Bill Chaves Pod_EP 181

This week, Bill and Alex bring back Ralph Englestad Arena General Manager Jody Hodgson to discuss new fan experiences at the REA, the 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Austin, the CHL-to-college hockey dynamic, and much more (2:00). Then, the guys flip through a flawless weekend for the Fighting Hawks, highlighted by wins in hockey, football, soccer, volleyball, and cross country (37:24). On the B-side (51:49), soccer’s latest international break has Bill searching for answers.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Bill Shaves Podcast presented by Mid
Coast Sports. Another fall sports season is here, and Mid
Coast Sports has it covered like no one else this fall.
Tune in for live coverage of college football in Dakotas,
including Fighting Hawks football broadcasts both home and away, as
well as you and d volleyball and soccer and so
much more. Watch on Mid Coast Sports and streaming on

(00:20):
Mid Coast Sports Plus. This is how we do sports
and this is the Bill Shaves Podcast. Welcome to another
edition of the Bill Shaves Podcast. We're taping this on
a Monday afternoon, the thirteenth of October. Happy Columbus Day
slash Indigenous People's Day. Alex Heander pil shaves with you

(00:41):
Bill Howard. Things at the start of a new week.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Everything is good, Alex. The sun is out and we're
going ahead into the fifties today. So that's our biweekly
weather check in Grand Forks.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
It was a beautiful weekend in the Red River Valley
when was a little gusty, but you couldn't ask for
a better fall weekend. You can tell well, the tide
is turning a little bit. We're getting closer towards in
the time of year where you got to bundle up.
But it feels good for this little stretch. It feels
nice to have fallback with.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Us, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
And you know, we've got the crossover going on, alex
and so this is the time of year. And interestingly,
I knew you're going to introduce our guests here in
a second, but it's like the earliest I think we've
ever had like a home basketball game.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Too.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's like I mean talking about crossover. I mean we
are in crossover season right now. So the weather's changing,
our staff is running all kinds of ways to different venues.
But great time of year.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
It's a great time of year. It really is a
great time of year because of the holiday. My kids
don't have school today, so we were out going for
a walk this morning and just enjoying the sun and
the leaves fallen and things like that. And that was
the comment, like, this is really one of the best
times a year. So yeah, a busy time of year though,
and we will get to a lot of those things
that have caused some busyness in your world and some

(01:54):
really good things in your world. It was an awesome
weekend for the university of North Dakota Athletics. So we'll
get to that stuff. But we do have a special guest,
and he is no stranger to this podcast or to
the Grand Forks sporting community. Jody Hodgson has been the
general manager of Ralph Ekelst Arena since two thousand and five.
He's done a phenomenal job continuing to lift that facility
to new heights, and he joins us now fresh off

(02:16):
the first regular season competition of the season inside the Ria. Jody,
great to have you with us again.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Hey, thanks for having me.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Guys, great to hear that your family is celebrating Canadian
Thanksgiving today. Alex fantastics here, Jody, let's start right there.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Is that all you're celebrating? Are you celebrating the Toronto
Blue Jays trying to make it to the World Series?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Hey, Okay blue Jays.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
I hope both of you have that song queued up
on whatever platform you listen to. We should maybe throw
that in at the end of the pod. Guys, just
three or four minutes of Okay Blue Jays and things
up today.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
We might need to do that plus Either that or
we can maybe take a cut from David Ortiz and
Flad Carrero saying the Yankees lose.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
The Yankees lose, Yankees lose.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's right, eat my week. That was awesome, especially with
Jeter and a yar Odds sitting there. That was good TV.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
The best part of it was let's do it one
more time, Yes, one more time.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I kept going back to it, Big Poffy. Couldn't get
enough of it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
We couldn't get enough of it.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
I know.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
That was great. That was really fun. Well that's more
of a B side topic today. But yes, I love
the Joe, but I might as well let's work it in.
Let's get it in right away. When we got Jody
on Jody, we were joking before we started recording. You've
sort of done this interview a handful of times with
the Ralph opening up and talking about the new things
that are going You and I have even done this
interview at some point on the broadcast a couple of

(03:45):
weeks ago. But it does merit mentioning though for people
listening that maybe haven't heard. It's always nice when the
new season hits to hear from you and find out
what's going on at the Ralph.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
What is new?

Speaker 1 (03:55):
What should fans expect when they come through the doors.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, that's a great segue to but we kind of
think of, you know, not really a soft opening, but
the first two weekends for sure. Right, we got a
Manitoba opener on a Saturday night, then we got a
single with Saint Thomas on Friday night, and things are
going to ramp up quick with Minnesota coming to town
next weekend. So really looking forward to that. Friday and

(04:20):
Saturday night are going to be great nights. And we've
got a great team of people and a great group
of people that have put in a lot of work
to prepare for the season and implement some of those
new things. And it's really going to ramp up Friday
night here with our first full two game home weekend.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
So, Jody, you mentioned the Gophers coming in, and we
always know there's you know, you know, incredible crowds. The
Ralph will be buzzing. What are some of the things
though for some folks that may not have been able
to make the Saint Thomas game, what are some different
things that you could expect at the Ralph.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
Yeah, for sure, some of the things we've seen here
in our first couple of weekends. You know, when you
look at the food and beverage world. We're kind of
use the term right We say, hey, food is entertainment
as part of the fan experience, and one of the
things we added this year was a Bernie's portable kiosk,
and it has just been absolutely slammed the first two

(05:14):
home games. They're serving a Nefhlis soup there, they're doing
a tater tot hot dish, they're doing a chili with
corn bread dish, and they're doing what they're calling a
puck cookie, so mally made a special puck cookie that
they're selling.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
They've sold out at both of the.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
First two home games and are going to bring more
product than they ever imagine they'd need for our two
Minnesota games. So that certainly is something when you talk
about the traditional arena fair with hot dogs and pretzels
and popcorn and all the other things. We've added to
it what Bernie's calls their Midwest comfort food, which I
think is a nice addition or diversification of product and

(05:56):
would certainly encourage people to give that a try.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
The other thing that we're really proud of this year
is we held the line from a pricing standpoint, so
when you talk about the total cost of attendance from
a concession standpoint, we held the prices from our concession
prices last year and trying to get through another season
without any changes there. We think that is something that

(06:21):
we're kind of proud of and something that we think
plays to kind of a family friendly atmosphere and a
fan friendly atmosphere. Realizing that that is part of the
total equation and everything else continues to increase around it,
we wanted to try and hold the line there as
best we can. The other big change in our concession

(06:41):
world is we got ninety six new points of sale,
So in the ralph there's ninety six different locations in
our food and beverage world where people are transacting and
making payments. We've implemented a new Clover Sports system. I
like to say today the only two things we aren't
taken our bitcoin and grain. We're taking take from cash,

