Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / The 2026 Frozen Four is set, with Penn State ready to host and play

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The 2026 Frozen Four is set, with Penn State ready to host and play · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:04
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com. We are down to the Frozen four teams.
0:14
Speaker 1: This is Todd Molski here with Nicole Hosey, and this
0:16
Speaker 1: is the podcast from us cho dot com The Cole.
0:19
Speaker 1: It's an exciting time of the year. Four teams, three
0:22
Speaker 1: games left. We'll have a national champion by the end
0:25
Speaker 1: of the week. How are you feeling about this seeing
0:29
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Northeastern go through to
0:33
Speaker 1: the final weekend of the season.
0:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not necessarily surprised by Pond State or Northeastern
0:41
Speaker 2: based on the way this season gone. But also if
0:43
Speaker 2: you'd have asked me to name the Frozen four a
0:45
Speaker 2: few months ago, I wouldn't have named those two teams.
0:48
Speaker 2: So I'm a little bit of a surprise, right I think,
0:51
Speaker 2: you know, most people expected Wisconsin and Ohio State to
0:54
Speaker 2: be here. Plenty of people wish that they were, But yeah,
0:58
Speaker 2: I think way to go both Northeastern and Penn State,
1:01
Speaker 2: which is just to say like they're both been you know,
1:03
Speaker 2: top five ranked teams and ended up here. And you know,
1:07
Speaker 2: we've talked a lot about how I think this has
1:08
Speaker 2: probably been on Penn State's radar this entire time and
1:13
Speaker 2: I've been thinking a lot this week just about like
1:15
Speaker 2: what an amazing four years it's been for them since
1:18
Speaker 2: the last time they hosted the Frozen Four, which they
1:21
Speaker 2: were not a ranked team at that time, and obviously
1:25
Speaker 2: bringing in Testa Janicke did that and a lot of
1:27
Speaker 2: what is positive is a ripple effect of bringing in Tessa.
1:31
Speaker 2: But it's not just Tessa, if that makes sense. So yeah,
1:33
Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just it's cool. I think it's
1:36
Speaker 2: it's difficult because it's still a Big ten program with
1:38
Speaker 2: lots of resources, and so I don't know that it's
1:40
Speaker 2: like a lesson that tons of other universities can get
1:43
Speaker 2: a lot from. But I do think even still sort
1:46
Speaker 2: of like what we've seen from them, what we saw
1:48
Speaker 2: from Ohio State a few years ago, like it's good
1:50
Speaker 2: to see sort of when you put resources in and
1:54
Speaker 2: when you put attention and when you you know, make
1:56
Speaker 2: the right choices for your program, that it pays off.
2:00
Speaker 2: And I think that's even if you are, you know,
2:03
Speaker 2: a Big ten program. I think there's things that we
2:05
Speaker 2: can learn from that and show it to other universities,
2:07
Speaker 2: Like it does make a difference when you when you
2:09
Speaker 2: do these sorts of things, and it pulls your team
2:12
Speaker 2: where they need to be, even just the sort of
2:13
Speaker 2: like Penn State, we saw this coming, right, but they
2:15
Speaker 2: hadn't won an NCAA game before this. Think they were
2:18
Speaker 2: winning the AJ but not going any further, and they
2:20
Speaker 2: have continued to do what they need to do to
2:23
Speaker 2: be in this position now. So all that is to say,
2:26
Speaker 2: it's both unsurprising and surprising. But I think it's going
2:29
Speaker 2: to be some really fun hockey this weekend. So that's
2:30
Speaker 2: the best part.
2:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope that Penn State being in the tournament
2:34
Speaker 1: makes it you know, the atmosphere is a little bit
2:37
Speaker 1: more energetic. I mean, we saw you were there four
2:40
Speaker 1: years ago in twenty twenty two. I was not, but
2:43
Speaker 1: the crowds were sparse that I feel like if you
2:47
Speaker 1: throw the home team in there, even though they you know,
2:50
Speaker 1: looking at last week's attendant numbers of seventeen, it you know,
2:55
Speaker 1: not incredibly inspirational there, but still you have a chance
2:59
Speaker 1: there to get some people in and get them exposed
3:01
Speaker 1: to one the Penn State program, which is our real
3:05
Speaker 1: upward trajectory, and then two in the women's hockey gay
3:08
Speaker 1: which also has you know, had a lot of things
3:11
Speaker 1: going forward over the last couple of years and especially
3:13
Speaker 1: over the last couple of months with the Olympics and
3:16
Speaker 1: then beyond that the PWHL. But a lot of chances
3:19
Speaker 1: there to take advantage of this.
3:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I keep going in circles on it, like maybe
3:25
Speaker 2: the Olympics of it all helps. But if they didn't
3:27
Speaker 2: go when tickeets were quite inexpensive, I don't know that
3:29
Speaker 2: they're going to go when they're forty dollars And not
3:32
Speaker 2: that that's an expensive ticket for a national championship, but
3:34
Speaker 2: it is the price of a ticket for you know,
3:36
Speaker 2: to go on Sunday. So yeah, the problem is that
3:41
Speaker 2: it's a fantastic facility and it is absolutely a pain
3:45
Speaker 2: in the butt to get there, and hotel prices are
3:47
Speaker 2: crazy expensive, and there's usually seventeen other things happening on
3:50
Speaker 2: campus at that time. And then like we were having
3:53
Speaker 2: this discussion because my husband said somebody on run it
3:55
Speaker 2: was like, I'm taking my faily to the Frozen Flour
3:57
Speaker 2: but there's no clinic, there's no fan fest. What are
4:00
Speaker 2: we going to do? And it's like, there's nothing to
4:01
Speaker 2: recommend for you to do for the weekend. Go to
4:04
Speaker 2: some other sporting events. Is basically it, and so it's
4:07
Speaker 2: a it's a toss up. It's a great facility. I
4:09
Speaker 2: don't want to bang on it, but at the same time,
4:11
Speaker 2: it's not an ideal for a growing women's hockey Frozen
4:15
Speaker 2: four experience. This is this is not the one before
4:19
Speaker 2: for getting people to come out and sort of to
4:21
Speaker 2: build on that Olympic bumped because it's just it's just
4:25
Speaker 2: so difficult to do to get there, to find somewhere
4:27
Speaker 2: to stay, like, it's expensive and it's inaccessible. Yeah, so
4:32
Speaker 2: I have I also have hopes. I hope that, you know,
4:34
Speaker 2: being close to Ohio state that gets people to travel.
4:37
Speaker 2: I hope you know that's also much closer for Northeastern
4:39
Speaker 2: than if it were somewhere in the west air quotes west.
4:43
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know. I don't have tons of
4:45
Speaker 2: hight hopes when they weren't getting people to their AH
4:48
Speaker 2: championship or to their quarterfinal game this weekend unfortunately.
4:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, we'll see how the marketing is, I guess,
4:56
Speaker 1: and if that makes any any difference in the local
4:59
Speaker 1: area brings some blow that maybe didn't even know, uh
5:02
Speaker 1: penn Sate was that good in women talk, So that's
5:05
Speaker 1: kind of the threshold you have the cross.
5:08
Speaker 2: Apparently some of the materials keep seeing University of Pennsylvania.
5:11
Speaker 2: So I've heard that that's not not helpful, not ideal.
5:15
Speaker 1: Uh people.
5:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're if you're relying on the marketing and
5:18
Speaker 2: the marketing materials are written wrong, because we've heard that
5:21
Speaker 2: in stadium and then they heard it from some people
5:23
Speaker 2: as well. So yeah, one step forward, two steps back,
5:28
Speaker 2: always right.
