Championship rematch for No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Ohio State

In this week's edition of the PodKaz, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski look back on another week with unexpected results and wonder whether that's just the norm now in NCAA women's hockey.

No. 7 Northeastern handed No. 4 Penn State its first loss of the season before the Nittany Lions earned a split of the nonconference series.

No. 2 Ohio State ran all over No. 10 Clarkson and No. 12 Colgate at the D1 in DC event, while No. 8 UConn beat No. 9 Quinnipiac and Yale with late goals to win the Nutmeg Classic. No. 1 Wisconsin tied an NCAA record for goals in a 17-2 victory over Stonehill at the Smashville Showcase.

That leads into the first meeting this season between the nation's top two teams. The Badgers play at the Buckeyes on Friday and Saturday, and they're the only regular-season meetings between the teams when they have their full rosters available; the return series is during the Olympics.

And we conclude with a recap of Nicole's appearance on the Thanksgiving episode of "Jeopardy!"

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Us cho dot com. Welcome to the podcast. My name
is Todd Mluski here with Nicole Hosey from us cho
dot com once again, and Nicole, this is becoming a
little bit of a pattern that you look back at
last week's results and you go to some of them.

(00:27):
I wish, wish one of those that we saw last
week the results, and we'll get into a lot of
them here in the next couple of minutes. But what
were the head scratchers for you in the last weekend?
And and you know why do you think maybe it
is that that we're having these kind of results that
he was like, well, didn't expect that, couldn't have predicted that.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, I mean we're at the point where and every
any given weekend I look back and I'm like, I
can't explain what just happened there, which is not a
wonderful feeling, as you know a journalist covering the sport,
but is fun for the fire. What's the biggest head
scratcher from last week? Maybe Cornell losing to Vermont, and
maybe I didn't expect Brown to go win list this weekend.

(01:10):
And then I think probably the third one I did
expect Ohio State to win. I did not expect Ohio
State to take down Clerks and ate nothing. So those
were just a couple of the things that were just like, Wow,
what is going on? And in Cornell, I think over
the past two to three weeks it's been a bit
of a head scratcher after how they started. But yeah,
it's you know, I've always said I'm team chaos and

(01:32):
I love that, and I think, you know, probably the
reason or some of it is just that we continue
to like the base of really good hockey players is
no longer spread among a small amount of teams, Like
there's just the growth of the sport means that there
are better players that are filling rosters at schools that
didn't previously get top tier talents. I don't like, that's

(01:56):
not a value statement on anyone. It's just that there
was a smaller pool of you know, you sort of
had them going to programs that had historically won championships
and things like that, and now you're seeing players that
are breaking out and some from other countries, some that
maybe just grew up in their final two years, right

(02:16):
like so they they necessarily weren't commit huge commits at sixteen,
but have been really impactful at eighteen and nineteen. But yeah,
I think I think it says really great things about
the growth of girls in hockey in the country or
in North America. But yeah, that's probably like the most
sensible answer to the question in terms of like why

(02:38):
this is happening. But it does. It does make every
week I just think, like I it makes you feel
like you're not very good at what I'm doing, right,
because I just am like I wouldn't have predicted that,
and I'm saying that multiple times a week. I mean,
you and I are constantly texting each other results like
did you see this? Because it's just highly unexpected, And
I think, I mean that's right, Like that is so

(03:01):
good for this sport. I think that it's great when
things aren't predictable and that a lot of people were
getting sick of the same teams over and over and
over again. And I don't know if we're past that yet, right, Like,
I do feel like we're got a pretty predictable tournament
just at the end of the season, likely or at
least most of the teams that'll make the tournament. But
I do think we're particularly in one and done situations

(03:23):
we're seeing that, like there's a lot more opportunity for upsets,
there's a lot more opportunity for a team to maybe
make a run in their conference tournament, and uh, it's
just it's things are a lot less predictable and that's
totally good for everybody, except for you and I who
have to try and talk about this out lega believe.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, I think we are seeing that there is still
a top heaviness to a lot of it, where you know,
we get a seventeen to two game when Wisconsin plays
Stolen Hill, or we get Ohio State running through a
couple of teams we didn't necessarily see them running through.
But there is a little bit more of a the middle.

(04:04):
The next group is it feels like it's a lot
more compressed than it was maybe five years ago, where
there was, you know, a couple of teams every year
that you knew, okay, they're they're gonna be in the mix.
Maybe they're a frozen four team this year. And now
it feels like that that pool, the next pool, I guess,
is maybe a little wider, and I think there's there's

(04:27):
something to be said for that as as growth. While
there's also something to be said. For man, it's it
just really feels like it's tough to unseat Wisconsin or
Ohio State or sometimes Minnesota near the top of things.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, and I'd argue, like I think maybe we would
have said there was a slightly bigger top group, right,
like maybe it was six to eight teams, and you
know we're talking back like when BC was consistently in
it and things like that, and so now I think
that elite group is smaller, and then you know, like
it doesn't definitely winds out in that next group, as
you said, And I think two, I mean, we've seen

(05:06):
for a while that like teams are sort of like
growing the program overall. Right, Like we weren't talking about
Colgate what before twenty eighteen or so. Heck, we weren't
talking about Ohio State before around that time either. But
you know, you sort of see like a build and
it does tend to last. It's not we're not talking
just like sort of one class or one maybe for

(05:28):
your rotation, but you sort of like see some of
the groups, you know, even Clerkson, it's been longer for them,
but you know, twenty fourteen, it was sort of like
before that they weren't in the mix as much, and
so you are seeing programs grow and sort of be
able to be sort of more consistently in the mix
and fighting for those spots in a way that maybe
ten years ago, fifteen years ago, we weren't.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Right. Well, let's go through some of the results from
last week, and I want to start in Boston, where
we previewed this last week, a matchup of top ten
teams that were four Penn State playing at number seven Northeastern,
and right off the bat on Friday, Northeastern handed Penn
State its first loss of the season after the Nittany
Lions came in sixteen and zero, three to two for Northeastern.