(07:05):
We're taking credit, debit, Apple pay, Google Pay, Samsung, Venmo, PayPal,
tap watch device, whatever you got right for us. The
big thing is optionality. We want to provide our fans
with options to use the form of payment that works
best for them, and that continues to include cash in

(07:26):
an industry that is quickly transitioning around the country to
a cashless environment. Our thought was still in Grand Forks,
North Dakota today, still wanted to provide the cash option
for those who choose to do it that way. But
I can report like through our first two home games,
we have seen a rapid movement from cash to non

(07:49):
cash in locations where we've added our new POS systems.
So people, if you give them the choice, it certainly
is evident that people are choosing to pay in non
cash way is in higher proportions than they did prior
with our new point of sale system. So those are
some things we're doing in the concession world and the
food and beverage world that we're kind of proud of

(08:11):
and happy to offer. Some other changes this year, like
we've got a great promotional schedule. We think when we
talk about theme nights and game promotions, it's things like
Police and Fire Night that's coming up in November, and
our Military Appreciation night and Hockey Fights Cancer in December.
Then we're going to have a Star Wars night in January,

(08:33):
and our kids take Overnight in the second half of
the year, And I think what'll be I think probably
the biggest one more shift we've ever done. Zach Preezy
fresh off is retirement, right, a guy that's destined for
the US Hockey Hall of Fame in December, and I
would suspect the Hockey Hall of Fame at some point

(08:53):
in the future.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
He's going to come.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Back and he'll still have some wheels on him, right,
He's going to do one more shift and he should
be able to snap around the offensive his own pretty
good there when he does his hot laps for one
more shift. So really excited to have Zach back to
do that. And we'll finish up the year with our
fan appreciation nights for the last home weekend of the

(09:15):
regular season, and then we're really excited about the potential
playoff scenarios, right with the NCHC transitioning to an on
campus playoff plan this year, really excited and hopeful that
we'll be able to provide a runway at home for
our fans to go on a playoff run with our team,
and really excited about that.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So Jody, I believe because I did hear you give
your talking points a couple different times and a couple
different venues, But I think you buried the lead. Don't
we have a specialty drink this year at the Rolph.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, We've got a drink called the Palace Tea. So
we're we're trying to We're thinking and hey, if the
Kentucky Derby's got the mint julip and the US opens
got the honey dew, we're trying to create something that
we think can be unique to us. And it's kind
of like a vodka sour or a whiskey sour if
you think of that, with some boba pearls in it.

(10:09):
We sell it in a glass. It's branded as the
Palace Tea. So that's a good one, Bill You you
reminded me of that one. We need to tell people
to go visit our bar locations if you want to
try that, you can grab a Palace tee, which is
kind of a play on words, right. People often refer
to the Ralph as kind of the palace on the Prairies,

(10:30):
and so we kind of use that term to name
what we hope becomes a signature cocktail for us.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
You and your staff had to sample I think, I
mean I had to write.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
It's really all about quality control, right, You got to
make sure you're staying on top of that's it was
a tough Friday afternoon gig, but somebody had to do it.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
You were the man Friday afternoon in the summer, but
you got to do it now.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
So many of those things, even from the palace to
deciding what that would be like, to the different theme
nights that you've got throughout the year. I mean it
takes a team, of course to come up with these things.
Can you talk a bit about how you do come
to the decisions of what to put in a specialty
beverage and what is going to take place on a
Friday night in November, et cetera. It seems like that'd

(11:19):
be a really fun thing to get a chance to
collaborate on with your team over the course of the summer.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah, that's a right word, Alex.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
It's a really collaborative process and it takes a lot
of people, right. It's everybody in und Athletics and everybody
at Ralph Engelstead Arena saying, Okay, how can we make
this as good as it can be and what are
the ideas? And we usually start big and kind of
narrow down. So we started the year early in the
off season we took all of our ticketed sports and

(11:45):
we said, okay, what's the brainstorm. What could we really
do at home football games? What could we really do
at men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, hockey. Start out big
and you have two hundred goofy ideas and try and
pare it down to the fifteen or twenty that you
think make the most sense and.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
That will work.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
And there's a lot of people who do a lot
of research as well. Admittedly we're looking and saying, okay,
what's happening around the country, what are other people doing,
what are what's working? Well, there's there's certainly some new
ideas in the world today, but there's not a lot
of them right. There's a lot of great resources you
can use to find best practices from others in the industry,

(12:26):
and we try and apply those when we can make sense.
But we always know that Grand Forks, it's got to
fit here and we got to tailor it. And our
staff and Bill's staff work together to do those things.
It's a real collaborative process where lots of people work
together to try and make it as good as it
can be. And an example of that would be, you know,

(12:46):
our fifty to fifty raffle. This year we do the
electronic fifty to fifty raffle every night. We're doing some
different promotions where we sweeten the pot and throw ten
grand in it to get it going. We're going to
do US sixty forty where the winner'll get sixty percent,
not fifty percent of the pot. Try and keep it
fresh and one of those things Bill can certainly speak

(13:07):
to it better than I. But when you talk about
the new paradigm in college athletics and what are we
going to do from an NIL standpoint to provide the
resources our programs need to stay competitive and stay at
the top of the mountain. One of those decisions was, Hey,
we're going to take two nights from home hockey games,
and we're going to tell our fans that the net

(13:28):
proceeds from those two nights will directly benefit our hockey
programs NIL fund. So this Saturday Saturday Night of Minnesota
is the first such instance of that where the net
proceeds from the fifty to fifty raffle will help fund
our hockey programs NIL fund next season. So that'd be
an example of some of those ways in which we're

(13:50):
trying to change and keep up to date and some
of the new collaborative things we're doing. Another one that
would be tied to that would be new this year
is our CCM jury right, So new jersey, new uniform
the hockey programs wearing. We got all four styles of that.
We've got a primary white to primary green, a white
no ak, and a black no AC. Right, so there's

(14:13):
four different jerseys and we've got all the different sizes
and iterations of those for people to purchase. They can
now decorate them with the name and number of their choosing,
including our student athletes. We've got all of our hockey
student athletes are now signed in our NIL program, and
you can get a Keaton Verhofft jersey or a Ben

(14:33):
strand and jersey. And you can do the same in
our other sports. Right, We've got football jerseys, we've got
basketball jerseys. We're doing T shirts and crews and that
type of thing to try and provide opportunities for our
student athletes to participate in that. And obviously one of
the new opportunities that is available is we can cut

(14:55):
the student athlete in on that, right, they can get
a small NIL royalty when somebody puts their name and
number on a jersey, as they should because the student
athlete is adding value to that purchase, they should get
a royalty out of that. But I would dare say
even more importantly is our student athletes love seeing people

(15:15):
and kids wearing their T shirt with their name and
number on it. And you talk about fan development and
fan interaction, those are those are cool things for student
athletes and fans alike.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Well, no doubt about it. If you think about it,
when we were all, you know, growing up, and you
could you could wear your favorite players jersey and then
you know, we're we're close enough in this community there's
a good chance you're going to see that student athlete
at some point to get it signed and kind of
a cool deal.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
We've actually, like lots of the student athletes have commented
about that that you know, we got a great group
of student athletes, and for sure, right they're busier than heck.
They're focused on getting education, they're focused on maxim the
opportunity their sport presents to them, and many of them
have said, hey, I realize I'm not going to get

(16:06):
rich doing this, but pretty neat to see a young
kid standing on the sideline or sitting in the stands
near the court right or the rink that is wearing
a name and numbered T shirt with their name on it.
So pretty neat for them that way.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Last one for me, Jody. You've seen the team play
a couple times thus far. What's your thoughts early on?

