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Teams go into the deep end of the Olympic absence period · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com. Hi, and welcome to another edition of
0:13
Speaker 1: the podcast from us cho dot com. I'm Todd Boleski
0:16
Speaker 1: here as always with Nicole Hose and Nicole. It is
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Speaker 1: getting to be a real interesting time in NCAA women's
0:22
Speaker 1: hockey now because we're four weeks out from the end
0:24
Speaker 1: of the regular season for most conferences, and a lot
0:27
Speaker 1: of teams are losing some players to the Olympics, and
0:30
Speaker 1: we're going to get into a lot more of what
0:32
Speaker 1: that means in terms of some teams dealing with a
0:36
Speaker 1: lot of volume losses of their goal scoring when we
0:39
Speaker 1: get deeper into the show. But I want to talk
0:42
Speaker 1: a little bit about what we saw last weekend around
0:45
Speaker 1: the country, and I want to start with Northeastern because
0:48
Speaker 1: they had a series at Yukon last week and got
0:53
Speaker 1: out with a sweep, a one nothing win on Saturday
0:55
Speaker 1: and a four to two win on Sunday, both on
0:58
Speaker 1: the road, vaulting up from eighth to fifth in the NPI,
1:04
Speaker 1: which is a pretty substantial move this deep into the season,
1:09
Speaker 1: and when when you beat a team that's up there
1:12
Speaker 1: as well. Yukon was five dropped to seven, that's a
1:18
Speaker 1: massive move and it also pretty much wraps up the
1:21
Speaker 1: Hockey East title. It feels like, yeah.
1:25
Speaker 2: That moved them to what twelve points a top the conference,
1:29
Speaker 2: which you know, we we were not sure what took
1:32
Speaker 2: ex fect from Northeastern early on and they you know,
1:36
Speaker 2: I think part of it is they had those early
1:38
Speaker 2: losses to Kinnipiac, who was ranked seven at the time,
1:41
Speaker 2: and then we're playing you know, teams that are now
1:44
Speaker 2: in the bottom half of the standings as we start
1:46
Speaker 2: getting to you know conference the way the conference is
1:49
Speaker 2: shaking out, and so it was just it was a
1:51
Speaker 2: little hard to gauge where they were going to be.
1:53
Speaker 2: But they have only six losses. You know, it didn't
1:56
Speaker 2: help to I think, you know, at Thanksgiving they had
1:58
Speaker 2: a loss to Penn State, and it was just I, yeah,
2:02
Speaker 2: it was I was unsure, like going back and looking
2:05
Speaker 2: at the number of wins they had, maybe that wasn't fair,
2:08
Speaker 2: but again it was you know, against teams that were like, okay,
2:11
Speaker 2: that's a team they should be yep, yep. But yeah,
2:13
Speaker 2: there are six losses overall, and absolutely proved themselves this weekend.
2:17
Speaker 2: So sorry to them for not being sure if we
2:21
Speaker 2: should should get on behind trade or not, I guess
2:23
Speaker 2: and as we've talked about a little bit, they're not
2:26
Speaker 2: they don't have a home stadium for the second half,
2:28
Speaker 2: and so that part is what I think will be
2:31
Speaker 2: interesting to see how, if for how that affects their
2:33
Speaker 2: final what eight or so games.
2:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the in Hockey East play we mentioned in
2:39
Speaker 1: the twelve point lead, but they've gotten forty six of
2:42
Speaker 1: a possible forty eight points, which is really remarkable to
2:45
Speaker 1: have be that consistent in Hockey East play. Knowing that,
2:48
Speaker 1: I mean, we know that that Hockey East has had
2:51
Speaker 1: some struggles with at the top end having a consistent
2:55
Speaker 1: top end team over the last couple years, or it's
2:57
Speaker 1: been a different cast sometimes, but uh, for them to
3:01
Speaker 1: really show that, you know, look, the Huskies are for
3:05
Speaker 1: real in Hockey East. They're gonna they're sweeping everything. They're
3:09
Speaker 1: They're one. I think they had an overtime loss or
3:13
Speaker 1: shootoutlass and overtime the two Boys loss and okay, okay,
3:21
Speaker 1: so the you're you're looking at like last week Saturday's
3:26
Speaker 1: game one nothing win. Illinoyd scores with fifteen seconds left
3:29
Speaker 1: as the only goal of the game. Lasa Johnson makes
3:31
Speaker 1: forty five saves. That's not a game that maybe you
3:34
Speaker 1: would have expected them to win from a numbers perspective there,
3:38
Speaker 1: but they found the way to win. And that's I
3:41
Speaker 1: think what means something, especially when you get to the
3:43
Speaker 1: last part of the regular season. Are they finding the
3:46
Speaker 1: ways to win games that maybe, uh, the analytics say
3:50
Speaker 1: they shouldn't know.
3:52
Speaker 2: I think one of the things about Northeaster is is
3:55
Speaker 2: maybe when nobody else did or maybe you know, I
3:58
Speaker 2: think they've always believed. I mean, lic Johnson has always
4:01
Speaker 2: been an A plus goaltender. So there is that that
4:05
Speaker 2: was a weekend full of full of great goaltending. There
4:07
Speaker 2: was that crazy saved by Tia Cham where she pulled
4:10
Speaker 2: it off the line that ended up on Sports Center.
4:13
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think, you know, I think it's important
4:15
Speaker 2: that they kind of they will leave their own height right.
4:19
Speaker 2: And I would say too, like we have long talked about,
4:23
Speaker 2: mostly in referenced to other teams, in terms of like
4:25
Speaker 2: you have to win your points, like you have to
4:27
Speaker 2: win the games you're supposed to win, and they're they've
4:30
Speaker 2: sort of quietly been doing that, right, So like the
4:32
Speaker 2: wins that have like or the losses that have made
4:35
Speaker 2: me raise my eyebrows haven't actually been Conference losses, so
4:40
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, well that was you know, when we
4:43
Speaker 2: were like, maybe this isn't the strongest year for them
4:45
Speaker 2: or whatever. But but when it's come to conference, they've
4:47
Speaker 2: they've taken almost as much as they can on and
4:50
Speaker 2: I think that's it's kind of what we've been preaching along,
4:53
Speaker 2: we just haven't applied it to them yet.
4:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, I want to go back to last
4:59
Speaker 1: week too, because there are a couple of important results
5:03
Speaker 1: around the country. Penn State, number four in the country,
5:05
Speaker 1: getting a five to one win at number twelve Cornell,
5:08
Speaker 1: which you know, not necessarily you're thinking, okay, it's number
5:12
Speaker 1: four against number twelve, the number four should win that,
5:15
Speaker 1: but five to one on the road in a midweek game,
5:17
Speaker 1: that feels like a little bit of a statement there.
5:20
Speaker 1: Tessa Janicky and Matti Christian both of the goal and
5:23
Speaker 1: an assist. Penn State just keeps cranking out the wins here,
5:27
Speaker 1: and you know, it feels like that's the you know,
5:33
Speaker 1: they're in the number four spot in the NPI, which
5:35
Speaker 1: means a home game in the regionals. Yeah, it really
5:40
Speaker 1: feels like this is something that they're bounded determined to
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Speaker 1: hold on to and get that spot that puts them
5:48
Speaker 1: one win away from a frozen four in their own building.
