First 2 conference champions crowned; final weekend for ECAC chase

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com dive into the races for conference titles on this week's edition of the PodKaz. Penn State and Wisconsin wrapped up the Atlantic Hockey and WCHA championships, respectively, last week, and the ECAC Hockey title will be decided on the final weekend.

UConn narrowed Boston University's lead in Hockey East, and St. Michael's played spoiler against a NEWHA leader again.

This week's look at Bracketology wonders about a potential site switch for Penn State at the bottom of the group of No. 2 seeds for the NCAA tournament.

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 everyone, Welcome back to the podcast.
Todd Maluski here with Nicole Hasey to talk all things
women's college hockey. And there are a lot of all
things women's college hockey going on right now. First of all, Nicole,
we know the identities of two of the league champions,

(00:26):
Wisconsin in the WHA, but Penn State was first in
Atlantic Hockey. Wrap that up on Friday. Wisconsin took care
of it a day later. That leaves three left to
the side. We will know the identity of the third
for sure this weekend because ECAC Hockey wraps up regular season.
That'll leave Hockey East and New haw to probably go

(00:48):
to the final weekend. The way things have been playing
out here lately with results and in New Ha, we've
got a kind of a surprise entrant to the title RaSE.
Not that they're going to challenge for the number one spot.
They're they're at the opposite end of the spectrum. But
Saint Michael's has played a major role in who's going

(01:10):
in deciding who's going to win the New Ha. You
want to talk a little bit about that, sure.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, So, like you said, they are at the bottom
of the standings. They are a team that won no
games last season. Uh, and they last weekend split a
series with Sacred Heart and two weeks ago took LU
to overtime and two games twice. Yeah, so basically the
and there's what a one point difference at the top

(01:35):
of the standings, a new hot between LU and Sacred Heart.
So you want to know who's responsible for the difference
between those teams right now, it is Saint Michael. So
just kudos to the Purple Nights, were you know, coming
off just the kind of season that you want to
forget completely. They have new coaching, I'm told there's just
sort of a new implementation of culture there and it's

(01:56):
really starting to come together. They've got a really young team.
I think it's like ten or eleven freshmen, and yeah,
they've they've tried to build something there and you can
see it starting to come together, which I think is
kind of all you can want in a year when
everything has changed, right when you're coming off a zero win.
So they are up to four wins, which I think
like honestly, having looked at the schedule and someone called

(02:17):
out there like in your season preview, Uh, you didn't
even think they'd make it to three, and I'm like
that it's fair, like somebody else remember that better than
I did, But yeah, I just I think it's so
it's such an amazing thing to see. We know, I
love an underdog. I love rooting for teams to to
you know, team chaos, right, So like Saint Michael's coming
in here, which you know the other team, those teams

(02:39):
probably went into those weekends thinking like, all right, we
you know, these are probably a pretty piece of cake
for us. They've they've beaten up on Saint Michael's for
several years. So yeah. Also, just the Purple Nights were
really gorgeous. Jersey. U Sacred Heart schemes were on ESPN
this weekend. For they keep saying they are, they aren't

(03:00):
always showing up. So I was really excited to get
to watch some of that game. And man, do I
want that purple Reborld Nights Jersey. It was real pretty.
It's this perfect color purple. It's like gold, actual gold,
not you know, yellow gold. And yeah, just all around that,
I'm just really impressed. You know, they've they've improved in
so many places. They're they're doing really well on a
penalty kill against these teams like these aren't fluke wins,

(03:21):
Like this team is coming together and gelling, and they're
one of those teams. I wish had a few more
weeks in the season to see what they could continue
to do now that the things have come together for them.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
So that was a three to one win for Save
Michael's at Sacred Heart. That's the other thing about it.
They went on the road and beat Sacred Hard team
that's challenging for the league championship last Friday, and combined
with a three two win for Long Island against Franklin Pierce,
put Long Island back ahead in that race. That's Saint

(03:52):
Michael's game. Jody Gratton had two goals, Jordana di Marinus
thirty six saves. Yeah, it's a it's pretty cool that
even you know, when you're you're struggling to put together
wins and you're trying to build, Like you're talking about
that culture that you're able to still have in February,
at the toughest time of year to win, able to

(04:13):
go into another team's building and get a result, and
that's pretty you know, like you said, hats off to
them for you know, playing a role in playing spoiler.
I mean those kinds thing you got to love as
a player is you know, yeah, you're out of that race,
but you still have a big opportunity to play a
role for sure.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, And I like it's it's kind of like we
were talking about with Saint Thomas a couple of weeks ago, right, Like,
it's just to have gone through wholesale change, to have
gone through a winless season, to have a start of
the season where you were also still not you know,
having those results, to be in this position in February,
to have believed and bought in on what the staff
is doing, to have believed in each other and come

(04:55):
together as a team and do this, It's just it's
really impressive. It speaks to their character and it makes
me excited to keep watching them, you know. It's uh, yeah,
it's just really impressive. Like you said, hats off to them,
stick taps all around. I just I think it's really cool.
I'm excited to see what they can keep doing. And
I hope that they know that, like people are, people
see them, and that that you know, we're paying attention

(05:16):
and they deserve people to be watching and seeing what
they could do.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
So at the top of New ha Long Island forty
nine points, Sacred Heart forty eight. Both those teams have
four games left. They're done with each other, so it's
going to be up to uh, you know, who makes
it to the finish line there when these next four games,
and and that comes out with the most points. So
it should be fun to watch that over the next
two weeks. And there's really how how all of this

(05:42):
is going to be around the country. I mean, when
you're looking around, uh, let's move next to well get
the ECAC in a minute, but let's move next to
Hockey East where this is. We previewed this last week
Yukon and be you the teams that are in the
running for first place right now? Be you had a
four point late. Well now it's a one point lead.
Because Yukon went into Walter Brown Arena on Friday and

(06:05):
won three to one. Ti Chan thirty three saves, Claire
Murdoch a goal and assist. We knew that was that
game was going to be big, especially because they also
have the two game two final games of the regular
season against each other next weekly.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
God's really I'm just gonna keep this, yeah, thank you, Well,
we'll coming. We'll come to that a few more times. Yeah,
scheduling God's worked out well for the drama this year.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Both Yukon and BU one on Saturday, Yukon one one
nothing of our Holy Cross again with another shutout there
twenty four saves and BU one against Providence three to one.
So setting this up be usuallyid down to one point
more to play, like we said, the final tour between them,

(06:49):
which means that to set that up, they needed the
care of business this week too. That's you know, this
is a everyone kind of sees that as the the
last weekend battle for the conference championship, but got to
get into that spot first.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, exactly, So you said, got to take care of this.
Yukon has a home and home with Providence. Providence has
been sort of messing with everybody the last couple of weeks.
They they definitely kind of knocked Northeastern out of contention
for this discussion a couple of weeks ago, and so yeah,
it's uh, those are definitely going to be some tough
games for Yukon. And and again we just like heart,

(07:30):
we've been harping on this, but it does someone want
to win this this conference. But yeah, I just like
it's not going to be easy and and that's for sure,
but also like these are these are the games when
you're at the top of the conference, when you're fighting
for the title, Like these have to be games that
you win. And so that's what I'll be looking at.
I mean, arguably be You has the slightly easier path

(07:54):
through New New Hampshire, but I you know, at this point,
I'm not counting anyone out. And I love both of
these series are home and Holmes as well, So no
major advantage for either of the two teams at the
top of the conference in terms of getting to play
at home. So yeah, New Hampshire would love to do
just what we were just talking about Saint Michael's did, right,
like play a part and be a team that makes

