Latest / College Hockey Mouth / Episode 27: CHS Playoff Preview and ACHA Regionals Recap

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Episode 27: CHS Playoff Preview and ACHA Regionals Recap · College Hockey Mouth

• speaker-0: Before we begin today's episode, College Hockey South would like to offer its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the Farmingdale State men's hockey team. Following the Rams' final game at Regionals, Farmingdale forward Thomas Smith's father tragically passed away. We send our prayers and support to Thomas and his family, and we ask that you keep the Smith family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Welcome to episode 27 of College Hockey Mouth, a College Hockey South podcast. It's here and it's sweeter than ever. It's the College Hockey South playoff preview episode before we all head to South Florida to crown our four champions of the conferences. But Devin Sarah joined with Gavin Coker and Lizzie Penn today. And guys, this is the time of the year we all love. This is Arguably the best week in sports for all of us. The Olympics just wrapped up. Both men's and women's took the gold. But I gotta ask you, how are you guys feeling? speaker-1: You know, Devin, it's been a minute since I've been on the pod, real busy. Some of that's some playoff prep, getting ready, you know, checking the scenarios, trying to figure out who's going, who's not, who's in, who's out. But I'm doing fantastic. The prep's finally almost done. So many teams going to playoffs, so the prep's been a little insane, but it's all worth it. We don't have to look at the rankings anymore and be like, This person's at fifty eight. Are they going to the playoffs? No, we know. So it's an exciting week for sure. speaker-0: to predict all of the silliness that we do on this pod because we love being analytical, although we tend to be a little bit wrong in our opinions, and I think that's gonna be evident with what we s provide in this episode. But ⁓ hey Lizzie, great to have you back on. How are you doing? speaker-2: I'm great. ⁓ I've been sick. I've been drinking a lot of orange juice. I've been watching a lot of Olympics, a lot of curling, as I'm sure a lot of people have been doing. But I don't know. I've had a I've had a good couple of weeks as a break. It's been pretty calm. It's nice to have a little bit of an NHL break. And I love to see a light being shined on a bunch of other ice sports and winter sports. I've got I I've gotten into a little bit of ⁓ snowboarding recently, which normally I'm not as big of a fan, but it was pretty interesting to see everybody's techniques and it was kinda cool because I'm not as much of a snow sports gal as I am with ice, as is, I don't know, it's kinda evident. I mean I play hockey. speaker-0: Yeah, it's super nice to get that break right before just, you know, classes, a little bit of maybe some some big exams and obviously playing time i is huge. So good to good to hear you got a little bit of a reset there and you know, I'm I'm dealing with a little bit of under the weatherness too, except physically I I've got a like a pinched nerve going in my right arm. And if you ever had that just lingering, like it's it's a a lot of Tylenol and trying to do awkward stretches and they call it I learned I learned a new term. It's nerve flossing. You kind of like move your joints in a way to like get your nerves moving. Had no idea that was a thing. I've just been like super lucky for most of my life in that that regard. But, you know, regardless, had a great time this weekend watching both women's and men's win Olympic gold in hockey. Shout out Megan Keller, a Michigan player, you know, was from around the same town as me in southeast Michigan. And of course the men's team, Dylan Larkin, a a Detroit Red Wings captain, but You know, Jack Hughes got the game winner and and probably one of the coolest memories that I'll have of just watching hockey in general, both sides. I mean, it's crazy that both games ended two to one in overtime. Like that's over Canada. Doesn't get more fitting than that. And I I ⁓ man, like couldn't be more grateful to to be a part of the US of A. But ⁓ you know, it doesn't stop there because I think we're on this super high trajectory. It's the most important time of the year. Conference playoffs, of course, what we're talking about coming up here in this edition of the pod. But, you know, we we just had the ACHA regionals and we spent all of last weekend previewing the ⁓ two teams and we've we've got our results. It's after two days of battle tested games and dramatic finishes, it's Tampa and Florida Atlantic who advanced to ACHA nationals in mid-March out in St. Louis, Missouri. And boy, I was not as simple as The teams maybe would have wanted to be, but they got it done. Tampa beat Georgia on day one, four to two. And ⁓ you know, Gavin, ⁓ I guess we're just gonna go right into our recaps. Like I felt like Georgia had a r a lot of momentum. A lot of people were picking them to be an upset over Tampa because we know they lost a couple of games down the stretch. I think this just goes to show that ⁓ Nick Kuzlik has those guys right when it's time to be good. Yeah. speaker-1: And it's something we saw last year at Nationals. This team knows how to get it together when they need to and go win the games that they need to win. That's just plain and simple. You know, those games at the end of the stretch were more just, hey, we're gonna show that we're a team that's gonna fight. We're not gonna back down from things. That's the kind of message they wanted to send. And we know FAU and them have a lot of history. They play each other more than most teams do, which is gonna lead to some tension. You both are national bound teams now. And they knew that. Both of these teams knew they were going to nationals. I think you could see it. The c there's confidence in the locker room. And Tampa has that winning mentality. They showed it last year at Nationals. I mean, knocked out early night before Nationals went out convincing win over Farmingdale last year. So that team well coached by Kuzlik. And I honestly saw the best game that we've talked about Tampa needing to play this season. They showed it when they went to regionals. speaker-0: Yeah, and Cole Velise was big. He he got it started for them in the second, and it really didn't feel like Tampa was out of control at all. You see those kind of defensively where pluck possession can go either way, and that's how it felt for most of the time. I felt like though they had their their biggest guys with, you know, Nick Zahelen was was big, Billy McCann, Marco Basir the scores. But more importantly, they got Georgia to play their style and have to chase. And I felt like that made this team in the driver's seat and it just didn't feel like they were going to relinquish the lead once they got it. Impressive in game one. And then following that, Florida Atlantic took out this this Miami Ohio team that had a lot of prowess. Runner up in the Tri-States Collegiate Hockey League to Ohio. They had won a ton of games this year. You felt like maybe FAU would have to see the best team they have in a couple of years. But they Did very well on basically every single facet of this. I mean, Miami got the first goal, Aiden Giorgiano answered though, ⁓ late in the first. And then you saw guys not scoring that we used to. How many times do you see this in a playoff game where it's the guy that gets zero points plays like 23 games a year, maybe gets like 14 minutes of ice time and he puts it in the net? Anthony Campagne had a power play goal in this game and What's what's crazy is I think he had multiple points in this game from Jake Murphy's goal. They had an empty netter in there. Like a senior that was a European All-Star, not for his scoring, not for his I you know, ability to get to the net. Like he's just a steady defenseman, gets rewarded. So that was awesome. And my favorite part of this game was Leon Biller, their captain, got crushed. I mean, he lost an edge and went face first into the far boards. Gets up. after, you know, a long pause and the trainers are are looking at him, gets on the ice on the same power play and then scores. And