Critical series ahead in ECAC Hockey and WCHA; St. Thomas has a breakthrough

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com take a look at the last full weekend in January, when St. Lawrence and Clarkson couldn't decide anything in a rivalry series, Long Island and Sacred Heart couldn't decide anything at the top of NEWHA and St. Thomas removed the interim tag from coach Bethany Brausen after a program first.

The women's goalie of the year award will be narrowed to 10 finalists soon, and we look at some of the top candidates and discuss how much the games played column matters.

This week's Bracketology has a new look and a couple teams who might get on a bus rather than a plane.

And the look ahead to this weekend's games starts with a series between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Minnesota in Minneapolis.

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Uscho dot com. Hi, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
Todd Malusky here with Nicole Hasey. We are talking a
big week of NCAA women's hockey results and a big
week coming up, but also some news along the way. Nicole,

(00:25):
looking back at the weekend, Man, I don't know where
to start. Saint Thomas sweeping Duluth, first time they've ever
beaten a top five team, and they did it twice.
We had Clarkson and Saint Lawrence getting splits. We had
the leaders in New Hall l i U and Sacred

(00:46):
Heart getting a split. Man, There's there's a lot to
go into there. Where do you want to start there?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Sure, let's start with Clarkson and Saint Lawrence. That was
one of those ones where it's like, oh, this is
this is hockey for you. So on Friday we had
a six or five win by Saint Lawrence and on
Saturday we had a win a win by Clerkson. Not
sure how that happens or works in terms of you've
got that kind of firepower, but the defense really stepped

(01:14):
up in the second game. Interestingly, each team won on
the road. Those two schools are like, I think ten
miles apart, so it was a home and home series.
But yeah, I think it continues to say good things
about Saint Lawrence when they can find all that firepower
and they're doing it on fairly low shot counts. They're
just it's a really efficient scoring set up they've got. Obviously,

(01:39):
you know, Clerkson made adjustments and we know Clarkson has
good defense, and they were able to really shut it
down on the second day. So that's in terms of
like as we had the postseason, you're talking one game
at a time, like Saint Lawrence has gotta you know,
do some work there to not really be able to
be shut off that completely and that easily. But yeah,

(02:00):
I just think they just moved the puck really well there.
You know, it's all spread out, and yeah, when you're
you're able to score those kind of like put up
those kind of scores when you have half them on
the shots of your opponent, like you're doing pretty well.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah. St. Lawrence on the Friday game scored six times
on seventeen shots on goal, So obviously efficient if you
want to look at it that way. Abby Hustler with
the go ahead goal with three forty eight remaining and
you got to imagine that's a gut check. Then overnight
for Clarkson score five and lose. Your season's kind of

(02:35):
in terms of both ECAC standings and where you are
in pairwise seasons a little bit in flux there in
terms of where you stand. You have to respond when
you go on the road. Then on Saturday, and they
did that. They again held the shots down. Holly Grouper
made eighteen says for a shutout, one nothing win. Riea

(02:58):
Hicks with the power play goal of only goal of
the game eleven twenty left in the third. So both
those games decide in the third period, which is, I
guess what you expect this time of the year, and
you're getting in January, in late January, and then the
February when these games are going to be even if
they're you know, there's a lot of goals, they're still
a pretty good chance they're gonna be tight down to

(03:20):
the finish.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, I mean, I am loath to say anything is
must win. We are still a little ways out, but
it does feel like Clerkson is in that sort of
must win territory in terms of their NCAA hopes, And
anytime I should say that, like while we're talking about
that at this time of the year. That's all assuming
they don't you know, win the conference tournament, and that's
them or anybody else. We're talking about it this time,

(03:42):
we're talking about at large chances. Obviously, if they wouldn't
their conferences autobid, that makes uh, that makes things quite
clear and easy. But sort of maybe assuming that they
don't looking at at large, it does feel like they are,
you know, they're in a really precarious position and they've
got got work to do, and so you we'll come back,
we'll talk a little bit about Wisconsin Verus Saint Cloud.

(04:04):
But we saw Wisconsin, you know, tying and then winning
a shootout against a ranked team and losing you know,
one and a half points in the NPI. So like
we were both surprised sort of at how much movement
that was for one game against the ranked opponent that
wasn't a loss. And to me, that just shows that,
like everyone we've been saying, every one of these games
are so important and such a big deal. Like there

(04:25):
you one loss or one sort of slip up can
really make a huge difference. Wisconsin's lucky enough to have
a big lead, but bringing that back to this conversation,
it just shows how how sort of devastating to your
ranking when we're talking MPIs and teams are tents of
hundreds of points apart, hundreds of points apart. When you

(04:47):
can have that much movement in one game, that's like
that could be devastating. One one more slip up.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, and I guess on the the flip side of that,
staying out East, but looking at h in Hockey East,
well part of it in Hockey East, but Northeastern getting
a three win week when you look at basically starting
of last Tuesday with the bean Pot Championship game of
four nothing went over BU and then wins at home

(05:13):
and on the road against Merrimack over the weekend. That
that does big things. And Northeastern all of a sudden
is one eight of the last ten games and they're
sitting here at ninth and in the last at large
what would be the last at large spot as of
right now in the tournament. And so there's there's a
lot that can happen here when you get on a
little bit of a role. Clarkson has to do that,

(05:35):
Northeastern has to keep doing that.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, and you know, we we've talked about like when
the opportunity is there, when you know it's on a
platter for you, you have to you have to be the
time type of team that sees that and seizes it.
It's the thing that I've sort of been saying, too
many teams haven't been doing. And you know, Boston College,
Boston University, yukon, none of them have run away with

(05:59):
with Hockey East knowing created separation and that left you know,
that left space. And now Northeastern has you know, as
you said, gone on a little street here and really
done themselves well. So again, every game matters and and
I think I feel like I'm just gonna say that
on on repeat right now, but amazing what a couple
of games, you know, what a couple of weeks and

(06:20):
a really positive a couple of outcomes can do for you.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Tell me you're Northeastern without telling me you're Northeastern winning
games for nothing, for nothing for one, right, I mean
what we've seen for years out of Northeastern. It's you know,
a different cast now, and it's maybe a little bit
different in terms of what we've seen earlier in the season.
But if they're gonna play that kind of game. That's