Speaker 4 (16:27):
Yeah, I think they've had a really nice start here.
I think they've had a really good start. Right, we're
three games in with the one exhibition and the Saint
Thomas games this weekend. Yeah, in my opinion, you know,
I think there's been great effort, great compete, high level
of intensity, and good execution.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Right.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
I dare say, Hey, Friday night started with a bang
when you're up five to nothing and kind of rolling
in a game. Certainly that human nature plays into that
a little bit. So ended up what six to two
Friday night last night on the road. I think, really
good start when you have as much turnover or transition

(17:08):
in a roster as we did in the off season.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
I think our coaching.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Staff has done a fantastic job of getting everybody under
the tent and starting to implement the systems and the
style of play that they're going to implement as a
team all year, and I think they're off to a
really nice start and I think they're excited and looking
forward to this weekend. It'll be a process for sure, though,

(17:33):
right like development isn't always a linear line. There's a
couple of steps forward and you might take a step
back here and now. Even with a roster as young
of ours, I think we'll see some of that during
the year, and I don't know where it ends up,
but from what I've seen so far and the observations,
I'm able to kind of just see of how hard

(17:53):
they're working and the time and energy that's being put
forth by both our coaching staff and our student athletes.
I know we're going to be better at the end
of February than we are today, and that's always a
great place to start.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
And I completely lied, and I would be I'd be
crazy not to ask you this question too, obviously, having
grown up in Canada and knowing so much about hockey
as you do. What's your whole thought on the whole
CHL evolution at this point? I mean, it's just a different,
different time in college hockey.

Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah, I think college hockey is today and is getting
so good like in my opinion it I think most
programs like ours, even you can look during an off
season and you say, ooh, we made some improvement.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
We look good.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
And then you look across the country and you say, ooh,
so did everybody else.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
They all look good. Right.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
Like the water, I think the water is going up
quickly and all the boats are going with it. I
think it's really interesting to see what's happening in Western Canada.
Maybe more specifically, I suspect it's the same in Ontario
and Quebec. But it appears to me that all of
the best young players have identified college as a path

(19:08):
to the National Hockey League, right. I think you're going
to see CHL get a little younger. I think that
you're going to see more and more elite players travel
through college hockey on their way to professional hockey. And
I think that's great for us, great for the college game.
College hockey is good today and might be scary good

(19:30):
in two three years if it keeps progressing in the
path that's on.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, I think many share that view.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Jody.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
I think you're spot on with what that's going to
look like, and I think we've seen it already in
the opening weekends. How the fact that all of these
teams have been able to bring in more talent than
they have before, and that's led to more parody. To
be honest, we've seen almost a lot of upsets in
the first couple of weeks. Everybody's good across the board,
and like you said, that's a positive if you were
a college hockey fan. One percent.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
The one thing I'm most excited about is I think
it eliminates a point of conflict for families at fourteen
and fifteen years old. Like historically, right, families with kids
that are of the ability to do so sit around
a kitchen table and have to make a decision at
fourteen or fifteen whether or not they're going to sign

(20:20):
in the cochl or they're going to follow a college model,
And you ask the kid, well, what do you want
to study? They don't have a clue, right, they don't
know at that point. I think hopefully this allows kids
to grow up a little slower. Hopefully it allows kids
to say, hey, I don't have to make a big
decision if I want to play in medicine hat or
Red Deer or brand and or Regina, I can do

(20:43):
that and I keep my college door open, and I
can then get to my college decision later in my
junior career when I should, like a normal junior or
senior in high school, I can then decide what I do.
So I hope it allows kids to be kids a
little longer. I hope it allows families to enjoy where
they're at without being focused on where they got to

(21:05):
go in the future, and enjoy the here and now
a little more.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
So. I think that's one of the benefit.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
That kid's going to get to have a COCHL experience
and then can have an NCAA college hockey experience too.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
That's excellent perspective, Jody. Yeah, those are the things you
don't think about all the time when you're looking into it.
But it's about the kids. It's about the kids.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yeah, There's been a lot of kids in the past
that I always say too right, Like the National Hockey
League drafts kids in their seventeen year old year and
are right what fifty percent of the time in the
first round and drop down to twenty percent in the
second round, and they're down to about five percent in
the sixth and seventh rounds. Like that early evaluation is

(21:47):
it's a hard one. So if anything, I love the
fact that it might slow things down a little bit
and give everybody a chance to let kids be kids
a little bit and let them get to college and
do time through junior without having to make a life
decision they're often not prepared to make at fifteen.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
One last thing for you, Jody, then we'll let you
go and we appreciate your time as always, Multi time
Build Shafes podcast guest Jody Hodson, Minnesota's come in to town,
which is always a huge thing for the community of
Grant Forks, for the hockey team, for fans. Do you
and your staff do anything different when you know what
is going to be and a little elevated Everything is
going to be a little heightened this weekend with the
Gophers coming.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, you know what we do, Like we talk as
a staff, right and our attendance projections for this weekend.
We've alerted all of our staff to say, hey, our
scanner count this weekend is going to be different, Like
we operationally live by the scanner count of the number
of people that are physically going to be in the building,
and Minnesota is different, like it's going to be these

(22:48):
will be our two biggest scanner counts of the year.
Everything they'll buy more, like our food and beverage sales
per cap are going to be higher. The concourse is
going to be more packed, There's going to be more excitement,
more more things happening. So we probably dial back a
little bit on some of the promotional things and we say, Okay,

(23:09):
let's let hockey be the focus this weekend and we
focus more on trying to do what we do and
do it better. So we kind of say, hey, let's
fish where the fish are, like, let's don't overthink it.
Let's make sure that our through put like at concessions,
let's try and do what we do well and do
it quickly. Get everybody in and out. We don't vary

(23:29):
a ton, but we certainly know that everything's bigger and
there'll be more people and they'll be more attention on
the hockey. So it's it's making sure we're ready to
go and that we coach talk. Right, we execute kind
of similar because what we do every other night, but
we know, hey, we got to execute.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, it's fair to say, Jody, right, I mean, if
you go into the Ralph really on any any weekend,
it does give you a very full feeling, but there's
other heightened weekends where it is uber full and there's
probably not a seat to be had.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, that's exactly right. That's this weekend.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
Like when you think of things like student general admission ticketing, right,
we know the student line is going to be bigger
earlier in the day. We know Jody probably needs to
go out a couple times earlier during the day to
talk with kids about what's happening in student line and
getting ready for the game. We know that there won't

