Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Two early candidates for game of the year

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Two early candidates for game of the year · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Uscho.com. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Molesky here with Nicole Haase. And Nicole, man, we got
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: two of the potential Game of the Year nominees early
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: here just in one day last weekend. And these are
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: kind of 1A, 1B right now for me. I don't
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: know which order either. 8. First in Minneapolis, a series
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: between the teams that are now number one and number
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: two in the country. Minnesota moved up from number three
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to number two after beating Ohio State on Friday and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: then looking like they might have a chance to get
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a sweep on Saturday, but that game ended up 6-5
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: for Ohio State after just a topsy-turvy situation there. But
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: then also Princeton found itself trailing 5-2 against UConn. in
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: basically midway through the third period before scoring once, scoring
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: two with an extra attacker, and then scoring in overtime
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: for a 6-5 win. So you get a couple of
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: 6-5 games in one day. That's pretty amazing. Which one
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: do you want to start with in terms of how
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: these might rank in terms of what they might mean,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I guess?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Again, 1A and 1B. I think UConn And Princeton was
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: so interesting because, again, that was Princeton's first weekend. This
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: was the first weekend the Ivies joined. I think everybody
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: but Yale had games. And the Ivies did really well.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: They went.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: They did not lose. And Princeton, I just like we
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: talked about, you know, in past weeks, sort of about
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: what it takes to come back or to have a
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: really strong third period and sort of all of that stuff.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And that usually comes from some experience and some repetition
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and that sort of stuff. So I think. possibly I
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: would give a slight edge to Princeton in this case,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: just because of like what coming off an off season,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: right into this tough series. And then scoring like they did.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: The weird thing about the game is I was writing
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the recap is looking at like, there'd be long stretches
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: with no goals. Somehow we got to six, five, but like,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: like half the third period, nobody scored. And then, you know,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: they scored, like you said, they scored two after pulling
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the goalie and then their game winning goal by Chloe
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Brinson was her first career goal. Just like, So much.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: If you made it into a script, people would be like, oh,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: it's not believable. So, yeah, rough for Connecticut, who's now,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I think, two and four of the season. Just like
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: really not where they expected to be or wanted to be.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Some tough losses for them. But yeah, what a game.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: That game was unreal. Both of them. I was like
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: we were in the rink and I had games up
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: on my tablet and my laptop. It was not watching
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the game happening in the rink we were in because
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the stuff happening elsewhere was so much more fun.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well, and a lot closer of games, the games that
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: we had on the tablet than the one in Madison
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that we were at covering. But yeah, that, that UConn game,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you go up five to two on a Meyers to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Dakney goal or second of the game, midway through the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: third period. You got to feel pretty good. You've lost
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the first game two to one Friday, that game that
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: was close. But you're up three, 10 minutes to go.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You've got to put that game away. That's, that's just
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: one that's going to be, feels like it's going to be, meaningful, NPI-wise,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: as we get into the part of the season.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Where we're talking about that. Yeah, I agree. And we've
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: said week in and week out that we think every game,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: every quarter is going to... I'm sorry, every quarter.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Every period is going to matter. Don't know where I
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: pulled that from. And so I feel like, yeah, they're definitely,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I think, going to rue this. But also, I think
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: it's a good lesson to learn in mid-October, right? Like,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: You have to play a full 60 minutes or in
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: this case, a few more minutes than that.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: 65.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I just think, you know, there's some. It's hard because
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: you can, you know, bid in the postseason now and
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: played in the tournament a couple of years, but I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: feel like there's a little like they haven't played a
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: ton of these. High stakes, high ranked games. where, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: you've really got to dig deep and where they're playing
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: a team that is capable of pulling off what was
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: pulled off against them. You know what I'm saying?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: I think it's an overall really good learning experience and
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: the sort of thing that will serve them well down
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the stretch when they're in some tight games and maybe
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: even in an NCAA tournament game. But yeah, as you said,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: they've got to put that away. It's a bummer as
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: a UConn fan. And I imagine they'll be watching a
