Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Brown's Mel Ruzzi joins the show after a 4-0 start

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Brown's Mel Ruzzi joins the show after a 4-0 start · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Us cho dot com. Hi everyone, Welcome back to the
0:12
Speaker 1: podcast from us cho dot com. I'm Todd Moluski. Here
0:15
Speaker 1: is always with Nicole Hosey and Nicole. Now that we're
0:19
Speaker 1: a few weeks into everyone having played this season, the
0:23
Speaker 1: IVY League teams have had a couple of weeks to play.
0:27
Speaker 1: We have two teams left undefeated untied. Who are they
0:32
Speaker 1: and why should we be surprised and maybe not surprised.
0:37
Speaker 2: Well, the first is Wisconsin, who you know, came into
0:39
Speaker 2: the season ranked one to two right you know, was
0:44
Speaker 2: one of the teams played in the National Championship Game
0:46
Speaker 2: last year, so I think that's not a huge surprise.
0:48
Speaker 2: They returned a lot of their roster. But the other
0:49
Speaker 2: is Brown, who have started their season four and oh.
0:53
Speaker 2: You know that there are a lot of people that
0:55
Speaker 2: have seen don't get too excited about four and oh,
0:57
Speaker 2: but Brown hasn't had games like this in years. Like
1:02
Speaker 2: they it's their four and oh through the first four
1:04
Speaker 2: games of a season since for the first time since
1:07
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety two ninety three. So they beat both Quinnipec
1:11
Speaker 2: in Princeton for the first time and a weekend at
1:13
Speaker 2: home since two thousand and nine. Like this This is
1:15
Speaker 2: a surprising start for the Bears. I should say, if
1:19
Speaker 2: you've been paying attention, if you've been watching them, they've
1:21
Speaker 2: been capable of this. They've been building. But yeah, I
1:24
Speaker 2: don't think anybody looked at that schedule and thought, you
1:26
Speaker 2: know what team is gonna be undefeated. It's Brown.
1:30
Speaker 1: And we will be talking with Melrosey, the coach of Brown,
1:33
Speaker 1: later on in this show, so stay around for that.
1:37
Speaker 1: But it's it's we've talked before about you know, things
1:41
Speaker 1: being up for grabs and whether that's a top four spot,
1:45
Speaker 1: whether it's a top spot, whether it's you know, home
1:48
Speaker 1: ice those kind of things in playoffs, or whether it's
1:53
Speaker 1: just having a better record than the year you had
1:55
Speaker 1: before we get in. Mel's going to talk about that
2:00
Speaker 1: a little bit, but that's there's a lot open there
2:03
Speaker 1: for Brown this season and in a lot of those categories. Uh,
2:06
Speaker 1: if they can you know, you know, continue on the
2:10
Speaker 1: trajectory they they've had of these last few years.
2:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you know they've they've had plenty of close
2:16
Speaker 2: games or upsets or ties or losing an overtime, and
2:20
Speaker 2: they're definitely a team that for several years I would
2:22
Speaker 2: have not underestimated if I were their opponent, And I
2:25
Speaker 2: think they're a team that, you know, in in postseason format,
2:29
Speaker 2: have the opportunity to really make some leaves even before
2:32
Speaker 2: the season. But you know, Malorsy's in her four season,
2:36
Speaker 2: there's there, these are her, this is her team, her recruits,
2:39
Speaker 2: and yeah, I just think it's a pretty good sort
2:43
Speaker 2: of blueprinter or what we've talked about in terms of
2:45
Speaker 2: like building a team and building up a program that
2:48
Speaker 2: you know, had fallen down to what below what they
2:50
Speaker 2: would want, and regardless of what the final record is,
2:54
Speaker 2: it's less about the four known than it is about
2:57
Speaker 2: just the way that they're playing in the the sort
3:00
Speaker 2: of complete sixty minute or more game that they're putting
3:03
Speaker 2: together day this whole weekend they did so definitely a
3:07
Speaker 2: team that you know, I like we called this out
3:10
Speaker 2: that the series out kind of just last week as
3:12
Speaker 2: a like, oh that might be interesting, and they were
3:15
Speaker 2: two of the best games all weekend. So I mean,
3:18
Speaker 2: part of it is just I think that there's amazing
3:20
Speaker 2: hockey happening, regardless of who the teams are and what
3:22
Speaker 2: the rankings are of the teams that are playing, and
3:25
Speaker 2: also just you know, sort of seeing what what's brewing
3:28
Speaker 2: with some of these programs and what It's such a
3:32
Speaker 2: cliche in coaches and commissioners will always talk about, oh,
3:34
Speaker 2: like you can't take anything for granted. But I do
3:37
Speaker 2: think we're getting closer and closer to that where any
3:41
Speaker 2: game is up for grabs, and that's that's pretty amazing
3:44
Speaker 2: for the future women's hockey and for us as fans
3:46
Speaker 2: to get to watch.
3:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll be keeping more of an eye on
3:49
Speaker 1: Brown as we go forward, and again stick around for
3:52
Speaker 1: that interview we had with Mel Rosie, but staying out
3:55
Speaker 1: east and staying in the you know, games being up
3:57
Speaker 1: for grabs kind of category. Boston College with a couple
4:00
Speaker 1: of upset wins at home against number then number three
4:04
Speaker 1: Clarkson last week three to one on Saturday, and I
4:07
Speaker 1: believe four three on Sunday.
4:11
Speaker 3: That's a a little bit of a I'm not gonna
4:16
Speaker 3: say it's it's more than a little bit of surprise
4:18
Speaker 3: given what we, uh, you know, seen from the results
4:22
Speaker 3: Boston College has had when they played you know, higher
4:25
Speaker 3: ranked teams in the last few years.
4:27
Speaker 1: But also on the Clarkson side, you know that they
4:30
Speaker 1: were ranked number three. Everyone had had them kind of
4:33
Speaker 1: in that that category of a team that probably should
4:37
Speaker 1: be you know, if not splitting on the road in
4:40
Speaker 1: a non conference series sweep sweeping, so the other way around,
4:45
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? But I mean, is am
4:49
Speaker 1: I overreacting on that one that that that this is
4:52
Speaker 1: more of a shock than not?
4:56
Speaker 2: No? I agree, I mean this is probably more of
4:58
Speaker 2: a shock than than the Brown games, because as you said,
5:01
Speaker 2: like BC, just BC played like a team that I've
5:04
Speaker 2: never seen or I haven't seen BC play like since
5:06
Speaker 2: you know, Alex Carpenter was on the squad. And I
5:09
Speaker 2: mean I kind of snarkily said on Twitter, like what
5:12
Speaker 2: if BC played like this all the time? Like who
5:15
Speaker 2: is this team? And where did they come from? And
5:18
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm sorry for the little bit assass
5:21
Speaker 2: on that, but like this is that was not like
5:23
Speaker 2: you and I saw BC play Wisconsin earlier in the
5:25
Speaker 2: season and or last season, and that's not the team
5:28
Speaker 2: that we watched. You know, there would be maybe some
5:31
Speaker 2: small flashes of it, but the what was so good
5:34
Speaker 2: about it from BC was that it was was start
5:37
Speaker 2: to finish, just really good hockey from them, really great passing,
5:40
Speaker 2: really you know, just strong skating and smooth and it
5:44
Speaker 2: wasn't flashes of brilliance. It was you know, twenty four
5:47
Speaker 2: to seven brilliant. And it was like, well, if you're
5:48
Speaker 2: capable of this, what what do you what? What are
5:51
Speaker 2: we even waiting for? So that that it's one part
5:53
Speaker 2: of it that it's just it felt like all of
5:56
Speaker 2: the possibilities of the various recruits they brought over the
6:00
Speaker 2: past few seasons, all that sort of stuff, and you know,
6:02
Speaker 2: like there were times when Clarkson responded and then in
6:05
Speaker 2: the past against sort of lesser ranked teams BC would
6:09
Speaker 2: not be able to respond back, right, they would not
6:11
Speaker 2: come back, and that they were doing all of those things.
6:14
Speaker 2: So that like that's one side of these studios and
6:16
Speaker 2: that part on its own was shocking. And then the
6:18
Speaker 2: other is just did we massively overrate Clarkson?
6:22
Speaker 4: Did?
6:22
Speaker 2: I mean, now I'm wondering because both I think Clerkson
6:25
Speaker 2: and Cornell have sort of not lived up to the
6:28
Speaker 2: preseason rankings and where people maybe thought they were and
6:31
Speaker 2: so who's and that fault isn't there, but liked, were
6:34
Speaker 2: people expecting too much? Like did we miss something in
6:38
Speaker 2: terms of like looking at the roster? I mean, you're
6:40
Speaker 2: making decisions based off paper. But you know, for Clarkson,
6:43
Speaker 2: they didn't graduate a ton of talent. They didn't you know,
6:46
Speaker 2: they look much like the very strong team that they
6:49
Speaker 2: had last season. And so yeah, I just I mean,
6:53
Speaker 2: I think, you know, maybe it was unfair to have
6:55
Speaker 2: them at three after you know, they demolished teams that
6:58
Speaker 2: they definitely should be with their went demolishing, and so yeah,
7:02
Speaker 2: that's maybe a separate Tide conversation about like, you know,
7:06
Speaker 2: those rankings and why maybe we all got it till wrong.