(08:16):
some waves here at the end of the season.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
So yeah, and New Hampshire's got a lot to play
for here too, because looking at kind of taking the
step back Maine two nothing over in Northeastern last Friday
kind of puts Maine back in the discussion in for
a top six finish, which means you avoid the first
round in hockeys, because the top six move into the

(08:40):
I think quarterfinals and then the bottom four playoff for
the final two spots to get into the quarterfinals. So
if you can avoid that, if you have to play
one fewer game along the road here, that means something.
And so right now mains a point behind you and
h to finish in that top six. So that's another bat.
The battles aren't always at the top. There's a lot

(09:01):
that can be said. And the other thing in Hockey
East for me is so you're looking for the top
four spots too for the teams that are going to
host the quarterfinals. Well, b season third at forty two points,
Northeasterns at forty one, proferences at forty so you've essentially
got a three way tie or three team race or
two spots hosting in the quarterfinals. Again, it's chaos in

(09:26):
Hockey East a lot of the time here this season.
And why should it be limited to just the top teams.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, and we are going to have just because I
think talking through these tournament formats is using. I mean,
every conference has their own tournament format. They're all a
little ridiculous and talking through it does not make it easier.
We're going to have an article up on usccho Todd's
gonna work on to sort of lay out the different
tournament formats, so keep an eye out for that. But yeah,

(09:54):
one of the things with Hockey East is that they
play like they play on the weekend and then play
midweek and then play again on the weekend. Their tournament
is not like you don't get a week off in
between games. So not having to play in that first
round game is app is a huge advantage this time year.
Everybody's speed up, everybody's tired, and just getting that little
bit of extra rest is huge, especially for a team

(10:17):
that is going to look at you know, are you
Because we've seen so much chaos, we know that it's
not a given that the number one team here is
going to get the NCAA bid. So I'd argue there's
probably four to five teams that are likely that are
like above fifty percent could win this and then several
more that could just absolutely go on a run and win.
This conference is autopen, and the way that the pair

(10:40):
wise is it's autopen or nothing for this conference. So
all those little details that we're sort of we're looking
in on here, like, really I feel in this conference
particularly really matter in terms of your placement and where
you end up sort of in the bracket at the
end heading into the conference tournament.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
We will talk bracketology and go through all of that
a little bit later in the show. Today one one
more result they want to get to Vermont three two
over Boston College on Saturday, Rose Marie brochure two goals
and assists. That did tighten up that Vermont's towards the
bottom of the standings, but BC is in that race
for a top four spot and that tightened that up

(11:19):
a little bit. It's it's it's been a little bit
of a rough go for BC these last few weeks
in terms of, you know, finding consistency, and that's that's
got to be a little bit of concerning as you're
getting towards the end of the season that if you
can't find a predictable path, it's it's not magically going

(11:40):
to show up in the postseason.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Well, you mentioned the loss, but they won the game
before that seven to one, and like looked as good
as BC has looked. Like were the team that we
saw earlier in the year that you know, was getting
upset wins and we were like, Wow, this is a
team that could do this. They were who like they were.
There was a cohesion, they were skating together, they were

(12:03):
passing like it was. There was a goal where I
was like, well, where has this been all year? Like
if you guys can pass like that and like read
each other so well, that doesn't come out of nowhere,
that doesn't just happen magically, like that's been building all year.
And so it was like, I just watched this game
where you dominated seven to one, where you played the
best you know you've played all season, and then they

(12:24):
turned around and lost three to the next day, and
it was like this, this is why I don't understand,
Like I somebody explained to me that pair of games,
Like I this is where I get very confused by
Hockey East and like and BC is one of the
teams that consistently is a head scratch for me, Like
you said, the consistency is just never there, And I
don't understand how you go from what they did in

(12:44):
that game. And again, it's not just the score, but
the fluidity with which they played to turn around and
just struggle so much the next game.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
That is uh kind of like you mentioned, just a
feature of hockey and it's.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Not just this year, Todd, that's been kind of you,
but it.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Is not okay, fair enough. We'll move on with that
before we take a quick break just talking about Atlantic
hockey because we've got the number one and number two
teams booked in for that. Penn State, as I mentioned, UH,
wrapped up the title at home with a four to
three overtime win over Mercyhurst last Friday, Lindy Lobdell with

(13:23):
the overtime goal. Merciers led three to one in the
first period of that game before Penn State came back.
But Mercyhurst, you know, needed points to to to make
sure they were not letting Syracuse creep up on them.
They got them with three to two regulation win. On Saturday,
Penn State led to one after two Julia Shallon Vanessa

(13:44):
Upton scored for the Lakers and the third that I mean,
you look at it, Mercy hears won that series then
four points to two.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
If you're looking at that, Mercyhurst was like, congratulations on
your title. We're ruining your perfect season, goodbye.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, we're going to take it of something here on
our way out.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I really appreciated that. Yeah, just like we're still we
still have stuff to play. For like you you eked
out that, you know, overtime win, but we are mere
laying down here, and I appreciated that.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
So that gives Mercy her a s lock on second place,
and that's you know, important in Atlantic hockey because that
means they avoid the the the one game quarterfinal and
get a week off. And so you know, maybe that's
not always the best thing. I know, some teams just
don't like taking a week off in the you know,

(14:32):
before eighteen.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Is key, I know that, but man, that's everybody's banged
up now. There's just not a team that isn't couldn't
use sometime for everything to heal up the little stuff,
the bangs and bruises and pulled muscles and things.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yes, exactly, So we'll see how that plays out. Or
Lakers for the Lions as well as they'll get the
other they'll get the buy as the number one seed
and hosts as long as there as long as they're
around in the tournament. So I just.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Want to point out too, I will I'll drop a
link in the post when we when I share the
link for the pod tomorrow. But there is this amazing
picture in Penn State's Instagram and It is Tessa Janikey
walking off. She's got you know, her arms up, she's
got the trophy. It's a picture of them behind. She's
got the trophy in one arm and she's slapping and
you know, high fives to kids. So she's walking off.

(15:24):
It is just a beautifully composed photo. One of the
best photos I've seen in a while. And so I'll
make sure I link to that. I want everybody to
see it.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
All Right, we're gonna take a quick break. We still
have w C h A, we still have E c
AC to talk about, but we are going to take
a break. Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back
to the podcast. Hoot Maluski and Nicole Hose here with
you as always. Let's get into what we saw from

(15:54):
the E c a C last weekend, and it's another yeah,
what do we make of this kind of weekend? In
some respects, Cornell took care of business. They won four
nothing at Rents Lair on Friday and two to one
at Union on Saturday. But Colgate dropped a little bit
and is a little bit further back, three and a

(16:16):
half points back now with two games remaining, after they
took up three two overtime loss Saturday at rentse Lair.
Natalie Tulchinsky with the overtime goal there for rent Lair.
Give us your thoughts on on where the top two
stand right now. It seems like we're, you know, with
a week to go. This looks like Cornell is to lose,

(16:38):
and it's you know, looking pretty good for them.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah. I mean, I think, as we've sort of harped
on recently, like you got to win those most important games,
you you got to close out, and Colgate didn't do
that this weekend. I mean it, I would have said
that I thought Colgate was a very balanced team. That
they were without Kalti Culton Covid this weekend, who was

(17:04):
playing with Chechia in the Women's europe Hockey Tour, and
I think it was real obvious that they were missing
their top goal scorer. And I think not just goal scorer,
but I think just maybe sort of like the the
fire plug, right the the the person that really gets
them energized and also like I think, leads a lot
of the charge up the ice. So I obviously there