I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. Man, what a warrior. And ⁓ I guess that's what you gotta do in a playoff game. Yeah. speaker-1: That's the kind of thing that you expect from your captain. Leon Biller's been the guy for them all year. I mean, there's a ton of guys on that roster that have scored. And you also talked about Campania and Giorgiano, two guys not really doing as much scoring. Giorgiano moving up from M3 this year, trying to find his his groove in the offense. You know, Cucja, same thing. Two guys just trying to find their groove, playing against much tougher competition. And like you said, Miami, Ohio, a good team. Not as good as their basketball team right now, but made it to regionals and and Florida Atlantic finding a way to get things done. speaker-0: That's an undefeated mommy, Ohio team. Shout out the Mac. Even though I went to Central Michigan, I still feel a bit of infatuation when a is that a word? In factuation. I feel a little bit of love for a Mac school that ⁓ is doing really well there in Oxford. And we'll acknowledge too, Florida unfortunately dropped a tight one back and forth with Ohio State. They were the twelfth seed entering for the Gators and you know, things didn't start well. They got scored on in the first two minutes and then At the halfway mark of the first, they had another one tucked in. Both breakaways after their blue line just did not hold the puck in well. I felt like Florida at times had trouble with coverage, and they had guys kind of reaching out of position and it led to those goals. But I mean they stormed back. Zach Solmansky, Mike McCoy, Sully Swears. They had the lead for a brief moment in the second. Ohio State scores off a centerized faceoff draw five seconds later. And You just felt like they never got back the momentum. They never had full force of the game. Even though they scored three unanswered against the Buckeys. You know, Ronnie Kemley would would tie it up one more time, but you know, Ethan Bashar for Ohio State ended up having a hat trick four points overall. Just a a tough one. A great game. Tough way to go out for Florida. I think they really showed people that they were meant to be there. But ⁓ it's it's ultimately the buck guys that ended up playing ⁓ FAU the next day. speaker-1: UF, a great squad. I kind of expect a little bit more from them. I'm not gonna lie. We saw them battle in some really tough games down the past couple of weeks. Boston College, Tampa, FAU, some big wins in there. And then, you know, maybe it was the flight to Ohio. I don't know. I mean, kind of crazy you play Ohio State in Ohio. Kind of feels like a home field advantage for them. So not quite sure. But like you said, battle showed that they deserve to be there and just weren't able to get it done on night one of regionals. speaker-0: They still have a conference championship to play for, obviously. And Frank Pisquali is a great coach. I know he'll find a way to get those guys going. And it was a competitive conference. They'll be for sure right in the mix when we talk about this this playoff preview. On day two, though, moving day, Tampa took down the Liberty Flames, who have been a perennial team at Nationals year after year. A young Liberty team that was down to South Carolina three-nothing in the third period on day one. They stormed all the way back, scored an 0 for time. So they had all kinds of good feeling heading into this. But Tampa, despite giving up a wonky goal midway through this game after Theo Preem dumped the puck in, hit something on the ice or an awkward bounce and just went underneath the glove of of Kyle Meyer. Like they they fought back at the third down one-nothing. Billy McCann scores. Nice job kind of faking the shot, getting it to Fortescue, who was ready to go. Or excuse me, I guess ⁓ Fordescue did a nice job selling the fake and then passing it to McCann just had to get the tuck on his on his twig and then Alex Muller scored on the power play. And the craziest note that you put down here, Gavin, on the sheet, was that the Spartans only took one penalty in all sixty minutes. speaker-1: And I alluded to that earlier. I talked about it. Tampa playing the game that we've said all year we need to see from them if they're gonna do big things and win games. And they showed us that. They controlled their sticks, controlled the physicality, stayed clean. Like we mentioned, gave up the first goal, and then after that, played a really great game. Really clean. That first goal was on the power play, if I'm correct. And yeah, I mean, just really after that, we're like, okay. They scored on the power play. We can't give them these opportunities again. That's they know that they just beat South Carolina yesterday. They know they can't give this team any opportunities to get back into the game if they get the lead. And that's what they did by staying out of the box. speaker-0: Yeah, and I I thought ⁓ Danny Griffin did a phenomenal job showing why he's he's one of the best captains. You know, they he they relied on him to carry the puck a lot, and he had some really clean break-ins of the zone. I felt like he he played it as a a two way role. You know, just credit to everybody involved for locking in. We really didn't know what Tampa would would have entering this. I mean, they they took a bunch of penalties, they didn't look like themselves the final two weeks of the season, and then they take down Really good teams in in Georgia and Liberty, and they're going to nationals. They've won ten playoff games in a row, and they're going to face Army, Michigan State, and Oklahoma State in pool play, pool D at the national tournament. speaker-1: I mean, what a insane ⁓ pool for nationals. Michigan State we talked about well, we haven't talked about yet, but if you don't know, you're gonna hear about it later. Upset number one Linwood. Probably no one expected that. And then Oklahoma State just kinda cruised their way in. I mean, there was never really even in even a contest. Everyone expected them to be at nationals. They cruise their way through regionals. They're there. And I'm excited about this army team. My dad being retired military, I just kind of always have a favoritism for army. It's like army versus navy. I'm always rooting army. That's just the way it is. So I'm excited to see Army at ⁓ ACHA regionals or nationals. speaker-2: Teams. speaker-0: Some tough teams to play there. I I think this is kind of a gauntlet division, ⁓ or pool, excuse me, ⁓ Army's Army's a physical team, Oklahoma State. May or may not have, you know, payroll going on there. ⁓ they've got N C double A level players. I look like if you have unless you've been living under a rock, Oklahoma State has been in talks about being an N C double A and their funding and trying to build a rank and and how the hell they have the team they do. First year eligible for nationals and they're going as the number one seed from the West region. So should be interesting there. We'll see how Tampa stacks up in a few weeks. Florida Atlantic though took down Ohio State in the final game of the day from Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Real stalemate kind of game. Ohio State was very good early. Felt like they defensively locked it down, but FAU outchanced them in a lot of ways. They were Snakebit hit a few posts. Jackson Neuwendike was flying around. They had Brady Beijer all over the fore check. Ultimately, though, it's another, again, some guys you maybe don't always see getting it done. Neuwendyke, though, gets the first one started. He has this bar down snipe. Great one from the right dots. Nick Olivario scores coming out of the penalty box in the third. And Declan Catone seals it for the empty netter. That this playoff, I would describe this as. Do you remember when the St. Louis Blues had that terrible regular season in like twenty nineteen and then they got hot late and you saw all kinds of these these pieces you didn't expect to see ⁓ scoring. I can't think of names, but like for some reason like this team reminded me of that. They just found ways to get more players involved. ⁓ and that's to me why they're going to the nationals. It's not from like Jake Murphy, Leon Biller, Beijer, Newendike. It's their depth spots that got it