(24:30):
be a lot of what we call trouble seats in
our world. Right if somebody needs to relocate or move,
there's not quite the inventory to make that happen. And
you know what, then the goofy things we do, we
try and tailor to the weekend. We got somebody on
Friday night, We got people that are going to get
tattoos on the concourse, do in some flash tattoos. We've

(24:52):
got a social media campaign running right now. Hey show
your loyalty, Like, Hey, you're a big un D hockey fan,
you want to enter in to an opportunity, We'll mark you,
We'll tattoo you on the concourse, we've got a tattoo
artist coming in. We're gonna do one pregame, one first intermission,
and one second intermission. You'll get a und hockey tattoo

(25:13):
on Friday night if you want to pledge your loyalty.
So we'll do some fun things like that that are
on a rivalry weekend. We think enhance the event experience
without taking up a whole lot of space or involving
a whole lot of people. But you know, that's kind
of our model this weekend is focus on the hockey,
make sure the hockey and the core is good, and

(25:35):
make sure we execute all right.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Last two things and I'm not doing last thing. Last
two things because I'm just gonna throw these out there
because Jodie's got his talking points on these two as well.
Is just quickie on your twenty years of students. I'll
call it purchasing demand for tickets. That's number one, and

(25:58):
then number two the Austin game. Just any quick update
on the Austin game.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah, those are great. Yeah, the student demand. This is
my twenty first season here and the student demand is
higher this year than any year previous. So I think,
like when you talk about the variables of record enrollment,
and you know, approximately six hundred new kids physically here
on campus this fall. The demand for season tickets was

(26:26):
off the charts. The demand for single game tickets blew
away every season prior. So if you take our season
tickets and our single game tickets for our students, it's
about twenty four thousand pieces of inventory to sell. When
we got done with our single game on sale, there

(26:46):
was one hundred and twenty pieces of inventory left. There
was one hundred and twenty tickets for the exhibition game
against the US national team Development program as a single
game on a Friday night, November twenty first. Every other
student ticket for their seventeen student games was gone, purchased, bought.

(27:08):
So the student demand has been great. The lineup for
the first two games of the year has been fantastic.
It's been long, it's been well behaved, it's been energetic.
I've heard them singing the national anthem out there at
four o'clock and some chance and they got it dialed.

(27:28):
Student interest, in my opinion, if you were to measure it,
I think student interest is at the peak of the
twenty one year time period that I've been here. The
second one question there that bill asks. Certainly, we're getting
ready to go on sale for the Austin event, Right,
So we're gonna take the und Hockey Show on the

(27:50):
road Halloween Night, October thirty first, twenty twenty six in Austin, Texas.
North Dakota is going to play college hockey Blue Blood
with Michigan State University.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Right.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
They had a little valley there eight ten years ago.
They're back climbing the mountain here with their recruiting and
the things they've done. It's going to be a great
hockey game in Austin, which today right brands itself as
the live music capital of the world. That city today
is the thirteenth largest city in the US. It's booming.

(28:26):
Downtown is full of hotels and bars and restaurants and
live music joints and just so many different opportunities to
have fun. It's going to be a great weekend. We're
going to start our Champions Club pre sale on Monday,
November third, So we'll do that in a sequenced way
where we take care of our top one hundred customers

(28:49):
that are part of the Champions Club based on priority
point ranking. On Monday the third, we take our next
group on Tuesday the fourth, the next group on Wednesday
the fifth, and then our final group on Thursday the sixth.
So we're really excited. We're gonna launch our Austin ticket
sales on November the third, and we got a great

(29:09):
weekend planned there. We've got a golf tournament the Friday
morning out at Avery Ranch in North Austin. Friday night,
we're gonna have our Nodak Palooza event at Austin City
Limits Live, which is a great live music venue for
about twenty two hundred people just a block away from
our team Hotel Downtown, great statue of Willie Nelson right

(29:32):
at the base of that facility. We'll have a pep rally,
we'll introduce our team, we'll have our band, our cheer
team there. It's going to be a heck of a
lot of fun with live music and a little pep rally.
On Friday night, Saturday, we'll have our pregame party outside
the HGB Center and before about three hours before puck drop,

(29:54):
and then we'll drop the puck on a great game
which will be a counter right a non conference game,
but there's no exhibition involved in it. It'll be a
really important game for both North Dakota and Michigan State.
We're just really excited about it. It's going to be
a certainly a non traditional hockey market for sure, but
it's an extremely traditional entertainment destination and travel location. So

(30:20):
we're excited to take or to go to hockey on
the road again.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I told my co host that I didn't have one more,
but I just a follow up, which I don't think
is one more. It's just a follow up to that out. No,
it doesn't count. The HGB Center is how far from Austin, Jody,
And in some ways that's it's really the good news
because we don't know the Longhorn schedule at this point
in time, but it's not right in Austin.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Yeah, it's about twenty miles. So it's in your Park,
which is a north suburb. So that when you talk
about the destination event, all of our events are going
to be right in the core of downtown. So the
downtown core of Austin is where all the entertainment venues
are and live music joints and bars and restaurants and hotels.

(31:07):
We think all of our fans are going to stay
right in that core. That'll be the heart of their weekend.
But admittedly there will be there will be a twenty
twenty five minute uber or lyft or ride share out
to the rink in Cedar Park. That's the only hockey
facility in that market that's acceptable for us to play at.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
They've got a.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
Couple of community rinks or community ice sheets, but where
we're playing is the HGB Center, which is the home
of the Texas Stars, the American Hockey League franchise for
the Dallas Stars. They play hockey every day there. They've
got a great rink, great setup, seats about seventy two hundred,
So I think it's very similar in terms of a

(31:49):
venue to the experience we all had at the Orleans.
Where it's going to be a little bit smaller, it's
going to be absolutely jam packed. People will be hanging
from the rafters and alex on a positive bill and
I won't be out fixing the glass during stoppages in play,
So that that's the key differentiator from the Orleans.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
That was a that was a memorable experience in twenty
eighteen on a number of different levels. That being one
of them.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
That were memorable is a good word for it.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
It's wild to think that that is now just over
a year away, and then it was announced last year
and it's still at twenty twenty six. That feels like
so far. But yeah, Halloween twenty twenty six. The fact
that tickets will go on sale in just a couple
of weeks, it's fun to hear some of those specifics
as people can really get excited. And again, the matchup itself,
you never know what things are going to look like
next year, but the assumption will be North Dakota probably
going to be very good. Michigan State, that's branch Lastman's

