Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / A stunning first-round exit in ECAC Hockey as the postseason begins

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A stunning first-round exit in ECAC Hockey as the postseason begins · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Usccho dot com again. Welcome to the podcast. Todd Moluski
0:14
Speaker 1: and Nicole Hosey with you from US Echo dot com.
0:16
Speaker 1: It's been a quite a week in the US as
0:20
Speaker 1: far as hockey goes, with gold medals for the women's
0:22
Speaker 1: and men's Olympic teams. We will get to the women's
0:27
Speaker 1: triumph over Canada last Thursday in a couple of minutes.
0:31
Speaker 1: But we are into the playoffs in college hockey for
0:35
Speaker 1: a couple of conferences already, and three more are joining
0:39
Speaker 1: this week, and so Nicole, I want to touch on
0:43
Speaker 1: what was really right away on Friday one of the
0:47
Speaker 1: most stunning results I can remember in the playoffs in
0:51
Speaker 1: conference tournament play anyway, Union going into Clarkson in the
0:56
Speaker 1: twelve to five matchup in ECAC Hockey and getting a
0:59
Speaker 1: two to one win last Friday afternoon. Emma Realm made
1:04
Speaker 1: thirty nine saves, nineteen of them in the third period
1:07
Speaker 1: for Union and carry on Engelbert men. Meghan Juplanty had
1:11
Speaker 1: the first period goals for the Garnet Chargers, which I mean.
1:18
Speaker 2: Ending if not the biggest, like it's gotta be one
1:21
Speaker 2: of the biggest games in their program, right.
1:25
Speaker 1: I would have to think so ending Clarkson season in
1:29
Speaker 1: the first game of the playoffs is is.
1:31
Speaker 2: We've been talking about it for weeks. We said it's
1:33
Speaker 2: gonna be cast.
1:35
Speaker 1: It is cast, and the single game round plays into
1:40
Speaker 1: that too. If that's the best of three, I don't
1:42
Speaker 1: know if that really ends up that way. I think Clarkson,
1:46
Speaker 1: ye calling comes back games two and three.
1:49
Speaker 2: You think ACAC meetings this summer have a conversation about there.
1:54
Speaker 1: May be another point on the agenda for that of
1:57
Speaker 1: do we go back to best of three there? Yeah,
2:00
Speaker 1: it's just a this is what can happen when when
2:05
Speaker 1: a season doesn't really I feel like that there was
2:09
Speaker 1: more potential for Clarkson and it never really fully got
2:12
Speaker 1: reached because of so many ups and downs throughout the season.
2:15
Speaker 1: And now yeah, now they're they're the season's over.
2:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, things just never like quite clicked or fell in
2:22
Speaker 2: plates or sort of whatever idium you want to use.
2:24
Speaker 1: There.
2:25
Speaker 2: They the potential was there and that the tilt was there,
2:28
Speaker 2: but it never Yeah, it just never all quite came
2:31
Speaker 2: together in the way that they wanted or needed it to,
2:33
Speaker 2: and the result was was this loss. I mean, certainly,
2:37
Speaker 2: you know some of it is running into a union
2:40
Speaker 2: like the goaltender plate spectacularly, including a behind the back
2:43
Speaker 2: catch a puck Lake went up and hit her in
2:46
Speaker 2: the back of the neck, and then she threw her
2:48
Speaker 2: glove behind her. Just absolutely spectacular. But it was, Yeah,
2:52
Speaker 2: it was exactly what we've been talking that is going
2:55
Speaker 2: to happen. I don't think it's the only upset we're
2:57
Speaker 2: going to see in that tournament and other tournaments as well,
3:00
Speaker 2: but that one I think is just the most right
3:02
Speaker 2: for these upsets. The middle of the e c C
3:07
Speaker 2: or I guess at this point twelve of the dud
3:09
Speaker 2: even the middle. But yeah, I just the ECAC has
3:12
Speaker 2: been full of upsets this season, and I just think
3:14
Speaker 2: we're going to keep seeing that. The parody there is huge.
3:18
Speaker 2: And you know what, when you have three teams within
3:22
Speaker 2: a point of each other at the top of the league,
3:23
Speaker 2: that tells you, you know, sort of what we're dealing
3:25
Speaker 2: with them. It's like less than six points to them,
3:27
Speaker 2: like the middle of the league standings. So it's just
3:31
Speaker 2: been a hot mess. Complimentary and I'll fees it a
3:36
Speaker 2: couple of bettery is a fail. Love it for all
3:38
Speaker 2: of us. It's been fun to watch and I don't
3:40
Speaker 2: see that changing and definitely didn't expect this one, but
3:45
Speaker 2: also not surprised, right Like ultimately, I mean I am,
3:49
Speaker 2: but I just we knew this was this could happen,
3:51
Speaker 2: and I think Union is one of those teams that's
3:54
Speaker 2: just shown that if they're able to put together a
3:57
Speaker 2: really complete game, and I think I hope that for them,
4:00
Speaker 2: this is a sign up sort of that another step
4:02
Speaker 2: of development. It's not stealing games next year, it's it's
4:05
Speaker 2: you know, witting some more of those doing maybe a
4:07
Speaker 2: little more what like Brown did this year. So yeah,
4:11
Speaker 2: ultimately we've been tapping all last couple of weeks about
4:14
Speaker 2: clerks and hovering on the edge, and that conversation's over.
4:18
Speaker 1: Right absolutely. The other three ECC Hockey First Round games
4:22
Speaker 1: all went to the home team's, col Gate beating RPI
4:25
Speaker 1: four to two on Friday, Brown beating Dartmouth seven to
4:28
Speaker 1: two on Saturday. The eight nine game did go to overtime.
4:31
Speaker 1: Saint Lawrence took two leads in that game, but Harvard
4:35
Speaker 1: came back both times and then won it in overtime
4:38
Speaker 1: three to two. Kaylee McDonald's scoring three to twenty three
4:42
Speaker 1: into the extra session for the Crimson to move on there.
4:47
Speaker 1: That was the one that I thought, you know, when
4:49
Speaker 1: you get into those matchups, eight nine always feels like
4:51
Speaker 1: the one that is going to be closest, right, But
4:55
Speaker 1: and so that one did deliver as a and opening
4:58
Speaker 1: there for the Saints with a couple leads, but just
5:01
Speaker 1: couldn't hold on. Harvard ends up moving on. We'll talk
5:04
Speaker 1: a little bit more about the weekend ahead and what's
5:07
Speaker 1: coming in the quarter final matchups at the end of
5:10
Speaker 1: our show today. But it's just gonna set up to
5:12
Speaker 1: be another weekend of potential chaos like we've seen out
5:15
Speaker 1: of everything out of ECAC so far this season, So
5:19
Speaker 1: why should this be any different?
5:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, overall of us kind of a weekend
5:24
Speaker 2: of chaos, right, We had tons of overtime games, and
5:26
Speaker 2: so I just feel like that is that's prescient of
5:29
Speaker 2: what we're going to continue to see, is the postseason
5:32
Speaker 2: continues on from here.
5:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
5:36
Speaker 2: Over at Victory Press, I always put some of the
5:38
Speaker 2: goals of the week, and I literally did a whole
5:40
Speaker 2: one of them with just overtime game winners for this week.
5:42
Speaker 2: And so it was a good fitting send off to
5:46
Speaker 2: the regular season, and I hope really setting us up
5:48
Speaker 2: for another fun postseason.
5:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of those overtime games, a playoff overtime game
5:54
Speaker 1: again was in Atlantic Hockey with the six to seven
5:57
Speaker 1: game had Robert Morris playing Della where by the way,
6:01
Speaker 1: six to seven game with that I just had to like,
6:04
Speaker 1: I hate even saying that now, but just the way
6:07
Speaker 1: they set that up this year with having seven teams,
6:10
Speaker 1: couldn't let it go. Robert Morris fell behind two nothing
6:14
Speaker 1: in the second period, but clawed their way back. Jessica
6:19
Speaker 1: McKinnon scores on a power plane overtime to give the
6:22
Speaker 1: Colonials a three to two victory Delaware. His first season
6:25
Speaker 1: ends at a two and thirty one record. This first season,
6:29
Speaker 1: you know, is about building for the program. I think
6:32
Speaker 1: any any wins were I mean, we're kind of a bonus,
6:38
Speaker 1: but getting some playoff experience and and you know valuable, Yeah,
6:44
Speaker 1: that'll be valuable, right.
6:45
Speaker 2: And I think just like showing that fight, right, Like,
6:48
Speaker 2: I think it's really important that, like in a top season,
6:51
Speaker 2: in your very first season, in that very final game,
6:54
Speaker 2: they were still pushing to the absolute end as possible,
6:57
Speaker 2: right and had every opportunity to win that as much
7:00
Speaker 2: as as Robert Morris did. And that I think just
7:04
Speaker 2: probably speaks really well to what we could expect from
7:06
Speaker 2: them in the future. I like, I just appreciate. I
7:08
Speaker 2: know it's going to be so hard in that first
7:10
Speaker 2: season and with so few wins, so I just think
7:13
Speaker 2: it speaks well to the character of the team that
7:15
Speaker 2: they were were still fighting in Clawn in those final minutes.
7:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. Lynnen Wood then knocked out Robert Morris on Saturday
7:22
Speaker 1: three to one, and Syracuse got a double overtime victory
7:26
Speaker 1: at rit on Saturday four to three. Emma Ganadi, I
7:31
Speaker 1: couldn't find a pronunciation. Guy, I don't know if that's
7:33
Speaker 1: how it's pronounced, but that's I apologize in advance, scoring
7:37
Speaker 1: three twenty four into double overtime. Their first two overtime
7:40
Speaker 1: game comes early this postseason, as the Orange moves on
7:48
Speaker 1: Syracuse at Penn State lynden Wood at Mercyhurst coming up
7:51
Speaker 1: this week. We'll talk a little bit more again about
7:54
Speaker 1: those later. There was a out in the West where
7:59
Speaker 1: the the final weekend of the regular season was happening
8:01
Speaker 1: in the WHA an important series that we kind of
8:04
Speaker 1: touched on last week, as I think I said something
8:06
Speaker 1: about I need to see something from Minnesota Duluth and
8:10
Speaker 1: I saw something from Minnesota Duluth a pair of overtime
8:14
Speaker 1: victories at Ritter Arena in Minnesota three to two on Friday,
8:18
Speaker 1: two to one on Saturday, Toba Henderson getting both overtime
8:21
Speaker 1: goals for the Bulldogs. Ev Gascollen makes thirty one saves Friday,
8:26
Speaker 1: thirty four saves Saturday. I guess that's what I wanted
8:29
Speaker 1: to see. If the luth was going to be a
8:32
Speaker 1: factor here, they needed to finish the regular season with
8:36
Speaker 1: a statement. And it doesn't give them full points like
8:40
Speaker 1: a regular a couple of regulation wins would, but going
8:44
Speaker 1: into Ritter and winning a couple of games is a
8:50
Speaker 1: a pretty decent statement as far as I'm concerned.
8:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a statement for many team. I
8:55
Speaker 2: think one of the best things about that to me
8:57
Speaker 2: is Toba Henderson's a defender, so that that idea of getting,
9:02
Speaker 2: you know, contributions across the roster and the one in
9:07
Speaker 2: the on Friday, she intercepted a pass. I think it
9:10
Speaker 2: took it the link of the ice and it was
9:12
Speaker 2: just like, yes, this is like you said, this is
9:13
Speaker 2: what you need to see. Even if it wasn't a
9:15
Speaker 2: ton of points, A it gave them a little bit
9:18
Speaker 2: more wiggle room in the NPI. It gave them some
9:20
Speaker 2: breathing room and moved them and then I guess I
9:22
Speaker 2: don't know where they're at now because if we had
9:23
Speaker 2: moved up to ninth, yes, you know, at ten, you're
9:26
Speaker 2: the first one out, like any upset in any tournament,
9:29
Speaker 2: and you could be you know, on the outside looking in.
9:31
Speaker 2: So gave them some breathing room also, I think, and
9:34
Speaker 2: I again stay this with all this, I think there's
9:36
Speaker 2: some you know, some petty joy that comes and screwing
9:40
Speaker 2: with your your rival a little bit. Right now, Minnesota
9:42
Speaker 2: is down at four in the NPI, and I think
9:45
Speaker 2: that's a that's a good motivating factor too, like when
9:47
Speaker 2: you are where um D is in this conference and
9:50
Speaker 2: kind of always punching up at these couple of teams
9:53
Speaker 2: like that is a huge sort of meantal win for them,
9:56
Speaker 2: and I think something really to build on and that
9:59
Speaker 2: momentum going into the postseason. I think it's just really important,
10:03
Speaker 2: Like they played two hard games and they came out
10:05
Speaker 2: of the results and that I think, especially as we've
10:08
Speaker 2: talked to needing to see scoring from them and needing
10:10
Speaker 2: to see some stuff from them. I think they really
10:14
Speaker 2: are showing like the signs of life that we want
10:16
Speaker 2: them to be showing at this time in the season.
10:18
Speaker 1: Right absolutely. And you mentioned the NPI there that did
10:23
Speaker 1: push Penn State above Minnesota to third in the NPI,
10:27
Speaker 1: Minnesota dropping the four and it's at seven seven tenth
10:32
Speaker 1: of a point gap there right now. So that's significant
10:36
Speaker 1: enough that I don't think good wins by Minnesota would
10:41
Speaker 1: be enough to overcome that without pen Sate losing. And
10:44
Speaker 1: so that's that is a tough spot for Minnesota now
10:48
Speaker 1: to be and pen Sate is looking great in third,
10:52
Speaker 1: and Minnesota might end up in that four or five
10:55
Speaker 1: game in the regionals where they only play one game
11:00
Speaker 1: at the regional site.
11:03
Speaker 2: The interesting too, because this is that's where it gets
11:08
Speaker 2: into sort of the nitty gritty the NPI, right where
11:10
Speaker 2: like Penn State isn't going to get like much from
11:13
Speaker 2: their wins and their conference moreament but wouldn't get punished
11:16
Speaker 2: for those, right, so bad wins quote unquote. So yeah,
11:20
Speaker 2: it's a it's a very interesting place to be, and yeah,
11:23
Speaker 2: an unaffortunate place for Minnesota and to get there now
11:26
Speaker 2: because yeah, at this point, like we have to assume
11:29
Speaker 2: Penn State's get a cruise like they did through the
11:30
Speaker 2: regular season through the AHA. So yeah, unfortunate pair of
11:36
Speaker 2: overtime losses for them in this situation.
11:40
Speaker 1: Definitely. Otherwise in the w c h A was you know,
11:45
Speaker 1: kind of chalk Wisconsin uh swept Saint Cloud State. Ohio
11:50
Speaker 1: State swept Bamidgie State on the road. That left Wisconsin
11:55
Speaker 1: with the same two point lead and that it had
11:58
Speaker 1: entering the weekend. So the Bads won their second straight
12:01
Speaker 1: WHA championship and get Bimigi State in the first round
12:06
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Ohio State gets Saint Thomas. Will have
12:09
Speaker 1: more on that again in a little while. I want
12:13
Speaker 1: to turn back to Hockey East where we previewed a
12:16
Speaker 1: game last week, number five Northeastern playing number six Yukon
12:20
Speaker 1: that ended up going to overtime as well, Northeastern getting
12:24
Speaker 1: a win three to two on Friday, Morgan Jackson scoring
12:28
Speaker 1: in overtime, Lacy Johnson making thirty five saves. It's I
12:35
Speaker 1: think that I apprevieated it by saying Yukon had a
12:37
Speaker 1: chance to, you know, put that plant the seat a
12:40
Speaker 1: little bit for a potential playoff game, right, and you know,
12:44
Speaker 1: maybe they did a little bit of that. You know, look,
12:46
Speaker 1: they're right there, they're in overtime, but they didn't, right,
12:50
Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't fully do it.
