March 20, 2025 • 22 mins
On a bonus episode of the PodKaz from the Frozen Four in Minneapolis, Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com chat with players from three of the four teams.
Ohio State junior defender Emma Peschel discusses the Buckeyes' search for a second consecutive NCAA championship.
Ashley Messier, a senior defender, talks about Cornell returning to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2019.
And Minnesota freshman defender Chloe Primerano shares how the Gophers are preparing to play the Frozen Four at home.
Ohio State plays Cornell at 4 p.m. Central on Friday, with Wisconsin vs. Minnesota to follow at 7:30 p.m. Central. Both semifinal games stream on ESPN+.
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 todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Ohio State junior defender Emma Peschel discusses the Buckeyes' search for a second consecutive NCAA championship.
Ashley Messier, a senior defender, talks about Cornell returning to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2019.
And Minnesota freshman defender Chloe Primerano shares how the Gophers are preparing to play the Frozen Four at home.
Ohio State plays Cornell at 4 p.m. Central on Friday, with Wisconsin vs. Minnesota to follow at 7:30 p.m. Central. Both semifinal games stream on ESPN+.
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 todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com. Hi everyone, Welcome to the podcast. Todd
Mlusky here with Nicole Hasey. We are in Minneapolis at
the Frozen Four at Ritter Arena. It is media day today.
As we're talking to you on Thursday, we've heard from
the coaches and players from all four teams that are here.
(00:26):
We've got some interviews lined up for you that you'll
be hearing in a couple of minutes. I'm Apecial from
Ohouse Sate, Ashley Messier from Cornell, and Chloy Primirano from Minnesota.
We were hoping to have a Wisconsin player that timing
didn't work out, so we apologized for that. But Nicole,
what did you take away from today? It does seemed
like these four teams are ready to go for Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think everybody said the right things.
I thought there were some really interesting quotes across the
board about sort of like this is a one game season, right,
They're not thinking about what came before, other than maybe
building on some things. But it's not about how you
did against any of these teams in the past. They're
saying it's relevant, and you know, it's it's when or
go home and they're all really happy to be here,
(01:08):
and you know, forty other teams are at home.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It was a very weird day of press conferences. When
Todd says timing, it's this day where we get here,
I mean we have been here for five or six
hours and we had four press conferences in that time,
so you like, it's just it's a strange, running around
sort of day where everything and nothing happens all at once.
We had talk of childbirth and golf at some of
(01:33):
our press conferences.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It was a strange day, but I mean it was light,
and I think that's that's part of it, right, Like,
instead of being you all in your head today, right,
they're going to talk about silly other stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
No one felt it felt like no one was seeming
like the spotlight was too big, too bright. Right now,
I feel like there's a you know, let's just get
the fright hand place of hockey.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, it's always interesting too. With the Frozen and four
we get more media than we normally see at any
other point in the season, and you can definitely tell
when people have an agenda and a story either trying
to write or plan to write and the questions follow that.
But you know, it was a fun day. I'm glad
we got to talk to some of the players individually
and always they're always a little more relaxed when they're
not sitting up on that dais and in front of
(02:16):
all the cameras.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, so we've got two semi finals Friday. We'llhouse It
against Cornell four o'clock Central and Wisconsin against Minnesota at
seven thirty Central. Follow complete coverage of that on usc
HO dot com at Victory Press. Cole will have all that.
I'll put in a plug for myself Madison dot com
and baddress dot com because they never get to do that,
but I'll put that in right now. So what you'll follow,
(02:42):
what you're here, you'll hear following this is three interviews
as I mentioned, Emma Pecial, Ashley Messier and Chloyd Permurado.
Hope you enjoy. Welcome back to the podcast, our special
edition here at the Frozen four in Minneapolis. Todd Muss
(03:03):
you joined by Ama Pecial from Ohouse say thanks for.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Joining us, of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I wonder if you can kind of give us a
vibe check on the team going into this. You've been
in these situations before going into the Frozen Four. What
does it feel like. How does this one feel different
than the same to the other ones you've been at.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean, it's honestly crazy that we're already back
at the Frozen Four. This year went by really fast,
and that's a good thing. It's not a silly bad
But I think we're feeling really good. We had a
really good first game against Saint Lawrence. We're building momentum
at the right time. We're feeling good, good energy, good vibes.
Muzzy's really happy with how we've been playing. We had
a good week of practice, and we're happy to be
back in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I wonder if you can tell us maybe some of
the memories because you played Cornell literally this season in
the Icebreaker tournament, and now you're playing him again at
the end of the season. Obviously a massive difference in
times of you know, time of dater that's October, this
is March, right. What do you draw on from that experience?
