Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Wisconsin impresses with road sweep of Ohio State

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Wisconsin impresses with road sweep of Ohio State · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com.
0:11
Speaker 2: Hi, and welcome to the podcast.
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm Todd Lusky here with Nicole Hosey from us echo
0:15
Speaker 1: dot com. And Nicole, we've got a number one versus
0:18
Speaker 1: Number two series to talk about. We've got a few
0:21
Speaker 1: other impressive results shout out to Princeton. We'll get to
0:25
Speaker 1: them in a few minutes for a couple of wins
0:27
Speaker 1: last weekend, but we've got to.
0:28
Speaker 2: Start with that one versus two series.
0:30
Speaker 1: Wisconsin coming in with the top spot in the country,
0:35
Speaker 1: but not in the WCHA that belong to O House
0:38
Speaker 1: state by a point. But now Wisconsin is the unquestioned
0:42
Speaker 1: I think leader of well definitely in both rankings and
0:46
Speaker 1: the WHA standings, and really kind of vibe after they
0:49
Speaker 1: go into the os U I s Rink and get
0:52
Speaker 1: a two to one win on Friday and the six
0:53
Speaker 1: to one win on Saturday to end the twenty twenty
0:56
Speaker 1: five portion of their schedule with a pretty impres of sweep.
1:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I expected either team
1:04
Speaker 3: to get a sweep, so I think either way that
1:07
Speaker 3: would have went, a sweep would be impressive. But yeah,
1:09
Speaker 3: that that six to one win on Saturday really was
1:11
Speaker 3: just sort of the capper. I thought Ohio State looked,
1:14
Speaker 3: you know, very good, especially to start on Friday, and
1:16
Speaker 3: by Saturday it was like, well this this is Wisconsin's game.
1:19
Speaker 3: So uh yeah, a surprising result, I would say overall,
1:23
Speaker 3: and I imagine there's a lot that Ohio State will
1:25
Speaker 3: be working on coming.
1:26
Speaker 4: Out of that.
1:26
Speaker 3: But after some some faults and some you know things
1:31
Speaker 3: that had had us pointing out some issues with Wisconsin,
1:35
Speaker 3: they really pulled it together when they needed to and
1:37
Speaker 3: sort of played their their best hockey against the other
1:41
Speaker 3: top team in the conference and in the country.
1:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:44
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's easy to make something on the
1:47
Speaker 1: six on the on that side of things for Wisconsin
1:49
Speaker 1: on Saturday, but only allowing two goals at Ohio State,
1:53
Speaker 1: a team that's got a lot of firepower, a lot
1:55
Speaker 1: of people that can put the puck in, then that
1:59
Speaker 1: stood out to me. And it seemed like they did
2:01
Speaker 1: a pretty good job containing the big players the joy Dons. Uh.
2:06
Speaker 1: It just felt like, yes, done scored but and had
2:12
Speaker 1: a lot of chances. But Avin McNaughton did well and
2:14
Speaker 1: goal for Wisconsin to uh to keep the Buckeyes only
2:18
Speaker 1: two goals on the weekend, and really the whole defensive
2:23
Speaker 1: court didn't seem flustered like we've seen them in the
2:25
Speaker 1: past against Ohio State at times.
2:28
Speaker 3: Right, they weren't making those sort of week passes or
2:32
Speaker 3: trying to take too much time. Yeah, they were doing
2:34
Speaker 3: sort of all those little things that the coaches love.
2:37
Speaker 3: And it is absolutely a sliding scale, like it's super unfair,
2:41
Speaker 3: but like I felt like, this is the best Eva
2:43
Speaker 3: McNaughton has looked in a while. And that's you know,
2:46
Speaker 3: that's that's going against her own standard and an own
2:48
Speaker 3: the own UW goalie standard. It's not like she has
2:52
Speaker 3: ever looked bad at all, but just this was as
2:56
Speaker 3: sharp as she's looked and probably all season and maybe
2:59
Speaker 3: maybe you know up to a year she really locked in,
3:03
Speaker 3: really was there was a ton of rebound control if
3:06
Speaker 3: she was getting them up at all, there just weren't
3:08
Speaker 3: the second chance opportunities, which is something Ohio State, you know,
3:12
Speaker 3: they really can crowd in front of the net there
3:14
Speaker 3: and really get sticks to extra opportunities or cycling the
3:17
Speaker 3: puck around, and they just really weren't getting those chances.
3:20
Speaker 3: And that's it wasn't just that she was making great saves,
3:24
Speaker 3: but it was what she and the defense were doing
3:25
Speaker 3: to sort of really control the defensive end of the
3:27
Speaker 3: ice and not let Ohio State really get set into
3:31
Speaker 3: what they want to do.
3:32
Speaker 1: One of the things that the Wisconsin side was saying
3:34
Speaker 1: before the series is that at least Mark Johnson was
3:37
Speaker 1: saying that this was gonna be the fastest games that
3:39
Speaker 1: they play, and it helps when you're in fast games
3:42
Speaker 1: to have fast players. And then we saw Caroline Harvey
3:46
Speaker 1: just take off up the middle of the ice in
3:49
Speaker 1: each game and score a breakaway goal kind of carbon copies.
3:54
Speaker 1: The first one gave the Badges a two nothing lead
3:57
Speaker 1: on Friday, and then she scored again on Saturday. I
4:00
Speaker 1: believe that was also to make.
4:01
Speaker 2: It to nothing.
4:03
Speaker 3: I can't they were both, but I think both game winners,
4:05
Speaker 3: right technically, yeah.
4:07
Speaker 2: And and and so and both in four on four play.
4:10
Speaker 1: It's just that little bit of extra open ice made
4:13
Speaker 1: so much of a difference for her. And when when
4:16
Speaker 1: you let her have room to skate, and especially with
4:19
Speaker 1: the the skate with the pock, that's that's trouble. You're
4:22
Speaker 1: You're we're seeing how how much of a talent she is,
4:27
Speaker 1: not that we haven't before, but that it's still growing.
4:30
Speaker 1: And it's that it's finding new levels, which is really
4:34
Speaker 1: exciting for the US as you go a new Olympic
4:36
Speaker 1: campaign later this year, to have someone playing at that
4:39
Speaker 1: kind of level.
4:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's comical to think back about how she really
4:44
Speaker 3: didn't get on the ice in the last Olympics when
4:45
Speaker 3: you think about what we've seen from her in the
4:47
Speaker 3: past few seasons. But yeah, for me, it's maybe it's
4:50
Speaker 3: because we're lucky to get to see her quite a
4:52
Speaker 3: bit in person, but it's yeah, it's the growth and
4:55
Speaker 3: the details. Not The four and four gave her more ice,
4:58
Speaker 3: but also gave her a little bit more time to
5:00
Speaker 3: sort of see how plays develop. The puck's not moving
5:03
Speaker 3: quite as quickly, right, Like, they're a little bit longer
5:05
Speaker 3: passes and things, and she can just really slow down
5:08
Speaker 3: the game and really predict what's coming. And so that
5:10
Speaker 3: really gave her that chance. But her her east to
5:12
Speaker 3: west movement and just I think she's just so much
5:16
Speaker 3: smarter with the puck than she used to be. You know,
5:18
Speaker 3: if she'd get the puck up top and didn't necessarily
5:22
Speaker 3: see things, she was just putting it on net and
5:24
Speaker 3: you know, sort of hoping for the best in terms
5:26
Speaker 3: of knowing that she's got top tier talent up there.