(32:46):
pick to be is the number one seam in the
country right now, so you would think that's going to
be a marquee matchup between two programs that are you know,
have have very few peers in college hockey right now,
and you guys do such a phenomenal job of making
those events so special, so memorable. We know another one's
coming our way next year.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun right there. As you say,
there's no certainties in today's roster world, but uh, two
blue bloods in Michigan State and North Dakota that are
that are on a chl path where thankfully both they're
both are able to reach into the chl and get
kids that are first round picks and high picks and

(33:25):
destined for success at the next levels. Right, So it'll
be uh, it'll be a marquee night for sure.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Well, we got a couple of market knights coming up
this weekend in Grand Forks, and many more to come
between now and then. But Jody, before Bill can ask
you any more questions, we're gonna go and get on.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Only got we appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
I only got one more thing to add, Bill, You know,
in our list for this weekend, we got to make
sure that the big fellow here gets ample airtime for
his Mid Coast Sports minute. The crowdy eruption for the
last eight seconds of Alex's appearance on opening night, that
was on our list, to say, we got to get
the big fellow up there earlier.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
We got to give that. We had to give the
crowd a little more time to love on him.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
No, the only thing we actually he doesn't even need
to give the update. He just needs to stand there,
wave and then he's done. I think that's it.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
I think people on the concourse thought we had scored
the way the building are. I thought we'd scored a goal.
They were wondering what the heck was.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Going on, No doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's taken on a life of its own, but it's
very very kind. People are very kind, very very humbled
by the support of folks. But well, we were humbled
by your support in your time today, Jody, thanks again
for being who you are, for taking some time. Thanks
for Jody's I think I think you just earned a
T shirt with that performance. You're off for like forty
five minutes.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
That's well.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
The bottom line is it's almost like he had two appearances, maybe.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Even three, three that counts as triple bill.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
I'll tell you brevity isn't one of my strong points
out I know.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I always say, be brief, be brilliant, that's it. I mean,
Jody's brilliant brief roon not so much. Would we do
the recognition on nice? I know who wrote it. I
know who wrote it.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
You're the best, Jody. Thanks again.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Enjoyed this weekend.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Okay, go Jay's see you guys.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
Great appearances always by Jody Hodgson.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Know.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
In his twenty first season in charge of Ralph Ankle
sat Ana, we could have kept him on for the
inside the duration of this podcast and beyond and not
missed a beat. Just a wealth of information, always so energetic,
always so polished, always has a pulse on what fans
are looking for. And we're just so thankful that that
guy's doing what he does in our community.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, I mean, we're just great teammates. I mean, at
the end of the day, we're really lucky to have
Jody run the Ralph the way he does and support
our teams that are there, all five of them, and
he does a fantastic job and then supports other teams
certainly are ticketed teams, and so you know, we work
together hand in glove of with.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
You know, our.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Teammates in the founded Alumni Foundation as well. And if
if everyone is doing all the right things, Alex and
we're all rown in the same direction, you know, the
beneficiary is our student athletes in our programs and that's
most important. So that's exciting. And you know, as we're
as we're going through this, you know, we're thinking, you know,

(36:23):
I know, we just said this you know off air
as well as you know, this pods about trying to
get the things that you can't get on finding Hawks
dot com. I mean, I think our fan base is
incredibly knowledgeable. They know we won the game. I'm not
sure they're looking for Bill Chaves to break down you
know what transpired on third down, you know at the
Aleris Center. I mean, that is just not my role. Now.

(36:45):
I do ask, try to ask great questions. I think
I'm fairly knowledgeable, but but those are the coaches you
know that that are doing that, and someone like Jody
can bring a different perspective for our fans in case
you haven't heard some things, and then I think I've
heard you even say, hey, sometimes you're learning some things
that should go along as well.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
Over the last forty five minutes, yes, there were a
lot of things that I was not aware of or
just needed reminders on. And that's what makes it fun,
I think, to hear from an expert like Jody or
whomever we bring on to kind of give their two
cents on what's going on. So it's fun to chat
about the games because it's fun to have a little
refresher and that is what we're going to do now.
But we will do so briefly, yes, very briefly. So

(37:25):
let's begin there. Well, Let's begin with Jody Hodgson's main tenant,
currently the men's hockey team that started regular season play
this last weekend with a very nice sweep over a
ranked Saint Thomas team Friday at home six to two
Sunday at the Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul five
to two. Bill Eleven different players scored the eleven goals

(37:45):
that were tallied this weekend. Feels like a good sign
for this North Dakota team moving forward.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
You know what I feel like? So that is connected
to Jerry Kaminski throwing to eleven different players every week,
doesn't it?

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Indeed m h including himself, But yes, continue.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
That happens every once in a great while, and it happened,
but you know, yeah, it's a it was great. I'll
tell you what. Everyone kind of dited the score sheet
to some degree, and that's a big deal. Right, Like
I think we've said this before, Alex we I think
we all played baseball growing up. You're always looking for
your first hit, right, You're looking for and I think

(38:24):
you're trying to just get on the score sheet, just
just make sure the season starts and or a couple
of our guys that happen used to playing seventy plus
games plus playoffs. That's a different mindset than what they're
in right now, where you're playing less than half those
games and almost almost like a third, and so points

(38:47):
can come at a premium for sure.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
They did not necessarily this weekend SEGA, and it was
great to see the North Dakota side just hit the
ground running really strong openings in both nights. And to
be a good Saint Thomas team like that back to back,
it bodes well. Obviously, like the road's gonna get hard
Minnesota comes to town. They're obviously ranked in the top fifteen.
The new poll has not come out yet, but that's
a good go for team.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
As always, on.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
The road at Clarkson will not be easy. Kent stay
it the other night. Then NCC play starts against Minnesota
Looth at home over Halloween, so there's there's some tough
tests to come. But it was a special weekend to
get the season off right. You had a special moment
on Friday, by the way, getting to hand a first
victory puck to the new head coach.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, that was awesome. You know, for Dane, it's been
a long time coming and for him to be here
for as long as he's been at und Yeah, I
think life is about memories, right, and so he's gonna
look at that puck and you know that was the one.
You know, if we were lucky enough to win. The

(39:47):
linesman picked it up and got it to Dan Johansson,
who got it to me, who got it to Day.
So that's how that went.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
That was.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
That was the baton pass. So sometimes you have a
relay in the Olympics and you hope that the the
pass is okay, all four executed the past or three
executed the pass.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
It was a three by one. In this case, it was.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
A three by one yes, and the other person received,
said what they had to do and moved on.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Dame was the anchor in that situation. So a great,
great start for hockey again, best of luck to them
against Minnesota this weekend. You got to hand out a
first win football about a month and a half ago
to Eric Schmidt. He's picked up a couple more now
since then. Fighting Hawks with three victories on the spin
two and zero in Valley play. After a pair of
really good wins over good teams thirty five seven against