(06:14):
In the first game of that series, Lily Shannon scored
a goal and then assists as Northeastern built the three
nothing lead after two periods, and then you're thinking it's over.
Penn State's top player, Testa Janicky is ejected for a
hit from behind, but in the third period, Penn State
and makes a game of its scoring two goals but
can't get the third. Lacy Johnson makes thirty four saves

(06:34):
to seal the victory. In that Friday game, Penn State
comes back with a Saturday win four to one. After
falling behind one nothing, the Nittey Allons scored two and
a second two in the third. So Penn State is
seventeen and one and number three in the NPI, Northeastern
thirteen and three and number six in the NPI. And
these feel like teams that are right near the top

(06:54):
of that next group that we're just talking about. They
behind Wisconsin, Ohio State who will play this week to
kind of just define a little bit for now, who
is the top of the top. You've got Penn State
and you've got Northeastern. They're showing that, Yes, they are
part of that next group.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Right, and we probably expected that out of Penn State.
But if you'd have told me that in September about Northeastern,
I would have not been skeptical but said I would
like to wait and see, like I want to see
what they're showing. I think an important thing to point
out about that that first game is that Penn State
absolutely dominated that first period. Northeastern kept them off the
board and then scored with their only shot of the

(07:33):
period with like twenty five seconds left in the first
and Penn State did go I mean it did even
a little ass things went on. But like the fact
that Northeastern won that game based I honestly kind of
had it in hand weirdly, despite the dynamics on ice,
I mean, obviously Penn State pushed him the third, but yeah,
that was such a strange game. And unfortunately the second

(07:54):
game was played out in Gloucester, and which is cool.
I'm so glad they want it in the community, but
then is not streamed, and so in terms of having
watched that first game, I would have loved just to
see the different dynamic and how things looked for Penn
State to get that win in the second one. But yeah, absolutely,
I think those two have shown to be not unbeatable,

(08:17):
but to be really difficult to be Obviously, Penn State,
we know, literally had gone unbeaten it to this point.
I think it's probably good for them to get that
loss out of the way. I think we are in
a situation I don't feel like we're going to see
an undefeated season ever. Again, I don't know that I
thought that ever, but particularly with the way the game
has changed since the Gophers did it, and I think

(08:40):
you would rather, you know, do that now sort of
had that recoup, and I think it's important for teams
to lose and learn from that too. So Penn State,
you know, gone to the postseason twice and not cotten
the results they wanted, not really been able to show
what they want to do. So I think if if
Penn State wants to be a different team as we
head into the NC tournament there, things like that are

(09:02):
what you're going to put them in a different position
than they've been in the past two years.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
In the Washington, DC area, the D one in d
C event brought in two teams from the w c
h A Saint Cloud State in Ohio State and two
from ec AC Hockey Colgate and Clarkson. And I guess
that the takeaway for me there is Ohio State. You
touched on it before, but just running over Clarkson ate
nothing in the their first game and then getting another

(09:31):
shut out five to nothing over Colgate in the second game,
and like you mentioned before, not not surprised by the
team that ended up on the winning side, but the
margin there being the interesting thing. Hilda Spenson, who's putting
on a pretty good campaign for National Rookie of the

(09:52):
Year here so far with a hat trick in five
points in that game against Clarkson. Joey Dunn also five points,
and the big the number for me there was third
period shots on goal twenty to nothing for Ohio State,
and that tells you just how far in control they
were in that game. There was nothing, nothing after one
and then Ohio stated broken up when I think with

(10:12):
four and second and then band just just poured it on.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Nine total shots for Clarkson, like they didn't even reach
double digits and then didn't have a shot and that
third I had read that and forgot about it. I'm
glad you brought that up. Yeah, just absolute domination from
the the Buckeyes. And I think too, like you look
at the spoorn and you're like, oh, they dominated offensively,
but like obviously, and we don't talk as much about
their defense, mostly because they possessed the buck so well,

(10:36):
it just kind of don't have to play it in
the same way. But I think it's important there to
point out that, like, obviously the defense was just absolutely
shut down, you know, made it through that first period,
and then the way that they can just kind of
turn things around and just take a game from close
to out of hand so quickly, it is going to
be so demoralizing for opponents. Yeah, they're they're obviously there's good.

(11:00):
You know, they're as advertised what we expected from them
looking at their incoming talent. Things like that. And hilbis
fens in so excited that I've been talking about her
since the beginning of the year, like to like the
make that hit. But obviously, I mean she's been already
playing with this inter national team in Sweden. We knew
what she could deliver. Yeah, I I well, first of all,

(11:21):
I mean, just based on how their seasons have gone,
I didn't expect Colgate to fare better against Ohio State
than Clerkson. Did. I maybe surprised by so uh Saint
Cloud's State getting the win over Colgate. I mean it
was the Sofiana so Sutherland show. She had a great
game Sunderlin. But yeah, I that who that whole series

(11:42):
is slightly head scratching, not necessarily in the end results
of the numbers, but just how those games played out.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, so it was three to and overtime, Saint Cloud
got the win over Colgate, and then Clarkson beat Saint
Cloud on the second day to nothing. That that was
one event that I was really looking forward to to
seeing I guess, especially on the side of the ECAC team,
is how how that was going to shake out. We're