12:51
Speaker 2: They didn't play Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:55
Speaker 1: So it's it's another step for Northeastern toward uh, you know, one,
13:01
Speaker 1: solidifying that number five spot where they don't have to
13:03
Speaker 1: play a first round game number five in the NPI,
13:06
Speaker 1: don't have to play a first rounding game in the regionals,
13:09
Speaker 1: but also just going into the playoffs with with a
13:13
Speaker 1: lot of confidence. Yeah.
13:16
Speaker 2: Now I'm thinking to myself, that's an interesting match up,
13:19
Speaker 2: a possible Minnesota Northeastern four five game. Yeah, interesting something
13:25
Speaker 2: to think about. Yeah, Northeastern, I think is done for
13:29
Speaker 2: the most part everything right Like there, you know, there's
13:32
Speaker 2: been a couple of small, stumblest cups, but like their
13:35
Speaker 2: team that we weren't necessarily picking to win the conference
13:39
Speaker 2: this year, and they just have done little by little,
13:42
Speaker 2: step by step. They weren't trying to do too much
13:44
Speaker 2: at the beginning, and we're just sort of building and
13:46
Speaker 2: have rolled that all the way to the end of
13:48
Speaker 2: the season and have themselves in a really great spot.
13:51
Speaker 2: They've got scoring from a lot of different people and
13:54
Speaker 2: lazy Johnsen is just a really great goal center. They
13:56
Speaker 2: just have a really solid baits. I'm not sure. I mean,
13:59
Speaker 2: Striker is a blaw. Hockey continues to have an outstanding season,
14:03
Speaker 2: and it is climbing up the ranks of the scoring there,
14:06
Speaker 2: and so I think, you know, they have some you know,
14:09
Speaker 2: sort of their irregular scoring and then and also just
14:11
Speaker 2: some of that really dynamic stuff that some of these
14:13
Speaker 2: players can pull out, including Striker, and so yeah, I'll
14:17
Speaker 2: and they get uh there, they get their Olympian back,
14:22
Speaker 2: and yeah, it'll just.
14:23
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting. I don't know.
14:24
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. It's been so close in some of
14:28
Speaker 2: these Hockey East games that I still think there's you know,
14:30
Speaker 2: there's a chance of an upset. I think it's still
14:33
Speaker 2: probably likely that both Yukon and Northeastern, you know, may
14:38
Speaker 2: get NCA bids. But yeah, I do think that there's
14:41
Speaker 2: still a chance that we could see some craziness there.
14:43
Speaker 2: But I do think that for the most part, Northeastern
14:46
Speaker 2: is in the driver's seat and seems to be pretty
14:48
Speaker 2: in control of what of playing their game and and
14:51
Speaker 2: and sort of coming out in the end.
14:54
Speaker 1: Right. Franklin Pierce got to the finish line in New
14:58
Speaker 1: High as regular season champions this weekend, beating Saint Anselm
15:01
Speaker 1: four to two on Friday. St Anselm got a victory
15:06
Speaker 1: six to two on Saturday, but it was done by
15:08
Speaker 1: that point Franklin Pierce winning the Ray of season championship.
15:11
Speaker 1: Assumption lost to Sacred Heart in overtime four to three
15:16
Speaker 1: on Friday, but then beat Sacred Heart three to two
15:18
Speaker 1: on Saturday, So it ends up being Franklin Pierce, Assumption,
15:22
Speaker 1: Saint Anselm as the top three teams, Stonehill in fourth
15:26
Speaker 1: in NUHA. So congratulations to Franklin Pierce on the accomplishment
15:30
Speaker 1: of I believe picked for fourth at the start of
15:32
Speaker 1: the season in New High and finishing first. So this
15:36
Speaker 1: is the proof again that no one really knows what
15:39
Speaker 1: they're talking about in September.
15:41
Speaker 2: We're all just guessing. Yeah. I mean that particularly too,
15:45
Speaker 2: that comes from coaches, meaning it's people most familiar with
15:48
Speaker 2: playing these teams and their rosters on the turnover. So yeah, second,
15:53
Speaker 2: it's second title for them, but I yeah, I think,
15:57
Speaker 2: and they're the team that has been so good in
15:59
Speaker 2: the post season, in the conference tournament and pull some
16:02
Speaker 2: upsets in Latin recent years, so I think probably the
16:09
Speaker 2: favorites to take it to Dwyer to wire, but it
16:11
Speaker 2: will I mean, nothing there has been it's been as
16:14
Speaker 2: we expected either, so I certainly certainly would not be
16:18
Speaker 2: putting money on anything at this point in any of
16:20
Speaker 2: these leagues.
16:21
Speaker 1: UHA feels like a league where it's just you know,
16:25
Speaker 1: home ice doesn't necessarily matters. I mean we've seen over
16:29
Speaker 1: the years it's gonna it's gonna be a bounce or
16:33
Speaker 1: two or something like that that that decides a championship
16:37
Speaker 1: game at the end.
16:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, hot goalie streak.
16:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:40
Speaker 2: I quite literally feel like other places I could make
16:44
Speaker 2: some educated guesses some of the other conferences, but I
16:47
Speaker 2: feel like I would just be I don't know, pulling
16:49
Speaker 2: names from a hat would be the best way to
16:51
Speaker 2: possibly pick that bracket with like any sort of regularity,
16:55
Speaker 2: because I just think you could talk yourself in circles
16:58
Speaker 2: like they beat them and they beat them, yeah, and
17:00
Speaker 2: like it just it just keeps going.
17:04
Speaker 1: Well, that's what makes it fun, and when you get
17:05
Speaker 1: into the playoffs is that when you don't know what
17:07
Speaker 1: to expect, it's good watching. So Okay, that's our spin
17:12
Speaker 1: through the five leagues for this week, We're gonna take
17:15
Speaker 1: a quick break. When we come back, we will talk
17:16
Speaker 1: about the Olympics and what we saw there and a
17:19
Speaker 1: little bit about you know what we're going to see
17:21
Speaker 1: with some of those players returning this week to their
17:24
Speaker 1: college teams. We saw a few of them back last week,
17:27
Speaker 1: but the US players will be getting back to their
17:29
Speaker 1: teams this week, so we'll be back in a minute.
17:32
Speaker 1: Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast.
17:43
Speaker 1: Todd Nicole with you to talk to some Olympics for
17:45
Speaker 1: the final time and this cycle anyway, the US comes
17:50
Speaker 1: out with the gold medal after to one overtime victory
17:52
Speaker 1: over Canada. Last Thursday, Nicole was at a watch party
17:58
Speaker 1: at UW Madison, Wisconsin's one of their unions, and it
18:03
Speaker 1: was a it was a cool sight to see the
18:05
Speaker 1: entire room fall. It was on a big screen. There
18:08
Speaker 1: was a lot of tables and chairs set up as
18:11
Speaker 1: kind of a restaurant setting, but man, there was there
18:13
Speaker 1: was nowhere to say it. There was hardly anywhere left
18:16
Speaker 1: to stand by the end of it, which was you know,
18:20
Speaker 1: the part of the good fortune of the timing of it,
18:22
Speaker 1: that's that you know, it wasn't at eleven o'clock at
18:24
Speaker 1: night like it had been. I feel like the last
18:26
Speaker 1: two was in the middle of our our work day.
18:29
Speaker 1: But it was a I think what we expected a
18:36
Speaker 1: US Canada game to be, you know, not necessarily the
18:39
Speaker 1: five nothing game that we saw in the preliminary round
18:42
Speaker 1: or some of those games that we saw in the
18:44
Speaker 1: rivalry series. This was what US Canada has been. You know,
18:47
Speaker 1: every shift means something, every puck battle means something, and
18:50
Speaker 1: it comes down to, you know, one shot at the end.
18:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't just sound like to I don't like smugger
18:57
Speaker 2: I but like, I think anybody that has watched US
19:00
Speaker 2: Canada did not think that this was going to be
19:02
Speaker 2: a blowout game, like anybody familiar with like long term
19:05
Speaker 2: women's international hockey. Like, there were definitely people that were like,
19:09
Speaker 2: oh my god, you know US is the favorite, Canada
19:12
Speaker 2: is an underdog, and I'm just like, like the US
19:16
Speaker 2: kidding the favorite. That doesn't make Canada an underdog, Like
19:18
Speaker 2: those are not necessarily like direct, I am a little jealous.
19:22
Speaker 2: You got to watch it in a big group. I
19:24
Speaker 2: watched it by myself, mostly because I was also you know,
19:26
Speaker 2: typing and doing stuff while you know, being on social
19:29
Speaker 2: during it, so not really by myself, but in the
19:32
Speaker 2: room definitely scared Ripley a few times with my yels.
19:35
Speaker 1: I should say I had my backwards, so I didn't
19:37
Speaker 1: get to watch a ton of it because I was
19:40
Speaker 1: watching people watching it so and trying to get video
19:42
Speaker 1: of it. So I got to see, you know, peeking
19:44
Speaker 1: behind me, a decent portion of it. But Hillary Knight's
19:49
Speaker 1: gold did not see that happen live. The overtime goal
19:52
Speaker 1: did not see that happen live either, so I had
19:55
Speaker 1: to go back and watch those later.
19:57
Speaker 2: A bunch of the US players say they didn't see
19:59
Speaker 2: it live too either because they were like changing, like
20:02
Speaker 2: it's Taylor Heisi made the pass and then went for
20:04
Speaker 2: the chase. Part of why she made the long passes
20:06
Speaker 2: like I need to change. But also I think, and
20:09
Speaker 2: I think Megan Keller knows that people don't necessarily assume
20:13
Speaker 2: she's the one that's gonna toe drag somebody and backhand
20:16
Speaker 2: flipped the puck into the So I don't think people
20:18
Speaker 2: necessarily thought that was the play that was gonna end things. Yeah,
20:22
Speaker 2: I you know, like you said, I think it's the
20:24
Speaker 2: game we accepted. I expected Canada to come harder. I
20:27
Speaker 2: expected it to be a little tougher. I guess I
20:29
Speaker 2: didn't expect it to be fifty eight minutes in before
20:32
Speaker 2: im pulling the goalie before the US scored, I mean,
20:35
Speaker 2: after as prolific as they were for most of the tournament.
20:40
Speaker 2: But I thought Canada played a really good defensive game.
20:43
Speaker 2: They read the US really well and sort of kept them,
20:47
Speaker 2: you know, to the outside. There was a player open
20:49
Speaker 2: in the slot, an absolute ton that the US kept missing,
20:52
Speaker 2: Like they'd have the buff behind the net and not
20:54
Speaker 2: get it to that person that was wide open. So
20:56
Speaker 2: that was a little frustrating. I think there were some
20:58
Speaker 2: some moments there's some missed opportunities that way, But I
21:02
Speaker 2: don't know, is like it felt like as the game
21:05
Speaker 2: went on and they were missing these opportunity they were
21:07
Speaker 2: a couple light open nuts the power plays, and it
21:09
Speaker 2: was like if maybe maybe it's just not their day,
21:12
Speaker 2: Like if you're missing all these, like you sometimes the
21:14
Speaker 2: pop just has to bounce your way for you to
21:16
Speaker 2: be able to win. And I have to say, the
21:18
Speaker 2: the longer that game went on and the more opportunities
21:20
Speaker 2: that were kind of on a planter for them and
21:22
Speaker 2: they missed the more. I was like, I don't know
21:24
Speaker 2: if US is gonna come away with the medal here,
21:27
Speaker 2: but obviously they did, and you know, way to go.
21:29
Speaker 2: I guess some of the girls were saying, Keller does
21:31
Speaker 2: pull some of that in the tournament or in the
21:34
Speaker 2: practices or after practice end, but you know, generally she's
21:37
Speaker 2: not the offensive defender on this team much more a
21:40
Speaker 2: slapshot from the blue line type of defender. So good
21:43
Speaker 2: for her for that big moment, and uh, yeah, it
21:46
Speaker 2: was exciting. I thought it was. Overall. The tournament was
21:48
Speaker 2: great because we saw such great play from our collegians. Right,
21:51
Speaker 2: Like the talk has all been like, oh, you can
21:53
Speaker 2: keep watching these women go play the PWHL and that's great,
21:56
Speaker 2: and like very excited about that. But I was excited
21:59
Speaker 2: to how much the collegians had an impact after all
22:02
Speaker 2: this talk about the youth and all that sort of stuff,
22:04
Speaker 2: every one of those players. You know that it was
22:07
Speaker 2: something like thirty five percent of the US scoring came
22:09
Speaker 2: from I haven't gone back and done all that math yet,
22:12
Speaker 2: but the collegians had a huge impact. Layla with the
22:14
Speaker 2: shot from the point that Hillary tipped in. You know,
22:17
Speaker 2: I think there was talk on the Canada short handed goal,
22:20
Speaker 2: but that was a US power play and the choice
22:22
Speaker 2: was to you know, push your defenders in play. Layla's
22:24
Speaker 2: playing like a forward there, and she is not the
22:26
Speaker 2: defender that's going to chase down that play. So you know,
22:30
Speaker 2: if Kk's there, it's a different story. But that's not
22:32
Speaker 2: the line that was on the ice. So yeah, I
22:35
Speaker 2: just thought overall after sort of like USA Hockey really
22:38
Speaker 2: put Layla forward in a ton of the promos this
22:41
Speaker 2: year and all this stuff. So I'm thankful for them,
22:44
Speaker 2: for all of the players that were sort of front
22:46
Speaker 2: and center, that they that this came to fruition in
22:49
Speaker 2: that way, and that like their moment doesn't end because
22:53
Speaker 2: they didn't win the gold medal, you know.
22:54
Speaker 1: Right, you think of the alternative where after the US
22:58
Speaker 1: one World's won one one every game in the rivalry series,
23:05
Speaker 1: won the preliminary game in convincing fashion, if they didn't
23:08
Speaker 1: win the gold medal game and didn't score in the
23:11
Speaker 1: gold medal game, Let's say how much of a letdown
23:14
Speaker 1: that would have been just you know, just being a
23:17
Speaker 1: couple of minutes different, you know, from the finish there. Agree, Yeah,
23:22
Speaker 1: that would have been shock so much different for the
23:26
Speaker 1: entire you know, I don't know that you can't necessarily
23:30
Speaker 1: the four years, but the last year that that narrative
23:33
Speaker 1: would have been an entirely different thing coming out of this.
23:36
Speaker 1: So they saved an awful lot with with what they
23:39
Speaker 1: did at the end.
23:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I think like it. It makes a
23:42
Speaker 2: difference on how many people are going to go watch
23:44
Speaker 2: the b WHL And just like, I don't want to
23:46
Speaker 2: get into other gear news, but the way that people
23:48
Speaker 2: have been talking about women Talkeey in the four days,
23:52
Speaker 2: well a couple of days since they won, people who
23:55
Speaker 2: are not very much in the women's hockey space, and
23:58
Speaker 2: I like, I'm happy about that, But the way that
24:00
Speaker 2: their story has really amplified, to me gives an idea
24:05
Speaker 2: of what it would have looked like had they lost,
24:07
Speaker 2: and how that the story being amplified to people talking
24:10
Speaker 2: about it would have looked very different. And I think,
24:12
Speaker 2: just again, would it is unfortunate. I wish that one
24:16
Speaker 2: one tournament, one cycle, one two week thing isn't what
24:20
Speaker 2: can make or break the growth of women's hockey. But
24:22
Speaker 2: I don't think it's overstating it to say that like
24:24
Speaker 2: them winning here versus losing really changes like the trajectory
24:30
Speaker 2: and how things can continue to grow. I think a
24:32
Speaker 2: lot of people, a lot of little girls will go
24:34
Speaker 2: pick up, you know, hockey sticks, and I think enrollment
24:37
Speaker 2: is gonna go and I think more people are going
24:38
Speaker 2: to turn on the pedu. It's a you know, it's
24:41
Speaker 2: a big deal that they can just go watch on
24:43
Speaker 2: YouTube and all of those things. I don't think that
24:45
Speaker 2: follows the same way if the US doesn't win here.