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: lot of tape and talking about, you know, the things
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that they could have and should have done different to
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: not let that game slip away because it didn't in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: like less than 10 minutes.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. A lot of interesting games last weekend. Uh, we're
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: going to get into a few of them. Northeastern and Quinnipiac, uh,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: had an important series. Also had Cornell and Vermont, uh,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: a couple of close games there, but let's, let's talk
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: about what happened in Minneapolis. Now, um, the Gophers, uh,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: you know, started four and all, uh, you know, you know,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: did got the four wins that they needed to get. Um,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: But then Ohio State comes to town, and this is
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the first big test of the Boone-May era, as we've
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: talked about. And they run out to a 6-2 win
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: on Friday and kind of say, well, here we are.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: That's kind of the feeling I had after that one
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: is like, well, okay, maybe we need to think about
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: this team as being a real contender here. Not that
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: they weren't, but they've always kind of in the last
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: couple years felt like... it felt like it wasn't necessarily
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the start of the year where it would happen. So
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Adriana Milani, I mean, man, you couldn't tell how good
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of a player she is going to be scored two
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: with two assists in that 6-2 win.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And was spectacular on defense.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I really feel like that's... We talked to Boone
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: May before the season, and he talked about kind of the.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Adherence to the little things and being more disciplined and
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: doing those kind of things right. And I think you're
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: seeing that a little bit. And of course, this is
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: all going to blow up on me because in a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: couple minutes, we're going to talk about a 6-5 game.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: But when you are able to beat Ohio State 6-2,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you know you've done a lot of things right. And
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I think that showed off in that Friday game.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I just want to say what I mean. I thought
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: it would take longer. I meant like this season, you know,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: new coach, graduated Abby Murphy, graduated a decent sized class with,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: you know, sort of the top tier of their team.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And so just there was a lot of changes, a
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: lot of turnover, you know, Milani being like just they're
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: going to be counting on different people this year. And
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: so usually finding the type of chemistry and all of
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the stuff that you need to pull off a 6-2
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: win on the number one team in the country is
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: It takes a little longer to build. And so, yeah,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I was really impressed how ready they were for that.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: The weird thing for me is there was some deja
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: vu watching that game on Friday that felt like the
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Wisconsin-Ohio State game, but flipped in that Ohio State was
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: suddenly making turnovers and getting penalties on dumb plays, like,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: you know, after the fact, pushing and shoving and just
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the sort of stuff, the sort of undisciplined stuff that
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: they had taken advantage of the week before suddenly they
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: were doing. And like the reason Minnesota was able to
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: put that game away early was capitalizing on power plays.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: And so I think like if it were a slightly
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: closer game, I think Ohio State may have had more
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: of a chance to fight back on it. But like
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: any time Ohio State sort of pushed back or even scored,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Minnesota was back on the power play and just sort
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: of was able to score again. And so, yeah, it
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: was a very interesting game just because it was such
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: a different Ohio State team than we had seen just
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: dominate the week before at home. so I think that's
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: kudos to the Gophers who put them on their heels
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I mean they scored like what 114 into the game
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: the first two goals were on turnovers they were opportunistic
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: they put on a strong four check they did all
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: of the stuff that you need to do but also
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I just was like wow after we kind of praised
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Ohio State last week for feeling like they were in
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: a position far more than we'd expect from a team
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: in mid-October to turn around and do this it was
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: like interesting just like I don't, yeah, I'm not sure
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I get it. I'm not sure I understand sort of
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: what changed from week to week.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then you get to Saturday, which, wow. I mean,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: trying to keep up with all this. Ohio State jumps
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: out to a 3-0 lead. Mira Unicare, Joy Dunn scores twice.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Gophers come back and make it 3-3. Madeline McCullough, Avery Huffland,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and Emma Christ get the Gophers back even. Ohio State
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: takes the lead again. Riley Bartz makes it 4-3 in
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the second period. Sarah Paul scores to even it up
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: for the Gophers in the second, then scores again in
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the third to make it 5-4 for the Gophers. You
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: start to think, is this the stepping stone that the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Gophers have been looking for? A home sweep of the
