32
Speaker 1: looking for anything to go on there, sorry, there's none.
15:35
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart has already one at Long Island, a one
15:38
Speaker 1: nothing game, so not a high scoring game there. It's no.
15:44
Speaker 2: I imagine that the defense and goaltending is going to
15:47
Speaker 2: be huge in this series, in this game, yeah.
15:49
Speaker 1: I mean that's really what I mean, really should come
15:53
Speaker 1: down to in the playoffs just period. That's how you win.
15:56
Speaker 3: Chick make mistakes.
15:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, cliche, but I mean how many times you see
16:01
Speaker 1: a team get hot and have a good goaltender and
16:03
Speaker 1: it carries you through. You know, when you're only talking
16:06
Speaker 1: about having to win four games or you know, whatever
16:08
Speaker 1: the number is for a two week or three week
16:13
Speaker 1: playoff stretch, that that means an awful lot and what
16:18
Speaker 1: the best defense win. I guess.
16:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I hate the feeling of not being
16:24
Speaker 2: able to like give good analysis or tell someone who
16:26
Speaker 2: I think, you know, like to look at these and
16:28
Speaker 2: be able to pick somebody. It feels like not being
16:31
Speaker 2: good at my job. But also I think it's great
16:33
Speaker 2: that we are in these scenarios where we're talking conference
16:36
Speaker 2: semifinals and conference finals, and it's a toss up because
16:40
Speaker 2: all the teams are are pretty equal in the conversations
16:42
Speaker 2: we're talking about, you know, within the Hockey East, those
16:46
Speaker 2: teams all can beat each other and all can win.
16:47
Speaker 2: And within a new hot here, like you said, they split.
16:51
Speaker 2: So what's gonna happen. That's determined by the teams. It's
16:56
Speaker 2: a toss up, but it should be a great game
16:58
Speaker 2: to watch, and I think that's all we can really
17:00
Speaker 2: hope for, right.
17:02
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's what we hope for in all of
17:04
Speaker 1: these playoff games as the conference season winds down this weekend. Okay,
17:10
Speaker 1: let's take a break there. When we come back, we
17:12
Speaker 1: will talk WCHA and ECAC. You're listening to the podcast.
17:24
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Molusky and Nicole Hasey
17:26
Speaker 1: Again with you, let's turn to the WCHA starting Friday
17:31
Speaker 1: in Duluth, Minnesota. The final face off is what it's called.
17:36
Speaker 1: It'll be Minnesota, the Louth against Wisconsin and Minnesota against
17:39
Speaker 1: Ohio State. But before we get there, let's take a
17:42
Speaker 1: look back at some some of the fourth series that
17:47
Speaker 1: took place last weekend, one of which went to three games,
17:50
Speaker 1: and that was Minnesota and needing a third game to
17:52
Speaker 1: get past Minnesota State because the Mavericks one Game two,
17:57
Speaker 1: five to four in double overtime after losing Game one
18:00
Speaker 1: six one, which for me, it was just a really
18:02
Speaker 1: incredible turnaround. The Mavericks went up three nothing in that
18:06
Speaker 1: Game two, and the Gophers came back, but Minnesota State
18:11
Speaker 1: got the last one and got the last shot to
18:13
Speaker 1: go in and uh and the forcing game three where
18:15
Speaker 1: the Gophers won six to two. I don't know that.
18:20
Speaker 1: I was so expecting that one to go three. I
18:23
Speaker 1: figured if there was a three game series in there
18:25
Speaker 1: and WHA, it would have been d Luth and Saint
18:27
Speaker 1: Cloud State. But that one was decided in two games,
18:31
Speaker 1: two really tight games, as should say, between Saint Cloud
18:34
Speaker 1: and Duluth. What what stood out to you about the
18:36
Speaker 1: last weekend in WHA.
18:40
Speaker 3: Maybe just some of the resiliency.
18:42
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, the Gophers absolutely should have won that series,
18:45
Speaker 2: but like that was a tough game to lose in
18:47
Speaker 2: Game two, and you could just tell that, like they
18:50
Speaker 2: came back and were like, we are not losing this.
18:52
Speaker 2: This is not where season ends. And you know, both
18:54
Speaker 2: them and Minnesota Duluth had sort of rough ends to
18:57
Speaker 2: their season overall their regular season, and so to go
19:00
Speaker 2: into those tough series, I just think like probably said
19:03
Speaker 2: a good thing about both of those teams and their
19:06
Speaker 2: abilities to go further in the postseason. I think from
19:09
Speaker 2: Minnesota one of the big things over the last few
19:11
Speaker 2: weeks is that it hasn't just been Abby Murphy scoring.
19:14
Speaker 2: In fact, it hasn't been Abby scoring a ton at all,
19:16
Speaker 2: Like she's really been shut down by a posy defenses
19:19
Speaker 2: and the other players are stepping up, which is something
19:21
Speaker 2: I think over the last say year and a half
19:23
Speaker 2: we haven't really seen.
19:24
Speaker 3: From their second and third lines.
19:26
Speaker 2: So I think there's just a bit more confidence and
19:28
Speaker 2: stuff there, which I will make them more dangerous going forward.
19:31
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think there were just really good lessons
19:33
Speaker 2: in like when you're going in to do or die,
19:36
Speaker 2: like you One of the things about that Minnesota State
19:39
Speaker 2: goal to end the two overtimes is it was in
19:40
Speaker 2: the final what like five seconds, fifteen seconds something like that.
19:43
Speaker 2: I mean, I remember the play happening and they went
19:46
Speaker 2: down and they didn't take the shot, and I was like, well,
19:48
Speaker 2: that that's over.
19:49
Speaker 3: Like I also thought like that was your opportunity, you
19:52
Speaker 3: didn't take it.
19:53
Speaker 2: And then they they did come in and score. But
19:55
Speaker 2: I feel like maybe Minnesota was already in the locker
19:58
Speaker 2: room there a little they did. They weren't playing it
20:01
Speaker 2: all out, and so I think there were.
20:02
Speaker 3: Just some really good lessons for them in that. I
20:04
Speaker 3: don't know what about you, I thought that.
20:08
Speaker 1: So we had that game on at Lebon Arena while
20:11
Speaker 1: I was covering Wisconsin game, and that one just kept
20:15
Speaker 1: going and going, and had it on in the interview
20:18
Speaker 1: room while Wisconsin was doing interviews, and I didn't see
20:20
Speaker 1: the goal, but I saw the aftermath of the goal
20:22
Speaker 1: in double overtime, and I had to go back and
20:25
Speaker 1: watch it later. But I just thought, you know, Minnesota
20:29
Speaker 1: has been in, you know, positions where it's it's had
20:33
Speaker 1: chances to to get things done. I think back to
20:37
Speaker 1: when they were up three nothing against Wisconsin at home
20:39
Speaker 1: in the second game of the series there, I think
20:42
Speaker 1: back in November, and they let Wisconsin back into it
20:45
Speaker 1: and and the Badgers won that game I don't. You
20:49
Speaker 1: don't get tons of chances, you know, in the playoffs,
20:52
Speaker 1: and it just happened to be they they got away
20:54
Speaker 1: with that one because it was in a best of
20:56
Speaker 1: three series, and moving forward, they can't let things slip away.
21:01
Speaker 1: And I think that's a not that necessarily slipped away,
21:07
Speaker 1: but that opportunity did. And kudos to them for climbing
21:11
Speaker 1: back into that game, because at three, nothing that could
21:14
Speaker 1: have been done, and you're looking forward to game three anyway,
21:16
Speaker 1: but they they pulled their way back into it. I
21:19
Speaker 1: just think that, you know, the further you go into
21:22
Speaker 1: this now, it's going to be a lot tougher to
21:25
Speaker 1: try and pull your way back from three nothing deficits.