(06:45):
that's kind of the way they're gonna win is having
some some really strong play in the d zone and
being opportunistic with the goal.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Scoring, right, And I feel like maybe they just it
just took them longer this year than we're used to
from them to sort of find their groove. The other
thing is that the freshman goalie Lisa Johnson, like she's
having a great season, but like she didn't get all
the starts to start. I think she's only got like
twelve fifteen somewhere in there, so her numbers are great,

(07:14):
and she it's like it took that little bit of
time for her to earn that starting role. It took
a little bit of time for the defense or I'm
sorry for the offense to really settle in. And I mean, hey,
if you are gonna wait to find your groove, now
is a really good time to do it. So just
sort of timing that in this long season can be difficult.
Right now in Northeastern's doing a great job of that.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
They see Johnson with the thirty saves in the championship
game of the bean Pot and then a twenty five
save shutout to follow it up at home against Mary
mac last Friday. So yeah, it's an impressive couple of
games there, and then a one goal or a for
to one game where you give a one goal is
doing the job pretty well then too. Let's turn it
back out west here again where a couple of results

(07:58):
from a Thursday a Friday series last week. So this,
this game on Thursday kind of had the entire landscape
of NCAA women's hockey to itself. Uh and Saint Thomas
scores very late to get a three to two win
against Minnesota Duluth, like I mentioned before, its first ever

(08:21):
win over a top five team, and then they come
back to the next day and get a four to
three overtime win coming from behind. In both of those games,
the d Luth had the lead after the second period
of both of those games and wasn't able to close
it out. And that's maybe something we get into in
a minute. But on the Saint Thomas side, big things
happening there. You know, this is a team that's that's building.

(08:43):
We know that it's had a rough go of it
this season, all over the place, on the ice, in
the locker room, in that night in Bamigi where things
kind of went Haywire. We don't still know the full
story there, but Jroel Johnson out as coach. After that,
Bethany Brasen comes in as interim coach, and now, as

(09:04):
we learned over the weekend, has the full time job.
So that's a lot of big things happening in a
few days. For Saint Thomas, it felt like.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, well, I thought it was a really cool way
to cap off the really like outstanding weekend for them
as the first ever sweep of a rinked opponent as well,
and so just they they were, I mean, Dandy Strum
I think is sort of a steal of a goaltender
for them. She was with, you know, the USU eighteens.
She's just a really she's got international experience. She's a

(09:36):
really good goaltender. She has proved that already. But she
just gives them that solid foundation and so that makes
a huge difference. What I thought was great for Saint
Thomas was scoring from different lines. It wasn't all you know,
one or two players. They often scored early and then
Minnesota Duluth pushed back and was at one point they
scored like three in a row, and then Saint Thomas
push back on that and that's just such a huge

(09:58):
the ability to do that to not I mean, they
had lost ten in a row. I mean, you would
not blame Saint Thomas if the players didn't have that
in them at this point in the season, after the
season they've had, right after what we just talked about,
but the fact that they are, they're still playing, they're
still pushing, they're still knowing that they can win games

(10:18):
against the number four team in the country. And then
generally when we see stuff like this, then we see
that next game where the right team comes back. Just
absolutely you know, Hammers back and that sink Cloud did
I'm sorry, Saint Thomas did this two games in a row.
I just it really says a lot about sort of
their characters, the team, about what we I think they
can be capable of both this year and in the future.

(10:41):
And yeah, just a really exciting series. It was just
like you couldn't help but be pulling for them, knowing
all that's going on. And then and when they announced
yesterday that they were giving Bras and the the taking
the interim tag off her title. You know, the athletic
director said he'd known for a while that that she
was going to be the choice that they were going

(11:01):
to stay with her, but they were waiting for the
right time to announce it, and so yeah, this is
a pretty good time to do.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
That, right say.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Just a really amazing weekend for them. It was it
was hard not to be cheering for them. Sorry to
lose fans, but it just knowing what they've gone through,
seeing what they were doing, you know, on the ice,
seventy three saves on the weekend for danny Strom, twenty
nine total blocks, six different goal scorers, like that whole
team earned this weekend sweep and that was really just

(11:32):
kind of special to watch.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Also Lindaman with the credited with the goal with twenty
five seconds left and the third on Thursday to get
that win, and then Ella Berger with the overtime goal
on Friday for the sweep. Yeah, on the other.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Men's first career goal too, which is pretty amazing.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
On the other side of that, you've got a Deluthium
that's now lost more straight after going ten unbeaten, and
so that's a pretty sizable bump in the road and
you see what it does in the ranking or in
the pair wise, where you all of a sudden Duluth
now finding itself in in sixth. And the difference between fourth, fifth,
and six, as we've talked about before and we'll keep

(12:11):
talking about, is huge because you're in fourth, you're at home,
you play one game to get to the Frozen four.
You're in fifth, you still only have to play one
game to get to the Frozen four, but it's on
the road. You're in sixth. Now you're on the road
and you've got to play two games. That's a yeah,
just a massive change in a couple of spots. And
and that's that's where de Luth has fall into And

(12:33):
obviously a lot to be played here still on a
lot that can be made up, especially in a a
pair wise early an NPI situation where the numbers are
are pretty close and and you know a game or
two are are going to change a lot. But H. D.
LUTH's got to find some answers pretty quick, and they've

(12:53):
got the number one team of the country coming in
the town.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Say it doesn't get easier, right, Yeah? Yeah, So they
have Wisconsin the weekend at home, traveled to Bamidge, have
Mankato at home, and then finish out their weekend in
Minneapolis and its Minnesota. So we've seen that Bamidge and
Minnesota State aren't you know, pushover teams and that what
they can do against these top apponents, and so you

(13:17):
can't even say that like you know, they might get
a little mental break or anything like this. This is
those are sort of trap games after what they have
been through here. And so yeah, Wisconsin and Minnesota bookending
those those two series, it's a it's a fight to
the finish for Duluth. And and again, like I don't
think I don't know that anything catastrophe. I think they're
probably still a tournament team on like based on the

(13:40):
rest of their season. But there's as we've noticed, there's
just not a lot of room, not a lot of
wigle room, and so they've got there's a lot of
pressure here with these these final few games. Not they're
not winner go home, but they're not not that there's
there's a lot of pressure there.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Ye. Definitely In Madison, Wisconsin beat Saint Cloud Fire. I
have to two in the Saturday game there, and Saint
Cloud came back on Sunday trailing to one after two
periods and got a tow to two tie the first
time in fifty eight tries that Wisconsin wasn't able to
close out a second intermission lead and get a victory
out of that. Laura Zimmerman got the game tying goal.