(40:33):
Northern Iowa two weeks ago and then thirty five to
seventeen against the rank Youngstown State team this weekends. Thoughts
on what you saw from football now as they get
into valley play.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
You know, it was really impressive how well we started,
and we knew how good this quarterback is has been
against US, has been against many other schools, and I
thought we did a really good job, for lack of
a better term, container him, and I think that's what
you need to do, because he's so crafty and he

(41:05):
can find lanes. And I thought our our defense was
incredibly disciplined and that that's kind of what stuck out
to me. Now having said that, I think our offense
here's here's what I'm going to pull my inner Isaac
fricktie right now. I bet you he's saying today because
today is media day. Is we loved how we started,

(41:26):
We finished and got sevens, but then we probably turned
around start of the second half and we just didn't
move the chains much. And I think that's what you're
looking to do. I think at that point, when you
do have a lead like that, you just kind of
want to continue to move the chains, and uh, you know,
that's the fun part of all this. I mean, you're you're,
you're winning a few games, and I still think there's

(41:48):
there's room for growth, continued growth on really all sides
of the ball. So uh yeah, I mean we go
to now Carbondale and Southern Illinois been good the last
several years, and do I need to say it again,
They've been you know, teams are good at home and
they just are. And I thought they played well in

(42:09):
Fargo for a bit. Then they had a few turnovers,
a few costly turnovers, and that did them in.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, I felt like things shifted really quick, as they
can in that facility. But Essa, you does come in
number twelve in the nation. North Dakota now number nine,
by the way, as they move inside the top ten
for the first time this season. Just a little stamp
on where you are, of course, doesn't mean much the
number in front of your name at this point in October,
but it does set up an important matchup on the
road against the good Suluki team as North Dakota looks

(42:35):
to go to three and Ozero in Valley play before
they come back home against Indiana State on the twenty fifth.
So football with a big conference win. Women's soccer with
the Big Conference win volleyball with the Big Conference with
a lot of the North Dakota programs, I should say
all of the North Dakota programs. Bill had successful weekends
soccer with a huge road victory over North Dakota State,
their first conference win this year. And incredibly, they've only

(42:58):
got three games left. They're already kind of at that
juncture in the season where it's clunch time and all
these results now just take on even more significance.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Yeah, So coming in to the weekend where both teams
only had one match, so they were going to load
up and figure it out. We all know three points
a win, if you will, is gold and one of
these teams, you know, I would say, if I would
say a tie, it would have been disappointing for both

(43:28):
teams quite frankly, because I think each team knew the
significance of getting three. Now we've got three left, as
you said, and you know, we've got a really good
Oral Roberts team coming in on Thursday, and then a
Kansas City team on Sunday, and then finished with Saint Thomas.
Threes are gold, Alex and that's what this team needs.

(43:50):
But they had to get off the Schneid. We hadn't
got you know, we hadn't had a conference win since
since two years ago because we were zero four and
four last year, and so well, you know, you know
how these games go in soccer. It's hard to score,
and sometimes you can get caught up, I'll call it
in a zero zero contest, and sometimes it's hard to score.

(44:11):
But we've been pretty good on set pieces. When we
can get a set piece, that's we've been pretty dangerous.
And so I thought our team, you know, did a
nice job executing and winning winning the set piece and
then actually scoring the goal. And and Grace has been
great in net and so you know, here we go,
got three left, and my guess is, you know, we

(44:34):
can all do the point game if you want to,
but you know we're gonna have to get another win
on the board somewhere along the line.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, you mentioned Grace. Six more saves for her in
front of this back line that holds another shut out.
And yes, if you've not seen the free kick goal
from Yui Fuji, please go online and look it up.
A beautiful curler from outside the box from a young
lady that just has a ton of skill and talent.
So big one that thn win in Fargo. As you say,
Oral Roberts number one in the league right now, Kansas

(45:03):
City Saint Thomas both outside the playoff picture. North Dakota's
in the top six make the postseason, so there's opportunity there,
but nothing's guaranteed in this league. You still have to
go out and win Homer Road whichever. And like you said,
it's still anybody's game. It's just you only play everybody
once in this league. So if you win a couple
of games down the stretch, North Cota could be like
the second or third seed. Potentially even better than that.

(45:24):
Maybe if you get a couple of draws, you might
be on the outside looking in. So it's still all
to play for for this side moving forward.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
It's almost you know, in a I'll call it, maybe
not in an individual sport versus team sport, where in
a team sport it's gonna be individual sport. You just
have to be on that day. You I mean, things
have to go well, you can't. You have to have
some luck, I mean something, you know, you got to
hope you wake up okay that day and all of

(45:50):
those types of things. But in a team sport where
you only play someone once and it's hard to score.
It is you know, a play a something. It always
comes down to something, one thing. And in that sport,
when you don't go around the mulberry bush twice and
only once, it's challenging.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Now volleyball is a sport where you do play everybody twice.
And North Dakota did get a nice win the other
day two and four. Now in conference, the defeated Oral
Roberts three to one at the Betty. They hit four
point thirty nine as a team. That's their best hitting
percentage as a team for an entire match in almost
a decade. You got to go back to twenty sixteen
in the Big Sky Days, the last time that happened.
Page Barber continues to have career days and kills. It

(46:32):
was her third twenty kill outing, so you had twenty
three kills. A couple of weeks ago twenty four against
the Golden Eagles. You have a freshman setter in Sadie
White that's really starting to come into our own forty
one assists in that match. Again, it's still a young
team that's still figuring things out, but a big result
now to get another win on the board. Is this
team kind of moves into the halfway point of some
of league play.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah, we needed that one. I felt like, you know,
sometimes you just have to stem the tide a little bit.
And you know, we got the big win early, you know,
the first win of the season, and then had some
you know, some tough losses along the way. So to
get that one done was a good one, especially after
the first set where we're up seven and found a

(47:13):
way to actually lose the set, but bounced back hard
and then kind of just swept it out from there.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Okay, So nice win there. They'll be on the road
at Saint Thomas this week, then home agains South Dakota
State and Kansas City, and there are four matches really
in the next two weeks, but it's a three match
week coming up soon. So matches thick and fast for
Jesse Tupacan company as they continue to build as the
season moves along. Cross Country had a little bit of
this was maybe two weeks ago now, but that little shift.

(47:42):
Instead of going to Brookings, it ended up being a
road trip to Jamestown instead, where the men and women
both won again. They continue to win. Jaden Keeler continues
to win, still unbeaten on the cross country course. She's
four for four now this year. Very impressive to see
what they continue to do. Big Roadship coming up to
College Station this weekend to take on Texas A and

(48:03):
M and a very good field of Big twelve and
SEC schools on the way.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Yeah, I think that'll be really challenging for the kids,
and I like the schedule that we've had that we've
put together, and so yeah, all heading towards the Summit
League Championships, which should be exciting for us this year.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Yeah, this is the last meet before the Summer League
Championships on the first of November in Omaha, So one
more chance just to test some things out, test yourself
and keep pushing towards the ultimate goal, which is now
just three weeks away. That's at the tail end of
the season. Basketball just getting started. We had media day
for the Summit League in Sioux Falls this past week.