What do you remember from from that game?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, I mean, it was a really long time ago.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
It was Cornell's second weekend, so there's not much that
we can kind of pull from that. We're very different team,
so are they, But I think we have confidence knowing
that we put up seven on a really good goalie.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
We know that she's going to come out to play.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
She's their best player, so it's just a matter of
being able to put pucks on her early. At the
same time, we have to adjust our game. We've done film,
we've understood how they've adjusted their game, and we just
have to go out there play our hockey. We have
to worry about ourselves first and deal with the rest
after that. But if we can play a full sixty
minutes and put our best out there, then we should
(04:32):
be able to take care of business.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
What do you feel like has maybe developed with what
a full sixty minutes means to this group, because that's
something that obviously you want to develop as the season
goes on. What does that look like now?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I think just being a one shift warrior is the
biggest thing. Muzzy harps on that all the time, and
just going shift by shift and just taking everything one
shift at a time. We'd like to play relentless, play
get out there, play hard, just do it's right, And
I think playing a full sixty minutes is just playing
twenty minutes a period of every period at a time
and stringing all those shifts together and building on those
(05:07):
as well.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I know, ideally you want to prepare the scene for
every game, but playoffs are different, and it's kind of
hard to deny that. Is there anything that you do different,
I think differently or maybe mentally do different pending into games.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Like this, Yeah, I mean, obviously the intensity is much higher,
but we all obviously want to keep it as casual
as possible. We don't want to over emphasize the game.
We want to just play our full sixty minutes and
play our game. And I think for me it's just
really being mentally stable, because I know that these games
are really high. It' stew or die at this point,
but it's being able to just take a breath, reset
(05:39):
if I need to, and just focus on what's in
front of me and what is happening in the next shift.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Plisha's experience play into that, because you know what it's
like to be in the spotlight. But at this point
in the season.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, being this my third Frozen four of my career,
it's been really awesome and an incredible opportunity to be
able to be here again. We're also defending national champions,
so there's a lot of tensity with that. We have
a target on our back as well. So I think
just being able to help those who haven't been here
before and just get them to just relax and just
play their game is the biggest thing, just because we
don't want them to be nervous and grip their sticks
(06:11):
a little bit tighter. So we just want to get
everyone to just relax. Obviously everyone's going to be nervous,
but that's fuel for our energy as well.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Ohio States had a lot of experiences this season. The icebreaker.
We talked about the game at Wrigley where you're outdoors,
it's dark of night, and you win a shootout and
you get fireworks going off for you. Now you're here
at the frozen foard. How do you kind of in
the moment appreciate those that you know not every college student,
college athlete gets those kind of experiences, but you guys
(06:38):
have had a fuel home, right.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean, being able to host Icebagger tournament was great.
It's been really cool to bring hockey to Columbus. It's
not very big there yet, but we're trying to get
things going. We have a really good fan base and
I think that's been helping as well. And obviously big
Lely was just unbelievable. It's the top ten, even top
three moment in a hockey career, and that was absolutely incredible.
Chicago did a great job hosting that event, say with
big ten. But I think we know that our main
(07:02):
goal is to win a national championship and that's what
we're here to do. So it's obviously we're very thankful
for those opportunities. We want to take that momentum and
take those chances that we've had and put them into
this weekend and keep building on that.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Maybe just jumping back to what you were saying about
the younger players and stuff, the makeup of this team
and who you all are heading into this title run
is very different from the team that won last year,
and so you've got, you know, some younger players as
sort of your scoring leaders, and it's just a different
group and a different mentality and less experience. How has
sort of this run up been different from last year
and how are you all trying to, like I see
(07:36):
you try and turn that into a positive and really
build on it right.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I mean, we know we're younger, we know we had
a lot of new girls coming in. I think more
than half of our team or about half, was new
at the start of the year. But we've also known
that everyone has owned their role this year, regardless of
it's different than in high school or now. I think
it's just owning what you have. And obviously we want
to help them build experience. The experience is a thing
that is what builds confidence in these situations especially, and
(08:02):
I think that just helped helping them get to a
point where they're comfortable at out of frozen four because
we've had some transfers like Swedter Citi, who's been in
a frozen for the last year with Clarkson, like, we
want her to use that experience and put it into
this one. But I think just really not trying to
compare it to last year, because you can't compare it.
But it's more just like how do we get our
team to get that same result as last year.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Ohio State got here with a six to one win
over Minutes or Sorry over Saint Lawrence in the regional final,
that coming after a six two lost in Minnesota the
weekend before how important was it to turn the page
and how did you guys do that? From from really
what you know coach Mazarol was saying, was, you know,
not the kind of efforts she wanted to see up
in Duluth to what you had to do to win
(08:46):
at home to get here.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, I think just turning the page. We don't want
to dwell on that type of loss. We know it
wasn't our best game. We know we didn't put our
best foot forward, and we got back after it in practice.
We said, look, if we're you have two choices. You
can either dwell on it and just poor me, poor me,
or we can move on as a team and focus
on the wei and focus on what we need to
do to get to the Frozen Four, get back to
Minneapolis to thein a national championship. So I think Muzzy
(09:09):
was really just harping on turning the page, moving on.
She was moving on. She's not quitting on us. Obviously,
it wasn't the performance we wanted to put out, but
I think us bouncing back against Saint Lawrence and putting
up six on a really good team and just having
a really good team game.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Is what we needed all right, well, best of luck
this weekend. Thank you so much, and now we're joined
by Ashley Messier of Cornell. Thanks for joining us first,
happy to be here. Cornell is back in the Frozen
fourth for the first time since twenty nineteen. What does
this mean for the program?