24:48
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, particularly because I think Canadians
24:51
Speaker 2: as a general, the people that were gonna watch earlier
24:53
Speaker 2: doing that in Canada dot tv there. I think, I
24:56
Speaker 2: think this has a huge impact here in the US
24:59
Speaker 2: and very much think that would have been different with
25:01
Speaker 2: the loss, so very excited for that. I hope we
25:05
Speaker 2: continue to see where people come over. I hope the
25:07
Speaker 2: fact that we're right into NCAA playoffs helps and that
25:11
Speaker 2: that the collegiate players not just on us, by the way,
25:14
Speaker 2: like you know, the Swiss players, the Swedish players, there
25:17
Speaker 2: are a ton of NCAA players on these other squads
25:19
Speaker 2: that really stood out throughout the tournament as well, and
25:23
Speaker 2: I think that we'll continue to see that impact. But
25:25
Speaker 2: sort of KK and Laila with their tic Ti TikTok
25:29
Speaker 2: dances and Laila doing stuff with the Megan thee Stallion
25:31
Speaker 2: and the Sesame Street characters and Lubla is everywhere right now,
25:35
Speaker 2: and I think that that cultural moment is really huge,
25:39
Speaker 2: and the gold medal really is tips that into something
25:43
Speaker 2: much bigger than it would have been without it.
25:46
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the bronze medal too, Switzerland
25:48
Speaker 1: getting a two to one victory in overtime over Sweden
25:52
Speaker 1: to take the bronze, and that's you know, that game
25:56
Speaker 1: is one of the hardest to play because you're you
25:59
Speaker 1: were that close to being in the gold medal game,
26:03
Speaker 1: and you're also that close to leaving with nothing out
26:07
Speaker 1: of the tournament. And that's that's how Sweden had to feel,
26:09
Speaker 1: is that, you know, we were who are there, and
26:12
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, we're in this other game
26:14
Speaker 1: and now we're leaving without a metal altogether because Switzerland
26:17
Speaker 1: scores in overtime. I just wonder if you have any
26:20
Speaker 1: thoughts on just how Switzerland came through this tournament in
26:24
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, how they progressed and what may
26:27
Speaker 1: might be able to take away from that.
26:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I thought it was interesting Switzerland the blest
26:34
Speaker 2: couple of tournaments that I've talked to. Some of their coaches,
26:36
Speaker 2: both senior and U eighteen World Championships, has sort of
26:40
Speaker 2: struggled with their lack of depth. They just it's a
26:42
Speaker 2: small country but doesn't have a ton of people, like
26:44
Speaker 2: the bull of people they're coming from is.
26:48
Speaker 1: Not as big.
26:48
Speaker 2: And then also just generally the European countries, we have
26:50
Speaker 2: this problem with development from a younger age, right, And
26:53
Speaker 2: so I thought, you know, they went in with this
26:56
Speaker 2: sort of defense first, not necessarily very pretty. I mean
27:01
Speaker 2: they did, they didn't pack it in. They did plun
27:04
Speaker 2: plenty of strong forge. Most of their goals came from
27:06
Speaker 2: a Ford check and a turnover and capitalizing on it.
27:09
Speaker 2: But I did think that it was really interesting the
27:10
Speaker 2: way that they played this really defensive shape. They stuck
27:14
Speaker 2: to it no matter who they were playing, like they
27:16
Speaker 2: were still able to do it effectively against Canada. They
27:20
Speaker 2: just they really they they made a plan, they made
27:22
Speaker 2: a decision, and they stuck to it and they executed
27:24
Speaker 2: it about as perfectly as they could have wanted to.
27:29
Speaker 2: I will be interesting to see sort of the ramification
27:32
Speaker 2: so that if we'll see another team try something like that,
27:36
Speaker 2: if they'll keep going like that. I mean, I thought
27:38
Speaker 2: Sweden actually had a really great tournament. I think, you know,
27:41
Speaker 2: they were at the disadvantage of playing in that B
27:43
Speaker 2: group and never playing a really hard game, then getting
27:47
Speaker 2: beat by the US and suddenly having to win or
27:49
Speaker 2: go home, you know, And so I we're switching groups
27:52
Speaker 2: the next time a round, so they won't be in
27:54
Speaker 2: that same city, we won't have the weighted groups the
27:55
Speaker 2: same way. But I was impressed with how Sweden played.
27:59
Speaker 2: I thought that is probably the best overall Sweden has
28:02
Speaker 2: looked probably in a couple of tournaments. But yeah, I
28:07
Speaker 2: just I was really impressed. I like, it's so simple
28:10
Speaker 2: to some extent, and we see it a decent amount
28:12
Speaker 2: in the NCAA, right Like we see maybe some of
28:15
Speaker 2: the teams in the bottom half of conference standings doing
28:18
Speaker 2: this to try and withstand, you know, when they're playing
28:22
Speaker 2: some of the top eight teams in the country, and
28:26
Speaker 2: they usually can't do it for a whole sixty minutes
28:29
Speaker 2: or do it for a whole one hundred and twenty
28:30
Speaker 2: over the course of a weekend. And they also usually
28:34
Speaker 2: don't also do that and have strong for check where
28:36
Speaker 2: they're not giving up too much space in the other direction.
28:39
Speaker 2: And yeah, I just I was really impressed with what
28:41
Speaker 2: Sweden did and how they executed it again and again
28:46
Speaker 2: game after game, and it worked for them, and you know,
28:49
Speaker 2: it felt fitting that it was I've not had called
28:51
Speaker 2: you know, before overtime, I said I wanted laurist Alder
28:54
Speaker 2: just because she hadn't scored yet. I thought like, this
28:56
Speaker 2: is gonna be the big moment, but certainly not at
28:58
Speaker 2: all just leading or unfitting for Alena Mueller to be
29:02
Speaker 2: the one that scored the overtide game winner, since she
29:05
Speaker 2: did at a fifteen the last time they won a
29:09
Speaker 2: ronze medal. But yeah, I just you have those couple
29:12
Speaker 2: of standout stars, and then they had their solid plan
29:14
Speaker 2: and Mandy they just did such a good job of
29:17
Speaker 2: keeping teams to the outside but not but still not
29:20
Speaker 2: getting too caught up in board battles. And yeah, it
29:23
Speaker 2: was an interesting class. I think I think there could
29:26
Speaker 2: be quite a lot to learn for some coaches to
29:28
Speaker 2: go back and just watch what Switzerland did game after
29:30
Speaker 2: game in this tournament.
29:32
Speaker 1: Right, a lot of years would be we'd be looking
29:35
Speaker 1: forward to Okay, well it'll be four years, so we
29:37
Speaker 1: get to this, you know, this level of interest and
29:40
Speaker 1: excitement again, but with the p doub being there, it's
29:45
Speaker 1: it's nice that there's there's high level, best on best
29:49
Speaker 1: kind of hockey still out there in the women's game,
29:53
Speaker 1: that the league goes right back to here now instead
29:56
Speaker 1: of maybe there's a World Championship in April or May
29:59
Speaker 1: or whatever. You know, there's enough out there to keep
30:03
Speaker 1: people interested and keep keep that appetite going.