21:28
Speaker 1: So that's something they have to avoid going forward.
21:32
Speaker 3: Sure, that's funny, sort of two takes on the same thing.
21:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess for me, I was looking at this
21:36
Speaker 2: resilience because they were they were down and they came
21:38
Speaker 2: back in that game. And then and then also you know,
21:40
Speaker 2: really making that statement when in the second day and
21:42
Speaker 2: like poorer Minnesota State just looked dead and that their
21:46
Speaker 2: game like they had left it all.
21:47
Speaker 3: In the ice.
21:47
Speaker 2: And so it says good things for the Gophers that
21:50
Speaker 2: you know, they sort of had the conditioning and all
21:51
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff to still make a statement in
21:56
Speaker 2: that game on Sunday. But yeah, I happened to talk
21:58
Speaker 2: to Abbey Murphy today and like, you know, like that's
22:01
Speaker 2: that's over. We don't like we have to learn from
22:03
Speaker 2: that because you can't. There are no more second chances.
22:06
Speaker 2: So that's a huge, huge thing for them, and I
22:09
Speaker 2: think just it's a it's a moderately younger squad. It's
22:11
Speaker 2: a squad that hasn't gotten very far in the playoffs,
22:15
Speaker 2: so as this for this group, and so they just
22:18
Speaker 2: there's they all of this is learning, and all of
22:20
Speaker 2: this is experienced.
22:21
Speaker 3: They can dig into Minnesota.
22:24
Speaker 1: The luth gets to host the final face off this weekend.
22:28
Speaker 1: It's usually at Ritter Arena, but Minnesota is hosting the
22:31
Speaker 1: Frozen Four this season and didn't necessarily want to do
22:34
Speaker 1: those two big tournaments in the Spanish weeks, in which
22:37
Speaker 1: I totally understand that. But the luth was trailing Saint
22:43
Speaker 1: Cloud State going into the final two minutes on Friday,
22:45
Speaker 1: game one of that series before they they wrestled that
22:48
Speaker 1: one back.
22:49
Speaker 3: That was a wild game too. There were some great
22:51
Speaker 3: week games this weekend.
22:53
Speaker 1: Were Caitlin Kramer scored with a minute fifty five left
22:56
Speaker 1: and then it got into the final ten seconds Olivia
22:59
Speaker 1: Walleen's scores, it was credited with five seconds left. I
23:02
Speaker 1: don't know exactly how much time they was on the
23:05
Speaker 1: clock or how much they put back after that, and
23:09
Speaker 1: the Bulldogs, you know, stole that win away from the Huskies. Uh.
23:14
Speaker 1: And then one two one in game two to advance.
23:18
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a you look at that both ways.
23:20
Speaker 1: That's exhilarating for the Louth and just a gut punch
23:26
Speaker 1: for Saint Cloud in that game one.
23:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the important thing to note in that
23:31
Speaker 2: series is two really crucial challenges from Lar Schuler. So
23:35
Speaker 2: in game one, they challenged for a penalty to be
23:39
Speaker 2: called a major, which was successful. So their first goal
23:41
Speaker 2: came on that five minute major power play. And in
23:44
Speaker 2: the second game, Saint Cloud State scored in the opening
23:47
Speaker 2: three minutes and they challenged for off sides and it
23:49
Speaker 2: was called back. And those are just two obviously huge
23:52
Speaker 2: turning points in both these games. Right Like, if UMD
23:55
Speaker 2: doesn't get that first goal on fighting, we're not talking
23:57
Speaker 2: about a quick comeback at the end. That's not even
23:59
Speaker 2: on the table, and I think they just stole all
24:01
Speaker 2: the momentum and sort of everything, all the wind out
24:03
Speaker 2: of the sales of Saint Cloud. When that goal was
24:05
Speaker 2: called back. Nobody scored then for like another thirty minutes
24:09
Speaker 2: in that game to well into the second period. So
24:12
Speaker 2: kudos to the staff until our shooler for calling those
24:15
Speaker 2: and being successful. Right, Like, I feel like a lot
24:19
Speaker 2: of times we've seen some challenges lately that are like, well,
24:21
Speaker 2: I may as well just take it for a time out,
24:22
Speaker 2: Like these were like she knew what she was doing,
24:24
Speaker 2: she knew she was gonna win them. And I mean,
24:26
Speaker 2: to some extent it's the off sides at least you
24:31
Speaker 2: like you've seen the tape and you're like, okay, she's
24:33
Speaker 2: off sides. But like on a asking for a major,
24:35
Speaker 2: you just don't know what the officials are gonna call,
24:38
Speaker 2: and like risking your time out in a series like
24:42
Speaker 2: this that really is gutsy, and so I yeah, I
24:45
Speaker 2: kudos to her. And those two were just massive turning
24:48
Speaker 2: points in this series.
24:50
Speaker 1: And in that game, yeah, Wisconsin and Ohio state the
24:54
Speaker 1: cruise passed, but as you say it, in Saint Thomas respectively,
24:56
Speaker 1: to set up the final face off, which again to
25:00
Speaker 1: luth against Wisconsin in the early game on Friday, Minnesota
25:03
Speaker 1: against Ohio State in the later game.
25:06
Speaker 3: And when he says early, he means early.
25:09
Speaker 1: One Central time on Friday, which is a is it
25:15
Speaker 1: choice choice, We'll be out of there early anyway, I
25:20
Speaker 1: guess if you want to look at it, but there's.
25:23
Speaker 3: Don't say that that it could go into all.
25:26
Speaker 1: Right, Erase, now take that, So what's your what's your
25:32
Speaker 1: thoughts going into this? I mean, Wisconsin has been on
25:34
Speaker 1: such a role. Uh, you know, Ohio State can can
25:38
Speaker 1: play right with Wisconsin in any game. Minnesota has been
25:40
Speaker 1: right there too, and the luth is really given the
25:42
Speaker 1: Badgers some some fits in just in the last couple
25:47
Speaker 1: of weeks. I don't know that this is as cut
25:52
Speaker 1: and dried as we want to think. With Wisconsin on
25:54
Speaker 1: twenty whatever two game unbeaten streak, this these are the
26:00
Speaker 1: best teams in w c h A and by the numbers,
26:02
Speaker 1: of three best teams in the pair wise with Wisconsin,
26:06
Speaker 1: Ohouse State in Minnesota. So let's see what happens.
26:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it is a toss up,
26:15
Speaker 2: like any I think no outcomes this weekend would surprise me.
26:19
Speaker 2: And I also think that I give Wisconsin the benefit
26:22
Speaker 2: of the doubt until they prove that they shouldn't be
26:23
Speaker 2: given that right. So like it's it's a little of both.
26:26
Speaker 2: I just they've been playing so well and so dominantly
26:29
Speaker 2: and like when things click, it's it's a thing of beauty.
26:34
Speaker 2: I mean, if they're playing like they played against Minnesota
26:36
Speaker 2: at home a few weeks ago, when everybody is hitting
26:39
Speaker 2: on all the right cylinders like they're they're nearly impossible
26:42
Speaker 2: to be. That being said, you know they don't always
26:44
Speaker 2: play like that. And also you know, for the first game,
26:47
Speaker 2: UMD is a team that's absolutely given them fits and
26:49
Speaker 2: starts v gascon can you know absolutely term the tides
26:54
Speaker 2: a game. And just also the way that they play
26:56
Speaker 2: defense is really capable of slowing down what Wisconsin wants
27:01
Speaker 2: to do. And so yeah, I think the big problem
27:04
Speaker 2: for um D is I'm not sure. I'm not sure
27:07
Speaker 2: you could completely stone wall Wisconsin, and I'm not sure
27:09
Speaker 2: that um D has the offensive higher power to overcome
27:13
Speaker 2: whatever Wisconsin does get through.