Speaker 6 (09:41):
I guess well, I think for the IVY leagues especially,
it's been it was hard with COVID.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
A lot of players lost that year.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
We didn't get to play obviously at all during the
COVID year, especially with that first ranked team that got
the season cut short and then didn't really get their
eligibility back. So I would say that we have a
lot to play for and a lot of alumni backing
us that you know, got that taken from them and
we want to finish it for them as well. So
it means it means a lot to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It took it was quite a big rebuild, so it's
almost like an amazing feat that you guys got here
back here so quickly. What has what has worked for
you guys? What has kind of come together so that
you're hearing you're peeking at this right time?
Speaker 6 (10:22):
I think first and foremost, and this is like pretty obvious,
but we have a tremendous coaching staff and we're a
very well coached team. And I think that's what when
players pre or when teams pre scout us and talk
about us before, I can almost undoubtedly assume that they're saying,
you know, this is a very well coached team. They're disciplined,
and we run our systems properly, and we have a
(10:43):
lot of faith in our coaching staff and coach dera Is.
I have nothing but great things to say about him
as a person at a coach, but I think that's
a big one. And we, like Cornell is known for
being the blue collar, hard working team. We have scale too.
We have a fantastic goalie, a strong decoor, and a
lot of depth up front. So I think there's a
(11:03):
lot of factors that go into it. But overall, like
we play a team game and we're consistent with that,
and I think that that's brought us a really long way.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
We talk about a blue collar team. It seemed like
that was on display last Saturday. To get here, the
loose one nothing and the game that was tied, nothing,
nothing after two periods. Can you kind of just give it,
give us a sense of the mentality of the team
during that game of like how you had to just
kind of stay in the moment and not let the
stakes get too big for anyone.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Yeah, honestly, and that's that's really hard. It's a really
hard thing to do when the emotions get so high,
and every weekend it gets bigger and bigger, and you know,
it's like, this is a big weekend, this is a
big game, and it's stressful, and obviously this is for everybody,
but we had just a phenomenal crowd and that was
like we got out there and we're like Wow. For
me personally, I was like, wow, I am so lucky,
(11:50):
and that was kind of brought me down a little bit,
helped me relax. But I think we just have, like
I've said in the past, and my teammates and have
said too, that we have so much trust in each
other and we've been solid with our like I said,
our consistency, like things up and downs during the game,
like it's going to happen. You can expect to probably
get scored on, like it's usually not going to be
(12:11):
a shutout game, so you go down one or up one.
It's kind of the same level headed Okay, let's keep
going this so much can change either way, so you
just stay level headed, consistent, keep doing what we do,
and that's kind of what we stick to.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I asked coach Darreed this, But when you, I mean
he is obviously defense first, it's what his specialty is.
You know that you are going to have to play
a strong defensive game against an offensive team like Ohio State,
but finding that balance of still being strong on defense
but being able to be offensive enough to get some
books in the net because you.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Have had to score away.
Speaker 6 (12:45):
Yeah, so I would say for that too, we, like
I said, with our depth up front end defensively, we've
we've got all across the board. We don't have I
think one thing that we had to get used to
and adapt to. Like obviously last year we had the
Patty Kaz winner on our team is Daniel and she
put the puck in the net, and that was I
think obviously an adjustment. But we figured that out. And
(13:07):
it's not like we have one person that's getting all
the goals. Really like we have it pretty spread out.
So we'll go into games and we're like, we don't
know who's going to score, but we know somebody will
and it can be upfront or on the back end.
We just we know that when we have our opportunities,
like we find a way to bury. And I'm confident
in that.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Played Ohio State earlier this season, but that was way
back in October. It's not a different Actually, no one's
home ice, so it is at the value cit of
the arena. Where was even in Ohio State's home rank.
Does that mean much to you guys coming into this
or is that just kind of like a little bit
of a baseline for what to expect from Ohio State.
But you know this, everything else is different, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I think.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Start of the year to the end of the year,
every team, not just us, Like every team's almost a
different team. It's not the same, like you're getting used
to a whole new group like we had. You know,
it's just not the same. And for us as well,
we don't start until October, we don't. Those are our
first couple of games this season. We hadn't played at all.
We were just getting our lines together. That might have
been our third game all year. And and I think
(14:10):
that a lot has changed, Like our lines are completely different, obviously,
our our coaching style like our plan, our game plan.
It stays the same, and that's not a secret at
this end, at this point of the year, no one,
no one's got some secret that they're hiding. Like we
all know how each other play the same with Ohio,
I'm sure that they figured a lot out that's different.
So I'm not saying that, you know, we have this
(14:31):
new advantage or something, but I just think it's going
to be a much different game. It's gonna I mean,
we're in the it's the Frozen four the it's a dogfight.
There's four teams. You don't know what's gonna happen. Everyone's
giving everything they have and everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Deserves to be here.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
So I think it's going to be it's gonna be
a good one for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
What should people listening watch for, Like what do you
guys need to do to win this game? Like what
first ten minutes, first period? Like what needs to happen
for like fans to feel like, Okay, we're our teams
in a good spot, know.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
A big one always in every sport, hockey like included,
you just youve got to start. You got to be ready,
you have to be ready to go. There's no you
can't take any any seconds off, any shifts off. Like
you start, You've got to be ready to go. And obviously,
like I think everyone knows that we've been playing big
games for the past couple of weeks, the past month,
and that's expected. Just confidence, like we we we come out,
(15:25):
play what how we play, do what we do and
just be ready, be ready. No, it's going to be
a physical game and not be you know, taken aback
by that. We know what to expect and I think
that's all we really need to do is trust what
we do because it's nothing's going to change.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Have fun with it. Good luck Friday.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Thank you, Yeah, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Molski and Nicole Hase.
