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Previewing No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 2 Ohio State · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:10
  Hi, everyone, Welcome back to the podcast. This is an extra special
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  episode of this week's podcast because we already gave you one episode, that one
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  dealing with the history of NCAA women's hockey, but we are back with a
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  special one. My name's Todd Maleski and Nicole Haseer is with me. We're
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  talking about the number one versus Number two matchup that's coming this weekend in Columbus,
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  Ohio. That's number one Wisconsin against number two Ohio State, early control
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  of the WCHA on the line, a rematch of the twenty twenty three NCAA
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  Championship game, and on and on and on. So many subplots to this
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  really important series for the week before Thanksgiving. This is a one that I
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  think has been circled for a lot of people for a lot of reasons.
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  Nicle and I wonder if you want to get into maybe some of those in
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  will we'll kind of touch on all of them as we go along here for
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  this brief episode. But what's the big one that stands out for you?
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  Well, I think it's Wisconsin's first big test, right, Like, Ohio
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  State came out and played Colgate in the first weekend and split that series,
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  and it kind of let us know that both those teams are or where they
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  wanted to be to start the season. Wisconsin hasn't really been pushed back on
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  this year, so you know, their first big test to prove if they
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  really should be the number one team in the country of particular. Note,
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  now that KK Harvey is injured, that just really changes the dynamic for them
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  on offense, on defense, on special teams, just in every part of
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  the game. She's that impactful. So I think it's just a really important
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  game in terms of sort of gauging where these teams are and who should be
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  at the top. And you know, Ohio State has continued to get some
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  votes in the polls, and so I think, yeah, I think a
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  lot of people are thinking, you know, this will help figure things out.
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  The likelihood is will probably be a split and we won't be any further
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  closer to finding anything out, but it will be interesting. And these teams
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  played, you know, a six to five overtime game and the final weekend
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  of the regular season last year and then turned around and played a one ozer
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  game in the National championship game, So you never quite know what you're going
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  to get both teams look different than they did last year. Who do you
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  think are going to be the players to watch to that are gonna, you
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  know, sort of decide how this might go well a couple. I think.
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  One on on the Wisconsin side that I'm looking forward to see if she'll
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  play is Anna Wilgren, who is went out injured. Didn't play the last
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  game of the Badgers series at Saint Cloud before last week's break. She I
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  went back and looked she took a pretty rough tumble into the boards and kept
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  playing afterwards. But it didn't go that the next day and it's she was
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  in practice but with a non contact jersey this week. So for for her,
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  you know, like you mentioned, the Badges are already well without KK
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  Harvey. She won't be playing this week. This will be I think six
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  and seven straight games the Badgers have played without her because of a knee injury
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  she suffered against Bmidge State back in October. And so being out without your
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  top defender is one thing. If you take out your your second defender,
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  uh, that would be a big loss for for a Badgers team, you
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  know, going into a series against a really strong offensive team, one that
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  can you know, play the puck possession game just as well as Wisconsin can,
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  and so it kind of gets into that who does it better is the
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  you know, the thing that ends up standing out on the Ohio state side
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  of it. I mean, you could take your pick, because they,
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  like Wisconsin, they've had just this remarkable spread of players contributing. Wisconsin has
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  is fairly top heavy, but they've also had a lot of players go down
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  the line and get goals along the way just because they've they've scored so many.
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  Like your point earlier, there first ten games of the season, we're
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  all against unranked teams. They did play Saint Cloud State as their first ranked
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  opponent. But you know, you look at the you know, is it
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  Caleb Barnes kind of weekend to shine? Is it a Jen Gardner, you
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  know who always seems to make an impact in in big games. Is it
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  her her point to prove this weekend? I think those are a couple of
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  the names to watch. Obviously, Wisconsin has the the cast of of you
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  know, stars at the top of the lineup that is really seemed to be
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  uh on fire earlier this season against some you know, as you mentioned,
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  as we've talked about some some weaker competition and you like you said, this
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  is this is the big test for them. So what's what's I guess from
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  Is there a matchup or a personnel grouping that you're looking at in particular going
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  in the well, I think a big question mark or a big sort of
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  turning point for Wisconsin will be goaltending. Right like they Ohio State has Amanda
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  Teeley. She has been strong for them, even you know, when she
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  was less strong her sophomore year or last year than the year before, you
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  know, she she still is. They have had had that solid presence with
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  Wisconsin, splitting time with the two goalies between Jane Gervay and Ava McNaughton.
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  Ava is a rookie. On top of that, it will be really interesting
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  to see how they just handled themselves in this in this situation and their sort
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  of first big you know, one versus two tests. And I think then,
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  you know, coming back to talking about defenders, if both Wilgrin and
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  kk are out, like those two are going to see a lot more action
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  in net so I think, you know, the focus for Ohio State is
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  going to be really putting the pressure on and really getting up close, getting
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  in front of the net, making the goalies make saves, trying to force
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  the defenders to make mistakes. I mean, sort of all the things they
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  would already be doing. But I think that's just gonna be a little more
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  heightened knowing that, you know, it's a more precarious situation for the Badgers.
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  You know, it's always we talked about this, you know, in
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  our first episode. It's Wisconsin has scored so many goals against some of these
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  opponents that it's difficult to compare the offenses head to head. But you know,
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  Aiho State is still averaging like five goals a game, and as you
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  said there, I think probably their scoring depth is a little deeper, or
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  at least they're utilizing their scoring depth more in a way that they didn't necessarily
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  in the best they're always had, you know, as you mentioned some of
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  the players that you know could like a Jen Gardner or even you know,
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  Kenzie Houseworth or some of those players that we're capable of, but we're not
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  called upon as often. And so I think we're seeing, you know,
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  they're going to have that depth across like three full solid lines and all of
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  them are have been regularly scoring. So I definitely think the game will probably
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  be one or lost for Wisconsin. Right there in front of the night,
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  I was looking through some stats this week to try and you know, find
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  some way of comparing things and how things have gone for Wisconsin in Columbus recently.