27:15
Speaker 3: Is that fair? I don't know.
27:16
Speaker 1: I think so, And I think that's the I mean,
27:20
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks ago, the Badgers beat the
27:23
Speaker 1: Bulldogs to one and two, one first one in overtime,
27:26
Speaker 1: had to come back in both of those. So they've
27:30
Speaker 1: got the experience in limiting Wisconsin's I guess, really good
27:34
Speaker 1: chances or at least letting them finish the really good chances.
27:38
Speaker 1: But they also haven't scored a ton either, So yeah,
27:40
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of the Both of those have
27:43
Speaker 1: to work out for them. They need to get some
27:45
Speaker 1: more scoring to have a chance in that semi final
27:49
Speaker 1: for me, and in the other one in Ohio State
27:52
Speaker 1: and Minnesota played a couple of doozies a couple of
27:54
Speaker 1: weeks ago at Ritter and so looking forward to that
27:58
Speaker 1: one because that's a heavyweight right there.
28:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was what five periods of really great ocum
28:04
Speaker 2: in one where Ohio State sort of blew it out
28:06
Speaker 2: and it got real ugly with penalties and things. But yeah,
28:09
Speaker 2: I agree to me, this is all a toss up
28:11
Speaker 2: every which way it could. You look at this like
28:14
Speaker 2: who no matter who wins the semi finals, no matter
28:16
Speaker 2: like who ends up in the final game, but all
28:18
Speaker 2: of them, I mean this again, this is there's a
28:21
Speaker 2: lot on the line here that has nothing to do
28:23
Speaker 2: with where they placed in the conference tournament.
28:24
Speaker 3: And so it's not just about that.
28:28
Speaker 2: And so I mean for UMD and probably Minnesota the
28:32
Speaker 2: most right in terms of like where that could move
28:34
Speaker 2: them into the pairwise and who they would have to
28:36
Speaker 2: then play in the NCAA tournament.
28:39
Speaker 3: But also this is just it's for pride.
28:41
Speaker 2: It's all their biggest, toughest opponents, like these are going
28:44
Speaker 2: to be the guest best games these teams play all year,
28:46
Speaker 2: like every single one of them not only wants to
28:49
Speaker 2: win for themselves, but wants to beat the other teams
28:51
Speaker 2: that are there, like with a burning passion. So like
28:55
Speaker 2: there's just there's a lot of sort of pride and
28:58
Speaker 2: a lot on the line for them.
29:01
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay, let's take a look over to the East then,
29:06
Speaker 1: ECAC having their championship weekend, that line of rink at Cornell.
29:11
Speaker 1: That'll be Clarkson against Cornell and Saint Lawrence against Colgate
29:15
Speaker 1: in the semi finals. But let's rewind because three sweeps
29:19
Speaker 1: in the quarterfinals last week, Cornell sweeping Union, Colgate getting
29:24
Speaker 1: past Princeton, Saint Lawrence getting past Yale even though they
29:26
Speaker 1: needed overtime in the first game, and then Clarkson needed
29:31
Speaker 1: three games to get past Quinnipiac, and that was a
29:34
Speaker 1: massive series when you look at it nationally and pairwise
29:39
Speaker 1: and NCAA tournament purposes. Clarkson's still alive and Quinnipiac isn't,
29:44
Speaker 1: so that's.
29:45
Speaker 3: Right for purposes, that was the national championship games.
29:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, Quinnipiac won that first one three to one, before
29:53
Speaker 1: Clarkson got a two to one win in Game two
29:56
Speaker 1: and a four to one win in Game three. Haley
29:59
Speaker 1: wins going twice the third one. I think that was
30:04
Speaker 1: the one that we we thought was going to be
30:06
Speaker 1: a battle, and it turned out to be absolutely that, right.
30:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I those are two teams that are very good
30:14
Speaker 2: at defense, that need beyond leads, scoring from beyond their
30:18
Speaker 2: top lines. I mean, Clarkson's Hilly when as a defender
30:21
Speaker 2: is Clarkson's top scorer. I think two of their three
30:23
Speaker 2: top scorers are defenders. Like there's just not necessarily traditionally
30:28
Speaker 2: that sort of like powerhouse and so those and that's
30:30
Speaker 2: probably one of the bigger rivalries in recent years in
30:33
Speaker 2: that conference.
30:34
Speaker 3: And so yeah, not only was it, you know.
30:37
Speaker 2: Teams that you really want to beat, but again it
30:40
Speaker 2: was winner go home in a way that like was
30:43
Speaker 2: is very when you're the ninth, you're talking nine and
30:45
Speaker 2: tend in the country and one of them is going
30:46
Speaker 2: to keep playing one of them season is done. Like
30:48
Speaker 2: that's such a rough quarter final matchup.
30:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, it really comes down to uh,
30:56
Speaker 1: you know, home ice and things like that mean means something.
31:01
Speaker 1: I mean in the.
31:01
Speaker 2: First why we were talking about like down the down
31:05
Speaker 2: standings in the conference, right, like when we were talking
31:07
Speaker 2: about games that mattered about who plays third, fourth, and fifth,
31:10
Speaker 2: like this is what why we were talking about it.
31:12
Speaker 1: And I wasn't necessarily thinking that so much on Friday
31:14
Speaker 1: when Quinn Pak was up was three nothing on Clarkson
31:17
Speaker 1: and we're kind of like, well, hello Clarkson, season on
31:22
Speaker 1: the line here. But credit to them. They pulled it
31:26
Speaker 1: together and they they got what they needed to do
31:28
Speaker 1: and get into the the semi finals. Here on Friday
31:33
Speaker 1: that the Cornell series union did not go quietly. In
31:36
Speaker 1: that that second game Union led two to one UH
31:42
Speaker 1: into the final two minutes of that game, Correl Prefontaine
31:45
Speaker 1: scored with a Matt nine left and Gaby Rude with
31:47
Speaker 1: just twenty seven seconds left. As Cornell, you know just rebounded.
31:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, like it was that was Union was cruising. Union
32:01
Speaker 2: was gonna take that game. And Cornell pulled the goalie,
32:05
Speaker 2: got that second goal from Carol prefont Taint and then yeah.
32:08
Speaker 3: That the the seral like hurt that I had for
32:12
Speaker 3: Union when when Cornell scored that goal with twenty seven
32:15
Speaker 3: seconds left, it was just like it was a whole
32:17
Speaker 3: separate game that it lasted in the final like one
32:19
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty seconds of that game, and it was
32:21
Speaker 3: just it would have been such a big win for Union.
32:23
Speaker 3: And also it's just the way that it all went down.
32:25
Speaker 2: It just was just very demoralizing and I it was
32:29
Speaker 2: a little hard to watch. I'm very excited for Cornell,
32:32
Speaker 2: you know, that's what you're here for, Like that's what
32:35
Speaker 2: pulling the goalie does. And they didn't give up and
32:38
Speaker 2: they were gonna play till the final buzzer. But man,
32:40
Speaker 2: that was that was a heartbreaker for Union.
32:43
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just the playoffs, right, is that it's
32:46
Speaker 1: you know, throw everything out there when you when you're
32:50
Speaker 1: down a goal in the last couple of minutes, because
32:53
Speaker 1: you know what, what's to lose at that point, You've
32:55
Speaker 1: got to you got to come up with something and
32:58
Speaker 1: credit to Cornell for getting that done at home. That
33:02
Speaker 1: Saint Lawrence Yale series. I mentioned a three to two
33:05
Speaker 1: overtime win on Friday for Saint Lawrence Claire Tile with
33:08
Speaker 1: an overtime goal on a power play. Uh A five
33:12
Speaker 1: on three, that's right.
33:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Gale had that game.