30:08
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and you know, yeah obviously us we're we're
30:11
Speaker 2: going to talk about the NCAA too, So it's it's
30:13
Speaker 2: just it's a really great time for these players to
30:15
Speaker 2: come back to both those two places and people get
30:17
Speaker 2: to watch and then you know, we usually don't have
30:20
Speaker 2: Worlds in an Olympic year. We had it in twenty
30:22
Speaker 2: twenty two because we hadn't had that because of COVID,
30:25
Speaker 2: and now they're going to do it in August, I believe,
30:27
Speaker 2: and we'll see Women's World's move to August now. So yeah,
30:31
Speaker 2: just a really great couple, Like we're going to roll
30:33
Speaker 2: right out of this into NCAA playoffs, into the Frozen
30:35
Speaker 2: Four and then right into you know, PWHL playoffs and
30:39
Speaker 2: then not long after that like there's we've got high
30:41
Speaker 2: level hockey for several months on deck now, which is
30:44
Speaker 2: pretty amazing, awesome.
30:46
Speaker 1: And we will be talking about some of that here
30:49
Speaker 1: as we continue on. We're going to take another quick break.
30:53
Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll talk about some of the
30:55
Speaker 1: impact players that are returning to their college teams. Maybe
31:00
Speaker 1: they came back last week or they're coming back this week,
31:03
Speaker 1: and now that everyone's in the playoffs, let's talk about
31:06
Speaker 1: how all those playoffs could go and what's coming ahead.
31:09
Speaker 1: Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast.
31:20
Speaker 1: Todd Nicole here for our final segment, which is looking
31:22
Speaker 1: ahead to this week's games. Everything in the playoffs now,
31:25
Speaker 1: and this is going to be an interesting return for
31:30
Speaker 1: a lot of players they call who just went through
31:34
Speaker 1: a really physical and emotional couple of weeks in Milan
31:39
Speaker 1: at the Olympics, and now they come back and get
31:41
Speaker 1: right into the playoffs. The team that I cover Wisconsin
31:46
Speaker 1: has five players coming back from the Olympics, four of
31:49
Speaker 1: them one gold with Team USA. We saw when we
31:56
Speaker 1: were at the Wisconsin Saint Cloud State game on Sunday,
31:59
Speaker 1: Laurias Zimmerman and had just gotten back from Milan from
32:03
Speaker 1: winning a bronze medal and then was not in the
32:08
Speaker 1: lineup Saturday, but was on Sunday and just you know,
32:13
Speaker 1: tip of the hat to the hat to coming back
32:15
Speaker 1: that quickly and getting back in the lineup.
32:17
Speaker 2: First of all, I was impressed by the players that
32:20
Speaker 2: were you know, the players from Germany and some of
32:22
Speaker 2: the the other players that were back. And then she
32:25
Speaker 2: was still playing on Thursday and made it to Madison.
32:28
Speaker 2: I mean she was there on Stanturday. She just didn't
32:30
Speaker 2: play right into like absolutely like crazy commitment. Good for
32:36
Speaker 2: her also, you know, like committment terror college team because
32:41
Speaker 2: you know she could have stayed and done you know,
32:43
Speaker 2: posts and and done the closing ceremonies and things like
32:47
Speaker 2: yeah that but yeah, like just absolutely And we had
32:49
Speaker 2: number of in the Amelia Kirkoh played net on Sunday.
32:53
Speaker 2: Uh Louis a weelk scored I'm sorry, Lily scored for BU.
32:58
Speaker 2: Just like these players immediately came back and again had
33:01
Speaker 2: an impact. And I can't imagine what that transition is like.
33:05
Speaker 2: I guess maybe some of the European players are a
33:07
Speaker 2: little more used to it because they never centralized and
33:10
Speaker 2: so this is this is clearly standard, but still like
33:14
Speaker 2: you're talking a week away from playing in the Olympics
33:16
Speaker 2: to playing, you know, going back to your college team.
33:18
Speaker 2: So I just think, like, I'm so impressed by all
33:21
Speaker 2: of them, and I guess, you know, for the for
33:24
Speaker 2: the Wisconsin players, it's probably a little easier coming back
33:27
Speaker 2: with the buzz of the gold medal as opposed to
33:30
Speaker 2: being you know, disappointed. They probably trying to find that
33:34
Speaker 2: balance between partying and knowing they got to come back
33:37
Speaker 2: or celebrating I should say, what's of partying. But yeah,
33:40
Speaker 2: it will be really interesting to see sort of what
33:43
Speaker 2: that re entry process looks like. And again I think,
33:45
Speaker 2: you know, the thing for the Americans is there's they
33:48
Speaker 2: have no precedent, There's nobody that can give them advice
33:51
Speaker 2: on what does this look like, what worked for some people,
33:54
Speaker 2: what you know, what should they avoid. Whereas you know,
33:56
Speaker 2: some of the other international players have done this, you know,
34:00
Speaker 2: in previous Olympic cycles, and so maybe had a little
34:03
Speaker 2: bit more in the locker room to talk about like
34:07
Speaker 2: what is possible. But yeah, it's it'd be a very
34:14
Speaker 2: interesting w c h A tournament right like there there
34:16
Speaker 2: you could be talking about what did you say, six
34:18
Speaker 2: Olympians there. Yeah, the final face off.
34:22
Speaker 1: Right, And I was thinking I was talking with people
34:25
Speaker 1: this weekend that you know, just think.
34:28
Speaker 2: Of medalists, medalists, more Olympians.
34:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, think think of that the tournament that could
34:33
Speaker 1: be in the w h A Final face off next
34:37
Speaker 1: weekend if it ends up being the top four teams
34:40
Speaker 1: going through as it has been most years. You're talking
34:43
Speaker 1: about gold medalists being on four of them on Wisconsin,
34:47
Speaker 1: one of them on Minnesota, one of them on Ohio State,
34:50
Speaker 1: and uh that that seems like a great thing to
34:53
Speaker 1: be able to promote. But the WHA can't necessarily do
34:56
Speaker 1: that because they can't guarantee all those teams are going
34:58
Speaker 1: to win this week and and get there. But if
35:02
Speaker 1: they do, I would imagine there's there'd be quite all
35:05
Speaker 1: last minute kind of uh push to to uh get
35:09
Speaker 1: the word out that. Man, there's there's gonna be an
35:12
Speaker 1: awful lot of talent in this through There is going
35:14
Speaker 1: to be regardless, but I mean, look at the the
35:17
Speaker 1: players who just won gold medals who are going to
35:19
Speaker 1: be uh in this event.
35:21
Speaker 2: Could be interesting kind of Yeah, that's that's a bit
35:25
Speaker 2: of a humble break, right, Yes, I guess if you
35:27
Speaker 2: are in the Twin Cities area. You should uh be
35:30
Speaker 2: planning ahead for University of Saint Thomas hosts it. Those
35:34
Speaker 2: tickets are on sale and people should and to get
35:37
Speaker 2: themselves to that. Like like you said, I mean, when
35:40
Speaker 2: you're ever going to get the opportunity to watch six
35:43
Speaker 2: gold medalists take the ice and then probably another and
35:46
Speaker 2: didn't count it up at least half dozen other Olympians.
35:49
Speaker 2: I mean, you got all the the the Johnson, Hilda
35:54
Speaker 2: Svenson around you, Like there's going to be so many
35:58
Speaker 2: Olympians on the ice regardless of who makes that final
36:02
Speaker 2: four w CJ Final face off starts March. It's Thursday
36:07
Speaker 2: Saturday this year, So Thursday March fifth, Saturday March seventh. Yeah,
36:11
Speaker 2: that's a heck of a some day. Hang your head on.
36:14
Speaker 1: I think yes, absolutely so. The first round this week
36:18
Speaker 1: in the WHA best of three, all of these series
36:21
Speaker 1: starting Friday, Bmigie State at Wisconsin St. Thomas at Ohio State,
36:25
Speaker 1: Saint Cloud State at Minnesota, Minnesota State at Minnesota Duluth.