You're in Minneapolis at the Frozen four. Chloe Premerano, the
Minnesota fresh and is joining us. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Tell me what it's like to be here. I mean,
you're here all the time, but this is the Frozen Four.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
It's a little bit different, right, Yeah, it's pretty nice
to have it at home. I mean you don't have
to travel anywhere and just being at your home rink,
just having our home fans.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You're used to big games and big you know, you've
stuff with you eighteens senior national team. Where does this
rink and how does that experience sort of help you
prepare to be in this situation?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah, I mean this has got to be up there.
I'm playing in the Frozen four. Obviously, this is my
first year, but something that I'm really looking forward to.
And yeah, just having the opportunity to play at home,
it's it's really special.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Can you just give us a little bit of what
the mentality of the team and the vibe is like
right now? Knowing that here you are. You wanted to
be here all along, and.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Here you are. Yeah, I mean the vibes in the
locker room are really high. Everyone's super excited. It's going
to be so fun. So we're ready to go for
tomorrow and we're gonna put our best foot forward.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I talked to Abbe a couple of weeks ago, and
she was, you know, talking about yeah, been ups and downs,
but this was the goal and that's all that really matters.
And so you know, you learn from some of that stuff,
but ultimately it didn't matter because you got where you
wanted to be. How have those sort of ups and
downs helped you, guys be in a place where you could,
you know, the play the game you played in wha
is play the game that you played last week and
(17:19):
be here.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn't been smooth sailing all year,
but I think it's helped us a lot coming into
this this moment in the past few weekends, just knowing
that we can fight back through adversity.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
And yeah, we're super excited to be here.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Obviously we knew it was at home all year, so
finally making it here, it's pretty surreal.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I'm interested in your journey in the season. Like Nicole said,
you've played at really high levels before. Was playing a
full season in college kind of what you would expected
it to be or was there something that surprised you
about Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Mean, obviously it was tough coming from U eighteen.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
It was definitely a lot faster and a lot more physical,
and so big adjustment at the start. But it's been awesome.
The competition is great. I mean every team is so good,
which is like it's just awesome to play a tough
game every night. So that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Do you feel like you know you made the decision
to come early and you really, you know, wanted to
be able to up your game. Do you feel like
you've been able to do that and accomplish what you
want to do this first year?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Yeah, I think just playing at a higher level, it's
it's definitely pushed me and I've had to change the
way I've played a little bit and just kind of
adapting to the faster pace and different playing style here.
But it's been a it's been a great year and
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
The game that you want to get here three two win,
you're a ridder. You got out to a three nothing
lead and then it kind of crept away a little bit.
They cut it the three to two. Can you just
give us some mindset of what that was like to
try and get to the finish line of that game,
knowing what was on on the line for it.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, we knew it was going to be a tough game.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Cool Get's a great team, So I mean, obviously you
started off really well and got the three nothing lead,
but let them get back in a little bit there.
But we had we had the belief the whole time
and we knew we could get that done.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
When you're playing a team that you know so well again,
and this isn't that weird situation where like, you know,
they haven't ever swept the Gophers during the season, But
just all that sort of stuff, all the little things
that go into not just a semi final game, but
playing the Badgers and playing a team you know so well.
What do you take from the games two guys already learned,
and how do you still treat this like just this
(19:21):
is a semi final game. We need to win regardless
of who we're playing.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Yeah, obviously we've seen them a lot this year and
haven't had the best results, but we're.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Ready and you know, we've seen them a lot, so
we know what's coming.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And I think just focusing on ourselves and how we
can play is going to be really important, and yeah,
and not worrying about anything else, just just just ourselves.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
We've had a lot of experiences this year already you
a team gold could be a Frozen four championship. Can
you kind of put that all in perspective what this
year has been like.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Yeah, it's been very busy, but I've loved every part
of it and just being here at the University of
Minnesota and playing with this team and being able to
have the frozen for at home, and that would be
pretty special if we were able to hoist it in
the end.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
For people that aren't super familiar, they turn tune in
tomorrow and they wonder how the game is gonna go.
What is what needs to happen in those first few minutes,
maybe in the first period for you to feel like, Okay,
we're we're gonna win this game and we're gonna we're cruising.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Yeah, I mean I think we can't wait for them
to come to West. We gotta get going right from
the puck drop. And just like I said, just play
our game. We know what we can do, and just
do what we know we can do.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Everyone kind of knows someone or knows a lot of
people on the other team in these situations, run across
them in the hallways. Is there a high is it
a just a you know, a nod? What's that like
around here?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:42):
I mean, obviously everyone knows a lot of people around here,
but this weekend there are competitors and no friends.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But uh yeah, it's gonna be special. I think when
we get on the ice.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
It's it's we love our team and that's about it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, it'll be awesome. What do you think this collegiate
season has taught you?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I mean, you you know that you're you know, you're
obviously a highly toirted player.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You had a lot of skills coming in.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
What is this game, particularly this expleegiate game, taught you
in your career?