(12:12):
still looking for that. The definition of who's where and
who's who's up and who's down right and and feels
like that's changing in our minds every weeks in some
way or another. You mentioned before, and I think we'll
talk about it again in a minute. Brown losing twice
this week, Well, okay, they're down again. They've been kind
of showing. Well, okay, maybe there's some progress there. Oh Nope,
back it down. They're going to come back up. They're

(12:34):
going to go back down. So I don't know what
I'm pulling out of this for for Colgate and for
Clarkson other than it's going to be if either of
them has to face Ohio State in the tournament, it's
going to be very very tough.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean, I think what everybody has to take
away is the valid fear of wild State at this point.
You know, as you mentioned, we will be seeing Wisconsin
and Ohio State this weekend. In Ohio State that we'll
talk about that coming up. But like, what an amazing
timee for that peak peak scheduling a plus we have
built to that. As e Stea said, Oh, maybe we'll

(13:15):
figure out, but I just assume. I assume anytime we're
looking for like definition of something, it'll just be a
street split and we will learn nothing. Uh standard, No,
it's standard. We're gonna learn nothing and just be like
Indian like, Oh, that's exactly what we thought.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yep, that's what I'm going with for now on. Yep,
that's kind of what it feels like we're in for here.
The Nutmeg Classic in Connecticut had a ranked matchup in
the first of two days. Number eight Yukon beat number
nine Quidimpiac four to three. In the Friday game, Megan
Woodworth broke a three to three tie with just over
three and a half minutes left that game, Tia Chan

(13:50):
made forty saves, and then Yukon beat Yale three to
two on Saturday for the championship of that tournament. Julia
pellerin with the game winning goal with about ninety seconds
left in that one. So a couple of late earned
victories for Yukon to win kind of the state championship.
If you if you will for for Connecticut, Yeah, come

(14:14):
back to that.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
I just want to say you were mentioning ECAC, like, oh,
trying to figure it out like we would have said
Quinnipiac is the one that had separated themselves and now
like that too here and and that leads me into saying, like,
Hockey East, we're sorry, like we kind of feel like
we begged on Hockey East a little to start. Now
they've got I think four teens in the top fifteen
of the NPI, including holy Cross, who we have not

(14:37):
talked about at all. So sorry at bully Cross, we
owe you, we owe you some. But yeah, I looking
at the NPI right now is a little little nuts,
not at all what I expected. But also like, you know,
kudos to the Hockey East teams that are really showing
it out. And I thought, you know, obviously Yukon was
at home. We know they're a very good team. We
know there's a lot of pride on the line there
and a lot of pressure and they went out and

(14:59):
delivered and just they responded a lot in their games,
which I think is going to need to be the
theme for for most everybody this year, Like you have
to be able to come back in games, you have
to be able to respond and probably do it more
than once, and so yeah, I thought I thought you
can show really well. I don't. It's not that I
thought Quinnipiac played badly. I just thought, like, as we're

(15:22):
talking ECC and we're looking for someone to separate themselves.
Like we're still in a week where the team that
I thought had separated themselves also lost, and so it's
a it's definitely an interesting I February is gonna be amazing,
and you know, we still haven't even dealt with any
of the players leaving much so for any of the teams.
So yeah, it's uh, I feel bad for for how

(15:46):
we the Hockey East. We didn't.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
We did not.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
You know, I was not familiar.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
I'm familiar with their game. I apologize, right, Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
In Nashville they Smashville Showcase, which was a three team,
three day event. I don't know what to make of that. Really,
it was an odd concept and it, I guess turned
out how everyone thought it was going to. Mercy Hears

(16:12):
beats stone Hill six to one on Friday. Number one
Wisconsin beat Mercy Heris five to one on Saturday, and
stone Hill, which had the day off between games, just
got completely run over by Wisconsin seventeen to two on Sunday,
a game that tied the NCAA record for most goals
in the game, both by a team and by two teams.
Harvard also be also won a seventeen to two game

(16:35):
over Boston College January twenty eighth, two thousand and three,
so that one's been on the board for a long time.
Wisconsin set its program record for goals in the game. Obviously,
they had just said it last year with sixteen and
now hitting seventeen this year. Eighty seven shots on goal
also a program record. It was one of those days

(16:57):
where we're just flipping through pages of the record book
to like find what's the next.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Thing, your idea that this HiT's Todds like everything he loves,
like he could do every record right now. He knows
them all. He went and looked them all up.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
I decided I had to finally cut myself off from
looking them up on Sunday just to get the story
in and posted on the website, because that could have
gone on this cab. Yes, thank you very much. Nine
goals in the second period for the badgeries. Also that
one did set an NCAA record, I believe because it
was eight was the record, So yeah, a lot of

(17:36):
I don't know that it's really worth spending a whole
lot more time on that one because it was it
was lopsided, it was expected to be lopsided, and we
got it.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I guess the biggest question was, don't he'll change goalies
after I think the twelfth goal, which I just was like,
I mean, maybe get her out of their suitor. I
don't know. It was an odd time to make choice.
I think the on the other side, Wisconsin's Rise Stewart
got the start. Presumably she's going to spend time in

(18:07):
net if a McNaughton is with Team USA. I have
often said I thought she should be in net a
little more to start this season, so that you know
that was a good thing. I yeah, I don't know that.
There's a lot to say. We tried to spit it
nicely last weekend, but I just these I don't I
don't know what that accomplished. I don't It's not very

(18:30):
nice to Stonehill. I you know, like Wisconsin's in a
no win situation there for them. I mean, as an opponent,
you don't want your the team against you to just
stop trying like that's more insulting. So yeah, I I
the choices that were made here did not set either
Mercyhurst or stone Hill up to end up in a

(18:51):
good situation. And you know that's not any of the
three teams fault. So I hope that we make some
better decisions as Organs in the path in the future.
I think two particularly like looking at how good things
were in DC where we had these four ranked teams
and this was the other option, you know, just really