(14:18):
The Badgers did win the extra point in a shootout
after that, so they got five to six points from
the series. But Saint Cloud the first team to get
a point from the Badgers at Lebam this season. So
that's a you know, breaking the kind of the chase
for perfection there at home. Anyway for Wisconsin, Saint Cloud
was able to do it, and they they did it

(14:41):
by you know, just doubling down on the defensive side
and being then you know, taking their chances when they
get them. Offensively, they were a lot better through the
middle of the ice in locking down the way the
Wisconsin wants to play, entering the zone, creating things.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
With that could not complete a pass. There was just
no flow, right, And.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
We were mentioning before we started here that at one
point in the first period there were nine combined shots
on goal and eight icing. So the flow, no, there
was no such thing, and it was just a I
don't know, but I would imagine Saint Cloud's okay with that.
You know, you'll take it. Yeah, a face off versus lighting,

(15:21):
Wisconsin have a rush or have a.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
The longer Wisconsin it has flow like it's like the
the ice keeps tilting, like they just it's gonna be
like downhill skating for them. I would say like Saint
Cloud did absolutely everything right and Wisconsin looked listless. They looked,
they looked very unlike the top team in the country.
Both their goals were power play goals. They weren't able

(15:43):
to score even strength. Saint Cloud outshot them seven to
four in the third period and four zero in overtime.
Like Wisconsin's real lucky to have escaped with the tie
in the shootout, whin like Kirsten's. Him's shootout goal was
about the only pretty moment that happened in entire game
for Wisconsin. Uh, it's a wake up call. And you know,

(16:04):
as we both have talked to Mark Johnson a ton
we like I I can guarantee his uh something. Some
of what he said was that, you know, better for
that to happen now happened in late January than at
another time later in the season. Maybe they need that
little bit of wake up call. But yeah, it was Uh,
it was not pretty. From the Badgers and they absolutely

(16:24):
cannot afford to play like that pretty much for the
rest of the season. I imagine that it's it was
a tough day at practice today. I imagine those are
some really competitive girls, right, Like we know there are
a ton of national team players on that team. I'd
imagine they they are a little embarrassed by what they
did on Sunday, and so I think that there will

(16:46):
be bounced back. I expect that the competitiveness and players
like are on that team will sort of be triggered.
But yeah, it was, Uh, it was not pretty to
watch and a stream you were who were there in
the person, I imagine it was just as frush straighting there.
But yeah, that was a way to go Saint Cloud
because they really exploited. They did everything that they need

(17:07):
to do to make Wisconsin's life hard. They did it
well and they took advantage of the opportunities that they
had to put the goal in the net.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
And a great job by Amelia Carico in Gold Cloud State,
especially in the last three minutes of the second period.
Wisconsin's up to one has a few chances to go
up three to one, and Koreco had three really good
saves and the Badgers had the puck in the offensive
zone for two straight minutes and we're basically just cycling

(17:36):
the puck round. They got a full line change in
while Saint Cloud didn't. And for Saint Cloud to get
through that stretch then get to the third only down
a goal, you gotta think that that adds some belief
and they were able to take that. And I'm sure
they would love to have more than one point out
of it to show for it, but even that is
is fairly significant given given the totality of the I.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Think, yeah, absolutely, and I uh, you know, we've talked
in the past about how difficult and how frustrating a
team it can be for a team like Saint Cloud,
who is you know, playing having a good season, has
good players, is ranked and it's still the fifth team
in the conference, right, Like, there's just like that the
jump in that huge hill to get over. And so
I think when the things are hard, stuff like that

(18:23):
is what you you kind of call back to and like,
remember what we were capable of, Remember what we did
when we did everything right, like in the hardest practices.
They're going to be talking about that game to sort
of mentally get through stuff and uh yeah, Amelia, the
freshman goalies this year have been absolutely outstanding. Honestly makes
me wonder what would happen if she played in the
first game, which, like, no, no shade to Sania Hola,

(18:45):
who has also always been spectacular, but Kirko just seemed
really locked in and uh capable of reading the Badgers
really well. So I'm excited to see what she continues
to do. Because yeah, the freshman goalies, uh, particularly the
European freshman goalies have been spectacular in the NCAA this season.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Back out East last week, we'd hype this up last
week a little bit in the New Hobby what could
have been a title decider in theory between Long Island
and Sacred Heart.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
We should have known better.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, ends up being a split, and they're both basically
where they were last week, just two games closer to
the finish. Both tied on twenty points with four weeks
left in the regular season. A couple of shutouts in
that series. Sacred Heart on the road on Saturday with
a one nothing win, Kaylee Smith with the goal with
ten forty one left. Carlie Green had a shutout with

(19:37):
twenty saves and then Long Island responds on Sunday at
Sacred Heart two goals from Ashley Morrow, a twenty four
saves shutout from Abby Thompson, and a three to nothing
win there, And so it's gonna be something else that
decides who wins the regular season crowd on the New
Hot Honestly, it might end up as a tie, and

(19:57):
then you're going into deep into the a little deeper
into the tiebreakers because they've split their series.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
I'm not ready to go there yet, figure but I
don't want to learn conference tiebreakers yet. But yeah. The
other thing is Franklin Pierce lost and tied and stone
Hill won both their games. So now you're you're two
teams that are tied for second or third. You want
to count one two anyway, they are five points behind.
So you've got two teams tied with thirty nine points