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Yeah? I think just how many good players are all
across North America. I mean you don't really know when
you're coming from like Western Canada or just.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
You're part of where you've played.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
So just seeing like how many good players there are
and how the game is and yeah, it's been great
to see.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, good luck with it, have fun, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
We hope you enjoy these semi final games. Games will
be te not televised streamed on ESPN Plus and the
championship game is televised on esp and you, as Todd Ted,
will both have coverage and her various locations and here
in us c HO dot com. I also recorded a
podcast with Sarah Spain for her Good Game podcast that
comes out on Friday. So when you're listening to the
(22:00):
listening to this, definitely switch over there and help me
spread the good word of women's college hockey and get
more people excited
Usccho dot com. Hi everyone, Welcome to the podcast. Todd
Mlusky here with Nicole Hasey. We are in Minneapolis at
the Frozen Four at Ritter Arena. It is media day today.
As we're talking to you on Thursday, we've heard from
the coaches and players from all four teams that are here.
(00:26):
We've got some interviews lined up for you that you'll
be hearing in a couple of minutes. I'm Apecial from
Ohouse Sate, Ashley Messier from Cornell, and Chloy Primirano from Minnesota.
We were hoping to have a Wisconsin player that timing
didn't work out, so we apologized for that. But Nicole,
what did you take away from today? It does seemed
like these four teams are ready to go for Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think everybody said the right things.
I thought there were some really interesting quotes across the
board about sort of like this is a one game season, right,
They're not thinking about what came before, other than maybe
building on some things. But it's not about how you
did against any of these teams in the past. They're
saying it's relevant, and you know, it's it's when or
go home and they're all really happy to be here,
(01:08):
and you know, forty other teams are at home.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
It was a very weird day of press conferences. When
Todd says timing, it's this day where we get here,
I mean we have been here for five or six
hours and we had four press conferences in that time,
so you like, it's just it's a strange, running around
sort of day where everything and nothing happens all at once.
We had talk of childbirth and golf at some of
(01:33):
our press conferences.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It was a strange day, but I mean it was light,
and I think that's that's part of it, right, Like,
instead of being you all in your head today, right,
they're going to talk about silly other stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
No one felt it felt like no one was seeming
like the spotlight was too big, too bright. Right now,
I feel like there's a you know, let's just get
the fright hand place of hockey.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, it's always interesting too. With the Frozen and four
we get more media than we normally see at any
other point in the season, and you can definitely tell
when people have an agenda and a story either trying
to write or plan to write and the questions follow that.
But you know, it was a fun day. I'm glad
we got to talk to some of the players individually
and always they're always a little more relaxed when they're
not sitting up on that dais and in front of
(02:16):
all the cameras.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, so we've got two semi finals Friday. We'llhouse It
against Cornell four o'clock Central and Wisconsin against Minnesota at
seven thirty Central. Follow complete coverage of that on usc
HO dot com at Victory Press. Cole will have all that.
I'll put in a plug for myself Madison dot com
and baddress dot com because they never get to do that,
but I'll put that in right now. So what you'll follow,
(02:42):
what you're here, you'll hear following this is three interviews
as I mentioned, Emma Pecial, Ashley Messier and Chloyd Permurado.
Hope you enjoy. Welcome back to the podcast, our special
edition here at the Frozen four in Minneapolis. Todd Muss
(03:03):
you joined by Ama Pecial from Ohouse say thanks for.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Joining us, of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I wonder if you can kind of give us a
vibe check on the team going into this. You've been
in these situations before going into the Frozen Four. What
does it feel like. How does this one feel different
than the same to the other ones you've been at.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean, it's honestly crazy that we're already back
at the Frozen Four. This year went by really fast,
and that's a good thing. It's not a silly bad
But I think we're feeling really good. We had a
really good first game against Saint Lawrence. We're building momentum
at the right time. We're feeling good, good energy, good vibes.
Muzzy's really happy with how we've been playing. We had
a good week of practice, and we're happy to be
back in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I wonder if you can tell us maybe some of
the memories because you played Cornell literally this season in
the Icebreaker tournament, and now you're playing him again at
the end of the season. Obviously a massive difference in
times of you know, time of dater that's October, this
is March, right. What do you draw on from that experience?
What do you remember from from that game?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah, I mean, it was a really long time ago.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
It was Cornell's second weekend, so there's not much that
we can kind of pull from that. We're very different team,
so are they, But I think we have confidence knowing
that we put up seven on a really good goalie.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
We know that she's going to come out to play.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
She's their best player, so it's just a matter of
being able to put pucks on her early. At the
same time, we have to adjust our game. We've done film,
we've understood how they've adjusted their game, and we just
have to go out there play our hockey. We have
to worry about ourselves first and deal with the rest
after that. But if we can play a full sixty
minutes and put our best out there, then we should
(04:32):
be able to take care of business.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
What do you feel like has maybe developed with what
a full sixty minutes means to this group, because that's
something that obviously you want to develop as the season
goes on. What does that look like now?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I think just being a one shift warrior is the
biggest thing. Muzzy harps on that all the time, and
just going shift by shift and just taking everything one
shift at a time. We'd like to play relentless, play
get out there, play hard, just do it's right, And
I think playing a full sixty minutes is just playing
twenty minutes a period of every period at a time
and stringing all those shifts together and building on those
(05:07):
as well.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I know, ideally you want to prepare the scene for
every game, but playoffs are different, and it's kind of
hard to deny that. Is there anything that you do different,
I think differently or maybe mentally do different pending into games.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Like this, Yeah, I mean, obviously the intensity is much higher,
but we all obviously want to keep it as casual
as possible. We don't want to over emphasize the game.