(48:42):
Great the chat with the whole crew, Dennis Hutter and
Paul Savor and everybody associated who came down to be
a part of that event you mentioned earlier. It's incredible.
Basketball has an exhibition on the eighteenth of October. Basketball
bill basketball already.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
It is hard. It's hard to know, but we made
a decision I guess at some point, you know, because
it used to be way back when it used to
be October fifteenth was the first day of practice and
those types of things, well, that's flush that, that's way
out the window. I mean, practice goes on all year long,

(49:19):
it's just different phases of the year. And then I
think we kind of said to ourselves, you know, what
would be good in a sense, try to go play
another team prior to the season beginning. So I think
that's what you're seeing right now, which I'm actually good with.
I mean, at the end, you know, you're trying to
do some things and it is hard to see your
same faces for thirty days in a row without seeing

(49:42):
something else where. You can try to figure out where
things are, and then you get better film on that
one day than you probably could do for the you know,
previous twenty days. So I think it'll be good for us.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
At Jamestown coming to town for the men on the
eighteenth of October, it's a one o'clock tip at the Betty.
They'll have another exhibition against Minnesota coming up the following
weekend Twin Cities talk about starting with the bank at
Alabama to open up the season on November the third.
We had joked during media day with coach Saither, I
think I think they'll be maybe ready for North Dakota

(50:16):
this time after you and they nearly beat them a
year ago. But that'll be a great task to get
to go take on the Crimson Tie to kick things
off again.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I thought the way it
all played out and the way coach Oates was willing
and Greg Byrne to come to North Dakota, I thought
it was awesome. And so you know, and what did
we say with Jody to some degree, sometimes it's about memories, right,
and you know, for Grant Nelson to come back to

(50:42):
his state, you know, in an Alabama uniform, I just
thought it was awesome. So you know, yeah, now we've
got to go down to Alabama this year in two
years from now. So okay, so let's go.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Let's go again. That's the third of November again. The
women start the fourth of November against the Golden Gophers.
Anything else Bill on your radar from a und NCAA
perspective or a lot going on. It's a busy time
of year.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Yeah, I think you know, as as I mentioned, you know,
we try to get the guests on that can help,
that give gives it maybe a little bit more context
to some of the things that you read, and we
go a little bit deeper dive. And I felt like
that this one was a good one for a lot
of different reasons with Jodie, because there's just there is
a lot going on, and you know that is coupled

(51:29):
with two weeks ago, you know, when we were talking
about Northern Ireland, and those are cool things that are happening,
but sometimes you need to go just a little bit
deeper for folks that are thinking about possibly going to
Texas next year or going across the Pond two years
from now.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Yeah, never too early to start. One of the parts
of a trip that's the most fun is the planning process,
and that's already be gone now with Texas just around
the corner. Quick flip over to the B side. We're
currently in an international break bill, so soccer has probably
not been on your radar. One more to go this
fall coming up next month. Without international football, what have

(52:06):
you been paying attention to in recent weeks outside of
your north Dakotahattan.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Yeah, so you'll love this. I even did a deeper dive.
I watched Grimsby Town on Saturday, so there was that.
I went a little bit deep. I think could lead
two so just I we learned about them because they
beat man U, so I wanted to see what they
were doing. And then uh watched a little a little.

(52:32):
It was a very busy weekend, you andy was there
wasn't much else to do. But I'll be honest with you,
I think we are still figuring out who's going to
make the World Cup the Netherlands. I watched a little
bit yesterday. They were really good, really good, and you'll
be fascinating to see who ends up coming and when.

(52:54):
How about this question for Alex Heiner, who would know
this when the teams went? When will the teams? When
will we know all the teams? And when will the
I guess groups be chosen.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
That's a great question, and I'm going to give you
an answer that maybe doesn't make a lot of sense.
We will know the groups before we know all the teams.
Oh so the draw will be December the fifth, so
the majority of qualifying will have wrapped up. After that
November window, all of the group winners from Europe will
be set. I believe the six teams from cocka CAF

(53:28):
will be set. It's just really then the Intercontinental playoffs
and the European Playoffs that have to be That's okay.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
They get slid into whatever group, yeap.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
You have a slot so when you get drawn. And
this was what the United States was it in twenty
twenty two with Guitar. They were in a group where
you had a slot for this European playoff winner and
you didn't know if it was going to be Wales
or whomever Wales was playing in that playoff.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
But then we're going to.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Get one of these two and then those will be
decided in March. It's Dayton, It's Dayton, Yes, this is yes,
you were taking on one of the first four winners. Yes,
in the field of sixty eight, that's correct. So yeah,
December fifth and DC will have a stout.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
So if that's the case, help me with this one
then last one. And this is a good question because
this is I think important even for the just casual
soccer fan that may want to kind of figure something out.
In the United States, next next summer, will will we
know then where the groups are slotted to play as well?

(54:35):
I mean they'll it'll it'll be the whole, It'll be
the whole shebang. Like this group or whatever is going
to play a game in Canada, or this one's going
to play in Mexico, and then this one's going to
be in Kansas City, this one's going to be in
New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yep, I believe that is the plan. Like we know
right now, Team USA is going to play their first
match in MetLife Stadium. They're going to play their next
two group stage matches in California. I think both it's
so far in La I believe that's already been set.
We know Mexico is playing all three of their matches
in Mexico. They'll do the opener in the Azteca on
June the eleventh. We just don't know who they're playing against.

(55:11):
So I think some of those things for the hosts
especially have already been decided. And then when they put
the teams with them, we sort of know, Okay, Group A,
your Game one is being played on this site. Game
two is being played here. And the way they're gonna
set this up because again, this is three countries. This
is the entire continent of North America, outside of a
couple of unique cases like the US playing on the

(55:33):
East coast then flying to the West coast. If you
are in Group B, you will exclusively play in the
East region. If you're in Group C, you'll exclusively play
in the Central region. Now that might mean you're gonna
play one game in Kansas City and one game in
Dallas and then one game in Guadalajara or something like that,
but you wouldn't be flying coast to coast. Those things

(55:56):
will be decided in December.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
So last follow up, So Mexico is going to play
in Mexico, I would assume Canada is playing in Canada.
Is that Vancouver in like Toronto and Toronto?