5:52
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, so they would like basically not have to
5:54
Speaker 2: go on the road for the playoffs and so or
5:56
Speaker 2: for the NTA tournament. Yeah, it's hard this time. And
6:00
Speaker 2: I and like fair or not, Like they have dominated
6:04
Speaker 2: the AHA for several seasons, and like, I think there
6:07
Speaker 2: is always a bit of a hesitation or an asterisk
6:11
Speaker 2: to wondering like how strong are they really? Like, Okay,
6:15
Speaker 2: they're dominating that conference, but like you know, the ah's
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Speaker 2: record in non conference against other conference teams like has
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Speaker 2: shown that we know, like there is there is a
6:26
Speaker 2: gap there, and so I think it has always been
6:28
Speaker 2: hard to be like, yes we I like, I really
6:30
Speaker 2: I fully believe in Penn State. I really love how
6:33
Speaker 2: much depth they've shown. They don't need Tessa to be
6:35
Speaker 2: the goal scorer. I mean she still does, but there
6:38
Speaker 2: are plenty of other goal scorers on that team. Katie
6:41
Speaker 2: Disas continues to be really great a net But I
6:45
Speaker 2: think there is always just a hesitation to be like, yes,
6:47
Speaker 2: this is a team that I think can go play
6:50
Speaker 2: in the NCAA tournament and win. And I will say
6:52
Speaker 2: two they have had a couple n Z bids at
6:55
Speaker 2: this point and have not advanced, and so it's a
6:58
Speaker 2: little I'm always a little has to know how much
7:02
Speaker 2: to believe in them and what they could do. So
7:04
Speaker 2: when they're going and getting the win over Northeastern, the
7:07
Speaker 2: win over Cornell, like you said, an emphatic win, then
7:11
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, again, maybe buying their own hype more
7:15
Speaker 2: than than I am, but it's I think they've made
7:18
Speaker 2: their point a little bit this year. But I do
7:21
Speaker 2: think until we see them get that NCAA win, it's in,
7:26
Speaker 2: you know, that advancing past that that opening LinkedIn. It's
7:29
Speaker 2: a little hard to buy in for sure, to like
7:33
Speaker 2: believe for sure, I don't know, but yeah, maybe it's this.
7:36
Speaker 2: We we're hosting the Frozen four and we're gonna freak
7:39
Speaker 2: and play in it, and that's that's the thing that's
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Speaker 2: done it.
7:42
Speaker 1: If there's a year for it all to line up here,
7:44
Speaker 1: it is right because having that in your building is
7:48
Speaker 1: a great motivator. I mean, we will see and we'll
7:50
Speaker 1: talk about this more in a while, but taking Testa
7:54
Speaker 1: Janiky out of the lineup and a couple of other
7:56
Speaker 1: players for the Olympics, right, you know what impact does
7:59
Speaker 1: that make on the next four weeks and and does
8:02
Speaker 1: that open up the door to a stumble that does
8:05
Speaker 1: cost them in the NPI. So that's that's something I
8:10
Speaker 1: think a lot of teams are are concerned about as
8:13
Speaker 1: we get in the next month here.
8:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think right, they're clearly a tournament team, like,
8:17
Speaker 2: I don't think that's in question, but the ability to
8:20
Speaker 2: host that first round is really what they're I think
8:24
Speaker 2: aiming for. And so yeah, that's a really good point.
8:26
Speaker 2: And I think too, some of it is just going
8:28
Speaker 2: to be interesting to me. Yes, percentage points of people,
8:31
Speaker 2: goal scorers, all that stuff, but you're just you're also
8:33
Speaker 2: just really messing with team chemistry, right. I would imagine
8:37
Speaker 2: most of the people that are going off to the
8:39
Speaker 2: Olympics are team leaders, whether they're weird a's or c's
8:42
Speaker 2: or not. And so yeah, you're just really changing up
8:46
Speaker 2: for everybody. Like you're very comfortable going out on the
8:48
Speaker 2: ice in certain formations and certain orders and certain chemistry
8:52
Speaker 2: and lines and things, and all of that is going
8:53
Speaker 2: to change for not just a couple of teams they're
8:56
Speaker 2: going to talk about that are missing a bunch of players,
8:58
Speaker 2: but like a ton of goals or missing players, Like
9:01
Speaker 2: it's not just we're not just talking the top couple teams,
9:04
Speaker 2: you know, so I think more interesting to watch then,
9:10
Speaker 2: like who's going to score the points?
9:11
Speaker 1: Is?
9:11
Speaker 2: Is what that? Who can hold it together? And who
9:15
Speaker 2: is the team that can handle sort of all the
9:17
Speaker 2: switching up that's going to have to do, you know,
9:19
Speaker 2: when power play two becomes power Play one and things
9:22
Speaker 2: like that.
9:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Also last Tuesday, the bean Pot Championship game
9:28
Speaker 1: went to overtime. Harvard got a two to one win
9:31
Speaker 1: over Boston University, Carl McSweeney scoring on a penalty shot
9:35
Speaker 1: in overtime, which is a pretty cool way of ending that.
9:39
Speaker 1: Ainsley Tough he made forty six saves for the Crimson. There.
9:42
Speaker 1: I was watching this the end of this game on
9:44
Speaker 1: my phone in the car as I was waiting to
9:46
Speaker 1: do a kid pick up, and it was just like
9:49
Speaker 1: I needed the our son to not get not come
9:53
Speaker 1: out from school yet, No, I need to watch the
9:55
Speaker 1: end of this game here because it was I there
10:00
Speaker 1: was always this discussion about, you know, should should regular
10:05
Speaker 1: season tournaments really go to a shootout or should they
10:08
Speaker 1: get played three on three overtime? And and I came
10:11
Speaker 1: to the conclusion that yeah, they're they're regular season game.
10:13
Speaker 1: They should be played like any other regular season game,
10:16
Speaker 1: just to be uh, you know fair across the board
10:19
Speaker 1: because they all count the same towards the n p I.
10:23
Speaker 1: But I really don't love that championships get decided in shootouts,
10:29
Speaker 1: even though we've seen it in the Olympics and you know,
10:31
Speaker 1: we've seen it in in major tournaments on the international safe.
10:35
Speaker 1: So I'm glad this ended in overtime, not on a
10:38
Speaker 1: three on three play necessarily kind of on a shootout.
10:43
Speaker 1: It was a penalty shot. There was a legit penalty
10:45
Speaker 1: shot too, But I mean that was that was a
10:48
Speaker 1: really cool uh finish to that in getting that, yeah,
10:55
Speaker 1: and being named MVP.
10:57
Speaker 2: Obviously it didn't. I mean, Harvard shot for in the teams.
11:01
Speaker 2: I mean it was when the ridiculous amount that they
11:04
Speaker 2: were out shot and then came out with the wind.
11:06
Speaker 2: Just they've been a scrappy team all season. I mean,
11:09
Speaker 2: I think, you know, in the end, it's it's still
11:11
Speaker 2: middle of the pack for ECAC, but they've pulled out.
11:14
Speaker 2: I think I've said this before, I'm really impressed with
11:18
Speaker 2: what's been happening there in the last year and a
11:20
Speaker 2: half or so, like it was a little rooit of
11:22
Speaker 2: a rough go and I think they're really building back,
11:24
Speaker 2: and like, I mean, it's a bit like you were
11:26
Speaker 2: saying with the sort of emphatic winds or the win,
11:30
Speaker 2: the one on win for Northeastern, like Harvey getting the
11:33
Speaker 2: win that game when they're ridiculously outshot, when they are
11:36
Speaker 2: not the top team of the four that are playing
11:38
Speaker 2: in the bean Pot. You know, just everything was not
11:41
Speaker 2: set up for Harvard to come out of there with
11:43
Speaker 2: that win, and so very cool for them to do. So.
11:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, moving ahead to last weekends games, Princeton took win
11:51
Speaker 1: into the weekend with a thirteen game winning streak, but
11:53
Speaker 1: that ended on Friday with a six to one win.