(20:26):
Lau and so great Heart and then Franklin Pierce and
stone Hill right behind them with thirty four points. So arguably,
if things continue, you know, if they there's enough time
for either of those teams to make up some ground.
So uh, yeah, that's uh, but it's fun right Like
in the fifth team has thirty two. I mean, they're
unlike seeing in some's unlikely to win, but they this

(20:46):
is gonna be a fight to the finish for a
conference champion. And like we're last year where where LA
sort of skated off with it pretty early. It's it's
it says good things for the growth of the conference
and and hockey of women's hockey overall, that that this
is such a close rate.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yes, speaking of skating off with things early, that's what
Penn State's doing again. Yeah, now used be CCHA now
Atlantic Hockey, And just to point out Wisconsin as the
best winning percentage in the country, Number two is Penn
State and said is at twenty three four and one. Obviously,
their their conference schedule is is not as demanding as

(21:21):
some of the other the teams in you know, w
CCHA ECAC. But to be there in the you know,
end of January with twenty three wins is a pretty
pretty strong accomplishment for that program.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah. And I would say normally when we're talking bracketology
and like accounting for teams the the Cchase, last team
is not already that high up in the pairrise, Like
we have to assume one of the spots you know,
like nine or ten, eleven for that conference winner, but
Penn State seventh in the pairwise, like they are they

(21:55):
are despite you know, sort of they're that different schedule
and of that stuff, Like they're still playing at this
incredible pace and putting themselves up there to the point
that like they're they're pushing teams out of out in
the pairwise, and normally we don't see that conference's champion
sitting that.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
High, and it can make a team that's in ninth
in the pairwise feel a little bit uncomfortable if Penn
State is high enough to get in regardless and but
loses a game in its conference championship or conference playoffs
and then all of a sudden, Atlanta Kakia has two
teams in the tournament, and it's taking probably that ninth

(22:37):
spot away from well another spot away from a team
that that would be in otherwise. So that's that's where
that gets a little dicey butt. A lot to be
played before we get there really talking about that.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, and just you know, shout out. Tessa Janiki continues
having a historic career. Again, she's only her junior junior,
so she is not yet completed three full seasons. Last
week she broke the women's hockey record career points record.
In this week, she broke the Penn State hockey career
points record men's or women's. So yeah, just continues to,

(23:15):
you know, be the really good player that she is,
absolutely unsurprising, you know, newer program as well. But yeah,
I imagined she will be writing some record book numbers
that won't be approached for quite a long time. If ever,
she's just that good.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Back to E. C A C for a minute before
we wrap up this segment. We have Colgate in fourth,
we have Cornell in fifth, and the pairwise right now,
and both of them had interesting weekends. You want to
get into that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, we we had some fun on Friday, right, it
was Friday. What are days? The Saint Thomas U and
D games being Thursday Friday have me all messed up.
But on Friday, Colgate needed overtime to beat Harvard, so
they did get that extra point by getting the overtime win.
Cornell and Dartmouth played two a to two tie. Cornell

(24:08):
did wing the the shootout, but in ECAC that doesn't
matter unless we're coming to tie breakers. Uh. In the
ECAC a tie gets you one and a half points,
an overtime win gets you two points, and I would
would you like to guess the difference between those teams
if the standings at crop the top the ECAC a
half point? It is todd and I do are not

(24:31):
big fans of the one and a half slash half point,
but yeah, just really interesting, right, Like Harvard is I
think like a two win ECAC Conference team, and I
think Dartmouth has four like no offense to over either
of those teams, but they they should not be in
very close games with the top two teams of their conference,
the FI and six teams overall in the country. So yeah,
some gut chat moments overall for for top teams this week, right,

(24:55):
Dartmouth played amazing their goalie, Mikhaela Hesse, one of my
favorites that I met through U eighteen's She played a
really great game Harvard. I think just if that game
was about eight minutes shorter, maybe even less, like they
just sort of ran out of steam right there at
the end. And Colgate obviously has a ton of scoring ability,
but yeah, sort of head scratching outcome there, and of

(25:19):
course they both went on the next day, and because
those are travel partners, they switched and both won their
games against the opposite team. So, you know, Cordell beat
Harvard six to one, Coldgate beat Dartmouth for one. It
felt like, you know, Friday was a little bit of
the upside down. I don't, I'm not. I'm still unsure
what happened there in I just also wanted to bring

(25:40):
up Brown and Quinnipiac, which was a zero zero tie
and then had like a twelve round shootout, something like
that eleven round shootout. So I just feel like there
was a lot of head scratching, kind of like the
state Lawrence Clerkson all the goals and then none of
the goals. ECAC had had a lot of head scratchers
this week. But you know that the point being, as

(26:01):
we continue to say, in one goal, one period at
the moment that get getting an over getting a tie
versus getting an overtime win is the difference in winning
the C a C right now.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Wow, Okay, let me let me digest that for a minute.
We're going to take a break. When we come back,
we're going to have some news from the NCAA women
Women's Ice Hockey Committee. We're going to have a look
at bracketology, and then we're going to look at what's
coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.

(26:36):
Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Luski here with Nicole Hasey. Uh.
It's starting to be award season. We're starting to talk
about it. We're going to get in about a week
a little bit more of the week see the names
of the top ten finalists for the Women's Goalie of
the Year Award. And I feel like there's there's some

(26:58):
names you you know they're they're going to be on there,
but then there's some questions you can have about did
this goalie play enough? Did this goalie play enough big games?
I guess it's it's up to individual voters to kind
of parse those out for themselves. How are you looking
at that right now? What's your what's your thought on

(27:20):
how much you weigh number of games when you're talking
about a team that's playing a lot of games against
you know, really good competition versus someone who's who hasn't
had that many.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah, I mean, for me, the more games definitely weighs
like that. That is a heavy sort of part on
the top for me. The goalies Splitting time is a
fairly new concept like to be regularly used in women's
college hockey, right, Like, we saw it occasionally, but in
the last couple of years we've seen it a lot more.