(17:26):
are still plenty of other goal scorers and really good
players on their team, but I think I was surprised
at how obvious it was that like they were missing
a single player.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
The Uh So we go into the final weekend, Cornell
and Colgate both play at home, both against the same
two teams in reverse or Cornell against Brown and Yale
gets Yale and Brown, and so you got But in reality,
you know, Cornell wins the title with a win in

(17:59):
one of our regulations, win in one of those games,
and so that could be done Friday night, leaving Saturday
for you can't say that, even if it's wrapped up.
You can't say that the second game would be pointless
because we know the pair wise is still in play
there because those teams are four and five and that

(18:19):
order can flip, and that means who's hosting who in
the first or the second round of.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
The not even that Cornell is like point one behind
Minnesota for in the pairwise at the moment, right, So
they're playing not just to hold off Cornell for the
four Colgate for the fourth spot, but they're playing to
play their way into the third spot.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah. That that We've talked about this a lot. The
difference between those few seeds in the middle there, the three, four, five,
six is incredible because you're talking about either you know,
at the bottom of that, you're having to play two games.
You get the throws and four in the middle, you
know who your opponent is. If you're in the five
you have to go on the road, though the four

(19:00):
you have a home game, but it's against a tougher team,
and theory and the three you get to sit and
watch two other teams battle it out and maybe go
to overtime and maybe double overtime two days before they
got to play you. Whoever emerges from that. So yeah,
a lot of things in play there on this last
weekend and then going through the next few weeks of

(19:22):
playoffs in the ACAC.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, I again, like I said, think the scheduling gods
for for that one. The travel partners worked out there
because it's fun that those two teams are playing the
same too. And yeah, I at this point have no
idea who to I mean, I think, like you said,
Cornell has the inside. But if I had to predict games,

(19:45):
if I were a bet in person like I would
not have done well this year. So who knows? It
all feels a bit like a toss up and you
never quite know, you know, sort of what the impact
is going to be, Like, is Culty going to come
back and be okay after you know, a really tough
weekend with national team and you know, tired and all
that sort of Like it's just there's there's a lot

(20:06):
of different things that hinge here and as we saw,
you know, we have got a w station this weekend,
but we saw several injuries in just one series, Like
things can change pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yeah, Saint Lawrence did wrap up a top four spot
in the ACAC with wins over Quinnipiac and Princeton. Abbey
Hustler scored a tie goal and second and a winner
and the third and a three to two win over
Princeton on Saturday, So that gives us Cornell, Colgate, Saint
Lawrence locked in the top three, one more spot up

(20:37):
for grabs in the final weekend Clarkson's and fourth right now,
but there are only two points that had a Quinnipiac
which is tied with Yale which is and a half
points at a Princeton, which is a half point ahead
of Brown. So what's that five points for separating one, two, three,
four five teams? So that's that's a fairly exciting way

(21:00):
to go into the final weekend.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Here, Yeah, way to go Brown to be even in
that conversation, like, that's just not something that would have
happened a couple of seasons back. So showed out to
them making some waves and playing their way further up.
They're a team that a few years ago was one
that was, you know, pushing for the ECAC to include
all twelve teams in their postseason because they kept being

(21:23):
on the outside looking in. So that did change. But
like they're they're like, well, we don't have to worry
about that now we're competing for a much higher spot.
So shout out to them for that. But yeah, I
what's going to happen there? Who knows? I assume that
like Saturday afternoon is one we'll have an idea.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, I was looking at the schedule and we'll get
into this at toward the end of the show when
we're looking ahead. But I mean, yeah, that's a weekend
where the top teams generally play the bottom teams in
the ECAC at least. Compare if you're just dividing the
line between six and seven, and yeah, upper and below,
upper and lower, but top.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
And bottom meaning where the standings. Yeah, exactly, no udge,
no value judgments.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Thank you for explaining that better than I did. But yeah,
that's there's there's so much going on. Uh, and again
it goes beyond just the top spots. You're talking about
getting into that fourth spot, and then you're talking about
hosting in the first round if you're in the five
through eight area, and then trying to get up to

(22:28):
that into the eighth spot. And so yeah, a ton
of things to watch are on AC hockey this weekend,
which is the way we love it when it comes
down to the final weekend. We I hate it when
everything's decided and there's nothing to play for and you're
just gonna have teams playoffs. Yeah, so love to see
that things are head in that direction. Well uh, w

(22:51):
c h A. There are still some things to play for,
but not the championship because Wisconsin wrapped that up with
a really convincing weekend against Minnesota. I don't so. I
watched Wisconsin for a living, and that's part of my job.
I don't know that I've been as impressed by them
as I was this last weekend, even when they beat

(23:14):
Ohio State at home six nothing whatever that was. I
I you knew that after Wisconsin beat Minnesota eight the
two on Saturday, that the Gophers were going to have
a really strong push on Sunday. And they did, and
Wisconsin saw that and it was like, yep, we see you,

(23:35):
and we're going to push right back. We take your
push for the first ten minutes and then we give
it right back and that leads to a six to
one win in the second game of that series. It
so Wisconsin won the season series against Minnesota for nothing
for only the second time in program history. I think

(23:56):
it was. I can't remember off the top of my head.
Was it sixteen seventeen or seventeen eighteen? Was the other?
Wasn't very long ago, but Wisconsin's previous high for goals
scored in the regular season four games against Minnesota was seventeen.
They scored twenty three this season in four games. And
that's remarkable that Minnesota is not a bad defensive team.
They've got really good players and Wisconsin was able to

(24:17):
put up twenty three goals on them. What did you,
I guess, what did you come away with from from
those couple of games.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
I felt like on Saturday, like I kind of try
to just take a step back and appreciate that we
were watching some of the most complete, pretty talented hockey
maybe in years maybe. I mean it was from start
to finish, from the macro to the micro level, all

(24:49):
of the details, like they just it was so good
and you were so aware that you were watching so
many national team players. I mentioned earlier, So Wisconsin had
two or two defenders get in and leave the game
during that so as I joke to Todd, like, how
bad do you got to be if you're like one
of their competitors and they go down to defenders and
their replacement is Leila Edwards, who's playing defender for the

(25:11):
US national team. Like she's a forward, uh with the
with the Badgers, but like hey, like we'll just put
on her US national team defender back there, like.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
The leading goal scorer in the country by the way,
because she can go back and play defense too.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, that's gotta be so frustrating. Like I remember the
we've talked a lot because we was playing Minnesota and
we were talking to Minnesota broadcaster Dan Hammond, but about
the team that went undefeated, and like that was the
type of team where it felt like they just kept reloading,
like there was just never There were a few seasons
there where it was like the where are where are

(25:46):
they create? Like where are they manufacturing these players from?
Like because it just felt like for everybody there was
no and and that I imagine that is the similar
feeling that other people are having about Wisconsin right now
when they, you know, lose several players to injury, still
have the weekend they did, but that aside, Like I've
been to several World Championships, I you know, like you

(26:07):
and I have watched a lot of hockey. Yeah, and
on Saturday, I just was from forwards playing a two
hundred foot game and blocking shots to poke checks that
just like literally every little thing that you want to see.
There was a penalty kill that looked that the Badgers
looked better on the penalty kill than they maybe did
on their power play at one point, like it was

(26:28):
just nearly flawless hockey. Like it was so pretty and
so talented and so like what makes the women's game great,
the fluidity, the transition, just all of it. And there
was there was a rush at the end where I
just because Minnesota switched out their goalie and they put
in a goalie that had played three whole minutes in
her career. And the first thing that happened is Minnesota

(26:50):
did not cover a transition and in about five strides
I think it was five seconds because I went and
did some screen caps. The entire Wisconsin offense was bearing
down on this woman with like maybe one defender the tweeter,
and it was it was the top line, you know,
like Casey O'Brien's probably one of the fastest players in
the country. Like, I mean, it was just that poor

(27:12):
girl and it was like twenty seconds into the period.
But yeah, I mean, I don't want to come off
as fawning or however it is, but it just we
watched some really great hockey this weekend, and like you said,
on Sunday, we expected the Gophers to be pissed and
to really come back out and it ended in a

(27:33):
scoreless first period. But what in Minnesota had like three
shots in it. I mean, for all of a pushback
that they did and how all they were able to,
I guess slowed down the Badgers and it did. It
was not as pretty on Sunday at least to start
as it was on Saturday. But in the end, all
of that did not end up in a goal for
the Gophers and really not much dangerous for them on offense.