done. Yeah. speaker-1: I I was watching the ⁓ third period of that game and you kinda just knew when Olivario stepped out of the box, had a breakaway, that was on his stick. You knew it was in the back of the net. Before they even said he scored, I was like, That that's gonna be the winner right there. That's gonna be the one that puts us away. Such a demoralizing goal to give up to if you're Ohio State. I mean, you just played a really tough game the night before and you let a guy come out of the box and and I at any level that's kind of like what was going on there. Where's the communication? And Olivario makes some pay and that was that was probably my favorite goal that I've watched out of all of the CHS teams at regionals. That was my favorite goal of the entire week. speaker-0: to clip each of these. You're with Olivario. I'm with Leon Biller off the floor, off the floor, or off the floor on the board. ⁓ obviously if you don't know, referring to Paul Correa from the Anaheim Ducks ⁓ a few years ago, not a few years ago, 20 years ago in the playoffs actually. That's crazy to think that I clipped this so long ago. Gotta give our shout out to Gunnar Stevens. Dude, ⁓ senior netminder, we all thought Rocco Bruno the whole way, candidate for goaltender of the year But Gunnar Stevens against Miami, Ohio, against Ohio State, locked it down when he had to. Four straight wins in net for ⁓ this guy. Such a great story. I I think when he came in relief for Rocco at Farmingdale State when Bruno got kicked out of the game for ⁓ for fighting, kind of like you know, with the Tampa situation there in that weekend series, like he proved that FAU now has a one two tandem. If they have to go to either guy, they can. And that's huge when you play back to back to back games like this at Nationals. speaker-1: Yeah, and you mentioned it, Steven stepping in for that game against Farmingdale. I saw a video on the team's Instagram where they were asking favorite moments and he said stepping in for Farmingdale, winning that game. Well, I feel like that video's a little outdated. Might have to have him re record that segment now as he sends the team to nationals with two big wins this weekend. speaker-0: Love to see that kind of depth. And you had a a note on here, just ⁓ not gonna say the word, but who the was scoring this sheet, this game sheet. We had like two or three names on here that weren't right. I'm not even sure game one was perfect either. So ⁓ it's all volunteer staff, I'm assuming. So thank you to the ACHA for putting this regionals on. It was awesome to watch. I felt like I was going insane from having ACHA red zone five games on at once, but you know what? They got it done. Man, Florida Atlantic, they're gonna play St. Bonaventure. Former AAU team. St. Thomas, the conference champions from the C CWHA out there in Minnesota. They had a dramatic win this weekend. I think they they had an overtime in their final game to to advance the nationals. So ⁓ that's that's one of my favorite teams to watch the last couple of years. And Utah State also had an overtime win against Providence from Montana, by the way, not Providence College, Rhode Island. This one is Pool A, March twelfth to the fourteenth, and you can watch all of those games at Nationals on flow hockey. Also some things we saw from regionals. Gavin alluded to it. Number thirteen, Michigan State upset. Number one, Lyndon Wood in the central region. Two goals in the final three minutes from the Spartans. Knocked off the reigning national champions in ACHA ⁓ two. So I believe for the third or fourth year in a row, we're gonna have Parody, a new champion in ⁓ two. And, you know, from seeing it the last couple of years, I'll just put it out there that this is the toughest national championship to win of the three men's divisions and You could argue woman's one is tough because Liberty's there, but like it's a gauntlet to go through this. You have to win two games at Regionals before some teams had to win three. Now you gotta win three games at Nationals, maybe two go two and one if some teams slip up, win a semi, win a final. It's just a brutal schedule. But the team that wins it ultimately deserves it. And ⁓ you also had at Regionals number nine Northeastern taking down number two Farmingdale State in the Northeast region, two goals in the early third, put the Huskies in the driver's seat at the end. And finally, Liberty knocked off South Carolina in an incredible three goal comeback with fifteen minutes to play. The worst lead in hockey strikes again. Love to see ⁓ some drama. I think that's all you can describe this regional. It's just dramatic for everybody, and especially these college hockey south teams. So with that, we'll conclude our talk about regionals and swing things over to ⁓ three. And that brings us into our college hockey south playoff preview. So we finally got the penultimate rankings for men's division three, Gavin and Since this is the audio version, I don't think we can share screens, but ⁓ we're gonna rip through this list real quick. For the first time all season, we have a new number one team in the nation, Calvin University from Michigan at the one spot, leapfrogging middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders had some had a loss to to South Carolina. That I'm assuming this is the reason they, you know, dropped like they did. Just one spot, but you know, they've been there for seven straight weeks. So whenever you see that, it's definitely ⁓ Something to to to talk about. And then Air Force slots in at the number three spot. They were the national champion runner-ups last year. Oakland University, the leading team in the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference at four, Central Maine Community College, five. South Florida, the Bulls at the sixth spot. Grand Valley State at seven. Northwood from Michigan at number eight. Nebraska, Omaha, conference champions at number nine. Dort University, also the Macha Conference Champions at ten. Sacred Heart, eleven. Lawrence Tech from Michigan twelve at thirteen. Fairfield out of nowhere comes in at the fourteenth spot. They weren't ranked all year. Then it's Florida Gulf Coast, who jumped five spots to get into the top sixteen ahead of South Carolina, who's probably the biggest loser in all of this. They were a top ten team for most of the ranking period. Now they're on basically the cut line for nationals. And ⁓ you know, following up there are some contracting south teams. Tampa's at number nineteen. They almost have to win their conference to get into nationals at this point. ⁓ and that does it for the Kalachukke South teams. But I know that was a a lot to to unpack there, Gavin, but you know, what are some of your takeaways looking at this? You know speaker-1: I think the jump for FGCU was probably the biggest jump because now they also get that bye in the first round of the playoffs because of the the jump up the rankings. So that was huge because we mentioned it. They don't have many CHS games on the year, join joined the conference a little bit later, so probably already had their schedule built out. And so it gives them a chance to get to playoffs, maybe watch some of the games, see some of the competition before they have to play their first game. So that was big for FGCU and then You mentioned it, South Carolina kinda being the biggest loser here. They've kind of had a couple of tough losses, two to KSU. And so not a whole lot of momentum on their side going into the playoffs. And this is a team that won nationals last season. So facing adversity, which we mentioned is not always the worst thing in the world either. Maybe this team needs some adversity, get the mind right before the playoffs. But it definitely would have helped to have some wins and the drop in their rankings is unfortunate for them. speaker-0: They're gonna be the four seed there and and play the winner of Tampa and Embry Riddle. Not ideal. However, they have the chance with the conference playoff. That does count for the final rankings to help their case because think about it. You know, you let's say Tampa wins their first game, you play that, you're in the semis, all of a sudden maybe you're looking at playing middle Tennessee for a revenge game. There's