5:29
Speaker 3: But you know that is also like you just throw
5:30
Speaker 3: a shot out and it can end up as a turnover,
5:33
Speaker 3: and that's not something she's doing much anymore in her
5:35
Speaker 3: you know, in the last two years. And yeah, I
5:38
Speaker 3: think like, if you've got a young defender that's interested
5:40
Speaker 3: in sort of going to the next level, you should
5:42
Speaker 3: be watching.
5:43
Speaker 4: Tape of KK.
5:44
Speaker 3: It's just it's really impressive to watch, like you said,
5:48
Speaker 3: just the growth. I mean, she was an Olympian and
5:50
Speaker 3: she was All American her freshman year, and she's gotten better,
5:55
Speaker 3: like exponentially better since then.
5:57
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I'm really I mean we've seen her play
6:01
Speaker 1: at you know, the World Championship level and those levels,
6:04
Speaker 1: so it's not like it's gonna be a lot different
6:06
Speaker 1: to see in the Olympic level. But just like you said,
6:09
Speaker 1: that comparison of four years ago being you know, this
6:13
Speaker 1: was she eighteen years old, seventeen years old or whatever
6:15
Speaker 1: on that team, and just how much you know, everyone
6:21
Speaker 1: thought of her and that the potential that she had,
6:24
Speaker 1: how much that'll just kind of carry into these Olympics,
6:27
Speaker 1: because you know, we know everyone watches the Olympics you know,
6:32
Speaker 1: women's hockey gets this four year bump, right, and we're
6:34
Speaker 1: starting to see it even out in the middle because
6:36
Speaker 1: of the PWHL a little bit.
6:38
Speaker 2: But if if.
6:41
Speaker 1: She's able to, you know, have a star turn on
6:45
Speaker 1: the Olympic stage, that's that's a heck of a way
6:49
Speaker 1: to I mean, this is her senior season, it's a
6:51
Speaker 1: heck of way to wrap up a college career that
6:56
Speaker 1: man has been been pretty good.
6:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like it there's a chance that the
7:00
Speaker 3: world becomes her orster right, Like, lots of opportunities, and
7:03
Speaker 3: I think at this point she's probably the consensus number
7:07
Speaker 3: one pick heading into the PWHL draft, which is no
7:10
Speaker 3: shade to the Abbey Murphy's and other forwards, but like
7:15
Speaker 3: she's a generational defender, like you, the drop between her
7:18
Speaker 3: and the next best defender is much bigger than the
7:20
Speaker 3: drop between the number one and number two forwards. That like,
7:24
Speaker 3: I if you, I don't know, if you feel like
7:26
Speaker 3: you need a defender, like you still are going to
7:27
Speaker 3: take KK and so I think that is just yeah,
7:31
Speaker 3: there's just it feels like there's a she's she's at
7:33
Speaker 3: a pres spice and there's a lot wide open in
7:35
Speaker 3: front of her, and so it'll it'll be fun to
7:37
Speaker 3: see what happens next. And I just wanted to say
7:39
Speaker 3: we kind of got talking to KK, but I thought
7:41
Speaker 3: it was interesting. The goal on Friday came as Ohio
7:44
Speaker 3: State was pressing at the point it's one to oh
7:47
Speaker 3: and they forgot to play defense, and it's one of
7:50
Speaker 3: the things we kind of talked about, and you get
7:52
Speaker 3: it at that point when they're really pressing for that goal,
7:54
Speaker 3: but there was all that ice because they were on
7:56
Speaker 3: their front foot and they were pressing and they were
7:58
Speaker 3: looking for the chances and K saw that immediately and
8:01
Speaker 3: took off on that breakout. The second one does look
8:05
Speaker 3: the same ultimately, but is somewhat different in that she
8:07
Speaker 3: just took the puck right off of mere younger stick.
8:11
Speaker 3: I think it was Mira just like she's holding the puck,
8:14
Speaker 3: she's trying to decide what to do on the power
8:16
Speaker 3: playing KK just like skates over takes it off R
8:18
Speaker 3: and goes down. Sort Of interesting just the two differences
8:22
Speaker 3: there of how that built up. But I just thought
8:24
Speaker 3: that was we had talked a lot about the Ohio
8:25
Speaker 3: State need to remember defense because it's just something they
8:28
Speaker 3: haven't had to do a ton of and I feel
8:31
Speaker 3: like they did a good especially in that first game,
8:33
Speaker 3: a really good job of it. But it was like
8:35
Speaker 3: once that pressure of there's only a couple of minutes
8:38
Speaker 3: left and we can tie this and change this game,
8:41
Speaker 3: then it was like oops, that bit fell out the
8:43
Speaker 3: back of the brain and they were just really pushing
8:45
Speaker 3: towards the goal. So I thought that was interesting just
8:46
Speaker 3: in terms of sort of how we had talked about
8:49
Speaker 3: how that game might develop.
8:51
Speaker 1: Yep, all right, so Wisconsin goes five points ahead of
8:55
Speaker 1: Ohio State as we wind down for twenty twenty five.
9:00
Speaker 2: They'll pick that up again in twenty.
9:01
Speaker 1: Twenty six, and of course we'll have to pay attention
9:04
Speaker 1: to win all of those players go to the Olympics
9:08
Speaker 1: Olympic Camps, because that'll change things for a lot of
9:12
Speaker 1: teams in the back end of the second half of
9:15
Speaker 1: the season. Here, so plenty to watch for there. Okay,
9:20
Speaker 1: let's take a spin around the country last week. Start
9:23
Speaker 1: with number eleven Princeton getting a six to one win
9:26
Speaker 1: at number fourteen Coldgate on Friday, and then a three
9:29
Speaker 1: to win at number eight Cornell on Saturday. Princeton moving
9:33
Speaker 1: up to number nine in the US Echo dot Com
9:36
Speaker 1: rankings this week. I believe you said this is they've
9:40
Speaker 1: won seven in a row.
9:41
Speaker 2: Is that correct? I haven't done the math, but do
9:43
Speaker 2: you have.
9:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's what I founded the write ups.
9:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were, you know, at six and then they
9:48
Speaker 3: want to get on Saturday, and I think it was
9:51
Speaker 3: like their first sweep of that, you know, our travel
9:54
Speaker 3: partners thing, but that their first sweep of that for
9:57
Speaker 3: like a good six, seven, eight years. I can't my
10:00
Speaker 3: note now, but just really huge for them to be
10:03
Speaker 3: able to get both of those wins and really like
10:06
Speaker 3: all this conversation we've had about hot your ECAC, we
10:09
Speaker 3: really haven't talked about Princeton, and they forced themselves into
10:12
Speaker 3: the conversation here for sure.
10:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.
10:15
Speaker 1: And they do that with a hat trick on Friday
10:18
Speaker 1: from Mackenzie Alexander adding an assist as well for a
10:21
Speaker 1: four point night, and then is he Wonder scores tying
10:24
Speaker 1: in goal ahead goals in the second period at Cornell
10:27
Speaker 1: on Saturday. And we'll talk about Cornell in a minute,
10:29
Speaker 1: but on the Princeton side of things, this.
10:34
Speaker 2: Is a.
10:37
Speaker 1: Group that obviously can has big things in mind and
10:41
Speaker 1: shown that they can do that how much of is
10:46
Speaker 1: it kind of like playing with house money at some
10:48
Speaker 1: point though, where you know they've they've done pretty well,
10:52
Speaker 1: they know they're going to be able to compete, and
10:54
Speaker 1: now you just go ahead and go out and do
10:57
Speaker 1: whatever you can because you know, I don't know that
11:01
Speaker 1: a lot of people were expecting this, but if they
11:04
Speaker 1: can do this this far, they're gonna be able to
11:06
Speaker 1: do it in the second half too.
11:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
11:08
Speaker 3: Right, Like we talked about a bunch of different teams,
11:09
Speaker 3: and then QUINNIPIEC had that hot start and Princeton didn't
11:12
Speaker 3: have the cleanest start. The other thing is the loss
11:14
Speaker 3: of Sarah Paul and the transfer portal, Right, so like
11:17
Speaker 3: we expected that was going to have a huge inspect impact.
11:20
Speaker 3: And I mean, I think Mackenzie Alexander's you know, I
11:24
Speaker 3: think she has twelve points in those seven wins, that
11:26
Speaker 3: seven win streak, seven goals, five assists, and so she's
11:31
Speaker 3: already forced herself into the Rookie of the Year conversation
11:33
Speaker 3: basically over the course of a couple of games. And
11:36
Speaker 3: I think for every team, you know, part of their
11:38
Speaker 3: fortunes comes from how quickly your freshmen get up to speed.
11:42
Speaker 3: Everybody is bringing in top recruits and how quickly can
11:46
Speaker 3: they make an impact? And Mackenzie Alexander, you know, stepped
11:50
Speaker 3: into some pretty big shoes there, and Izzy Wonder needed
11:52
Speaker 3: some help and needed you know, a foil for some
11:54
Speaker 3: of that, and we're just seeing that. And then some
11:57
Speaker 3: of the other Princeton players too have just taken up
11:58
Speaker 3: a bigger role, Jeane Key and a few others, and
12:01
Speaker 3: so yeah, I think like there was very low.
12:05
Speaker 4: Expectations on them.
12:06
Speaker 3: We weren't paying attention to start because of other things
12:09
Speaker 3: going on. And so now I feel like they're just,
12:11
Speaker 3: like you said, a little bit playing with house money.
12:13
Speaker 3: Like they've got all the confidence, all the momentum, and
12:17
Speaker 3: they know that they can do you know what, maybe
12:20
Speaker 3: they weren't even themselves weren't expecting to do. So when
12:23
Speaker 3: you've beaten all the other top teams in the conference,
12:25
Speaker 3: it really puts you in a really good spot heading
12:27
Speaker 3: into the second half.
12:28
Speaker 1: Right, And they are in first place as we get
12:31
Speaker 1: to the end of the twenty twenty five part of
12:34
Speaker 1: the schedule, And again, I don't know if a lot
12:38
Speaker 1: of people would have had that as the team had.
12:42
Speaker 2: The Tigers leading the way as the end of the
12:45
Speaker 2: year approaches.
12:46
Speaker 1: On the other side of that, though, is you know,
12:48
Speaker 1: Cornell having lost now three out of its last four games,
12:51
Speaker 1: after they also lost on Friday to Quinnipiac three nothing
12:57
Speaker 1: Felicia Franks shut them out despite thirty four eighteen being
13:01
Speaker 1: the shots and goal in favor of the Big Red.
13:04
Speaker 1: This is a thing where, you know, Princeton's on the up,
13:06
Speaker 1: Cornell's a little bit on the down, and I don't
13:11
Speaker 1: know how far the slide continues. Is this going to
13:14
Speaker 1: be just a you know, the late part of November,
13:17
Speaker 1: early part of December was really bad for them, and
13:19
Speaker 1: second half they'll pick it right back up where they
13:21
Speaker 1: started the season. Or are we really seeing cracks here
13:23
Speaker 1: for Cornell?
13:25
Speaker 3: I mean, it certainly feels like some cracks, but I
13:28
Speaker 3: mean they're they've probably got the best case for very
13:30
Speaker 3: excited for the holiday break and a chance to reset.
13:34
Speaker 3: I'm not sure any team is more excited than they are.
13:37
Speaker 3: But for me, it's the sort of the inconsistency, like
13:40
Speaker 3: we just you know, watch some of the goals they
13:43
Speaker 3: gave up against Vermont. It just was like, this is
13:46
Speaker 3: so uncharacteristic of a really defensive team with an a
13:49
Speaker 3: plus goaltender, like, what what's going on here? And so yeah,
13:53
Speaker 3: it's I think a good bit of it's probably mental
13:57
Speaker 3: at this point. It's a it's a little bit of
13:59
Speaker 3: a self fulfill prophecy. I think for them there, they
14:02
Speaker 3: got to be pretty low. The confidence is pretty low,
14:04
Speaker 3: and it's showing out on the ice, and so I
14:07
Speaker 3: think hopefully for them they get through their exams and
14:10
Speaker 3: get a chance to just start over and get a reset.
14:13
Speaker 4: They we know what they're capable of. They did it
14:16
Speaker 4: last year.
14:16
Speaker 3: They have much the same roster they did it to
14:18
Speaker 3: start the year, and so I think it's just a
14:20
Speaker 3: matter of finding what it takes to get those puzzle
14:24
Speaker 3: pieces to go back together in the right formation, right.
14:27
Speaker 1: Right U And then Quinnipiac, which had which defeated Cornell Friday,
14:32
Speaker 1: then lost in overtime to Colgate two to one on
14:35
Speaker 1: Saturday with a Sarah Stewart overtime goal for the Raiders. Again,
14:40
Speaker 1: this is one of those where you know, okay, Princeton
14:43
Speaker 1: got two wins, it seemed like everyone else was kind
14:45
Speaker 1: of in splitsville.
14:46
Speaker 2: Again.
14:46
Speaker 1: We saw Brown beat Yale on Saturday, but then lose
14:50
Speaker 1: the Yale on Sunday, So it it feels like there's
14:55
Speaker 1: the advantage of of coming away with two wins on
14:57
Speaker 1: a weekend as you you gain that little bit of
14:59
Speaker 1: ground on everyone else that splits.
15:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, and at this point, I mean, I think the
15:03
Speaker 3: sweeps are kind of few and far between across you know,
15:06
Speaker 3: every conference, not just in the ECAC. So anytime you
15:09
Speaker 3: walk away with all those points, it's just such a
15:11
Speaker 3: huge that the swing there is just like massive, and
15:14
Speaker 3: we're talking you know, I didn't look at it this week,
15:17
Speaker 3: but we're talking a handful of points and including half
15:20
Speaker 3: points from like first to eighth in the ECAC, and
15:24
Speaker 3: so one point one win versus a loss like one,
15:29
Speaker 3: you know, one point three points is makes just a
15:32
Speaker 3: huge difference right now. And I think if a team
15:35
Speaker 3: can string together a couple of those weekend sweeps like
15:38
Speaker 3: Princeton has been doing, like suddenly they've pulled ahead and
15:40
Speaker 3: you you're less scrambling. So yeah, I think the rest
15:45
Speaker 3: of the ECAC is probably also happy for a little
15:48
Speaker 3: chance to maybe try and slow some of that momentum,
15:50
Speaker 3: watch some tape and see what they can do.
15:52
Speaker 1: Move over to Hockey East. Last week, New Hampshire handed
15:56
Speaker 1: Northeastern its first conference loss of the season, four to
15:59
Speaker 1: three in overtime a midweek game last Tuesday night. Kelly
16:04
Speaker 1: Hardy scored in overtime to win that one. Northeastern did
16:07
Speaker 1: rebound with three to one and four to two wins
16:10
Speaker 1: in a home and home series with Boston College over
16:13
Speaker 1: the weekend and open a eleven point lead on the
16:16
Speaker 1: Eagles for first place.
16:18
Speaker 2: So that's important for Northeastern bounce back.