(19:12):
starkly stood out as like, I'm not sure what this
does for the border any of the teams. So I
hope that the girls tournament in Nashville enjoyed it and
got to see lots of great stuff. I hope, you know,
that bit was accomplished. But I hope that we don't
subject teams to this again because I just I don't
like it. I don't I don't like it. I feel

(19:33):
really bad for Sonthill. It's just it's bad.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, yeah, it is. Moving on into some other non
conference games. Last week you touched on this briefly, Vermont
beating number five Cornell four to three on Friday. Lauren
O'Hara scored the goal late in the second period that
put the Catamounts ahead for good. Ellie Simmons then stopped
all thirteen Cornell shots in the third period, and at

(19:59):
that point after that lost, Cornell was two three and
one in its last six games after a seven and
zero start, and we're starting to wonder, well, Okay, which
Cornell team was the real one here? The Big Red
did come back with a five to one win on
Saturday to show Okay, maybe that's the direction they can go,
but it's also they can't really have these one up,

(20:22):
one down kind of weekends if they're gonna want to
stay near the top of the the rankings, the NPI
and eventually when you get into it the ECAC.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, it was I mean, not only is it surprising,
but like they almost looked as surprise as the right,
Like the team just really looked a little show shocked,
like they didn't know what to do, which is a
little surprising, Like A, it wasn't their first loss, and B,
I like, there there's experience there. This is I mean,
if nothing else is a team that lost, you know

(20:52):
in the Frozen poor last have experience being in sort
of situations where things are not going your way, not
doing what you want to do and like they responded
really great in the semi final last year, but yeah,
I just kind of felt like they looked a little lost,
as though they aren't weren't a top five team that
is capable of coming back down from down multiple like

(21:14):
have one of the best goalies.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
It just was.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
It was a really interesting and weird I assume there
will be lots of lessons learned for them and lots
of time to sort of look at this and talk
about it, not from a like, ugh, what did you
do wrong? But from understanding mentally, like what got them
to the point where they just looked like they weren't
sure how to handle that situation, you know. In this
is one of those where I think it's important to
remember their student athletes, right, and you're talking somewhere between

(21:39):
eighteen and twenty two years old, Because I felt like
I haven't watched a game in a while where I
felt like I am watching children going through it a
little bit, you know, So I think that was a
every once in a while, I think with the peed
up two and knowing some of the players are going
there and some of the players playing in fifth veryous
Olympic teams, it's a good reminder again that they're they're

(22:01):
student athletes and still learning and growing and developing for
the little were developing Greens because that watching the game,
it's a little what I felt.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, yep. Continuing on with the theme of Hockey East
having a pretty good weekend against ECAC teams, you had
Providence beating Brown number eleven ranks Brown three to two
on overtime on Saturday for the Mayor's Cup. There in Providence,
Audrey nap what they second, her second goal of the
game to win it in overtime, and then New Hampshire

(22:34):
beat Brown four to one on Sunday. Danicabatterol broke a
one to one tie early in the third period and
the Wildcats added a couple of empty net goals. Brown,
now having lost three of its last four games, default
to eight five and one overall. And I wonder if
there's this is kind of pulled Hockey East a little

(22:55):
bit closer to ECAC in terms of the non conference
records directly, but between the two, ECC still has the
better record in non conference play overall and indirect comparison
with Hockey East, but seeing that gap shrink a little
bit has made it possible for more hockey East seems
to be in those, like you mentioned, the top fifteen

(23:18):
of the NPI at this point the season. Now, again
we're still very early. We're in the first half of
the season, so the NPI is a little finnicky there,
but you're starting to see it become a little bit
more reliable in terms of giving a look at who
could be a factor in the second half of the season.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah. I mean, all those two games did for me
is reinforce the feeling that at any given time, everybody's
pretty beatable right now, and there is nobody should be comfortable,
particularly in those two leagues. But you know, it felt
like Brown had put together this strig of really great

(23:56):
outings and so not that I thought they were never
going to lose or anything like that, but I did.
Those were surprising to me in that that didn't feel
like the same Brown team I had seen sort of
come from behind and do some of the things they've
done for the past few weeks. And so yeah, I
think it's just a it's I think it's a it portends.
What we're gonna see is this is the season keeps

(24:18):
going in January and February, in that we're only going
to see more and more really close margins we're in
in conference, all those points and half points because sort
docket e CEC will matter, And then I just think, yeah,
it really reinforces that I think we're we're gonna see
a lot of a lot more upsets or or maybe surprising.

(24:40):
I don't know if they're upsets for anybody at this
point anymore. It feels like the not right word to use,
but yeah, I would the fact that we've moved to
more one and done in playoff formats definitely feels like
we're gonna we're gonna be seeing it's in chaos upcoming.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Very much. So. You can also see the rest of
the skoo from last weekend. The schedules for this week
coming up at uscho dot com, so make sure to
check those out. We are going to take a quick
break when we come back. We are going to look
ahead to the number one versus Number two matchup in
Columbus this coming week, and we are going to look
back at Nicole's appearance on television last week. So stay

(25:22):
with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast,
tod Nicole with you for the second segment Here which
we'll start with a look at games that the last
eleven times at Wisconsin and Ohio State have played, going

(25:43):
back a couple of seasons, it has been number one
versus number two, which tells you how how in control
of those top two spots in the rankings these two
teams have been. It'll be Badgers and Buckeyes rematch of
the last three NCAA Championship games on Friday and Saturday
in Columbus, their first two meetings of the season, and
it's an important two meetings of the season, Nicole, because