a lot of scenarios we can break down here with the bracket, but it comes down to that South Carolina is is on the cusp and there is some auto bids with conferences around the country. Now my gripe with the ACHA is that they don't make this very clear which teams, which conferences get auto bids. Sometimes it kind of varies in the past. I've heard that the I guess the bylaws have predicated that you have to be a top twenty five team in order to get the auto bid if you win your conference. So like for example, Purdue just won the Indiana Collegiate Hockey Conference. That is the 23rd team. That would technically put them in over, say, South Carolina on the cut line. And then you have a matcha champion in there, which I believe was Dort. So that doesn't hurt you at all. Again, some of these conference champions, if they're top sixteen, they're in no matter what for as at large. But if you're a team right on that cut line, you're kind of playing like we don't know. So the bottom line is you have to be within like maybe that top twelve, top thirteen to be safe. And they have everything to play for this weekend. If you're all of these teams, and especially South Carolina, you have to go into it like you have to earn your way through a conference championship. Not exactly, you know, set that we have a conference champion auto bit either, Gavin. I know Kyle and L came on the pod a few weeks ago and said that it's not guaranteed, but they're looking at it. There's some predicated things. I wish we had the answers for you on here, but just make it clear that, you know. You have everything to play for for this conference championship, whether you're in the top sixteen or not. And that is swinging us into finally our game previews. And I know Lizzie's hanging out just in the background there. I'm sorry, Liz. We we've been just rambling on here about ⁓ two and ⁓ three. ⁓ have you have speaker-2: learning a lot. I've been I've been out for a couple of weeks, so I'm pretty lost with this, but it's been a good I mean refresher, especially with this coming up so soon. speaker-0: Yeah, well, you know, have you have you had a chance to, you know, see the men's team play or, you know, from a distance, like has there an been anything that stuck out to you as we we've hit the home stretch here? Obviously, you know, ⁓ you can say the women's side, the men's side, whatever, but ⁓ you know, is there anything that that comes to mind? speaker-2: I mean, unfortunately, I haven't had any luck with getting to any of the men's games this season. A couple of my teammates have, but I've just been super busy or super sick. I haven't had a good in between, but I will get that chance this weekend, so that'll be really nice to go out and support my fellow bulls. But as for the women's, I mean I feel like I'm pretty well versed in that. I've been doing some research. Some might call it stalking, some might be calling it advanced. speaker-0: Taping games. I mean, hey, a lot of these are on film, right? Gavin, thank goodness, you know, they had ⁓ his broadcast team out there doing the the the Gasparilla showcase. speaker-2: What no? Yes, thank you, producer Gavin. speaker-1: Yeah, of course. I mean, I could definitely see Lizzie in the in the stands with like the Lego glasses, the nose and like a mustache and speaker-2: ⁓ All right. First of all, I already wear glasses. Way to poke. speaker-1: So hey, so there you go. speaker-0: You need whatever advantage you can get against Tampa, let's be honest here. They've been a wagon this year. Mm-hmm. Not obviously stating if you're a Tampa listening to this that Lazia's scouting, but hey, your chances of getting hit by an asteroid are low, but never zero. ⁓ speaker-2: Never zero. Chances of getting hit by Lizzie on the other hand, pretty high. speaker-0: ⁓ that's a guarantee this weekend. That's right. Well, for sure. So we're gonna steamroll into playoffs this weekend, February twenty sixth through March first from the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida. Thursday all day, we're gonna have five games. These mostly play in games for the ⁓ three side. We'll have one ⁓ two game at the end of the day. But starting off with day one, we've got on the stadium rink Tampa, the number four seed taking on number twelve, Embry Riddle. We love Bob Joyce on the podcast. He they've been kind of like our sweethearts of this season with how well they've done, but you know, they're the last team in now. We had this dramatic shake up with the rankings, Gavin, and all of a sudden now, you know, Tampa who's been struggling, they get an opportunity against an Ember Riddle team. ⁓ what what do you make of it? Yeah I speaker-1: Got to watch Emory Riddle's last two games. ⁓ like I said, being at Florida Southern, they played the school ⁓ kind of a weird weekend for them. Shut out at home and then came out and had a great offensive game on the road. And it's and they're one of those teams where we've said Emory Riddle has a chance to upset somebody, but they've got to play a really great game. You can't be wishy-washy like that in the playoffs. You need to be on it every single night you step on the ice. And so this is a this is a tall task. For this ERAU squad. I mean, they played Tampa three times this year, played them back in the same building at Battle at the Beach in October. So maybe trying to get some revenge. They haven't won a game against Tampa this year, but I'm not counting them out yet. But it's gonna take a lot from this ERAU squad, disciplined play, staying out of the box, and playing their best game of hockey that they've played all season if they want to continue on in the playoffs. speaker-0: Sometimes when you look at a score like that and it's all the way beginning of the year, you can kind of dismiss it because you think about how a team basically sets a new season from the first half to the second half. You have that long break and Ember Riddle in the middle of the year looked so good, right? They they beat some games against UCF. They upset ⁓ two Florida Atlantic. That was probably looking back now, one of the biggest upsets in the conference, let alone the league. And I just really think that they're gonna need like Gerard Keane, their star defensing to be good on Embry Riddle's side, you know, Thor Vogan, Dan Finnegan, they have talented guys, but Tampa is very frustrated with the last couple of weeks they've had. I mean, it has not been a great set finish of the season. USF controlled them ten to four, nine to three losses. You know, Florida Atlantic played them close, and you can't discount Tampa because they are Tampa. But they really have got to stay out of the box. They have had a penalty-troubled season. Tyler Hofberg has been great. He's a gritty guy for them. Ethan Gellman, Trace Coward, a bunch of superstars. And if they win this game, again, we talked about the bracket. They're set up to play number four USC. So somebody's got to give here two teams that are fighting to get in the nationals. This is a big first game for Tampa. Both teams, obviously. But ⁓ man, Tampa trying to get back on the right footing. Following that up is On the mezzanine rink, number seven Alabama versus number ten UCF. So these games will be going on at the same time. UCF looked really good against MT Florida and Florida Atlantic. Alabama, though, has really busted through the doors. They have got themselves right in the middle of this field. Do you think that Alabama's momentum carries them, or does UCF feel more battle-tested from playing the ⁓ two teams? speaker-1: I think UCF feels a little bit more ballot battle tested in this one. You mentioned it. Florida, Florida, Atlantic. Neither of those games were blowout losses. I mean, one in overtime to Florida, really close losses to two. This is a team that when they play their strong game and they've they've got the leadership in the room, Joseph Dre, guy who really fires them up. ⁓ Andrew Casagoli, senior season, really wants to go out on a high note. Told me Joseph Dre did a lot in that Florida series to get them fired up and try to spark a comeback, obviously fell up short, but you like that fire from a team, especially when they're playing a team up a division. So I think UCF being as battle tested