16:22
Speaker 1: They lost that second game of the series to Penn State,
16:25
Speaker 1: then they lost the midweek game to New Hampshire. Getting
16:29
Speaker 1: a couple of wins against BC an important step for
16:31
Speaker 1: them to get right back on.
16:33
Speaker 2: You don't want to go into the break on a little.
16:37
Speaker 1: Bit of a slide there, especially after you've started things
16:39
Speaker 1: off so well and built a pretty comfortable lead.
16:42
Speaker 2: Well, now it's even.
16:42
Speaker 3: More comfortable, Yeah, I thought importantly the second game in
16:46
Speaker 3: that series, which was the one at Matthew's where they
16:48
Speaker 3: had their senior night, and sort of this weird, this
16:51
Speaker 3: weird order of things that they're having to do this year.
16:54
Speaker 3: B C went up first and so sort of expected,
16:57
Speaker 3: you know that that series might be a little bit
17:00
Speaker 3: and forth, and after Northeastern won the first game, it
17:03
Speaker 3: was like, okay, BC is here to play. And then
17:05
Speaker 3: the Northeastern really you know it, sort of came back
17:07
Speaker 3: and took control of the game and did what they
17:09
Speaker 3: do with you know, Lily Shannon speed and things like that.
17:12
Speaker 4: And so not just the win.
17:14
Speaker 3: But the way that they were able to get that win,
17:18
Speaker 3: not just for the the emotional of the Matthews of
17:21
Speaker 3: it all, the senior night of it all, but of
17:23
Speaker 3: being able to beat like this is your closest competitor
17:25
Speaker 3: in the conference. You know, they came into your house
17:28
Speaker 3: and sort of tried to push you around, and you
17:30
Speaker 3: came back and did it back. And I think that
17:32
Speaker 3: that will go a long way for them to We
17:34
Speaker 3: talked about this all the time, like even some of
17:36
Speaker 3: the losses, like you you want those sorts of wins
17:38
Speaker 3: or losses because you need to learn those lessons now.
17:41
Speaker 1: Yukon number seven in the country, got a couple of
17:44
Speaker 1: challenges from Boston University. One one tie on Friday, Tiachan
17:49
Speaker 1: had to make forty three saves and Mary Peterson forty
17:52
Speaker 1: two for BU and then you Count won three to
17:56
Speaker 1: two on Saturday with a last minute goal.
17:59
Speaker 2: Again Shen Schalefu. I'm sorry, it's my best French. I
18:03
Speaker 2: am probably.
18:04
Speaker 1: Overdoing it, but apologies, thank you. Game winning goals seven
18:08
Speaker 1: seconds left in that one. So Yukon comes away without
18:12
Speaker 1: a loss on the weekend. Be you that close to.
18:17
Speaker 2: You know, kind of.
18:19
Speaker 1: There was a point where it felt like they had
18:21
Speaker 1: been able to turn this first half around and that kind.
18:23
Speaker 2: Of slipped away from.
18:25
Speaker 1: Them and had that one last chance to make something
18:30
Speaker 1: happen on their final weekend of the first half of
18:33
Speaker 1: the year, and instead Yukon pulls out the win at
18:36
Speaker 1: the end. Important win for Yukon though in the in
18:41
Speaker 1: the NPI discussions.
18:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, can you just that that first game eighty
18:48
Speaker 3: would you say? I think eighty five total saves and
18:50
Speaker 3: it was a one to one tie, Like what was
18:52
Speaker 3: happening in that game? Yes, I had done for a
18:55
Speaker 3: little while and it was just like this, I don't
18:58
Speaker 3: so kudos to bout the goalies and the defenses, but yeah,
19:01
Speaker 3: that was that was a bit of a mind boggling.
19:03
Speaker 3: A few times, I'm like, how is the book still
19:05
Speaker 3: outside of the net? But you know, same as we
19:08
Speaker 3: were kind of saying with Northeastern, Yukon getting that goal
19:11
Speaker 3: was seven seconds left, Like that was a stunner, and
19:16
Speaker 3: be you had just come back to tide I think
19:18
Speaker 3: in the final two or three minutes and so you know,
19:20
Speaker 3: bus riding that high. They'd gotten the tie the night before,
19:24
Speaker 3: they're you know, sort of showing some fight and that
19:26
Speaker 3: was just like such a heartbreaker. But but kudos to
19:29
Speaker 3: Yukon for for not getting up, given up and play
19:31
Speaker 3: into the buzzer. And as you said, they just those
19:34
Speaker 3: are really important points for them, not just from an
19:36
Speaker 3: MPI standpoint, I think, but also just from a ViBe's
19:40
Speaker 3: and a like reputation standpoint.
19:42
Speaker 4: You got you at this.
19:44
Speaker 3: Point, like there's a lot going on Northeastern sort of
19:46
Speaker 3: proving their cells upong the top. You need to be
19:49
Speaker 3: showing that you're you know, you're another team that should
19:52
Speaker 3: be considered like Hockey's got one team last year. So there's, yeah,
19:56
Speaker 3: there's a lot on you know, riding on some of
19:58
Speaker 3: this for them, And so I thought just from a
20:01
Speaker 3: like sending them into the break and you know, just
20:05
Speaker 3: sort of proving that they're a team that's still worth
20:07
Speaker 3: you know having in the conversation, I thought those were
20:10
Speaker 3: really important wins.
20:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago, I think I said something, well, yeah,
20:15
Speaker 1: not not a couple of wins, but winmen, But a
20:18
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago I said something about, and this
20:22
Speaker 1: was involving New Haul leader Saint Anselm, that they'd gotten
20:25
Speaker 1: off to a lead that felt like it was pretty secure.
20:28
Speaker 1: Franklin Pierce says, not so fast, because two to one
20:32
Speaker 1: win and a three to three tie and a shootout
20:35
Speaker 1: win in a home and home series over Saint ansel
20:38
Speaker 1: means that that lead is now down to six points.
20:41
Speaker 1: So not it's it's still a pretty significant lead there.
20:45
Speaker 1: But Franklin Pierce did its job and cutting into it
20:51
Speaker 1: last weekend.
20:52
Speaker 2: That was a Wednesday Thursday series last week.
20:55
Speaker 1: Abigail bros With the go ahead goal in the early
20:58
Speaker 1: part of the third period on Wednesday, and then, like
21:01
Speaker 1: I said, Franklin Piers won the shootout after the three
21:03
Speaker 1: to three tie on Thursday.
21:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, we said we put that in aumn yet.
21:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, fair play to Franklin Pearson
21:14
Speaker 3: in apologies to the rest of New Hawk because we
21:15
Speaker 3: said that based on sort of how the you know,
21:17
Speaker 3: the team right below was like we were like, well,
21:19
Speaker 3: that's if they're not contending then and Franklin Peers.
21:23
Speaker 4: I just love how scrappy they are.
21:25
Speaker 3: They sort of won my heart a few years ago
21:27
Speaker 3: when they like overtime game after overtime game, weighed their
21:31
Speaker 3: way through the New Hawk tournament and just kept kind
21:33
Speaker 3: of you know, cardiac kids. And I think they continue
21:36
Speaker 3: to play like that, whether they get the the wins
21:38
Speaker 3: or not. They just played this really scrappy, really gritty
21:42
Speaker 3: sort of game. And I don't think that they think
21:44
Speaker 3: that they're out of any game. They're all on the
21:46
Speaker 3: table for them, and I like that mentality really serves
21:50
Speaker 3: them well.
21:51
Speaker 4: But yeah, I.