(27:54):
And you know, from a sort of conditioning standpoint, safety standpoint,
and a preparation standpoint, I definitely understand it, and to
that extent, I don't want to like punish anybody for
their school doing that. That being said, if you look
at like overall steinnings right now, you've got players like
Ohio States Heley McLeod who only has ten starts. So

(28:15):
we're not even talking like a split time, right because
like Northeastern's Lisa Johnson has sixteen, or Tia chan from
Connecticut and her co partner partner has ten, Tia Chana sixteen,
Megan Order Connecticut has ten. So like the sixteens is
one thing. The ten is like, wow, that's like ten
is probably the minimum starts to be even considered, right,

(28:37):
And so it's yeah, it's a little difficult to like
decide this is a really good save percentage your goals
against someone who's played twenty seven games versus someone who's
played ten, and then up to sixteen. Yeah, that's a
really tough one. I definitely weigh like, if you've got
great numbers and you've played twice as many games, like
lord knows that's to have gotten to those numbers is difficult, right,

(28:59):
And so yeah, I think you have to weigh how
many starts. I think you have to weigh the quality
of competition. You know. It's it's one thing to just
like say so and so has a save percentage of
this or goals against of that. But to say that,
I have to say that like it exists in a vacuum,
doesn't It's it's disingenuous, right, Like if you're not playing,

(29:19):
if you're strict, the schedule isn't huge. If you know
the games that they're playing are like they got lucky
in the schedule and they're not playing some of the
tougher teams. When you're talking, you know, some of the conferences,
you don't necessarily play two game weekends, you know, like
a set two game series. I don't know I did
every year. I waffle on this and the Goalie of

(29:42):
the Year is only a couple of years old, and
so you know, I was sort of one of the
really big advocates for this, this award needing to exist.
We were getting occasional goalies making Patty Kaz Finalists lists
or winning the award, and it was clear that this
was necessary. But you know, Doug, my own grave because
now I have to help the side it and I
have no idea what I'm doing ever. But yeah, I

(30:04):
think you know, you were saying, like, who are the
top players we're talking about. I think Gave mcnaton from
Wisconsin and Sophie nor Sophie Nordis from from Saint Lawrence,
probably analis bergman from Cornell. Those are all sort of
regular starters with a ton of starts. You've got Key
the Saw from Penn State. But again then you're talking
about weighing the numbers against j opponents. So from there, yeah,

(30:31):
that it gets a little fuzzier for me.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, I mean, if you're looking at the you know,
let's let's go by the list of goalie minutes. So
Sophie Nords some leads the nation in number of minutes
played for goalies and she's I believe sixth and save percentage.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
So yeah, or she's against.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, six and goals against, so okay, put her on
the list. I mean that she done done right, Yeah,
with him, I mean she's goals against save percentage time
and net done. Then you start, you know, right, then
it gets into the question of okay, let's let's put
the balance on this. Let's put put this on the

(31:17):
scale and see who who goes forward. I mean v
Gascon from Duluth twenty games played nine percentage. That sounds
pretty good to me. And so you're you're throwing names
in there using a couple of those categories as well. Yeah,

(31:40):
I mean, there's gonna be more than ten that probably
deserved to begin the ten obviously, but it's gonna be
just have to be a cutoff, and it's you know,
and ten's a little arbitrary, probably, But we always talk
about top ten lists for finalist things, so I guess that's.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, Well, hey, if we got on them for having
thirty three on the latch list, then we have to
stick to those guns and say like, yeah, you need
to have a cutoff. So I agree on that, Yeah,
but because there are so many discrepancies, right, and when
you get talking the win percentage of the tenth person

(32:16):
on this list is sixty percent, you know, and if
you just look at overall ranked by goals against the average,
so like things where you're like, oh, we should look
at you know, how many games have they won? How
many egle, like what circles all of that? You can
like talk yourself in circles. Yes, I'll count that. No,
I shouldn't count that, Yes I would. You know, well,
what does it mean if they play? Yeah, so I

(32:39):
don't know. I probably will make myself a little grid
that also includes some strength of schedule, just to help
balance a little bit of this. And I think for me,
I probably will not include a goalie that is is
that ten games played as of this week. I think
that that feels like a little low and a little
like sort of disingenuous to the numbers, to the players

(32:59):
that have twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven games played.
But that's my gut saying that right now. Lord knows,
I could change my mind several times before that, But
it does feel like there's it's one thing to split,
it's quite another to, you know, in a threeesome game season,
to only to have less than half the starts.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll have more on that, and
as we get closer to having you know, a smaller
list of players to consider on that, as you know,
especially because there's a lot of meaningful games that are
going to happen in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
For sure, making this decision now is yeah, also makes
it tough.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
One bit of news I wanted to wrap up from
last week on the show. We had talked about a
change in the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Committee, the group
that picks the well, that that really does the seating
and the bracketing of the tournament. That the picks are
done by the pair. Wise, let's let's be honest, they're
they're taking that off the list. But this is a

(34:02):
group that does the seating, the bracketing and also in
the off season does a lot of the work with
the if there are changes needed within the sport. Really
they're the ones that goes through. It's a five person group.
There's one person from each of the conferences represented. And
because Jeremy Gibson, the Merrimac ad is leaving for Lehigh

(34:25):
that he was the chair last season, was scheduled to
be the chair this season, he is moving off Hockey
East rep will be determined at some point in the
near future. But Janine Omen from Ohio State is the
new chair of the committee and we are going to
have her on the podcast in late February. So last

(34:46):
we got to talk to Jeremy last season. It was
a really insightful conversation just about what the committee has
to do in that couple of days in March when
the bracket needs to be done, and you know, just
some of the factors that go into that. And I
hope we have that same kind of conversation again and
come away with some insight into what's a really interesting

(35:12):
set of decisions they have to make in terms of
who goes where. Really if it's not a straightforward answer,
or you have to split up some conference teams.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Yeah, sort of. The one thing we haven't talked about
when we talked about atologies that those first round matchups
cannot be conference teams. They can't play someone else in
their conference, and so that's when those decisions on seating
and who ends up going where. That's where the committee really,
you know, gets their fingers dirty in terms of having
an impact. And so when you look look at the

(35:46):
parawise right now, and several of the top ten teams
are from the same two conferences that the toughly is
going to make a difference. But as you mentioned last week,
I think it'll be interesting this talk to Jenene about
what happens when it's your team that's in the discussion.
And with Ohio State winning two of the last three
national championships and playing in that third one, you know,
they've They've been a key part of the conversation recently.