5:30
Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, we will get into the semi final mashups
5:33
Speaker 1: the Friday games a little later on in our show,
5:36
Speaker 1: but we want to go back through how we got there,
5:39
Speaker 1: through last Saturday's regional finals, and we'll kind of go
5:42
Speaker 1: into order of when they finished at the Penn State
5:46
Speaker 1: NITA lines. I'm not quite sure whether they their game
5:50
Speaker 1: finished first or Wisconsin did, but I'm going to say
5:52
Speaker 1: there first because they're the home team here. Fring Nothing
5:55
Speaker 1: victory over Yukon in that regional final. That's the first
5:58
Speaker 1: NCAA tournament victory in Nidney Allion's program history. They had
6:02
Speaker 1: lost their first three. It felt like a really close game,
6:09
Speaker 1: and it didn't feel like it really close. Came kind
6:11
Speaker 1: of at the same time, it felt like Penn State
6:13
Speaker 1: was was in control, but Yukon was hanging on and
6:18
Speaker 1: then tested Janicky scores in the third to make it
6:20
Speaker 1: to nothing. Every Stonehouse adds an empty dead goal. Katie
6:24
Speaker 1: d signs up with thirty six saves for the shutout.
6:27
Speaker 1: It did kind of feel like a Penn State game
6:30
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways that they they got a
6:34
Speaker 1: couple of goals, played really well in the d n
6:36
Speaker 1: and and got to the Finch line.
6:40
Speaker 2: Well, that second goal was a mistake. Tea Chan came
6:42
Speaker 2: out and misplayed the puck and Janicke stole it and
6:45
Speaker 2: put it in so and then obviously the empty netter.
6:47
Speaker 2: So in the end you're talking, you know, essentially a
6:50
Speaker 2: one ozero game without some mistakes, and so that makes it.
6:52
Speaker 2: And I always say that in that like Connecticut just
6:55
Speaker 2: needed one to really like change I think the momentum
7:00
Speaker 2: of that game, but they just didn't seem to be
7:02
Speaker 2: shooting with purpose or with like the desire. I don't like.
7:06
Speaker 2: Of course they wanted to win, but I just felt like,
7:08
Speaker 2: you know, they had some limited opportunities. Uh, Penn State
7:11
Speaker 2: was playing great defense, but they it was there for them,
7:14
Speaker 2: and I'm just not sure that they had whatever it
7:17
Speaker 2: is that would make them sort of reach out and
7:19
Speaker 2: take it. Like, as you said, it was a close game.
7:22
Speaker 2: I think it was anybody's game technically, and yet I
7:24
Speaker 2: never felt like that wasn't Penn State's game. So I
7:27
Speaker 2: don't know how that works in a game that was
7:29
Speaker 2: essentially one oho for most of it. But you know,
7:31
Speaker 2: Penn State scored three minutes in like Connecticut had the
7:34
Speaker 2: whole game, and it just never quite felt like they
7:38
Speaker 2: were ever gonna gonna rest that back. Yeah, I don't know,
7:41
Speaker 2: it was. It was a weird and interesting game. I
7:43
Speaker 2: butt back and watch some of it because it was
7:45
Speaker 2: happening at the same time we were in Madison, and
7:47
Speaker 2: uh yeah, I I the score would lead you to
7:50
Speaker 2: believe that game was closer than I think that it
7:52
Speaker 2: actually was. But it also I think is telling that
7:55
Speaker 2: Penn State wasn't able to put more on the board.
7:57
Speaker 2: Either They're obviously gonna have to score again one from
8:01
Speaker 2: a goalie turnover and one on an empty night, or
8:03
Speaker 2: they're I think they're gonna have to score more than three,
8:06
Speaker 2: honestly if they're gonna win this weekend. And I think,
8:09
Speaker 2: you know, giving them three in this game is generous
8:12
Speaker 2: in terms of like their offensive output. So uh yeah,
8:15
Speaker 2: I think there were some lessons learned for them in
8:17
Speaker 2: that game, but it will definitely be interesting to see
8:20
Speaker 2: sort of what comes next.
8:22
Speaker 1: That first round game was Yukon beating Princeton for one,
8:25
Speaker 1: leading into that regional in Madison. It was Quinnipiac beating
8:29
Speaker 1: Franklin Pierce four nothing in the Thursday night game, leading
8:32
Speaker 1: into the Saturday regional final, where Wisconsin came out with
8:35
Speaker 1: a six nothing victory behind the Kelly Geba Tanko hat trick,
8:39
Speaker 1: seventeen saves from Athan McNaughton, Lacy Eaton, and Kristen Simms
8:42
Speaker 1: each had a goal and assists. I mean, these are
8:44
Speaker 1: the names that figure were going to be part of
8:49
Speaker 1: it for Wisconsin, maybe not necessarily Gorba Tinkle. She isn't,
8:52
Speaker 1: you know, an Olympian. She isn't the the kind of uh,
8:56
Speaker 1: you know, maybe first line player you think of with
8:59
Speaker 1: Wisconsin from a national perspective, But she's got twenty five goals,
9:02
Speaker 1: twenty seven goals, whatever, it is now not someone you
9:06
Speaker 1: can take lightly. And her last three games she scored
9:11
Speaker 1: three times three in three of the last thirteen games
9:13
Speaker 1: for Wisconsin, with a total of nine goals. In those
9:17
Speaker 1: three games. So yes, absolutely, I don't think anyone's surprised
9:23
Speaker 1: to see Wisconsin come out of this regional there is
9:26
Speaker 1: their fourth straight frozen four. I thought this was going
9:30
Speaker 1: to be a closer game on the scoreboard than it
9:33
Speaker 1: wanted turned out to be. I thought was learning to
9:36
Speaker 1: be a little bit better defensively, but Wisconsin scored two
9:39
Speaker 1: and a half minutes into the game, and that really
9:40
Speaker 1: felt like, let the Badgers play their style.
9:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was twofold. One is that I
9:48
Speaker 2: think Wisconsin did did the work they needed to do
9:51
Speaker 2: to come out and be the team that they can
9:53
Speaker 2: be on aper coming out of that w c CHA
9:57
Speaker 2: Championship game where they were not, I felt like some
10:00
Speaker 2: extent And then I do not mean this is offensive
10:02
Speaker 2: to Quinnipiac at all, but kind of thought going into
10:04
Speaker 2: this game like the team most likely to beat Wisconsin
10:06
Speaker 2: as Wisconsin just in terms of how they have mentally
10:10
Speaker 2: not been you know, been there, and they obviously made
10:12
Speaker 2: those changes and did what they needed to do. I
10:16
Speaker 2: thought it was really interesting. Cas Turner talked about Quinnipiac's coach.
10:19
Speaker 2: Cast Turner after the game talked about some previous series
10:22
Speaker 2: against the Badgers in which her team tied lost the
10:25
Speaker 2: first game, and then tied or won the second game,
10:28
Speaker 2: and so she was really trying to find a way
10:30
Speaker 2: for her team to play that second game mentality. But
10:34
Speaker 2: I like, I think it's just really hard. You can't
10:38
Speaker 2: prepare for the speed and the pressure. I think that's
10:43
Speaker 2: just what it is. It's it's just a different salid game.
10:45
Speaker 2: I think it's the same thing we saw with Yale
10:48
Speaker 2: against Ohio State. It's just it's a different style and
10:51
Speaker 2: if you aren't playing at that tempo, it takes an adjustment.