(26:06):
these are the only ones where at least in the
regular season, nothing's guaranteed in the postseason. But in the
regular season, both of these teams are gonna have their
full teams because when they play in February, you're gonna
have players gone for the Olympics. So you think about
it that way, this is a real chance for both
of these teams to put a stamp on control of

(26:30):
the w CHA was goes in with a one point lead,
but that's, you know, pretty negligible when it comes to
teams having still to play four games against each other.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Like what I'm look, what the number of points either
team gets is far less important than sort of the
vibes that come out of out of this weekend in
terms of like who feels like the team that is
most likely to be in charge heading into the season.
I just think like this is a really important gut check,

(27:03):
probably most likely for Wisconsin in terms of of just
like knowing where you stand knowing I mean, I think,
you know, they're obviously both very talented teams that are
both going to play you know, their absolute best. But
you know, I think the questions are, as we mentioned
a little bit, is we don't see a ton of
defense from Ohio States. That's not to say that I

(27:24):
don't think they have it. We just it's hard to
know how they'll handle sort of the You're talking to
teams that are pretty relentless against each other, right Like,
it's wave after wave of talent, and so there's there's
not really any time to take off the you know,
take your foot off the gas, or that any time
to really catch your breath. And so in terms of

(27:45):
an Ohio State defense that isn't super tested week after week,
how do they handle you know, being tested by by
literal you know, Olympic World last talent and on the
other side of the reason I think Wisconsin this is
probably more important for them is that they've they've had
some bobbles, right, Like, we've just seen some real like
mental breakdowns, some real maybe sort of like check out

(28:08):
laziness at times, like not clearing the puck. Well, you know,
we saw it against Saint Cloud State, We've seen it,
we saw it about against Minnesota, all those sort of
little things that honestly they've done against other teams, but
those teams haven't been able to make them pay for it.
And Ohio State absolutely will exploit every one of those things.
You better believe they're going to be for checking and

(28:29):
looking for all of the bobbles and all of the
things that that Wisconsin's been doing wrong at times this season,
Like there's just going to be no room for error
for them. And if they can't play to the best
of their ability to play the game and that we've
seen them capable of, or or maybe maybe what that's
going to tell us is that they're not capable of.
Maybe we're just saying this is the team we saw

(28:49):
last season, and we assume because they were to most
of the roster, that they're going to do it again
this season. But yeah, I think Wisconsin's got a lot
of questions to answer. They you know, have depth, and
they have talent, and they've won games that maybe they
shouldn't have based on some of the stuff that some
of the lapses that they've had. And so to me,
like that's what I mean by the vibe check, Like

(29:10):
does Wisconsin step up and play what we how we
think that they can how they like their roster says
that they should be capable of it. Can they you know,
go toe to toe with Ohio State? And if they don't,
then I think there's probably conversations to be had about
like are they are they in that conversation like is
it them in Ohio State and maybe you know a

(29:32):
couple other teams at the top or is it just
Ohio State?

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Right Wisconsin has been number one in the USAHO dot
Com pole since well last September, I think, or very
very early the second week of the twenty four to
twenty five season won the national championship by beating Ohio State.
Last season, Ohio State number one in the MPI right

(29:57):
now though Wisconsin second and like you men and State
a point up in the WHA standings. Badgers have the
first ranked offense in the country. Ohio State is second.
These are all the things that have been happening every
year where these two teams are right there, neck and
neck with each other in a lot of statistical categories.
Caroline Harvey leads the country with thirty seven points as

(30:19):
a defender for Wisconsin, which is, I mean, something we
need to talk about at some point is is it
going to be feasible for someone like kk Harvey to
win a Patty Kaz with a Olympic absence, So her
stats are going to suffer hilldos fence and for Ohio

(30:40):
State leading fresh with thirty one points, it's going to
be all these things are going to factor. And we've
touched on this, like real early in the season on
what that's going to mean, and I think we'll we'll
get to that when it gets closer to that time.
But these are obviously teams that have players that are
on a level that most teams in college hockey don't

(31:02):
have women's college hockey do not have. So when you
put them together, the level of play is and we've
seen it in March in the last few seasons, the
level of play is just ridiculous where we're spoiled having
had the chance to see those games the last few
seasons and just the details of them, of how how

(31:27):
crisp they can be and how much they do pay attention,
especially in those games that have been so close to
how important it is to get the puck deep and
how important it is to go fight for it. Those
little things do show up in these kind of games
where in a lot of games, you know, it's nice
if it works, but it's not going to hurt you
if it doesn't. These are the games that that definitely

(31:49):
does matter.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, absolutely, I think too. These are the type of
games where their game play, into some extent, goes out
the window, like it's not necessarily going to be pretty hockey.
They don't both they're both not going to get to
play the game they in a perfect girl world would
want to play. And it's how they handle what they

(32:10):
do with a whole lot less time in space, all
of the like when all of the things that have
worked for them and have gone well are out the window,
Like who's the team that's still playing poised, Who's still
you know, like you said, doing those little things, remembering
their details, playing the kind of hockey that their coach
wants them to be playing right, like, which is really
hard to do when you you know, got joy done

(32:32):
sprinting down the ice that you to four check, you know,
like that's you have to make the right decision quickly
in that timeframe. And and you know it's the same
in the other end. Like if Kk's for check, it
got you like, what are you doing? You know, if
she's got the puk, you know she's leading the country
with just nine goals with twenty eight assists. Like the
thing that Caroline is leveled up this year, KKs leveled

(32:54):
up this year is her sort of her vision and
her playmaking on her ability to not just move the puck,
but move the puck to her teammates like with I
don't know it like decisively, like she will take a
step and open up a lane or pull a defender
and then perfectly place the puck in a way that
I think is more detailed and more nuanced than maybe