(36:08):
And I do not think that being at merrim Mac
means that Jeremy wasn't good at what he was doing
or any of those sorts of things. But I do
think it's interesting when it's someone who has seen several
of the top teams on site, you know, seeing them
in person like whenever, it makes me think of like
when we when you do Patty KASMI are voting. You know,

(36:30):
when we have the top ten, we have a conference call,
and if you are familiar with the player, then you
speak up. So coaches from the same conference will say
something that sort of stuff, like, you know, as as
somebody who sees more games in the Midwest, I will
say something about players I've seen more often. Also I
just watch more games than a lot of people. But
so in terms of a conversation of like if you're
if you're sort of should this person before or this

(36:52):
team before, and this team be five someone that has
really like seen those teams and and and watched them
regularly throughout the season. I feel like that's that's an
interesting wrinkle to add to who that person is in
that role.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, since you mentioned bracketology, let's get into what things
might look like this week if the tournament ended right now,
which of course it doesn't. We know that, and for
this as this purpose, as we mentioned last week, we're
using proxies for the automatic bids from the five conferences
right now. We use the the highest winning percentage in

(37:29):
those conferences. So that's going to come into play when
we're talking about the new HA team being Long Island
right now, because they have one more win. They're tied
on points with Sacred Heart. They have one more win
in conference play, so I believe that would be the
tiebreaker that I well, that's what I'm going with right
now anyway. So a little bit change from last week,

(37:51):
and this one actually makes a little bit more sense
question mark with with some travel issues too. So Wisconsin's
still in the number one spot and the eight to
nine first round game that would play at Wisconsin Saint
Lawrence against Northeastern. So it's seems like a pretty that

(38:17):
would be a really good game. It would be a
really good game, and then it would really be a
really good second round game. Either way. I feel like
bottom half of that side of the brackets. This is
the four versus five, So that is predetermined. The committee
has said the team in number four is going to
play the team in number five, regardless of whether they
are in the same conference, which right now they are.

(38:37):
That would be Cornell playing at Colgate for a spot
in the frozen four. So intrigued there obviously as well.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Yeah, even though just for because the eleven team bracket
is excuse me, really difficult to visualize just that, even
though it is the only one happening that is technically
a second round game when we're talking about this, So
those those sort of first eight nine, that though, that
is first round, and that is the one where conference
matchups have to be avoided per the rules, and then

(39:06):
moving into that sort of regional round that is the
second round. So in that particular instance, that one doesn't
have a first round game, but it's still that one
is a quote unquote second round. Trying to make this
make sense. An eleven team Brock bracket every.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Year, there is some language if there were more than
three teams from the same conference in the bottom six,
they have to have a conference matchup because there's just
no way to avoid it. So I don't know if
that would ever happen, but if it did, that they
have to let that go. Moving over to the other
side of the bracket, Ohio State as the number two
seed that would then be in Columbus the first and

(39:45):
second round. There the first round, number seven, Penn State
against number ten be you who I have in as
the Hockey East leader right now.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
An automoate percentage, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
So Penn State against BEU winner to play File State.
I'm there for that. We saw Penn State in the
in the tournament last year and they, you know, they
showed themselves pretty well. I mean all in all, didn't
didn't look too out of place, honestly, and just didn't

(40:18):
get an overtime goal. That's right, came down. So and
then on the bottom corner of that side of the bracket,
Number three Minnesota hosting at Ritter where the Frozen Four
also will be the first round game there being number
six Minnesotada Luth against number eleven Long Island. So Duluth
being a little bit closer at a home, not being

(40:39):
at home anymore, but still being in Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Poor Luther has had to go to Minnesota in the tournament,
right for ever? Yeah they must feel that way, Yeah, yes.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
But you know, when you fall out of there or
top five, that's kind of the way things might end up.
I should mention that the Penn State bu at Ohio
State is an interesting one because Penn State is close
enough to bust to Ohio State, even though that would
be kind of a long bus ride, but within the

(41:17):
I believe four hundred miles is the limit. So that
could save the NCAA some money, which we know not
supposed to go after anymore officially, but if they can,
they're going to And in this case, it's not even
going away from the numbers. This is none of these

(41:38):
positions are anything different than they are in the pairwise,
so this would not be a switch to get that there,
but it would save some money. Nonetheless, that bus.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Ride would give is like the idea of that gives
me nightmares, like no, bless you Penn State. Your campus
is lovely, your rink is lovelier. You are in the
middle of nowhere and like teen miles past nor I
don't know. It's just like I drove there for the
Frozen four a few years ago because there's no easy
way to fly in and out. And I actually was

(42:08):
talking to someone work today and they went to the
football playoff game, stayed around in the city for a while,
tried to leave I think three to four hours after
the game ended. It still took them nearly three hours
to get to the freeway. So because there's one, there's
one road in and out of town. But anyway, that

(42:31):
is a not necessarily lovely, hilly, uncomfortable bus ride for
Penn State. So you know, I guess for their sake,
I hope that they end up somewhere.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Else, right, there's a good possibility that changes.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
And yeah, bless their hearts because that's like nightmares for me.
That sounds awful.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Well, let's on that happy note. Let's take it down.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I mean, I'm sure it's pretty, but they'll be doing
it when it's dark out and it will just be
hilly and uncomfortable when long.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
All right, fair enough, I have not had the pleasure.
I've been to the state college, but I've flown in directly.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Listen, we don't all have corporate expensive.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah, which is an adventure in itself because you come
down out of the hills and man, you just hit
the ground there and that's that's something.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
And also I get to do drive again next year.
And my friends are like, oh, we're not going with this.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Yere no jet bridge there either get off the airplane,
you walk down the steps and you walk across the tarmac.
So it's kind of interesting. So I wasn't expecting that
my first time there. And all right, anyway, let's take
a break. When we come back, we'll talk about what's
coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.