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: number one team of Ohio State? But the Buckeyes are
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: never out of a game. I mean, if we've learned
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: anything over the last decade here, it's that You cannot
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: count them out no matter the deficit. Joy Dunn ties
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: it to get her hat trick. Hilda Svensson scores 42
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: seconds later to make it 6-5, and that's how it ended.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: When it got to 6-5, I was kind of stunned
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: that that's how it ended because it felt like there
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: was more to it, even if you got into the
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: last minute and there was going to be more scoring.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: But that's where it ended. Man, a lot to take
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: out of that series, just as a whole.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. One thing I would say is like so excited
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: to see Sarah Paul regularly on the next two goals.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: She transferred from Princeton before last season, spent all of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: last season or most of last season injured. um she's
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: just had she's been you know be stung just like
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: hasn't been fully healthy for a lot of her career
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: already um and she's a player that like has a
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: huge high ceiling and i think is someone that like
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: without those injuries would probably be someone we'd be talking
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: about for for the canadian roster at this point in
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: her career and so I'm just really excited to hear
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: her playing. Just wanted to put that out there because it's,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: it was a shame to see that move and then
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: let like not have her be on the ice.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: What are the takeaways? I don't know. Um, it was
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: interesting to talk about, like I got, um, I saw
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: stuff for goalie, uh, like conference goalie of the week.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: And like, you just don't expect like Hannah Clark gave
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: up eight goals, but also had a really good weekend.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Like, I don't know.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: How do you explain that? Right. Um, but yeah, just, uh,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I think kudos to Minnesota. I, I did think there
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: was a point.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: And that game where it was like, okay, that's the
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: score now. Like nothing more is going to happen than
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: like immediately something else would. So I, um, I think
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I'd probably going to end up sitting with that one
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: for a little bit longer. Cause that game was kind
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: of bonkers. Um, but I remember watching both Friday and
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Saturday and thinking Adrian, Adrian Malani is going to be
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: a problem. She's going to be a problem for the NCAA.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: She's going to be a problem at the international level. Um,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: young player just great instincts like I watched her steal
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: and poke check a couple of pucks like of course
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: she scored great goals but she is a real 200
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: foot player is sort of impactful all over the ice
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: and so young players should be watching her but if
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: yeah if you want to have fun and see what
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: like a really highly skilled high IQ hockey player can
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: do just watch her throughout the course of a game
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: it's a lot of fun but yes I just remember
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: thinking like oh she's gonna be a problem.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: We talked last week about the non-conference series out East
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: between hockey East and ECAC schools. And the biggest one
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: probably was the, uh, well, I don't know if it's
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the biggest one, but the highest ranked ones was Northeastern
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and Quinnipiac and big weekend for Northeastern getting a tie
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: and a win two to two on Friday, Yvonne away
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: scoring a tying goal in the third period for the Huskies. Um,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And then 5-1 on Saturday. Eloise Caron, a goal and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: two assists. Lisa Janssen, 28 saves. These are the kind
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of separator series that sometimes we see where teams can
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: take off after getting something like that. And maybe if
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: you're on the Quinnipiac side, you can take a step
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: back and say, okay, well, now we've got a little
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: bit of a benchmark here. We know where We're the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: top teams in the country are going to be at
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in relation to us. And I think that that makes
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it valuable for both sides. But but for the result side,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Northeastern comes out the winner there.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they'd had a despite like getting some of
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: the wins, like they'd had a couple iffy games, right,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: like they had the early loss and then where they
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: had to come back in. I feel like this was
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: a good statement of like, OK, we saw what we've done.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: We weren't happy with it. Like they came into this
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: series ready and really sort of buckled down and did
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: all the things that they needed to do. And I think,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: you know, particularly telling is that all their goals were
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: not scored by strikers of Lockheed. It's important for them
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: that that's not how it's going to look. I think
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: I've talked about before, I'm a Vano Way fan. I
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: was talking about her two or three years ago at
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: World Championships when Switzerland was struggling, but she was a standout.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: And so I think that's a great landing place for her.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: And I like how she sees the game and uses