We want to just play our full sixty minutes and
play our game. And I think for me it's just
really being mentally stable, because I know that these games
are really high. It' stew or die at this point,
but it's being able to just take a breath, reset
(05:39):
if I need to, and just focus on what's in
front of me and what is happening in the next shift.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Plisha's experience play into that, because you know what it's
like to be in the spotlight. But at this point
in the season.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, being this my third Frozen four of my career,
it's been really awesome and an incredible opportunity to be
able to be here again. We're also defending national champions,
so there's a lot of tensity with that. We have
a target on our back as well. So I think
just being able to help those who haven't been here
before and just get them to just relax and just
play their game is the biggest thing, just because we
don't want them to be nervous and grip their sticks
(06:11):
a little bit tighter. So we just want to get
everyone to just relax. Obviously everyone's going to be nervous,
but that's fuel for our energy as well.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Ohio States had a lot of experiences this season. The icebreaker.
We talked about the game at Wrigley where you're outdoors,
it's dark of night, and you win a shootout and
you get fireworks going off for you. Now you're here
at the frozen foard. How do you kind of in
the moment appreciate those that you know not every college student,
college athlete gets those kind of experiences, but you guys
(06:38):
have had a fuel home, right.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean, being able to host Icebagger tournament was great.
It's been really cool to bring hockey to Columbus. It's
not very big there yet, but we're trying to get
things going. We have a really good fan base and
I think that's been helping as well. And obviously big
Lely was just unbelievable. It's the top ten, even top
three moment in a hockey career, and that was absolutely incredible.
Chicago did a great job hosting that event, say with
big ten. But I think we know that our main
(07:02):
goal is to win a national championship and that's what
we're here to do. So it's obviously we're very thankful
for those opportunities. We want to take that momentum and
take those chances that we've had and put them into
this weekend and keep building on that.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Maybe just jumping back to what you were saying about
the younger players and stuff, the makeup of this team
and who you all are heading into this title run
is very different from the team that won last year,
and so you've got, you know, some younger players as
sort of your scoring leaders, and it's just a different
group and a different mentality and less experience. How has
sort of this run up been different from last year
and how are you all trying to, like I see
(07:36):
you try and turn that into a positive and really
build on it right.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I mean, we know we're younger, we know we had
a lot of new girls coming in. I think more
than half of our team or about half, was new
at the start of the year. But we've also known
that everyone has owned their role this year, regardless of
it's different than in high school or now. I think
it's just owning what you have. And obviously we want
to help them build experience. The experience is a thing
that is what builds confidence in these situations especially, and
(08:02):
I think that just helped helping them get to a
point where they're comfortable at out of frozen four because
we've had some transfers like Swedter Citi, who's been in
a frozen for the last year with Clarkson, like, we
want her to use that experience and put it into
this one. But I think just really not trying to
compare it to last year, because you can't compare it.
But it's more just like how do we get our
team to get that same result as last year.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Ohio State got here with a six to one win
over Minutes or Sorry over Saint Lawrence in the regional final,
that coming after a six two lost in Minnesota the
weekend before how important was it to turn the page
and how did you guys do that? From from really
what you know coach Mazarol was saying, was, you know,
not the kind of efforts she wanted to see up
in Duluth to what you had to do to win
(08:46):
at home to get here.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, I think just turning the page. We don't want
to dwell on that type of loss. We know it
wasn't our best game. We know we didn't put our
best foot forward, and we got back after it in practice.
We said, look, if we're you have two choices. You
can either dwell on it and just poor me, poor me,
or we can move on as a team and focus
on the wei and focus on what we need to
do to get to the Frozen Four, get back to
Minneapolis to thein a national championship. So I think Muzzy
(09:09):
was really just harping on turning the page, moving on.
She was moving on. She's not quitting on us. Obviously,
it wasn't the performance we wanted to put out, but
I think us bouncing back against Saint Lawrence and putting
up six on a really good team and just having
a really good team game.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Is what we needed all right, well, best of luck
this weekend. Thank you so much, and now we're joined
by Ashley Messier of Cornell. Thanks for joining us first,
happy to be here. Cornell is back in the Frozen
fourth for the first time since twenty nineteen. What does
this mean for the program?
Speaker 6 (09:41):
I guess well, I think for the IVY leagues especially,
it's been it was hard with COVID.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
A lot of players lost that year.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
We didn't get to play obviously at all during the
COVID year, especially with that first ranked team that got
the season cut short and then didn't really get their
eligibility back. So I would say that we have a
lot to play for and a lot of alumni backing
us that you know, got that taken from them and
we want to finish it for them as well. So
it means it means a lot to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It took it was quite a big rebuild, so it's
almost like an amazing feat that you guys got here
back here so quickly. What has what has worked for
you guys? What has kind of come together so that
you're hearing you're peeking at this right time?
Speaker 6 (10:22):
I think first and foremost, and this is like pretty obvious,
but we have a tremendous coaching staff and we're a
very well coached team. And I think that's what when
players pre or when teams pre scout us and talk
about us before, I can almost undoubtedly assume that they're saying,
you know, this is a very well coached team. They're disciplined,
and we run our systems properly, and we have a
(10:43):
lot of faith in our coaching staff and coach dera Is.