11:56
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, how was the day before? Sorry? Yeah it
11:59
Speaker 1: was some one I think. Yeah, six to one for
12:03
Speaker 1: Cornell over Princeton, right, which was a like was not
12:09
Speaker 1: you know, winning streaks in but uh, seeing six really
12:13
Speaker 1: kind of stood out there.
12:14
Speaker 2: I kept waiting for that to change, like obviously not,
12:17
Speaker 2: but like you know, Cornell got a couple of goals
12:20
Speaker 2: and I'm like, well, yeah, Princeton's gonna en it, just
12:22
Speaker 2: like corneill just kept putting them in and I was like, okay,
12:25
Speaker 2: I ended up switching to you know, switching them to
12:27
Speaker 2: a smaller screen and going to someone else because I
12:29
Speaker 2: was just I was really surprised with that out come.
12:31
Speaker 2: I mean, good for Cornell again, you know, Cornell is
12:33
Speaker 2: a team that will do that, and then you know,
12:36
Speaker 2: not when it's the that's one of the teams that's
12:39
Speaker 2: a head scratcher for me this year. But yeah, that's
12:42
Speaker 2: that was will win. And it was a rough weekend
12:44
Speaker 2: for Princeton and I think, you know, probably a good
12:46
Speaker 2: gut check. I mean, there's still I think there was
12:49
Speaker 2: now a half weight back put a packs now at
12:51
Speaker 2: the top of ECAC. But because we have half points,
12:55
Speaker 2: it's still very close. It's not like that change to
12:59
Speaker 2: the course their I mean, I guess I shouldn't say that,
13:01
Speaker 2: but they're they're probably still in the conversation. So maybe
13:04
Speaker 2: it's a good gut check. Maybe it's good to end
13:06
Speaker 2: that streak now. I think they're they probably learned quite
13:10
Speaker 2: a bit out of this weekend. I'm guessing they were.
13:13
Speaker 2: They're ryding high on that that wind streak and sort
13:15
Speaker 2: of coming out of nowhere in terms of what people
13:17
Speaker 2: were what the expectations were. But yeah, that was that
13:21
Speaker 2: loss on Friday was really surprising to me.
13:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, Piper Grover with two goals and an assists for
13:27
Speaker 1: Cornell in that Friday game, and then both Cornell and
13:33
Speaker 1: Princeton lost on Saturday. Princeton lost again three to two
13:38
Speaker 1: to Colgate in overtime. Princeton overcame the two nothing deffericent
13:43
Speaker 1: in the last seven or five minutes, but Lexis Petford
13:45
Speaker 1: scored for Colgate in overtime uh to end a three
13:50
Speaker 1: game skid where they had been outscored fourteen to three
13:53
Speaker 1: by Yale, Brown and Quinnipiac. So that was a rough
13:57
Speaker 1: goal over for a while for Colgate, but they get
13:59
Speaker 1: a big win to pull out of that. And then
14:02
Speaker 1: Cornell loses to Quinnipiac on Saturday for nothing Britain prior
14:07
Speaker 1: to goals Folicia Frank thirty nine saves the kind of
14:09
Speaker 1: things you expect there from Quinnipiac to kind of shut
14:12
Speaker 1: a team down. So this is again is the ECAC
14:17
Speaker 1: way of well, we got to have an exception here
14:21
Speaker 1: in a minute. But teams that are you know, trying
14:24
Speaker 1: to make a run, you know, one step forward, one
14:27
Speaker 1: step back.
14:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't may, I don't know. At this point,
14:33
Speaker 2: it feels like everything's a toss up. I mean, it's
14:36
Speaker 2: making it fun. I thought to the Holgate I'm sorry
14:42
Speaker 2: the Quinnipiac win over Colgate. They had. We had two
14:45
Speaker 2: defender hat tricks this weekend, which was fun. So Mikaila
14:48
Speaker 2: wats in their head her first career hat trick as
14:50
Speaker 2: a defender. It was the first hat trick in fifteen
14:54
Speaker 2: years for Quinnipiac from a defender, so that was fun.
14:58
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it was one of those with there
15:00
Speaker 2: were a lot of high shot games this weekend. We
15:02
Speaker 2: had a lot of goalies making some pretty outstanding performances.
15:06
Speaker 2: I enjoyed Felicia Frank when she was at you eighteens.
15:08
Speaker 2: I thought she was a good get and she has
15:10
Speaker 2: continued to be quietly I think a little bit be
15:13
Speaker 2: a very solid presence for Quinnipiac. And she's young, you know,
15:17
Speaker 2: she's still got lots of growth, and so that will
15:20
Speaker 2: be she will be fun to continue to watch. But yeah,
15:23
Speaker 2: it doesn't do you think you understand the dynamic and
15:27
Speaker 2: the ECAC and who's taking the steps forward and who
15:29
Speaker 2: hasn't been able to find it. And then this weekend's
15:32
Speaker 2: results were like, well, I didn't know anything.
15:34
Speaker 1: Well, and here comes Clark saying in because they have
15:37
Speaker 1: won five straight now after beating Dartmouth two to one
15:40
Speaker 1: in overtime on a Sara Manas goal, or scoring both
15:43
Speaker 1: those goals when including the overtime.
15:44
Speaker 2: Goal and with four seconds left. Yeah, we had a
15:48
Speaker 2: lot of last second dramatics this weekend, right, various games.
15:54
Speaker 1: And so now, like you mentioned, it's it's Quinnipiac in
15:57
Speaker 1: first place, but then there's Princeton and Clarkson tied for
16:01
Speaker 1: second and a half point back. So a lot, a lot,
16:05
Speaker 1: a lot a lot to be decided there in these
16:08
Speaker 1: final couple of weeks. That's that's gonna be fun. I
16:13
Speaker 1: mean it's fun, frustrating and furiating sometimes, but I come
16:17
Speaker 1: back to the fun of it.
16:19
Speaker 2: Of it all in the end, which Ben showed out
16:21
Speaker 2: to Dartmouth Mikhaela Asheva, which who are they are losing
16:26
Speaker 2: to the Olympics, which will make a big difference. But
16:28
Speaker 2: Clerkson out shut Dartmouth forty two to twelve in that
16:30
Speaker 2: game and won it in the final four seconds of overtime.
16:33
Speaker 2: So shout out to Dartmouth for for holding that on
16:36
Speaker 2: as long as they absolutely could. But yeah, we're I
16:39
Speaker 2: think maybe the underrated story of this year has been
16:42
Speaker 2: some of the goalies. You know, we weren't talking about
16:45
Speaker 2: Easley Toffee. We weren't talking about you know, a lot
16:49
Speaker 2: of these different goalies and was hoping her name would
16:52
Speaker 2: come to me. Who are we talking about?
16:53
Speaker 1: Is that.
16:56
Speaker 2: The goalie we were talking about last week? Doesn't matter?
17:00
Speaker 2: You were like, she came out of nowhere.
17:02
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm blanking too. Glad you going to last week everyone.
17:08
Speaker 2: We'll get back to it. But anyway, the point is
17:10
Speaker 2: we're seeing these like massive you know, Felicia Frank forty say,
17:13
Speaker 2: you know, things like that. I think it's been fun
17:15
Speaker 2: to see, even in a game that should feel uneven,
17:19
Speaker 2: that Like, we're still at a point where some of
17:20
Speaker 2: these goalies are stealing chances, which is fun too, right.