7:09
Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, I don't know if Clarkson underestimated BC,
7:14
Speaker 2: because again, this is a BC team nobody I think
7:16
Speaker 2: could have planned for. Uh, but yeah, that series, that's fascinating,
7:21
Speaker 2: just fully, I I yeah, there are no words. I
7:26
Speaker 2: just sat watching. I was glad that it was that
7:28
Speaker 2: Sunday game was the only one happening, because I just
7:30
Speaker 2: was like, whoa, Okay, every time you looked up, there
7:33
Speaker 2: was a new There was one point where I was
7:34
Speaker 2: watching my husband had the F one race on it.
7:37
Speaker 2: I watched one short interview and then I looked back
7:39
Speaker 2: in two goals had been scored, and I was like,
7:40
Speaker 2: are you kidding me? Like my TVs are side by
7:43
Speaker 2: side the how did I But yes, anyway, it just
7:45
Speaker 2: made me laugh. I was like, what is happening? Because
7:47
Speaker 2: it really was sort of mind boggling the way those
7:50
Speaker 2: two games went down.
7:53
Speaker 1: Moving on from that to another game that looked like
7:56
Speaker 1: it was kind of bouncing everywhere. We talked last week
7:59
Speaker 1: about the icebreaker is that Valley City Arena shot and
8:03
Speaker 1: scene Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio SAT and Cornell end
8:08
Speaker 1: up getting to the championship game and that one ends
8:10
Speaker 1: up seven to three Ohio State, but it was really
8:13
Speaker 1: four to three. Late in the second period. Ohio State
8:18
Speaker 1: had led for to one and then Cornell scored a
8:21
Speaker 1: couple within about four or five four or I think
8:24
Speaker 1: minutes to get within a goal, and a real key
8:30
Speaker 1: one there. Jocelyn Amos scores in the lastman in the
8:33
Speaker 1: second period to give Ohio State a two goal lead
8:36
Speaker 1: going to the third and they added on from there.
8:38
Speaker 1: But it would it would it would have been interesting
8:40
Speaker 1: for me to see whether if Cornell Will been able
8:44
Speaker 1: to keep that momentum going to the third period, whether
8:46
Speaker 1: that third period would have been any different or if
8:49
Speaker 1: Ohio State would just have continued on kind of what
8:53
Speaker 1: it ended up being.
8:55
Speaker 2: Well, this is one of those ones too. Now we're
8:57
Speaker 2: talking about a team that's only played games, an IVY
9:00
Speaker 2: League team that came in versus a team that you know,
9:02
Speaker 2: by the end of the weekend had played what thirteen games. So,
9:09
Speaker 2: I mean, arguably what happened at Cornell couldn't do a
9:11
Speaker 2: full sixteen minutes against Ohio State, right, and like pair
9:15
Speaker 2: to them, because not many teams can, and not many
9:17
Speaker 2: teams with that much disparity and sort of time on
9:20
Speaker 2: ice and experience of the season are gonna, you know,
9:24
Speaker 2: be great in that situation. So I would add too
9:28
Speaker 2: that I wanted to double check this, but that Jocelynimo's
9:30
Speaker 2: last minute of the period goal was also shorthanded. So
9:34
Speaker 2: just like man backbreaker, just momentum killer, disheartening, just sort
9:39
Speaker 2: of all of those things to go into that when
9:41
Speaker 2: you're probably already exhausted. And I mean, what Ohio State does.
9:46
Speaker 2: I mean Nadine's favorite word is relentless, right, Like playing
9:49
Speaker 2: against Ohio State is a full on sprint for sixty
9:53
Speaker 2: or more minutes. And so I think that that was
9:55
Speaker 2: that would have been I would love to see a
9:58
Speaker 2: game like this, you know, much later in the season.
10:00
Speaker 2: Cornell is sort of fully up to where we think
10:02
Speaker 2: that they can be at. I definitely think after last
10:05
Speaker 2: weekend where I was a little head scratching on Cornell,
10:08
Speaker 2: I thought they really showed themselves well this weekend against
10:10
Speaker 2: two tough opponents, and I feel like to some extent
10:14
Speaker 2: we can write off a little bit of that that
10:17
Speaker 2: early stumbled to Those were the first two games of
10:19
Speaker 2: their season, which you know, which was always possible, right
10:23
Speaker 2: Like we were looking at it going is it just
10:24
Speaker 2: that or is it something else? But yeah, that that
10:27
Speaker 2: Ohio State seven to three final score line does not
10:30
Speaker 2: tell the true story of that game.
10:31
Speaker 1: I don't think the Friday semi final game Cornell won
10:36
Speaker 1: two nothing over Penn State was fascinating the watch because
10:41
Speaker 1: Penn State just kept coming with with chances and Testa
10:45
Speaker 1: Janicky the name. I think she ended up with seven eight,
10:48
Speaker 1: nine shots on gole something like that. It just looked
10:51
Speaker 1: like she was she always had the puck on her stick,
10:54
Speaker 1: but they weren't able to get a puck past Anli's Bergman.
10:57
Speaker 1: And that was a a really strong performance for her.
11:04
Speaker 1: She had a rough day of the next day, uh
11:07
Speaker 1: seven goals allowed on twenty five shots, so that's that's
11:13
Speaker 1: the tough part about having a couple of games where
11:16
Speaker 1: you're maybe not controlling pop possession and having to play
11:23
Speaker 1: in your defensive zone a lot is that it's gonna
11:25
Speaker 1: it's gonna wear down a little bit. So I think
11:28
Speaker 1: that's something to keep an eye on for Cornell going forward,
11:31
Speaker 1: is making sure that they do have are able to
11:33
Speaker 1: play with the puck a little bit more than I
11:36
Speaker 1: think we saw over the weekend.
11:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just I mean it should surprise nobody that
11:41
Speaker 2: Anilisbergman is a very good goaltender and she alone is
11:44
Speaker 2: going to you know, sort of keep Cornelling games and
11:47
Speaker 2: allow them the growing pains at this start of the season,
11:50
Speaker 2: right like she like you said, she kept you know,
11:54
Speaker 2: Janicky at all from Penn State, you know, in check
11:57
Speaker 2: and so just what she brings and gives them is
12:00
Speaker 2: is so important to their continued ability to improve over
12:04
Speaker 2: the season. She's just one of the best and and
12:09
Speaker 2: I think probably is not has not yet gotten enough
12:11
Speaker 2: attention for for how good she is in that.
12:15
Speaker 1: All right, what games am I missing from over the
12:16
Speaker 1: weekend that that you wanted to call out, uh from
12:21
Speaker 1: from the results.
12:22
Speaker 2: That you saw just Minnesota State in that second game
12:26
Speaker 2: against Minnesota, I thought was really you know, Gophers one,
12:29
Speaker 2: eight to two on Friday, So the fact that that
12:31
Speaker 2: they needed over time to beat the Mavericks on on
12:33
Speaker 2: Saturday was really important. And again that was one of
12:36
Speaker 2: those teams where it wasn't it wasn't a fluke, it
12:39
Speaker 2: wasn't uh, you know, one really good goalie standing on
12:42
Speaker 2: her head. I just thought the Mavericks played a really good,
12:44
Speaker 2: complete game. They were doing a spectacular job of keeping
12:48
Speaker 2: the Gophers to the to the perimeter and and being able.
12:53
Speaker 2: I think one thing that when we're talking about teams
12:56
Speaker 2: sort of on the bottom end of a conference is
12:59
Speaker 2: that they could play really good defense, but they're often
13:01
Speaker 2: than not a lot of offense, both because they're exhausted
13:05
Speaker 2: and because they never have the puck. But I thought
13:07
Speaker 2: one thing the Mavericks showed really well was being able
13:09
Speaker 2: to transition that good defense into offense and do something
13:14
Speaker 2: with the puck on the other end. Natalie Milenkova was
13:17
Speaker 2: really good for Minnesota, but I think it's important to
13:19
Speaker 2: point out that like she was the one that needed
13:21
Speaker 2: to be doing some of this stuff for them, Peyton
13:23
Speaker 2: Hemp too, So it was Debbie Murphy. And that's important
13:26
Speaker 2: for Minnesota if they're gonna make a push this season
13:30
Speaker 2: and be a team that looks you know, to be
13:32
Speaker 2: in the Frozen Four and in the Championship, they have
13:34
Speaker 2: to have more scoring. They have to have more depth
13:38
Speaker 2: and being able to for those players to pick up
13:40
Speaker 2: the slack when when Abby was shut down a little
13:43
Speaker 2: bit by that defense. But yeah, just kudos to the
13:46
Speaker 2: Mavericks who you know, responded and are taking the thing,
13:50
Speaker 2: taking the steps that show that like that program is improving,
13:52
Speaker 2: that there is you know, like growth continues to happen,
13:55
Speaker 2: and it's these games aren't gonna be one offs where
13:58
Speaker 2: they you know, sneak out a close game or an
14:01
Speaker 2: at tire or whatever. When they're doing what they always
14:04
Speaker 2: can do on defense, but turning that into offense that
14:06
Speaker 2: makes them, you know, a much scarier opponent.