10:55
Speaker 2: And I do think that they'd have been able to
10:57
Speaker 2: adjust and think about it more and do better if
10:59
Speaker 2: it were more than one game series. But to do
11:01
Speaker 2: that from the outset, I think they just struggled. You
11:03
Speaker 2: just you don't have time and space. You can't stop
11:05
Speaker 2: and think about it. And Wisconsin pushed even more than
11:09
Speaker 2: they normally do. I think on that floor check and
11:11
Speaker 2: Quinnipiac could not get out of the zone, so they
11:14
Speaker 2: were either turning it over before they even reached the
11:16
Speaker 2: half line, much less their own blue line, or having
11:18
Speaker 2: to ice the box. So it was just it was
11:21
Speaker 2: pretty like strong from Wisconsin, and I think Quinnipiac got
11:25
Speaker 2: very frustrated very quickly, and that that turned into a
11:29
Speaker 2: bit of a chippy, ugly game in that way too.
11:33
Speaker 1: Moving on to Minneapolis, the four or five game ended
11:36
Speaker 1: up with the five seed winning for the third time
11:39
Speaker 1: in five seasons. That being Northeastern were a four to
11:43
Speaker 1: two victory over Minnesota. The Huskies ran out to a
11:47
Speaker 1: four nothing lead. Eloise Quran strikers a blockie Mea Langlois
11:51
Speaker 1: in the first Morgan Jackson makes it four nothing in
11:54
Speaker 1: the second, and boy, that was that was eye opening.
11:58
Speaker 1: Abby Murphy pulled back a couple of power play goals
12:00
Speaker 1: for the Golfers in the third period, but Lacy Johnson
12:03
Speaker 1: makes forty five saves. I mean, I really have to
12:08
Speaker 1: give Northeastern a lot of credit because this is we've
12:13
Speaker 1: talked about a bunch of times. This is that team
12:14
Speaker 1: without a whole home arena is gone. They're practicing a
12:19
Speaker 1: different place, They're playing home games quote unquote in a
12:22
Speaker 1: different place for the second half of the season. But
12:24
Speaker 1: I guess maybe we shouldn't be surprised that team could
12:27
Speaker 1: go on the like that can go on the road
12:29
Speaker 1: in a play a true road game in the NCAA
12:31
Speaker 1: tournament and win that. That's kind of what I took
12:36
Speaker 1: away from that. From the Northeastern.
12:38
Speaker 2: Side, I thought too, there just must be some spectacular
12:42
Speaker 2: scouting because their first two goals were carbon pop is
12:45
Speaker 2: of each other, scoring the same way, same spot, kind
12:49
Speaker 2: of same everything on Hannah Clark, and she ended up
12:52
Speaker 2: getting pulled after the third goal, so there was only
12:55
Speaker 2: one goal scored on Leila Hemick. Yeah, I sure seem
13:00
Speaker 2: I mean, we talked about how poorly Minnesota came into
13:03
Speaker 2: the WC Champire Tournament. They are the team. I think
13:08
Speaker 2: there's a side plot here where of all the stuff
13:10
Speaker 2: we talked about in the Olympics and how the Olympics
13:13
Speaker 2: of it all would affect things, we didn't foresee how
13:16
Speaker 2: hard it would be for teams to get chemistry back afterwards.
13:19
Speaker 2: That essentially one that group left, the people that stayed
13:22
Speaker 2: form their own sort of chemistry and core, and bringing
13:25
Speaker 2: those players back, they struggled again to get back to
13:28
Speaker 2: what they were before the players left. Just an interesting
13:31
Speaker 2: not one of the things we talked about in all
13:33
Speaker 2: of the Olympics of it all, and Minnesota is the
13:36
Speaker 2: sort of headed the worst. I mean, several teams struggled
13:39
Speaker 2: with it, but Minnesota had at the worst in terms
13:41
Speaker 2: of trying to figure out who they were and how
13:43
Speaker 2: they were going to play in the couple of games
13:46
Speaker 2: since the players came back from Milan, and I think
13:49
Speaker 2: Northeastern came out and struck early and Minnesota were on
13:52
Speaker 2: their heels and that was that was kind of the
13:54
Speaker 2: end of it. I mean, they outscore or they outshot
13:57
Speaker 2: Northeastern like thirty five to ten in the second team period,
14:00
Speaker 2: So like major crops Delisa Johnsen, but also I think
14:03
Speaker 2: they just were not necessarily until toward closer to the end.
14:10
Speaker 2: But I just it wasn't controlled. It wasn't the sort
14:13
Speaker 2: of style it you could tell they were playing from
14:16
Speaker 2: behind and gripping stick too tight and just doing all
14:19
Speaker 2: the things that happened in that situation. But they just
14:22
Speaker 2: never quite found the smooth chemistry that they had early on.
14:26
Speaker 2: You know, you weren't seeing sort of the circling of
14:30
Speaker 2: the zone with Abby and the quick passes in what
14:34
Speaker 2: you know, animl Bell finale getting to the net and
14:37
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff just kind of went by
14:38
Speaker 2: the wayside. So, yeah, an interesting thing to be paying
14:42
Speaker 2: attention to next time or next time we're in an
14:44
Speaker 2: Olympic cycle, because it's just one of the things that
14:46
Speaker 2: I did not foresee giving a team as much trouble
14:50
Speaker 2: as they did to Minnesota.
14:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the end of Minnesota season with a three
14:55
Speaker 1: game series, losing the first game in the CHA playoffs,
15:01
Speaker 1: to think aloud, State having to come back and win
15:03
Speaker 1: games two and three to get to the final face off.
15:05
Speaker 1: Then kind of we don't know what to make of
15:09
Speaker 1: that game, that performance against Whio say it in the
15:13
Speaker 1: final face off, semi finals, and then losing in the
15:15
Speaker 1: first round of the NCAA tournament. It's it's important to
15:19
Speaker 1: bring up that Minnesota has some decisions to make here
15:22
Speaker 1: because Brad Frost is out of contract after the season,
15:24
Speaker 1: and there's you know, you hear the whispers now and
15:29
Speaker 1: then then it's just like, is where's this program going?
15:33
Speaker 1: There's I mean, there's kind of a layer, a few
15:37
Speaker 1: layers of questions to answer there. There's thin where's the
15:39
Speaker 1: program going? Is it time for a change? Is it?
15:43
Speaker 1: And then who is it? And they all have to
15:45
Speaker 1: be wrapped up together. I don't know where that goes
15:48
Speaker 1: this summer. I think they need an answer sooner rather
15:52
Speaker 1: than later. But I do not know where where that leaning.
15:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think both of our mentions, we're
16:00
Speaker 2: pretty full of fans that were ready for that change
16:03
Speaker 2: to happen in various levels of decor and thought process
16:08
Speaker 2: on that. Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. I think one
16:11
Speaker 2: of the things anytime you talk about a change, like
16:13
Speaker 2: from simple like why did so and so get named
16:15
Speaker 2: to this roster on up is you have to be
16:17
Speaker 2: willing to discuss wh who's the successor or who do
16:20
Speaker 2: you kick out or comes in? And you know, we
16:22
Speaker 2: had this conversation a couple times with various people in
16:24
Speaker 2: press boxes, and it's an interesting place right now in
16:28
Speaker 2: women's hockey coaching in that, like, I think there's a
16:31
Speaker 2: little bit of a gat still to some of the
16:33
Speaker 2: younger players to the that of like Brianna Decker, like
16:37
Speaker 2: newer generation that came out and so like, yeah, who's
16:41
Speaker 2: who is the coach? Who do you see? And I think,
16:43
Speaker 2: you know, from Minnesota, I think it's probably going to
16:45
Speaker 2: need to be a gopher, particularly after Frosty, if this
16:49
Speaker 2: is the change they're going to make. And so I
16:50
Speaker 2: think it's not as simple as whether or not you
16:53
Speaker 2: don't renew his contract or don't kill him a new contract.