(27:56):
And so yeah, we've talked a little bit about how
they get a gap between you know, sort of the
top and and the next group. And and I feel
like Wisconsin went out and said, like, yes, there is.
We just proved it to you. Yeah they've got you know,
they and they felt it, like we said. We asked
Casey O'Brien in the post game about like what went well,

(28:17):
and you know, she said, we could feel that we clicked,
like we we slogged. The last couple of days. It
wasn't going well. We were we were slow, all those
sorts of things. And they went out on Saturday and
all of the things just fell into place and and
you could tell they they were just vibing and feeling
it and they were all so comfortable. I mean, there
are a couple of goals that like, we were ridiculously casual,

(28:38):
just like bristers from the slot. And you could just
tell they like they had no worries, they like everything
just was coming really naturally. And and that's, uh, that's
not a place I think anybody but Wisconsin wants to
see Wisconsin being. But I think they've just they've got
a lot of They've put a lot of pressure on
themselves for this, right, Like they they went out and

(28:59):
showed what they're capable of and and and I think
it could be easy to get cocky. I think they
put an even bigger target on their back, and there's
just a lot of expectations, Like if they don't want
they don't want a title, I feel like there's gonna
be some some major disappointment and it's going to feel
like a big lost opportunity. And to have that feeling
before we even reach the playoffs is, uh, it's hard

(29:22):
to put on some student athletes.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Right, and so yeah, and it's just because of this
collection of talent that they've put together, and you know,
it's a lot of it is not going to be
there next year in case O'Brien is gone, you know,
Marianne Picard has gone. Sarah was Navitch's his you know
in her final season or is she? Am I making that.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Show your day?

Speaker 1 (29:46):
So yes, had a flash my kicking someone out the
door before they're brother out of Elisabella.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
No, But plus all the Olympians will be in and
out right doing national team stuff and gone for a
lot of February.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
There's gonna be a lot of significant time without players
who are in Olympic camps next season, so it's gonna
look a lot different. So, yeah, Wisconsin's kind of lined
everything up this season to put exactly what they've done
out there. And so that's credit to them for taking

(30:23):
this scene, this opportunity, and taking it and doing so
far everything that kind of I think a lot of
people expected of them.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Do you am putting you on the spot and asking
you this historical question, but comparing this team to the
what is it sixteen seventeen when Annonne won the Patty
Sarah Nurse, that whole crew was there and that team
also felt very like destined and then they didn't.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, they didn't win it. Right, So there are two
teams in Wisconsin history that have finished with winning percentages
of nine hundred or over nine hundred two thousand and six,
two thousand and seven, they're second in a row, second
national championship in a row. And then the twenty ten
to eleven team that had Hillary Knight, Breonna Decker, Meghan Duggan,
you know, Knight and everybody coming back from the Olympics

(31:10):
and Mark Johnson coming back from the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
So and it really disappointing.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
You're in twenty ten, yes, and so that those two
teams have kind of always been the gold standard for
at least the way I look at it. At Wisconsin,
you can be a really good team, but if you
don't come out with a win in the last game,
you don't get up on that level, right, And so, yeah,
that that sixteen seventeen team, it just kind of rolled

(31:37):
through that and they could have been the third if
they would have won the last game against Clarkson, but
Clarkson wonted three nothing, and that was you know, changed
a lot of perceptions of that team and how we
look back at it. And it had the you know,
am Renade Debien is the greatest statistical goaltender in Badger's history,
but she never won a championship, and I know that's

(31:58):
something that a lot of people just kind shake their
head at that. You know, you know, Minnesota stood in
their way a couple of times. Clarkson didn't her her
final season. It just didn't emerge that way. But you know,
this season is shaping up to be one of those
that challenges for the the UH the title of best

(32:18):
ever at Wisconsin, which is a yeah, pretty pretty high bar.
Yeah right, It's it's tough to get into there.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, yeah, I'm just I was trying to remind myself
who was on that sixteen seventeen roster and just wanting
to point like several p UB players, right like Melissa Channel,
Sam Coben and uh, Sophia Shaver, Sarah Nurse, Lauren Williams
who's now a coach in the Pee, dub Any Pankowski,
Emily Clark and yeah, there was a lot of There

(32:46):
were a lot of national team and big name players
on that roster. And and you know, kudos to Clarkson
because Wisconsin was never really in that national championship game.
They just came out real flat. And yeah, I'm sure
they're lessons to be learned there. I'm sure the coaching
staff will be talking about that. But uh yeah. And
on the opposite side, I mean, wow, Gophers, I mean,

(33:10):
Wisconsin really shut down Abby Murphy. She had what two
shots that the first game. Wisconsin took advantage or or
hold motivation from from the Gophers getting some penalties and
from things getting chippy, and and we were able to
build on that, but yeah, I the I was. I

(33:30):
stayed home on Sunday, uh and watched from home, and
the broadcast was sort of talking about Hannah Clark as
though the game the day before was her fault with
those goals. No, the girlfriends uh No, a freshman goalie
handa Clark who's been playing very well was not the
reason that Wisconsin one ate two. She was not getting
a lot of defensive help, and to be fair, they

(33:52):
were missing a couple of players to Olympic qualifiers. But yeah,
I I don't know, it's uh that wasn't the same
gover team that we saw play Ohio State the week before,
and like maybe maybe that's the reason, Like, but it was.
It was surprising, to say the least, and I one

(34:13):
of the interesting things. I mean, I'm loath to but
I saw some talk about like those that was such
an embarrassing weekend and it's been so long since Minnesota
has been a national championship contender that there were conversations
about a coaching change and I thought, well, that is
really interesting.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
It is and I think unwarranted as of now. I
think Brad Frost writes his own ending. Yeah that's just
my I mean, I'm not as as tied into the
program there as a lot of other people are, but
I just feel like he's he's built it to the
point where, you know, if if they all of a

(34:51):
sudden are no longer a top three team in the country,
maybe you have that conversation, but let's let's look at
where they are just in the big picture of things.
They're still in the top three in the country.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
And yeah, it was an interesting timing because there's been
points in recent years where they didn't really make the
tournament and we're struggling with some of that stuff. So
it was interesting to me that this was the thing
that brought that up. But I mean, you have to
care enough far yeah that you said a high bar.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yes one Minnesota, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, to be fair, Yeah, like we're we're talking a
level that like what three coaches or four coaches have
to to meet. And and I love the team that
they're they have fans passionate enough to be out here
like calling for a coach's head, right, Like, to me,
that is a level of like fandom and people caring
in a way that we haven't necessarily had in our sport.
And so I do appreciate just that that people are

(35:41):
that cluted to be like, well, we haven't been there
in this long, we haven't done that in that long.
I agree. I just I thought it was an interesting
talking point. I do think too, it's always funny to
me that the second anybody talks about the Minnesota job,
there's a question of whether Nidie, Buzz or all would
go back and take it, which is a whole separate
fork to that discussion. But yeah, I I don't know,

