Beyond The Pond: Bob Motzko, Scott Sandelin, Bob Stauffer, Tom Serratore, Tony Scott, and John Vanbiesbrouck.

Falness and Pat are back talking hockey! They’re joined by Bob Motzko, Scott Sandelin, Bob Stauffer, Tom Serratore, Tony Scott, and John Vanbiesbrouck.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
From the Ponds to the pros. It's time for Beyond
the Pond on the fan. Here are your hosts, Pat
mcalletty and Kevin Faulness.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
But boy, is it good to be back in the
state of hockey. Kevin Fallness along with Patt mcletty, and
it is Beyond the Pond. I missed you last week.
How many weeks have you been gone? One? How many weeks?

(00:33):
He was a hell of a weekend, a miss I'll
tell you that much. I had a bunch of fomo
up there in Coleraine. Yeah, you were up north, weren't you. Yeah,
we'll get into that more. We do have a special
guest on the line to kick the show guests, and
we're gonna go up to Duluth to talk to the
head coach of the Golden Golphers and the head coach
of Team USA for the World Juniors. His name is
Bob Monskow. Bob, how you doing, buddy?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
It was one cold going on up here. We're up
in Michletny's homes.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, oh boy, yeah, that went off the lake right.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
She's a bit nippy, I can tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, it's no warmer down here. I'll turn you loose
on pat here in a second. But you got the
pre tournament schedule coming up here at Amzoil Arena. Your
first game is tomorrow against Germany four o'clock at Amzoil
Arena and that should be a blast. And then coming
up later on this week of course, the tournament gets
underway for Reo at Grand Casino Arena and three am
Arena at Mariucci. You guys will be spending a lot

(01:32):
of time in Saint Paul. Give us kind of a
feel for what the preliminary tournament's all about, getting a
chance to get on the ice and see what this
team's all about.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, we brought We've got four guys that we have
to let go. That's going to be the real tough
thing that we have to do. But that goes with
the territory. So we've got Germany tomorrow and then Tuesday,
we've got Sibling and we had a scrimmage the other day.
So we're four days into it right now and really

(02:02):
like our group right now. And you know, we didn't
have a good summer, but but we were weird summer. Uh,
you know, it's in the garbage can, like Max Plant
is leading the country and scoring right now, and he's
just I mean, he's played terrific. He couldn't play the summer.
Paul Hudson is one of the best defensemen in the
world at his age. He couldn't play this summer. So

(02:23):
you start putting players like that back into your lineup,
you take on a whole different field. And that's what
we've got right now. We've got a lot of players
that terrific first half. Only one player is injured who
couldn't make camp, and usually that I can tell you,
usually it's a handful of guys that get knocked out
during their seasons that aren't able to be So we're healthy,

(02:48):
we got great team speed, guys are hitting their mark,
and we're really everything's really positive right now.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
Hey, Bob, you know talking about you you have to
get rid of you know, you have to you know,
cut four guys and you look at you know, your team,
the Olympic team, and you know the number of guys
that are going to have to get let go from
from that team. Also, that just goes to show what

(03:17):
USA Hockey and you know, Minnesota mostly the talent pool
is just getting deeper and deeper and deeper every year.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Isn't it.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
It is in the the US to doing such a
terrific job right now developing talent, and it's it's the
footprint of the whole United States as well. I mean,
we all talk about Matthew Nyes and and and Matthews
coming from Arizona, right, you know, they're all over and
and your last decision sometimes it's not fair that you

(03:49):
know you're cutting someone and there's and and by the way,
there are players that aren't here that deserve to be here. Yeah,
that's the depth we've got. The Olympics are going to
find the same thing. But a lot of times at
the end it's a puzzle piece. It might be adding
one last center that's great on draws, that can kill penalties.
He may not be a time I was using this

(04:11):
an example, who might edge out a player that's maybe
a little bit more offensive. It might be adding you know,
the player they added a year ago back with US
is Cleaver, who plays up here in Dulu, big six
foot four defenseman. He's a minute muncher. Yeah, you know,
we've got fancy panthers, but you've got to have a
couple of minute months And he's at a strong level,

(04:34):
right now. We did that in twenty seventeen, where you know,
we added Toconi out of Michigan who people thought we
were crazy, but he he was that big, strong defenseman
that was one of our last editions that gave us
that we went on to win Golds that year and
just played a critical role. And so those are sometimes

(04:54):
the puzzle pieces that you're looking here down the stretch.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
Yeah, and and a lot of these guys, you know,
their careers are not.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Over if they don't make this team.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
I mean, I look back to the year you won
gold and you let you know you didn't take to
break it right, and look at what he's done in
his career, but maybe at that time he wasn't the
fit that you were looking for for your team. And
sure enough, you guys end up winning goal. But that
that's just kind of the scenario of how it works.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
And we questioned ourselves for years after, right, I can
tell you right, and you know he will wear the
US jersey again at some point. That's one thing that
I know a lot of the guys that are released
from these teams, it may just not be their time now,
but they will put the USA jersey on at some
other point in their career.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
And we won.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Look for a USA right now, we won World Championships
last year for the very first time. Right the World
Junior's two gold medals in a row, our sled team,
our women's team this year is just fantastic in a
triffic spot.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
They're in the middle of the pre tournament schedule as
we speak, including the Americans up there in Duluth at
Amzoil Arena. But later this week they're coming to Saint Paul.
They're coming to Minneapolis. Get your tickets now, World Juniors
m N two six dot com. It starts December twenty
sixth goes through January fifth. Bob, you know we've got
diehard listeners to be on the pond, but we also

(06:22):
have the casual hockey fans that are in their car
just driving around. Give me your best thirty second commercial.
Why people need to get their butts in the seats,
whether it's in Minneapolis, whether it's in Saint Paul, to
watch this tournament in action. It doesn't come here that often, Bob.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Okay, everybody's excited about Quinn Hughes right now coming to Minnesota. Well,
Quinn was on our team in eighteen when we played
BOLDI one gold, favor one gold, and I always tell
the story. In twenty seventeen, we had to knock Rush
off twice and the best player in the tournament was
a nineteen year old kid playing for Russia and watching

(07:00):
him on film like there was no way to stop him.
And how we got through beating that team twice was
a miracle. That was clos Yeah, And so they're for
our Minnesota fans. These are the superstars of the future.
And the wild are loaded with guys that have played
in this tournament. You know, the nineteen year old that's

(07:22):
on the verge of becoming a Nashville Hockey League player
is in this tournament. So we could talk about the
US is in a great spot, but Canada's loaded, Sweden
has loaded, Finland's got Finland is a bear to play.
This might be his best best team ever. They're saying.
So hockey is You're going to see a high level

(07:43):
competition in this sport of rock talent, and and it
is they play and people want these players want to
be in this tournament so bad it is. It is
a bucketless uh for any young player to get into it.
So you get their heart and soul into the games
and it is terrific hockey.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
So in a short tournament like this, I mean, yes,
you you get the guys together in the summer and
you know, start to build that culture and whatever. But
I mean, what are some of the really really big
keys of winning this tournament, this shortened tournament and getting
your guys together.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
And all of that.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
What are some of the keys that you look at
to say, hey, this is what we got to do
to get gold.

Speaker 6 (08:30):
Well, here's the big thing.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
And all of us coaches that have gone through this,
we communicate and talk and we just share everything. And
all the coaches through the years, you know, David carl
the last two, Nate Lehmanto Providence one gold, My Keys
one gold, Dean Blaze one gold.

Speaker 5 (08:47):
We all talk the biggest This is.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Kind of like college because once you get into the
metal rounds, it's wanted done, discipline and penalty kill. Where
last year at the Four Nations when the two Kachuck
brothers started, you know, the fist the cuffs right off
the face off. They were playing a couple of games,
you know, they they to send a message. Well, you
this is a little different. This you got to really

(09:10):
keep your motions and check. You got to stay out
of the penalty box because it is a one and
done like Ncuba, where.

Speaker 7 (09:16):
Any one one mistake, one.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Critical misqueue can can set you off course. So discipline
becomes a key part of it. Uh in a tournament
like that.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
In about ten minutes, we're gonna be talking to your buddy,
Scott Sandel and head coach at Minnesota Duluth. How's he
like having you trapesing around on his turf up there?

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Oh, he's been awesome. We we've confiscated his office. You know,
we're in the locker room and he's been with us
every Day's awesome.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Good for you. You know their whole thing well, Iron Rangers.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
They are great guys, you know. I mean, all we
do is give up on the range and make your.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
Name has come up a number of times.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Oh, we'll get into what we're talking about. The trust's
come up out to halfful of time so far.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
All right, Well we'll keep that for January. When I
see you. Good luck up there in Dulud, good luck
making those final cuts. Merry Christmas, and we'll see at
the end of the week. In the Twin Cities. Yeah,
you too, Thanks Bob. There he goes Bob Moscow, head
coach of the Golden Gophers, also the head coach of
Team USA. Am I in trouble? You think I'm in trouble?