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  I think it's four in a row they've lost. They were swept in
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  the last two seasons. They're at Ohio State. Going back, it's it's
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  a longer thing. You know, we've known Ohio State and in years previous
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  has had just a remarkable penalty kill and you know last year maybe that the
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  numbers weren't as as remarkable as they had been in the past. But the
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  last eighteen games between Wisconsin and Ohio State, Wisconsin has only scored a power
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  play goal in one of them, and that's that's pretty remarkable, just you
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  know, when you consider the Wisconsin teams that they've been able to put out
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  there. Power play has been a little finicky for Wisconsin in previous seasons.
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  This season, they they've I think they're over forty percent. It's somewhere around
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  forty four percent, second in the country, which if the fact that that
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  second in the country, it is still kind of a little mind boggling,
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  but I think it's Coldgate with the top one right now if I'm remembering it
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  right. But so that is an interesting thing for me to watch, uh
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  in this series that Wisconsin has has gotten great production office powerplay, regardless of
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  the person they've had at at the point. You know, it was k
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  Harvey at first, and Wilgren stepped in, and then when Wilgrin was out,
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  Vivian Jungles moved into that role. And uh, you know, the
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  Badgeries didn't necessarily look great on the power play with with the five on the
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  ice again Stint Cloud in that second game, but they got the winning goal
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  on the power play late in the third period. So uh, for me,
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  that's a key. Uh, the the Wisconsin power play against the Ohio
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  State penalty kill if it comes to that. This is one of those series
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  that you never really know how it's gonna be called either is there gonna be
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  a a good amount of special teams? Is there not? We'll wait and
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  see, I guess. I also think that the Ohio State offense looks different
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  this year in that you're not seeing as much play up from the point because
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  of the lack of Sophie Jakes it is a different approach. I mean,
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  Kayleb Barnes also obviously plays a very good, you know, blue line offensive
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  game, but it is just different. And so if the Badger's go in
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  there thinking if the players that have played Ohio State in recent years, I
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  think that it's going to look the same. Obviously they'll have watch tape and
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  that sort of thing, but I think that it will be interesting to see
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  sort of this different look that we see from Ohio State. They just are
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  it's a different approach to the offense in some ways, and so I think
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  how Wisconsin handles that will be interesting. But I mean, regardless of if
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  we're talking holding any w c H a opponent for Ohio State, holding anyone
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  to one probably goal in eighteen games is just kind of a ridiculous, mind
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  blowing stat So good for them. That's, like you said, going to
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  be an absolute important part of the game. Yeah, And Mark Johnson this
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  week, the Badger's coach, was saying he thinks Ohio State it is a
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  deeper team this season than it was last year, and so that's a you
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  know, a point in their favor. They are a pretty pretty darn good
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  team for you know, over six months last season as they were trying to
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  defend their championship and everyone was coming at them. And now it's on Wisconsin's
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  side again to have everyone coming at them so as the number one team,
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  as a defending champion, and that's going to make this a really intriguing set
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  of games at Ohio State this weekend, both of them on BTN plus,
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  Big Big ten plus. I get what they call it officially, but if
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  you're looking to watch them some pretty good hockey this weekend, there there is
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  your opportunity to to check that out. Yeah. I think the one other
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  thing I was going to point out too is that the you know, we
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  talked a lot in the off season, Ohio State brought in a lot of
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  transfer players and so the obviously Colgate is a different opponent they played, you
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  know, sort of that high level. But players like Caleb Arnes, Hannahbilka,
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  Kira z In and I don't know that they've ever played in the game
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  quite like o Wisconsin Ohio State matchup in Columbus is, particularly when it's one
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  versus two like this. So I do think just the style of play,
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  the physicality, the way that it may or may not be called all of
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  those things on their home ice. So seeing how you know, the players
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  that that have not come up and haven't really faced a w C A game
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  like this, how they handle it. What else will also I think play
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  into it the a little bit of the unfortunate thing if you're looking to attend
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  that game Saturday, right up against the football game happening or across the street
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  and with you know whatever, they get one hundred thousand people or whatever at
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  the Horseshoe there, so yeah, they're there. You have you have to
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  fight h football parking for uh and everything else. Uh if you're you're heading
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  to to that game in person, so good mnth Ohio State Hockey Twitter was
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  already sending out parking instructions today like please plan ahead and you're going to have
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  to pay football prices. So yeah, it's unfortunate they can't get a new
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  rink soon enough. That's correct, A little bit farther away from the football
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  stadium, which I believe where they're planning it would be nice. Yes,
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  that's the least of its problems. Anyway, it's going to be a great
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  matchup. We just wanted to a couple of teams that we get to watch
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  quite a bit and obviously saw play you know, multiple times last year and
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  then in the postseason and in the National Championship game. Thought that we should
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  give a little bit of insight and let everybody know that it's worth subscribing,
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  taking a look and watching these games. You're going to see some of the
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  best players in the world facing off this weekend Ohio State for hosts Wisconsin.
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  That's one versus two. It's Friday at five pm Central, Saturday at two
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  pm Central, both games on Big ten Plus. We'll talk more about what
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  we learned in next week's pod podcast, but thanks for listening to our short
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  little episode and we will I'll talk to you soon.