14:09
Speaker 1: Well, when we come back, as advertised, we will have Melrousie,
14:12
Speaker 1: the coach at Brown with us here, so stay with
14:15
Speaker 1: us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm
14:24
Speaker 1: Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hosey and our special guests
14:27
Speaker 1: this week from Brown University is Melrosie and Mel congratulations
14:31
Speaker 1: on four and oh start of the season. It's a
14:34
Speaker 1: great way to get going. I wonder what stood out
14:39
Speaker 1: to you in terms of how you got there through
14:41
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks.
14:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're right, it's a young it's a young season.
14:45
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me on the podcast.
14:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
14:48
Speaker 5: I think part of this is, like we're now as
14:52
Speaker 5: a staff four years into being at Brown and so
14:54
Speaker 5: that sometimes helps because we've been through the process, especially
14:58
Speaker 5: as an IVY League institution, right, we all know we
15:00
Speaker 5: start a bit later, and and so I think the
15:03
Speaker 5: first weekend of real games was a chance for us
15:07
Speaker 5: to kind of get our feet wet and realize the
15:10
Speaker 5: results matter. And so, you know, we had done a
15:13
Speaker 5: scrimmage at Yale where we scrimmaged Yale and Cornell pretty
15:17
Speaker 5: early on, and then we had an exhibition gameing against McGill.
15:20
Speaker 5: So that first weekend against Franklin Peiris wasn't the real
15:23
Speaker 5: time we've gotten on the ice for the first time
15:25
Speaker 5: by any means. But when you know that it counts
15:27
Speaker 5: and it matters, I think there's a little bit more
15:30
Speaker 5: anxiety around that and making sure it's a real test.
15:32
Speaker 5: And so that was a nice start. But you know,
15:36
Speaker 5: we knew that you know, then going to league play
15:38
Speaker 5: immediately against Quinnipiac, who I think there were nine games
15:41
Speaker 5: in at that point. We knew that that weekend was
15:45
Speaker 5: going to be another level of test and so to
15:50
Speaker 5: be four and zero is wonderful. It's, like I said,
15:54
Speaker 5: it's very early. So we'll see how we keep growing
15:58
Speaker 5: as a team.
16:00
Speaker 2: One of the things Tot and I talked about, like
16:03
Speaker 2: in our season preview is is in a conference like
16:05
Speaker 2: the ECAC where sometimes growth doesn't necessarily show in like
16:09
Speaker 2: where you finish the season or you know, necessarily even
16:13
Speaker 2: in in wins or losses. And so, you know, I
16:16
Speaker 2: talked to you two years ago kind of at the
16:18
Speaker 2: at the tail end of starting out in this position.
16:21
Speaker 2: What do you think, how have you guys been able
16:23
Speaker 2: to to sort of motivate the team and really look
16:26
Speaker 2: at where you are and find your role within the ECAC,
16:29
Speaker 2: even though sometimes just because of the nature of your
16:32
Speaker 2: very large, very talented conference like that doesn't necessarily like
16:35
Speaker 2: you might finish in the same spot at the end
16:36
Speaker 2: of the year.
16:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, hopefully we don't finish in the same Motivation right,
16:42
Speaker 5: Like motivation if it's coming from the coaches, that's a problem.
16:46
Speaker 5: Our players they are, they are motivated internally. You know,
16:51
Speaker 5: for instance, our goals for the season that we've we've
16:54
Speaker 5: come up with, those are the players goals, and that's
16:56
Speaker 5: our assignment as coaches. This is where we want to
16:59
Speaker 5: get to. We're committed to it, and now coaches like
17:02
Speaker 5: it's our job is to drive that and make sure
17:04
Speaker 5: that we're raising the level. We're challenging them in really
17:07
Speaker 5: appropriate ways. We're you know, calling out where we can improve. Right,
17:12
Speaker 5: So the motivation, it has to be there internally, and
17:15
Speaker 5: it starts with our leadership team of our captains, but
17:18
Speaker 5: then it really is it trickles to the entire roster.
17:22
Speaker 5: But the process, like you know, we're not a program
17:25
Speaker 5: that has ever felt like we're just going to open
17:27
Speaker 5: the door and let the talent roll out. And it's
17:29
Speaker 5: not that we don't have it. I don't think we
17:30
Speaker 5: get enough credit for much talent we do have in
17:32
Speaker 5: our roster sometimes. But I do think we're a team
17:35
Speaker 5: that is really bought into playing like a six person unit. Offensively,
17:39
Speaker 5: we're a five person unit out there, and so I
17:42
Speaker 5: think that's that's sort of what we hang our hat on,
17:45
Speaker 5: is that we show up as a team and we
17:46
Speaker 5: just compete.
17:48
Speaker 1: You kind of mentioned that there are maybe some players
17:51
Speaker 1: that don't get the attention that they deserve. But I
17:55
Speaker 1: won't let you want to let you give them the
17:57
Speaker 1: attention that they deserve here on this show, because who
18:01
Speaker 1: do you who do you think you know? We should
18:03
Speaker 1: be all knowing as as household names and women's college
18:07
Speaker 1: hockey from Brown.
18:09
Speaker 5: This is a tough question for a coach because all
18:13
Speaker 5: our players, right, But you know, if I were to
18:17
Speaker 5: if I were to say, like you could watch that
18:19
Speaker 5: entire line of Sam Brose, Margot Norad, and Monique Lyons.
18:25
Speaker 5: That's a young group. But I go back a year ago,
18:29
Speaker 5: Sam Margo and Gali Levy were a line and when
18:32
Speaker 5: we were going down the stretch of the season, that
18:34
Speaker 5: was a line that was shutting down the other team's
18:37
Speaker 5: top line. You know, Like we played Cornell and it
18:40
Speaker 5: was a tie one one. Cornell got a power play
18:43
Speaker 5: in the overtime. It is what it is. We lost
18:45
Speaker 5: in overtime. But but Sam Brose and her line shut
18:48
Speaker 5: down the top Cornell line. That the future of Patty
18:50
Speaker 5: Cosmi winner. And so you know, I think sometimes people
18:54
Speaker 5: focus in a in a sport like ours on points
18:57
Speaker 5: because you can look at paper and say how many
18:59
Speaker 5: goals that's the best player. And certainly Jade is a
19:03
Speaker 5: super talented player, and I'm I'm not saying that she doesn't.
19:06
Speaker 5: You know, rank ran very very high and nationally. But
19:10
Speaker 5: it's a it's a two outdred foot game, right especially
19:13
Speaker 5: you talked about Nicole. Our league is so deep. You
19:15
Speaker 5: can't just score goals and then hope the game ends
19:18
Speaker 5: up ten nine. You got to have people who do
19:20
Speaker 5: the dirty work. And then on top of that, that's
19:22
Speaker 5: a group that can score goals. So that group, for sure,
19:26
Speaker 5: I think Cameron Sickicch has been doing it for three
19:28
Speaker 5: years going on four like defensively, super super strong, like
19:33
Speaker 5: do our d score a ton of goals in the past.
19:36
Speaker 5: We haven't. We're trying to get them more involved this year.
19:38
Speaker 5: But yeah, Cam Sickech, you know, a senior captain, deserves
19:41
Speaker 5: a lot of credit for the growth of this program.
19:45
Speaker 5: And then I think people thought sometimes we were a
19:47
Speaker 5: goaltender team, and Killy Do has a fantastic goalie and
19:50
Speaker 5: I have so much respect for her and so much
19:52
Speaker 5: love for her. But you know, Rory Edwards showed up
19:54
Speaker 5: in that weekend and just got it done as well,
19:56
Speaker 5: and so we are a team. But yeah, we have
19:59
Speaker 5: somethingantastic players like I hope to god Sambros ends up
20:03
Speaker 5: on the USA Hockey Radar. I think she's a special, special,
20:05
Speaker 5: smart player, talented player.
20:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know we we sort of said
20:11
Speaker 2: you congrats some being four. Oh, but it wasn't. It's
20:13
Speaker 2: not so much about the wins. Is how well your
20:15
Speaker 2: team played this past weekend, right, how connected they were,
20:18
Speaker 2: how they were never out of the game, how if
20:20
Speaker 2: the you know, the other team scored like there was
20:22
Speaker 2: never a doubt that like they were, they were playing
20:24
Speaker 2: that full game both days, like knowing that they could
20:27
Speaker 2: win it and putting together some really like that that
20:30
Speaker 2: line you called out just some beautiful plays, right, How
20:35
Speaker 2: important is just sort of them going out, I mean
20:38
Speaker 2: in the atmosphere seemed really amazing, and so how important
20:40
Speaker 2: is it just being for them to go out, whether
20:42
Speaker 2: regardless of the win, to be clicking like that, particularly
20:45
Speaker 2: so early, even if you did have those sort of
20:47
Speaker 2: exhibition games. To have them playing like that against top
20:50
Speaker 2: talent in your third and fourth game of the season,
20:52
Speaker 2: like it has to bode well for for how things
20:55
Speaker 2: could continue to go.
20:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean you hit on it, like there's chemistry.