(43:55):
Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Milusky and Nicole Hawsey
with our last segment today, and this one's about what's
coming up this weekend. There's a big one at Ritter
Arena in Minneapolis. Number two Ohio State playing at number
three Minnesota. These are the teams that are you know,
when you talk about a two and a three overall,

(44:16):
that might be a frozen four semi final if they
both get there and if they both stay in the
same position. I'll say this again. A lot can change
down then, but these are teams that are usually in
that kind of spot. So a really big series, I
think on the Minnesota side because they only got one

(44:36):
point out of the series in Columbus earlier this season.
A couple of close games. The first game was a
one goal game, second one obviously tied, and Ohio State
won in a shootout, So to me, the Gophers have
a little bit more to play for here. Ohio State
is doing well, I believe, seventh straight wins since the

(44:59):
game at where they tied Wisconsin and won the shootout there,
so you know, And and the Gopher has got a
couple of wins against Bmidge last week, including one uh
through the Shadows at Valley Fair. I believe it's called
in the Twin Cities metro area there where there's Jack Apee, right,
I had Hockey Day Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
If you have a second to go on X and
look at the Gophers goals from that game, there's there's
one where Abby Murphy, what's the defense that there's like
traumatic shadows. It's it's like cinematic. It's a really pretty
piece of hockey video. For some outdoor outdoor playing. It's
it's really nice.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
It did some crazy shadows. I will give it that, yes,
from from that game. So Ohio State Minnesota, it's it's
two of the best teams in the country. I would
expect some some really good hockey out of this.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, And I would say so they they last played
back in October. Like the growth that has happened, you
know that the way that the teams have changed since
then is massive. But I think I would argue that
Minnesota has from where they were to where they are now,
like has a bigger growth arc. Like, I think they
have improved quite a bit from early on. They are
not reliant only on Aby Murphia score, which is a

(46:12):
huge difference from early on in the season. They just
they've settled in well. Some of the younger players have
come up, so uh yeah, I think it's I don't
think it will be the same series that we saw
in Columbus back in October. I think the Gophers sort
of a are playing downhill and really doing well and
and sort of getting everything to come together at the
right time. That's not to say obviously Ohio see it's

(46:35):
the number two team in the country. We know how
good they are. I just think Minnesota has grown quite
a bit more than than maybe I thought was possible,
or I thought we'd see from them back in October.
But they get the games at home, which is you know,
obviously always nice and yeah, I assume we're going to
get a split. I mean, like we keep saying like
we want, we want someone to we want to see

(46:56):
some separation. But I just they're the teams are too
good and whoever loses is going to come back with
a vengeance on day two. I will say, what's interesting
in this is is so because of the frozen Confines
Ohio State, Wisconsin had two more games played than everybody
else because those games got moved into January, they would
have happened later in the schedule. So at the moment,

(47:18):
Ohio State in Minnesota are tied in points, but Minnesota
has two games in hand. So in terms of w
A WHA standings and and seeding heading into the wh
A Tournament, I think this is probably a pretty key series.
Minnesota's got the better winning percentage right now. Obviously they're
in a better position to have the same amount of
points two games in hand, but Minnesota left a lot

(47:39):
of conference points on the board early on, and so yeah,
they could really use these.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
And I kind of made the reference to the possible
Frozen four semifinal earlier as a well, look it would
be in the same building too, So Minnesota, you know,
could really establish something there of you know, look, this
is our building. We know you you're looking to play
here later for a championship, but you're gonna have to
possibly go through us to do it. And we want

(48:05):
to make this homeleice advantage mean something and so that
that to me has the good If I'm the Gophers,
I'm really keyed up for this because because you need
this to show who's who's second in the WHA essentially.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Right, And we've talked about how it's sort of like
Wisconsin Ohio State, and there was a little bit of
separation then right to the next couple of teams when
we talked to national rankings or to w CCHA rankings,
and so Minnesota's had a couple of stumbles as well,
and so I think like they really need to establish
that like, no, we are you know, we're a team
that wants to play for a title. We are a
team that can play for a national championship, Like we

(48:45):
we're the number three team in the country and you
should be paying attention and we should should get some
credit for that. And I think maybe like mentally, Faians
and like maybe even us like haven't been there just
because there has been that separation, and like we said,
there were a couple of the stumbles, and so I
feel like, yeah, like you said, it's a really good
to end of January is a really good time to

(49:08):
sort of put your foot tone and really establish yourself
and say like we are we are not messing around.
We are here to play yep.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
Up the road in d Luth, the Bulldogs host Wisconsin.
As we mentioned earlier, with boy a four game losing
sting for the Bulldogs going in to that and Wisconsin
having gone fourteen undefeated. This this is the place Wisconsin
has had trouble before.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Though yes they have Minnesota Dluth, they seems to just
really get into their head and get into their game
in a different way when they're up in Duluth. And
and you know, we could we could talk forever about
why that is. But I think in terms of mentality
and psychologically, that first game is it's kind of must

(49:54):
win for both these teams. Obviously, Wisconsin will be okay.
You know, they have the WC, they have such a
huge lead, and they have that huge NPI lead at
the top of the pairwise, but I just think after
their game on Sunday, they really sort of want the
same idea, come back out and establish like we we're
the team to be and that wasn't who we are,

(50:14):
this is who we are. In Minnesota, Duluth is in
a precarious place at this point, I would say, so
that adding all of that into a game with more
than a month to play is really interesting, right.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah, it is. Over in ECAC hockey, the top four
teams all face off kind of against each other this weekend,
and that should be pretty exciting. On Friday, it's number
nine Clarkson playing at number four Colgate, number seven Saint
Lawrence playing at number five Cornell, and then on Saturday
you get Clarkson at Cornell, Saint Lawrence at Colgate. Again,

(50:52):
I was just looking at the standings and you talked
about it that it's you know, half a point here
then two points back. Then it's a little bit of
a gap there to Clarkson, but that could change in
a big way. After this weekend. Of course we say
that all the time. Then they end up splits and
then we're right back where we started from. But it
could change in a big way this year.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Yeah, I mean, and I all of those teams have
have sort of punched each other this year, Like there
hasn't as as sort of evidenced by the closeness in points,
but like there's to me, there's no clear cut one
number one team in that conference right now, and so
again there's an opportunity for someone to really take a
stand and be like we won both of these games,
like we established ourselves. They're all in a fine position nationally.