(36:04):
I don't think. I don't think you could look at
that and be like, well, that's a poorly coach team
after what we watched last the weekend before, right, or
really anytime Frosty has been at the head of that team.
So it did seem, you know, like you said, not
at the right time to make that, But I did
still think it was an interesting that, like it was
being embarrassed in the border battle, was like the last

(36:27):
the last jow being swept in the season series.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yeah, I will say that the list of players scratched
out of the lineup for Minnesota was I think longer
than the list of almost longer than the list of
forwards in the lineup for Sunday's games. So there's there's
been some some challenges there obviously for them this season,
and that some of those you can't look forward to
and expect, so it is about how you deal with

(36:53):
them sometimes.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
So that's yeah, everybody's gonna deal with that, particularly this
time of the year. Like you said, how they deal
with it as part of it. And and you know,
one of the things that wiscon makes Wisconsin standout is
the depth, is the fact that their fourth line of
freshmen would be you know, standouts or second lighters at

(37:15):
a lot of other programs. And you know, Dan Hammond
said this team is probably deeper than the Gopher team
that went undefeated, and like, I think that's probably fair.
And you just you saw the difference in depth between
those two teams this weekend for sure, as the injuries
you know, sort of started piling up. I think it
will be important to see what happens with the Gophers

(37:36):
this week with Saint Cloud State. You would have liked
to see the rebound on on Sunday in Game two,
but I think just as important as how they look
in this series with Saint Cloud, Saint Cloud is capable
of beating them. Saint Cloud is also a ranked team.
Saint Cloud has a incredibly good goaltending and scoring has

(37:57):
been an issue, particularly if Abbey Murphy is either not
playing because of injury or just if they're able to
Snegny her. So yeah, I and as I said, Minnesota
has a point one point one zero PAIRAWISE lead over
Cornell at this point for third place, and so these
games are incredibly important and they need to come back

(38:17):
out I think for perception, but also their own confidence
and and sort of like to build on heading heading
into the end of the season and into the postseason.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Minnesota still can finish second in WHA and just by
winning out, so they don't need help from Ohio State.
Ohio State has five point lead, but has also played
two more games in Ohio State is off this weekend,
as is Wisconsin because this coming weekend is when they
were originally scheduled to play and they moved that series
early January because of the game that was played at

(38:49):
Raley Field. So Wisconsin, ohiose State or off. Minnesota has
sink Clouds stay at home and home like you mentioned,
and then finishes with Minnesota Duluth. So not exactly an
easy route there to make up those points. But they
do have that in their their hands to determine whether
they finish really third or second. And I suppose there's

(39:12):
I don't have the standings in front of me, but
I think there's technically a way that Duluth could catch them,
but I'd say that would probably be unlikely.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
I expect Minnesota to gig points like not did not
go as over over the next four games.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
So yeah, So Ohio State left that open though by
needing overtime to beat Saint Thomas five to four on
Friday in a really wild games Thomas led and this
is at Ohio State led to nothing three to one
and four to two in the third period before Jenna
Bouguglioni and just On Amos scored for Io State. The

(39:51):
tie at that amoskol came with twenty nine seconds left,
so Saint Thomas was that close to getting out of
there with a regulation win.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
And then yeah, Ohio State had to pull their goalie
for the extra attacker to pull that off. Yah.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Then Joy Dunn scores a powerplay goal in overtime for
a five to four win, and but that you know,
only gets the two points instead of three, and so
they they sid five points ahead of Minnesota instead of six,
and have they do have the tiebreaker with the Gophers
had the head so that would have potentially left it
up to them to close it out. But a window

(40:26):
open there. If if finishing second or third really makes
much of a difference for you, I mean, I it
doesn't who you play in the first round and if
you make it to the semi finals. Uh, in the
Luth it would mean the difference between last change and

(40:47):
that kind of stuff, But those are pretty small all things.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Considering that being said, you know, second place, Ohigh State
would play, second place would play Saint Thomas. Third place
would PLAYESA State. As the Seinings stand now and Saint
Thomas is by far the scariest of the Lake bottom
four or five teams, and then the w c J
Steeennings at the moment, I would say.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
In terms of recent results.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Yeah, ensowing what they're capable of for sure, So yeah,
I mean so in doubtly it's a it's a big difference.
I would say.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
One last series I want to mention before we take
a break, Minnesota Duluth ended their six game losing streak
with two nothing and six nothing wins at Bamiji State,
tinder Holme got two shutouts, made nine saves Friday and
thirteen on Saturday, so not a lot of work to
do them, but you still have to make all saves
to get the shutout, so kudos for that. Kiton Kramer
scored two on Friday and then another one on Saturday.

(41:44):
Olivia Walleen with a goal and to assist on Saturday,
So Duluth getting back going. They needed that, they needed
some positive direction and that as they move towards, you know,
trying to you know, to fire where they are in
the pair wise, I guess and first and then you know,
making a run in the WHA playoffs too. It was

(42:08):
important for them to to get the wins. But also
I think doing that by shutout a couple of times
in a row kind of just extends what they've been
doing because they were they were doing pretty well on
defense against Wisconsin last week. You gave up two goals
each game and just didn't didn't get the wins because
they only scored one. But I think when you're talking
about d Luth and its defense, it's a pretty good

(42:30):
time of the year to be playing the way that
they are.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, I think it's uh, I don't know what it's
interesting to me that it was Tinderholme, that it was
backup goalie. I'm guessing that probably was just some maintenance
time for v Guscon. But it's good for all of
them to know that, like, no matter what, they've got
strong goaltending back there. And I think too, I Caitlyn
Kramer is probably my favorite player of the last couple

(42:53):
of years of U eighteens. Just I just think she's
a really complete player. I think she is someone that
when she gets ahead, it's almost like she's skating downhill.
I think she in the next few years is going
to grow into, you know, sort of the premier forward
in NCAA hockey. She's just she's a really good player.
She was good the moment she stepped on. I mean,
she was the standout of their very first series against

(43:16):
Ohio State. And so I think the three goals this
weekend are important. Just like we were talking about, they
weren't scoring enough getting all those goals period this weekend.
They just needed some momentum, they needed some confidence boost.
They It's I mean, we talked about this with Saint
clet it's so disheartening and so frustrating to be in

(43:36):
games and not come out with those results. And so
I just think for their sakes, it was a really
good series for them to build on, as you said,
like because they have a push to make for the postseason.
It's not all sort of set in stone for them, right.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
All right, that's our really extended look at what happened
last weekend. Coming up, we'll talk a little bracketology. We'll
talk about what's coming up this weekend in a really
important set of games. So stay with us on the podcast. Hi,

(44:14):
welcome back to the podcast. Todd Luski and Nicole Hase
with you. Let's look into bracketology for the week. Not
a lot of changes around the top of the pair wise,
just one, so let's go through it. One Wisconsin to
Ohio State, Minnesota and three Cornell and Colgate, and four
and five still Minnesota Luthan sixth. And here's where we

(44:36):
get a little bit of a change to Saint Lawrence
up to seventh after Penn State drops to eighth with
their lost to Mercyhurst last week. Quinnipiac in nine, and
that's where the cutoff is for at large teams. As
we do this every week. I mentioned that we're using
the team that's currently in first in their conference as
the expected not expected, the proxy of the tournament champion

(45:01):
that will get the automatic bid. And so in Hockey
East right now, that's Boston University. They are twelfth, though
they're all in the pair wise and it knew how
that's Long Island, which is thirtieth in the pair wise,
So they take up spots ten and eleven in the
eleven team bracket. So if you put that into where

(45:21):
it would go in the bracket, it's basically one little
shift from what we had last week. So number one
Wisconsin hosting the winner of the number eight versus number nine.
That's Penn State versus Quinnipiac. In the number two we
have Ohio State. They would host the winner of Saint

(45:41):
Lawrence seven against Boston University. The ten, the three is Minnesota.
They would host Minnesota, Duluth or Long Island after our
first round game there. And the number five versus number
four is Colgate at Cornell. And that's, as we always mentioned,
that is locked in even though that's a conference battle.