(10:19):
I think they probably throw your name around there quite
a bit on a that's on a regular basis, and
probably I probably earned it. I would say, yes, the
body of where the resume speaks for it so bad.
I mean whatever awesome to hear from Bob Moscow because
I know he's in the middle of a meat grinder
up there. It can't be easy to take off your

(10:40):
Gopher hat in the middle of what has to be
a trying season and then put on that Team USA
hat and get ready for that blender, because I mean
it started now this this weekend and it's going through
this week. They'll be in du Luth all week and
then they'll get ready for an amazing tournament. But it's
you know, cutthrow man, it's not easy.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well, and you know they listen, there was a time
with the USA Hockey where you know, it's like who
can we get and now it's oh my gosh, we
have to we have to let go for really, really
good players, and that's just a testament to USA hockey.
And you know, especially the state of Minnesota, what what
how they developed players crazy, crazy good and it's not

(11:20):
easy no matter how stacked the Americans are.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
And I don't know that there are as stacked as
they've been in the last two years where they won gold.
But still you know they're going to be a force
for sure. But how about Canada, how about Sweden? How
about Finland? I know there's stacked just as much.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Sweden is highly and you know the Fansada, and you
know the fans watching you know, a guy like Nico
for years and how disciplined and how you know to
the you know, they their systems, they just are really
really hard to play against. So it's going to be
a fabulous, fabulous tournament.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Well, well, that was good to hear from Bob Moscow.
Later in the show will end the show in fact
with the general manager a Team USA on Van Beesbrook.
We can talk to him about a lot of things
that we just covered with Bob, but also talk a
little Olympic hockey and and all things else going on
in USA hockey. Uh I mentioned we're gonna have Scott
Sandlon on the head coach of Minnesota Duluth Tom Sarah

(12:14):
Torre is going to join too from Butmidgie State at
the top of next hour. Bottom of the hour, Bob Stofford.
Because there's a big matchup coming up today in Saint Paul.
What a weekend for hockey. Gosh, when you talk about
the National Hockey League and the Minnesota Wild they want
to go eye to eye with some of the big
boys in the Western Conference. How about the Edmonton Oilers
today for a matinee and then follow it up with
the Colorado avalunchtime.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
I mean dry Cidle McDavid and then you go, McCary McKinnon.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Are you kidding me? How about that? Well, but then
you know what they're bringing to the party, Quinn, Hughes
and Coroll Caprico. Yeah exactly. But that's now they can
have these conversations with the big guns in the Western Conference.
We're no longer the little brother, We're no longer the
ugly stepchild. We're now someone that's in the conversation on
the even par with some of these big Today, you're

(12:59):
gonna take on the two time defending Western Conference champs. Tomorrow,
you're going to take on a team that's lost like
twice in regulation all season. So let's see where they
where they stand.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
And this isn't a poor me for Dallas, Colorado and Minnesota,
but come on, come on with the you know you
want to you want to get your league out there, well,
then make the playoff system.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, correct, yes, correct. I'm glad to see we're on
the same page, right because that was definitely one in
my talking points. It's never been more obvious. And I
don't think it's any any secret, but it's so well,
here's so disjointed.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
The first round is fabulous, all right, but then for whatever,
you have a drop off in the second round in
terms of enthusiasm, in terms of yeah, if your team's
in it, of course you're but you know, for the
rest of the of the fans, it's like, okay, second round, Yeah,
you know, it's it's not Minnesota Colorado on the.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Second round, it's you know whatever. Yeah, And I just
I don't know. I haven't had a chance to talk
to you directly in the week now, eight days since
the Queen Hughes trade happened. As as mentioned last week,
I was off, I was following my kid up to
Coleraine to watch Abandon the hockey tournament, which was awesome.
It was a lot of fun. It was cold as hell.
But I found out about the trade on Friday night.

(14:23):
I was in the snake pit and I was on
the phone in the oldest son. I was back here
watching our eighty four dogs and he starts talking about
did you see what happened? I said, what he says,
the wild trade for Queen Hughes. I said, all right, yeah,
and the tooth theory is in my house too. And
here I said, you're lying to me. Yeah, he says, no,

(14:44):
I'm absolutely I'm absolutely true. Same thing with him. I'm like,
you're crazy. I still didn't believe him until the hockey
dad started to come up around me and go, oh
my god, did you hear that? Oh my god? They
traded for Queen Hughes? Is this real? Did this happen?
And then it started to set in. Holy moly, I mean,
what a bombshell for this organization and for the I mean,

(15:06):
will you can talk about the future all you want,
but I'm talking about the here and now exactly. Are
director he's twenty six, and he's a twenty six and
they have an opportunity to reassign him. I don't know
if that, but again, that's the future, the here and
the now exactly. They're in the conversation with Dallas, with Colorado,
with Edmondtada, Carolina, Florida, all the big guns the wild

(15:27):
now have to be in that conversation because of one move.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
And I don't think they're done yet, but that's we'll
get to that, you know, another time. But no, you
you absolutely, you make this deal and you get the
second best defenseman whatever, third best of whatever, who cares
put him all on the same level. He is of
that level, and you know, and him in favor, him
in favor together.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Is just it's must watch. It must absolutely, you know,
when they're on the ice because and he says he's
not comfortable yet, Oh my god, wait till he's come. Yeah,
and wait till a player like Quinn Hughes.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
And this is something that we don't talk about enough,
is that he understands what he has the ability to
understand what capriceof is going to do, what Buldy is
going to do. You just said he's not comfortable yet,
Well give give him times when he does he will
pick that up in a millisecond.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, and they will.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
They will know what Quinn Hughes is doing, because when
you have intelligent players, that's what happens.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
An oh my, to your point, Ju lyrics and X
said that in the post game. I think in Columbus
he was talking about the fact that he doesn't fully
understand the gravity of what Quinn Hughes can do. Yet
he says he's doing things that he doesn't know that
he's supposed to be ready for.

Speaker 7 (16:47):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean this is Jules a pretty hockey where he goes.
Give you an example.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
The goal that Caprisoff scored against last week when they
were home I is second and probably could have been
Boston No. The day before Washington. Yes, yes, it was Washington.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Thank you, thank you. You know, there's so many games.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yeah, but he walked the puck to the middle of
the ice and he did not allow the guy the
guy to come out and block the shot. But he
what he did, what what made the play was he
saw Capriceoff an act and won Washington defender and he's
I got to get the pucked to the net. Bam
it was right off his stick. Yeh off the goal,
you know, the goal he made the save capriceoff right

(17:31):
there to you know, knock it in. But that's the
intelligence of a player who ran. He waits a mill
a second longer his shot gets blocked. Uh uh, yeah,
he knew he had to get it there, got it
their goal. Yeah, it's it's so much fun to know that.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know, you already had Caprice I and you had Boldie,
but now to add Quinn Hughes to the mix. Now
you've got something to go up against Nathan McKinnon and
and Cale mccarr haskin in there in Dallas. It's it's
fun to be in that conversation. Uh, but it ain't
gonna be easy. So we'll see where at all how
it all transplayers. But what a way to go into
the holiday break wild riding a six game winning streak.

(18:06):
Later on today, they've got the Edmonton Oilers in Saint Paul.
Pregame at one forty five right here on FM one
hundred point three. The fan will take a break and
then our hockey conversation will continue. We're going back to Duluth.
We'll check in with Scott Sandel and head coach of
the Bulldogs. Next I'm beyond the punch there's not a

(18:28):
lot I wouldn't do for ninety million dollars. Patrick stepping
in the ring with a professional boxer and getting my
ass kicked and fractured, John a couple of different places
might be at the bottom of the list. But for
ninety million dollars, all right, I can take a punch.
Could you do it for ninety million? Could you go
up against a professional boxer? Yeah? Yeah, I mean call

(18:48):
me stupid, but call me rich then exactly. Yeah, that
buys a lot of treatment. Anyway, I wouldn't get in
the ring with our next guest. No, with Scott Sandel
and head coach of the UMD Bull Dougs up there
a wonderful host, we understand to Bob Motsko and team us. Hey, Scott,
that's Pat mcletty. I'm Kevin Falmas. Welcome to be on
the pond.

Speaker 7 (19:09):
Good morning, guys.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
I was telling I've was telling Bob Iron Rangers are
just good guys, you know. For you to give up
your office to Bob and you know, help out, that's.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
What we do, right.

Speaker 7 (19:21):
Exactly, That's exactly what we do.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Are there any rules you're tell them? Don't put your
feet on my desk? I don't want a coffee ring
on my desk, on my fridge. Are there rules that
come with sharing your territory?

Speaker 7 (19:34):
Uh no, we don't. We didn't put a lot of
rules on not at all. But they could stalk the
fridge if they would like.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Good, go ahead. Well, I was just gonna say, what's
the buzz up there? We'll get into your team and
what's going on here during the holiday break, but you
get an opportunity to play host to Team USA and
the preliminary action before the tournament gets under underway for real,
as I guess you can call this kind of a
makeshift training camp as they get ready for the tournament.
What's the buzz like around Amazoil Arena as they watch

(20:04):
these guys go through their paces?

Speaker 8 (20:06):
You know?

Speaker 5 (20:07):
And it's been good.

Speaker 7 (20:08):
I think, uh got to watch a couple of practices,
and you know, there's been a few people at the
first game last night with Finland and Germany, so it
is a decent crowd. And uh, but no, I think
they're they're excited to be up here, and I think, uh,
you know, obviously, you know, they have some tough decisions

(20:30):
to make, but it's been good and I think hopefully
they've enjoyed to lose so far, and uh, you know
they can get prepared to hopefully win another gold medal.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
You as a coach, Scott, you know you've got a
couple of guys on the team. How much inform I mean,
because we're all Team USA now right, but you know,
with the with the with the guys that you have
on your team, how much do you you know, talk
to the staff about, hey, Plant, Plant's really good doing this,
or you know, Cleaver is really good. You know, in

(21:02):
this situation, how much information is shared like that, you know,
with the with the coaching staff, I.

Speaker 7 (21:10):
Think a little bit. I think these guys, you know,
they do a pretty good job with watching their games.
And obviously earlier in the year with with Max and Cleeves,
you know, we played Minnesota, they actually played great for us.
But you know, these guys with their staff, you know,
they they're watching these guys consistently through the you know,

(21:31):
the beginning of the year, since the summer, and obviously
I think there's a lot of guys on this team
right now that are playing really good hockey. So I
think that's exciting for them, and certainly two of our
guys have have played really well as well, so I
think that really bodes well for their team going in.
Just you know, guys with a lot of confidence right now.
You know, you look at guys like Horcoff Two's that Yeah,

(21:52):
you're just guys that you know, have really had a
really good first half. And you know, I think just
talking to those guys, think the best part is, you know,
they're all they're all better than they were in the
summer and you know, the summer camp stole. But right
now that they're you know, into their seasons and you know,
doing what they do, you know, there's a lot of

(22:12):
guys in a really good spot.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Uh let's let's uh change to college hockey a little
bit and and your season, you guys are off to
just a fabulous, fabulous start. You're getting great goaltending, which
we all know. But but you and I talked earlier
in the week and about you know, the kind of
the state of college hockey.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
And and and.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
Just the parody and the number of of great teams
this year. It's it's gonna be, you know, for for
any team, it's it's gonna be, uh, you know, really.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Really tough to make it to that frozen four this
year with a number of great teams that we have
this year.