16:55
Speaker 2: I think it's who takes over that position. But yeah,
16:59
Speaker 2: I can see. I mean, the fans are restless. It's
17:01
Speaker 2: been ten years since they won a title. They haven't
17:06
Speaker 2: been a serious national championship contender in any of that time.
17:11
Speaker 2: I mean, they've made some frozen fours, right, but I
17:14
Speaker 2: wouldn't say that they're They're not the top team, you know,
17:16
Speaker 2: top one two teams in the country, So I imagine
17:19
Speaker 2: that there are some people that are going to be
17:21
Speaker 2: pushing for that. But I do think the conversation first
17:24
Speaker 2: and foremost has to be like who they're a better
17:27
Speaker 2: option out there?
17:29
Speaker 1: Okay, let's move on to our final regional in Columbus, Ohio,
17:33
Speaker 1: where Yale got to the regional final by beating Minnesota
17:36
Speaker 1: of one nothing and they I guess sort of predictable
17:40
Speaker 1: exit for the looth in that they've therefore last four
17:43
Speaker 1: years exiting the tournament evolved and by shutout, Yale was
17:48
Speaker 1: the one to get it done this time, but then
17:50
Speaker 1: Ohio State took care of those Bulldogs from Yale six
17:56
Speaker 1: to one on Saturday to advance to it's six straight
18:00
Speaker 1: frozen four. Jocelyn amous two goals to assist Slan Matthews
18:06
Speaker 1: two goals and assist Hailey Cloud twenty two saves. Kind
18:11
Speaker 1: Of like I said with Wisconsin, these are the names
18:14
Speaker 1: you're you're thinking of when when you're in a big
18:17
Speaker 1: game for Ohio State.
18:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think kind of the episode what we were
18:21
Speaker 2: seeing in some of the other games. I actually think
18:23
Speaker 2: that Greame was closer than the final score indicated. I
18:26
Speaker 2: thought Yale played really well and Sampson Fried, who was
18:29
Speaker 2: a freshman goal lead who took over the net in January,
18:31
Speaker 2: was given a really tough assignment. I think, you know,
18:35
Speaker 2: Yale probably learned some tough lessons about being tough in
18:39
Speaker 2: front of the goal and being able to clear out
18:41
Speaker 2: some second chance opportunities, and that's something that they'll be
18:44
Speaker 2: working on. But it wasn't won one game at the
18:46
Speaker 2: end of the first and it was not sort of
18:49
Speaker 2: the sniping like Ohio State pretty you know what we
18:53
Speaker 2: can see from them, like they were some dirty, gritty goals,
18:56
Speaker 2: which is they can also do. I just mostly am saying, like,
18:58
Speaker 2: you know, I think Yale made them more for it,
19:00
Speaker 2: and and the what do I trying to say, Like
19:04
Speaker 2: the it was a narrow, narrow thing there that, Like
19:07
Speaker 2: I think Neil Yale could have made a couple few
19:09
Speaker 2: adjustments and made that a closer game. But yeah, those
19:12
Speaker 2: were you know, you're gonna expect those players to do well.
19:14
Speaker 2: I think Jocelyn Amos was probably the player that best,
19:18
Speaker 2: maybe second best, her and Lacy Eden together, like did
19:20
Speaker 2: the handled their teams while their olympians were gone, you know,
19:23
Speaker 2: really took advantage of the opportunity and did something, you know,
19:27
Speaker 2: to make sure that their clubs were still where they
19:30
Speaker 2: needed to be after that months gone. But yeah, I
19:33
Speaker 2: was impressed with Yale, even though the final score doesn't
19:37
Speaker 2: show it. And obviously that's exactly what we expect Ohio
19:39
Speaker 2: State to do. They're gonna use their size, and you know,
19:42
Speaker 2: I think they were. They were carving out space in
19:44
Speaker 2: front of the net and that's how those second chance
19:46
Speaker 2: goals come. But also Jordan Baxter's wrap around that one
19:50
Speaker 2: was spectacular, So yeah, I think exactly what we expected there.
19:55
Speaker 2: And just yeah, Minnesota Duluth going back for a second.
19:58
Speaker 2: Not only that, but they so they had a say,
20:00
Speaker 2: one went over the new hot winner, which was Sacred
20:02
Speaker 2: Heart a year or two ago. But if you take
20:04
Speaker 2: that out, they have scored three goals in six NCAA appearances,
20:08
Speaker 2: and that's not good. That one's from Matt Willens. Yeah,
20:12
Speaker 2: it's uh, it was. It was bad and it couldn't.
20:15
Speaker 2: I don't have any answers. I clearly they don't either.
20:17
Speaker 2: But there's a lot I think of questions and work
20:20
Speaker 2: to be done for Minnesota Duluth because I just don't
20:23
Speaker 2: think you can go into an NCAA game and lose
20:26
Speaker 2: one nothing or look at those numbers and have the
20:27
Speaker 2: last couple of appearances and be happy and think that
20:30
Speaker 2: that is, you know, sustainable. So yeah, kind of frustrating
20:35
Speaker 2: for them for sure.
20:37
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed. Okay, that's our look back at last week's visuals.
20:42
Speaker 1: We returned. We will take a look at the Frozen four.
20:45
Speaker 1: I mean this week in State College Pennsylvania. Stay with
20:48
Speaker 1: us on the podcast. We're back with the podcast Todd
20:59
Speaker 1: and the Cole talking the Frozen Four. Now we're into
21:02
Speaker 1: Friday's semi finals in State College, Pennsylvania. Agoula Ice Arena
21:07
Speaker 1: will host for the second time, and the first game
21:11
Speaker 1: on Friday, four pm Eastern is Ohio State against Northeastern.
21:15
Speaker 1: That'll be followed by Wisconsin against penn State. Around seven thirty.
21:19
Speaker 1: Eastern buck Eyes and the Huskies have some history against
21:24
Speaker 1: each other in the Frozen four. Ohio State won three
21:26
Speaker 1: nothing in the twenty twenty three semifinals in Duluth. We
21:34
Speaker 1: weren't sure what to expect from Northeastern at the start
21:37
Speaker 1: of the season. They had a bobble last year, a
21:40
Speaker 1: season that was not up to their standards. But we
21:45
Speaker 1: have seen throughout the season where they've just built and
21:48
Speaker 1: had a comfortable lead in Hockey East and finished that
21:52
Speaker 1: off and now they've gotten their way to their third
21:54
Speaker 1: Frozen four. For since that twenty twenty three appear in Duluth,
22:02
Speaker 1: we knew whil it was going to be pretty sure
22:06
Speaker 1: they were going to be here again, given the motivation
22:09
Speaker 1: that they took from last season. And so from that perspective,
22:15
Speaker 1: when you're looking back six months ago, I don't know
22:17
Speaker 1: if we would have going to something you would you
22:19
Speaker 1: said earlier we would call this as I said, I
22:21
Speaker 1: finally able to Frozen four.
22:24
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not, you know, like we'll fully admit we
22:28
Speaker 2: were wrong about Earth Eastern, right, and I think good
22:32
Speaker 2: on them for sort of just building throughout the season
22:34
Speaker 2: and really just groeving that that was a blip as
22:39
Speaker 2: opposed to, you know, sort of the new state of things.