(46:02):
The committee has said they want the five and the
four overall to play regardless of whether they're from the
same conference or not. So there's one thing you could
do for this bracket to move Penn State back to
Ohio State's regional because that would give them a bus

(46:22):
ride instead of a plane flight. It really gets into
a like, I don't know if that's really worth doing though,
because I feel like they've they've been pretty good about
keeping to bracket integrity over these last few seasons of
an eleven team bracket. But you never really know for
sure who's gonna make that decision of like, well, we

(46:43):
got a lot of flights this year. Maybe if we
can save one of them and move Penn State and
swap them with Saint Lawrence and essentially give us the
same bracket as we had last week, that could happen.
But I'm gonna say no, I'm going to say they
stick with bracket integrity, and so that kind of leaves
it basically like what we saw last week. We've got

(47:05):
four WHA teams, we've got four ECAC teams, and one
each from Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East and New hat So again,
all this will change by the end of the weekend probably,
so it's got a limited short life shelf life here.
But I think it's we're starting to see this kind
of all settled into a few tiers here of where

(47:28):
teams aren't going to move much farther than where they
are now just because of a limited number of games left.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Really, so, looking at this where UMD would be playing
in Minneapolis and playing for a chance to play the Gophers,
do you think um D is cheering for Canal to
take over that fourth spot? Do you think they're stick
of playing at Minnesota or better the enemy.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
You know, over the third spot?

Speaker 2 (47:52):
You mean yes, I'm sorry, yes, for hosting.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean how many times
has Duluth had the regional at ritter and try to
get you the last three years? Right, go for Minnesota
to try to get to the frozen floor. Yeah, I would.
I guess I wouldn't be surprised. Would you trade the
having to go on the road and get on a
plane and and you know.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Team you're less familiar with for to.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Avoid a conference foe? And yeah, boy, that's a that's
a really good question.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
I feel like there's some like gut check to you
and like can do we do we believe in ourselves
enough to take down the Gophers.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Right, Well, maybe we'll know more about that after Yeah
that helps.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Yeah, just when you read it as Minnesota to Minnesota,
I just thought, I wonder knowing how close the three
and four pair wise are right now, if you're the
lufy like we're death to Ridder, I am done. We don't.
We avoided having to go to Rinder this year for
the conference tournament we're hosting. We don't want to go back. Yeah,

(49:00):
that's were the frozen four. Then we're good.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Right when what you mentioned about the small gap between
three and four and uh in the NPI and therefore
the pair wise, I I do kind of wonder, are
we in the overtime win versus regulation win kind of
make a difference yap of make Yeah, how much of

(49:22):
a difference. It's real small, It seems like it would
be right. I mean that, Oh see.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
You just cut me off, like, uh yeah, that's fascinating.
But yeah, well, I mean, I the one thing I
would love I need to like either teach me, I
need to like get somebody to write me a program
that saves the pair wise regularly, because it's the one
thing I hate. I would like to be able to
refer back and see how much movement is happening. So

(49:48):
I need a little script that will just you know,
save me once a day or whatever. I'd be interesting
to see for sure. But yeah, when I when we
got that to the pairwise at the end of the
Gopher Wisconsin game on Sunday, I was, whooh, that's a
small little gap. And I just want to be clear,
like I would also wanted to point out, like the
gap between Wisconsin. I have to I want to make
sure I'm saying this right. The gap between where Wisconsin

(50:12):
is in the pairwise and Ohio States or in the
NPI is larger than the difference between number two Ohio
State number fifteen Princeton. Like that's how big it is
at the top and how close everything is in between. Yeah,
that's pretty nuts. It's a six point nine seven to
two difference, or at least it was when I wrote
about it yesterday. But that's the difference between Wisconsin's NPI

(50:32):
and Ohio States NPI, and then Ohio State it's to
Princeton and fifteen of the NPI like that, that's bonkers.
That's a very small gap between teams two to fifteen.
That's what I'm telling you, so, yeah, there's I just
expect that there can still be quite a bit of movement,
and then it will be interesting to see what happens
when some teams are still playing regular season and some

(50:53):
are not.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Yeah, yeah, that's I mean. The big thing about this
is that even the teams you know that are in
the you know, the eight, nine, ten range are really
not feeling very good, I would imagine right now, because

(51:16):
there's a chance you could get I mean, I don't
I don't know that it's very good, but there's a
chance you can get a team from outside the top
four in the w c h A or the top
four in ec A C to win a conference championship
in a spot, right and for everyone else, there's gonna
be one Atlantic Hockey team unless it's you know, someone
beats Penn State. All right, let's look at that possibility too.

(51:38):
If someone knocks off and if Penn State has enough
you know, two survive that in terms of their eight
in pairwise, right now, if they you know, basically win
everything in that one game is not enough to keep
them in as an at large, then we're talking about
two from Atlantic Hockey. Hockey East looks like it's gonna

(52:03):
be a one bid conference from from where they are
in the rankings and we know New Haws, So yeah,
where that line ends up, I think it's almost always nine,
just from the way it's you know, being more predictable
teams winning conference championships. But man, that's got to feel

(52:27):
that's got to be painful if you're sitting at nine
going into the last day of the season and you
have some things shaking up.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Now when I'm with you that I are you probably
what seven, eight, nine, I would I wouldn't feel secure,
just because we know how much the NPI can move
and between that and the upsets you're talking about, Like,
to me, that's all a little shaky. I would. I
would certainly not feel secure in any of those spots,
or you know, feel like it's a given that your
postseason is happening that way.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Yeah, So that's how it shakes out this week selection
show this year, I believe it's the same as last year.
Was on ESPNU. It is on ESPNU. It'll be on Sunday,
March ninth. That'll be eleven thirty am Eastern, ten thirty
am Central. So good way to kick off your Sunday,
there by then figuring out a lot of these schools

(53:21):
figure out where they're going for a couple of days
after that.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
This is one of those interesting things because a lot
it required that the conference curants wrap up on Saturday,
which in the past had not necessarily been the case.
We were still like I have been driving home from
whas in the Twin Cities and pulled over to watch
the selection show in my car, usually at a quick
trip with free WiFi somewhere in middle Wisconsin. So a

(53:47):
big fan of the conference being wrapped up and just
having that, you know, ten thirty in the morning local
time here on ESPNU. So just that's an interesting shift
to me. But it's a huge deal that it's televised
again and not a streaming show. So that is one,
you know, good step in a positive direction and one
of the things that I think came out of the
equity reports that NCA has done for women's hockey.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
So okay, let's look ahead to the final week of
play in ECAC Hockey and Atlantic hockey this weekend. Still
another weekend to be played in Hockey East New hat
w c h A after this e C A C.
As we mentioned, UH has a kind of a gap

(54:33):
here the the top teams are playing the teams in
the lower half of the standings. For the most part,
we have Cornell hosting Brown and Yale, Colgate hosting Yale
and Brown in the opposite UH order there. Then it's
Saint Louis Saint Louis, Saint Lawrence hosting Dartmouth, and Harvard