Speaker 7 (22:51):
Yeah, for sure, Pat. I think, you know, obviously with
the rules changing and and our and our our pool
of players being so much bigger, I think you're you're
seeing that in college hockey.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (23:03):
You know, a lot of teams take advantage of of
certainly the chl rule and have added a ton of players.
And certainly a lot of those guys are you know,
freshmen still, but they played a lot of hockey and
just adds to the depth of a college hockeys pool.
And I think you're seeing that with just the games,
and you saw even earlier in the year too, there
was a lot of upsets and maybe surprising scores. But

(23:25):
I think there's just a lot of really good teams
that are going to get better, especially with the you know,
the teams that have you know, guys that are coming
in from you know, could be Canadian universities or major
junior and and those guys are learning, and they're good players,
and some are you know, elite players, and it's just
going to make our game, our game better moving forward.

(23:48):
It's it's certainly a different world to navigate than what
we've been used to. But you know, I'm still on
the give it a couple of years and see where
we're going. But if this is any indication, I think
our game is going to continue to get better and
we're going to have some really really elite players in
college hockey.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Talking to Scott Sandlin, head coach at UMD for the
Bulldogs fourteen and six overall, seven and five in the NCHC.
When I think about the first half highlights for the
Bulldogs sweeping the Gophers at mari Uti, you guys already
alluded to that. You also swept Saint Cloud State up
there at Amzoil Arena. How would you recap the first

(24:25):
half of the season there for um D.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
You know, it's been a good.

Speaker 7 (24:28):
A real good first half for us. I think it
was really important that we, you know, had a good
start and won some games. You know, our guys were
very disappointed well after last year, and especially our our
core group of you know, we had a really good
freshman class last year. There are now sophomores and you know,
they want to win, and they want to get the program,

(24:49):
you know, back to where they're you know, accustomed to
seeing it. And obviously having a good start and winning
some games and you know, you know, just building that
ca confidence early, I guess would be you know the
biggest thing, and just getting that winning feeling again. You know,
hopefully it will vote well for us in the second half,
but we've got a ways to go. It's like I said,

(25:10):
the mountain keeps getting steeper, and everything's going to get
super hard and everybody gets better, and you know how
competitive is in the second half. And you know, we're
no different. You know, we've playing in a really strong
league and we found that out, you know, having a
tough time. You know, we're ten and zero on Fridays
and four and six on Saturdays, so we've got to

(25:31):
be out you know, when we put ourselves in that
position how to to get some of those sweeps. But
it's very difficult, as you guys know, to beat teams
twice and you know, but we've been in every game
and and uh, you know, we just need to find
a way to get over that hump for Saturday.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
Yeah, well, I know, you you're never you know, you
you know when your team is ready and in fact,
you know, I'm gonna tell a quick story, Kevin uh
back when when I don't know the year, Scott, but
the year you won in Buffalo, and it was it
was during the season and you guys were on a
roll and I said to you, oh my god, you
guys are playing great hockey. And you said to me,

(26:08):
you know what, Mick, We're not ready. We're not ready yet.
I'll tell you when we're ready. We still have some
things to work on.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
And you know, you know, you didn't stop.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
You went on and and and one in in Buffalo.
But just you know, quickly talk about the difference between
a freshman and then a sophomore and that maturation process
and and and uh, you know what guys have to
go through, you know, to maybe up their game or
get to that next level.

Speaker 7 (26:38):
Yeah, I think you see a lot of a lot
of you know, a lot of freshmen come in and
and uh, you know, they've they've had really good years
prior to them coming in and have been in you know,
some of them have been you know, in different situations
with their teams. And you know, when you come to
h a new team, there's always, uh, you know, there's
always other players there that might be in those situations.

(27:00):
And I think sometimes guys, you know, maybe struggle with
that a little bit because they're maybe used to getting
more minutes or being in a power player or just
playing more of a key role, and trying to get
them to understand that you are playing a key role
is part of the growing process. And you know, we've
gone through that a little bit with some of our
younger guys. They're really good players and they're learning, and

(27:22):
you kind of go through it every year. And then
there's guys that you know you're going to be putting on.
You're you're going to put them in those situations and
you know, like the Plants and Shagaby, even last year,
you know, we were counting on them to be, you know,
really good impact players for us, and they kind of
delivered that. And this year, going through what they did

(27:43):
last year, they were very driven and hungry to not
only get better individually, but you know, make our team better.
And they certainly have been doing that since day one,
and you know, you look at the numbers that they
put up, it's pretty incredible. But you know it's going
to get hard, and I just think learning and you know,
the attitude guys have is really important, and you know,

(28:07):
we try and encourage that.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
You know it is a.

Speaker 7 (28:09):
Process and just stay with it and try and put
him in the best situations for them to keep growing.
And hopefully we'll see more of that in the second
half of our younger players.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Scott, thanks for doing this, Good luck in the second half.
Merry Christmas, and hopefully we can connect once we get
past the new year.

Speaker 7 (28:25):
Okay, guys, thanks, you're.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Going, my friend, Yeah, take care. There he goes the
head coach of the UMD Bulldogs, Scott Sandlan, I've never
asked you this. Yeah, but for those that don't know,
twenty five years he's been the head coach there at
Minnesota Duluth, but drafted by Montreal in the second round
in nineteen eighty two college hockey at North Dakota, finalists
for the Hoby Baker. I've never asked you describe Scott

(28:47):
Sandlan as the player. We know what he is as
the coach. We've got twenty five years of resume to
look at. But what type of player was he? Well,
let me tell you.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
You know, we grew up, you know, playing mites together. Yeah, yeah,
and all the way up and it was certainly nice
to he improved my game because he gave me the
ability to not you know, come back on the defensive end.
He and he never wanted anything for himself. It was
I'm doing my job. I'm gonna make it easier for

(29:16):
you know. Uh, you know Mikeletti's and other guys up front,
and uh, he was he was a treasure to play
with and uh and so just for him allowing me
to make mistakes was was the key. And so I
mean just a and just a fabulous skater, big strong

(29:36):
could skate, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Just Uh.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
I was really uh upset that Minnesota didn't get him.
You know, he ended up going to North Dakota and
he was not fun to play against. And trust me,
we we went at it. And uh and so but
just a tremendous guy. And obviously his resume is coaching
is you know, off the charts.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Without a doubt. Always good to hear from Scott's Sandalin.
We'll take a break from the college hockey discussion. We'll
get on to the National Hockey League because we got
a big one coming up here for your Minnesota Wild
this afternoon, a matinee against the Edmonton Oilers. One of
their radio guys is Bob Staffer, and yes he can
talk about the Oilers. He can talk about Connor McDavid,
but he's got a good handle on everything going on
in the National Hockey League. So we can branch out

(30:19):
a little bit and have some fun with some NHL discussion. Next,
I'm Beyond the Pond. Beyond the Pond continues, big matchup

(30:50):
coming up today in Saint Paul, a matinee against the
Edmonton Oilers. Has mentioned Patrick, what a weekend for the
Minnesota whild the Edmonton Oilers today, the two times defending
Western Conference champions, and then you follow it up tomorrow
with another late afternoon, early evening affair against the number
one team in all of the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche.
Talk about back to back hockey games in Saint Paul.

(31:12):
That'll be so much fun for the fan base and
by the way, another shot to see Quinn Hughes in action,
and so much fun for the players.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
I mean, and you know for Minnesota, they you know this,
these types of games, you come prepared. You know, it's
not like you're playing well last place whoever, right.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Like Columbus or Buffalo or Calgary or Vancouver, teams that
they have stubbed their toe against by the way.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
You put your mindset right, you come into this building
and you are ready to play.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, and then guarantee you win.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
But you know what what you're gonna get, You're gonna
get great hockey. And you know, with three good teams
in the building this weekend.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, it should be a blast. We're joined now by
one of the voices of the Edmonton Oilers, mister Bob Staffer,
and it's always a pleasure to hear his voice on
our airway. We get ready for Bob. How you doing.
That's Pat McLeay. I'm Kevin Fallness.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
Good morning, gentlemen. How you doing?

Speaker 2 (32:08):
I think really good. We're very much looking forward to
this heavyweight battle. I know the Oilers had their issues
coming out of the gate, but it feels like they're
heating up six one and one in their last eight
and of course they've got two of the best players
in the world and McDavid and dry Sidle coming into
Saint Paul, so it should be a fun one.

Speaker 6 (32:26):
Yeah, okay, so uh yeah, I know we're it's been
a strange We're just we're we're leaving a little earlier
than normal, so just get the run down here. It's
been a Uh. I don't know how to describe it
other than to say, we've been here before with this group,
with the slow starts at the start of the year.