17:26
Speaker 1: I do want to mention a couple other results moving
17:30
Speaker 1: out west from last weekend. There was an upset alert
17:35
Speaker 1: after two periods on Friday, Saint Thomas leading Ohio State
17:40
Speaker 1: at Ohio State won nothing, but the Buckeyes come back
17:43
Speaker 1: to score in the third. Jocelyn Amos got that goal.
17:48
Speaker 1: And then she got the winner in overtime shot attempts
17:51
Speaker 1: in that game ninety eight to fourteen.
17:54
Speaker 3: And so Thomas has had what a good four five
18:00
Speaker 3: of these type games against Ohio State three year, yes, right,
18:04
Speaker 3: and uh.
18:08
Speaker 1: Yes, So I don't know what to uh make of
18:12
Speaker 1: that necessarily, of whether that was a you know, Ohio State,
18:19
Speaker 1: you know, having a real challenge there, or if it
18:22
Speaker 1: was just a you know, you get goalid some days.
18:25
Speaker 1: And well, I.
18:27
Speaker 2: Mean, I would say the fact that it keeps happening
18:29
Speaker 2: implies that Saint Thomas understands something about what Ohio State
18:33
Speaker 2: is doing. But yeah, I mean some of it is
18:37
Speaker 2: goaltending for sure, But yeah, I the fact that St.
18:40
Speaker 2: Thomas has done this over and over again makes me
18:41
Speaker 2: think there's there's something something their coaches have found about
18:45
Speaker 2: their matchup that that goes well in their favor, and
18:47
Speaker 2: they've just not quite been able to hold on. I think,
18:51
Speaker 2: particularly when it comes to three on three Ohio State
18:53
Speaker 2: for Saint Thomas, that's not there. That's too much open ice.
18:59
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, upset alert is right. I Again, I mean,
19:06
Speaker 2: even the teams that we that are still pulling out
19:08
Speaker 2: the wins, there are just times when you're like, everybody's
19:11
Speaker 2: very beautible this year, which I think is really interesting,
19:13
Speaker 2: even with some of the rosters. Even you know, we
19:15
Speaker 2: could talk about you know, who's who on some of
19:17
Speaker 2: the top five six teams, and yet like none of
19:21
Speaker 2: them are infallible. And so that's I think possibly like
19:26
Speaker 2: for the first time in a few years where everybody
19:28
Speaker 2: feels like I've watched you play a game where like,
19:30
Speaker 2: if you played like this in the end of the season,
19:33
Speaker 2: you're you're not going anywhere, And so I think that
19:37
Speaker 2: leaves of the field more wide open. Then maybe I
19:39
Speaker 2: think some people feel like sure also in free for
19:42
Speaker 2: for Yale, who remember, sorry.
19:46
Speaker 1: Thank you, I was just I just looked that up
19:48
Speaker 1: in the background. Arrow, was you gonna mention that? Right? Uh?
19:52
Speaker 1: Whose stats are now nine and zero point eight one
19:57
Speaker 1: goals against point nine to sixty three safer Saturday?
20:00
Speaker 2: So yes, I feel really bad pretty forgetting because those
20:05
Speaker 2: are ridiculous numbers and they continue to be that. I
20:07
Speaker 2: don't think it's a loot.
20:09
Speaker 1: Right, So yeah, Ohio State did win the second game
20:12
Speaker 1: of that series five nothing, so that was a you know,
20:15
Speaker 1: a bit more you know, still one sided in terms
20:18
Speaker 1: of possession control, but the goals did go in on Saturday.
20:22
Speaker 1: The goals did not go in on Friday at Minnesota
20:26
Speaker 1: State where Minnesota Luth and man Cato had a zero
20:30
Speaker 1: zero tie and then only had one goal in the shootout.
20:33
Speaker 1: So all of these shots, one goes in, very good goal.
20:38
Speaker 1: It was very good goal. Thenning it was all weekend
20:40
Speaker 1: for Duluth. Ev Gasco makes twenty one saves and then
20:43
Speaker 1: all three in the shootout on Friday, then twenty four
20:47
Speaker 1: saves in another shutout on Saturday. So forty five for
20:52
Speaker 1: the weekend plus all three in the shootouts. So yeah,
20:55
Speaker 1: forty eight shots to her forty eight saves. Not not
20:57
Speaker 1: a bad weekends.
20:59
Speaker 2: Feels like right now, you and these entire feeds and
21:01
Speaker 2: hinges on gay like they're pretty lucky she didn't get
21:04
Speaker 2: pulled into Canada at that point. I mean they are.
21:08
Speaker 2: I mean I went and looked it up because since
21:11
Speaker 2: the New Year, which is ten games, they have one win,
21:14
Speaker 2: one win, four losses, three ties, and they're averaging one
21:17
Speaker 2: point two goals a game during that, Like you can't.
21:21
Speaker 2: You're not an NCAA tournament team at that Like it's
21:24
Speaker 2: just not. They're currently ninth in the NPI like they are.
21:27
Speaker 2: Things are are a little more dire than I think
21:30
Speaker 2: we would have accepted looking at how things were a
21:33
Speaker 2: few weeks ago. EV's been outstanding, she continues to be outstanding.
21:38
Speaker 2: She is holding on for dear life with them. But yeah,
21:41
Speaker 2: I it doesn't get you near from Minnesota to lose,
21:44
Speaker 2: like they're they're about to do the rounds of the
21:46
Speaker 2: top of the w c h A. And like, if
21:47
Speaker 2: you're not scoring in the games against Mankato and some
21:52
Speaker 2: of these other teams, then like I mean and that's no,
21:55
Speaker 2: I don't mean that anything other than like I apologize,
21:58
Speaker 2: nan Kato. You are not Wisconsin and Ohio state of Minnesota.
22:00
Speaker 2: So like, but we've seen Dluz showed up really well
22:05
Speaker 2: against Wisconsin's Like does it need to be one of
22:08
Speaker 2: those games that like snaps them out of it? I
22:10
Speaker 2: don't know, But I just really think their offensive lineup
22:14
Speaker 2: is too good to be doing what we've seen.
22:16
Speaker 1: From them, and when they have played well against good teams,
22:20
Speaker 1: it has been a defensive side that has been the story.
22:25
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, a lot of they have goal scorers,
22:30
Speaker 2: so late a lot to still.
22:31
Speaker 1: Be explained there, right, We saw another three goals whole
22:38
Speaker 1: home from Abbie Murphy over the weekend to get her
22:41
Speaker 1: thirty six this season, which is gonna be where it
22:45
Speaker 1: stays for a few weeks.
22:46
Speaker 2: Now, Nadine Mazarol for most goals career goals right, yes,
22:53
Speaker 2: for the Gophers. So it's a fun spot to leave
22:56
Speaker 2: the dramatic and for that in the season. Yeah, So
23:01
Speaker 2: it'll sit there for a while. But she's got a
23:03
Speaker 2: good lead at the top of the national stats.
23:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, she does eight one and five one wins for
23:09
Speaker 1: the Gophers or Sincloud State, which now is finally out
23:12
Speaker 1: of the top fifteen than the US Echo dot Com
23:16
Speaker 1: rankings has been in there all season, I think, and
23:23
Speaker 1: now Mercy Hurst says has got enough votes to move
23:27
Speaker 1: the Huskies out. It's a it's been a rough season
23:31
Speaker 1: for the Huskies. Coaching change obviously is Yeah, it's a
23:36
Speaker 1: different team. It's the makings of a new direction. So
23:42
Speaker 1: I wonder if this is just part of the growing pains.