33:16
Speaker 2: And sort of handed it away in a way that
33:18
Speaker 2: was also very hard to watch. Yeah, yeah, there was
33:22
Speaker 2: there was a there was some rough. I mean I
33:25
Speaker 2: thrilled and lucky and privileged and stayed home this weekend.
33:27
Speaker 2: I didn't go with you guys in Madison to watch
33:29
Speaker 2: those games. So like I sat down at one o'clock
33:32
Speaker 2: on Friday and Saturday and watched everything. And there was
33:34
Speaker 2: a point where like I didn't have enough screens and
33:36
Speaker 2: I was like switching around and it was amazing and
33:38
Speaker 2: also absolutely like sensory overload. But it was also like
33:42
Speaker 2: every time you just watched I mean, it was just
33:44
Speaker 2: it was like a silly, stupid hit, Like it was
33:46
Speaker 2: a bad retaliation and you're just like why are you
33:48
Speaker 2: Like you got that you you got them on the ropes,
33:51
Speaker 2: like and you just handed this game to them.
33:53
Speaker 3: It was just like, oh, poor Yale and poor.
33:56
Speaker 2: I feel bad for the student in the student athlete
33:58
Speaker 2: in the moment, right because afterwards she's absolutely gonna beat
34:01
Speaker 2: herself up about it.
34:04
Speaker 1: That's uh yeah, it's a tough way for that to end.
34:08
Speaker 1: Uh you know something, someone's going home unhappy, just you
34:11
Speaker 1: do hope it's not on a rough play, but it
34:15
Speaker 1: does happen. So e c AS goes into its championship
34:18
Speaker 1: weekend again, you know the top seeds are there. These
34:25
Speaker 1: are the teams that fought for those top spots all
34:28
Speaker 1: season and they got him and hear it means something.
34:31
Speaker 1: So any any just kind of prevailing thoughts about these
34:36
Speaker 1: four teams, and I mean, they're as far as I
34:39
Speaker 1: can tell, they're all going to the NCAA tournament is
34:44
Speaker 1: unless something weird happens, right, I don't possibly pretty good
34:50
Speaker 1: at St. Lawrence. I mean, I suppose there's a chance
34:52
Speaker 1: that a uh Atlantic Hockey gets a second team if
34:57
Speaker 1: Mercy Hears beats Penn State and Penn State holds on
35:00
Speaker 1: on to a top spot. But I don't know if
35:03
Speaker 1: that's a feasible thing.
35:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't played innu ye, but I like, just
35:08
Speaker 2: looking at it, they would say there's probably a liver
35:10
Speaker 2: of a chance with some convoluted way that Clarkson could
35:14
Speaker 2: be out. But yeah, it does definitely does seem that
35:16
Speaker 2: like these talking about w h A and ECAC all
35:20
Speaker 2: top four teams, all eight of those teams are going
35:22
Speaker 2: to make the tournament.
35:23
Speaker 1: But I don't think any of those teams, especially Saint
35:26
Speaker 1: Lawrence and Clarkson, want to leave that up to waiting
35:29
Speaker 1: Saturday's results to to find out.
35:33
Speaker 2: Right, And they're all in positions where where they end
35:36
Speaker 2: up in that final eleven bracket significantly changes their their
35:42
Speaker 2: path to them to a title, right, So I think
35:45
Speaker 2: that's also going to be you know, Cornella is looking
35:48
Speaker 2: to not is looking to pass up Minnesota, Colgates looking
35:52
Speaker 2: to not be the five seed. So there's just yeah,
35:55
Speaker 2: there's just a lot on the line still, and looking
35:58
Speaker 2: at the pair wise, everything's like down to the thousands
36:02
Speaker 2: of points, right, just the teeniest, tiniest margins.
36:04
Speaker 1: So yeah, a lot of games were down to nine
36:09
Speaker 1: left that will count towards you know, the pair wise,
36:13
Speaker 1: but I.
36:14
Speaker 3: Like know that, but while hearing nine games, every.
36:16
Speaker 1: One of those can mean an awful lot, so let's
36:21
Speaker 1: have at it.
36:23
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, everybody's playing Friday afternoon for some inexplicable reason that
36:27
Speaker 2: I'm sure Danca would say is for student athlete rest
36:30
Speaker 2: and stuff. But man, does it distinct that the WHA
36:33
Speaker 2: tournament games are at one in four thirty Central and
36:35
Speaker 2: the ECAC tournament games are at three and six Eastern
36:38
Speaker 2: on Friday?
36:39
Speaker 3: Just absolutely eight of the top.
36:43
Speaker 2: Nine teams in the country, right, Yeah, eight of the
36:46
Speaker 2: top nineteens in the country are going to play each
36:48
Speaker 2: other and nobody's going to see it.
36:51
Speaker 3: That is frustrating.
36:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, welcome to women's hockey, right, Yeah, you've dealt with that.
36:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, surprise, not surprised, but disappointed.
37:03
Speaker 2: Like none of this is yeah, none of this is new,
37:05
Speaker 2: but just this is worse than normal.
37:09
Speaker 3: And so some of this we should say, like the w.
37:11
Speaker 2: C tournament used to be Saturday Sunday, and so they
37:14
Speaker 2: have moved it so that most tournaments are Friday, so
37:17
Speaker 2: that the hockey is done on Saturday and then the
37:19
Speaker 2: selection is on Sunday. There is like they're doing, you know,
37:23
Speaker 2: they're giving the selection tea a group more time and
37:26
Speaker 2: you know whatever. And I would assume they're saying it
37:29
Speaker 2: so that the Collesians can then get home because if
37:31
Speaker 2: they're continuing on then they have to get on a
37:32
Speaker 2: plane and go somewhere else. But yeah, it's it's not great.
37:37
Speaker 2: I just feel I said to you this you offline.
37:40
Speaker 2: I both agree with prioritizing the student athletes and think
37:44
Speaker 2: that there's got to be some middle ground between a
37:46
Speaker 2: one o'clock Friday afternoon game and prioritising the student athletes.
37:51
Speaker 1: I I think that's valid. I also I totally understand
37:56
Speaker 1: the reasons that you said on the behalf of the
37:59
Speaker 1: schools or the conferences. I can understand those two of
38:03
Speaker 1: making sure there's a proper amount of rest and yeah,
38:07
Speaker 1: there's a proper amount of time for the selection committee
38:10
Speaker 1: to do its work.
38:12
Speaker 2: But though though supposedly there's no work to be done by.
38:16
Speaker 1: There's only sometimes work to be done in terms of Yeah.
38:23
Speaker 2: That's why I said, I'm not negating that, Like there
38:26
Speaker 2: are reasons for having moved it forwarded, reasons for you know,
38:29
Speaker 2: moving it, like having games earlier. But I just I
38:32
Speaker 2: think one in four thirty is a little little egregious
38:36
Speaker 2: move in that direction, Like even the three and six
38:39
Speaker 2: free ecac is is better than that. So, like I said,
38:42
Speaker 2: I think there just has to be some maybe it's
38:43
Speaker 2: not middle, but there has to be somewhere in between
38:45
Speaker 2: those two that is not.
38:48
Speaker 3: Lunchtime hockey.
38:52
Speaker 1: Okay, that is ECAC. When we come back, we will
38:55
Speaker 1: talk Atlantic hockey and the championship game theirs with us
39:00
Speaker 1: on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Maleski
39:10
Speaker 1: and Nicole Hasey with you wrapping up things around the
39:14
Speaker 1: country this week. We are going conference by conference and
39:17
Speaker 1: that leaves us with Alanakockey, which is down to one
39:21
Speaker 1: more game, Championship game Saturday being Penn State against Mercy Hearst.