(33:17):
she had done in previous seasons. But all of those
that little stuff like if you are or someone that
really loves the game or someone that's looking to learn
the game, watch this game and watch the details because
this is all literal world class talent on both of
those two teams. They are playing overall at a level
similar to, if not better than, some of the p

(33:39):
WHL stuff you're seeing like this is this is top
tier tailent doing all of those tiny small things to
make a difference in a game. And that's what makes
it fun. And also because it is it is chaotic.
It's not it's not going out there and setting up
your plays and doing what you always want to do.
It's it's reacting and using instincts, right because there isn't

(34:01):
time to actually stop and make a decision. So how
well does their chemistry work, How well are they you know,
able to find each other? All that sort of stuff.
But that's what's going to make these games great to watch,
and it's going to happen at a speed that is
like several steps higher than we've seen from most other
games this season.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Yeah, and the games at Ohio say that the Osuo
ice rink always seem to happen faster just because that
it it feels like everyone's on top of each other
more there. I don't know what the exact dimensions of
that rink are different. Yeah, people on the Wisconsin side
have said for years that's not two hundred and by

(34:41):
eighty five, and I I think there's some of that
that just feels because of building. Everyone is so close
to you that the roof is low, the side, the
sides are close to you that it feels like it's
tighter than when you're in a different or a bigger
kind of arena. But it does feel like part of
it is a function of how how State plays teams.

(35:03):
They get on you fast when you have the puck,
so that makes it feel like that the ice is
small as you I would imagine.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, that is the first i Ue Srida that I
had ever walked into where there's still like ice outside
the dasher boards, Like as you're walking around, the ice
is still, and like literally there you climb up a
ladder into the press box and you are absolutely gonna
get a puck by you because like as you said,
it's a really low roof, uh, and you're sort of
right on top of everything. It is. It is a
fascinating barn. I know that Ohio State has grown to

(35:34):
love it and their fans love it. I do think
that's an affectionate choice and they I both understand it
and think that team deserves so much better than that rink.
But yeah, it's it's going to be loud in there.
They will, you know, put as many people as they
can there is particularly long behind the goalie there with
folks pounding on the boards. I just, yeah, it's uh.

(35:56):
I think even if we get like you know, boring
split where it's like three two one way and three
to the other, I do think there's still a lot
of things that will we'll see and learn from these
games that will tell us a lot about how things
will we'll look heading into the postseason. And I think
let's not forget that, like I'll have sus had this circled.
I mean they would have anyway, but the way that

(36:17):
the National Championship went out like they were, it was
eighteen seconds away from winning the title.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Eighteen nine right being the number.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
And like I mean, I've heard someone say it. I
don't know if it's a joker not, but I fully
believe they have a sign somewhere in their locker room
that say it's eighteen nine, because that's how that's how
that team operates. Like they they get they get a
lot of energy, and they get they create an underdog mentality,
which at this point nobody believes in them because you

(36:45):
are you know, you've played in however, many national championship beams.
What it works for them to feel like they are,
you know, sort of fighting against expectations that they're being disrespected.
They probably don't love that they're number one in MPI,
but people aren't voting them number one in the polls,
and they're going to use all of that and they
have a point to prove, and that's when Ohio State

(37:06):
is the most dangerous. Like that that really works for
them and their style and Muzza's style of coaching and
sort of who they are as their ethos they're going
to be. They're going to be out for I mean,
even more so than any other one versus two or
any other Wisconsin Oile Sea team like this this weekend
is for them, is about proving a point and about

(37:27):
that pride.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Will be a lot for us to talk about after
that one, So make sure you join us next week
for more on how that finished off. Okay, let's take
a spin around the rest of the country coming up
this week. Also in the WCCHA number thirteen, Saint Cloud
State at number twelve Minnesota State. The Mavericks have really

(37:51):
taken a few steps here in the last few weeks,
and it'll be interesting to kind of put the Mavericks
and the Huskies together to figure out who's gonna make
a run here at at Cracking the top four in
the w c h A not can be very easy,

(38:12):
because that's a pretty good good group that's up there.
But let's see if if either one of these teams
can get six points out of this weekend to make
a difference there.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Well, yeah, podcast favorite Mercury Bishof had another great weekend,
scored a really pretty penalty shot. But you know that
she's she's helped sort of had that team believe what
they're they're capable of, and I think that's important. I
also think this will just be an interesting meeting of
two really different styles of hockey that sort of more

(38:49):
European flair that that Saint Kyd State plays and and
just so their their approach is different, and so it'll
be interesting to see how they feel each other out
and how they prepare for, you know, plague against that
different style without losing their own identity.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
In ECAC there's a what I feel like is an
important one for direction. As you get closer to the
end of the first semester, you're going to take teams
are going to take a break for a couple of weeks.
Number nine Quinnipiac at number eight Cornell on Friday. Both
of these teams kind of need or not necessarily turnaround,

(39:28):
but just a readjustment in terms of where where they're
pointed before they get into that break period. I think
Cornell being at home that helps them, but we've seen
that hasn't been perfect for them there either.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, I think it's an important If people don't know,
this is more or less our last weekend of games.
There's a handful of games next weekend. There'll be some stuff,
you know, or on the holidays, but more or less
this is our last regular week of slate of until
after the new year. And so yeah, I think, like
you said, it's it's I don't think it's the be all,

(40:07):
end all, but I think for both those teams it
would be really important to set the tone heading into
that break right like you want to be. You want
to move into that holiday break and have some of
that downtime on a positive note on things you can
build on and not sentenced to on what could have been.
And I think if Cornell drops some more points this