22:41
Speaker 2: I think to they they're freshmen, have just really I mean,
22:45
Speaker 2: they've been good from the beginning that they've really brought
22:47
Speaker 2: blossomed and they're underclassmen overall, and I just think they've
22:51
Speaker 2: you know, sort of stepped by step built to where
22:52
Speaker 2: they are right now. And you know, we spent a
22:55
Speaker 2: lot of the season talking about teams that didn't sort
22:58
Speaker 2: of recover from law losses or bounce back, and I
23:02
Speaker 2: feel like out of Northeastern is the team that did
23:04
Speaker 2: do that. There most of the losses were non conference
23:07
Speaker 2: and so that should kind of helped them in that step.
23:09
Speaker 2: But also just I think they they learned from from
23:13
Speaker 2: their mistakes and just kind of continue to keep growing.
23:16
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, Lisa Janson is just an
23:19
Speaker 2: absolute I don't feel like, I don't want to say beast,
23:23
Speaker 2: but just a beast in that. I mean, she just
23:25
Speaker 2: is she gives them so much confidence. She's you know,
23:28
Speaker 2: six feet she's a big goalie. But I just think
23:30
Speaker 2: it makes such a difference and allows particularly when your
23:32
Speaker 2: team is younger and they're learning and growing, it gives
23:35
Speaker 2: them the confidence to go out and maybe try more
23:37
Speaker 2: things and be you know, have more confidence on offense.
23:42
Speaker 2: And so I just I think that for them, this
23:44
Speaker 2: is really about building throughout the season. Coaches talk about
23:47
Speaker 2: peaking at the right time, and and that's not to
23:50
Speaker 2: say that they haven't been good to this. I just
23:52
Speaker 2: think they really built week by week to get to
23:54
Speaker 2: this point and be prepared and to win a game
23:57
Speaker 2: against you know, Minnesota and be in this position.
24:00
Speaker 1: And so I.
24:01
Speaker 2: Think the best thing that could have happened for them
24:03
Speaker 2: is sort of if you're looking at just this matchup,
24:06
Speaker 2: knowing that they got to go and beat Minnesota last
24:08
Speaker 2: week is the best possible prep they could have had
24:11
Speaker 2: to be here, uh, to be to w c H
24:13
Speaker 2: a team to be the team that place somewhat similarly
24:17
Speaker 2: has you know, sort of the star power, and I
24:20
Speaker 2: think it's still going to be a tough hill for
24:23
Speaker 2: them to climb. It will be interesting to see how
24:26
Speaker 2: they handle, you know, the speed and the just the pressure.
24:29
Speaker 2: Ohio State puts so much pressure on teams, and we
24:31
Speaker 2: watched them do it to Wisconsin, who knew it was coming,
24:33
Speaker 2: and it's still still foibled them. So I think it's
24:37
Speaker 2: really hard, Like we were saying, you know, it's really
24:38
Speaker 2: hard to practice for that. I don't know if they
24:41
Speaker 2: you know, if you're able to to go and have
24:43
Speaker 2: a have your men's team come play against them, or somebody,
24:46
Speaker 2: you know, an older squad that can come and put
24:48
Speaker 2: that speed on them. But I think you know, your
24:50
Speaker 2: regular everyday practices can't really prepare you for that. And
24:53
Speaker 2: it's less about skill and more about being able to
24:59
Speaker 2: make the right decisions or good decisions, or even defent
25:02
Speaker 2: decisions without thinking about it, without having time to do that,
25:06
Speaker 2: to just get the puck and move the pucket and
25:08
Speaker 2: not get sped up and overwhelmed because someone is going
25:12
Speaker 2: to be in your face. So I think that's the
25:14
Speaker 2: deciding factor for them.
25:16
Speaker 1: I agree with all that. I do hold on, like
25:19
Speaker 1: reserve the fact that Lacy Johnson could be a difference
25:22
Speaker 1: maker right and and it will take a really massive
25:27
Speaker 1: effort there, but she's done it. And so that's that's
25:31
Speaker 1: something I think can be Northeastern's X factor. How they
25:36
Speaker 1: can win that game is is by by play strong
25:40
Speaker 1: defense and and looking for a couple of chances and
25:44
Speaker 1: and and being able to bury them when you get them.
25:46
Speaker 1: So I do feel like you know, house, it has
25:50
Speaker 1: the experience they've They've been in this, you know, this
25:53
Speaker 1: game six years in a Rono, So everyone on that
25:55
Speaker 1: team just about is is knowing what this is about it.
25:58
Speaker 1: It's gonna be newer for a lot of Northeastern's players,
26:01
Speaker 1: and we've seen that in the past take a toll
26:03
Speaker 1: on some teams, especially early when they're trying to get
26:06
Speaker 1: their feet settled against that experienced team. But yeah, there's
26:11
Speaker 1: just that that kind of like I feel like a
26:14
Speaker 1: goalie can go out and win this tournament.
26:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. I also think there's something to the fact that,
26:20
Speaker 2: like Ohio State has been looking to avenge last night,
26:23
Speaker 2: their national championship from the very second and ended, there
26:26
Speaker 2: is a lot more pressure on them in this game,
26:28
Speaker 2: and Northeastern has nothing to lose. Maybe they were the
26:32
Speaker 2: only ones that expected them to be here, you know,
26:34
Speaker 2: five months ago, and so just being able to go
26:37
Speaker 2: in and not have that pressure and not worry about
26:40
Speaker 2: it and sort of just go full guns lazing not
26:44
Speaker 2: having to you know, not worry so much about it.
26:47
Speaker 2: And I think, like you said, with least, I think
26:50
Speaker 2: they need to not let Ole High State score early,
26:52
Speaker 2: and I think they need to find that way to
26:55
Speaker 2: balance the offense with the defense. They absolutely have to
26:58
Speaker 2: put a focus on defense, but they cannot absolutely give
27:02
Speaker 2: up all of their offense and doing so. I think
27:05
Speaker 2: too about what kas Turner said after the Wisconsin Quinnipf game,
27:09
Speaker 2: which is that she had studied sort of the ways
27:12
Speaker 2: that they had Wisconsin had been scored on, and so
27:14
Speaker 2: they had a very clear plan on how to get
27:17
Speaker 2: past that pressure. They weren't able to execute it. But
27:20
Speaker 2: I feel like that's the similar thing that Northeastern is
27:22
Speaker 2: going to be doing, is like what were the plays,
27:24
Speaker 2: What were the ways that like people have have put
27:27
Speaker 2: pushed back on this and broken it down and finding
27:30
Speaker 2: ways to not just like understand that, but being able
27:33
Speaker 2: to execute it is what's going to be the difference
27:35
Speaker 2: for them. But yeah, I actually think the ability to
27:37
Speaker 2: play with no pressure and just like they've got nothing
27:40
Speaker 2: to lose and in Ohio State, in their own heads,
27:45
Speaker 2: have a lot to prove here, and I think those
27:48
Speaker 2: those are the X actor things that can really make
27:50
Speaker 2: a difference.