39:26
Speaker 1: That being in Happy Valley, two o'clock eastern start. There,
39:32
Speaker 1: that was Penn State having a pretty easy time with
39:37
Speaker 1: rit but Merciers having not such an easy time with
39:40
Speaker 1: Syracuse in the semi finals. Syracuse won game one one
39:44
Speaker 1: nothing and Merciers had their rally from that to win
39:47
Speaker 1: games to game two, four nothing, in game three five
39:50
Speaker 1: to to Theo Johansson with a hat trick in game
39:53
Speaker 1: three to get Mercy Hearst into the championship game. Penn
39:57
Speaker 1: State won their series in two games three, two and
40:00
Speaker 1: four nothing, So a little bit of a uh, you know,
40:03
Speaker 1: had to hold on there in game one, uh, Testaganicky
40:07
Speaker 1: with two goals in the first game and an empty
40:08
Speaker 1: letter in game two for the Atlantic Hockey Player of
40:11
Speaker 1: the Year, who is the X factor in any game,
40:17
Speaker 1: She's in correct. I mean, that's just the way it
40:19
Speaker 1: feels when Penncate. If Testagianiky can get going, that means
40:24
Speaker 1: trouble for the opponent.
40:25
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think the sort of point a underneath
40:31
Speaker 2: that is if the rest of her team gets going
40:33
Speaker 2: with her. I think part of the dynamic there is
40:37
Speaker 2: is that she's you know, going to play in the
40:39
Speaker 2: World Championships and the rest of her there is there's
40:42
Speaker 2: just an imbalance, and so it does she can't be
40:44
Speaker 2: the only one that steps up her game, is what
40:46
Speaker 2: I'm trying to say. So yeah, I mean I do
40:49
Speaker 2: think that that puts Penn State, you know, more than
40:53
Speaker 2: a step ahead of anyone else in the conference. I also,
40:57
Speaker 2: you know, you you mentioned the Syracuse win, but the
41:00
Speaker 2: third game in that series, like Mercy Hears didn't win
41:02
Speaker 2: that un till late in the third period, Like that
41:03
Speaker 2: was a tie game until about ten minutes left in
41:06
Speaker 2: that game. And so you know, I mean, if we
41:10
Speaker 2: give the credit to Minnesota for being resilient, I'll give
41:12
Speaker 2: it to Mercy Hurst here, but also the fact that
41:14
Speaker 2: they did not have an easy ride through those semifinals
41:19
Speaker 2: does not go to hell for their chances against Penn State.
41:22
Speaker 2: Just Penn State has you know what, don't they have, well,
41:25
Speaker 2: Mercy Hurst to give them their only conference loss. I
41:27
Speaker 2: wils we will say that, right, But I mean Penn
41:30
Speaker 2: State has sort of just been an inevitable ball rolling
41:33
Speaker 2: down the hill here, So it's gonna be a lot
41:37
Speaker 2: of work for Mercy Hurst to be able to pull
41:38
Speaker 2: out a win there.
41:39
Speaker 1: I think I think we've you know, we've seen Penn
41:42
Speaker 1: State as a is a you know, a legitimate NCAA
41:46
Speaker 1: tournament team, not a new Hawk qualifier NCAA tournament team.
41:49
Speaker 1: And there's seventh, sorry, you're right, sorry, Atlantic Hockey seventh
41:55
Speaker 1: in the pair wise, you know, having thirty I don't
42:02
Speaker 1: even know what their record is, but right this is
42:08
Speaker 1: not a team that can be taken lightly. They were
42:11
Speaker 1: in the tournament last year, got to you know, got
42:13
Speaker 1: into overtime with Saint Lawrence and lost one nothing. So
42:17
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, we're looking ahead a little
42:22
Speaker 1: bit here as for the NCAA tournament. But anyone who
42:27
Speaker 1: takes Penn State lightly is making a mistake and doing
42:32
Speaker 1: a disservice to everything that Penn State has built over
42:33
Speaker 1: the last couple of years.
42:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think sort of everything that we
42:37
Speaker 2: saw there in maybe a little rougher shape last year
42:40
Speaker 2: when you said they were, you know, one one play
42:43
Speaker 2: away from from advancing the NCAA tournament. It's all just
42:45
Speaker 2: improved this year. And they've had even more players step up,
42:48
Speaker 2: and Katie Tisa has had more experience and net and
42:50
Speaker 2: they yeah, they just they did what they needed to
42:52
Speaker 2: do this year. They you know, they have been continued
42:56
Speaker 2: to schedule you know, tougher teams in the non conference.
42:58
Speaker 3: They dominated the h A.
43:00
Speaker 2: I mean, their one loss game in the last game
43:02
Speaker 2: of the season. They are second in the country and
43:05
Speaker 2: win per century. You know, sort of like the conversation
43:11
Speaker 2: of you know, other teams having tougher schedules and things
43:13
Speaker 2: like that, but they did what they were supposed to
43:15
Speaker 2: do with their schedule, which is like sweep through it, right. So, yeah,
43:20
Speaker 2: they do feel a little inevitable, and I do, like
43:22
Speaker 2: you said, I think anybody that overlooks them is doing
43:25
Speaker 2: so at their own peril.
43:27
Speaker 1: The that that series you referenced Mercy Heres at Penn
43:31
Speaker 1: State being the last, the second one regular season regular
43:36
Speaker 1: season series. I think Penn State won clinched the regular
43:40
Speaker 1: season and in that first game, if I'm remembering it right. Uh,
43:44
Speaker 1: but I mean that was an overtime win for Penn
43:46
Speaker 1: State and then it was a three to two Merciers
43:49
Speaker 1: win the next day. So, you know, game games with
43:52
Speaker 1: things on the line there and Mercy Heris was right
43:56
Speaker 1: in them.
43:56
Speaker 3: So I and down the road. Yeah that's fair.
44:00
Speaker 1: And having had some success in that building has got
44:02
Speaker 1: to make them feel like, Okay, well we've done this before,
44:05
Speaker 1: why can't we do it now. So I don't want
44:08
Speaker 1: to you know, you know, write Penn Stadium as a
44:12
Speaker 1: champion in ink or anything like that.
44:13
Speaker 3: So no, absolutely not.
44:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a big hill to climb for Mercieres
44:20
Speaker 1: to to win you know, you know, one and done
44:24
Speaker 1: at Penn State's rink. But you know, having had some
44:28
Speaker 1: success in doing it, I think there's a chance and so.
44:30
Speaker 3: And recently, which I think is the crucial part.
44:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, uh, they've got to be feeling like, you know,
44:37
Speaker 1: once they get past having to play three games, getting
44:40
Speaker 1: a little rest, getting kind of mentally refocused. Having just
44:43
Speaker 1: one game to play this week, that's uh, you know,
44:47
Speaker 1: a real big opportunity for them.
44:49
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think we've talked in the past.
44:50
Speaker 2: I mean Michael Cisti, their coach, has been around for ages.
44:55
Speaker 2: And I don't mean that in negative play, Like he's
44:57
Speaker 2: got so much experience. He's someone that has his teams
44:59
Speaker 2: for paired, that has won in the postseason, you know,
45:03
Speaker 2: in earlier parts of his career. I just think like
45:06
Speaker 2: he's one of those coaches that I would never overlook
45:09
Speaker 2: or ever think that his team wouldn't be prepared in
45:11
Speaker 2: this scenario. So yeah, I think it's absolutely fair.
45:15
Speaker 3: To say that I shouldn't be that quick to do it.
45:18
Speaker 2: I think I just what Penn State has done over
45:21
Speaker 2: the past couple of years is all led to them
45:25
Speaker 2: being in this position. Right, Like, they started scheduling those
45:27
Speaker 2: tougher non conference games and they weren't winning them, and
45:30
Speaker 2: this year they were. At this year, they beat Northeastern,
45:32
Speaker 2: they beat Yukon, they beat Minnesota, They did sort of
45:35
Speaker 2: all the things they're supposed to do to be a
45:37
Speaker 2: team that's taken seriously on a national stage. And like,
45:42
Speaker 2: arguably they could still like the if Mercy Hurst wins here,
45:45
Speaker 2: Penn State could still make get an NCAA at large
45:47
Speaker 2: bed as you mentioned that seven in the pairwise right, it'd.