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Yeah, those are the two.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Those are the two. So they might in essence maybe
play one in Vancouver, two in Toronto or vice versa.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Correct, Yep, you got it. Yeah, and that's the US.
Is the same way I think the World Cup. FIFA
understands that we want to make sure that our host
nations get through to the next round or give them
the best chance, and we also want to make sure
the atmospheres are good. I think those are always that's
other than making as much money as humanly possible, those
are usually the things they try and do. And that's

(56:37):
why with the draw you do see the host nations
get a slightly easier draw, whether or not they're great,
because they'll be in Pot one, and that means you
can't get drawn with any of the other Pot one teams,
the Argentinas or the Spains of the world. You just
automatically don't face any of those teams. So, just by
the way that it works out, I did not know.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
That you have a cheesy give a.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Wow, that's interesting. You're in Pot one. Holy cow, that's
a big deal.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
It's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Yeah, that makes a big difference because now you're basically
taking you're you're a one seed and now you're gonna
have a two and a three and a four in
your pot. And they make it set up so unless
you're in Europe, because there are so many European teams,
you don't play another team from your confederation. So you
know you're gonna get a team for the United States.
You know almost certainly you're getting a team from Europe

(57:28):
in your pot. But now at least you're not getting
one of the big teams, and you'll get a team
from South America, but you're not getting Brazil and you're
not getting Argentina. And then you'll get a team from
either Asia or Africa or Oceania, and you know, and
those teams can can typically be pretty good. But but
it's not like you're gonna be in a group of
death when when you're hosting. Unfortunately for the United States,

(57:51):
when they're not hosting, they almost are certainly in a
group of death because you're you're you're gonna get a
pot one team from Europe or from South America, and
then you're also going to get a really good team
from one of those two countries too. Is just the
nature of this, Like that's why it feels like the
US and whether it's been the year they had Germany
and Portugal and Ghana in when they were in Brazil,

(58:13):
it was like, oh my gosh, we got the best
African team and we got we got two of the
best European teams.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
How did that work?

Speaker 1 (58:20):
It's just sort of the way the structure is that
they couldn't get anybody else from North America and they
had a small you knew you were going to get
at least one team from Europe and probably a good
team from South America. They were you're almost certainly going
to get a difficult group, but not not this time
because their host.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
The so last last question that we're done is where
do you think we are as a team right now?
I mean, because we're in are we playing? We're playing
friendlies right now because we don't have to qualify, correct, correct?

Speaker 3 (58:52):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
They just played Ecuador the other day and drew one
one with an Ecuador team that has qualified for the
World Cup, which is a which is a fine resist.
Where we are right now is such a loaded question
because yes, they haven't had to play a game of
consequence for a long time, so you're trying to glean
what you can from these friendly matches, Like they'll play

(59:13):
Australia coming up on Tuesday. That's another team that's qualified
for the World Cup through the Aging Confederation, and that's
a team I think from a United States perspective, like, hey,
we should be competing against probably beating, but we'll see.
They've had some interesting results lately, like they got played
off the park against South Korea, who's a World Cup team.
But then looked pretty good against Japan a couple of

(59:34):
days later. Maricio Pachetino, it feels like is slowly putting
it together, slowly, at least just from the last couple
of camps. Things were looking pretty bad, like Patch was
maybe going to be out of a job if things
didn't go well against Japan, like that's where we were.
But he won that game. They played well against the
good Ecuador team and got a point draw. We'll see

(59:56):
how things go against Australia. But I think he's still
figuring out who are my guys and really key positions,
and that's troublesome when you're this close to opening day
kickoff and there really aren't that many I know, it
feels like though there are a lot of international windows
left between now in the World Cup, but it really
is just it's this window. It's November. They will do

(01:00:16):
a January camp where they won't play anybody in the
European guys won't be released, and then it's March and
then it's basically the World Cup. So there's really only
maybe five more matches really left before it's real.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
So the thing that I would say is it feels
like and again for those of you that are still
with us, thank you and or on my condolences one
or the other. But it is knowing Poch because he
was a Tottenham Hotspur manager for a lot of years

(01:00:49):
and listening to folks that really, you know, either got
to know him or saw his whole tenure there, which
was pretty good. He is he is big about building
teams and doing those types of things. He's trying to
do it on a national level, which becomes interesting when
I guess you just want results and if you want results,

(01:01:13):
I would say if he's if he was a guest
right now in this pot, he probably would say, well, yeah,
I want to get results when the World Cup starts,
because I know we're in it. We're not only that,
we'ren't Pot one, we're in Pot one.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
He's really made that point that these games don't really
matter to him in terms of what the final result is.
It's about the process, and I think that just.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
And that's overrated or it's a it's an eye roll
at times. It's it's all of that. You got to
get a different word than process because you get sixers
and all this other stuff, and I get it. It
is truly about it though, it really is, and he's
trying to figure out how many how many guys on
a roster twenty five, twenty six.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Maybe twenty twenty six, now twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
I mean, he's probably his whole thing is what's the
best twenty six we can have based on who's fit
at that point.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Yeah, and they have enough talent in this country that
that that should be able to feel a pretty good
team and be competitive. And I'm not saying this is
a guaranteed quarter finalist or semi finalist or whatever in
the World Cup, but there's potential to make a run
like that if things click. They're good enough to potentially
do that. We just haven't seen it. I think there
just has been those false dons maybe one too many

(01:02:28):
times with this particular group. But I think the hope
is still there. We will we will just continue to
trust trust the process.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
But if I said and I don't know, you probably
would tell me differently. But if Chris Richards, Tyler Adams,
and Pulistic were are some of our top players, I'm
not sure I've seen them on the pitch together recently
at all. So that seems like I'm not sure he's

(01:02:57):
had his best players play some matches.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
No, and Jedi Robinson's still coming back from injury and
just just came back to this camp for the first
time in a long time. And so Genio dest on
the other side is kind of in the same boats
and they have just had I mean, Adams himself has
been hurt, Polistic has been hurt or decided not to
be selected this summer for any competitions. Flow Balagan, who
scored this weekend against Ecuador, kind of the same thing,
like not fit and not firing. So all this stuff

(01:03:25):
is irrelevant. If they can get it together by the
time June twelfth, pure like, that's all that really matters.
I think it's just people just want to see some
positive progress and it's really hard to capture that in
these little snapshot windows. It won't matter in the ends
if they can get it together by May.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
And with that, Alex, I think we're done.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
I think we're done too. Oh well, Bill A pleasure
as always really fun, have a jodion, great to talk
about all the good things happen in an und athletics.
Enjoy all the great stuff this weekend, from the soccer
to the volleyball to a great cross country meet on
the road to tremendous football game in Carbondale and an
awesome home series against the Gophers for hockey. Just soak
it all in, make some memories. Bill, It's gonna be great.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
It's all about memories.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
That's right, That is right, sir Well on behalf of
Bill Shaves, Jody Hodgson, Paul Rawlson, and Alex Locker Johnson
on the back end, I'm Alex Hyder. Thank you for listening.
Enjoy this fantastic week. Soak in the fall, make some memories.
We'll talk to you again soon.