20:59
Speaker 5: There's also a bigger than that is belief. Right for
21:04
Speaker 5: the first time in my career at Brown, we are
21:06
Speaker 5: four lines deep and I don't think we have a
21:08
Speaker 5: fourth line, you know, like and that's it's clicking as
21:12
Speaker 5: a line, but it's also clicking as a team. That
21:14
Speaker 5: we can put anyone on our roster on the ice
21:18
Speaker 5: and they know the work ethic it takes. I think
21:21
Speaker 5: there's a high iq of our players and so yeah,
21:25
Speaker 5: the chemistry is critically important. It's got done talking about
21:27
Speaker 5: we have to play as a team. Yeah, Like that's
21:30
Speaker 5: that's us gelling and being on the same page. And
21:33
Speaker 5: a little bit of the coaches driving this. A bit
21:35
Speaker 5: of them. We ask a lot of them in practice
21:38
Speaker 5: and video and all that kind of stuff. But yeah,
21:41
Speaker 5: there's a lot of belief in that locker room.
21:45
Speaker 1: I want to take you back a couple of weeks
21:47
Speaker 1: because I'm interested in your perspective as a coach of
21:51
Speaker 1: an IVY League program. When it's the end of September
21:55
Speaker 1: and you're seeing other teams playing and you're kind of
21:58
Speaker 1: you know, you're still a few weeks away. Do you
22:00
Speaker 1: and your players kind of get antsy do you do
22:02
Speaker 1: you watched some of those results come in those games
22:05
Speaker 1: that are on and you're kind of like, hmm, really
22:09
Speaker 1: out there.
22:11
Speaker 5: Yes, we live about ten minutes across the highway from
22:16
Speaker 5: Province College, so I know the players kind of watched.
22:19
Speaker 5: Some friends of theirs they went over there and watched
22:20
Speaker 5: the game in person because they want to see their bodies.
22:23
Speaker 5: I had played at PC, and they're good friends with
22:25
Speaker 5: Keilly Doyle to you know, support her over there. But yeah,
22:29
Speaker 5: of course, like we were itching to get out there
22:32
Speaker 5: and play. Like I will say, it's a godsend that
22:35
Speaker 5: Yell Cornell and I got together and we had a
22:37
Speaker 5: scrimmage because that was just a great chance to get
22:39
Speaker 5: on a bus and go somewhere. Like you get sick
22:42
Speaker 5: of being in your own building. You can only play
22:44
Speaker 5: against each other for so long. But I think the
22:48
Speaker 5: gift of the IVY League is I think we're fresher longer.
22:51
Speaker 5: I think this space start. I mean, I'll get in
22:53
Speaker 5: my soapbox. I think it's crazy we start the hockey
22:55
Speaker 5: season so early. I think it's crazy we ended so early.
22:58
Speaker 5: We should be finishing in April. So I think a
23:02
Speaker 5: little bit is a blessing, but yeah, you better believe
23:05
Speaker 5: that they were itching to get out there.
23:09
Speaker 2: When you and I talked in twenty twenty two, you
23:11
Speaker 2: talked about how you don't like the word rebuild, and
23:15
Speaker 2: you know sort of the way that that would imply
23:17
Speaker 2: that what was there wasn't good enough. And so I
23:19
Speaker 2: just and you talked a lot about sort of the support,
23:21
Speaker 2: like how Brown made it a place you wanted to
23:25
Speaker 2: be when you were interviewing, and like every all the
23:27
Speaker 2: buy in, and so I just would to ask a
23:29
Speaker 2: couple of years down the road, sort of what your
23:31
Speaker 2: experience has been, if it's lived up to what you
23:33
Speaker 2: had hoped it had been, it would be in sort
23:35
Speaker 2: of how Brown is supporting the program and building sort
23:39
Speaker 2: of excitement around your team.
23:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you for remembering that comment. And yeah, like
23:45
Speaker 5: I think that if we looked at it like a rebuild,
23:47
Speaker 5: I don't think we'd be where we are right now.
23:50
Speaker 5: We have so much to think our players who've graduated
23:53
Speaker 5: to make this happen, and what's really neat. We had
23:56
Speaker 5: just come off of the Princeton game was actually our
23:57
Speaker 5: alumni game, so we had a lot of a lumps back,
24:00
Speaker 5: but a lot of even if they didn't come back,
24:01
Speaker 5: a lot of dialogue, and what I hear from alums
24:04
Speaker 5: is how proud they are of where this program is
24:06
Speaker 5: getting to. And we're still a ways to go, right,
24:09
Speaker 5: but like they're so excited, so proud, and they feel
24:12
Speaker 5: a part of it because they are a part of it,
24:15
Speaker 5: you know. Even players before my arrival, I think there
24:18
Speaker 5: was an itch for us to be back where Brown belongs.
24:20
Speaker 5: I have a wife, Loosen, alum of Brown University, and
24:23
Speaker 5: so I get to hear about kind of what those
24:26
Speaker 5: alums want, and so, yeah, I feel like we're still
24:30
Speaker 5: on that trajectory of becoming a national program. Are we
24:35
Speaker 5: there yet? We had to prove it. I just got
24:37
Speaker 5: done telling the team in the locker room that being
24:39
Speaker 5: ranked nationally doesn't give you an extra goal to start
24:41
Speaker 5: the next game. It's still zero zero and you get
24:44
Speaker 5: to figure it out, right. So I think that part
24:47
Speaker 5: of it is I don't want to put the car
24:48
Speaker 5: before the horse. We have a long ways to go,
24:50
Speaker 5: a long ways to go.
24:52
Speaker 1: A lot of times that number before your name gets
24:54
Speaker 1: other teams more ready to play you too, Right, That's
24:57
Speaker 1: that's something that you might have to to account for.
25:01
Speaker 1: As you go forward to if this keeps accelerating for you,
25:04
Speaker 1: that playing with a little bit of a target changes
25:08
Speaker 1: things a little bit. I would imagine too it does.
25:10
Speaker 5: And I think like we've been now on both sides
25:13
Speaker 5: of it, right, We've had upsets throughout my career, which
25:16
Speaker 5: is awesome, but you don't get those if you don't
25:19
Speaker 5: have again, belief in a little bit of like okay,
25:21
Speaker 5: like let's take these guys down and so yeah, like
25:24
Speaker 5: we'll go into some games where the script is flipped
25:26
Speaker 5: and we maybe are a higher ranked team in our league,
25:29
Speaker 5: it seems like everyone's still high than we are, and
25:32
Speaker 5: that's okay. I think that's a good motivation.
25:39
Speaker 2: There's so much history. I mean, you touch it on
25:41
Speaker 2: a little bit like this is you know, one of
25:42
Speaker 2: the if not the most sort of historic programs in
25:45
Speaker 2: women's college hockey dating back so hard so far. With
25:49
Speaker 2: that comes I would assume expectations, but also some privilege
25:52
Speaker 2: and just what is that Like I think, you know,
25:54
Speaker 2: for some of these programs that are just starting out
25:56
Speaker 2: or even the ones that have been around twenty years,
25:58
Speaker 2: like you guys have you know, double in more of that.
26:01
Speaker 2: So I just gets such a unique opportunity a unique
26:04
Speaker 2: situation at Brown, and I was just hoping you could
26:06
Speaker 2: tell us a little bit about what that's like to
26:09
Speaker 2: they've been playing, you know, since before any of us
26:11
Speaker 2: were born.
26:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's actually really neat. Last year was the sixtieth
26:15
Speaker 5: year of brownman's hockey, which is you know, it's wild,
26:19
Speaker 5: and we had the very first female at Brown, Nancy Schifflin,
26:24
Speaker 5: come back to campus and skate in our alumni game
26:27
Speaker 5: and for our players to meet her. And I just
26:29
Speaker 5: bring that up because winning does re engage the love
26:34
Speaker 5: of the program from the alums, right, And I'm not
26:37
Speaker 5: gonna lie for a second that that's critically important to me.
26:40
Speaker 5: I want our players to have a family of alums
26:44
Speaker 5: generations ahead of them that can support them and that
26:46
Speaker 5: can cheer for them, and then when they graduate, bring
26:49
Speaker 5: them in and so that part of it, I don't
26:52
Speaker 5: I don't think it's pressure, but I think it's like
26:55
Speaker 5: a source of pride for our team to know that
26:58
Speaker 5: when they walk down the hallway of the stick rack
27:00
Speaker 5: to the ice sheet, they walk past the names of
27:01
Speaker 5: every female that's ever played it Brown, and it's a
27:03
Speaker 5: long list, and it's a story list of women. So
27:07
Speaker 5: I think I think that part of it is makes
27:10
Speaker 5: every single day special.
27:13
Speaker 1: I had a couple of questions about just where you
27:16
Speaker 1: are in your career arc here. I think it was
27:19
Speaker 1: more than fifteen years as an assistant if I looked
27:22
Speaker 1: at it right during your fourth year as a head coach,
27:26
Speaker 1: when you look back to when you started as a
27:29
Speaker 1: head coach, was there something that maybe you thought you
27:33
Speaker 1: were prepared for that it turned out that, oh, I'm
27:36
Speaker 1: not at all prepared for this as a head coach.
27:39
Speaker 3: And what is that?
27:40
Speaker 1: And maybe how can maybe pass this along for other
27:44
Speaker 1: people who are transitioning from being an assistant coach to
27:47
Speaker 1: a head coach what it might help them to know.