(51:36):
But yeah, I just it, there has not sort of
been one team that has shown that they're they're like
if they go out there, I'm odds on they're gonna win, right,
Like these matchups it is a it is a coin toss,
right now. Did you know who's going to come out
of those with those w's and so a similar concept.
But also I just think like you're talking a half

(51:56):
a point for a conference title or not, Like goodness gracious,
and these teams know each other really well. You've got
a lot of great goaltending on these teams and as
evidence last weekend, it could be six or five, it
could be one.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Nothing really good potential goalie matchup happening on Saturday in
Hockey East Northeastern net Yukon. Obviously we've seen Northeastern get
on a role here. Yukon needs to get on a
role here and obviously have have the goaltending to do it.

(52:31):
Do they have the fours to do it? The scoring
you do it is really kind of what it boils
down to.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Yeah, I mean, while Northeastern's out here sweeping their series
and winning, what did you see it? It was like eight
of ten or Connecticut bu we'll b C had a
loss in an in an ot win against Providence. Providence
out here just messing up everybody's season. Loving that for them.
These last couple of weeks, they're like, hey, nobody's running

(52:57):
away with this thing. But yeah, there's the teams aren't
picking up all the points that are possible for them.
And fascinating in Hockey East, how different they're national and
their pairwise rankings are versus how their standings are in
their conference. It's always a little bit for me, I'm like,
where should I be voting these people? What's happening here

(53:18):
because it doesn't necessarily match up. But again, I just said,
you know, a few weeks ago, Northeastern wasn't in the
conversation to win that conference, and that is definitely not
the case anymore.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Yeah, the numbers there, I mean, be you and Yukon
are tied at forty two points, but BU has a
game in hand there and then BC back at thirty nine,
Northeastern at thirty eight. So yeah, the results go the
right way, and all of a sudden that could flip around,
and then you do kind of get closer to matching
what the pair why says in terms of how the

(53:53):
hockey's you know, teams are ordered, But.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Yeah, Northeastern's fourth and their ninth in the pair wise, Like.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
What, Yeah, it's uh, I guess it's which games you win,
which games you lose for sure.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
It's just it is it feels like the it feels
like the math does not compute. I feel like I'm
getting like a four or four err or something like.
I just it doesn't It's not clean, and I don't
complicated math is hard for me. But yeah, it's uh,
Hockey East, I feel like there's just there's so much
to blay for and there's so little room for error,

(54:28):
and Northeastern going out and taking a bunch of points
from Yukon this weekend would be would be huge for them.
And and at this point there, I feel like they're
the odds on. They're they're the ones doing it consistently
right now.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Yeah, so, uh that's I mean, really, given the recent performance,
that's the team to watch for me right now. See
how how much they can stretch that this run to uh,
you know, potentially into a championship.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
And right they've got the momentum, they've got the confidence,
they've got the hot goalie, they just took the bean pot,
like all of the things, you know, it's all coming
up Northeastern for them right now.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
The things we weren't saying about them at the start
of January, for sure, Yeah, now we are right absolutely.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
And and and vice versa. The things that we were
saying about these other teams, like, I mean, you picked
be you early, but like things a plateau a little.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
A little bit, yeah, And that's I mean, when you
haven't necessarily been in you know, this this kind of
situation in the season.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Before that intangible of having been there before.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Man, that's that's where you see Northeastern has done this,
and I mean Yukon has kind of been there in
it too, and so maybe that does mean something as
we get in these last few weeks, that's what's gonna
make it fun well.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
And I think to some extent it is about that
is the thing that is. It's it's mentality, it's preparation.
It's a long season. Like we say that in a
lot it's a little cliche, but like friends, they've been
playing since September and we have, you know, several weeks,
like the Frozen four is late March, so this is
a really long season. And if you aren't prepared, and

(56:10):
you haven't, you have to know what you're able to
give an October and what you're able to give a January,
and what you're able to give in February. And you
have to prepare and that is everything from training to
nutrition to all of that sort of stuff. And if
you've never sort of done that from start to finish.
With a championship at like every it's the goal for everybody,
but there's a big difference between like wanting it and

(56:33):
knowing that you're in contention for it. Right, And I
do think that there's just something too, that intangible of
having gone through this really hard part of the year
where you're not yet to the postseason, which is you know,
sort of pumps it. You're in the the dregs of
it right now, right like that, you're in the hardest
part where there's you're just the championships on the horizon,

(56:53):
but you've just got to get through these next few
weeks and win all the points that you can, and
you're you know, you just at a long break from
school and all of that sort of stuff. I think
is where the mental side of it and the sort
of experience factor really comes in. And I think in
late March, in early February or like I'm sorry, late January,
early February.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
All right, any final thoughts and anything else you're looking
forward to this weekend before we wrap this one up.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
No, I was gonna shout out did you have you
seen any of the videos from the new BU facilities?

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Yes? The video?

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Yeah, so you know, I just I would say, I
just want to shout out, like Eddie school that puts
in in the time and effort and and it's treating
their female athletes the way that they should be and
so but for them to have their their own facilities
at Walter Brown and they have state of the art,
just a huge, massive locker room set up. I saw something.
They were like, we might be the only because it's

(57:46):
it's got an upstairs in the downstairs and so they
have you know, eighty a compliance a little elevator, so
you know, maybe the only D one women's hockey program
with an elevator in there in their locker room. But
it's just gorgeous. It's state of the art. It's what
D one elite hockey players deserve. I hope that you
know it it spurs on other like this is a
recruiting tool, playing and simple, and few teams have that

(58:11):
to give. You know, they have their own facilities and
have not just their own rink, but all of that.
And so it go watch some of those videos on
Instagram and elsewhere. Regan Rust, one of their assistant coaches,
does a ton of video and it's done some some
locker room tours and things. But really nice to see
them get the chance to go back to WALLIB and yeah,

(58:31):
I just I want more of that for these players,
and so I want to celebrate it.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
When we see it absolutely all right. Well, thank you
for joining us again this week on the podcast for
Nicole Hosey on Todd Muski. We'll talk to you next week.