21:52
Speaker 3: Appreciated that we they were like, oh, I guess not
21:56
Speaker 3: hold my peers, hold hold my energy, drink my But yeah,
22:01
Speaker 3: they just were like, excuse this, we have something to
22:03
Speaker 3: say about this conversation. And I appreciate that. That's it's
22:06
Speaker 3: again the chaos makes it fun. So good for them,
22:09
Speaker 3: And I think they's somebody that are that have shown that,
22:13
Speaker 3: like they get better, you continually get better as the
22:15
Speaker 3: season goes on, which not everybody can say. And that's
22:19
Speaker 3: just that mentality of like they are. They are constantly
22:21
Speaker 3: in a game regardless, and I think that makes it
22:24
Speaker 3: really dangerous.
22:25
Speaker 1: Over in Atlantic Hockey America a couple of results. I
22:29
Speaker 1: wanted to point out Mercy Hears ran all over linden
22:32
Speaker 1: with ten to one on Friday behind a hat trick
22:35
Speaker 1: from Julius Shallon, but hats off to the Lions for
22:40
Speaker 1: bouncing back with a five to win on Saturday.
22:42
Speaker 2: That that can't be easy.
22:43
Speaker 1: I mean, you you lose by nine goals one night,
22:47
Speaker 1: you got another game to play at Mercy Hearris, and
22:50
Speaker 1: you come out and you win the second game. That's
22:54
Speaker 1: There's They're having a lot of a ton of wins
22:56
Speaker 1: for linden Would, but getting one in those specific circumstances
23:02
Speaker 1: I thought was worth highlighting.
23:04
Speaker 4: Yeah.
23:04
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Lindenwood is part of the as we keep having
23:10
Speaker 3: this conversation of like, it doesn't make any sense to
23:12
Speaker 3: me how these wins are happening, right, Like Vermont last
23:15
Speaker 3: week beat Cornell and then this week lost to holy Cross,
23:19
Speaker 3: and then we had you know, like the Syracuses and
23:22
Speaker 3: the ri t Like we're seeing some of the Age
23:24
Speaker 3: A teams, you know, do some do some damage after
23:28
Speaker 3: like losing really poorly, you know, to really like tough
23:32
Speaker 3: game or really like hard losses. And so yeah, I
23:35
Speaker 3: a kudos to Linden would for for getting that back
23:37
Speaker 3: against you know, the number two, like the pretty solidly
23:40
Speaker 3: number two team in their conference for several years at
23:42
Speaker 3: this point.
23:44
Speaker 4: But also, I just like this is.
23:46
Speaker 3: When when when I say I'm confused about what's happening,
23:49
Speaker 3: That's one of the things that I'm talking about, because
23:51
Speaker 3: I'm like, how do you how is a team you know,
23:54
Speaker 3: the ups and downs of it? How do you lose
23:55
Speaker 3: ten one and then come back and win five to two.
23:57
Speaker 3: I just like I it does not compete for me.
24:00
Speaker 1: One more one to wrap up with here, back into
24:02
Speaker 1: the WHA. Saint Clouds State number thirteen and Minnesota State
24:07
Speaker 1: number twelve. The Huskies and the Mavericks split a weekend series,
24:13
Speaker 1: but the Huskies get the four points out of the
24:15
Speaker 1: series because they took the second game to overtime four nothing.
24:20
Speaker 1: Saint Cloud in the first game, three to two, Minnesota
24:22
Speaker 1: State in the second game. Cameron van Batavia with the
24:25
Speaker 1: overtime goal. On the second night, Emilia Kurico twenty eight
24:29
Speaker 1: saves for the shutout in the opener. And these are
24:32
Speaker 1: teams that you know, we've we were surprised by Saint
24:38
Speaker 1: Cloud's overall record earlier in the season, and especially the
24:43
Speaker 1: fact that they were still staying ranked, because I think
24:46
Speaker 1: everyone expected that this was going to turn around for them,
24:52
Speaker 1: and we saw that a little bit Friday, and maybe
24:55
Speaker 1: then again a little bit in at least getting into
24:57
Speaker 1: overtime with the Mavericks on Saturday.
25:00
Speaker 3: Right, And conversely, like the Mavericks are proving that, you know,
25:03
Speaker 3: some of their stuff are it's not a fluke either,
25:05
Speaker 3: Like they're they're also playing, you know this good against
25:07
Speaker 3: another rank team and they're in that conversation and deserve
25:10
Speaker 3: to be all right.
25:12
Speaker 1: That is going to wrap up our look back at
25:14
Speaker 1: last week. When we come back, we'll talk about what
25:17
Speaker 1: is ahead and we'll actually there's some rivalry series games
25:22
Speaker 1: to talk about this week as well. Stay with us
25:24
Speaker 1: on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Nicole
25:35
Speaker 1: here with you to wrap up what's our last real
25:40
Speaker 1: like normal kind.
25:41
Speaker 2: Of podcast of the twenty twenty five calendar year.
25:45
Speaker 1: We're going to have one more episode next week, kind
25:47
Speaker 1: of wrapping up what we've seen in the first half
25:49
Speaker 1: of the season. But it's a very quiet week around
25:53
Speaker 1: college hockey this coming week. Only four games on the
25:57
Speaker 1: schedule to Friday to Saturday, Saint Michael's at Dartmouth on Friday,
26:02
Speaker 1: Saint Anselm at Dartmouth on Saturday, and then a two
26:05
Speaker 1: game series between Long Island and Robert Morris in the
26:09
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh area on Friday and Saturday. Those are the last
26:12
Speaker 1: games on the college hockey schedule until December thirtieth. Then
26:17
Speaker 1: there's only two games that day and then we're done
26:20
Speaker 1: with twenty twenty five all together. So the games are
26:23
Speaker 1: winding down for the calendar year. Make sure you stay
26:26
Speaker 1: with us Echo dot com for all the scores and
26:29
Speaker 1: stats on those. A couple other events coming up that
26:33
Speaker 1: we want to touch on. One Nicole will be at
26:36
Speaker 1: the U eighteen Women's World Championship. Nicole, you want to
26:39
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about that, where it is,
26:41
Speaker 1: when it's going to be, and what you're looking forward to.
26:44
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, this is what my fifth year going. It
26:48
Speaker 3: starts on January tenth. We're going to be in Sydney,
26:52
Speaker 3: and I assume you Saint memberto number two. We're going
26:55
Speaker 3: to be in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. So when we
26:58
Speaker 3: learned about this as the location, I learned that you
27:00
Speaker 3: can go four hours east of Halifax, because yeah, I
27:04
Speaker 3: was planning to fly to Halifax and I was like, wow,
27:07
Speaker 3: it's much further from there, So yeah, I'll be in
27:09
Speaker 3: a whole new time zone that we don't even have
27:11
Speaker 3: here in the US. But yes, Canada hosting U eighteen
27:14
Speaker 3: World Championships, like I said, starts January. It's January tenth
27:18
Speaker 3: to eighteenth, so I will be up there covering that
27:21
Speaker 3: USA has released their roster. But we're sort of waiting
27:24
Speaker 3: on everybody else. But we're, you know, a month out,
27:26
Speaker 3: so at this point we should we should be starting
27:28
Speaker 3: to see those and just again as a reminder, like
27:31
Speaker 3: particularly US and Canada, but across all of the participating countries.
27:36
Speaker 3: These are players that most have committed to play in
27:39
Speaker 3: the NCAA in the next year. Starting in the next
27:41
Speaker 3: year or two, so most every player on the US
27:46
Speaker 3: in Canada, unless they are too young to have officially
27:48
Speaker 3: committed yet, will be committed to an NCAA school, and
27:51
Speaker 3: then we will see several players across the other countries.