27:51
Speaker 5: I think there is a lot right like, and it's
27:54
Speaker 5: not that they didn't know it. But I am a
27:58
Speaker 5: I'm a pretty passionate and pretty emotion person, and so
28:02
Speaker 5: when you know, when everything comes together at the same time,
28:06
Speaker 5: it can be overwhelming. And so I've had to learn
28:08
Speaker 5: how to compartmentalize. I've had to learn how to block
28:12
Speaker 5: off time for myself. Maybe don't take that phone call,
28:16
Speaker 5: Maybe don't you know, attach attack that thing that popped
28:20
Speaker 5: up on my email at the last minute, because it
28:22
Speaker 5: is it's it's it's it's a bit daunting at times.
28:26
Speaker 5: You know everything it could be fundraising, it's certainly recruiting,
28:30
Speaker 5: they're you know, game planning all of those things, and
28:32
Speaker 5: then like the most important thing is time with our players,
28:36
Speaker 5: Like I just don't it's sometimes it's not enough time
28:39
Speaker 5: in a day for all the things that that have
28:42
Speaker 5: to be done. It's not prioritizing and picking them. It's
28:44
Speaker 5: like they all do need to get done. They all
28:46
Speaker 5: need your attention. What I think that I've learned is
28:51
Speaker 5: not delegating, it's trusting. Like I have an exceptional staff
28:57
Speaker 5: that I get to work with every single day that
28:59
Speaker 5: they challenge me, but they come to the table with
29:02
Speaker 5: ideas Like it's not like, hey, you know, justin go
29:06
Speaker 5: figure out something with the PK. It's like he's already
29:08
Speaker 5: thought about sixteen different things that he wants to do
29:10
Speaker 5: and present fully and so and the same with that,
29:14
Speaker 5: the same with with Sarah o Op's person, our new
29:16
Speaker 5: goalie coach, Erica Silva, Like we we have a full
29:19
Speaker 5: staff of people that are so just embedded in this
29:23
Speaker 5: program and want to see us succeed that I'm not managing.
29:27
Speaker 5: I'm just like taking an information and filtering and then
29:30
Speaker 5: letting people run. I'm really lucky. I know, I'm super lucky.
29:34
Speaker 5: Like having a consistent staff is so good for our players,
29:38
Speaker 5: and I, you know, I pray that we can keep
29:40
Speaker 5: this staff together for as long as possible. But they're
29:42
Speaker 5: going to be qualified for head coaching jobs too, and
29:44
Speaker 5: so I will certainly celebrate them if that's a chance
29:47
Speaker 5: that they get.
29:50
Speaker 2: I don't want to focus only on Jade, but the
29:53
Speaker 2: idea of when you are able to land and recruit
29:58
Speaker 2: of her status, of her name, RecA ignition, what that
30:01
Speaker 2: can mean to your program sort of moving forward that
30:03
Speaker 2: particularly as you're sort of building something new and looking
30:07
Speaker 2: to get you know, sort of on the radar of
30:10
Speaker 2: players of a different maybe different talent level or a
30:12
Speaker 2: different where you like prep program. What have you Have
30:17
Speaker 2: you noticed the impact from that? And and again, I like,
30:20
Speaker 2: I feel bad sort of picking on her or only
30:22
Speaker 2: focusing on her, but just the idea that like that
30:25
Speaker 2: sort of opens a door for you and and changes
30:27
Speaker 2: the way that you can recruit and maybe changes the
30:30
Speaker 2: way that people recognize what's possible at your program.
30:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's not just Jade's name, but the
30:37
Speaker 5: way she plays it gives our program some more clout.
30:42
Speaker 5: You know. I I still feel like we work incredibly
30:45
Speaker 5: hard in recruiting, and we don't we don't always get
30:48
Speaker 5: every recruit committed, but I think when we get people
30:50
Speaker 5: to campus and they get to know our team, that's
30:54
Speaker 5: something that really sells it. But yeah, you have to
30:56
Speaker 5: get great people in the program, and those great people
31:00
Speaker 5: also have to be great players. It's not just women, right,
31:04
Speaker 5: It's a bunch of great women who are fantastic at
31:07
Speaker 5: hockey and that you know, hopefully like continue to love
31:11
Speaker 5: this experience. Like that's a big part of our jobs, right,
31:14
Speaker 5: is to balance this adversity that we're creating and challenge
31:18
Speaker 5: for them, but also like make it rewarding. But yeah,
31:21
Speaker 5: you go back to Jade, like, yeah, you do need
31:24
Speaker 5: to bring in some players like that that can for
31:27
Speaker 5: someone who knows nothing about your staff, nothing about your school,
31:30
Speaker 5: that puts you a little bit more on the map
31:32
Speaker 5: for sure.
31:34
Speaker 1: Last question for me is kind of going back to
31:36
Speaker 1: this being your fourth year as a head coach. That's
31:40
Speaker 1: usually the time that college is built in four year
31:44
Speaker 1: cycles usually, right, that's kind of changed now that with
31:47
Speaker 1: transfers and everything, like that, But did you see that
31:51
Speaker 1: this fourth year was really important for you when you
31:54
Speaker 1: started as being okay, Now we've had a couple of
31:57
Speaker 1: printing classes, we have a whole cycle of player And
32:01
Speaker 1: I guess what does that mean for then year five
32:03
Speaker 1: and and how you continue taking the steps that you
32:07
Speaker 1: want to take in terms of when you have to
32:11
Speaker 1: hit the milestones you want to be at.
32:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean this is not a place where you
32:16
Speaker 5: ever stopped working and it just you hit coast right,
32:19
Speaker 5: And so was year four a milestone? I would be
32:25
Speaker 5: lying if I said like, we're right on target. I
32:27
Speaker 5: actually feel like we're a little ahead of schedule, and
32:29
Speaker 5: so that raises the bar even more. I think the
32:32
Speaker 5: pressure is really high for me internally on myself, Like
32:38
Speaker 5: I anyone who knows me, I'm hyper competitive. I felt
32:43
Speaker 5: the first year I took over, we needed to win
32:44
Speaker 5: more right, and and so there you know, I'll always
32:48
Speaker 5: be a competitor. I'll always be a fighter. But this
32:51
Speaker 5: is this is not a program where you just hit
32:53
Speaker 5: your stride and the flywheels going right. And I say
32:56
Speaker 5: that because we don't have transfers, we don't have grad
32:59
Speaker 5: students like that doesn't happen here at Brown, it doesn't
33:03
Speaker 5: get built in a day. And then the other side
33:05
Speaker 5: of it, too is I put so much emphasis on culture,
33:09
Speaker 5: on the locker room, and if you if you look
33:12
Speaker 5: away from that for a second, it's in danger. And
33:15
Speaker 5: I really believe that, I really believe that that's something
33:18
Speaker 5: we went to work on every single day we work
33:20
Speaker 5: on the off season, and so yeah, I like we're
33:24
Speaker 5: in a good spot right now, but now we got
33:26
Speaker 5: to win on Friday.
33:31
Speaker 2: My last question is maybe sort of a little more
33:32
Speaker 2: big picture. You were one of the people that was
33:35
Speaker 2: very vocal about the e SEC tournament needed to be
33:37
Speaker 2: more teams obviously the NCAA tournament expanding, and with just
33:42
Speaker 2: the experience that you had in being around the game
33:44
Speaker 2: for so long, like how important are those changes and
33:47
Speaker 2: sort of what do you see from your perspective of
33:50
Speaker 2: sort of where the how much like the best parts
33:53
Speaker 2: of how it's grown, and maybe where we're going next.
33:56
Speaker 5: I mean, if if the ACA season microcosm, we are
34:00
Speaker 5: getting much much closer to parody. And I think that's
34:04
Speaker 5: why I felt the ECAC tournament should have included all
34:07
Speaker 5: part of it too, is the men have had it
34:08
Speaker 5: for a long long time. And so I think, just
34:10
Speaker 5: to be fair, like it should be the same, but
34:14
Speaker 5: I think that the parity is exceptional. You know, I
34:16
Speaker 5: don't think rankings this time of year mean anything. And
34:21
Speaker 5: you know, we've seen you know, quote unquote upsets based
34:24
Speaker 5: on the numbers all across the country, and so you know,
34:28
Speaker 5: while the men maybe sponsor more teams than the women,
34:31
Speaker 5: I think that the parody is maybe even more so
34:35
Speaker 5: on our side. And so I think that's where the
34:38
Speaker 5: expansion of national tournament is really important. I don't think
34:40
Speaker 5: it's going to be a time too far away where
34:43
Speaker 5: it's not a clear number one he's gonna win it
34:45
Speaker 5: all and just going to steamroll everybody. You know, It's
34:48
Speaker 5: it's an ever changing landscape right now, like Collogethletics is wild,
34:53
Speaker 5: what's going to happen next week? But for sure, I
34:55
Speaker 5: think in our game, it's going to be a really
34:57
Speaker 5: excited year, exciting year throughout the country for sure.
35:01
Speaker 1: Awesome, Well, mel Rosie, thanks so much for doing this
35:04
Speaker 1: and best of luck with the rest of your season.
35:08
Speaker 5: Thank you both very much. I appreciate your time.