as they are is going to go a long way in this game versus Alabama. And speaker-0: And it's not like we're discounting Alabama here, but you know, they haven't had the strongest record. Really what's been going for them is their strength of schedule. I think they have four wins on the year here. You know, Finn Forcer's been good down the line, but but if we're being real, the key for them is is Luke Haggett, their CHS all-star from Europe. He's gotta play really well in net. He's probably gonna face forty plus shots potentially against UCF. A juicy early matchup. I'm gonna think though that that UCF, like you're saying, really got some experience and if they win, that sets up a quarter final with USF. So we can get a war on I four potentially on day two. We'll get that one done at eleven thirty AM Eastern time in Coral Springs. And also for the play in games, but really the first round, Kennesaw State and Tennessee. So if you haven't known, Kennesaw State has fired out of a cannon. They just swept South Carolina to end this year. Just I I mean I I don't know if we ever thought Kennesaw State wasn't a good team, but we were kind of thinking like Christian Seusa, James Kravis, Reese Lego, and a you know, cloudy middle middle ground. This team out of nowhere has gotten firepower. Cooper Lundberg has been a great addition for them. Jonathan Shaw on the blue line, terrific. And they have now probably one of the best goaltenders in the conference with with Evan Pritchard there. You know, how do you think Tennessee gets ready for this? Because they're facing an entirely new team that maybe they don't even know anymore. speaker-1: Yeah, and that's what we've talked about. These early season matchups before December, before January in the break, not even the same team for some of these rosters. I mean, we've seen a number of teams add people, but no addition has been better than Evan Pritchard. You mentioned it. New goalie, six and ⁓ joining the team, one point four three ERA, best in ⁓ three currently. I mean, is absurd. And then a nine forty nine save percentage to go with that. There's I just if you're Tennessee, your offense has got to be rolling. They've they've struggled a little bit this season offensively. I mean, they did get two wins over Vandy recently, who snuck their way into the playoffs with really close losses. Something you guys talked about last week. Does Lynn get in? Does Vandy get in based on close losses? So Tennessee's got some momentum going into it. One three straight. Their offense has just got to be on and That's gonna be the difference is if Tennessee can get the offense rolling early in the game and get Kennesaw frustrated. speaker-0: It feels like they rely on their top two lines more than anyone, but not for the reason you think. It it's by committee for them. Everybody has near equal amount of points. I think Dylan Siegel leads the way there, but they really have to match what intensity Kennesaw State's or excuse me, yeah, Kennesaw State's gonna bring because that's a physical team. They will beat you down if you're not ready and win board battles. And that we always talk about how do you win battles, like how do you win games that It happens from winning a battle and creating sprace space on a breakout. And it seems like Kennesaw State right now is putting it all together. That physicality with the guys that can score and a goaltender that can steal you a game. I would watch out for the Owls in this tournament because they could really go on quite the Cinderella run. Not trying to jinx anyone, doesn't guarantee it, but man, with a five game hater, they're one to watch. And then Also, to finish out the day, just on the M3 side before we get to M2, is Clemson and Vanderbilt. And Gavin, I believe you're gonna have the call for this one on the Den rank. Number six, Clemson, number eleven, Vandy. Clemson, you mentioned it, lost to ⁓ Tennessee in there, but they have been really solid. And Vanderbilt snuck their way in. They're probably the the sneaky good team in the lower half of the bracket. You know, what do you what do you make of this ⁓ sort of rivalry matchup? Yeah. speaker-1: Vandy get got a six two win over Clemson earlier this year. I'm pretty sure I saw a post on Instagram, a little bit of a social media chirping from Vandy saying they won that game with twelve players. Not quite sure how true that was. I didn't look at the game sheet, but if that is the case, you gotta be scared if Vandy's got more than that when they go into this playoff game. They're they're a threat. We mentioned played MTSU, lost those games. I mean, that's number one team in the nation. That's kind of what affected their strength of schedule. It was up in I think eleven point eight or something to end the season, somewhere around there, which is absurd for a team which is shows up and that's why they're in the playoffs. So kind of a question of whether they deserve to be there, to be honest. And they need to come out and be Clemson and again improve it and make some moves and try to go deep in the playoffs. speaker-0: For sure. And Clemson, all they have to play for is a conference championship. They're not going to go to nationals. They've been a ranked team for most of the year. And that's going to be, I think, something that they take to heart. Should be fun to watch. And then we alluded to it, but the ⁓ two game for that night will be Florida versus Florida Atlantic. FAU is four and two on the season against the Gators, but Florida won the last meeting six to four on January thirtieth. You can catch that at nine fifteen PM Eastern on the College Hockey South YouTube channel. So A busy Friday and follows this one and really a schedule that has everybody on the ice. Women's M3 ACDC. And we're gonna focus in on the woman's side and bring in Lizzie Penn again for some of our our commentary here. So when you look at this field, we're gonna start with your team because that's only fitting. South Florida, number six seed, is gonna play number three, South Carolina. Lizzie, you played them at Columbus Classic. They were without Alyssa Nard Slicko. She was on the pod last week. What do you make of this for your squad and what are some things that that you see out of South Carolina? speaker-2: Just starting off as like a recap. We've got like a pretty early, early game. ⁓ probably the earliest I've had in like two years. ⁓ it's at nine fifteen. ⁓ is the start of all the women's quarterfinal games today. ⁓ so we'll be playing against USC. And the last time we played, we lost nine to six, I believe. We just got tired out. I think that we've been able to combat that since Columbus in what September, I believe. I think it was pretty early September. So we've had a couple months to work on that and fix on that. But as you said, USC played without their captain, but we also played without our primary goalie. And both teams, we both have our missing aspects back. So it'll definitely be an interesting matchup. We have not really had a good chance to play USC outside of playoffs. I believe we played them last season in playoffs, but I don't really think Columbus was too good of a show of all of the teams in the women's division, especially since it was so early on and nobody had a good chance to really gel yet. So I think that this whole playoffs, the the whole women's playoffs, especially I mean, this team, I think that it's gonna be a way different game than we saw at the beginning of the year. So I have good hope for this game. I think that both teams we'll work really, really hard and we're gonna do the best that we can and it's gonna be a teeth gritting match. speaker-1: Yeah, like Lizzie said, Columbus not not evident of what we saw. A lot of it was also new rules, n twenty minute periods now instead of shortened ones last season. So getting used to new ice time. A lot of teams have gotten that conditioning back in, got used to that different goalie for USF to start the year without Ana Jarayas. So a lot of different looks for both teams, adding s some pieces to the roster that they were missing in Columbus. So this one's gonna be really exciting. Well speaker-0: I mean, one name for USF that comes to mind every week on this pod and for your team is Chloe Valente. How do you