(54:55):
Clarkson hosting Harvard in Dartmouth. So one, two, three, four,
they're they're getting the same kind of teams and those
those bands there Quinnipiac hosting rent Lair and Union, and
Princeton getting the reverse with hosting Union and rents s Layer.
So it doesn't necessarily scream, you know, upset potential in

(55:17):
any of those bounds. Yes, but all you have to
do is really look at the results from the last
few weeks. There's been an upset I think almost every
week at least one, so you know, there's you could
go into that and say, which one is it going
to be this week and what's it going to mean
in terms of UH, you know, who wins the championship,

(55:39):
who gets that final spot for a first round by
who hosts in the first round? All these kind of
things could get shaken up by an upset in any
of those games.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Yeah, I you know, RPI has got to be flying
after their win over Koli last week. I think anybody
that overlook Brown is going to be in a world
of hurt. Yeah, but you know, Harvard has almost pulled
it up set in the last couple of weeks. Startmouth
has proven what they can do. I mean, Yale is

(56:14):
Yale and has you know, still has really great goaltending.
Uh So yeah, I in Union too. I mean there's
just I don't these all feel like a little bit
like trap games for for the raked opponents and so
uh that is part of what makes it fun. And
I obviously am rooting for chaos. Uh. I hate that
all the games are happening at the same time. I

(56:36):
suppose for you know, like like European football style decision day.
It's great, but it just means that one of them
goes to intermission. They all go to intermission, and then
I can't watch anything. So that's annoying. But yeah, I
just wish I do wish they were they were staggered
a little bit. Usually we get at least twitter two
day games, so I want to be watching this at
like noon on Friday, just like make it happen all day. Uh.

(57:00):
But yeah, I think Cornell's got the most to lose,
both at the top of the conference and within the pairwise,
so that is the one that I will be paying
the most attention to. But yeah, you know, roll your
dice and make some predictions, but assume that nothing will
go as we plan. So ecc is I think gonna

(57:23):
be the fun one to watch this week.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
So the ECACE playoffs will start next weekend with a
one game opening round hosted by the teams in fifth, sixth, seventh,
and eighth that can be either Friday or Saturday next weekend.
Winners are those going into the quarterfinals to meet the
top four teams. We get a buye and then those.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Are best of three because reasons correct again.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
We'll have this all up on us e h O
dot com this week in a hopefully easy to follow
article format that will lets you see which which ones
you you want to find out.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Honestly, I think it's you and I have both been
doing this for ages and the fact that like we
have to go look it up and figure out what
the heck is happening in each individual conference just shows
you how convoluted this all is. Like this needs to
be more standardized. Like this is the hill I'm dying
on now, because I just this is ludicrous. Just do
you know one and done to start, then move to

(58:24):
best of three, then go back to one and done,
Like what is the reasoning? What are we doing?

Speaker 1 (58:29):
I honestly, I I salute Hockey East for committing to something.
You know, one gay single games the entire way through.
You've got a Wednesday and a Saturday, and a Wednesday
and a Saturday. And because of their travel being easier
for love, Yeah, that's you can do it. It's you know, okay,

(58:50):
very clear, you want to you want to get through this.
It's gonna it's gonna be The NCAA tournament doesn't do
best of threes, So get used to it. Here, I e.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
SEC expanded to include all their teams and then went
to this model where it feels like, well we included you,
we don't actually want you to win. We would like
our star routines to win. And so that part I
just annoys me, and I just I think it's the
waffling back and forth. I don't have a problem with
the best of three series that you know, like that
works if that's your first round. You know, I'm not

(59:21):
a like not opposed to it in theory, but the
the waffling back and forth is the part, like you
commit to a commit to a style and go with it.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
At least no one has gone through mini games or
anything like that, Like yeah, Vision III.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
But I feel like between this and the half points
and like sometimes a win is to like every there
are just so many things that they were like we
shall standardize this, and like it's still not and it's
just like every time I think, like if your goal
is to grow the game, and I know that is
not the only goal in the student athletes experience and
all that sort of stuff, but like, y'all are not

(59:55):
making this easy to be a fan.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Not if you want to crossover from conference to conference, No,
definitely not. Atlantic Hockey has potential potential semi final matchups
previews this weekend, with Penn State playing at twelve. This
it would be in a different place Penn State versus

(01:00:19):
rit this this weekend, it's in Rochester. That's the potential
one versus four matchup in the semi finals. Syracuse playing
at Mercy Herris this weekend as a potential two versus
three matchup. Of course, lynden Wood and Robert Morris will
have something to say about that when they play against
rit and Syracuse in the first round. But Lindwood and

(01:00:41):
Robert Morris have to decide who finishes his fifth and
who finishes sixth. They'll do that in a series at
Robert Morris. So some things still to be decided in
Atlantic hockey, but also a potential for you know, if
you're just kind of looking to see, well, how I
think they shoot out, this is uh, this could be

(01:01:03):
the weekend to look at it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Yeah, now, but it's awesome to see, Like on no
planet should the fifth and sixteen playing like be an
exciting matchup, but because of the implications of it, like
that's like, that's one of the exciting games happening this
weekend and the last or second to last weekend of
the regular season, which I enjoy. And I'm keeping my
on linden Wood because they've announced a ton of international

(01:01:26):
signings over the last couple of weeks. Maybe and I
don't know that they're all for next year, but some
moves being made for linden Wood and so to me,
I've just been kicking and I on what they're doing
and sort of how I think some of that will
will come together in the future.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Yeah, Okay, Moving along the conferences that still have two
weekends of play left Hockey East is one of them.
They have home and home series of Friday and Saturday
between Northeastern and BC, between BU and New Hampshire, and
between Providence in Yukon. So all those, as we've talked

(01:02:03):
about before, having something to do with whether it's talking
about first or second, whether it's talking about fourth or fifth,
or you know, having something to do with the final standings.
There also Maine playing two at Merrimack and Vermont at
holy Cross Saturday and Sunday, so those being more involved

(01:02:27):
with the lorens and the standings the last couple of
series that I mentioned there. But I'm intrigued by Northeastern BC,
especially because, as we talked about before, I don't know
what to expect from either of those teams.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Both teams could dominate, both teams could.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Not. I guess I really I look at it, look around,
I don't know if I know what to expect from
be you in New Hampshire or Providence, Yukon either for
that matter. So hey, let's let's let let a ride
and see what happens.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Also, Hockey East coming through with the two o'clock Eastern games.
Yes on Friday. Uh, Northeastern BC is at two and
so is main mayor Max. So my my desire to
spend all day watching whom it's college hockey is being fulfilled.
Thank you, Hockey East.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
But yeah, I mean that's just it. Honestly, either one
of those teams could fully dominate the other, and that's
why both of those teams have kind of you know,
I keep saying this because I the euphemism I got
is crap the bed, So I was trying to think
of something better. But yeah, I just, uh, you don't know,
you don't know. If BC plays like they did last
week in the first team against for a month, like

(01:03:36):
I think they would be sweeping the rug with most
everybody in Hockey East. So like, if they find that
magic again, great, But Northeastern's also got Lisa Johnson, and uh,
I think that's a problem for most everybody's offense. So yeah,
good luck there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Yes, exactly. Okay, then new how race is getting heated?
As we mentioned long Island and Post have a home
and home series Thursday and Friday, so that one, you know,
sets the tone a little bit, and so Sacred Heart
knows when it goes to the end of its series
what it needs to do to keep pace, I guess,
or or move ahead. Sacred Heart playing at Franklin Pierce

(01:04:17):
Friday and Saturday. Let's let's regroup a week from now
and see where we're at going into the final weekend there.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
At this point, I just want them to be tied.
That's what I'm pulling for, because it's fun when you
know everything comes down to the last few minutes and
at this point, yeah, who, I don't know what to
pull from any of these games. I don't. I just
I feel like it feels like I'm letting everybody down,
like we should have better things to say about this.