35:11
Speaker 1: We will be back on the podcast. Welcome back to
35:21
Speaker 1: the podcast. Todd Maluski here, with Nicole Hase and some
35:24
Speaker 1: news coming out of the p WHL this week. The
35:27
Speaker 1: league is looking to expand by two teams for the
35:31
Speaker 1: twenty five to twenty sixth season. If I understand it correct,
35:35
Speaker 1: still some well, a lot of details need to be
35:38
Speaker 1: worked out there, but this is an important step and
35:43
Speaker 1: one I think everyone kind of saw coming. But you
35:46
Speaker 1: needed to have the foundation of the league built first,
35:50
Speaker 1: so a couple of seasons with six teams, then it
35:54
Speaker 1: starts to expand that. That seems like a fair way
35:57
Speaker 1: of doing this and not trying to go too far
36:01
Speaker 1: too fast.
36:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it kind of sounds like they were like, well,
36:04
Speaker 2: we're open to bids, and I think whether or not
36:06
Speaker 2: those teams enter next year have to do with the
36:09
Speaker 2: advanced nature of the bids or you know, sort of
36:12
Speaker 2: where they stand. But yeah, I think love a to
36:17
Speaker 2: the Day mid Afternoon surprise Women's talking story. You know,
36:22
Speaker 2: it was said at the espnW summit. We don't have
36:26
Speaker 2: a whole lot more information about that, but I mean
36:29
Speaker 2: it's fascinating. In February, Jana Haffert Shepford was like, no,
36:34
Speaker 2: we're probably not ready for expansion. Just this week, the
36:37
Speaker 2: Quebec Mayor was like, well, yeah, we're interested in a team,
36:40
Speaker 2: but that's probably five six years down the road. Uh,
36:43
Speaker 2: So you know, I think taken everybody by surprise, and
36:47
Speaker 2: it'll be interesting.
36:48
Speaker 1: You know.
36:48
Speaker 2: They also said that they're doing several neutral psych games,
36:50
Speaker 2: and I think those games are probably a clue. It's
36:53
Speaker 2: to where's they're looking to enter markets. You know, they
36:57
Speaker 2: played Detroit last year, and so yeah, it's a certainly
37:02
Speaker 2: fascinat I think it's a good thing, right because we
37:04
Speaker 2: know that there's far too many talented players coming out
37:06
Speaker 2: every year and six teams just isn't going to cut it.
37:09
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a you know, sort of a
37:11
Speaker 2: problem you could foresee based on what happens at WNBA level,
37:14
Speaker 2: and so I appreciate sort of being more forward thinking
37:18
Speaker 2: on expansion sceener rather than later. I think there's probably
37:21
Speaker 2: also something to the fact that many of the biggest
37:24
Speaker 2: names signed three year contracts, and if you're a team
37:28
Speaker 2: that has someone like Marie Fliepullian, you don't want to
37:31
Speaker 2: you know, you don't want a brand new team being
37:33
Speaker 2: able to Just the timing of where those contracts end
37:36
Speaker 2: and where players could go I think also plays into
37:39
Speaker 2: the timing of some of this. But yeah, I mean
37:41
Speaker 2: the biggest sort of conversation that came out this week
37:45
Speaker 2: or in the wake of this was talking about Pittsburgh,
37:47
Speaker 2: right because they like actively have said, like, these are
37:49
Speaker 2: the things we're doing to be welcoming to a future
37:53
Speaker 2: women's team with our various facilities and things. But yeah,
37:58
Speaker 2: we're also going to get this announcement for for some
38:00
Speaker 2: of those neutral site games. We assume that one will
38:03
Speaker 2: be Quebec because Montreal scheduled the conference for news conference
38:07
Speaker 2: for tomorrow. But yeah, what are your thoughts. I mean,
38:11
Speaker 2: I think both of us would love to see another
38:13
Speaker 2: team in the Midwest. I think Minnesota Frost would also
38:15
Speaker 2: like to see a team in the Midwest, just not
38:17
Speaker 2: having to travel as much. Yeah, but you know, as
38:21
Speaker 2: far as that goes, I'm.
38:22
Speaker 1: Not sure that's a lot of it for me, looking
38:24
Speaker 1: at it from a perspective of how you build rivalries
38:28
Speaker 1: and how you keep travel reasonable.
38:31
Speaker 4: That would be if Minnesota had a another Midwest team
38:37
Speaker 4: that they could play, and the way you do the schedule,
38:41
Speaker 4: if they play end up playing them more, that probably
38:43
Speaker 4: works out for everyone.
38:45
Speaker 1: You build rivalries, you keep some travel costs down. That
38:48
Speaker 1: seems like a win win, but also I do feel
38:53
Speaker 1: like you need to to promote, you know, where this
38:57
Speaker 1: game is going and do it in some areas that
39:00
Speaker 1: maybe might be considered untraditional, but you feel like you
39:07
Speaker 1: have a chance with I don't know if the pup
39:10
Speaker 1: is in a chance taking position right now, but I
39:16
Speaker 1: hope at some point they will be, because that those
39:19
Speaker 1: kind of moves can really change the trajectory of women's
39:24
Speaker 1: hockey and girls hockey around the country. And I feel
39:30
Speaker 1: like that's a you know, position that kind of needs
39:35
Speaker 1: to be furthered at some point. So maybe maybe there
39:40
Speaker 1: it's not this round that you're looking into a Florida
39:45
Speaker 1: or a you know, a California team or something like that,
39:48
Speaker 1: but I hope we're getting there.
39:50
Speaker 2: No, the first thing I thought when you said that
39:52
Speaker 2: was Salt Lake City, right the rivalry series it's playing there,
39:57
Speaker 2: you know, in the upcoming in two weeks for a reason,
40:00
Speaker 2: they're playing what boise in Salt Lake City and San Jose.
40:06
Speaker 2: But that Mountain region is completely devoid of women's hockey
40:09
Speaker 2: at you know, there are club hockey team like they
40:12
Speaker 2: did a skate with with Hillary and Taylor Heisei, who
40:14
Speaker 2: were out there and it was the University of Utah
40:17
Speaker 2: club hockey team that sponsored it. Like that's how That's
40:20
Speaker 2: how it went. So but the the fere for hockey
40:23
Speaker 2: and Utah right now is massive. And then you've got
40:26
Speaker 2: the Olympics coming. I mean talk about like if I
40:31
Speaker 2: if it were a bet, I would definitely put a
40:32
Speaker 2: tenor like I put a little flyer on Salt Lake
40:34
Speaker 2: City as a possibility, right, Like I don't think it's
40:37
Speaker 2: at the forefront, but if you if the folks there,
40:40
Speaker 2: the money folks are are interested. I mean they obviously
40:43
Speaker 2: have all these new facilities. They're going to continue to
40:45
Speaker 2: build new facilities. That is a city that is going
40:47
Speaker 2: to continue to be an epicenter for women for winter sports.
40:52
Speaker 2: I mean, like you said, if you're talking about building
40:54
Speaker 2: and growing the game and putting it in non traditional place,
40:58
Speaker 2: that sure seems like a really good place to start.
41:00
Speaker 2: There's not there's not a place more gaga about hockey
41:04
Speaker 2: right now than Salt Lake City. So and yeah, I
41:06
Speaker 2: love the conversation around Florida, right like they we tried
41:09
Speaker 2: several years ago, they did the Four Nations down there,
41:12
Speaker 2: and and if they've tried to bring you know, women's
41:14
Speaker 2: hocking down there. We're getting more players from it. Obviously
41:17
Speaker 2: the men's the NHL teams in Florida are been massively
41:22
Speaker 2: successful and popular, and so yeah, I think that's also
41:24
Speaker 2: a serious opportunity. So yeah, I too would like to
41:27
Speaker 2: see it and maybe some non traditional markets, you know,
41:29
Speaker 2: we we we were talking off before we started recording,
41:32
Speaker 2: Like I worry that if we're talking about a team
41:34
Speaker 2: in like Chicago, that that's not actually Chicago, that they'd
41:37
Speaker 2: be playing in Rockford or in one of the far
41:39
Speaker 2: flung suburbs or or what that would look like, or
41:42
Speaker 2: if they'd be at an HL arena, and so well,
41:44
Speaker 2: I think I would love to see a team in Chicago,
41:47
Speaker 2: and I think there's a huge hockey market there. I
41:49
Speaker 2: worry about like the logistics, and that's probably just because
41:51
Speaker 2: we know too much about like that they're probably not
41:54
Speaker 2: going to get to play at the United Center, and
41:56
Speaker 2: so where does that put them? But yeah, I you know,
41:59
Speaker 2: I think Detroit probably high on the list. I think,
42:03
Speaker 2: you know, again, facilities and support and money put them
42:10
Speaker 2: put them at the forefront. But yeah, I would assume
42:12
Speaker 2: the other thing is if we go to eight or
42:14
Speaker 2: even ten, like do you break into you as you
42:16
Speaker 2: were saying, the the rivalries do they break into two
42:19
Speaker 2: conferences then to two fourteen conferences, and that breaks up
42:22
Speaker 2: some of the travel because one of the things when
42:24
Speaker 2: the PEDUB schedule came out is there are some brutal
42:27
Speaker 2: travels in there where where some of the teams are
42:29
Speaker 2: going three cities in one week, and I imagine there
42:32
Speaker 2: will be fun flight delays because of where they're flying
42:37
Speaker 2: in the middle of winter, and again they're you know,
42:39
Speaker 2: flying commercial and things like that. So yeah, there are
42:42
Speaker 2: I mean, thrilled from the basic like let's keep expanding,
42:45
Speaker 2: Thrilled from the idea that we could get another team
42:48
Speaker 2: closer here in the Midwest. Thrilled for the growth of
42:51
Speaker 2: women's hockey. So yeah, there's there's a lot of things
42:53
Speaker 2: that are good and that can come from this. And
42:55
Speaker 2: so yeah, I don't know, do you have any other
42:57
Speaker 2: thoughts on where we could see a team end up?