support Chloe in this run? Do you rely on her to carry the puck movement? Is it somebody else? Is it you distributing from the point? Like, what do you think is a formula to success without giving away all your cards to any South Carolina people that listen? speaker-2: I mean, the one thing we've been working on since since Columbus ended was our positioning and staying wide, wide open. We also were a brand new team, so we barely knew each other's names. We had a lot of new girls come in. So it was kind of figuring out everybody's playing style and who would be best on what lines, where people are gonna be naturally. Cause everybody, you know, as you grow up playing hockey, you learn like you play with different lines. Some people you play with for years and years and years. So you get used to certain systems that you always run. So with Chloe, she has a couple of plays that she does just naturally and she does it so, so well. So it's just a big learning curve of where she's gonna be. Chloe, we I don't think there's like a specific thing that we rely on with her. She's a really good, well-rounded player. She's a great player and she's an excellent teammate. And I'm so, so glad that we have her. I mean, I was on the pod, what I think it was episode twenty-three with her. And I don't know, she's just so fun. She's such a great person to be around. So she's got so many aspects to her. She's a team player. She's a locker room teammate, but she's also like a big skater. She's very selfless. So she always looks for opportunities for everybody else. And she's got great game vision. And I think that in the last month we all have been developing our game vision. So I don't think it's As much as we're strictly letting Chloe run up. I think it's more of a more of what she does we learn to follow because she's also just a great leader. Anyway, I don't know. I don't want to give away too much. because we've been working hard and somebody will kill me if I say too much. But all I'm gonna say, we have a good fighting chance. speaker-0: Yeah, I I think Tim O'Leary proved with coach of the year last year he can get you ready in any situation. And you talked about the break. Some teams it's really good for them, others they have to get back on the ice ready, but it's evident you guys will be conditioned and ready to go against one of CHS best USF and South Carolina to start the day, nine fifteen, like you said, AM on Friday. Following that up is and we're gonna go a little bit all over the place, so bear with us here. Division by division. ACDC, it's Florida Tech and USF. So Florida Tech, number four seed without Braden Curry for the second half of the year. USF has kind of been okay. But Florida Tech, after dropping the final two versus Embry Riddle, they maybe caught a break not having to play Florida State here. I would think Florida Tech has a good shot to win this game. speaker-1: Game. I think people underestimate this USF team. We mentioned it, had some bad draws. They've got a lot of offense on that roster. And had a couple games without the goalie in the second half, which affects seeding, obviously. Two losses that you probably don't take, or at least you have a better chance of getting into the win column with your goalies. And USF took their final two games versus ERAU to close the season. And I'm not saying like it's not obviously hockey's not ⁓ well this team wins two games versus this team and this team loses, so this team's gonna win. It's whatever team gets out there and wants it more. And I don't quite know the story on Braden Curry's injury, the timeline for return. I don't know if he's going to be back, maybe makes an appearance at playoffs. I mean, who knows? I highly doubt it. But if he does, that even bolsters Florida Tech chances even more. He was without them at battle at the beach, so no one really got to see him there. And That team is shot out of a cannon offensively when they have Brad and Curry on the ice. speaker-0: I really think for Florida Tech, what's been an up and down year, they they when I saw them have been good on the power play. So I think penalties are gonna play a factor in this a lot. But when you look at what USF does with Jacob Lynch, I believe their their goaltender's been been Ethan Jones for most of the time. I I could be wrong, but I think from what I've heard and seen that this should be a good matchup on paper. If anything it'll be close. You can catch this one at twelve thirty PM Eastern on The YouTube page. Following this one, two PM, number two Alabama versus number seven, Auburn. Gavin, you know these teams pretty well. What do you look for when you see this Iron Cup rematch? speaker-1: Match. So I got to watch Auburn. You mentioned I was at Gasparilla Classic. Got to see Auburn. There's a lot of fight in this team. I am ⁓ super excited to see this matchup. Alabama's kind of controlled it for most of the year, but Auburn always has fire underneath them, getting Cassidy across back, having Avery Zong. That offense can get rolling and it can get rolling fast. Alabama's a strong defensive team, and Nally Coots is a really good goalie for them. So Auburn's gonna have to get the pressure on early and start getting Alabama uncomfortable. If Alabama is allowed to settle into their game, I see Alabama taking this one, no problem. But Auburn has the opportunity to cause an upset. So I'm super excited for this Iron Cup matchup. speaker-2: You and me both. I mean as it was said, both of ⁓ have really, really strong coaches with Jack Rosenhammer and Anya. But I don't know. I really agree with you, Gavin. I think that if Auburn wants it, they can take it. They've got the the legs to go for it. speaker-0: I think, yeah, there's a lot of juice there, and that one is is followed up with number one Tampa and number eight Georgia. Pretty much Tampa has been the clear and and far away favorite in this tournament. I think we've mentioned their undefeated streak in the regular season. They're only lost to, I believe, Liberty up in the north, and then they've lost the championship game to Alabama. So you know they kind of want to get through Alabama. This one's gonna start at 3 15 PM Eastern. And if you're wondering, Georgia did play this team at Columbus Classic, eleven to three Tampa win in their only meeting of the season. And then at 5 30, ACDC, we swing it back, Embury Riddle and Florida State. So the Eagles took our our game of the week there and they get a crack with perhaps the most slept on, strongest team in ACDC, because this is not an AC D C team. This is a team that probably could have made ⁓ three playoffs if they were in that bracket. speaker-1: Yeah, I I put some notes in and they've lost the Florida State's lost the last eight games. But that's not evident of their skill level. It's an evident of who they were playing. I mean Georgia Tech ⁓ two for two of those. Then Savannah hockey lost to Georgia Tech in overtime. So played them three games in a row and battled really hard at Savannah. And then had a tough one against Georgia, played Lynn ⁓ three and lost those four to five. Or five to four if you want to be correct about it. But none of these games were ever out of reach for this team. So it's kind of one of those UCF levels, they're battle-tested. They've played tough teams. ERAU has some seniors and juniors on this squad that have a lot of scoring thread as well. And we saw that in that Florida Tech game. So for me, Florida State has the idea that they want to go get a championship. We talked to Ryan Chombre earlier this year. He said their eyes are on the prize. Missing Alex Jensen. ⁓ almost got called up to play at the Olympics, saw ⁓ on the broadcast over there in ⁓ Milano Cortina, but yeah, I I think this FSU squad has a lot to prove and they're not necessarily a sixth seed if you know. speaker-0: By the way, that clip was doing rounds on social media. Love to see the representation. It's such a nice sweater too. They really went all out with that team USA look over there in Europe. So good stuff there. I I yeah, I'm really excited to watch Florida State in this playoff. I feel like they are better than the record shows and their sixth seed, and they get that one at five thirty on Friday. The woman's side, Florida, perhaps