27:52
Speaker 1: The second game Wisconson Penn State. This is my mind
27:59
Speaker 1: went back to the start of the twenty twenty two
28:01
Speaker 1: to twenty three season, which is a real long time
28:05
Speaker 1: ago and not Solario in many different ways. It's right
28:08
Speaker 1: when Tessa Janik's career started at Penn State, so we
28:12
Speaker 1: taught before that's kind of the start of this arc, right,
28:16
Speaker 1: and maybe he'd been building a little bit, but that's
28:18
Speaker 1: when it took off. She scored two goals in her
28:21
Speaker 1: first collegiate game against Wisconsin at Pagoula in a four
28:24
Speaker 1: to one win. That really opened a lot of eyes
28:26
Speaker 1: that season, though Wisconsin came back the second day and
28:29
Speaker 1: beat pet State nine to one, kind of restoring what
28:32
Speaker 1: everyone thought was gonna be in what ended up being
28:35
Speaker 1: really a topsy turvy season season for Wisconsin that ended
28:39
Speaker 1: up with surprising, question mark national championship in twenty twenty three.
28:45
Speaker 1: I don't know that that series means a whole lot
28:48
Speaker 1: of anything almost four years later, but it just it
28:52
Speaker 1: came to mind that there's some familiarity with some of
28:55
Speaker 1: these players with each other, which and obvious, so there's
29:00
Speaker 1: more familiarity with a lot of players that were on
29:03
Speaker 1: the Olympics to get the Olympic team together with each other,
29:07
Speaker 1: or even in that kind of national team scenario setting
29:10
Speaker 1: up he other than that, this is a Wisconsin team
29:15
Speaker 1: that has been to seventeen frozen fours now leads the
29:19
Speaker 1: nation in that. And this is a Penn State team
29:21
Speaker 1: that is in its first And I don't know how
29:24
Speaker 1: much to make of that. What do you think, Well,
29:28
Speaker 1: I would go back.
29:28
Speaker 2: I would say one of the things that that that
29:30
Speaker 2: twenty two twenty two, twenty three season series is is
29:35
Speaker 2: that Penn State knows Wisconsin's people. That's the team that
29:39
Speaker 2: won a national championship that year, and Penn State hit
29:42
Speaker 2: them right from the first jump. And I think the
29:45
Speaker 2: seniors on this team are able to end up there
29:47
Speaker 2: and say like they aren't an unbeatable giant, they aren't
29:50
Speaker 2: big and scary. They are a team we can beat.
29:53
Speaker 2: And I think that belief has to be like the
29:55
Speaker 2: foundation you can't go in, you know, scared, And so
29:58
Speaker 2: I think that just so silly how you can believe
30:02
Speaker 2: you could beat a team, But it makes a difference
30:03
Speaker 2: when you actually beat them. The mentality of that that
30:08
Speaker 2: little flip. Yeah, I the not having been there before,
30:11
Speaker 2: there's the like twofold, the comfort of being at home.
30:14
Speaker 2: But like they probably I wonder if they get to
30:16
Speaker 2: be in their locker room.
30:19
Speaker 1: I believe the way.
30:23
Speaker 2: You know that they do.
30:25
Speaker 1: That's I believe that's been the way it's been in
30:27
Speaker 1: the past. Like Minnesota got to use theirs last year
30:30
Speaker 1: as yeah, because why I'll say it was in the
30:32
Speaker 1: other was on the ritter and had to come out right.
30:39
Speaker 2: So you know, there's but it's just they're playing at home,
30:42
Speaker 2: but it's not at all like regularly playing at home,
30:44
Speaker 2: and there's different distractions and different timing and all of
30:48
Speaker 2: the things that change the sort of the pattern of
30:51
Speaker 2: the day that I think could really make a difference.
30:54
Speaker 2: So that's where Wisconsin having been there before and all
30:57
Speaker 2: these players familiarity change. Yeah, I don't I don't know.
31:01
Speaker 2: I don't know how much to make of that. I
31:03
Speaker 2: think there is. There might be a bonus to Dotage
31:07
Speaker 2: going in naively blind all of it and being able
31:09
Speaker 2: to take it all in and not feeling any of that.
31:12
Speaker 2: I think. You know, again, the pressures on Wisconsin, like
31:14
Speaker 2: the expectation was for them to return to the title game.
31:18
Speaker 2: You know, everyone's been talking about Ohio State, Wisconsin the
31:21
Speaker 2: player has been talking about how badly they want a
31:23
Speaker 2: back to back that they didn't get. You know, the
31:25
Speaker 2: last time they had won and came back the next.
31:28
Speaker 1: Year, So.
31:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, we could top yourselves in circles on this. I
31:32
Speaker 2: think Penn State is also going to need some really
31:36
Speaker 2: good goaltending. I think they have really haven't played a
31:40
Speaker 2: team that plays this specific way that is anywhere near
31:43
Speaker 2: as deep as Wisconsin is. I mean, Mark Johnson was
31:46
Speaker 2: talking about running his full bench in the first like
31:49
Speaker 2: five minutes of the quarterfinal game, which I'm not sure
31:53
Speaker 2: any other team was doing. I mean we were watching
31:55
Speaker 2: quinnipf NOTTT put their fourth line out even at the
31:58
Speaker 2: end of that game. So yeah, I think there's a
32:01
Speaker 2: lot of things that Penn State has to prepare for,
32:03
Speaker 2: But I don't don't think that means they're unprepared for
32:05
Speaker 2: it or that they can't handle it. I just think
32:07
Speaker 2: it's all about how they adapt to what they're going
32:10
Speaker 2: to face here.
32:12
Speaker 1: There are a lot of things that I can I
32:16
Speaker 1: can kind of imagine happening in that game. It kind
32:19
Speaker 1: of depends on who who starts fast. Penn State gets
32:23
Speaker 1: a jump and gets a goal in the first couple
32:25
Speaker 1: of minutes, No tell them what's going to happen after that.
32:29
Speaker 1: If Wisconsin does the same, I feel like that's that
32:32
Speaker 1: plays in the kind of game that they want. They
32:34
Speaker 1: want to be able to control the pop, control the
32:38
Speaker 1: scoreboard and basically put their best options out on the
32:44
Speaker 1: ice when they need them and let them let them
32:46
Speaker 1: go and do what they have done now for three
32:49
Speaker 1: four years for the team.
32:51
Speaker 2: So it's momentum sort of just rolling downhill, like once
32:54
Speaker 2: they've scored a goal that actually changes things for them. Yeah,
32:58
Speaker 2: that's a good point. In Wisconsin has been known to
33:02
Speaker 2: not necessarily start fast. I mean, they can do it,
33:04
Speaker 2: but like they have a they have a tendency at
33:07
Speaker 2: times to be very plat particularly in the first game
33:09
Speaker 2: of the weekend. I think also the sort of very
33:12
Speaker 2: obvious thing is face off, like how which team Wisconsin
33:18
Speaker 2: was very bad at them in the wh A tournament
33:21
Speaker 2: and that you know, Mark Johnson has talked for two
33:23
Speaker 2: weeks now about his team chasing pucks and how he
33:25
Speaker 2: doesn't want them to be doing that, and so obviously
33:28
Speaker 2: I think that is a huge key for Penn State.
33:30
Speaker 2: Wisconsin wants to possess the puck. They want to be
33:32
Speaker 2: in control, they want to dictate things, and their entire
33:35
Speaker 2: sort of setup is based on that, and when they don't,
33:39
Speaker 2: it really changes their dynamic and really sort of throws
33:42
Speaker 2: them off kilter a little bit. So Wisconsin has to
33:45
Speaker 2: be winning face offs, period. But I think that's the
33:48
Speaker 2: way Penn State can can really try and throw a
33:50
Speaker 2: wrench in things and keep Wisconsin from really it's it's
33:53
Speaker 2: one Wisconsin settles in and they're holding the puck in
33:55
Speaker 2: the zone and still cycling out players and doing full
33:58
Speaker 2: sale line changes and things that you're just like, yeah,
34:00
Speaker 2: I don't know how any team you know faces this,
34:03
Speaker 2: And so I think that's that's the they have to
34:06
Speaker 2: keep the Badgers from just getting settled and really feeling
34:10
Speaker 2: like they own the game because that that's really hard
34:12
Speaker 2: to break down.