42:59
Speaker 1: Well to what I was gonna say was that it's
43:01
Speaker 1: it's I'm curious whether or what drives what here? Is
43:05
Speaker 1: it the growth of girls hockey, women's hockey in an
43:09
Speaker 1: area that drives a team, a p DUB team to
43:13
Speaker 1: come there or is it a p dub team arriving
43:17
Speaker 1: driving the growth of girls hockey in that area? And
43:21
Speaker 1: which one do we which one do we need to
43:23
Speaker 1: have first to sustain a pro team in an area
43:30
Speaker 1: that uh, you know wasn't considered necessarily for the first
43:35
Speaker 1: round of teams and you had your your core six
43:39
Speaker 1: and built from there. But I've got to.
43:42
Speaker 2: Think I got to be some of each, right, Like
43:44
Speaker 2: if you look at like Vegas, there was some youth hockey,
43:48
Speaker 2: but then they brought an NHL team in hockey has
43:50
Speaker 2: like the youth numbers of boomed there, right, right, So
43:53
Speaker 2: I think you have to have a little something to
43:55
Speaker 2: build off of. But I think bringing the pro team
43:57
Speaker 2: is what right. I mean we've said in Dallas, we've
44:00
Speaker 2: seen it in floor like the professional team is and
44:05
Speaker 2: it's hard to compare because people are you know, women's
44:08
Speaker 2: sports don't get the same attention and YadA YadA. But
44:10
Speaker 2: like what we've seen with the NHL going into non
44:13
Speaker 2: traditional markets is that that has caused a massive boom
44:18
Speaker 2: in youth enrollment. Nashville, it's the other one, you know,
44:21
Speaker 2: So it would to me it seems that there does
44:25
Speaker 2: have to be at least a bare minimum of a
44:27
Speaker 2: basis of hockey and hockey fans and stuff, but that
44:30
Speaker 2: the team coming is what drives that boom in youth
44:33
Speaker 2: excitement and enrollment and would help continue to grow the game.
44:36
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, And it'll just be fascinating to see where this,
44:41
Speaker 1: where this next round goes, and what happens after that
44:44
Speaker 1: and kind of you know, reassessing in five years was
44:48
Speaker 1: this was it too early to expand was it the
44:50
Speaker 1: right time? We'll get there, but be fun to see
44:54
Speaker 1: how it all shakes out, sure, and.
44:57
Speaker 2: Just bringing it back to us, right, Like what I
44:58
Speaker 2: would like to see is when we see that, then
45:00
Speaker 2: that brings enrollment, which drives new women's college programs. Right.
45:06
Speaker 2: I mean, we finally have a men's team that started
45:09
Speaker 2: in Tennessee, but we're not there yet with women right.
45:11
Speaker 2: So like as these youth hockey enrollment booms have happened,
45:16
Speaker 2: that hasn't necessarily driven growth sort of further up the chain,
45:20
Speaker 2: and so we continue to have Minnesota's Minnesota teams as
45:24
Speaker 2: the furthest west teams in women's college hockey. And I
45:27
Speaker 2: hope and would want that if like Salt Lake City
45:30
Speaker 2: is a thing that happened, then we're talking about you know,
45:33
Speaker 2: some of these Mountain area schools would be able to
45:36
Speaker 2: be having conversations about bringing in women's hockey would be nice.
45:40
Speaker 2: I mean in the club teams it some of these
45:44
Speaker 2: big state schools like Utah and even going out you
45:47
Speaker 2: know towards the west to Oregon in some of the
45:49
Speaker 2: California schools, like there's a basis there, and so I
45:53
Speaker 2: hope that we see those continue to build.
45:56
Speaker 1: Well, we'll have Yeah, we'll keep tabs on that as
45:59
Speaker 1: it progresses. And because it does, it ties right back
46:03
Speaker 1: to women's college hockey because that's you know, the group
46:07
Speaker 1: that's then going to be the next pros and so
46:09
Speaker 1: if there's more opportunities for them, that's that's a great
46:13
Speaker 1: thing for for players in NCAA hockey. Absolutely, let's take
46:18
Speaker 1: a real quick look around at what we're looking at
46:21
Speaker 1: this weekend in uh the NCAA Hockey World A game
46:28
Speaker 1: caught my eye Friday Clarkson at Quinn and Pac teams
46:31
Speaker 1: that are looking for bouncing looking for a bounce back
46:33
Speaker 1: after last weekend. I don't know I could make arguments
46:40
Speaker 1: for who needs it more after how last last weekend go,
46:46
Speaker 1: But I I think it's Clarkson. I think Clarkson needs
46:48
Speaker 1: to shake off what what went down at BC last weekend.
46:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, from the confidence standpoint, right, and the sort of
46:58
Speaker 2: belief and and all of those sorts of things. I
47:00
Speaker 2: feel like that series could be the beginning of a
47:03
Speaker 2: slide because it doesn't get easier for Clerkson right coming
47:06
Speaker 2: out of here. And so not only that, they'll go
47:08
Speaker 2: to Princeton on Saturday. And so the only our united
47:11
Speaker 2: make that Quinnipiac needs it is that as much as
47:14
Speaker 2: poles don't matter right now, you do need to be,
47:17
Speaker 2: you know, in the top eleven or under to be
47:20
Speaker 2: in contention for the tournament at the end of the season.
47:22
Speaker 2: And it's hard to make massive jumps in the polls,
47:26
Speaker 2: I think, particularly the further the season goes along. So
47:29
Speaker 2: if you're a team that wants to be a tournament
47:30
Speaker 2: team at the end, you need to be you know,
47:33
Speaker 2: on the poles consistently as we're going. And so Quinnipiac
47:36
Speaker 2: dropping much further is going to put them in a
47:39
Speaker 2: more of a must win situation game in and game out.
47:42
Speaker 2: And again we brought this up, but like they're a
47:45
Speaker 2: team that thinks that like basically one goal made the
47:47
Speaker 2: difference in whether or not they made the postseason last
47:49
Speaker 2: year just kind of how it all shook out. So
47:51
Speaker 2: one goal, one outcome kind of changed their whole season,
47:55
Speaker 2: and so they don't want to be in that position again,
47:58
Speaker 2: which means winning the game you need to win starting now, right,
48:02
Speaker 2: starting in September and October. And you know, Quinnipicks also
48:06
Speaker 2: doesn't get easier. On Saturday, they got seven Saint Lawrence,
48:08
Speaker 2: who also had an interesting weekend. So I don't want
48:14
Speaker 2: to say anybody's desperate, but that that feeling of desperation,
48:18
Speaker 2: of feeling like you need to win, that these are
48:20
Speaker 2: important games. All of the teams we're talking about are
48:23
Speaker 2: in that position, so that to me means it's going
48:26
Speaker 2: to be some pretty interesting hockey.
48:28
Speaker 1: A lot of the teams are getting to the one
48:30
Speaker 1: third point of your regular season, which is kind of
48:33
Speaker 1: crazy already that we're talking about that we haven't even
48:35
Speaker 1: gotten to the end of October yet, but that's you know,
48:38
Speaker 1: these are games for a lot of teams eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
48:41
Speaker 1: somewhere in that range. So yeah, it does really start
48:45
Speaker 1: to you start to look at the records now of like, okay,
48:48
Speaker 1: what have you done what or maybe more critically, where
48:51
Speaker 1: have you lost, lost points, lost games that are going
48:55
Speaker 1: to cost you in the pair wise, and what do
48:56
Speaker 1: you have to do to make those up, either in
48:58
Speaker 1: conference or than that picture. So, yeah, it's starting to
49:02
Speaker 1: get real here right now. That's it's real early, I guess.
49:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. As I said, part of it feels like it's
49:08
Speaker 2: ridiculous to talk about where you are in the poll,
49:11
Speaker 2: but I just do think that is an important conversation
49:13
Speaker 2: around like sort of what where you're going to end
49:15
Speaker 2: up as the season goes on, and where you know
49:17
Speaker 2: your national perception is. And again, like I mean, we're
49:22
Speaker 2: talking at a point right now that like quinnipiec Clerks
49:25
Speaker 2: and Colgate like they're they're behind the eight ball right
49:29
Speaker 2: now in terms of like ECAC points and where that's
49:32
Speaker 2: going to put them. Right, So is it a huge deal?