27:55
Speaker 3: Group A is Canada, Swede, and Switzerland and Hungary. Group
27:58
Speaker 3: B is the US C, Chechia, Finland, and Slovakia. So
28:04
Speaker 3: gold medal game or metal round games will be on
28:06
Speaker 3: the eighteenth.
28:07
Speaker 4: Like I said, I will be up there. Coverage will
28:09
Speaker 4: be mostly on Victory Press.
28:11
Speaker 3: It's a good time to get a subscription there because
28:13
Speaker 3: I do things like take a video in the mix
28:16
Speaker 3: zone and share it to our paying subscribers there. But
28:19
Speaker 3: we'll also have some coverage at usc h O in
28:22
Speaker 3: terms of the how it relates the NCAA, and yeah,
28:26
Speaker 3: it's just a lot of fun. You know, Canada are
28:29
Speaker 3: the reigning champions, but we are also not that far
28:32
Speaker 3: removed from Canada taking the bronze because they were upset
28:35
Speaker 3: by Chechia the year before and Chechia playing in that
28:39
Speaker 3: you know, gold medal game that the US won. So
28:42
Speaker 3: there's just all of the sort of growth that we've
28:45
Speaker 3: seen across the senior national teams and the competitions being
28:49
Speaker 3: stepped up there that is also happening down at you eighteens.
28:51
Speaker 4: And so again, as we've talked about.
28:54
Speaker 3: Some of the really great rookies this year in the NCAA,
28:56
Speaker 3: you know Hildas Fence in at at Ohio State and
29:01
Speaker 3: like Caitlyn Kramer, the sophomore up at UMD. These are
29:04
Speaker 3: all players that like I first got to see in
29:06
Speaker 3: the last couple of years at U eighteens, and they
29:09
Speaker 3: are players that that you know, start there get chances
29:12
Speaker 3: based on how they play there and with their NCAA
29:14
Speaker 3: teams to play on the senior national teams. You know,
29:17
Speaker 3: Chloe Permurano played in U eighteens last year and though
29:20
Speaker 3: she was already at Minnesota. So it's just the the
29:24
Speaker 3: very best of what's next. We don't do World Juniors
29:26
Speaker 3: and the women yet. One day we might get at
29:29
Speaker 3: U twenties, but this is these are the future stars
29:33
Speaker 3: of the NCAA and that's why I love going and
29:35
Speaker 3: putting a putting the attention on these teams. So presumably
29:39
Speaker 3: several games will be on NHL Network. TSN usually does
29:44
Speaker 3: the broadcast out of Canada, and then it depends on
29:46
Speaker 3: what you know is bought down here in the US.
29:49
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. It's a whirlwind.
29:54
Speaker 3: I'm usually, well, this might be better in Canada, but
29:55
Speaker 3: the past few years I've been one of the only
29:57
Speaker 3: press people there. So yeah, I just wanted to shout
30:00
Speaker 3: out because unbelievably we are a month out on that one,
30:04
Speaker 3: and so though we don't have rosters yet, we're starting
30:06
Speaker 3: to get there and those will trickle out, I imagine
30:10
Speaker 3: coming after both the upcoming international break that we're going
30:14
Speaker 3: to talk about with the rival Series Rivalry Series and
30:17
Speaker 3: the Euro Hockey Tour.
30:18
Speaker 4: I imagine then we'll see some of this coming out
30:20
Speaker 4: of that.
30:20
Speaker 3: So yeah, just an exciting time and I think a
30:24
Speaker 3: really I think it's important to start having more of
30:27
Speaker 3: a conversation about what comes next and sort of the
30:31
Speaker 3: prospects in a way that we do on the men's side.
30:34
Speaker 3: These younger players, we get really excited when they come
30:38
Speaker 3: to the NCAA or when they start playing on the
30:39
Speaker 3: senior national team, but we could be paying attention to
30:41
Speaker 3: them way before that.
30:44
Speaker 1: You mentioned in there that you know there isn't a
30:46
Speaker 1: U twenty tournament for women.
30:48
Speaker 2: You said yet not to put you on a soapbox here,
30:52
Speaker 2: do anything like that. But what's the hurdle there?
30:55
Speaker 1: I mean, I can imagine there's a timing pretty significant
30:59
Speaker 1: timing hurdle is if you're having to put another tournament
31:02
Speaker 1: into THEAHF calendar, and also at a time when you're
31:06
Speaker 1: going to be taking college players away from their college teams,
31:10
Speaker 1: they would have me the significant discussions about when that happens, Right,
31:15
Speaker 1: what else is it.
31:16
Speaker 4: Well, if Women's Worlds is no longer in April after
31:19
Speaker 4: the NCAA season ends, there is a window there.
31:22
Speaker 3: Now, let me say this as like, this is a
31:25
Speaker 3: personal soapbox. This is not based on necessarily any like
31:29
Speaker 3: I just want to point out that this is less
31:31
Speaker 3: reporter and more personal. But like Todd and I have
31:34
Speaker 3: like had Luke Tardiff in a room and been like,
31:36
Speaker 3: why isn't this happening? You basically said be patient. And
31:39
Speaker 3: that was twenty twenty one. And so you know, the
31:43
Speaker 3: IHF did partner with the PWHL this year, which is
31:46
Speaker 3: a big step for the IHF is just really behind
31:50
Speaker 3: when it comes to women's hockey. In my opinion, they're
31:52
Speaker 3: just a lot of they don't I think they don't
31:54
Speaker 3: want to get caught in things like the CHL folding
31:57
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, and so they're just overly cautious
32:01
Speaker 3: in a way that you would not ever see them
32:03
Speaker 3: be on the other side of things. And so you know,
32:06
Speaker 3: there's a lot of oh, we might not have enough
32:08
Speaker 3: players like that. That conversation is moot to me at
32:11
Speaker 3: this point. You know, if you think that there's not
32:14
Speaker 3: enough talented women to play in a even if we
32:17
Speaker 3: took it to you twenty two. Honestly, it doesn't have
32:21
Speaker 3: to look exactly like the men.
32:22
Speaker 4: You know.
32:23
Speaker 3: That was one of the arguments from IHF President Lutardiff.
32:26
Speaker 3: Just there's a lot, there's plenty of excuses, and as
32:29
Speaker 3: far as I'm concerned, not a lot enough forward thinking
32:32
Speaker 3: or action to try and overcome some of these perceived hurdles.
32:37
Speaker 3: There's a lot of we'll just wait and see and
32:39
Speaker 3: maybe it'll happen. But I mean that is completely unsurprised.
32:43
Speaker 3: I mean, the only reason we had a twenty twenty
32:45
Speaker 3: one U eighteen World Championships in the US is because
32:48
Speaker 3: the US and Hockey USA Hockey and Hockey Canada basically
32:52
Speaker 3: stepped up and did it. IHF said, you can have it,
32:55
Speaker 3: but you have to put it together. And I kind
32:57
Speaker 3: of feel like that's what's going to need to happen here,
32:58
Speaker 3: Like something like the US and Canadian Collegiate Series maybe
33:02
Speaker 3: needs to get a little bigger and include country teams
33:06
Speaker 3: from other countries.
33:07
Speaker 4: Things like that. I'm having a Monday apologize friends.