36:31
Speaker 1: Any thoughts on that lineup? I think as we talked
36:35
Speaker 1: about before that the ones that are in the middle
36:38
Speaker 1: are usually the series that get a little bit closer.
36:42
Speaker 1: But we saw last year Minnesota had to go to
36:45
Speaker 1: three games to knock off Minnesota State, if I recall correctly,
36:50
Speaker 1: in the opening round, and they were leave the third seed,
36:53
Speaker 1: So anything could happen there.
36:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, sort of continuing that UMD conversation from earlier, like,
37:00
Speaker 2: now they've got to play Minnesota State, who has done
37:04
Speaker 2: plenty of damage this season and I think is probably
37:06
Speaker 2: the team most likely to upset anybody. Yeah, you and
37:11
Speaker 2: he cannot take this series lately. They absolutely need to
37:14
Speaker 2: help protect their NPA NPI position, and and so that
37:18
Speaker 2: last series wasn't just big for their for all of
37:23
Speaker 2: those reasons, but hopefully helps them sort of carry that
37:25
Speaker 2: momentum confidence into this series. Because I think Minnesota State's
37:29
Speaker 2: really going to push them and test them. Then I
37:32
Speaker 2: imagine that they will those I imagine that will go
37:35
Speaker 2: to two to three games. I think that one's the
37:37
Speaker 2: most likely. And I just think Minnesota State's got a
37:41
Speaker 2: lot of firepower. They're gonna need everything from Evgasco and
37:45
Speaker 2: that they can get.
37:46
Speaker 1: Yep, and she's given them that lately. She's really seemed to.
37:53
Speaker 2: Part of me is like I just assumed she's gonna
37:55
Speaker 2: be great, but like that's not fair to her either.
37:57
Speaker 1: She shouldn't have to be direct in ACAC it's again
38:02
Speaker 1: best of three series now after a single game opening round,
38:06
Speaker 1: number twelve seed Union, which knocked off Clarkson now has
38:10
Speaker 1: to go to the number one seed Yale, and then
38:12
Speaker 1: it's Harvard at Princeton, Brown at Quinnipiac, Colgate at Cornell.
38:17
Speaker 1: That the Colgate Cornell series I think could be a doozy.
38:21
Speaker 1: I think that those are two teams that I mean
38:24
Speaker 1: could I mean, in most seasons are battling for NCAA
38:29
Speaker 1: tournament spots. It's it's not quite there right now. But
38:33
Speaker 1: to say one of those teams we're gonna have their
38:35
Speaker 1: season over after this weekend, is it's gonna be rough
38:37
Speaker 1: on them given where they normally are.
38:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, and doesn't it feel like that you could play
38:44
Speaker 2: one hundred games and a bunch of them would go
38:47
Speaker 2: to overtime and they'd still still probably end up about
38:49
Speaker 2: fifty to fifty in that sure, Yeah, that'll be interesting.
38:52
Speaker 2: The other one that caught my eye is Harvard Princeton.
38:54
Speaker 2: Those two split their series this year, particularly with the
39:00
Speaker 2: goalkeeping for with Adsley Toughie. Yeah, in Princeton. You know,
39:08
Speaker 2: you're never quite sure what you're gonna get from them.
39:11
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, when Princeton's sort of hitting
39:13
Speaker 2: on all cylinders, they're a really tough team to beat.
39:15
Speaker 2: But they also have shown to be fallible in particularly
39:18
Speaker 2: you know, towards the end of the season, and they
39:20
Speaker 2: had that loss to Harvard three to two. On the
39:22
Speaker 2: seventh they lost to Yale to nothing, bounce back with
39:25
Speaker 2: a three to two win an overtime to Brown, but
39:28
Speaker 2: you know, had a week off and now are getting
39:30
Speaker 2: a tough Harvard series. Will definitely I think push them
39:34
Speaker 2: and test them, particularly if Ainsley Toughye plays the way
39:38
Speaker 2: that we've seen from her the rest of this season,
39:42
Speaker 2: you know, I expect that. But yeah, I think that
39:45
Speaker 2: is a bit of a trap series for Princeton. That's
39:47
Speaker 2: a tough pull for them early in their tournament.
39:52
Speaker 1: Princeton is the one that's on the bubble now too,
39:54
Speaker 1: at number ten in the NPI, so there is a
39:56
Speaker 1: little bit of a gap between ten and eleven. But
39:58
Speaker 1: you don't like to be there. You don't like to
40:00
Speaker 1: tempt fate when you're the last team in and waiting
40:04
Speaker 1: on other things to hopefully go your way. So better
40:11
Speaker 1: to be still having a chance to win your way
40:14
Speaker 1: in than than waiting at the.
40:16
Speaker 2: End control your own destiny for sure.
40:18
Speaker 1: Yeah. In Hockey East, the the format there goes Wednesday Saturday,
40:24
Speaker 1: Wednesday Saturday with single games over the next two weeks
40:27
Speaker 1: to do four rounds.
40:28
Speaker 2: Anybody any of this straight probably will write something up
40:33
Speaker 2: for us h O because it's I, yeah, every the
40:37
Speaker 2: AHA takes four weeks to run their postseas. It's I
40:40
Speaker 2: don't know what's happening in any one of these conference
40:42
Speaker 2: through moments in terms of who plays, what days and
40:45
Speaker 2: what format.
40:47
Speaker 1: Sure, so it starts on Wednesday nights. Yeah, week, Well,
40:52
Speaker 1: I try Merrimack at Maine, Providence at BU on Wednesday
40:56
Speaker 1: this week. Those are the teams that finished seventh through
40:58
Speaker 1: tenth in the standing seven and eight hosting those games.
41:04
Speaker 1: The winners then we'll play either Northeastern or Yukon. The
41:10
Speaker 1: lowest remaining seed plays Northeastern. The higher seed remaining out
41:15
Speaker 1: of those two winners plays Yukon the number two seed.
41:19
Speaker 1: Those next round games on Saturday. Also Vermont at Boston College,
41:24
Speaker 1: New Hampshire at Holy Cross in that quarterfinal game on
41:30
Speaker 1: Saturday before they get back together as the final four
41:36
Speaker 1: seeds for Wednesday single games the following week and then
41:39
Speaker 1: the Saturday championship game. So I'm I am intrigued by
41:45
Speaker 1: the Providence BU game on Wednesday, especially we know that
41:50
Speaker 1: this season fell short of where you thought they could
41:55
Speaker 1: be after especially after last season. I I just don't
42:01
Speaker 1: know that there's how much of a postseason run there
42:08
Speaker 1: can be, but you have to at least.
42:13
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I mean they have the experience, which is
42:16
Speaker 2: definitely something.
42:17
Speaker 1: I mean.
42:17
Speaker 2: The interesting thing in this Hockey East tournament to me
42:19
Speaker 2: is that like it's teams what like five through nine
42:21
Speaker 2: are separated by less than ten points in the overall standings.
42:25
Speaker 2: So you've got I mean overall, you've got Holy Cross
42:29
Speaker 2: in New Hampshire where ten win teams in conference, Vermont
42:33
Speaker 2: had nine, Main Boston, UBU and Providence each had eight.
42:38
Speaker 2: Like that's the slimnest of margins between yeah, between sixteens basically.
42:47
Speaker 2: So but to me, that means that's all a huge
42:49
Speaker 2: toss up, right, and even BC isn't that far ahead,
42:53
Speaker 2: uh there, So yeah, to me, that's just a whole
42:57
Speaker 2: recipe for who knows what's going to happen, But it
42:59
Speaker 2: should be fun in.
43:02
Speaker 1: That's uh. I think that's probably an understatement that when
43:05
Speaker 1: you get this many games in this few days, Uh,
43:10
Speaker 1: you have a lot of a lot of a lot
43:14
Speaker 1: of things to maybe blow up on the seedings h
43:18
Speaker 1: for how it goes. So, yeah, it should be fun.