49:38
Speaker 2: I don't know yet, but I do know that when
49:41
Speaker 2: things are this close and we're talking about at this point,
49:43
Speaker 2: like maybe half the teams in the country are in
49:46
Speaker 2: contention for for being maybe like top seeds and their
49:51
Speaker 2: respective conference tournaments, that's like a great great for everybody, right,
49:55
Speaker 2: great for the game like that. It's been a long time,
49:56
Speaker 2: so we talked about that. But it does mean that
49:58
Speaker 2: you can't you can't have dumb losses. You can't lose
50:02
Speaker 2: the games you're supposed to win. You can't give up
50:04
Speaker 2: some of this stuff that that those those are the
50:07
Speaker 2: sorts of things that are going to haunt you. And so, yeah,
50:09
Speaker 2: like you said that bounce back so important. And then
50:12
Speaker 2: whether it is quinnipiacric Clarkson that wins that game, like
50:15
Speaker 2: assuming it's not a tie, like if some whatever team
50:18
Speaker 2: loses that game, like they have a lot of work
50:21
Speaker 2: to do in terms of their mentality and like sort
50:23
Speaker 2: of putting that behind them and being able to draw
50:25
Speaker 2: that line, and like you still got a whole lot
50:28
Speaker 2: of season left mentally right to be ready for. And
50:32
Speaker 2: so I think these are some pretty crucial games just
50:34
Speaker 2: in terms of, like remind yourself that these are you know,
50:37
Speaker 2: eighteen to twenty two or so year old women that
50:40
Speaker 2: are that have to you know, sort of handle all
50:43
Speaker 2: the mental part of this and the disappointment of those
50:46
Speaker 2: losses and what that could mean and not get too
50:49
Speaker 2: blogged down in it, but also be motivated by it.
50:51
Speaker 2: It's it's yeah, it's a it's a funny time right now.
50:53
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, out in the WHA and number one
50:56
Speaker 1: Wisconsin goes to number eight Saint Cloud State. Saint Cloud
51:00
Speaker 1: had an interesting weekend last weekend too, with Saint Thomas
51:05
Speaker 1: losing a shootout and getting a regulation win. So getting
51:09
Speaker 1: four points there when they only gave up two goals
51:12
Speaker 1: on the weekend and you only get four out of
51:15
Speaker 1: six points, that's that's a rough, rough goal of it.
51:18
Speaker 1: And you wonder whether you know the points you lose
51:22
Speaker 1: in October count just as much as the points you
51:24
Speaker 1: lose in January and February, and that a shootout loss
51:31
Speaker 1: can can maybe mean a big thing when all the
51:34
Speaker 1: points he counted at the end of February.
51:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I say, I'm very glad that we
51:39
Speaker 2: aren't we're not in the prediction business because I wouldn't
51:41
Speaker 2: have picked pretty much any of the outcomes last week.
51:43
Speaker 2: But yeah, you know, this is a how team that
51:46
Speaker 2: want to shoot out against Ohio State the weekend before, Like,
51:49
Speaker 2: on no pointet did I think that St. Thomas was
51:51
Speaker 2: going to get points from them. So kudos to Saint
51:54
Speaker 2: Thomas and no offense had just like these you are
51:56
Speaker 2: different points in your in your growth and you know,
51:59
Speaker 2: kudas Saint they played a great game and they believe
52:01
Speaker 2: they could go in there and do what they did,
52:03
Speaker 2: and you know where there it's Saint Cloud, you know,
52:06
Speaker 2: looking past those games, you know, taking a break between
52:09
Speaker 2: playing Ohio State and Wisconsin or whatever it was, like
52:13
Speaker 2: those again, those are, like you said, those points they
52:16
Speaker 2: matter the same. And so I think that is an
52:18
Speaker 2: opportunity Saint Cloud. Maybe let's slip through a little bit.
52:21
Speaker 2: And so again they have to bounce back and sort
52:24
Speaker 2: of remember what it is they're capable of. And will
52:26
Speaker 2: be interesting because you're talking a massively high powered offense
52:29
Speaker 2: against some of the best goaltending, including like their their
52:32
Speaker 2: new freshman goalie. Right, So if goals were at a
52:37
Speaker 2: premium against Saint Thomas, they're gonna be the same against Wisconsin.
52:43
Speaker 2: And so Saint too many Saints teams that I want
52:47
Speaker 2: to make sure and saying they're Saint Cloud needs to
52:49
Speaker 2: make sure that they're you know, that they're getting shots
52:53
Speaker 2: on net, that they're not just playing defense against Wisconsin,
52:56
Speaker 2: that they're not getting hemmed in like they're They really
52:58
Speaker 2: need to get pucks to the net. They need to
52:59
Speaker 2: score more goals period, like they can't that to that
53:04
Speaker 2: series against Saint Thomas. Can't be the team that they
53:06
Speaker 2: are if they want to do what they want to
53:08
Speaker 2: do this season.
53:08
Speaker 1: Yep. I uh, we'd mentioned BC earlier. Now they're they're
53:14
Speaker 1: number thirteen, They're in the rankings again. They host Merrimac
53:18
Speaker 1: on Saturday. You know that's you know, you get in
53:23
Speaker 1: those dangerous situations of you just come off of a
53:26
Speaker 1: really great weekend. You've got to continue that through and
53:31
Speaker 1: we'll see if the Eagles can do that. That's right.
53:34
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, they lost the Holy Cross two
53:35
Speaker 2: weeks ago. They beat Mary Mack just two to one
53:38
Speaker 2: before the Clerkson games, and I will say, blessed. I'm
53:43
Speaker 2: sorry BC fans. I feel like I'm like, I feel
53:45
Speaker 2: like I'm picking on them, but like, this is a
53:46
Speaker 2: team that in the past would get wins like this,
53:48
Speaker 2: and I'd be like, great, build on that, this is
53:51
Speaker 2: your opportunity, and then like the next week would go
53:53
Speaker 2: out and and not do that, and I would just
53:55
Speaker 2: be sort of like disappointed, which isn't their fault that
53:58
Speaker 2: I put those expectations on them, but it was. It's
54:00
Speaker 2: always just like I feel like they don't necessarily grab
54:03
Speaker 2: the chances that they give themselves, and so to me,
54:06
Speaker 2: that's an important game just to watch and see sort
54:09
Speaker 2: of what EAC team shows up, you know, because I
54:12
Speaker 2: think they, like I said, they just tend to not
54:15
Speaker 2: be able to string those sorts of things together and
54:17
Speaker 2: build off the momentum. And it's like when things start
54:20
Speaker 2: going bad and they come out and they have this
54:21
Speaker 2: bounce back game and then it's like it was a
54:23
Speaker 2: one off. And so for BC, I just really want
54:27
Speaker 2: the team that we saw last weekend to show up
54:29
Speaker 2: more often because it was a really good team and
54:31
Speaker 2: it shows what they're capable of, which means it's just
54:34
Speaker 2: kind of sad when they don't, you know, when you
54:35
Speaker 2: see these other outcomes, they just have to they have
54:38
Speaker 2: to string it together and be better.
54:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, a lot of games on the schedule this weekend.
54:43
Speaker 1: Make sure you check out usc cho dot com for
54:47
Speaker 1: the schedule there Nicole's got well and then after the
54:51
Speaker 1: weekend you can check out Nicholes right up on what
54:53
Speaker 1: stood out and yeah, it should be another great weekend
54:58
Speaker 1: of women's college hockey before we getting into the brief
55:01
Speaker 1: international break for whatever you want to call that, before
55:06
Speaker 1: the rivalry series next week. Which I'm sure we'll end
55:09
Speaker 1: up talking about next week, so make sure to stick
55:12
Speaker 1: around for that and any parting thoughts for us to cale.
55:16
Speaker 2: I guess I would just say that, like you know,
55:18
Speaker 2: off Mike, you and I last week before going into
55:20
Speaker 2: our third section, we're looking at the upcoming games and
55:23
Speaker 2: we're not necessarily excited. We were like, gee, I don't
55:25
Speaker 2: I don't know which of these games is gonna be worthwhile,
55:27
Speaker 2: and then it ended up being pretty much all of
55:29
Speaker 2: them were. So I think, you know, the lesson is
55:32
Speaker 2: to turn on any game you can. I think that
55:34
Speaker 2: there's just there's so much great hockey happening, and I
55:37
Speaker 2: don't think that rankings have a whole lot to do
55:39
Speaker 2: with whether or not the game is going to turn
55:42
Speaker 2: out to be worthwhile watching. And so yeah, I mean,
55:46
Speaker 2: I don't know if, like I said, I don't know
55:48
Speaker 2: if everybody got all the rankings wrong to start the
55:50
Speaker 2: year or what it is. But the lesson for me
55:52
Speaker 2: last weekend is that if there is a game on
55:54
Speaker 2: and you can watch it, you should be watching it.
55:56
Speaker 1: And if you can't watch it, we'll talk about it
55:59
Speaker 1: here next week on the pot. So either way, we
56:01
Speaker 1: do appreciate when you're able to watch and then maybe
56:03
Speaker 1: give us some feedback too on what you want us
56:06
Speaker 1: to talk about. So check the notes of this broadcast
56:10
Speaker 1: and or this podcast, and we'll for an email address
56:12
Speaker 1: if you want to get in touch with us. But yeah,
56:15
Speaker 1: that's uh, that's how how we want some of the
56:19
Speaker 1: feedback there from what you want to hear so or
56:21
Speaker 1: what you saw over the weekend that we can kind
56:23
Speaker 1: of chime in on. So for Nicole Hasey on Todd Maleski,
56:26
Speaker 1: thanks again for joining us on the podcast. We'll talk
56:28
Speaker 1: to you next week.