33:09
Speaker 3: With the speaking words are hard today, But yeah, I
33:13
Speaker 3: just think at some point, I think if we rely
33:17
Speaker 3: on the IHF it's probably never going to happen, but
33:19
Speaker 3: I do think that there are plenty of people that
33:23
Speaker 3: see the need for it, and I think continuing the
33:26
Speaker 3: p WHL plays into that now that there's another next
33:28
Speaker 3: step and that need for developing that middle tier, especially
33:32
Speaker 3: as we see players in the PWHL that didn't come
33:34
Speaker 3: out of college as top tier players. There's a plenty
33:37
Speaker 3: of girls and PWHL rosters. And I say this with
33:40
Speaker 3: utmost respect that when they graduated, we wouldn't have said
33:43
Speaker 3: that as a professional player that is going to succeed
33:45
Speaker 3: and get a long term contract. Things have changed in
33:48
Speaker 3: the last few years, and so I think there just
33:50
Speaker 3: needs to be a really big rewiring about how we
33:53
Speaker 3: approach it. And the IHF is just never going to
33:56
Speaker 3: be at the forefront of any of that.
33:58
Speaker 4: That's not there. That's not their em all.
34:00
Speaker 3: They want all but guaranteed success, right, And so I
34:05
Speaker 3: think it's going to be on federations and whomever, teams
34:09
Speaker 3: and coaches and all that sort of stuff to put
34:12
Speaker 3: on events and prove that they're sucuccessful. And I wish
34:14
Speaker 3: that it wasn't like that. I think that is a
34:16
Speaker 3: backwards way for things to happen. The Federation should be
34:19
Speaker 3: pushing a lot of this stuff. Again, this is my
34:21
Speaker 3: personal opinion. I just want to keep saying that, But
34:23
Speaker 3: I just I say yet, because I am hopeful and
34:28
Speaker 3: I think there's a need for it. I think there
34:30
Speaker 3: is a proven need for something that between the IHFU
34:35
Speaker 3: eighteens and either pro or senior national team, there's there's
34:39
Speaker 3: just not there's too many players now at this point,
34:42
Speaker 3: you know, there's forty four and C eight teams, You've
34:44
Speaker 3: got all the U sports teams. There are players coming
34:48
Speaker 3: out of you know, Sweden and Finland, Nation LEAs the
34:50
Speaker 3: Switzerland national League that are in that area that have
34:54
Speaker 3: promised and aren't getting the support that they need to
34:57
Speaker 3: continue to develop their game. And so I think, you know,
35:01
Speaker 3: it's just really clear that there's a need for it
35:02
Speaker 3: and that that's where we should be headed next. And
35:05
Speaker 3: so I'm going to just keep saying yet, and I
35:07
Speaker 3: think we should just keep talking about it and forcing
35:10
Speaker 3: those conversations. But do I think the IHF is on
35:13
Speaker 3: verge of having that tournament.
35:14
Speaker 4: No, absolutely not, that's not their deal.
35:18
Speaker 2: Hasn't been to date.
35:20
Speaker 1: No, not expecting that to change immediately, right, but something
35:26
Speaker 1: to continue the conversations on and so by having at
35:30
Speaker 1: least talking about it, that at least maybe Yeah, I
35:34
Speaker 1: think keeps the ideas moving of like how could this work,
35:37
Speaker 1: When could this work?
35:38
Speaker 2: Where could it work? Who's going to step up financially
35:40
Speaker 2: for it?
35:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think even to some extent, we're
35:44
Speaker 3: seeing it, Like with the Women's Zero Hockey Tour, it's
35:46
Speaker 3: not always like the top team from Sweden or Finland,
35:50
Speaker 3: like some of their players are playing the pedu or
35:52
Speaker 3: doing other things, and so we're already seeing sort of
35:55
Speaker 3: a B squad or a training squad however you want
36:00
Speaker 3: to say it, playing in some of these terms. There's
36:02
Speaker 3: clearly an opportunity and there's clearly enough players, so to me,
36:06
Speaker 3: that bit's a no brainer.
36:08
Speaker 4: There's clearly some logistical.
36:10
Speaker 3: Questions, and I get that, and I'm willing if we
36:12
Speaker 3: were at the point where we were like, hey, we
36:14
Speaker 3: could have this, but we're not sure like when to
36:16
Speaker 3: hold it, I would be thrilled, like, get me to
36:19
Speaker 3: the logistical questions and we'll figure that bit out. But
36:22
Speaker 3: it's not as though the IHF is like, oh, we
36:24
Speaker 3: could do this, but we just don't know when. Like, no,
36:26
Speaker 3: they're not there, So I just think, yeah, there's we
36:30
Speaker 3: don't I want other people to understand this and know
36:33
Speaker 3: about this and keep having these conversations and pushing it
36:35
Speaker 3: because that's the only way. I mean, that's what we've
36:39
Speaker 3: see and we know we have to help force that change.
36:42
Speaker 2: All right. You had mentioned the international break, and that's where.
36:46
Speaker 1: We're at in that we have a rivalry series and
36:49
Speaker 1: a yuro series week I guess the revalry series happens
36:55
Speaker 1: Wednesday and Saturday in Edmonton, US and Canada playing two
37:00
Speaker 1: games there after the US one. The first two of
37:03
Speaker 1: those games one in Cleveland, one in Buffalo back in November.
37:07
Speaker 1: What what should we be looking for here? This is
37:09
Speaker 1: another one of those one step closer to Olympic selection
37:14
Speaker 1: roster selection time kind of events that we're going to
37:18
Speaker 1: see with the rivalry series. Who I mean, obviously there
37:22
Speaker 1: are players playing for a spot. I just wonder whether
37:27
Speaker 1: they're going to get those opportunities in these two games
37:30
Speaker 1: to have a you know, a last last show and
37:34
Speaker 1: if that's something we need to be on the lookout for.
37:38
Speaker 4: I I mean, I think so.
37:40
Speaker 3: But also I don't know that either coaching staff has
37:42
Speaker 3: shown a propensity for putting in, you know, sort of
37:46
Speaker 3: experimenting with their lineups or their rosters and putting in
37:49
Speaker 3: some of those players that being said, Canada did it
37:52
Speaker 3: does have a different third goalie in their mix of
37:55
Speaker 3: guests going not on the list I think is a
37:56
Speaker 3: Kaylie Doyle is And so that is just they're just
38:01
Speaker 3: a couple of changes in terms of who is there
38:03
Speaker 3: and who isn't. And there was in that first set
38:06
Speaker 3: of Rivalry Series games as well. So weirdly, like unusually
38:10
Speaker 3: to me, because I feel like Canada is sort of
38:12
Speaker 3: less likely to make changes, they've been the ones that
38:16
Speaker 3: I think have been doing a little bit more of like,
38:18
Speaker 3: let's get some of these people into the lineup and
38:21
Speaker 3: on the ice.
38:21
Speaker 4: And see how they're working together.
38:24
Speaker 3: I think the thing we're all going to be looking
38:26
Speaker 3: to see is now that the PWHL is up and
38:28
Speaker 3: running and players have games under their belt. A reminder
38:31
Speaker 3: that the first Rivalry Series games happened before the p
38:34
Speaker 3: WHL started, so the collegiate players were in mid season
38:37
Speaker 3: form but nobody else was. And a reminders there aren't
38:39
Speaker 3: really collegian players or players on the Canadian roster, so
38:43
Speaker 3: we've seen this in past years in the rivalry series
38:45
Speaker 3: that the US did really good in those early games
38:47
Speaker 3: with their collegiate players, and then things even out a
38:50
Speaker 3: little more. So again, I think that's the thing to
38:52
Speaker 3: look out for for these games in December is to
38:55
Speaker 3: see where Canada looks compared to the US in terms
38:59
Speaker 3: of of now that the players are sort of all
39:02
Speaker 3: at an even fitness and comfort and season four situation,
39:08
Speaker 3: so that that's probably the biggest thing, because in previous
39:13
Speaker 3: years there's there's been a little regression of the gap
39:16
Speaker 3: between the two. So the US is going to look
39:18
Speaker 3: to still, you know, have a little bit of domination,
39:21
Speaker 3: but it seems probably unlikely that it'll be as strong
39:24
Speaker 3: as it was in that first set of games.