23:47
Speaker 2: I think so, I mean, they did also get that
23:50
Speaker 2: last class was a really solid class that had kind
23:54
Speaker 2: of gone through together and gotten better as they'd gone
23:56
Speaker 2: into their last two classes, and so I think they
23:58
Speaker 2: probably just had have that and I've been very kind
24:02
Speaker 2: of focused in on the sort of like cyclical nature
24:04
Speaker 2: of both like e eighteens in college right now, and
24:07
Speaker 2: that like at sometimes things are closer and sometimes things
24:10
Speaker 2: are further apart, and it really just have to do
24:12
Speaker 2: with like quirks of birth year and like recruiting classes
24:15
Speaker 2: and and some of it isn't necessarily like a statement
24:18
Speaker 2: on the state of the game in anyone country or
24:20
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And so I do think
24:23
Speaker 2: that to some extent that some of this is just
24:25
Speaker 2: like part of that cyclical and I think, you know,
24:29
Speaker 2: sometimes you're gonna have that with coaching changes, and like
24:32
Speaker 2: Brian was also only there for a couple of years,
24:34
Speaker 2: and so I think like Saint claud just has to
24:37
Speaker 2: sort of solidify their identity, and I think that they will,
24:39
Speaker 2: and I think they've done. They've done plenty to show
24:42
Speaker 2: that they can be competitive. I just think it's about
24:45
Speaker 2: doing that consistently. And I think they're going to continue
24:48
Speaker 2: to get some international players that really bring in feed
24:54
Speaker 2: into the style that they play that they're gonna play
24:57
Speaker 2: going forward.
24:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely a couple results and knew how I wanted to
25:01
Speaker 1: touch on where we've got a change in the lead
25:04
Speaker 1: at compared to last week. So Franklin Pears and st
25:08
Speaker 1: Anselm both lost on Friday, Franklin Piris to nothing at
25:11
Speaker 1: home the Assumption and Saint Anselm five to two at
25:14
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart. Franklin Pierce got a tie with Assumption three
25:17
Speaker 1: to three on Saturday and won the shootouts, who got
25:19
Speaker 1: two points out of that, but Sacred Heart beat Saint
25:22
Speaker 1: Anselm again three to one. So now look it's got
25:25
Speaker 1: Franklin Pierce forty two points, sat Ansom forty one and
25:29
Speaker 1: can't roll out Stonehill thirty seven Assumption thirty six kind
25:33
Speaker 1: of you know a little bit farther away, right, We've
25:39
Speaker 1: I feel like we've given this title away a few
25:42
Speaker 1: times already this season.
25:44
Speaker 2: Basic anybody can win it. Yeah, but yeah, I mean
25:49
Speaker 2: Stan some what are you doing? Like Secret Heart was
25:52
Speaker 2: dead four wins before this, right like they were it was.
25:56
Speaker 2: It was not a good weekend. Those are dems st
25:58
Speaker 2: ansel Is to regret, but like way to go a
26:01
Speaker 2: Secret Heart, way to you know, not be intimidated and
26:04
Speaker 2: go just take those points. But yeah, what is happening?
26:11
Speaker 2: I mean, it's crazy. We're like, I mean, we said
26:14
Speaker 2: it what we said, it was like, we're loath to,
26:16
Speaker 2: you know, give anything away this early, but I did
26:19
Speaker 2: not think we'd be talking about four teams within six
26:21
Speaker 2: points of each other at this point in the season,
26:24
Speaker 2: Like just not remotely.
26:29
Speaker 1: The question of what's going on feels like the central
26:34
Speaker 1: theme of the season, doesn't it. I mean, other than
26:36
Speaker 1: what we've seen, what we see at the top, probably
26:39
Speaker 1: we know what.
26:39
Speaker 2: We're talking about, and yet you mostly just see here and.
26:42
Speaker 1: Go, I do not purport that I purport nothing. Yeah,
26:50
Speaker 1: but it's it's been a struggle to kind.
26:52
Speaker 2: Of experience and in history like is helping me figure
26:59
Speaker 2: this out. So I mean, cue the jokes about me
27:03
Speaker 2: knowing nothing, but I just am like that you take
27:06
Speaker 2: all the data you have and it does not matter
27:09
Speaker 2: in the final outcome of any of these games, and
27:11
Speaker 2: I just like a tent scratching.
27:14
Speaker 1: Well, what we can figure out is that there are
27:15
Speaker 1: a lot of really talented players that are off the Olympics,
27:19
Speaker 1: and so when we come back from our first break,
27:21
Speaker 1: we will discuss how that's going to change some things,
27:23
Speaker 1: and look ahead to some of the games right away
27:26
Speaker 1: in this coming weekend that are going to put that
27:27
Speaker 1: to the test. For a few teams, So stay with
27:29
Speaker 1: us on the podcast.
27:39
Speaker 4: We're back with the podcast, Todd and Nicole here to
27:42
Speaker 4: talk about the Olympic break that isn't a break, but
27:48
Speaker 4: it is going to I don't know break some.
27:50
Speaker 1: Teams, maybe question Mark. We're seeing a lot of teams
27:58
Speaker 1: lose a player two, three, four. Some are losing five
28:02
Speaker 1: players to the Olympics. Some are losing a little bit
28:06
Speaker 1: of scoring. Some like Ohio State, are losing forty eight
28:10
Speaker 1: percent of their goals to players gone through the Olympics.
28:14
Speaker 1: Some are losing their top scorers or top five teams
28:18
Speaker 1: are losing losing their leading goal scorer. Minnesota, Duluth, Ohio State,
28:23
Speaker 1: Penn State, and Wisconsin not no slouches there of teams
28:28
Speaker 1: obviously at the top, and right away we're going to
28:31
Speaker 1: get a good look at what this does to UH
28:34
Speaker 1: to teams that are fighting for the top. When number
28:37
Speaker 1: one Wisconsin plays at number three Minnesota this Friday and Saturday,
28:42
Speaker 1: So no Edmin Murphy on the Minnesota side, no Josephine
28:46
Speaker 1: Bouvang lightman Nellie Layton in right. And then for Wisconsin,
28:53
Speaker 1: no Kk Harvey, no Kristen Simms, no Liela Edwards and
28:57
Speaker 1: maybe you know what people are are, maybe not thinking
29:00
Speaker 1: of a ton with with those names that I just mentioned.
29:03
Speaker 1: No Evin mcnatton a goal. So there's a big change there.
29:06
Speaker 1: You've got I think I did the numbers today. She's
29:10
Speaker 1: played like ninety two ninety three percent of the team's
29:12
Speaker 1: minutes this season. Riya Stewart is a freshman, well thought
29:16
Speaker 1: a freshman, but still a freshman and probably gonna first
29:23
Speaker 1: big start in Ritter Arena. On Friday, she played a
29:27
Speaker 1: seventeen to two game against stone Hill and was in reliefs.
29:33
Speaker 1: Did come into play Minnesota earlier this season, if you
29:35
Speaker 1: remember the one game Wisconsin lost, she Avin McDon gave
29:39
Speaker 1: up five and got pulled and in went Riya Stewart.
29:42
Speaker 1: So there's a lot, yeah, a lot the parts there.
29:47
Speaker 1: But I guess what kind of things should we be
29:51
Speaker 1: looking for in terms of impacts or like who, like
29:55
Speaker 1: what it's going to take for some players to fill
29:57
Speaker 1: in a lot of these gaps of you know what
30:00
Speaker 1: you're talking about, losing first lines, entire first lines in
30:04
Speaker 1: some some ways, how that that obviously challenges.