45:52
Speaker 1: Be real thin margin though if they managed just to
45:55
Speaker 1: you know, because that would do a pretty good hit
45:58
Speaker 1: on their NPI number. So y, yes, I don't love
46:02
Speaker 1: to see it worked out, but uh.
46:05
Speaker 2: It's not It's not not a zero percent chance, right, Uh,
46:10
Speaker 2: But yeah, I just I applaud where Penn State has
46:14
Speaker 2: taken themselves, like everything where they stand right now, and
46:18
Speaker 2: like what we've done with their with their program over
46:21
Speaker 2: the past couple of years has like culminating, and what
46:23
Speaker 2: they're doing this season, and like there's a very clear
46:26
Speaker 2: path to having got here. And uh, I think a
46:29
Speaker 2: is a really good blueprint for what teams that are
46:32
Speaker 2: not maybe in the other three, the other three sort
46:34
Speaker 2: of upper conferences top conferences by.
46:39
Speaker 3: Nca qualifiers. I don't like, I don't want to get.
46:41
Speaker 2: The I'm not saying anything about relative about anybody, but
46:44
Speaker 2: I just I don't know. I just think it's really impressive.
46:47
Speaker 2: They they set out to do this to improve their
46:49
Speaker 2: standing to be a nationally competitive and competent team, and
46:55
Speaker 2: they achieve that, and I think that's pretty cool.
46:58
Speaker 1: It helps having national team level play like Testa Janicke,
47:01
Speaker 1: and you mentioned her being on the US roster, and
47:06
Speaker 1: let's let's let's dive into that a little bit that
47:09
Speaker 1: got released on Wednesday, the US roster for the World
47:13
Speaker 1: Championship in Chechia, April ninth, twentieth. There are on the
47:18
Speaker 1: twenty five player US roster nine players who are in
47:21
Speaker 1: college this season, Testagianika. We mentioned Abby Murphy from Minnesota,
47:24
Speaker 1: Hailey win from Clarkson, Enjoy Dunn from Ohio State, and
47:28
Speaker 1: then a group of five from Wisconsin Lacey Eden, Leila Edwards,
47:32
Speaker 1: Kellen Harvey, Ava McNaughton, and Kirsten Simms. Avian McNaughton the
47:35
Speaker 1: goalie making a her national team debut, senior national team debut.
47:39
Speaker 1: And I know you had some thoughts on that and
47:41
Speaker 1: something you wrote on Victory Press about how the I
47:45
Speaker 1: think you may have mentioned it recently too on our
47:48
Speaker 1: show about just you know what it means to have
47:50
Speaker 1: someone come through the U eighteen team and then get
47:54
Speaker 1: a national team looked, because that hasn't happened a ton lately, right.
47:58
Speaker 2: No, I mean I went and counted it up and
47:59
Speaker 2: there are twenty I think it was twenty women that
48:03
Speaker 2: have been goalies at the U eighteen level in the
48:06
Speaker 2: last ten years. I went back to twenty twenty or
48:08
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen just for our clean ten year cutoff, and
48:12
Speaker 2: mcdonton will be the only one that will have made
48:15
Speaker 2: a senior national team roster. So obviously some of those
48:19
Speaker 2: women played multiple years, but yeah, in ten years of
48:21
Speaker 2: the eighteen World Championship rosters, not one of those goalies
48:25
Speaker 2: has gone on to play for the senior national team.
48:27
Speaker 2: A couple have ended up in some of the camps
48:29
Speaker 2: and in the development, but like generally, we just are
48:32
Speaker 2: not developing in the US goalies from the junior team
48:36
Speaker 2: up into the senior team, and overall only three of
48:38
Speaker 2: them have. Alex Rinsby played in the very first two
48:41
Speaker 2: U eighteens and Maddi Rooney was on the twenty thirteen
48:44
Speaker 2: U eighteen roster. I would argue Alex circulely probably would
48:48
Speaker 2: have made it no matter what Maddie, I don't know,
48:53
Speaker 2: one way or the other. I don't, but I just
48:55
Speaker 2: I think that's somewhat appalling. I think that if the
48:59
Speaker 2: U eighteens can they have continued to win gold and
49:02
Speaker 2: play in the title game. So I don't think that
49:05
Speaker 2: we're picking the wrong teenagers. And I do understand that
49:09
Speaker 2: picking teenagers does mean like there are gonna be some misses, right,
49:14
Speaker 2: Like that's across all all sports. But like those most
49:18
Speaker 2: of these are girls that are a year or two
49:19
Speaker 2: away from the NCAA, So it's not like we're talking,
49:22
Speaker 2: you know, a huge gap. But yeah, I think we're
49:25
Speaker 2: making the right choices for you eighteen rosters as a
49:28
Speaker 2: general rule, and then those players are not being brought
49:31
Speaker 2: up and developed and they're not panning out in the
49:34
Speaker 2: same way. So again I don't expect that every single
49:37
Speaker 2: one of them would there wouldn't be rosters for all
49:39
Speaker 2: of them. But I do think what happens is they
49:41
Speaker 2: make you eighteen roster and then they have been expected
49:43
Speaker 2: to develop on their own and in the NCAAA, and
49:46
Speaker 2: then we might call them back, and that there's a
49:49
Speaker 2: disconnect there. And I have, you know, for many years,
49:52
Speaker 2: been attempting to write a story about the lack of
49:56
Speaker 2: development USA hockey overall, and it's a really hard story
49:59
Speaker 2: to write because nobody will talk about it. But in
50:01
Speaker 2: the twenty seventeen boycott. Development was a huge part of
50:05
Speaker 2: what the girls asked for. That like there was just
50:08
Speaker 2: this huge gap. You know, we have the men's national
50:10
Speaker 2: team development program, we don't have a lot of that
50:12
Speaker 2: in girls hockey. Things with COVID did slow some of
50:16
Speaker 2: that down. I will even, you know, give that, and
50:18
Speaker 2: I know that money has also been an issue, But
50:20
Speaker 2: we are now in twenty twenty five and we're still
50:22
Speaker 2: having this conversation and like, functionally nothing has changed about
50:26
Speaker 2: development for girls under USA Hockey that existed in twenty
50:31
Speaker 2: seventeen versus now, And so that to me is just
50:35
Speaker 2: a thing that we don't talk enough about that there
50:37
Speaker 2: isn't enough pressure put on about and I think things
50:40
Speaker 2: like this's where you look at the facts that like
50:41
Speaker 2: goalies just literally are not going from our U eighteen
50:44
Speaker 2: team to our national team is a problem. And I
50:48
Speaker 2: just overall, and I would like to say this isn't
50:51
Speaker 2: a commentary on anybody that is.
50:53
Speaker 3: Or has been goalie on USA Hockey.
50:54
Speaker 2: I just think that, like it seems crazy that we've
50:57
Speaker 2: only had like four women filled that role over the
51:00
Speaker 2: course of a like a lot of years. Like that
51:03
Speaker 2: that's the pool, Like we don't have a bigger pool
51:05
Speaker 2: to pool from is crazy to me, and ultimately like
51:08
Speaker 2: maybe the people that have won the starting jobs would
51:11
Speaker 2: have coming out of a bigger pool, But it does
51:13
Speaker 2: seem a little nuts with the size of you know,
51:17
Speaker 2: forty four D one women's programs and all this sort
51:20
Speaker 2: of stuff that like, the same four or five women
51:23
Speaker 2: have been national team goalies for what are we talking
51:26
Speaker 2: eight twelve years at this point.
51:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's and I know that this kind of
51:32
Speaker 1: came up in the in a discussion of of you
51:36
Speaker 1: know what, how you identify those goalies and how you
51:41
Speaker 1: how you work with them when when you're able to
51:43
Speaker 1: do that and that in the in the last couple
51:45
Speaker 1: of years, I know, there's been more of a summer
51:48
Speaker 1: or an off season focused about bringing together a wider
51:52
Speaker 1: group of women's hockey goalies in the US.
51:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a suburb camp this year that had
51:57
Speaker 2: a pretty like I would impressed with the list of
52:01
Speaker 2: who was there.
52:01
Speaker 1: I was, Yeah, I think that's a start. That's a
52:05
Speaker 1: a point of progress of Okay, you can't necessarily fix
52:09
Speaker 1: this immediately, so take the steps to fix it the
52:12
Speaker 1: right way, or take the steps to do it the
52:14
Speaker 1: right way of putting in resources to develop it. Now,
52:19
Speaker 1: could there be more? Yeah, probably, and maybe there will
52:22
Speaker 1: be over the longer stretch. But yeah, you're right that
52:25
Speaker 1: you've gotten into a a position where you're you're trying
52:31
Speaker 1: to kind of work backwards into having a goaltending cores
52:37
Speaker 1: that you can count on for the next decade. And
52:44
Speaker 1: that's it hasn't necessarily gone great, like you, like you've
52:47
Speaker 1: pointed out here that and like if.
52:49
Speaker 2: This is a roster heading into the Olympics, which is
52:52
Speaker 2: the next like the Olympics is the next big tournament
52:54
Speaker 2: after this. None of the three of these women have
52:56
Speaker 2: Olympics experience. Now I'm completely to having a conversation as
53:01
Speaker 2: to whether that's necessary and whether I would like sacrifice
53:04
Speaker 2: one of them to put a goalie that did.
53:06
Speaker 3: Have an Olympic experience.
53:08
Speaker 2: But when you look at what Canada's goaltending court looks like,
53:11
Speaker 2: it is like a sort of glaring, like they're gonna
53:13
Speaker 2: you know, we already are going much shownger on Team USA,
53:16
Speaker 2: and I don't necessarily think that's a problem, But I
53:18
Speaker 2: also think that goaltending is always a completely different conversation
53:23
Speaker 2: about experience and comfort and whether you're gonna be rattled
53:26
Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff, and so yeah, it's
53:28
Speaker 2: it's just interesting. And the other thing is like, I'm
53:31
Speaker 2: I think it's great that mcnatton is here. I think
53:33
Speaker 2: it goes along with what Team USA has been doing
53:36
Speaker 2: about bringing in younger players, and like it is not
53:38
Speaker 2: a coincidence that, like, even though that this is a
53:41
Speaker 2: young roster, there are only two of these players that
53:43
Speaker 2: have never been senior team players before. Like that progression,
53:48
Speaker 2: like what Robleski has done head coach John Robleski has
53:51
Speaker 2: done since he took over the program and after the
53:53
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two Olympics, has all been leading to this.
53:58
Speaker 3: But like it's not likely.
53:59
Speaker 2: McNaught it's gonna get minutes at the World Championship, and
54:02
Speaker 2: like Frankly's when if Phillips probably won't get much either,
54:05
Speaker 2: And so there's a thought of like how much does
54:09
Speaker 2: it matter if they're on the roster and like wanting
54:11
Speaker 2: them to get experience and things like that too, But
54:13
Speaker 2: that's getting.
54:13
Speaker 3: Really into the nuts and bolts of it.
54:15
Speaker 2: I just I am excited from an idea of we
54:19
Speaker 2: need to be nourishing the talent that we have, and
54:22
Speaker 2: I like the idea of taking this like a lot
54:25
Speaker 2: of the question in the talk online was like, should
54:27
Speaker 2: like Maddie Rooney or Nicole Hensley have been here? Nicole
54:29
Speaker 2: Hensley has had a very rough season with Minnesota. Frost
54:33
Speaker 2: has basically been replaced by Maddy Rooney. The reason she
54:36
Speaker 2: was replaced by Matty Eroney is because she had won
54:38
Speaker 2: the starting position last year because Maddi Rooney had such
54:40
Speaker 2: a rough season, and so in terms of consistency, like
54:44
Speaker 2: McNaughton has been more consistent across her time, and so
54:48
Speaker 2: I can see why making that choice, particularly for a
54:51
Speaker 2: third goalie, and again to get our of the experience.
54:53
Speaker 2: But yeah, I just the goalie thing is, it's been
54:57
Speaker 2: a one I've been on for a little while. When
54:58
Speaker 2: I went back and looked at all the UA teen
55:00
Speaker 2: rosters and you just look at the names and for me,
55:02
Speaker 2: for someone who's been covering college hockey for as long,
55:04
Speaker 2: I know that these are players that didn't necessarily like
55:09
Speaker 2: have great collegiate careers either. So like this was our
55:11
Speaker 2: top tailent and we just like we just kind of
55:14
Speaker 2: let it longer.
55:16
Speaker 3: And that sucks.
55:17
Speaker 1: What do you make of the fact that of the
55:20
Speaker 1: roster of twenty five, nine are playing in college this
55:22
Speaker 1: year when you have, you know, people the pick from
55:27
Speaker 1: in PWHL that could be on this World Championship roster,
55:30
Speaker 1: but they're going with a pretty sizable amount of college
55:34
Speaker 1: age players.
55:37
Speaker 2: I'm no longer surprised by it, like maybe when it
55:39
Speaker 2: first happened, but like, this is just very clearly Robolesqui's preference.
55:45
Speaker 2: He's also just generally pretty plays it pretty close to
55:48
Speaker 2: the vest, and like why he does what he does,
55:49
Speaker 2: and when you ask questions about some of that stuff,
55:51
Speaker 2: he doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want
55:53
Speaker 2: to show his hand, and so you know why they're successful.
55:58
Speaker 2: They're very good. They you know, we saw when they
56:02
Speaker 2: went out for that first rivalry series game, like when
56:04
Speaker 2: they were all in shape, what happened. And so I mean,
56:08
Speaker 2: this is this is the team that he has a
56:10
Speaker 2: preference for. I don't I'm not surprised by it anymore.
56:14
Speaker 2: The thing I think that can be difficult about saying
56:17
Speaker 2: like one player has decent numbers in the p ub
56:21
Speaker 2: in sort of like especially if it's like their first season,
56:23
Speaker 2: there is sort of understanding like how to extrapolate that
56:27
Speaker 2: and make them like what that means? Is it about
56:30
Speaker 2: who they're playing against is about who they're playing with,
56:32
Speaker 2: and so I think a lot of it is just
56:34
Speaker 2: the chemistry and who sort of responds to his style.
56:37
Speaker 2: I mean when he does camps and when he does invites,
56:39
Speaker 2: like and really even rivalry series like that second that
56:42
Speaker 2: third set of second set of games, where the collegiate
56:45
Speaker 2: players weren't there, like he brought in a ton of
56:47
Speaker 2: ped up players, but ultimately those aren't who he chooses,
56:51
Speaker 2: and I don't think he brought those players with like
56:53
Speaker 2: thinking like I've already made by roster. I think like
56:55
Speaker 2: everybody got their shot, and like you either prove that
56:58
Speaker 2: you fit in the system where you don't. So I
57:01
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe maybe I should be more surprised, but
57:04
Speaker 2: at this point, like it's just we already did a
57:05
Speaker 2: World Championship with a roster that looked a lot like this,
57:07
Speaker 2: So I'm not I'm not too surprised by it.
57:11
Speaker 1: All Right, So the World Championship again is April ninth
57:14
Speaker 1: or twentieth in Chechia.