(32:48):
You know, you take a look at what's been achieved
the last couple of years. But ultimately they didn't get
the goal they wanted, right. They came up a couple
of goals short in Game seven, you know, losing to
one a couple of years ago, and then last year
in Florida kind of took that series over. Injuries played
a factor with the Himan injury and the nugent Hopkins
breaking his hand, and they just kind of ran out

(33:08):
of juice. In Florida were really good. They got off
to a very pedestrian start, weren't getting a lot of
stops early, and obviously it made the trade, which was
a blockbuster until you guys decided that. Bill Garrett decided,
He's like, you're wait a sec here, I got something coming.
But I think Edminton's ductory positioned really well in the
Pacific Division. And I think given that they've played twenty

(33:29):
two you know, after today, let' will be the twenty
second of the thirty six games on the road. They've
had three Eastern road trips. We don't have a single
game in for the Orders in the Eastern Conference after
this trip, so as of the game in Boston, I
was the last Eastern Conference game. So bottom line is
it hasn't been perfect. They haven't put together a three

(33:50):
game winning streak all year. They're going to try that today.
They certain they certainly know how good Minnesota is. I mean,
that's a given. And now Minnesota is better than they
were with the acquisition of Hughes. And you've got this
pool of deaths in the Central Division. But for whatever reason,
Edmonton's matched up well against the Central Division champion over
the last couple of years, even though Dallas was favored
in both series. So I think the Orders are a

(34:12):
long way away from being a finished product, and I'm
going to be intrigued to see how the team grows
during the course of the year.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah, I was just going to ask you that, Bob.
You know, the West is a bear.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
You know, you mentioned you know, Colorado, Minnesota, Dallas, Edmonton,
I mean, and you know, the list goes on a
little bit, a little bit deeper than that. That being said,
when when you look at your Edmonton team, what do
you think they have to do to again get back

(34:41):
to the Stanley Cup finals.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
Well, first of all, it's hard to go back to back. Hears, Yeah,
like it is, Like I realized that Florida's done it
three years and Early Orders has done it twice in
a row. Tampa Bay had a run. But before that
we weren't seeing a lot of teams. You know, stan
Bowman came over from Chicago. Not once do they make
it back to the Stanley Cup in back to back years,
and he had some really good teams. I think that

(35:06):
the Goltening situation, which is not you know, going into
you guys, are obviously where Jerry's not going to play today.
He's back in Edmonton, got a delayed flight, so I'm
not even sure he's seen the doctor yet. But that
in theory is supposed to settle things down, but may
not happen here over the next week just because schedules

(35:27):
worked out. He's got dire But the goaltending does need
to settle out. The forwards are playing better defensively, that's good.
That said, they have very little productivity right now. They're
third and fourth lines. Fortunately McDavid's gone supersonic gen a
Tonic and he's got you know, twenty ten goals and
twenty two points in his last eight games, and that's
part of the reason why they're five to two and
one even a loss one nothing in a while. I mean,

(35:49):
Jasper Volstadt basically, you know, stole that game. That game
was there to be had, and so you know, I
think the Orders are going to have to settle down
a bit in the short term and really try to
limit the amount of scoring chances against over the next
three or four games here during this stretch where Jerry
for sure is out because he's gone to tig Are.

(36:12):
You know, the defense they've never, like no team in
the league has been healthy because they'll compress schedule. The
owners have eight players out tonight, but I would suggest
to you they probably realistically have four. They don't have Jerry,
they don't have Wallmant, they don't have Roslovic, who just
rejoined the team yesterday, and they don't have Kapenen, who
was a very useful player in the playoffs last year.

(36:33):
So those four guys for sure are going to be
on the team. And then there's a couple other guys
that have had some you know, got some games in
but may not be part of playing sort of long
term at this stage yet. So I think it's a
good team. I do think the Central Division is significantly
stronger than the Pacific, and I think that bodes well
for Edmonton given just how many home games they've got

(36:54):
remaining on the schedule.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
This is probably going to be long winded and hopefully
it makes sense to you. But you know your goaltending situation,
and I want to go back to Skinner, who obviously
was dealt to Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
But let's not forget this guy.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Was your goaltender in the last two runs at the
Stanley Cup, and you know it just it. You know,
obviously things happened where you know a move was made,
but as you alluded to earlier, your team was not
playing great in front of him either, and so you

(37:30):
know it's I mean, you tell me what the what
the vibe was up there in terms of his play,
the team's play, and ultimately the move with Jerry coming
over and Skinner going to Pittsburgh.

Speaker 6 (37:46):
Well, I think I think there was a feeling there
needed to be a change. I have a lot of
empathy for the position that Stuart Skinner was. It I
mean I watched Stuart Skinner as far back as twenty
twelve twenty thirteen played for the same athletic club, the
Salseat Athletic Club. That's where Guy Getowski myself played together
all you know, over four years ago. Now he's the

(38:07):
head coach. But yeah, you know there we go, small world, right,
So that lockout, that lockout aurays saw it kind of
a both Carter Hart who was insured Park and Stu
Skinners with the Salsett Athletic Club. And Stu was never
the superior athlete, but was always the bigger kid, yep.
And and then of course, as you guys know, Jerry

(38:28):
was in Edmonton. The last WHL team to win the
Memorial Cup was with Kristin, Jerry and goal at Edmonton
back in twenty fourteen. And the league has just it's
expanded to the point where they have twenty three teams
and when I was coming through, they had twelve and
it was almost impossible to make a WHL team and
that's why they won the Memorial Cup basically every you know,

(38:49):
two out of every three years. So Skinner, what does
this have to do with Skinner? The bottom line is
Skinner was from Edmonton. Grew and developed with the others.
Was not like Jerry was always a higher ceiling the
netminer in terms of what he might be able to accomplish.
And I think Skier was fine. But I just think
that when the team had some breakdowns, and they had

(39:11):
a lot of breakdowns early in the seasons the last
three years of goaltending, wasn't there to pick it up,
and it became a source of frustration and consternation. And
Stan Bowman wanted to alleviate that as a default mechanism.
So that's part of the reason why that trade was.
That's good, all right.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
I said, I'd get you out of here by ten
fifty five, and I will hold hold ourselves to that.
I know you got to catch a bus over to
Grand Casino Arena. I wanted to squeeze this one. And
we all know how good Connor McDavid is. It goes
without saying his numbers speak for themselves. The guy is
the brightest star on the planet, no doubt about it,
except when he plays ju Lyrics and Nek and Jones

(39:46):
brodein what do they do so well against him to
limit him at best? And in fact, Boby, you talked
about they had a chance to steal it on December second.
He didn't even have a shot in that game.

Speaker 6 (39:56):
That's because he didn't shoot, and that game changed his outlook.
He has been shooting the pocket tons since then. So
he had two chances right down Main Street, and I
think he realized, you know what, when the margins is
tight against the team that good and Minnesota's a good team,
you know, that's the way it is. I mean, it's
just look, this is I'm going to say something that
maybe might be seen as offensive, but it's just the truth.

(40:19):
Nobody gets up to play the Wild Okay, they're in
a hard ass team to play against, and they have
been for a number of years. I got a bit
of the identity of their general manager, who is a
top flight GM in this league. Okay, like he's an
elite GM that is capable of making difficult decisions and
you know, Bill's a fun guy and all those other things.
But Bill was highly competitive and Minnesota has been highly competitive.

(40:41):
David's not played overly well in Buffalo, tough place to
get up the play games. The Orders have not played
up played well in Minnesota. Often they would get the
Winnipeg Minnesota back to back and his better work would
be in Winnipeg, and the Wild have been able to
layer up against them defensively with the nomination of Ericsonek,
who the Orders were taking at sixteen back in twenty fifteen,

(41:04):
and McDavid's draft year, if they'd held the pick and
not squandered it trading it for Griffin Reinhart, Joel Rickson
Neck was going to be Edmonton's pick. So it's a
touchy subject for me personally. But the ability of ericson
K and Brodine to you know, to combat what McDavid
can do, and generally speaking, the Wild they had good
goal to me, So that's the other part of it.

(41:25):
So now it's funny because they haven't played great against
Dallas over the last several years either, and then they've
beaten them two years of a row in the playoffs when
Dallas was the prohibited favorite in both series. So but
I think just part of it is it's a tough
place to play. It's not the easiest place to play,
and they defend them well and they got defensemen that

(41:45):
can skate, and is brodein back to today, we do
we expect them back in the lineup.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
We don't know that there's seven guys that were missing
from the lineup Thursday against Columbus, so that that's one
of about six question marks. There's a couple of guys
I think you can rule out, but I think Brodein
is on the fence, Johannes on the fence of Corrello,
go right down the list they're putting together. This with
are Z.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
Corrella just kills you letters likes you. Look at his
all time numbers against Evanton. He's been really good. But
again I don't think like you know, I know when
the Order is going to Pittsburgh. I know McDavid and Leon.
I mean, the Orders have outscored the Penguins forty sixty
eighteen last night, and the only game they lost they
shot him like forty three to twenty seven. So I

(42:26):
know for them, they're jacked up to go against the best,
and what happens is every other team gets jacked up
to go against Connor and Leon. Minnesota has done as
good a job as anybody, and it's just simply not
an easy place to play. It's a hard place to play.
So I think those are some of the fact and
the wild player a very road game yeah, you guys

(42:47):
would be. In fact, the two games last year that
Edmonton won, the Wild open it up, you know, and
that's sort of hasn't been their modus operande against Edmonton.
So that's part of the reason why it's been a
difficult matchup for Connor at times.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Get out of here, go catch that bus. Much picker today, right,
I'll be pickered today. I stay care yep, goes Bob Staffer,
one of the voices up there in Edmonton, does great
work on their radio, does stuff on TV up there.
He has to catch the bus and I don't.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
And I got so much more for I wanted to talk,
you know, because he's an Edmonton native and all that
kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
I want to talk old wha with him.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
You know, my brother Joe was a member of the
Edmonton Oils. Do you know Kevin that I saw.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
I was in attendance for the last Avco Cup Championship
between the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Nineteen seventy nine.

Speaker 7 (43:44):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
Yes, I got in the car out of my dad
and my brother and we went up to watch my
brother Joe, a young man by the name of Wayne
Gretzky was seventeen years old on that Edmonton oiler team.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
You got your current drove there? How far?