(40:28):
weekend that will be be a lot less comfortable break
for them.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
And then Quinnipiac on Saturday plays at number fourteen Colgate.
Colgate hosts number eleven Princeton on Friday, and then of course,
because of the travel partners, Princeton at Cornell on Saturday.
Those are a lot of the teams that are going
to be I'm just pulling up the ECAC standings. It's
you know, eighteen points for Cornell at the top, and

(40:58):
you're midway through the pack and it's thirteen points, and
so with Saint Lawrence down in sixth. So a lot
of teams are going to have a big say in
things in the race for the championship in the second half.
And these kind of games here are the ones where
you can get a little bit of an edge over

(41:19):
some of the teams are going to be in that
race with and so they may be Okay, you're just
getting to the end of the first semester here, but
these are going to be important games for the finish.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
We're talking about, you know, some of the ranked teams,
but like it's entirely possible that Princeton sweeps their weekend,
like they're a team that has gone out and got
some big wins and just sort of hasn't really broken
through to stay in the ranking. So yeah, none of those,
none of those are easy wins for any of those
four teams, so should be fascinating hockey. But yeah, I
think all every one of them is looking to make

(41:53):
a statement and really like put themselves in a position
to really jump off into the second half. So I'd
like to think the scheduler is for a lot of funness.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Absolutely. And then in Hockey East, a one that stood
out to me Number six Northeastern hosting Boston College on Saturday.
It's the last game at Matthew's Arena for the Husky's
women's hockey team, and it's it's interesting to have your
senior Day in December, but that's what they're doing because
the rest of their games they're they're not going to

(42:27):
have a true home for a couple of years now,
and so this is as that kind of goes on
into the second half of the season. That is an
important thing to watch with Northeastern. They've been off to
a good start, they are nine and one at home,

(42:47):
but they're not going to have the feeling of.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Home home anymore.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm gonna be kind of trying to keep it,
keep an eye on that and see if that has
any factor in in how some of these games are
are are going to go. And I guess which how
it shakes out for the Huskies in the second half
of the season.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
Absolutely, and that's that that will be a very big
and emotional game for them this week. Uh and and
BC will be looking to take advantage of that for sure.
But that, yeah, that's a that's a little piece of
hockey history, and particularly women's hockey history in Boston. So
if you get a chance to tune in, you should
just to get sort of that one more last look
at at Matthew's. But that that's a really interesting point

(43:34):
in terms of of the they love playing there, they
love their fan base. They they much like I talked
about Aho State, they sort of embraced their their old barn.
And so I do think, yeah, like there, there isn't
no home advantage when you don't have that home anymore,
all right.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
So they're going to be playing a lot of different venues.
I mean, Boston is an area that is lucky have
quite a few college hockey capable venues, and so they'll
they'll be playing in a few of them as their
new arena is being built on the same site over
the next couple of years. If you're in Boston and
have never been to Matthew's Arena, take that opportunity to

(44:13):
go check out Saturday's game. It's a I've been there,
well for two days. I was there a couple of
years ago, and it's a it's an interesting old barn
and I'm glad I was there to see it for
at least that brief period of time, because wow, that's uh,
it took me back to some some some old days
of old rinks that I was at when I was

(44:36):
a kid, and man, that's a there's just so much
history in there, and and they don't design buildings like
that anymore with for good reason in a lot of ways.
But it does have it's it's charm and uh.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
It's also but also it's just an old place.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Yeah, right. I I did find the the worst possible
seat there where you're like literally really staring at a
poll for you know, the entire game. But hopefully they
don't sell that one, but yeah, so I have. So again,
check out the schedule page on us EHO dot com
for all of the games this week. Nicole, before we go,

(45:18):
I am so glad that the question about uh, written
or read by JJ Watt about Reggie White as in
Wisconsin Night, you got that one correct on Jeopardy last Thursday. So,
first off, congratulations on home. Yeah there, there would have
been some discussions there, but congratulations on just going through that.

(45:42):
And it looks like it was a super cool, just
kind of moment in time. I wonder if if you
want to now that you can tell us everything about
what happened instead of just you know, the parts that
are not about the broadcast. But what what are you
going to remember about that day of kind of taking

(46:05):
that Allie in.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Honestly, that question is what stuck with me. But can
I admit that I didn't remember that J J Watt
read it. I just remembered I got the Reggie White question.
So I faced Harrison, who's a super champion at this point,
he's like top twelve all time Jeopardy winner and so,
and I watched him beat six other people before I
had to go on. And also like warm up his

(46:29):
his buzzer finger, which is the hardest part to begin with.
And so yeah, yeah, at some point you're a little like,
I can't believe I had all this build up and
this is like a little bit afterwards, I was like,
that's it. Like that, that's what I just built myself
up for to be like bulldozed by this super champ.
But I will say in the past like week or
so of everybody being so kind and nice and excited

(46:50):
about it has like totally not that I got over
that pretty quick, but like has really changed my sort
of lasting impression of doing this. I think I never
it wasn't a lifelong goal because it wasn't something I
had ever thought about doing, Like it just didn't really
occur to me. And I did this a little bit
on a whim, and it all went really.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Well for me.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
And I'm sure there are people that absolutely hate me
for that, but it's all it was all such a
whirlwind that like it was a little like spinning a
bunch and then just stopping and like trying to find
your bearings coming out of app like getting my butt
beat by Harrison and so so yeah, there was just
a little like trying to find that equilibrium, but honestly
it was it was hard to beat him on the buzzer.