I have nothing but great things to say about him
as a person at a coach, but I think that's
a big one. And we, like Cornell is known for
being the blue collar, hard working team. We have scale too.
We have a fantastic goalie, a strong decoor, and a
lot of depth up front. So I think there's a
(11:03):
lot of factors that go into it. But overall, like
we play a team game and we're consistent with that,
and I think that that's brought us a really long way.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
We talk about a blue collar team. It seemed like
that was on display last Saturday. To get here, the
loose one nothing and the game that was tied, nothing,
nothing after two periods. Can you kind of just give it,
give us a sense of the mentality of the team
during that game of like how you had to just
kind of stay in the moment and not let the
stakes get too big for anyone.
Speaker 6 (11:29):
Yeah, honestly, and that's that's really hard. It's a really
hard thing to do when the emotions get so high,
and every weekend it gets bigger and bigger, and you know,
it's like, this is a big weekend, this is a
big game, and it's stressful, and obviously this is for everybody,
but we had just a phenomenal crowd and that was
like we got out there and we're like Wow. For
me personally, I was like, wow, I am so lucky,
(11:50):
and that was kind of brought me down a little bit,
helped me relax. But I think we just have, like
I've said in the past, and my teammates and have
said too, that we have so much trust in each
other and we've been solid with our like I said,
our consistency, like things up and downs during the game,
like it's going to happen. You can expect to probably
get scored on, like it's usually not going to be
(12:11):
a shutout game, so you go down one or up one.
It's kind of the same level headed Okay, let's keep
going this so much can change either way, so you
just stay level headed, consistent, keep doing what we do,
and that's kind of what we stick to.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I asked coach Darreed this, But when you, I mean
he is obviously defense first, it's what his specialty is.
You know that you are going to have to play
a strong defensive game against an offensive team like Ohio State,
but finding that balance of still being strong on defense
but being able to be offensive enough to get some
books in the net because you.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Have had to score away.
Speaker 6 (12:45):
Yeah, so I would say for that too, we, like
I said, with our depth up front end defensively, we've
we've got all across the board. We don't have I
think one thing that we had to get used to
and adapt to. Like obviously last year we had the
Patty Kaz winner on our team is Daniel and she
put the puck in the net, and that was I
think obviously an adjustment. But we figured that out. And
(13:07):
it's not like we have one person that's getting all
the goals. Really like we have it pretty spread out.
So we'll go into games and we're like, we don't
know who's going to score, but we know somebody will
and it can be upfront or on the back end.
We just we know that when we have our opportunities,
like we find a way to bury. And I'm confident
in that.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Played Ohio State earlier this season, but that was way
back in October. It's not a different Actually, no one's
home ice, so it is at the value cit of
the arena. Where was even in Ohio State's home rank.
Does that mean much to you guys coming into this
or is that just kind of like a little bit
of a baseline for what to expect from Ohio State.
But you know this, everything else is different, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I think.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Start of the year to the end of the year,
every team, not just us, Like every team's almost a
different team. It's not the same, like you're getting used
to a whole new group like we had. You know,
it's just not the same. And for us as well,
we don't start until October, we don't. Those are our
first couple of games this season. We hadn't played at all.
We were just getting our lines together. That might have
been our third game all year. And and I think
(14:10):
that a lot has changed, Like our lines are completely different, obviously,
our our coaching style like our plan, our game plan.
It stays the same, and that's not a secret at
this end, at this point of the year, no one,
no one's got some secret that they're hiding. Like we
all know how each other play the same with Ohio,
I'm sure that they figured a lot out that's different.
So I'm not saying that, you know, we have this
(14:31):
new advantage or something, but I just think it's going
to be a much different game. It's gonna I mean,
we're in the it's the Frozen four the it's a dogfight.
There's four teams. You don't know what's gonna happen. Everyone's
giving everything they have and everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Deserves to be here.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
So I think it's going to be it's gonna be
a good one for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
What should people listening watch for, Like what do you
guys need to do to win this game? Like what
first ten minutes, first period? Like what needs to happen
for like fans to feel like, Okay, we're our teams
in a good spot, know.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
A big one always in every sport, hockey like included,
you just youve got to start. You got to be ready,
you have to be ready to go. There's no you
can't take any any seconds off, any shifts off. Like
you start, You've got to be ready to go. And obviously,
like I think everyone knows that we've been playing big
games for the past couple of weeks, the past month,
and that's expected. Just confidence, like we we we come out,
(15:25):
play what how we play, do what we do and
just be ready, be ready. No, it's going to be
a physical game and not be you know, taken aback
by that. We know what to expect and I think
that's all we really need to do is trust what
we do because it's nothing's going to change.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Have fun with it. Good luck Friday.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Thank you, Yeah, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Molski and Nicole Hase.
You're in Minneapolis at the Frozen four. Chloe Premerano, the
Minnesota fresh and is joining us. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Tell me what it's like to be here. I mean,
you're here all the time, but this is the Frozen Four.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
It's a little bit different, right, Yeah, it's pretty nice
to have it at home. I mean you don't have
to travel anywhere and just being at your home rink,
just having our home fans.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You're used to big games and big you know, you've
stuff with you eighteens senior national team. Where does this
rink and how does that experience sort of help you
prepare to be in this situation?