Speaker 4 (43:59):
I mean it's still it's a long drive giving to Winnipeg.
It was about five hours.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
What it's five hours from heaving to Edmonton? Yeah? Five
or six? Yes, because you gotta go all the way up.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, I've I got to go look at a map.
It feels like it'd be a lot longer than five hours.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
It was.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
It's got a lead foot Yeah, was in uh man,
sorry cowboy Bill flapp member him. Yeah, no you don't.

Speaker 8 (44:28):
I can.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
I could throw names, so you won't have any clue.
That's okay, though I might, But it was, it was.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
It was a lot of fun. How excited are you now?
With Quinn Hughes in the fold as he continues to
get more and more comfortable with his surroundings. I mean
him in favor played half the game. Yeah together they
have to. Yeah, thirty two minutes and thirty Yeah, unbelievable,
and so what they that's what they do. Yeah, Quinn, Quinn,

(44:54):
you dude, good, play me the whole game, favor. I'm fine, Yeah,
play me the whole game. And oh, oh boy boy,
you can't oh, they're playing too much.

Speaker 6 (45:02):
Now.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Those guys don't get tired. I mean they just don't.
You know, when you play like that, you know that's
what you want to do.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
And if you watch Quinn Hughes and you'd take his
thirty two minutes, no favorite plays a little bit harder.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Hughes knows how to use his time. Yeah, you know,
it really does. And when you know how to.

Speaker 4 (45:22):
Just you know, understand your body and know how what
you got, you're fine.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Just a human breakout machine, so much fun to watch.
We alluded to it a little bit there with a
staff and the fact that this team is missing seven
people from their lineup, and not just regular HL whole
hum guys that would just fill up a role on
the fourth line. Two of your top six are out
and Johanson and Zuccarello. You're missing three of your defensive
core four if you include Damon Hunt. How are they

(45:51):
getting it done? This team not only is one sixth
straight pad, they're eighteen three and two since November first,
and riding in a thirteen game point street at Grand Because.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
I'm the first to put my hand up and say
I apologize, because at the beginning of the year I
you know, I thought, where's the depth? And we have
seen these guys come up here and play really good
and I don't care. Kirstead played good. Uh you know
Lambos in his first game played well.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Who am I missing back on?

Speaker 4 (46:19):
Damon Hunting? Deamon Hunt you know it's played well when
he is in there. Uh, you know, Jones, Pittlick. You know,
here's the deal. You got to give the coaching staff
all the kudos in the world because they got the
here's what we want you to do, and don't do
anything more, don't do anything less.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Here's what we want you to do. Here's your role.
Do it.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
And guess what all these guys out they don't they
don't lose. So you tell me, you tell me, you know.
Uh so you got to give a lot to that
coaching staff and what they've done, and you know what
they've instilled and here's how we're gonna win guys, and
and they've they've they've done it.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
I will say this. I follow you on the Twitter,
I follow you on the X and it feels like
you're trying to temper my enthusiasm at the re emergence
and the resurgence of Vladimir Tarasenko.

Speaker 4 (47:13):
I'm holding out because I want to see it consistently
now for sure. You know, once these guys come back,
he'll drop down to that third line.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Fine, that's fine.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
All I want to see out of him is consistency.
I ripped him one game because it was late in
a game where it was Edmonton. It was in Edmonton,
they're up one and nothing, and he's trying to make
a play where he shouldn't make a play and he
probably knew it, and so you know, you give. But
he's a veteran too, and he should know it. And

(47:44):
so I'm hey, some of the plays he's made with
your off.

Speaker 9 (47:48):
The play in particular where he drags it through his legs,
drags all the defenders to the right of the goaltender,
and then he slips it into the slap of easiest
goal for Europe I've ever heard.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
That was a ton of heavy lifting by ninety one.
And what is his strength?

Speaker 4 (48:04):
I mean, he's I mean, if you ever looked at
his legs, they are tree trunks, right.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
But he doesn't move as well as he used to.
But he can still shoot the puck.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
So for him, it's getting those getting those spots and
using it and he's starting to do that more. And
if he continues to do that, call me wrong there,
but uh, you know, I just want to see a
little bit more.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
One forty five pre game coming up later on this afternoon.
Wild hosting the Edmundton Oilers. All the play by play
action right here on FM one hundred point three the
Fan quick Break, and then Beyond the Pond continues with
our two next on the fan, our two of Beyond
the Pond. Still plenty of opportunity to talk about the

(48:48):
Minnesota Wild and everything going on in the NHL Big
One coming up later on today in Saint Paul, Wild
hosting the Edmundon Oilers. Pregame at one forty five. But
let's go back to the college scene, because one of
our buddies up there in Bimidgi is Tom's territory, nice
enough to join us on the full lines. Tom, that's Pat,
I'm Kevin. Welcome be on the Pond.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
Thanks for having me, boys, I thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Before you start, Pat, I was up in your neck
of the woods not that long ago. Last weekend, Tom
and I got to see the snake pit in action
in Coleraine. What what a what a beauty gem that
is right in the middle of the Iron Range.

Speaker 5 (49:26):
Well, first off, don't get mick Letty going here.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
A lot lot of lots in.

Speaker 8 (49:30):
Building for you.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
It was cool, but it's a beauty do you know
what you know?

Speaker 5 (49:36):
My wife's been there a couple of times obviously, but
we came back from Tech Guy. She drove to Tech
about a month ago. I back with her on standing.
We came through Coleraine, went to the little the meat
market there and got a sandwich, and we stopped off
at the rink and one of my former players was actually, hey,
you know Greenway. It was Greenway playing Bam playing Ely

(49:57):
and one of my former players, Frank you which was
coaching Ely. But even my wife said she was, my god,
what a cool rick. You forget how cool it is.
And of course Bob Drander was there. Ken. It was
just a great scene. A lot of people you've ever
lost the game there, No, never lost.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
The game scart A lot of goals in that building,
my lord, no, that it was.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
It was so much fun to go. Hey back when
we played that building.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
Every building on the Iron Range completely sold out every game,
and that's what made it so much fun.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
Patrick, I don't know if you remember the game our
senior year. You guys beat us eight to seven in
the snake Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
I think I got the winner, didn't I You probably
got the winner.

Speaker 5 (50:41):
I got a couple on Meds. Meds actually played in
the nets.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Right right, he did. We're like, oh, let's give Greenway.
There's a chance tonight will play Meds.

Speaker 5 (50:52):
It's great when you look back at all these things.
And Patrick is so right. The snake pit was just
one of the you know, it's still one of the
great ranks, obvious league. And I'll say, in.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
The world, yeah, it really is the world.

Speaker 5 (51:02):
And you can eat off the floors. You can still
eat off the floors. And who I'm getting at And no,
it's just Pat guy or Bob's ran and oh, Kenny,
they've done a heck of a job again keeping that
rink status quo. And all the rinks on the range
are just there their price. So that's the best way
of putting it.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
I agree, it's very nice. I don't know that I'm
eating off the floor though, Tom, it's very nice. Yeah,
we did.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
Right, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
Hey, you and I had a conversation this summer and
we were talking about, you know, the upcoming season, and
and you know, you alluded to the fact that you said, Mick,
there's going to be more skill in our league this year.
There's gonna be more goal scoring. You talk to other
coaches in the league and lo and behold, look at
your league. There are six teams that could win the

(51:52):
conference title this year.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Would you concur with that?

Speaker 5 (51:56):
Oh, it's unbelievable right now, and it's already TIERR. Six
teams could win it. And the offense. I mean, I
think I looked at it, and hey, I'm not saying
I got the answers, but I said, you know, there's
going to be usual as what twenty teams averaging three
goals a game right in college hockey. Now there's thirty.
If you take a look right now, there's I think
that I look the other day and I think there's thirty.

(52:18):
Plus I think there's like five teams having four goals
a game. Usually there might be one. We're at three
point I think we're twenty from the country. Don't fact
check me totally, but we're at like three point one,
three point two. No, it's our league, is uh, I mean,
our league is it's outstanding. And you know what last
night Augustana beat Omaha. Yep, you know they've swept. They

(52:40):
swept Arizona State split with the luth No, we're we're
doing we're doing well. Our league really well. And again
I'm pumped up for all the teams. It's notept for
the league. Good for all the teams.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Well, you know, I'm a big ccha guy, and I
tell people all the time. Last year Western Michigan wins
the national title, congratulations they earned it and all that.
But I will tell you, and you probably watched the game.
Minnesota State was an inch a millimeter away from beating

(53:10):
Western Michigan. And and that's how good the teams are
in the CCHA. You see it, you play it every weekend.
And you know this league should not be taken lightly
by anybody.

Speaker 5 (53:25):
Well I laugh when people take anything, you better not
take college hockey lightly, right, because we're the beauty of
our sport. Is that the fortieth team now is the NPI.
So again, the fortieth or forty fifth team in the
NPI can again easily beat the sixth, seventh or eighth, right,
and it's not like a one out of ten. And
the beauty is is that the parry and college hockey

(53:47):
is outstanding. You're never you're never safe. Every game is
a dog fight. And that's why, again I say it
all the time, we're the greatest sport there is because
it's not like college football where there are barking about,
you know, the college football playoffs, who should be in,
who shouldn't be in. But again, there's going to be
a team from the from the MAC isn't going to

(54:09):
beat Ohio State as it ain't happening. It ain't happening, right,
And you know, at our at our level with sixty
teams and the number of hockey players we have, there's
there's a lot of hockey players. There's a lot of
you know, there's a lot of deep talent, and there's
great games every weekend, every night.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Talking to Tom Serratory, head coach at Bamigie State, second
in the CCHA with a seven to two and three
record in conference. Tom Weed talked to Scott Sandlin earlier
in this show, and his office has been taken over
by Bob Motsko because Team USA is up there at
Amazoil Arena taking over for the World Juniors as they
get ready for later on this week. You've got some

(54:46):
folks taking over at the Sanford Center as well. In Bamigie.
You got the checks, you got Latvia Slovakia up there.
Uh just did you happen to check out the game
last night between the Czechs and Latvia?