30:08
Speaker 2: Death, I would say, And I don't know if it's
30:12
Speaker 2: recency biased, and I don't know if it's because you know,
30:14
Speaker 2: we see Wisconsin more, but I do feel like the
30:17
Speaker 2: way that Mark Johnson messes with the lines like constantly
30:21
Speaker 2: throughout the game does I think help them in this
30:25
Speaker 2: particular instance in that I don't feel like any of
30:29
Speaker 2: them are super concerned with who's on their line or
30:32
Speaker 2: who they'll be playing with. And I don't think I
30:34
Speaker 2: don't know, but I don't think that we'll mess with
30:37
Speaker 2: their sort of like confidence and they're like, I do
30:41
Speaker 2: think that'll be a fairly smooth transition for them. And
30:44
Speaker 2: you know, like Keearsten was hurt and Layel was hurt,
30:47
Speaker 2: and so you know, we've seen and when that happened,
30:49
Speaker 2: we saw players from from lower lines really step up
30:53
Speaker 2: and have big weekends. And so I I the Ava
30:58
Speaker 2: McNaughton novit aside, because that's just a headscrire sure, and
31:00
Speaker 2: I have nothing more to say than I don't know
31:02
Speaker 2: why everybody, why you hate Riya Stewart enough to throw
31:04
Speaker 2: her to the wold no experience, I would say, I
31:08
Speaker 2: think the concern for both Wisconsin and Minnesota is the
31:11
Speaker 2: defensive loss over the offensive loss. Probably more for Wisconsin.
31:17
Speaker 2: They're just simply and then the player like KK, and
31:20
Speaker 2: I'm not sure like two or three players can replace
31:22
Speaker 2: what she brings from vision, from playmaking, from quarterbacking, the
31:26
Speaker 2: power play, from her recovery. I do think the the
31:31
Speaker 2: Badgers can play really aggressive uh in transition and can
31:37
Speaker 2: really like push themselves into offense because KK can catch
31:41
Speaker 2: pretty much anybody going back the other direction, and none
31:45
Speaker 2: of their other defenders are kind of even close to that,
31:48
Speaker 2: And so I think that that has to change a
31:52
Speaker 2: little bit, like kind of the whole approach, right Like, yeah,
31:55
Speaker 2: I think the for check, I think the transition, I
31:58
Speaker 2: think all that's got it change a little just based
32:01
Speaker 2: on that. And then on the other side, like Minnesota
32:04
Speaker 2: losing lightnin' as well, right like, she's she's a playmaker,
32:08
Speaker 2: she steps up into the offense, and so I don't
32:12
Speaker 2: think they have another defender. I think Sydney Morrow to
32:14
Speaker 2: an extent has, But I think the playmakes and gets
32:18
Speaker 2: involved in the offense in a way that not necessarily
32:21
Speaker 2: any of their other defenders do. So I think for
32:23
Speaker 2: both teams, the defensive loss will be interesting to see
32:28
Speaker 2: how that transition. When you are Devid k Harvey, you
32:32
Speaker 2: let her take, you know, kind of do what she
32:34
Speaker 2: wants and then take control. And so what defender is
32:37
Speaker 2: going to step up and take any part of that role? Right,
32:39
Speaker 2: Like not the thing that they can replace her, but
32:43
Speaker 2: somebody's got to step into some of that or they're
32:45
Speaker 2: not the team that they were.
32:46
Speaker 1: It's it's interesting, you know, when you think about trying to,
32:50
Speaker 1: you know, change styles or systems, how much of that
32:53
Speaker 1: can you do in the end of January really because
32:55
Speaker 1: you've been going like a certain way for you know,
32:57
Speaker 1: three four, five months, and some are.
33:01
Speaker 2: Wisconsin playing the style that you played with KK running
33:05
Speaker 2: that and now you're playing that without her, Like a
33:08
Speaker 2: lot of State's gonna run that down your throat.
33:10
Speaker 1: Sure, I guess, I just don't know if that's necessarily
33:14
Speaker 1: the style Wisconsin plays or just that KK does that
33:19
Speaker 1: and just like to make the transition something out.
33:24
Speaker 2: Of it is very much a style thing.
33:27
Speaker 1: Sure, sure it is. And I think a lot of
33:30
Speaker 1: things are just gonna have to be a little more
33:31
Speaker 1: simple than we've seen from you know, these high end
33:36
Speaker 1: teams for for a long time.
33:40
Speaker 2: That being said, like I'm excited to see more of
33:42
Speaker 2: maybe Scannal. She at times has really showed off and
33:45
Speaker 2: it's done really well, and I think she could really
33:48
Speaker 2: thrive in a bigger role, and they're gonna indeed her
33:50
Speaker 2: to be more important in the next couple of years.
33:53
Speaker 2: Claire Enwright really stepped up when needed, So I do
33:58
Speaker 2: Cassie hall To had that really big start and then
34:00
Speaker 2: kind of heads. I wouldn't say it's interesting to say, like, oh,
34:04
Speaker 2: big year, Cassie's in quiet, but it's just that you
34:06
Speaker 2: also have KK and Chris did in Leila and wait
34:10
Speaker 2: see on your team, Like you can't all shine all
34:13
Speaker 2: the time. So I don't know that it's fair to
34:16
Speaker 2: say like any of them got quiet, But I do
34:17
Speaker 2: think there's plenty There are plenty of very gifted forwards
34:22
Speaker 2: on that team, and so I think there's probably I
34:24
Speaker 2: think I foresee it being less of a issue for
34:28
Speaker 2: them transitioning moving forward. But like you said, it's probably
34:31
Speaker 2: just got to be simpler and smarter.
34:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. I meant to mention this when we were looking
34:35
Speaker 1: back at last week. But Wisconsin did their Senior Day
34:37
Speaker 1: on Saturday last week and won ten to three over
34:40
Speaker 1: of Vimiji, which was an interesting game to begin with,
34:43
Speaker 1: I mean three to two until the last couple.
34:45
Speaker 2: Of seconds five the game minister.
34:49
Speaker 1: Yeah and so h but then the ten goals that
34:53
Speaker 1: Wisconsin scored all by seniors or fifth year players, and
34:56
Speaker 1: including three by KK Harvey and three by Kirsten Sales.
35:00
Speaker 1: Was both of them with six point games. Only the
35:03
Speaker 1: eighth and ninth players that Wisconsin ever have six point games.
35:08
Speaker 1: You know, obviously there's some pretty exceptional players on that
35:12
Speaker 1: list you're talking about, you know, pattycas winners.
35:14
Speaker 2: And there was only one goal that was non not
35:20
Speaker 2: a senior, right, correct, right, So.
35:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a it was a little bit of
35:27
Speaker 1: the well sconsin need to get that while I was there,
35:31
Speaker 1: because now it's not it's.
35:33
Speaker 2: Like, thanks for putting on display exactly what's what you'll
35:36
Speaker 2: be missing.
35:38
Speaker 1: But I mean, so we've also seen Minnesota put up
35:42
Speaker 1: big numbers. I was looking between them. I believe Wisconsin
35:45
Speaker 1: has one more goal this season than Minnesota has in
35:48
Speaker 1: the I believe the same number of games, and it's
35:55
Speaker 1: and I think three points more. So Yeah, it's uh,
35:58
Speaker 1: these are two teams that can absolutely score, and not
36:02
Speaker 1: necessarily just from those players that are gone. It's been
36:05
Speaker 1: throughout the lineup. The players have scored. But it'll be
36:08
Speaker 1: interesting to see with more minutes, more responsibility, different power plays.
36:13
Speaker 1: How that's going to be different this week?
36:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, Minnesota has had much worked up this year, has
36:18
Speaker 2: just shown to be dangerous differently. But yeah, the same
36:23
Speaker 2: thing for them is what a playmaker Abby is and
36:26
Speaker 2: sort of her vision and sometimes she will just keep
36:28
Speaker 2: it herself and do the things that she can do,
36:30
Speaker 2: which is also feed I mean that the crazy play
36:34
Speaker 2: that we're all still talking about for her was an assist.