(47:32):
The buzzer is hard anyway, and then he was, you know,
in his fourth game of the day and you're in
your sweet spot in his thirteenth or fourteenth game overall.
And so just getting in on some stuff was really nice.
Getting the only sports category that happened the week of
my tapings because they take five a day, so I
got the NFL category and that was the only sports category.
And then there was one that was literally on a

(47:53):
tee for me, and I beat him. They beat Harrison,
which was awesome. There was also one about Tottenham Hotspur. Actually,
somebody commented that I was laughing about it being taught them.
They're like, oh, she must be an Arsenal fan, and
I was like, actually, I was laughing because Erison lives
in England and so I was just really excited to
beat him to the buzzer on on something that very
much was in his wheelhouse. Uh So, yeah, those, it's

(48:14):
it's more the little stuff that I remember from that.
The lasting I think has just been how sort of
joyful and happy, like everybody's been so nice in a
way that like is both uncomfortable and like truly delightful
and like makes me happy. But uh, it's just been

(48:37):
beyond like you couldn't have dreamed it. Like even if
this was a lifelong dream, I still think it would
have exceeded it. It just it just was a really
cool experience. And I'm thrilled that I got to do it,
and I'm thrilled that I didn't make an ass of
myself un publiced in front of everybody. I didn't get
any questions wrong, and my two things, I got the

(48:58):
final jeopardy wrong, but also I couldn't lose second place,
and so when it didn't come to me, I also
didn't try very hard to get it. I was like,
was a question that involves Avengers, I won't spoil just
in case anybody else, I'll watch it. But I could
not think of the third Avengers movie. Well, I'm like, well,
it's not Infinity War and it's not Age of Ultron,
and I could not come up with endgame, Like my

(49:19):
head just would not go there. And I just was like, well,
so I just took a time to like look around
the studio and really soak it all in because it
couldn't lose second place, and I will. A thing that
I haven't talked about is they literally give you a
sharpian a piece of paper to do the math for
the final thing, and neither of the other two guys
in my episode did that, like they just didn't care.

(49:40):
I don't, but I wanted to make sure I stayed
with a dollar more than double the guy in third
And I'm journalist. Guys, we've talked about we do. I
don't math. I do not, So like everybody is waiting
for me as I'm like quite literally hand calculating and
being like, don't screw this up. Don't screw this U.
That was a funny moment, but yeah, it's it. Yeah,

(50:05):
the whole thing is still entirely surreal. I was really
excited to not have to sit and watch it in
front of my entire extended family or my husband's exti family.
But then on Thursday or Friday, we went to a
bar and some friends came and I ended up being
projected up on the wall, which is not something I
want to repeat. But everybody was just really nice, like

(50:25):
total strangers came over to watch and things like that.
So it's been overwhelming like there were times in September
when I was like, what is happening? Is like the
hockey season was, I was like, I'm not meeting deadline,
but then staying up till one in the morning studying
all that sort of stuff. But it's it was entirely
worth it. It's it's been a blast, And I think
under the circumstances, I was like, would I have liked

(50:47):
to not face here? Sisly like it felt like there's
no way I'm winning. But I also like, at the
midpoint of the game was close to him. We got
a really hard board in the circuit round, and that's
just how it went. I mean, we we've all stood there. Oh. Also,
I what I learned is that I make a ton
of faces, which I guess I kind of know watching this,
but if you're watching this, you will notice that I

(51:08):
close my eyes or look away quite a bit. But yeah,
I am one giant reaction meme. During and during that taping,
sidyat Thanksgiving and the episode showed some places and people
are sending me screw like pictures of their TV with
me making faces while I'm eating Thanksgiving dinner. So you know,
what are you gonna do?

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Right? Well, and you got a shout out for women's
hockey out there, so that was cool. So that was
nice awesome. Well, yeah, glad that you had that opportunity.
And if you didn't get a chance to see it yet,
it is on the Peacock still for a couple more
days as of our recording here early in the week
and so you can check it out there. But yeah,

(51:53):
pretty cool opportunity.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
So how how did you for the last thing? I
want to ask about that? If people are interested in
doing that and getting on Jeopardy, how how did you
do it? And what? Like what was the process of
Like you did it on some website correct that they
applied for it.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Jeopardy dot com has an online test. You are not
signing up to take the test. When you go in,
the test will just start, so be prepared for that.
I didn't know that. That probably helped me because I
did not freak out it like the clock started and
I was like, Okay, I'm just going to start answering questions.
And I think too, it's important like while I do
think you know, Jeopardy contestants are smart and do have

(52:34):
a wide variety of knowledge, like also it's just look
at the draw and what the questions are, you know,
like we had a whole category in trees and we
all just stood there. But they're probably people that are like, oh,
why did you know that? And I think that, like
you have to whatever. The twenty five question first test
is like you just have to be able to hit
some of that. So I did that. I took I

(52:55):
got invited back to take a second test, which is
fifty questions. It's still just typing on your computer, but
ones on Zoom so they can make sure you're not cheating.
And then the third round was like a game on Zoom,
Like I competed against three other people and I had
a little ten for my clicker and had to do
an interview with the producers. So yeah, it's uh the
process for me. I think I started right at the

(53:17):
end of June and I was booked by mid September,
and I taped on October twenty first, and then it
aired on Thanksgiving, so super quick turned around. But if
you fast all those you get put in the contestant
pool for two years, so you could be pulled at
any point. And if you're not pulled at the end
of that two years, then you can start the whole
process over again. A right, that's the short well the

(53:40):
shortened version.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Yeah yeah, so I'm sure there are some people out
there that are rushing to that website jeparty dot com
and going to take care of it right now. All right, Well,
that's going to wrap it up for this week. We
hope you enjoy this week's games. You can check out,
as I mentioned, all of the the schedules and I've
scores on us HL dot com and you can watch

(54:03):
a lot of those games on streaming services. That Northeastern
BC game is on Nessen Saturday afternoons, so you can
check that out if you have nesson or if you
have ESPN Plus, it'll be on that as well. So Forticle,
I'm Todd. Thanks for watching or listening to the Bodycast.