Speaker 8 (54:57):
No?

Speaker 5 (54:58):
I did it, And I'll tell you why. I'm in
San Diego now visiting my daughter.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
So I'm walking around.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
You can hear stuff in the background. I apologize, I'm
getting my walk in, but I'm gonna be back Monday
and I'm gonna see the Slovaks and the checks on
on Monday night. And but I had I had a
couple of days with the Czech Republic staff. They were
there practice, and they got there early. A bunch of
great guys, a couple of them, all of them, three
of them playing in the National Hockey League. Patrick Augusta,

(55:23):
you know at Robert Reichel, pap Vil Trinka, just great guys.
And it was fun watching their practices, getting to know
those guys. And you know, they took over our locker
room and our coaches room. So just good guys. And
it's great for great for the state of Minnesota to
have all these teams in our region.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
So what does the second half of the season bring
for the Mumigi State Beavers.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
What do you guys have to do to get better?
And and you know, just.

Speaker 4 (55:50):
Walk us through your thought process going into the second half.

Speaker 5 (55:55):
I don't know, Mick. It's like, first off, I wish
we didn't have I guess I'm pumped.

Speaker 8 (55:59):
For a break.

Speaker 5 (55:59):
I've never break like this. Thirty some days, we played
twenty games already. That's just crazy. Wow, I've never had
a we have twenty game. We played twenty. We got
fourteen on the back end. Usually it's a sixteen eighteen
split or in eighteen sixteen split. This has been crazy.
We didn't have one buy and we started October second,
So I mean, what do we need to do. I

(56:19):
tell you, I'd like to be playing hockey the way
we have been the last month. And but again, once
you get back, it's almost like, you know what, I
don't want to say, you're reteaching, but it's just kind
of again, You're trying to get right back into that routine,
and it takes a while to get back into a routine.
So we don't play till January eighth or ninth. But
I really like what we've been you know, I just
like how we've been playing, what we've been doing over

(56:40):
the course the last five or six weeks. And you know,
the first month was a little rough because ten new
guys and some older guys as well, and just trying
to get in sync. It's not easy. But we're in
you know, we're in a pretty good spot right now.
We're in a pretty good place, and you'd like to
keep it going, but that's just not the reality.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm looking up the
schedule as we speak. Don't you host Gophers on January second? Exhibition?

Speaker 5 (57:02):
Yeah, excavation game, So you know that's an exhibition game.
So we have them in an exhibition game. And then
we got Tech that whatever the eighth and ninth or
ninth and tenth, whatever that is, Kevin I I you know,
but I'm talking. If you want to talk about real games,
it's you know, it's the sixth and seventh we played Augustan.
And then obviously take a look at I don't know

(57:22):
how many days that is in between, but it's got
to be thirty thirty three days or so, you know.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
And then talking about that dude that was a crazy
You had one game canceled right because of the ice Augustana, right.

Speaker 5 (57:35):
Yeah, the ice plant. Something happened to the ice plant.
We get there on Saturday night and I can't remember
that doesn't.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
That doesn't happen up on the range. Whether just open
the doors. I said, that doesn't happen up on the range.

Speaker 5 (57:47):
No, not at all. We just open the doors.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
Yeah, exactly exactly the time I'm going to hit you
with go ahead.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
I just said we would open the doors right there
and have been fun. No, we got the game canceled
and we played it at noon on Sunday, and it
was awesome. It was fun. It was fun for the guys.
It was like COVID. We were playing at all these
different times and the game was The guys had a blast.
It was great seeing it was light outside and you know,
the Augustan of Vikings and in the Bimidgi State Bers
were competing with the Minnesota Vikings that day. Fun.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
I know I'm gonna hit you out of left field
with this one. As we wrap things up, the state
of hockey has been a buzz with the addition of
Quinn Hughes. You're a Minnesota boy, I know you got
your hands full right now. You're in San Diego, you
got the college hockey scene, but I know you're following
that NHL club pretty close. What did you think of
the addition and what do you think this does for
the wild here going for the rest of the season.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
You know what, I read everything. I mean, I'm on
the Athletic like you guys are, and my son and
I were talking about this, probably in depth for about
a forty five minutes the other day, and I like it,
you know what. And I read a lot of different things,
and I just think Billy Garrin, I love to move,
he wants to win. He doesn't care what people think.

(59:02):
I just think that that's a leader. And who knows this.
You can sit there and be you know, we can
be an armchair quarterback and try to critique everything. But
the bottom line is I read it. I read an
article in The Athletic and I don't know who said it.
I don't know if it was anonymous GMS or what.
You read so much of that, but they said typically
in a trade, the you know, the team that wins

(59:25):
the trade is the one that gets the best player.
I like that. I thought that was, Yeah, that made
total sense. It made total sense. And I'm not gonna
sit there and say, hey, the guys that we gave up,
they're good hockey players. But at that particular time, Billy
Garran feels this is the puzzle piece that we need
and he went out. He went for it, and I
respect that, and my son even said it the other day.

(59:45):
He goes, Dad, he goes, because I gosh, it'd be
nice that we can resign the you know, heughes, he goes,
he goes, if we don't, we don't, but he goes.
I still like the move. He got two years and
he goes. I just think it was a good move.
And I thought my son made a good point there,
you know what I mean. We're all wrapped up and
it's only a good move if we sign. And well,
it all depends on how you look at all this stuff,
but I like it is when I'm getting at I

(01:00:06):
like it. And kudos to Billy Garan.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
What's the thermostat state? I say, in San Diego right now?

Speaker 5 (01:00:13):
You know, it's actually overcast. It's about fifty eight right now.
So it's not like it's like it's like Aaron South
Florida but it's it's awesome. So I've never been out here.
And my daughter she's she's in the Navy, and you know,
she's out here, and we came and we came and
visited her and we got we're doing Christmas the whole family,
all my kids are out here.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Very awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
Again, we're heading back to Minnesota tomorrow. All right, We're
all heading out tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
So Merry Christmas to the entire family. Enjoy the warm
weather while you got it, and we'll see you back
here in the state of Hockey, very saying you are
the best. Do you know that? Thanks Tom?

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
I so are you guys, and appreciate all you do
and have a great Christmas gang.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
Yes, there you go. Tom Sarritory, the head coach for
the Bamidgi State Beavers. He mentions the we on for
an hour of course. Yeah, well, any of your old
buddies their door is fun because especially the ones that
will give it back to you. He mentions the to
get back to the Quinn Hughes conversation, the possibility of
the future and again yeah hear about the future, brothers here,

(01:01:14):
That's what I was gonna say. If if you know
where to sign him to an extension once this and
listening to his press conference, he's wide open to it.
All you got to do is follow and if he
likes what he sees, he's already likes what he hears
from from Bill Garon garn when got him and quote
unquote sacked up to get him. Now you sign him
to an extension, married up with Jack Hughes, who knows

(01:01:36):
you could be talking about having to ces is his
other brother? Isn't he under a long term deal though?
Isn't he like eight years? So what?

Speaker 6 (01:01:43):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Well, but I'll take you first and then if that
falls into place.

Speaker 4 (01:01:47):
Here here's the thing I want to get to the fans.
Quinn Hughes wants to win a Stanley Cup if he
feels and you look at what Minnesota has now and
he says, you know what, well, he got a chance.
We got a chance. So we got a really good
chance to win. I want to be here, right. That

(01:02:08):
was not going to happen in Vancouver. They parted ways
and so if you're worried about resigning him, that is
going to be predicated on does he like the team,
does he like the area, does he think they have
a chance to win. That is going to be his determination.
It does not matter if he wants to go play. Yeah,

(01:02:32):
I want to play with my brother I wanted to
play with my brothers too. You know, we all want
to play with our brothers, right. But if New Jersey
does not have the team or you know whatever the
you know, close enough to win a Stanley Cup, He's not.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Going to go there.

Speaker 4 (01:02:49):
He's going to want to go stay or go to
a place that he that he feels he has a
chance to win. And if they prove it here, which
thus far good, let's just see how.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
It plays out. Another wildcard factor in this. Joe O'donnald
had him on in the postgame show not that long
ago and outside of the hockey. Joe asked him, what
are you most excited about when you talk about the area.
He says, this might sound lame, but I'm excited to
play outdoor hockey. Well, yeah, you want cold, you want snow,
you want some ice. Welcome to the Land of ten thousand.

(01:03:23):
Yeah you got yep, So that should be good again.
Quinn hughes back on the ice tonight this afternoon, wild
hosting the Edmonton Oilers pregame at one forty five will
continue to walk you up to that and more as
Beyond the Pond continues on the fan. All right, our

(01:03:51):
weekly conversation with Tony Scott from Youth Hockey Hub nice
enough to join us from parts unknown as we get
an update on what's going on. He having bul jackets.
I'm sure you mean we'll be brought up again. I
understand you up in Blaine, Tony.

Speaker 8 (01:04:08):
Uh yeah, my staff is in Blaine. I'm outside Polar
Arena in North Saint Paul about to conduct a media
day with the Hill Murray Pioneers girls team for a
game we're doing up in Themidgie next month, so we're
kind of double dipping right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Good, any reffing coming up later on today?

Speaker 8 (01:04:26):
I am off the ice until January. We're so busy
with everything else, so I'm done reffing for the week,
for the for the month of December.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Are you a good official?

Speaker 8 (01:04:36):
I every official? Things are the best? Say right? So
I'm I'm an improving official, Patrick, I'm an improving official.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Let me let me let.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
Me ask you this because you know, back when I played,
and that was a long time ago, as you know,
you know, we always had fun conversations with the officials.
So when you're dropping the puck in before you drop
the puck, I mean, do you talk to the guys
and have some fun with it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
I can't imagine a scenario where Tony Scott isn't talking continuing.
That's true, a good point. So I'd have to think
you're saying it was a dumb question. No, No, are
you a talkative guy on the ice of the kids?