the best story in the conference this year, alongside playing Clemson, number five, and Florida took this matchup at Gasporo the Classic, but ⁓ you know, for b for both of you, I I mean, what is it about Florida that makes them so good right now? And Clemson, I mean, are they the team that, you know, can put up a lot of goals? Like what are we looking at here? speaker-2: I mean, I think Florida's pretty easily overlooked, especially with them being brand spank and new. I think that Clemson also, because they're new, it's a little bit ⁓ but I do think that 'cause they've had games, ⁓ games against the northern teams, it's easier to like see their scoring and how they're working more. I think that the northern teams have a little bit more broadcasting. But as for Florida, I think they're much more mysterious with all of the plays that they run. When they get going offensively, they get going and it's pretty hard to stop. So I think it'll be a really, really good game. It's at 6 15, which means that I get to watch it, which is so great. I mean, Florida won up against Clemson this year at Gassby nine to three. speaker-1: Yeah, I think a lot of what Florida has going for them is veteran experience from other schools, even have a player who's played overseas. So there's a lot of experience on that Florida roster, a lot of championship pedigree for that team as well. And then Clemson, you never know what you're gonna see. I mean, when they did play at Gasparilla, they had just played earlier that morning in a a Barnburner matchup against Auburn that went all the way down to the wire. So A three game win weekend for Clemson that weekend. So I don't necessarily know if we got the best version of Clemson. They had some struggle scoring and they found that touch in the last two games with the wins versus Bama and South Carolina. So this matchup is kind of a toss-up. You know, earlier I would have been like, ⁓ Florida's a favorite, but now I feel like this is anyone's game. Whatever offense gets rolling is who's gonna take this game. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. And based on what you're saying, this might be, besides South Carolina and USF, the best game to watch for the woman's side on Friday. Could go either way in six fifteen PM Eastern time, once again on the College Hockey South YouTube channel, and it'll be on the mezzanine rink at Coral Springs if you're in attendance. Before we get to our last matchup of the day, we'll recognize the ⁓ three quarterfinals. Those by teams are FGCU, USF. Middle Tennessee and South Carolina. So in that order, those teams will play the winners from the quarterfinals. But our guaranteed game on day two is Tampa versus Florida for ⁓ two. Tampa not so good against Florida this year. Really, the Gators have have had their way. They've won the last couple of matchups against them. And I mean Tampa just played pretty much two very complete games out at regionals. Florida lost a tough one. I feel like this is more of the the Three days worth of ⁓ three games that I wanna see because of where these two teams are at in their their season. Yeah. speaker-1: Florida trying to maybe get over some of the sting of losing at regionals and want to go out and play a really tough last couple games. We know their season ends after the playoffs. So they want to be crowned CHS ⁓ two champions. They would love to end their season on that note. And Tampa complete games. And you don't want to see any of these games lead to suspensions going into nationals. So there's also a lot more of a And send it for Tampa and Florida Atlantic to play a cleaner game. Florida can get a little out of hand, but obviously they still are playing for a championship. You mentioned that Frank Pasquale's gonna get the guys up, wants to get this. End your season on a high note. That's the message for Florida. So I expect this to be a really, really good game and a really good tournament among three really strong teams. speaker-0: Definitely finishing up on Friday at eight thirty PM Eastern time on the stadium rink. And Saturday, of course, we only can guarantee really three matchups or at least three sets of teams. Florida, AC D C Jacksonville were one and two this year in in those conferences. So they got biased to the semifinal. ⁓ those will be at six o'clock and six forty five. They'll go on simultaneously and Gavin, I believe you'll be center stage for that Jacksonville matchup, whoever they play. But Florida Atlantic ⁓ two plays Tampa and what you just mentioned, you don't want to get guys suspended. This one probably you could double circle with that. If you don't remember, they had in their three game weekend multiple disqualifications. They had a major fight at the end of, I believe, the first game. Multiple guys picked up game misconduct. And I and we just alluded to it, like for FAU, they need Rocco Bruno. And you cannot find yourself in a position where Gunnar Stevens is hot, but you might need Rocco at some point. So really stick to yourselves and and and keep it cool because in the grand scheme, this game's kind of meaningless, at least for their rankings and their end nationals. You want to play for a conference, you want to win a championship, but we hope everybody keeps it cool there and ⁓ a matchup that's been great. I mean FAU won two of three to bump themselves to number four in the southeast region and ⁓ Tampa had the win game one the last time they played in that three game set. Good one there to finish the date eight eight. ⁓ eight o'clock p.m. Eastern time on Stadium Rink. And Sunday, our schedule looks like this. 8 a.m. is the ACDC third place game, followed up with the eight fifteen AM ACDC Championship there on the stadium rink. All these games I believe will be on the stadium rink. Or ⁓ no, excuse me. Mezzany will have the third place game. A C D C will have the championship on the stadium rink. Then at ten forty five AM, it's the women's championship. Not biased, but Lizzie, hope you guys are there. Come the final day. Would be awesome to see it. Ten forty five A.M. And at the same time, ⁓ three, they have their championship game at eleven A.M. Eastern. Could be an autobid to nationals on the line. We'll have to see how it all shakes out. And to finish up our conference tournament, it's ⁓ T at 145 PM Eastern. Of course, like we've said throughout this episode, all games will be broadcasted live. on the College Hockey South YouTube channel. Just big thanks to first off you, Gavin. ⁓ your broadcast team is stepping up in a big way to to make this happen. You know, big credits to Noah Gabrieluk, your fiance Alina Kay, we're gonna make the trip. You know, how excited are you just for the opportunity and and things that you want to do at this conference playoff? speaker-1: Yeah, I'm super excited. I mean, all of this kind of came together really quickly. Even just starting and getting this broadcast group together, my fiance, Noah. It's been super cool. And one to get to go and do this with them as well is really awesome. But also everything's kind of been leading up to this moment, all the prep, all the games, all the podcast episodes, everything's been leading up to this playoffs. So I am ⁓ I'm super excited that we're here on episode twenty-seven now of the podcast. Almost ⁓ two thousand listens. So it's been a super fun year. I'm ⁓ really excited for playoffs and just to get to work with everyone, get to put this on and watch new championships happen, new members. It's just really cool to see some of these new teams that have joined this year get to compete in their first playoffs as well. speaker-0: Lizzie, just asking you, I mean you kind of alluded to it, you know, getting to to see all these people. You know, what excites you most about a a tournament like this? First time we're all gonna be under the same roof. What what are some things you're looking forward to as you make the trek here? speaker-2: Well, to make the trek. First of all, the drive, I'm going up with my goalie, so that's gonna be so much fun. She's kind of a scary driver, so that'll I hope I make it there. She's listening to this, Ana. You know I'm not lying. You are terrifying. But it'll be fun. Too bad we can't stop at any Buckies on the way, but we'll probably