34:14
Speaker 1: Both of Friday's games on ESPN plus four o'clock Ohio
34:18
Speaker 1: State against the Northeastern that before Eastern seven thirty Eastern
34:22
Speaker 1: Wisconsin against Penn State. Then the Sunday Championship gave four
34:26
Speaker 1: o'clock Eastern on ESPN. You also certainly on ESPN plus
34:30
Speaker 1: those semi final winners. The Pattycasmire Award gets it out Saturday,
34:37
Speaker 1: so there is something kind of if you're going, there's
34:39
Speaker 1: something to do between days. But that's relatively short ceremony,
34:44
Speaker 1: half hour ceremony that you have to be there at
34:46
Speaker 1: least a half hour ahead of time for and it's
34:50
Speaker 1: still a cool event to be part of. But yeah,
34:53
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of Saturday to fill with that
34:59
Speaker 1: if you try the State College. But you will get
35:02
Speaker 1: into that maybe a little later when we come back.
35:06
Speaker 1: We're gonna take another quick break. We're gonna wrap things
35:08
Speaker 1: up tease what we've got coming next week, uh and
35:11
Speaker 1: maybe even later on this week from the Frozen, So
35:14
Speaker 1: stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast.
35:28
Speaker 1: We're looking ahead to the Frozen four this week in
35:30
Speaker 1: State College, Pennsylvania. Both the cole and I will be there.
35:32
Speaker 1: We'll hopefully have a little bit something from a podcast
35:37
Speaker 1: perspective for you over the weekend or later in the week,
35:40
Speaker 1: So keep your eyes on wherever you get your podcast
35:43
Speaker 1: feeds from and we'll try to have something from stay
35:46
Speaker 1: College for you. But we'll also you know, share with
35:52
Speaker 1: you here before we go, a couple of things that
35:55
Speaker 1: are kind of cool to do around State College if
35:57
Speaker 1: you're If you're going and you're looking to spend some
36:00
Speaker 1: time around the area, I kind of feel like you
36:05
Speaker 1: have to go to the creamery at least once. That's
36:08
Speaker 1: the Ice Crew is is it's really good? Maybe not
36:13
Speaker 1: something you can do more than once, because it's it's
36:15
Speaker 1: rich and I have been there and I do recommend it,
36:21
Speaker 1: But you've also had some experiences there when you were
36:25
Speaker 1: there put the Frozen four in twenty twenty two.
36:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I would say one of the reasons I
36:32
Speaker 2: think the hotels are so like expensive is because there's usually,
36:35
Speaker 2: like you've ternam in, some stuff happening. So I would say,
36:37
Speaker 2: just think about like timing and maybe get some information
36:41
Speaker 2: from people you see about when and we are those
36:42
Speaker 2: like I ended up waiting behind several teams of youth
36:46
Speaker 2: baseball players at the creamery. So just just a heads
36:49
Speaker 2: up on that one thing we did four years ago.
36:52
Speaker 1: So I have a.
36:53
Speaker 2: Group of friends that just goes to every Frozen four
36:55
Speaker 2: if this is the first one, they're not going to
36:56
Speaker 2: in several years. And we actually we drove a band
37:00
Speaker 2: there as five adults. My husband had a cast on
37:02
Speaker 2: his leg, my other friend had a hand in a cast.
37:04
Speaker 2: We were we were a motley crew in a minivan,
37:07
Speaker 2: but several people came and met us and we went
37:10
Speaker 2: to eight fourteen cider Works. So I would highly recommend
37:14
Speaker 2: that when we went. They had like outside fires and stuff.
37:18
Speaker 2: I can't find anything online about that, but we were
37:20
Speaker 2: able to have food trucks. It's just a really pretty place.
37:23
Speaker 2: It says it's open every weekend. The cider was great,
37:26
Speaker 2: and it's just a nice place. It was nice to
37:28
Speaker 2: sort of tell people where we were, and people came
37:30
Speaker 2: and went, and so I highly recommend that if you
37:33
Speaker 2: have not ever been to sort of the Pennsylvania area.
37:36
Speaker 2: There is a Primanti Brothers that's a sort of local place,
37:41
Speaker 2: local legend, right with the French fries on the sandwich,
37:44
Speaker 2: So there's that. You know, there is a nit Nitney
37:46
Speaker 2: lion statue. You probably want to go have your picture
37:48
Speaker 2: taken with that. I actually did it the last time
37:51
Speaker 2: because I have one from when I was like four,
37:53
Speaker 2: and I didn't even think it was in the same location.
37:55
Speaker 2: So I took a new one and sent to my
37:57
Speaker 2: mother she could have side by side. And then we said, like,
38:01
Speaker 2: maybe check the other sports schedules. I think somebody suggested lacrosse.
38:04
Speaker 2: I know softball's home, but yeah, it's uh. I mean,
38:08
Speaker 2: there's you know, like eight local breweries and there's there's
38:10
Speaker 2: plenty of stuff to do downtown. But from a family lives.
38:13
Speaker 2: It's just a really pretty place so and it is
38:15
Speaker 2: supposed to be very nice by Saturday, like sixties, so
38:17
Speaker 2: hopefully you could just get outside and enjoy it. But
38:20
Speaker 2: that's why I would suggest the one four sightery. They
38:23
Speaker 2: have lots of stuff in games, and it was family
38:26
Speaker 2: friendly and it was just a really place to really
38:28
Speaker 2: pretty place to relax and unline the Saturday nights. So yeah,
38:32
Speaker 2: I think that's that's about it. I Unfortunately we're really busy.
38:35
Speaker 2: We don't get to do a ton while we're there,
38:37
Speaker 2: but yeah, it hopefully, hopefully people find stuff and if
38:41
Speaker 2: we hear more, well we'll share it. But come to
38:44
Speaker 2: the Patty Caws. It's a you know, it used to
38:45
Speaker 2: be a like paid ticketed brunch thing and now it's open,
38:49
Speaker 2: and I think it's just a really cool experience. All
38:51
Speaker 2: the teams that will be there, the teams that are
38:53
Speaker 2: still competing, and obviously the players that are nominated, and
38:56
Speaker 2: you get a chance to see them up clubs and personal,
38:59
Speaker 2: and it's really good experience. Usually they're signings surrounding that.
39:02
Speaker 2: I'd imagine there'll be some signings with some of the
39:04
Speaker 2: Olympians and things, so yeah, and if you see us,
39:08
Speaker 2: say hi, we have stickers. You're right, we usually running around,
39:13
Speaker 2: so you know, just stop and say hi. And if
39:17
Speaker 2: we're running off to something, we'll tell you and where
39:19
Speaker 2: we can find you later. So neither of us is
39:21
Speaker 2: scary or intimidating. So we're very Midwestern.
39:25
Speaker 1: God. Yeah right, that that is more possible than being
39:30
Speaker 1: intimidated distracted. Yes, yeah, So that's twelve thirty Eastern on Saturdays,
39:35
Speaker 1: the Patty Cas Ward the doors open at new That
39:39
Speaker 1: is at the Robison Center on Penn State's campus, so
39:45
Speaker 1: or you can find out on that on pattycas dot com.