Speaker 8 (01:05:12):
You know, there are times where I do talk to
the players. It's always an encouraging word for the goal,
you just made a good save, or maybe a kid
who hit me in the back of the leg with
a puck or something. Always on the fun side of
the good for you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
Awesome, all right, So tell us what's going on up
in Blaine.

Speaker 8 (01:05:28):
We're running the Lumberjack Cup. It's sixty four teams, sixteen
four sixteen team divisions, several top teams and top top
ten teams in East Division, including the number one team
in PEAA stew Maple Girl. They have not lost since
October and they're coached by former golfer Derek Peltz. Here
they're a really good hockey teams. They don't win this

(01:05:49):
thing tomorrow, it'll be a shocker.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
All right, give us some of the bullet points from
last night. Especially let's start with the girls hockey.

Speaker 8 (01:05:57):
Well we speaking of Hill Murray. I'm gonna sit down
and with them in like ten minutes here. They lost
the number two team and Stay lost to and Over
in overtime. Hats off to Julia Gernis from the Huskies.
She got the game winner up in at the Community
Center and Over yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
All right, and what's some of the action coming up today?

Speaker 8 (01:06:15):
All today it would be number one versus number two,
because Centennial will be number two nowedg Hill Murray lost.
They host number one, an unbeaten Holy family stat should
be the best game of the day. On the girl's side,
One quick note, I want to say I went to
a girls game last night Blake hosted Marshall. That shouldn't
be anything great, but I saw basically Ali Holmes, I

(01:06:37):
mean Oli Fraser last night. This the goaltender Dartmoun's commit
Jamie mcgaughan made thirty eight staves for Blake. They won
in overtime. But there's this girl from Marshall, her name,
Write this name down.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
She's unbelievable.

Speaker 8 (01:06:50):
She's the state cleen scorer last year. She's by father
the state leen scorer this year. Unbelievable, Brooklyn Molk. She
had fifteen breakaways last night and only got one past
mcgon's for Blake. It was an incredible game.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Hey, Tony, let me ask you a question, and I'm
sure you've seen it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
And I actually went down for the opening of that building. Oh,
I don't know how many years ago the Schwan's Rink
in in Marshall beautiful Arena. Do you think a building
like that really boosted that community in terms of getting
more boys and girls to play the sport.

Speaker 8 (01:07:29):
Boy, that's a t up easy softball question. Their pass
I like to do to their growth hockeys. Their hockey
has grown by leaps and bounds. The best parts, though, Pat,
is when they started hosting tournaments like ten years ago,
they were begging us, Hey, will you retweet this? Do
you put this out there? They don't need my help anymore.
Everybody rushes to Marshall to play there and to play

(01:07:51):
in that facility. They do a wonderful job of Marshall
growing hockey right now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Awesome, give me a recap of some of the highlights
and boys high school hockey from last night.

Speaker 8 (01:08:01):
So last night uh Pats team will take on Monamedia
today and they want okay, which is a minor upset
if you consider mon and MEAEDI has tied both Saint
Thomas and Cole Kay excuse me St. Thomas and Hill
Murray this year, So think about that. I think Class
A this is the best I've seen Class A hockey

(01:08:21):
since St. Thomas has left uh A twelve years ago.
The balance is unbelievable. There's seven or eight teams in
Class A who can beat anybody in Double A right now?

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
And what's going on in Double A as far as
some of the action coming up today? As a matter of.

Speaker 8 (01:08:37):
Fact, it's one versus two? What more can you ask for?
And I'm gonna say something that's gonna sound weird to
all your listeners. More Head hosts Minnetaka today and this
is gonna be skill versus grit. Which team is the
grit team? Guys? Is it Minnetonka or is it Morehead?

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
I'm gonna Gontanka as great, right, thank you?

Speaker 8 (01:08:58):
They are the grit team. And we don't used to
hearing that the Northern teams are the great teams. And
the Lake Conference teams are the fancy teams. It's gonna
be the opposite today. Check it out today on Spuds TV.
We got a photographer up there. We're covering every goal
beginning to end for that one. So follow us on
Twitter or watch it on spots TV. It's gonna be
a great game.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
Well, as you may or may not know, I know
you have a story about just about anyone we talked
to in the world of hockey, and especially here in Minnesota.
We just had Tom Seratory on from head coach for
Bamiji State. Got any good Tom Serratory stories?

Speaker 8 (01:09:32):
What's great, you asked, because you've heard the Christmas miracle, right,
I just witnessed another miracle today. You getting that guy
off in twenty minutes that I don't know how you
guys did it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:42):
Yeah, between him and Frank. Yeah, they're great though.

Speaker 8 (01:09:47):
Well, let me tell you a quick story. During COVID,
remember we thought it was gonna be two weeks. I
decided this great idea, I'm gonna do a podcast with
people in Minnesota every day for the next fourteen days.
Right well, after four teen days that extended the ninety dies.
I did a podcast every day so I scrapped it up.
I got Tom to come on, and he was very specific,

(01:10:09):
He is, I only have thirty minutes. I only have
thirty minutes. So I prepared three questions, and at three
questions with Tom's territory, it was an hour and twenty minute.

Speaker 5 (01:10:17):
Oh boy, we get done.

Speaker 8 (01:10:19):
We get done, and I'm like, Ernie, I'm sorry it
went so long. He goes, well, how long was that?
I'm like, that was our twenty. That's the longest body
We had three questions our twenty with Tom.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Yeah, he's a beauty for sure, and so too. Are you, Tony?
What's going on at Youth Hockey hub dot com? Are
we checking out this week?

Speaker 5 (01:10:37):
Well, we're gonna be busy.

Speaker 8 (01:10:39):
Obviously, we got our tournament's going on right now. But
next week we have full accreditation at the World Juniors.
We're keeping score of every game. We'll be at every
every US game and every Canada game we have. We
have our high school event down in Prior Lakes, and
then obviously the biggest girl tournament in the state as well.
So really busy week starting on the twenty seventh for us.
It's gonna be a great Christmas break for US. In

(01:10:59):
the next three day.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
Well, thanks for making time for us. Go teach the
youth of our nation how to be great hockey players
and we'll talk soon.

Speaker 8 (01:11:08):
Appreciate you guys. Have me Marry Christmas YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Thanks Tony, Tony Scott Youth Hockey Hub. We got to
get to break and then we're going back to the
World Juniors. John Van Beesbrook, general manager of Team USA,
is next. I'm beyond the Pond, the home stretch, four,
Beyond the Pond, the final segment. We'll get you up
to the top of the hour. Of course, you got
wild and Oilers coming up at one forty five from

(01:11:31):
Grand Casino Arena. They're busy today, they're busy this weekend,
and they'll be busy all week long as we make
our way into twenty twenty six because the World Juniors
are coming to the Twin Cities, including Grand Casino Arena
and three Am Arena at Marut. To talk about that
and more, we bring in the general manager of Team USA.
It is John Van Beesbrook. John, that's Pat mcletty. I'm

(01:11:52):
Kevin Falness. Thanks for joining us. How's Duluth treating you.

Speaker 10 (01:11:57):
Duluth is treating us just fine. Other than the fact
that obviously the state of Minnesota is.

Speaker 7 (01:12:02):
Very cold right now.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Yes, yes, that makes for great ice, great outdoor skating.
The Lucky makes you're tougher, John makes you tougher. Luckily.
You guys have been playing in a little bit. You
guys are doing most of your practicing and you're playing
on the indoor sheet device. The World Juniors coming to
the Twin Cities. As mentioned, get tickets at World Juniors
m N two six dot com. Seats are available right now.

(01:12:25):
We have Bob motsk go on to start the show.
We have you to end it. Give us kind of
a feel for the buzz around this team as you
make your way into the final cuts into the holiday.

Speaker 10 (01:12:36):
Yeah, we're on the ice right now. The group looks
really excited, really good. We had a day off yesterday,
so we're we did that, you know, to try to
create peak energy for the long range, you know, when
you have to play seven games in ten days. So
it's it's a real sprint, and we're getting ready for
the sprint. We do have some decisions to make, as

(01:12:57):
you alluded to, but I think our guys are are
coming together. We've had some good sessions on and off
the ice, and we feel strongly about our group.

Speaker 4 (01:13:06):
Hey, John, Bob, you know, we had Bob on earlier
and we were talking about just the pool of players
that you have to select now, whether it be for
this junior team or the Olympics coming up. Hell, I
remember back when you and I were playing, it was like, boy,
can we get enough guys?

Speaker 11 (01:13:25):
And now it's just it's just exploded, and you guys
have some tough, tough decisions to make on both these
tournaments coming up.

Speaker 10 (01:13:38):
We really do the World Junior team. We have great depth.
You know, we probably could put together two teams.

Speaker 5 (01:13:45):
I mean I think.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
About that, and we think about that.

Speaker 5 (01:13:48):
Wow, we have difficult decisions to make.

Speaker 10 (01:13:52):
But you know, we're getting down to four extra players
that we have with us. But I mean, our defense
can really skate, we have mobility. Cole Hudson led the
tournament and scoring as a returning player, so we really
feel good about that. Are forwards, you know, I mean
two Hobe Baker guys that are rounding out the top

(01:14:12):
of our group. And Max Plant and Will Horcoff, you know,
I mean they're having great seasons. So we're led by
college hockey and we're good at each position, and as
you alluded to with the Olympics too, we got some
tough decisions there obviously, Bill Gerrins, you know not short
of making tough decisions, and the buzz around hockey right

(01:14:33):
now with how that's happened in the state of Minnesota,
we're just we're going to ride that wave.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Yeah, it should be a lot of fun. Again. This
is John Van Biesbrook, the general manager for Team USA
World Juniors coming to the Twins Cities, including Team USA
basically going to hunker down at Grand Casino Arena. Television
coverage available on NHL Network, but Zach Elverson leading the
coverage here on KFAN, The Plus and the free iHeartRadio

(01:14:59):
app full coverage of Team USA throughout the tournament, including
starting Friday, December twenty sixth against Germany. That'll be five
o'clock on KFE and The Plus. I asked Bob Motsko
to do this, John, I'm gonna ask you to do
the same thing for the casual hockey fan that's out
there doesn't know about the World Juniors. Give us the
best reason why they should get their butts in the
seats and take in this action, whether it's in Minneapolis

(01:15:21):
or Saint Paul.