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah, I mean this has got to be up there.
I'm playing in the Frozen four. Obviously, this is my
first year, but something that I'm really looking forward to.
And yeah, just having the opportunity to play at home,
it's it's really special.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Can you just give us a little bit of what
the mentality of the team and the vibe is like
right now? Knowing that here you are. You wanted to
be here all along, and.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Here you are. Yeah, I mean the vibes in the
locker room are really high. Everyone's super excited. It's going
to be so fun. So we're ready to go for
tomorrow and we're gonna put our best foot forward.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I talked to Abbe a couple of weeks ago, and
she was, you know, talking about yeah, been ups and downs,
but this was the goal and that's all that really matters.
And so you know, you learn from some of that stuff,
but ultimately it didn't matter because you got where you
wanted to be. How have those sort of ups and
downs helped you, guys be in a place where you could,
you know, the play the game you played in wha
is play the game that you played last week and
(17:19):
be here.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn't been smooth sailing all year,
but I think it's helped us a lot coming into
this this moment in the past few weekends, just knowing
that we can fight back through adversity.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
And yeah, we're super excited to be here.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Obviously we knew it was at home all year, so
finally making it here, it's pretty surreal.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I'm interested in your journey in the season. Like Nicole said,
you've played at really high levels before. Was playing a
full season in college kind of what you would expected
it to be or was there something that surprised you
about Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Mean, obviously it was tough coming from U eighteen.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
It was definitely a lot faster and a lot more physical,
and so big adjustment at the start. But it's been awesome.
The competition is great. I mean every team is so good,
which is like it's just awesome to play a tough
game every night. So that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Do you feel like you know you made the decision
to come early and you really, you know, wanted to
be able to up your game. Do you feel like
you've been able to do that and accomplish what you
want to do this first year?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Yeah, I think just playing at a higher level, it's
it's definitely pushed me and I've had to change the
way I've played a little bit and just kind of
adapting to the faster pace and different playing style here.
But it's been a it's been a great year and
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
The game that you want to get here three two win,
you're a ridder. You got out to a three nothing
lead and then it kind of crept away a little bit.
They cut it the three to two. Can you just
give us some mindset of what that was like to
try and get to the finish line of that game,
knowing what was on on the line for it.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, we knew it was going to be a tough game.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Cool Get's a great team, So I mean, obviously you
started off really well and got the three nothing lead,
but let them get back in a little bit there.
But we had we had the belief the whole time
and we knew we could get that done.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
When you're playing a team that you know so well again,
and this isn't that weird situation where like, you know,
they haven't ever swept the Gophers during the season, But
just all that sort of stuff, all the little things
that go into not just a semi final game, but
playing the Badgers and playing a team you know so well.
What do you take from the games two guys already learned,
and how do you still treat this like just this
(19:21):
is a semi final game. We need to win regardless
of who we're playing.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Yeah, obviously we've seen them a lot this year and
haven't had the best results, but we're.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Ready and you know, we've seen them a lot, so
we know what's coming.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And I think just focusing on ourselves and how we
can play is going to be really important, and yeah,
and not worrying about anything else, just just just ourselves.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
We've had a lot of experiences this year already you
a team gold could be a Frozen four championship. Can
you kind of put that all in perspective what this
year has been like.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Yeah, it's been very busy, but I've loved every part
of it and just being here at the University of
Minnesota and playing with this team and being able to
have the frozen for at home, and that would be
pretty special if we were able to hoist it in
the end.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
For people that aren't super familiar, they turn tune in
tomorrow and they wonder how the game is gonna go.
What is what needs to happen in those first few minutes,
maybe in the first period for you to feel like, Okay,
we're we're gonna win this game and we're gonna we're cruising.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Yeah, I mean I think we can't wait for them
to come to West. We gotta get going right from
the puck drop. And just like I said, just play
our game. We know what we can do, and just
do what we know we can do.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Everyone kind of knows someone or knows a lot of
people on the other team in these situations, run across
them in the hallways. Is there a high is it
a just a you know, a nod? What's that like
around here?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (20:42):
I mean, obviously everyone knows a lot of people around here,
but this weekend there are competitors and no friends.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But uh yeah, it's gonna be special. I think when
we get on the ice.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
It's it's we love our team and that's about it.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, it'll be awesome. What do you think this collegiate
season has taught you?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I mean, you you know that you're you know, you're
obviously a highly toirted player.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
You had a lot of skills coming in.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
What is this game, particularly this expleegiate game, taught you
in your career?
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Yeah? I think just how many good players are all
across North America. I mean you don't really know when
you're coming from like Western Canada or just.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
You're part of where you've played.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
So just seeing like how many good players there are
and how the game is and yeah, it's been great
to see.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, good luck with it, have fun, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
We hope you enjoy these semi final games. Games will
be te not televised streamed on ESPN Plus and the
championship game is televised on esp and you, as Todd Ted,
will both have coverage and her various locations and here
in us c HO dot com. I also recorded a
podcast with Sarah Spain for her Good Game podcast that
comes out on Friday. So when you're listening to the
(22:00):
listening to this, definitely switch over there and help me
spread the good word of women's college hockey and get
more people excited
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com