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: she's smaller, but, you know, up on the blue line
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: and she needs to learn to release her shot even more. So, yeah,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: I just felt like it was a good statement for
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Northeastern that said, like, OK, we had a shaky couple
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: of weeks, but like this is a really important matchup
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and we came prepared to play.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: One of the other ones was Cornell, who you mentioned
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: as an Ivy League school. Getting started last week, had
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: a home sweep of Vermont, which fell to 3-3. Cornell
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: won 3-2 on Friday with two goals from Piper Grober
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and then won nothing on Saturday with 27 saves from
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Annalise Bergman and a power play goal from Rose Dwyer
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: in the third, the only scoring there. Cornell is one
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of those teams that probably has something to prove this season.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Starting lower in the rankings, has definitely been higher in
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: previous seasons. So I think for the Big Red to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: get off to a 2-0 start is a positive step, obviously,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: but also something they can now take and build on.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the shutout on Saturday was also tied. Program record
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: for goalie shutouts for Annalise Bergman, which coincidentally Evga Scone
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: did over at UMD as well. But yeah, I think,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: you know, I am a little concerned when a lot
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: of the goal scoring is coming from defenders. However, they
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: were power play defender goals. So a little more leeway.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think, you know, this is always a
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: defense first team. We know they've got great goaltending. So
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I think for them, it's about figuring out how to
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: be sort of more offensively, not just strong, but like
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: diverse so that like they're not so obvious defensively. where
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: the puck's coming from, and that it's not just Dwyer
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and Grover at the blue line unleashing bombs and hoping
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: for the best.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: We were sharing some messages back and forth on Friday
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: about an afternoon game between Penn State and Lindenwood, and
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: it was... I'm not used to seeing that kind of.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I guess, I don't know, the fight isn't the word,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: but Lindenwood has shown a little bit of something and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: did in that game that they are not going to
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: go away. They were down a couple times. They took
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a lead a couple times and just felt like they
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: were going to be part of that game against a
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: good Penn State team. Not the team that Penn State
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: was last year, but still a program that has a
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: winning mentality and and a lot of pieces left from
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: a team that went to the Frozen Four. So it
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: ended up 5-4 for Penn State. Lindenwood led 3-2 in
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the second and then tied it 4-4 in the third
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: on Paige Klein's second goal of the game, but Sophie
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Morrow scored with 5-22 left for the winner. Penn State
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: then went on to sweep the series on Saturday, but
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that was an entertaining game, I thought, and just in,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you know, Breaking some of the expectations, maybe. Unexpectedly, maybe.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Agreed. Well, I think the AHLA as a whole
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: right now is doing some, like, oh, okay, sure. I think,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you know, those are some games that you might not
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: have automatically, or you might have sort of assumed some
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: of the outcomes, but Lindenwood, Syracuse, RIT, like, these are
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: teams doing things that, like, we... have not seen from
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: them in the past I think you know Lindenwood with
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: a new coach and that we've talked about in the
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: preview is a hugely international roster which usually means that
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: the players are a little older they're a little more
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: experienced and I think you know that makes a huge
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: difference particularly sort of when you're talking about sort of
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: the tiers of recruiting and what you know, sort of
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: tier of player might normally be recruited from to Lindenwood
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: out of North America versus the type of player that
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: they can pull internationally and the type of experience that
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: they have playing tough games, playing games that, you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: really are for something for Olympic qualifications are for the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: world championship and sort of give you that like grit
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: and fight and the stuff that we've seen from Lindenwood
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: so far. I also think sometimes when you... It just, like,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: creates an interesting, like, positive inner locker room culture in that, like,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: you've got a lot of players far from home. Everybody
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: sort of, you know, bonds that way. That you're trying
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: to welcome all these different languages and cultures and things
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: like that. And I think that can really, like, build
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: on something that forces a culture early on that might
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: take longer to build. But yeah, I think surprising... not
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: what we learned to expect from Lindenwood. And, you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: we need to reset our expectations. And I think too,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: I think Penn State is playing what we expect them
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: to play. I think maybe they also need to reset