Speaker 10 (01:15:24):
Yeah, well, there are the future stars of hockey at
the certainly the NHL level and Olympic hockey and then
the Olympic movement.

Speaker 5 (01:15:34):
Ze Boom, who.

Speaker 10 (01:15:35):
The Wild just moved in the Quinn Hughes trade, played
for our team last year. And I say that just
because of the next set of superstars really, and not
just on our team, but every team in the international play.
So there's ten teams coming together, the best of the best,
and you know, it's just exciting fast hockey to watch

(01:15:58):
for the under twenty group, but they certainly are the
next future stars.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
I don't think USA hockey has been in a better
position than it has at this point in time. What
a time to be a lot not only on the
level that you're watching up there, but the Olympics coming
up in Milan as well. You mentioned it a little
bit Bill Garin at the helm there. What's your role
as far as the Olympics go and making your way
over to Milan.

Speaker 10 (01:16:23):
Yeah, my role with the big group is to make
the paths straight, to make sure that we have everything
in place. So I'm kind of just more of a
logistics person to get things in place. And to interpret
all the rules and regulations, which you know, as we've
been listening to it's news is it's not the straightest

(01:16:44):
of paths right now going into the Olympics. So I
want to make Billy's job easier just to focus in
our other gms on the selection process and then for
the players just to go and play. We can't really
think too much. We got to have the ability just
to go play and just to focus on the tournament
and at the end of the day, that's what management's
all about.

Speaker 4 (01:17:02):
Hey, John, there's been a lot of buzz about the
rink and Milan not being ready.

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
Will it be ready?

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
It's going to be you know, three or four feet shorter.
What's your take on that going into the Olympics.

Speaker 10 (01:17:18):
Yeah, I'd say there's a little bit of adversity there.
We played on a bit of a shorter rink at
the World Championships at the Globe. It's not a big deal,
and but I do believe that the big deal is
what you make of it, and for us, it helps
us get a little bit more focused. A little bit
of chaos isn't going to hurt anybody. It's going to
make the adventure even a little bit more fun to

(01:17:39):
have to overcome whatever obstacle there is. I think the
players are totally engaged in it now. The conditions as
far as you know, dressing rooms and temporary structures, that's
the biggest issue right now of what our digs are
going to be, you know. So we're going to make
that all work out really well, and we're going to
go in there with our our ey set on winning.

(01:18:00):
And I think that you know, we got a winner
at the helme and Billy Garin, and we're super excited
about his leadership.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
I know that feels like it's a long ways away,
but it is right around the corner. But let's focus
on the matter at hand, get through to loose, get
to the Twin Cities, and let's bring a third consecutive
goal back to the United States. What a run this
has been, and hopefully it continues this week.

Speaker 10 (01:18:23):
John, Yeah, we're super excited to be home right and
to have and give people over the holidays really excitement
for this international play and just to have fun with hockey.
You know, it's just so fun. It's a privilege, it's
an honor, it's a blessing for us to be home
and to give people get something to root for in

(01:18:45):
the Red, white and blue. We hope we get great support.
We know we will, and we're not going to disappoint.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
It's going to be fun. John, Thanks, good luck.

Speaker 10 (01:18:55):
Thank you, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
Appreciate jan John van Beiesbrook long time for a number
of teams. I remember vividly as a Florida Panther, for sure.
I got another story. I love my junior year.

Speaker 4 (01:19:11):
I was asked to go with the national team and uh,
you know, me and Corey Miller, Rickert all from from
Minnesota and and uh, but we knew that there was
a chance that we were going to get bumped because
at that time they would call guys over from the
National Hockey League and and uh and and you know
take our places, right and really so right, they're National

(01:19:33):
Hockey leaguers, we're college you guys. Well it turns out,
you know, John gets called over. Thank god, who we
got a goalie and day before the first game, get
the call.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
Yep, you're going home.

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
Me Chico Russian and uh and Record Hall got sent home.
But really, yeah, so you know that happens, But that
would have been it would have been fun.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
Again, get your tickets World Juniors m N two six
dot com. Single game tickets for the World You are available.
As mentioned, Television coverage on NHL Network, but Helvy leading
the way here for the fan coverage starting to December
twenty sixth, they'll have USA against Germany starts at five
o'clock on KFE and the plus they'll have the game
against Switzerland the very next day as well Slovakia Sweden. Yeah,

(01:20:18):
in some way shape or for them myself Helvy and
Mark Parrish, but I'm calling this Helvey's super Bowl. The
only thing bigger would be White Bear was playing. If
White Bear against the Checks won a game in the
in the state tournament for him. Yeah, are you listening,
Helviy Good luck with that, he says, real Coo, we
got about five minutes. I want to talk about today's lineup.

(01:20:38):
I don't have this on any authority. I'm guessing and
I'm just spitting in the wind here that the tea
leaves say Underslore could return to the lineup today and
if they do, and again, you have seven on the shelf,
but I think there's four of them that have the possibility.
Could one of them? Could all four of them? I
don't know, but it looks like the potential of Marcus Johansson,
Matt's Zucarello, Jonas Brodein and Jake Middleton. If you get

(01:21:02):
one of those guys back, huge, If you get all
four of them, I mean, honestly, that's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:21:07):
And David's looking at that roster that Minnesota is putting
up today and he sees one guy that he doesn't
want to see, and that's Jonas.

Speaker 2 (01:21:15):
Brodein for sure, Jonas Brodein and Julerics. I don't care
what Bob Stopford says he gives. He gives McDavid fits
held him to zero shots and that one zero victory
Ian Edmonton at the at the start of the month. Now,
like Stoff said, McDavid has really heated up since now.
He's been on a tear. He's in top two or
three in goal. I think he's fifthe right behind point

(01:21:38):
and he's number two behind uh McKinnon in points. McKinnon
has fifty nine. Oh does he? I believe so. I
just looked at this morning after last night. Rre so.
But regardless, I mean, world class player that has problems
playing against the Minnesota while.

Speaker 4 (01:21:54):
We are you taking McDavid or McKinnon if you had to,
I'm I really do think I'm taking McKinnon.

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Okay, what about you. We've had this conversation before. I
don't know, and it's you don't lose in this conversation either, guy,
I fantastic I might take Caprice Off. I do, and
and that might be the homer in me. Yeah, you're
a homer anyway. But yeah, regardless, like I've said, I've
I've said Caprice Off is a top three talent in
the national hockey I agree with that. But I also might,

(01:22:23):
and this might have seemed like blasphemy in the last
few years, I might put McKinnon number one on my
totem could on top of economy David. And that's no disrespect, is.

Speaker 4 (01:22:33):
No demonst to Wrensky, quinn and and macar right and
geez yep.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
All right, So let's say, for example, that let's just
talk about the forwards. If Johansson and Zucarello come back,
I assume Zukarelag just jumps right onto your top line
plays with Caprice off, and is it you're I put
you off there? Yeah, I think you're off is really
good Russian chemistry. Go back to the top.

Speaker 4 (01:22:58):
It was nice wild you needed it, but yes, I
think I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:23:03):
And then you realign that second line, which has been
electric as well. When they're healthy. You got acting between
Boldie and Johnsson. Would be great to have those guys
Hartmann and no third line Tarasenko Filino and.

Speaker 4 (01:23:22):
No, no, no, no, you're gonna put no and then I
put Trenyon with probably the way he's playing, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:23:29):
But so you're gonna put Fillino on your fourth line? Yep, Okay, Well,
I'll see what I am.

Speaker 4 (01:23:34):
Maybe you're right, man, I I just I think that's
a really good fit and a really really nasty line
to play against Stir and Fellino together.

Speaker 2 (01:23:46):
And then who's on the right, probably yeah, most likely?
All right, Well we'll see who's right. We're gonna know
it and you will just a couple of hours. They're
dropping the puck on this thing and Grand Casino Arena. Yeah,
and that's it. They've won in a row. I mean again,
they've been missing seven guys from their lineup. They lost
just three times in regulation since November. First, ye can

(01:24:07):
you remember how fit the atmosphere was for this team
coming out of October. They dropped nine o twelve people
lose jobs for starting any any number of different examples
over the course of the history in the NHL fans.

Speaker 4 (01:24:21):
From October to November into December. Unbelievable, the enthusiasm and
you know we got something going.

Speaker 2 (01:24:28):
Here, Kevin, we do. I got to ask you your
plans for Christmas? What do you got going on?

Speaker 4 (01:24:31):
I'm just staying at home. Good for coming over, and
that's about it. I'm watching you a very merry you
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:24:38):
And you said you're you're onto the team from the
walker and room. You're making You're making progress and slow roll,
but it's coming. So thanks to everyone who reached out.
Awesome stuff. Thank you Patrick, you too. Thank you to Devin,
thank you much for wheeling you in here. Yeah, Devin
did a great job in lieu of Brett Blakemore out
exploring the world as he should as a young man.

(01:24:59):
But as for you, you should be exploring Minnesota wild hockey
today and tomorrow. You couldn't ask for a better doubleheader,
taking on the two time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton
Oilers today and then following that up with the top
team in the Central Division tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche.
All the action available right here for your listening pleasure
on FM one hundred point three the Fan for Pat mclatty.

(01:25:20):
I'm Kevin Falness. This has been on the pond