36:36
Speaker 1: Right, Like.
36:38
Speaker 2: I think when when things break down or when the
36:43
Speaker 2: plan isn't necessarily executable, like Abby is really easily able
36:48
Speaker 2: to go off book, and I think that is the
36:50
Speaker 2: sort of stuff. It's not you. You don't get to
36:53
Speaker 2: play a perfect game against Wisconsin or Ohio State, right
36:56
Speaker 2: like you don't and vice versa. Wisconsin doesn't get to
36:59
Speaker 2: play perfect game against them. Like it's going to be
37:01
Speaker 2: a little ugly, it's going to be choppy, you're not
37:04
Speaker 2: going to hold the zone for long stretches, like all
37:07
Speaker 2: the things that makes them good in a regular game
37:09
Speaker 2: like that's gonna all go out the window. And so
37:11
Speaker 2: that's where I think some of that vision and that
37:13
Speaker 2: creativity and that puck handling sort of the elite skills
37:16
Speaker 2: that the players that are leaving have. I think that's
37:19
Speaker 2: what these teams will miss in those places.
37:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ohio State, which we mentioned also losing a ton
37:27
Speaker 1: of scoring, hosts Minnesota Duluth Friday and Saturday. Like we said,
37:34
Speaker 1: Minnesota Luth, which has not had a lot of scoring lately,
37:38
Speaker 1: is going to need one to have that defense and
37:42
Speaker 1: f gascon play at the level she was at last week.
37:46
Speaker 1: But also they're going to have to find some way
37:49
Speaker 1: of getting through Ohio States kind.
37:51
Speaker 2: Of sing they need one through the tie zero zero.
37:57
Speaker 1: Yes, they do that. That does make sense with that,
38:02
Speaker 1: But so I mean there's there's players missing for both
38:04
Speaker 1: of these teams too. We're gonna kind of everyone's got
38:08
Speaker 1: to feel their way through this, I think for the
38:10
Speaker 1: first week.
38:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's no there's no runway. I mean, I like,
38:14
Speaker 2: we we're focusing on next week, but like Ohio State
38:17
Speaker 2: comes to Wisconsin the following week, like it's it's a
38:20
Speaker 2: it's the deep end for these teams real quick. There's
38:23
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of opportunity to to figure it out.
38:26
Speaker 2: And so that's I think particularly Wisconsin Minnesota, but with
38:30
Speaker 2: this one too, I just Minnesota to lose. It can
38:35
Speaker 2: be so tight on defense, and like if you're if
38:38
Speaker 2: you're needing to simplify and you aren't, you know, sort
38:40
Speaker 2: of being able to be creative with the puck in
38:42
Speaker 2: the same way. I think that's gonna be hard to
38:46
Speaker 2: beat Afgastan, So it'll be interesting.
38:49
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I do want to mention Friday afternoon, Penn State
38:54
Speaker 1: hosts Robert Morris in a game at Beaver Stadium, their
38:58
Speaker 1: football stadium, as part of a weekend of outdoor games
39:01
Speaker 1: there in State College. It sounds like it's gonna be fun.
39:04
Speaker 1: The weather's gonna be chilly, but not as chilly as
39:06
Speaker 1: it was in Minnesota last week for Hockey Dame Minnesota
39:09
Speaker 1: and all that. But it's I mean, everything that's happening
39:14
Speaker 1: fun for Penn State lately, and now you get an
39:17
Speaker 1: outdoor game to throw in there, and it's it just
39:20
Speaker 1: really feels like it's you.
39:21
Speaker 2: Know, are happening now title Yeah, yeah, so that should
39:27
Speaker 2: be fun. I agree, it's If we weren't already going
39:31
Speaker 2: to Penn State for the Frozen Four, I would have
39:34
Speaker 2: going out there for that, yeah, just because I think
39:36
Speaker 2: it sounds amazing and it's been a little while I
39:38
Speaker 2: think we had that ratch about tour games. We haven't
39:40
Speaker 2: done it in a little bit. I'm glad this is
39:42
Speaker 2: coming back. They're fun at the football stadiums. Obviously we
39:46
Speaker 2: were Wrigly, but but yeah, good for Penn State. I
39:53
Speaker 2: hope that the women's team gets as much attention as
39:56
Speaker 2: the fun's team and all that sort of stuff. And
39:59
Speaker 2: I hope it's fun, and I hope it's safe, because
40:01
Speaker 2: that's always an outdoor game concern.
40:03
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, absolutely, but yeah, it looked amazing. Another big
40:08
Speaker 1: series in Hockey East this week, holy Cross at Northeastern
40:13
Speaker 1: quote unquote at Northeastern. It's at Walter Brown Arena, which was,
40:17
Speaker 1: like we mentioned, no real home for the Huskies anymore.
40:22
Speaker 2: To be home game for Northeastern.
40:25
Speaker 1: Right, That one's on Thursday, and then back at holy
40:28
Speaker 1: Cross on Saturday. Holy Cross has been on a pretty
40:31
Speaker 1: good run lately. Last weekend, right.
40:36
Speaker 2: It was their first ever win over Providence, much less
40:39
Speaker 2: a sweep, much less a win at Providence.
40:42
Speaker 1: Sure, eighteen seven and one on the season, ten six
40:45
Speaker 1: and one in Hockey East, and so there's you know,
40:48
Speaker 1: in third place in the Hockey East.
40:50
Speaker 2: I covered record.
40:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So they're they're challenging for second. I mean,
40:54
Speaker 1: really the race for second right now, I think we've
40:57
Speaker 1: given away so many titles this year that I can't
41:00
Speaker 1: sure of it. But I'm pretty sure of Northeaster winning
41:02
Speaker 1: that one. But yeah, if so, there's a chance there
41:07
Speaker 1: for holy Cross to make a big impression if they
41:11
Speaker 1: can take points from Northeastern this week.
41:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think a big thing for holy Cross
41:17
Speaker 2: is that they have added offense, right, like a dynamic offense,
41:21
Speaker 2: and it's not one score. I mean, they've just had
41:24
Speaker 2: the ability to score a game and game out against
41:27
Speaker 2: a variety of opponents. And when a team is building
41:30
Speaker 2: or when a you know, a program is looking sort
41:32
Speaker 2: of for a rebuild or whatever, it is, like usually
41:34
Speaker 2: you get the goaltending and the defense first, and it
41:38
Speaker 2: takes a little while to build up that offense while
41:40
Speaker 2: not losing defense, right, And so I think the pieces
41:43
Speaker 2: have really come together for them well this year. Like
41:45
Speaker 2: eighteen seven and one is a record I would have
41:47
Speaker 2: never guessed for holy Cross, So like, good for them.
41:50
Speaker 2: I just think it's a heck of a run that
41:52
Speaker 2: we've seen from them, and almost like kind of quietly right,
41:55
Speaker 2: like wasn't really on the radar, and then all of
41:57
Speaker 2: a sudden, I was like, hey, that's a top fifteen
41:59
Speaker 2: NP im Okay, So yeah, I think I hope for
42:04
Speaker 2: their sake that they get a couple of points out
42:06
Speaker 2: this weekend because I think it just would be a
42:07
Speaker 2: really good, big boost for them.