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: their expectations about who they're facing and like what the
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: rest of the conference can bring. Like maybe that's not fair.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe I'm putting that on them, but also like they
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: just dominated the AHA for so long. And now they've
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: played a couple of games here where It feels like
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: maybe they didn't expect the fight they were going to
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: get and had to really kind of dig deep to
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: pull out some of it. Because week in and week out,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: they're playing closer games than I think I would have
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: expected going in. I don't think that's all on them.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I do think the, you know, the level of their
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: opponent has stepped up. But also I think Penn State
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: maybe needs to recalibrate just a little about, like, what
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: they're expecting from the opponents that they're facing each week.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You can check out all the scores from last
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: week at uscho.com and the new rankings this week out. One,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: they have, well, it's not Ohio State and Wisconsin in
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: one and two for the first time in what feels
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: like a long time. I know it's a pretty healthy
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: amount of time. I don't know exactly off the top
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: of my head what it is, but Minnesota jumping up
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to number two. Some other changes around there, so check
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that out as well. Nicole, I know you were You
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: had one other result or a couple of results from
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the weekend you wanted to mention before we get going
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: this week.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mentioned just a second, Gascon became the program's
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: all-time career shutout leader at UMD. And then some other
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: great goaltending, we saw St. Anselm, which is like, that's
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: a tough situation for that program. They announced they're going
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: to go down to D2 when they did. that several
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: members of the roster decided to transfer elsewhere um but
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: this year they're still playing um you know in New
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Han so sophomore goaltender Emma Brewer tied oh I'm sorry
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: uh Kalissa Bain set a program record with 76 saves
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: on Friday freshman goaltender and then sophomore goaltender Emma Brewer
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: tied it uh in her Hawks debut on Saturday. So
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: that means combined, the St. Anselm goalies made 152 saves
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: in two games against Assumption. So that's good for them,
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: but they should never be in that position. Like, way
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: to be great goaltenders. Also, I'm very sorry you're in
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: a position where, you know, your university made a decision
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: and it left the program out to dry and we've
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: had these conversations about, like, is it right or fair
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: should be, you know, when we're seeing some of the
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: holiday tournaments and things where we see matchups of, you know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: a top five team against a team in the way
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: bottom half of overall standings. So like, yeah, it stinks.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I don't, you know, I also will say, you know,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Assumption is not a team that in the past you
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: would have expected to put 152 plus shots on net.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: And so like, I'm not sure anybody could have expected
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: that going in, but yeah, the St. Anselm's university-wide decisions
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: left their program in a tough spot and meant that
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: two rookie goaltenders, one's a sophomore but it was her debut,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: had to face hundreds of shots this weekend. Just absolute
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: bonkers numbers.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: That is one of the unfortunate results of, one of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the many unfortunate results of a school deciding to drop
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: down either You know, you're going to drop the sport altogether.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: We've seen that a few times. Or, you know, you're
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: dropping down a division and the transfer portal floods with
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: players leaving. And so, yeah.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: It's totally fair. Like, I don't blame those players either.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: No, right. But, yeah. I feel like that's just. It's
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: just a crappy situation. And that's just the start of
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the season, too. And we'll probably see a few more
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of those as we go. Yeah. Yeah, there's.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like. I wrote them backwards. It's like, oh,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: she tied the program lead of 76. That's because her
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: teammate said it the day before. Great. Poor children.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: It's, you know.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel healthy either, right? I mean, we don't
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: know anything, but I just know that it's not... It
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: can't be good. I mean, I guess I'm glad it's
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: a team, but it wasn't one player having to face
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: all of them. But like you said, it is mid-October.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: They're going to take a beating.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Hope everyone... Yeah, it gets their rest on defense there
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and in goalie because during the week they're going to
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: need it the way that if that is any indication
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: of how the season's going to go for a lot
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: of these game days. But OK, that'll wrap it up
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: for our first edition of the week. We will be
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: back later in the week to talk about what's coming
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in and a little bit of international news. So for
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Nicole Haase, I'm Todd Molesky. Thanks for dropping by the podcast.