43:21
Speaker 1: There Atlantic hockey down to their final four teams. It'll
43:25
Speaker 1: be a best of three, uh this weekend. Syracuse at
43:30
Speaker 1: Penn State, Lynnwood at Mercy Hurst. Syracuse getting an upset
43:35
Speaker 1: of ri T last week, which was probably not necessarily upset.
43:39
Speaker 1: They were pretty close to the standings, but did have
43:41
Speaker 1: to go on the road to do it. I I
43:46
Speaker 1: I still just feel like, well, sure, right, I still
43:49
Speaker 1: just feel like this is trending towards Penn State. First,
43:52
Speaker 1: here's play for the title.
43:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, it trure seems like you're right. I don't would
43:58
Speaker 2: be as much as we've talked about sort of everything
44:02
Speaker 2: else being unpredictable. To me, this is I assume this
44:05
Speaker 2: will be the most predictable of the particularly when you're
44:09
Speaker 2: talking best of three. There's just the difference between those
44:12
Speaker 2: two teams and sort of the rest of the conference
44:15
Speaker 2: is a pretty large gap.
44:18
Speaker 1: It does kind of seem like it sometimes Yes, New
44:21
Speaker 1: Ha going into their postseason this week with best of
44:26
Speaker 1: three quarter final series posts at Assumption, Long Island at Stonehill,
44:32
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart at St. Anselm, Saint Michael's at Franklin Pierce,
44:35
Speaker 1: going in order from the four seed to the one
44:41
Speaker 1: seed they're hosting in that order. I believe I had it.
44:44
Speaker 1: Maybe not. No, I don't think I either, right, but
44:47
Speaker 1: those are the matchups anyway. You can find the standings
44:49
Speaker 1: on usho dot com to check the BCS if you
44:52
Speaker 1: are interested in that part of it.
44:56
Speaker 2: It.
44:57
Speaker 1: I do feel like there's a there's a pretty decent
45:01
Speaker 1: chance that not the top four seeds don't all make
45:04
Speaker 1: it to next week in New high even though we've seen,
45:10
Speaker 1: especially with the the Saint Anselm Sacred Heart series intrigues
45:18
Speaker 1: me as a three to six matchup just because Saint
45:22
Speaker 1: Anselm has been you know, touching goal lately. So let's
45:27
Speaker 1: see which team we get I guess when we get
45:30
Speaker 1: into the play. But also the stone Hill l I
45:32
Speaker 1: u uh, those are two teams that are pretty close
45:35
Speaker 1: in the standings too, so let's let's let's see. I
45:39
Speaker 1: think there could be some some pretty good series there.
45:43
Speaker 2: You have to be peaking at this time of the season.
45:45
Speaker 2: You have to be playing your best hockey and you
45:47
Speaker 2: have to be a team that can pull out a
45:50
Speaker 2: tough game. And if you can't do that in this
45:52
Speaker 2: part of the tournament, it's not gonna get you. Like
45:54
Speaker 2: you're not gonna you're not gonna win the bid, right,
45:57
Speaker 2: Like you're not gonna take it all the way. So
46:00
Speaker 2: you're gonna get tested early. But that's only you know,
46:03
Speaker 2: gonna do better for you as your season goes on.
46:05
Speaker 2: And so I think sort of who comes out of
46:09
Speaker 2: this it's it's that sort of metal sharpening metal, And
46:11
Speaker 2: I think that's what's interesting about this is is like
46:13
Speaker 2: who handles the pressure? Who handles like who can come
46:16
Speaker 2: back you know, if they're coming from behind. Just sort
46:19
Speaker 2: of all the little things that you've been learning throughout
46:22
Speaker 2: your season that you have to be able to put
46:25
Speaker 2: into practice sort of all together at once. And that's
46:29
Speaker 2: I think that's what makes these keep so interesting and
46:32
Speaker 2: fun because none of them have put it all together yet.
46:35
Speaker 2: And so the team that really does sort of dig
46:37
Speaker 2: deepest is the one that's gonna come out of this
46:40
Speaker 2: this one here, I think, right, all.
46:43
Speaker 1: Right, anything else we need need to touch on before
46:46
Speaker 1: we wrap things up for this week. That was a
46:48
Speaker 1: lot of stuff going back last week and into this week.
46:52
Speaker 1: But this is the time of the year where it
46:54
Speaker 1: gets exciting because all these games really do you know,
46:58
Speaker 1: you're talking about teams fighting for their seasons and we've
47:01
Speaker 1: only got four left until this is all done. So
47:06
Speaker 1: it's it's crunched.
47:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, every week somebody's year is over, right, Like that's it.
47:10
Speaker 2: That's you're you're talking not just really exciting wins, but
47:13
Speaker 2: the difference between making the tournament or not, between your
47:16
Speaker 2: season going on or not. Like there's there's going to
47:18
Speaker 2: be you know, tears and sad players every week because
47:23
Speaker 2: of this, Like so you're not just playing. It's not
47:25
Speaker 2: as simple anymore, No, I mean, I think it's just
47:28
Speaker 2: such a fun time. I have a hard time wrapping
47:31
Speaker 2: my head around the fact that we're through the regular season,
47:33
Speaker 2: Like it just that that second half went really fast
47:36
Speaker 2: for me and a well, a little unprepared. But it'll
47:38
Speaker 2: be fun and I guess it did come up organically.
47:42
Speaker 2: But I just really want to shout out if you
47:43
Speaker 2: haven't seen Vermont Unaana one in overtime with the between
47:47
Speaker 2: the legs goal we will link it in the podcast
47:51
Speaker 2: post as well on usc HO. But one of the
47:53
Speaker 2: prettiest goals and for an overtime game winner. I just
47:56
Speaker 2: think when we see stuff like that, I want to
47:58
Speaker 2: make sure everybody UH gets a chance to know about it.
48:01
Speaker 2: So shout out to her for that. But there were
48:03
Speaker 2: some just really great over La said. I think I
48:06
Speaker 2: posted like eight or ten goals UH into today on
48:09
Speaker 2: Victory Press that were all overtime game winners. But yeah,
48:12
Speaker 2: I think just you know, watch watch games. There's plenty happening.
48:16
Speaker 2: There's tournaments happening, you know, all across the East Coast.
48:19
Speaker 2: So if you're somebody out there, like look where you're well,
48:21
Speaker 2: where your nearest conferences is playing a tournament, Look check
48:25
Speaker 2: out these games. I saw I Holy Cross. I believe
48:28
Speaker 2: that their game is free this week. So yeah, there's
48:31
Speaker 2: just there's a lot of opportunity to go out and
48:33
Speaker 2: watch you know, top level talent and tons of Olympians
48:38
Speaker 2: coming back for teams across It's not just you know
48:40
Speaker 2: your top one, two, three, four teams. There's there's Olympians
48:43
Speaker 2: coming back to programs all across the country. So yeah,
48:46
Speaker 2: go out and support them and see this part of
48:49
Speaker 2: the game and see, you know, sort of the future
48:52
Speaker 2: of the international game as well. It's I obviously we
48:56
Speaker 2: love the NCAA and when we're probably preaching to the choir.
48:58
Speaker 2: But I hope with anybody you know tuneing in for
49:00
Speaker 2: the first time because of the Olympics, go check out
49:03
Speaker 2: SA MENCIA Hockey this week or sign up for ESPN
49:06
Speaker 2: Plus because both the ECAC and Hockey East are there
49:10
Speaker 2: your most affordable option for option postseason.
49:14
Speaker 1: Indeed, Okay, that wraps up for this week. When we
49:17
Speaker 1: talk to you next week, we will have the matchups
49:20
Speaker 1: for the conference championship weekend. We'll be looking ahead to
49:24
Speaker 1: selection Sunday by that point too, and we'll maybe do
49:27
Speaker 1: a little bit of bractology and what we might be
49:30
Speaker 1: looking for on that that last week in terms of
49:32
Speaker 1: those games that are remaining. So for Nicole, I'm Todd.
49:35
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the podcast.