39:26
Speaker 1: Right over in Europe, we have a four team tournament
39:30
Speaker 1: that details are sketchy from what we've been able to
39:34
Speaker 1: piece together.
39:36
Speaker 2: On the web, but we believe in English internet, Yes, yes,
39:41
Speaker 2: we believe.
39:41
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday through Friday in Finland, with Chechia, Sweden and
39:45
Speaker 1: Switzerland joining the hosts for a four team event. Yes,
39:52
Speaker 1: and that evolving a few college players. From what we've
39:56
Speaker 1: been able to see, at least, I would imagine there's
40:00
Speaker 1: this being a pretty getting pretty closely the Olympics, we're
40:03
Speaker 1: going to see quite a quite a few of those
40:06
Speaker 1: college players participating.
40:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we saw announcements from a couple NCAA
40:11
Speaker 3: teams about their players going over. I do remember seeing
40:15
Speaker 3: that Finland is leaving some of their biggest names at
40:18
Speaker 3: home or I guess at their homes, not at home
40:21
Speaker 3: in Finland. Their roster is not necessarily full of their
40:24
Speaker 3: biggest names. But I did see, you know, like a
40:27
Speaker 3: few of the Chechio players posting on Instagram on their
40:30
Speaker 3: trips to Finland, so you know, like I saw Calty,
40:34
Speaker 3: you know, on her plate and to Helsinki. So I
40:37
Speaker 3: do think it's it's always a mix about who decides
40:40
Speaker 3: to bring him on their roster. But yeah, it looks
40:42
Speaker 3: like there'll be six games, a little round robin. When
40:46
Speaker 3: we were in Finland for U eighteen Worlds last year,
40:50
Speaker 3: a lot of these games were shown on a TV
40:53
Speaker 3: an internet station that we were able to get, so
40:55
Speaker 3: it would have finished commentary. But if I can find
40:59
Speaker 3: those links, I'll make sure I share those on social
41:01
Speaker 3: media and go put them in the story on us
41:05
Speaker 3: h O for this podcast episode. So at least that
41:08
Speaker 3: way we can watch these games, which is nice even
41:11
Speaker 3: if you probably have to do it on mute unless
41:12
Speaker 3: you speak Finnish, but it.
41:15
Speaker 1: Is I feel like a challenge try to understand any
41:18
Speaker 1: of that finish, right, That's that's one of the hardest
41:21
Speaker 1: languages understands, as did you.
41:23
Speaker 4: Speak yes uh?
41:26
Speaker 3: And Michelle Curvin in apparently barely still speaks Finnish, which
41:29
Speaker 3: I think is amazing that that was one of the
41:32
Speaker 3: things that.
41:32
Speaker 4: Came out in some of her interviews. Head again to
41:35
Speaker 4: the p WHL season, so all the time she spent there.
41:38
Speaker 3: Anyway, moral of the story is we should at least
41:40
Speaker 3: be able to watch some of those and just that
41:43
Speaker 3: last tune up for those countries heading into the Olympics
41:45
Speaker 3: as well.
41:46
Speaker 4: So it should give us, you know, just an interesting.
41:50
Speaker 3: Look at things that, you know, the last group of
41:52
Speaker 3: games in August, we had some interesting outcomes to like
41:57
Speaker 3: Switzerland being Sweden in a shootout and only losing to
42:01
Speaker 3: Chechia one. Nothing like there's usually Switzerland's usually a step
42:04
Speaker 3: behind some of those teams, and so Switzerland really pushing,
42:07
Speaker 3: which I think is fun. Finland is leading the standings,
42:11
Speaker 3: has five wins CHECKI is two and three. Switzerland's one
42:16
Speaker 3: to win three losses and Sweden's got to win in
42:17
Speaker 3: three losses, so Finland definitely leading those. But again, everybody
42:22
Speaker 3: is not always taking full rosters there, so it's not
42:25
Speaker 3: definitive by any means, but still an interesting look ex
42:28
Speaker 3: sort of of how that how things are looking.
42:32
Speaker 1: We are less than two months out from the Olympics now,
42:36
Speaker 1: so that is creeping up on us quickly. It's creeping
42:42
Speaker 1: up on the uh the international world quickly in a
42:46
Speaker 1: lot of ways. And how everyone's reacting to the the
42:50
Speaker 1: ice surface being.
42:52
Speaker 4: Hopefully there's shorter.
42:54
Speaker 1: Uh well, yeah, it sounds like that that's gonna be okay.
42:58
Speaker 1: Now everyone is up in arms. Bot it's going to
43:00
Speaker 1: be three feet shorter than an age knew? Oh my goodness, right,
43:04
Speaker 1: that wasn't news. But it's also like, come play in
43:07
Speaker 1: college at some point where the rinks are anywhere from
43:10
Speaker 1: five to ten fifteen feet wider or indifference.
43:15
Speaker 2: So I'm glad.
43:17
Speaker 4: You're you seem sure that the rink's going to be completed,
43:20
Speaker 4: because I sure know I don't feel like I.
43:23
Speaker 2: Think I think a rink will be completed. And will
43:27
Speaker 2: they be able to put people in the seats? Maybe not,
43:30
Speaker 2: but a.
43:32
Speaker 3: Lot of this conversation has been about the men's rink
43:34
Speaker 3: and weren't the Wind's supposed to be playing somewhere else?
43:36
Speaker 3: And it's been hard to keep track of all the
43:39
Speaker 3: ways that this has not gone well for hockey ice
43:41
Speaker 3: in Italy.
43:43
Speaker 1: I thought, and this I don't know for sure, but
43:45
Speaker 1: I thought the the the part of the tournament was
43:49
Speaker 1: in the main venue, the large venue that's being built.
43:53
Speaker 3: So maybe there was a point where there was like
43:56
Speaker 3: Convention Center and they were going to put Yeah, I
43:58
Speaker 3: don't know.
43:58
Speaker 4: Listen.
43:59
Speaker 3: It's upsetting and consistently changing, so I'm not keeping up
44:02
Speaker 3: with it. That's really the moral of the story. So
44:05
Speaker 3: I should maybe be clearer on what it is. But
44:07
Speaker 3: it's like I just I don't worrying about it. I
44:12
Speaker 3: personally can't do anything about it, so I just hope
44:14
Speaker 3: that there's somewhere for the games to be played and
44:16
Speaker 3: that it's in shape, safe convict conditions.
44:20
Speaker 1: Yes, agreed, Okay, I think that's going to wrap it
44:23
Speaker 1: up for us this week. We appreciate you listening, and
44:27
Speaker 1: once again next week is going to be kind of.
44:29
Speaker 2: A wrap up edition of the show.
44:32
Speaker 1: If you have questions for us, drop us a line
44:34
Speaker 1: there's an email address in the show notes.
44:38
Speaker 2: We'll get to as many.
44:39
Speaker 1: Of those as we can, or if you have ideas
44:42
Speaker 1: for discussion, we're happy to hear those two. So thanks
44:46
Speaker 1: for listening, thanks for watching. We'll catch you next week
44:49
Speaker 1: on the podcast