57:17
Speaker 3: We will not be attempting to pronounce the city.
57:19
Speaker 1: I wrote it down and I'm like, nope, it's in check.
57:23
Speaker 3: Yeah. Sorry.
57:25
Speaker 2: I keep wanting to find someone who will say it
57:26
Speaker 2: for me once so I can hear it correctly. But yes,
57:31
Speaker 2: sadly will not be there. I would like to go
57:33
Speaker 2: to CHECKI in April.
57:35
Speaker 3: But no, I think, Yeah, what do you think about
57:37
Speaker 3: it being younger?
57:38
Speaker 1: Is it?
57:38
Speaker 2: Like to me, it's it's a not a it's a
57:41
Speaker 2: non point, a non starter at this point.
57:43
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
57:44
Speaker 1: I think it's it does continue a trend right of
57:48
Speaker 1: of you know, let's see, you know, at some point
57:53
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to to make a change from an
57:56
Speaker 1: older group to a younger group, and that's going to
57:58
Speaker 1: happen for Canada at some point, right And I don't
58:02
Speaker 1: I don't know when that's going to be necessarily, but
58:05
Speaker 1: uh uh, it's going to happen for them. And I
58:08
Speaker 1: think it happened for the US in the last two
58:10
Speaker 1: years and last three years since the Olympics, So it's
58:17
Speaker 1: it continues that pattern. And I mean, I'm excited for it.
58:21
Speaker 1: I am interested to see how these these young players do.
58:26
Speaker 1: I mean, we've had a little bit of a look
58:27
Speaker 1: at a lot of these players in a world before
58:30
Speaker 1: and in rivalry series before, so it won't be new
58:33
Speaker 1: to them. But get into those games against Canada with
58:38
Speaker 1: a World championship on the line, and uh, that's where
58:41
Speaker 1: you find out about some players and where I guess
58:46
Speaker 1: where their trajectory is. You're not going to find out
58:50
Speaker 1: about that in any other way. So let's see what happens.
58:54
Speaker 2: No, And like I said, what I like about it
58:56
Speaker 2: is that, like you know, even a player like like
58:57
Speaker 2: k K. Harvey isn't like her third third world. I mean,
59:00
Speaker 2: the players that are young are all players that have
59:03
Speaker 2: had time with the national team, and so I like
59:05
Speaker 2: that was a very deliberate move on his part, so
59:07
Speaker 2: that when we get to this point, they are young,
59:09
Speaker 2: but they do have national team experience. They have been
59:11
Speaker 2: here before. And also then I think, you know, to
59:15
Speaker 2: give credit where it to do. I think the development
59:16
Speaker 2: of these specific players has very much been at the
59:19
Speaker 2: forefront of what USA Hockey isn't doing. And I do think,
59:22
Speaker 2: you know, it shows in like the growth thick Christen sins,
59:25
Speaker 2: even in KK and her confidence in herself, what Layla
59:30
Speaker 2: has been able to do. I think giving Abby Murphy
59:32
Speaker 2: the permission to be Abby Murphy, Tessa Janikee even like
59:35
Speaker 2: being actually thinking she's sort of to me, she's sort
59:39
Speaker 2: of the opposite and like being a little more free
59:42
Speaker 2: and less buttoned up. And so I think that they're
59:45
Speaker 2: you know, like I said, I think it's all been
59:47
Speaker 2: really intentional about like what they've been able to do
59:49
Speaker 2: in the way that USA Hockey has been able to
59:52
Speaker 2: have a hand in how these players develop, in what
59:56
Speaker 2: they can become and what they're going to do together.
59:58
Speaker 2: And I think also he just preaches a very sort
1:00:01
Speaker 2: of specific system of trust and be predictable to each other.
1:00:05
Speaker 2: And if you can't do that, if it's not like
1:00:08
Speaker 2: a comfortable fit, then it's not going to work. And
1:00:11
Speaker 2: so the way that these players work together and maybe
1:00:13
Speaker 2: them being younger and not as like set in ways
1:00:16
Speaker 2: or more open to being coached, maybe there's something to that.
1:00:18
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know that.
1:00:19
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that from any thing that anybody at
1:00:21
Speaker 2: USA Hockey has said, but I do think that there's
1:00:24
Speaker 2: a approach that he wants to the game, and so
1:00:28
Speaker 2: I very much believe that he thinks that these are
1:00:30
Speaker 2: the players that can handle that approach.
1:00:34
Speaker 1: All right, there are nine games this weekend, as we mentioned,
1:00:39
Speaker 1: there are then only ten games left after that, and
1:00:41
Speaker 1: so three weekends left of the women's hockey season, so
1:00:46
Speaker 1: enjoy it as while it lasts. We've got the NCAA
1:00:52
Speaker 1: Selection show coming up Sunday, eleven thirty am Eastern Time.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: That'll be on ESPNU where the eleven team brand will
1:01:00
Speaker 1: come out. We'll have all the information on that on
1:01:04
Speaker 1: us Echo dot com as well.
1:01:07
Speaker 2: Expect we're going to get Patty Kaz Top ten and
1:01:11
Speaker 2: Goalie of the Year Top three within the.
1:01:12
Speaker 1: Next week or so Yaz top ten is Thursday, so
1:01:16
Speaker 1: that maybe well within a few hours of this episode dropping,
1:01:20
Speaker 1: that'll be out the we admitted.
1:01:24
Speaker 2: I submitted my top three today, so I'd imagine that
1:01:26
Speaker 2: comes out. I was looking for the email see if
1:01:28
Speaker 2: he gave us a date, but I don't remember, so
1:01:30
Speaker 2: that will also.
1:01:31
Speaker 3: Be out soon.
1:01:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so we'll you know, we'll be tracking all
1:01:35
Speaker 1: those things and we'll have a lot more to say
1:01:38
Speaker 1: next week after we know who's playing where in the
1:01:42
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament then, and it's coming up now. It's it's
1:01:45
Speaker 1: gonna be getting exciting pretty soon here.
1:01:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:01:49
Speaker 2: I mean, if that last week was anything to go by,
1:01:51
Speaker 2: the playoffs, we're off to a RiPP ru and start
1:01:54
Speaker 2: in terms of just some chaos and crazy endings and
1:01:59
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuf like it was well worth
1:02:01
Speaker 2: sitting down to watch all that. So I highly recommend
1:02:04
Speaker 2: making some plans to watch as much as you can
1:02:06
Speaker 2: on this weekend.
1:02:07
Speaker 1: And the Saturday schedule is a little better. It's spread
1:02:11
Speaker 1: out a little bit more. The five games starting at
1:02:14
Speaker 1: noon Eastern. The last game starts at seven Eastern, so
1:02:18
Speaker 1: you've got a little bit of overlap in the middle
1:02:21
Speaker 1: there with Atlantic Hockey starting at two, the WCCHA is
1:02:25
Speaker 1: starting at three. These are Eastern time and ECAC at
1:02:29
Speaker 1: three point thirty. Hockey East, like I mentioned before, starts
1:02:32
Speaker 1: it at noon in the New Hot Final at seven.
1:02:34
Speaker 1: So lots of stuff going on Saturday, lots of stuff
1:02:38
Speaker 1: going on Friday with four games during the day as well,
1:02:40
Speaker 1: So make sure you pay attention to those, Nicole. I
1:02:43
Speaker 1: know we'll have everything wrapped up on ushl dot com
1:02:46
Speaker 1: and on Victory Press, and so make sure you check
1:02:48
Speaker 1: those out and otherwise enjoy the weekend. Right, this is
1:02:53
Speaker 1: this is the way it should be, is getting down
1:02:55
Speaker 1: to some really good games.
1:02:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, all right, for Nicole, I'm Todd.
1:03:01
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week on the podcast.