39:49
Speaker 1: That's KK Harvey from Wisconsin, Testa Jeriche pennsan at Bersery
39:53
Speaker 1: for Minnesota, the read app vulte Getters, one of them
39:56
Speaker 1: will be taking the award on Saturday. So yeah's lots
40:00
Speaker 1: stuff that happened. I mean, it's we're focused on the
40:01
Speaker 1: hockey because I mean, that's that's why we're here. It
40:05
Speaker 1: does feel like this as an event. I do miss
40:10
Speaker 1: the years when there was a clinic or there was
40:12
Speaker 1: something there was, you know, more happening that you could
40:16
Speaker 1: kind of point fans toward. Now, wonder if we'll get
40:20
Speaker 1: that back. I wonder if that is a just a
40:23
Speaker 1: function of there's a lot going on this weekend, say college,
40:27
Speaker 1: I think it's the the Pennsylvania middle School basketball tournament
40:31
Speaker 1: is there the same weekend every year, and so that's
40:33
Speaker 1: the reason why all the hotels are there.
40:35
Speaker 2: Was also, yeah, youth baseball tournaments, So yeah, that makes sense.
40:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, there's there's a ton happening that isn't
40:43
Speaker 1: necessarily about. So yeah, I hope there's a little mid
40:51
Speaker 1: carved out. Yeah.
40:53
Speaker 2: I would just say to people, like, think about that,
40:54
Speaker 2: Like there's gonna you're gonna go to restaurants, and there's
40:56
Speaker 2: gonna be seven teams of so just things like that
40:58
Speaker 2: you need to plan ahead for and stuff because there
41:01
Speaker 2: are are large groups of children in most places weekend. Yeah.
41:06
Speaker 2: I last year at Minnesota they had a bit more
41:09
Speaker 2: stuff wasn't necessarily all public, but there were some signings
41:15
Speaker 2: and clinics and things, and so maybe that's why people
41:19
Speaker 2: assumed there would be this year, And I guess I
41:21
Speaker 2: don't know that there aren't, but we haven't seen anything advertised, I.
41:24
Speaker 1: Would say, but yeah, I mean, yeah, check the NCAA
41:27
Speaker 1: site on that for the Frozen four because they will
41:33
Speaker 1: have I think they've had a fan page and the
41:37
Speaker 1: ass and things if you're going to check out, so.
41:43
Speaker 2: You know, the men have a full fan fest experience
41:46
Speaker 2: and there's there's a lot more going on, and we
41:48
Speaker 2: can hope that we get to that point with the women.
41:50
Speaker 2: But the problem is that we are we continue to
41:52
Speaker 2: be at kind of remote locations. You know, next year
41:55
Speaker 2: we're in Duluth, and the following year we are in Connecticut.
42:00
Speaker 2: I don't remember what town we're at Sacred Heart. So yeah,
42:05
Speaker 2: those are will be better, but again you're not. It's
42:07
Speaker 2: just it's just different. It's I don't know how to
42:10
Speaker 2: there's there are better words for it. I hope that
42:12
Speaker 2: things can need to change. Maybe when we are in
42:15
Speaker 2: sort of more populous areas we can which we'll start
42:18
Speaker 2: something ourselves. But yeah, I would say find your people.
42:23
Speaker 2: The best part about the Frozen Poor is that everybody
42:26
Speaker 2: there loves women's hockey. I think you know, a friend
42:29
Speaker 2: of mine was at the Olympics and talked about walking
42:31
Speaker 2: around the concourse before the gold medal game and she
42:34
Speaker 2: just like took a moment to say, these are my
42:36
Speaker 2: people and really sort of soak in that, like these
42:39
Speaker 2: are a whole bunch of folks that went through, whether
42:43
Speaker 2: it's fans or family or whatever, they've they've gone through
42:46
Speaker 2: the ups and downs of being involved in women's hockey.
42:49
Speaker 2: And and to see a full stadium full of rabid
42:52
Speaker 2: fans if pretty cool. And whatever the attendance is in
42:56
Speaker 2: State College this weekend, it's a bunch of people that
42:59
Speaker 2: love the game as much much as you do and
43:01
Speaker 2: wanted to succeed. And so I think remembering that, and
43:04
Speaker 2: I think for me, I'm really like trying hard to
43:07
Speaker 2: do that in amongst the stresses of all the covering,
43:09
Speaker 2: because it's a busy weekend for us, to just remember
43:12
Speaker 2: to enjoy it. Because it's to some extent I start
43:14
Speaker 2: to dread this weekend just because it's it's a lot
43:16
Speaker 2: in a short period of time. And but it's a
43:18
Speaker 2: really special experience to be around that many people who
43:21
Speaker 2: love what you love and who want it to succeed
43:23
Speaker 2: as much as you do. And so I think that
43:26
Speaker 2: is my advice is is find your people. Don't be
43:28
Speaker 2: afraid to talk to the person next to you, and
43:32
Speaker 2: you know then you'll then you'll have plans for Saturday night.
43:35
Speaker 2: You'll you'll find your people and figure it out. So yeah,
43:38
Speaker 2: that's my advice is just to remember to stop and
43:40
Speaker 2: take a moment to to soak it all in. Because hockey,
43:44
Speaker 2: because we are so spread out, it's rare that we
43:46
Speaker 2: all get to be in one place, and so it's
43:49
Speaker 2: it's really a cool thing to stop and soap that
43:52
Speaker 2: in and think about when we didn't you know, when
43:54
Speaker 2: they Patty Chazzy used to be exclusive and fans didn't
43:56
Speaker 2: get to go, and when you know, we just weren't
43:59
Speaker 2: getting fans at some of these games. And so people
44:02
Speaker 2: love women's hockey, Like the game is going to be
44:04
Speaker 2: on TV on Sunday, Like, let's make sure that people
44:07
Speaker 2: at home are sad they're not there and we show
44:09
Speaker 2: off the sport in the best possible way.
44:11
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we will have one more episode next week. We're
44:16
Speaker 1: hoping that you'll send us some questions for our mail bag.
44:19
Speaker 1: You can find the email address at the bottom of
44:23
Speaker 1: our show notes. This is when we wrap up the season.
44:28
Speaker 1: It's sometimes it's like we're in this tunnel vision of
44:32
Speaker 1: just having seen the Frozen four and so it's hard
44:34
Speaker 1: to think beyond that. So that's why I'm hoping people
44:36
Speaker 1: will give us some even if it's not a question
44:38
Speaker 1: is you know, can you give us some more on
44:41
Speaker 1: this to reflect on this from the totality of the season,
44:45
Speaker 1: and that will help us kind of widen our vision
44:50
Speaker 1: a little bit as we get into next week and
44:52
Speaker 1: start to really kind of, you know, unpack the season
44:56
Speaker 1: as a whole. So before we get there, though, we've
44:59
Speaker 1: got three more games ago, and we hope you enjoy them.
45:01
Speaker 1: We know we will being on site. If you're there,
45:04
Speaker 1: I would love to see you, Like Nicole said, if
45:05
Speaker 1: you If you're not, I hope you enjoyed them on
45:08
Speaker 1: TV or streaming, and we will see you here again
45:12
Speaker 1: next week for the season finale of the podcast. I
45:14
Speaker 1: can't believe it. It's already over or almost the finish
45:17
Speaker 1: line it has and it's uh, it's been really fun
45:21
Speaker 1: and we've got one week to go, so let's make
45:24
Speaker 1: the most of it. Thank you for listening, Thank you
45:27
Speaker 1: for watching. I'm Todd. That's the call. Thanks for watching
45:31
Speaker 1: the podcast.