42:09
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely talked about Clarkson in the run that they've
42:12
Speaker 1: been on. They are hosting number five Quinnipiac, Number eight
42:17
Speaker 1: Printston this weekend. If if that I believe I said
42:22
Speaker 1: five game winning streak turns into a seven game winning streak,
42:25
Speaker 1: Will will really have to consider clarks and we'll see
42:29
Speaker 1: what that would do to their MPI. I believe they're eleven,
42:34
Speaker 1: just on the edge of making the tournament right now.
42:38
Speaker 2: And you know, so they missed a couple of players
42:40
Speaker 2: too for the Olympics. So again, just it's gonna be dynamics.
42:45
Speaker 2: I mean I made that face when you said it,
42:46
Speaker 2: because it's like just just a mixer of the same
42:49
Speaker 2: game as we saw last week, the different travel partners.
42:52
Speaker 2: So uh yeah, we'll talk about the same teams that
42:55
Speaker 2: Putyer should win and have no idea who it's going
42:58
Speaker 2: to be. But I think of those groups, they're the
43:03
Speaker 2: one Clarkson's the one that's has to adjust for some
43:06
Speaker 2: missing teammates, and so that's I think the question work
43:09
Speaker 2: for them.
43:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have the numbers here. There are seventeen teams
43:13
Speaker 1: that are that have that are losing players at least
43:17
Speaker 1: a player to the Olympics this season, and so that's
43:21
Speaker 1: It varies in the number of goals they've scored and
43:27
Speaker 1: points they've scored and games they've played in those kind
43:29
Speaker 1: of things, but it's a it's a pretty uh healthy number.
43:33
Speaker 1: And it's all a lot of teams are going into
43:36
Speaker 1: this week, you know, filling a spot or or changing
43:39
Speaker 1: things around. So I can almost guarantee that somewhere in
43:45
Speaker 1: some league there's gonna be a game that's impacted by
43:50
Speaker 1: by player or players that are that are missing.
43:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you were figured out stats. I haven't
43:56
Speaker 2: quite finished, which I'll have up at USHO when I do.
44:00
Speaker 2: Sort of the every Olympic roster and who on it
44:02
Speaker 2: has is either a current or format NCAA player, but
44:05
Speaker 2: thus far off the obviously the US in Canada is everybody,
44:08
Speaker 2: and then up to like eleven players on Finland, Switzerland
44:11
Speaker 2: and Sweden Checkedia. So that's half a roster and there's
44:14
Speaker 2: a good number of Also, I was gonna say, cis
44:18
Speaker 2: U sports representation as well, particularly on the French team.
44:24
Speaker 2: So yeah, tons, tons of collegiate impact on these squads,
44:28
Speaker 2: which is cool. It's like when I was a eight
44:30
Speaker 2: teams and people are like, oh, of course that person's
44:32
Speaker 2: going to Minnesota or Wisconsin. They were like, oh, the
44:34
Speaker 2: rich to get richer. But something like twenty teams had committed.
44:38
Speaker 2: I don't have the exact number in front of me,
44:40
Speaker 2: but a way larger number of schools had commits from
44:44
Speaker 2: the last you eighteen group, which was was pretty cool
44:47
Speaker 2: to see. But it's it is widespread and some of
44:49
Speaker 2: the biggest names we're not going to, you know, the
44:52
Speaker 2: schools that people would assume. So I think it's like
44:56
Speaker 2: you said, it's if so many different teams that are represented,
44:59
Speaker 2: which is a good for across the board recruiting and
45:01
Speaker 2: all that kod stuff too.
45:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else we need to touch on before we
45:07
Speaker 1: say goodbye for this week?
45:11
Speaker 2: No, yes, I don't know.
45:13
Speaker 1: I don't. It feels like, I mean, there's so much
45:15
Speaker 1: going on. We know, we don't get there. They just
45:19
Speaker 1: got hold right, I know, we don't get to everything.
45:22
Speaker 1: Around here, but yeah, we're trying. There's so much if
45:26
Speaker 1: and reach out to us if we miss something. Our
45:30
Speaker 1: email addresses in the show notes, so check on that.
45:34
Speaker 1: Drop us line if you have questions, drop us a
45:36
Speaker 1: line if you have comments, suggestions, people we should talk to.
45:40
Speaker 1: Interview has been more difficult this year because of our
45:42
Speaker 1: timings here, but that's something we'd love to get back
45:46
Speaker 1: to when we can.
45:48
Speaker 2: I mean, we'll talk about it next week, but we are,
45:49
Speaker 2: you know, Thursday the fifth is the start the Olympics
45:52
Speaker 2: and that first game is at at six am Eastern.
45:55
Speaker 2: So if you haven't already, like me, put it all
45:58
Speaker 2: on your character, she remember who's playing when there's a
46:02
Speaker 2: lot going on and we've got you know, what is
46:04
Speaker 2: it quarterfinals on the thirteenth, semi finals on the sixteenth,
46:07
Speaker 2: and in Golden Bronze rental games on the nineteenth. So we
46:10
Speaker 2: will talk more Olympics, you know, next week, but yeah,
46:13
Speaker 2: I would start, you know, playning your schedules and maybe
46:16
Speaker 2: you know, Valentine's Day quarterfinals if you're really really exciting,
46:20
Speaker 2: sure my husband will be thrilled. Yeah, yeah, it's just
46:25
Speaker 2: it's it's a really exciting time. I think there's it's
46:27
Speaker 2: it's a really great time for women's hockey right now.
46:29
Speaker 2: Like the p DUB really picked up attention, and the
46:32
Speaker 2: fact that like someone like Leila Edwards is one of
46:35
Speaker 2: the faces of Team USA heading into this Olympics is
46:39
Speaker 2: like a really great thing for for the collegiate for
46:43
Speaker 2: the NCAA. Like too often, pros and and the NCAA
46:45
Speaker 2: sort of exists separately and we don't talk about the
46:47
Speaker 2: collegiate game as much. And I think there's just a
46:49
Speaker 2: really big opportunity right now with so many collegiate players
46:53
Speaker 2: on Team USA and across all the other squads as well.
46:56
Speaker 2: So I think it's just a really fun time and
46:58
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, we all is hope for an
47:00
Speaker 2: Olympic bump. But one of the cool things this year
47:03
Speaker 2: is that, like the Olympic bump, we can now tell
47:05
Speaker 2: those people to watch nca and p DUB and there
47:08
Speaker 2: is somewhere to see so many of these players. So
47:11
Speaker 2: I am a little overwhelmed with everything that's happening all
47:14
Speaker 2: at once, but it's like a super exciting to be
47:18
Speaker 2: into women talking right now.
47:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you think about that when the Olympics are done,
47:22
Speaker 1: we're getting right into the postseason in the NCAA season,
47:25
Speaker 1: So that I mean, just that happens so fast.
47:28
Speaker 2: Four weeks of the regular season left. Like when I
47:30
Speaker 2: was figuring that out this week, I was like, oh.
47:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, think about that. There's four weeks left of
47:34
Speaker 1: the regular season. Then the postseason lasts four weeks, and
47:37
Speaker 1: so that's what we've got left here. It's gonna go
47:40
Speaker 1: buy the blink of an eye.
47:41
Speaker 2: Golden Bronze medal games are the nineteenth of February, and
47:45
Speaker 2: that following not in like the not the twenty but
47:48
Speaker 2: the twenty seventh is the start of most conference playoffs, right,
47:52
Speaker 2: so eight days after the the medal games of the Olympics.
47:56
Speaker 2: So this is gonna go lickety split, Yes.
47:59
Speaker 1: It will all right. On that note, we are going
48:01
Speaker 1: to say goodbye for the week. Thanks for tuning in,
48:05
Speaker 1: We appreciate it, and we will talk to you next
48:07
Speaker 1: week here on the podcast.