(01:04:47):
And it's not that I like don't have thoughts on
the teams. It's just the the outcomes recently have made
it so it's really hard to predict what's going to happen.
And this is the thing I've sort of been harping on,
which is like, well, the opportunities there, you have to
take it. And so that's where we get in that.
I'm not mad, I'm disappointed, Like you you have this chance, like,

(01:05:08):
please go out and win the games you're supposed to win.
Do do what you you know you need to do
to secure the title. So that's that's kind of where
we're at.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
So New High is best of three quarterfinals at the
top four seeds February twenty eighth, March first and second
winner is going to single game semi finals at the
two higher seeds on Wednesday, March fifth, and then winners
going to the championship game one game. They're at the
higher seed on Saturday, March eighth, So you can see

(01:05:38):
where home ice. Then you know, when you're talking about
who finishes first between l Iu and Sacred Heart, gonna
mean something there. If we think that they're going to,
you know, end up meeting for the championship, Let's see
who's who's barn. That's in be fun to watch that happen.
So in the w c h A this week, getting

(01:06:01):
back to my list, here, the one that stands out
to me, I think we mentioned earlier Minnesota and Saint
Cloud State with a home and home series Friday and Saturday.
I think that's well important for well, both sides, but
you know, for Minnesota to bounce back and show that they,
you know, are more the team that beat Ohio State
in the first game of their series and less of
the team that you know, gave up fourteen goals to

(01:06:26):
Wisconsin over last weekend. And for Saint Cloud, you know,
they're they're eleventh in the pairwise, and so that's not
a I mean, it's there's still a pretty decent gap
there of trying to get into the top nine and
knowing that if you're talking about getting in that large spot,
that means you lose your last conference playoff game, whether

(01:06:49):
that's in the championship game, the semifinals, in the first round,
that means you're you're taking another loss somewhere. I don't
know if they have enough losses to give, to be honest,
even if they were to, you know, come through this
weekend and sweep Minnesota, let's say, I don't know if
that still does enough for them to be able to

(01:07:09):
find it at large spot. So for Saint Cloud, really,
I think it's about getting ready for the playoffs, and
this is a team that you might have to beat
in the playoffs. If you are able to get through
the first round.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Well, two things. One is that I think the bonus
for Saint Cloud State is that they are playing a
team ranked ahead of them, where you know, clarks and
Quinnipiac Penn State, which are the three NPI teams above them,
are not. So the quality win bonuses on the table
for Saint Cloud and so I think that is a
huge sort of difference end gap. Just the possible points

(01:07:42):
from a weekend sweep for Saint Cloud ors I think
much higher than for those other teams. They have to
do that obviously to be at that point, but I
do think that makes this more interesting and makes that
gap sort of less intimidating. The other thing, I love
when teams play a home at home with Saint Cloud

(01:08:03):
because Sink Cloud has that massive rink, and so I
think playing two games in one weekend and two very
different sizes of ice is just really fascinating and shows
a lot about a team's adaptability. If we're talking about
Minnesota being down, like you said, their number of players
not dressing was about as long as the number of
players that were, and then you talk about playing on

(01:08:24):
the big ice at Saint Cloud State, that's going to
be a factor so yeah, I think they play it
right or the first game and sink in her Brooks
the second. So that Saturday game in St. Cloud, I think,
in assuming that the injuries are what they were last week,
I think that favors Sint Cloud quite a bit in
that second game.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Yeah, when you're talking about having to getting into the
sixth period of a weekend series and then go chase
an extra fifteen feet there, you know, an extra seven
feet to the boards from the face off dots or
something like that, Yeah, that's that can add up a
little bit and contribute to some some heavy legs, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Yeah, And I feel like Saint Cloud's offense and sort
of their prowess this here has been using that space
and really doing really well on the break and doing
some coast to coast passing and breakouts and things, and
so I think they're really gonna try and push that
pace and widen things out and just really tire Minnesota out.

(01:09:22):
And so I think, you know, for so many reasons,
that's a that's a when you are when you're clawing
for points and for position. I think that is about
as good as Saint Cloud. Like, perfect scenario for them,
right to be against a team that is struggling a little,
that is going dealing with injuries and is coming to

(01:09:43):
play in their house. So and and Saint Cloud just
we know what they can do in terms of slowing
teams down. And again they've got just amazing goaltending. So
when the Gophers starts scoring a ton, yeah, there's just
there's a lot in the mix there that I think
can slant things for Saint claud State could really make
things interesting in terms of pair wise for both them

(01:10:05):
and for Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
Definitely, before we wrap up, I wanted to mention I
should have mentioned this earlier when we were talking about bracketology,
but got a question in the inbox this week from Melissa,
And thank you Melissa for for listening and for writing in.
You can always follow or drop us a line on
on in the emails in our show notes, or follow

(01:10:28):
us on social media and drop us a line there.
But Melissa's question was do tournament games count in the
pair wise or NPI calculations? And I got back to her,
but I thought it was important to mention it here
because if there's that question out for for one person,
there's probably more people that are wondering and yes, they do.
All all the games up until the the selection show

(01:10:52):
essentially count towards pair wise NPI unless they're exhibition games,
of course, But yeah, everything everything counts, and really that's
going to when you get into those last few games
of the conference championships. You're talking about teams that probably
are pretty usually close to each other and the pair

(01:11:13):
wise are you know, there's a good chance of some
movement happening based on the result there. So so yes,
those those do count, and we thank you Melissa for
the message. If you do have a message, please send
it along at the email you'll find in our show notes.
Anything else this.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Week, no, I would add to that. Then it the
teams that are still when you get to the final
weekend of a conference championship, we've got only four teams
still playing in each That means the others are not
getting any pairwise points or NPI points. And so again
that's sort of why we're talking about the fine details

(01:11:53):
of like a bracket and how that bracket lines up,
because a team that can play deeper into their tournament
has more chance to affect their standing.

Speaker 1 (01:12:01):
The really interesting thing that I don't think we've seen
happen yet, but is always possible is if the gap
is so small between two teams and if they're not playing,
but the teams that they have played are playing, that
those results could create a very small change in the
other team's numbers. You could still have movement even if

(01:12:24):
you're not playing anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
So, right, because again that number is a sort of
an infinite calculation of your previous games against each other,
and so it is essentially calculating your NPI against everybody
else's NPI. And because their MPI can change, then so
can yours. So there's it's a like we say, it's

(01:12:47):
like a calculation that can go out for an infinity
multiplaying against each other. And so yeah, you can be
idle and still have your number changed because your opponents
NPI is part of the calculate.

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
And we have that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
All on the website and we have linked to it before.
But if you ever, you know, if you can google
like my name in us h O and NPI explanation,
that's how I find it for myself.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
So good to see that still comes up as a
as exact.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
Yeah, but it's just it does. It's a very confluted math.
We have both talked aboutfore we are not math. People
do not ask me to explain it technically, but I
have tried to explain it in a way that I
would understand reading it, so hopefully that helps other people
because I do not math right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
All right, I think that wraps it up this week.
We thank you for listening back next week to talk
about the start of playoffs and a couple of conferences
and the final weekend of the regular season and what's
still to play for for three of the conferences. So
I hope to hear you well, hope that you're hearing
us then, and we thank you as always for listening.
For Nicole hosey On Todd Luski, thanks for listening to

(01:14:00):
the Bottle