run into some other teammates at gas stations. But as you said, we have everybody under the Panther's Ice Den roof. So I have so many opportunities to watch so many different teams that I've never seen play before, especially this year because I've been so like out of whack and out of the loop with all of the hockey teams and CHS, but mainly with the women's games, because I mean, I haven't had the opportunity to watch games against Clemson or very many games I've haven't had the opportunity to watch games where Bama's just playing, where I'm not in them. ⁓ and I love watching women's hockey. I know some people are partial to men's, and it's not even just because I am a woman. It's more so just because of how much effort everybody has put into growing this program and to growing their teams. And even though it does get a little chippy, it does get really competitive out in the ice, it's wonderful to see this big thing that we've all worked so hard to start and to continue and That will continue for years and years and years in the future, but it's gonna be great to see everything climax this week. speaker-0: I think it's worth mentioning too, just the growth this year. When you look at in the grand scheme of things for the conference, you've got two teams that have have been in the rankings. You know, South Carolina, Tampa have made their presence in the southeast. Obviously not likely to go to nationals, but you never know in the future. I I think actually very soon that you're gonna have that kind of conversation for the top teams in the conference. And it's so great to and I know we say her name a lot and I I don't know if she loves it or not so much, but Savannah Prefontaine puts in so much time. She puts in her conversation skills. She puts in a lot of behind the scenes work that nobody, I guess, sees. And that goes for all of club officers. You know this well. But when you're running a conference like this where things have shaken up so much, there's been new teams added. It's been a collective effort. It everybody has to pitch in to make these schedules happen. The bus rides, the parents, those early skates, those late night skates, trying to find officials. Hell, you had what was it? You had to pull a official off a rec league game one time, like just to make it work. speaker-2: I forgot about that. speaker-0: Like it's there's so much that because the end of the day it's club hockey, but you want it to be more and it is more because of the people. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to meet all these people and meet you, meet Savannah. And I can't wait to shake hands and have a great time with some of these people that have really stepped up in a big way. If you're in any way involved with this conference with a team, thank you for all of your work you put in this year. It's gonna be a great weekend in Coral Springs. We're gonna Have an episode next week talking about the winners and breaking it all down and what it all means. Thanks to Gavin Coker, right here, our producer. It's been a fun ride. ⁓ hopefully we'll get Danny Bohm back in the fray as well next week. But can't wait to see you guys. Safe travels to everybody heading to Coral Springs this year. And before we sign off, guys, anything ⁓ nota noteworthy you wanna kinda mention here before we we go away? speaker-2: I mean for you, Devin, don't sell yourself too short. We talk about all these other people, especially Gavin, who have put so much effort into this, but you've done a great job helping to host the podcasts and running things. So thank you to both of you guys for being so heavily involved and dedicated to making this thing work. speaker-1: Yeah, like Lizzie said, big shout out to you, Devin. Making me laugh sometimes when I'm editing ⁓ and people don't see all the things that I've had to cut out this year. ⁓ maybe I'll have to go back make a blooper roll for myself. speaker-2: Maybe don't. Yeah, just for yourself. Don't of that. speaker-0: It'd be fun. I mean, you've gotten a lot. Like there is so much, like too much that has not been acknowledged on this pod. speaker-1: Yeah, so I mean but thank you once again, Devin, for hosting, allowing me to be the producer, things like that, and new experiences is here and ⁓ yeah, I'm just super excited. Playoffs are here and I'm ready for a three and a half hour episode next week when we talk about it. You guys ⁓ get ready to tune in for that one. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. speaker-2: I don't think you are though. It's gonna be three and a half hours. speaker-0: Well, you know, full disclaimer and and thank you guys. The those words mean a lot. It's been a pleasure to to meet people and be involved down here. But we said on almost every single recording before we start that we try to keep this under an hour. And we have officially gone over an hour on our recording once again. So I don't know, maybe maybe I gotta, you know, do a challenge or something. Maybe I gotta sing the national anthem. We haven't acknowledged this, by the way. Hold on. Before we finish this recording, by the way, we haven't talked about this. So speaker-1: We do have two. speaker-0: Let me let me explain some context for our listeners here that are still with us. Okay. So at the end of the I can't pull it up, but somebody else does it. At the start of the season, go ahead. speaker-2: Is this what a is this the fantasy thing? speaker-0: This is the fantasy league. Okay. So I need one of you to pull the standings up while I describe it. At the start of the season, we at the very beginning of the year, as all of the media, some of the players collected, I think it's a 12 person league, maybe 16, ⁓ 12 person league, fantasy hockey, and we set a punishment for the biggest loser. So the person that has the most losses. Basically, whoever loses the steck. speaker-1: Don't worry. speaker-0: the ⁓ the punishment was they had to sing the national anthem before a playoff game. Call that harsh draw, call that an opportunity, I don't know. But Gavin, who is at the moment our biggest loser? speaker-1: Yeah, with the Olympics it kind of hurt everyone's chances, kinda put us in a stalemate for three weeks. I've been I was just checking fantasy today, getting ready for the championship, but you know, Tampa wins hockey games but doesn't win fantasy games and it's gonna be Avery Gugliata, assistant captain for University of Tampa got the punishment. So maybe has to suit up suit up and sing the anthem during a playoff game or before a playoff game. speaker-2: Congrats, Avery. speaker-0: I thought it was gonna be Danny. I thought all year Danny was gonna have to sing because he had a really bad start. speaker-2: Me too, 'cause I I haven't checked it in weeks and so I kind of assumed it was gonna be him. I no offense, Dan actually maybe do take offense to this. I thought it was gonna be you and I was really hoping it was gonna be you. That would have been hilarious. speaker-1: Yes. Danny rallied together, got a five and thirteen record on the year. So not not great, but I mean he we'll we'll talk about he did have Europe, so there was a week or two where he didn't touch his lineup. speaker-2: Okay, I haven't touched my lineup in four weeks, all right? That's no excuse. speaker-1: There's been no hockey games for almost two and a half. speaker-2: Yeah, I guess so. speaker-0: That's so real. I I haven't touched my team since ⁓ probably like three weeks before the Olympic break. Honestly I forgot about it. But I think my team did pretty well. Yeah. If because it yeah, it came this thing like we started. That's how it goes with fantasy leagues. If you know, like unless you play for money or whatever, it it can get a little boring at times to follow. Congrats though to Avi Googliata. We'll see if she does it before the game against Georgia or we'll reserve it for Saturday if they make it that far. Fresnel though. That is all we have to get ready for the playoffs. Boy, once again, thanks so much to you guys for coming on. Lizzie Penn, Gavin Coker, Devin Sarah here, signing off before Kalachaki South playoffs. We'll see you in Coral Springs this weekend. But until then, have a great weekend wherever you'll be watching. We hope to hear from you soon. Take it easy.