January 10, 2025 • 52 mins
The first edition of the PodKaz, USCHO.com's look at NCAA women's hockey, for 2025 has Nicole Haase in Finland covering the IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship and Todd Milewski back from Chicago, where No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 2 Ohio State played at Wrigley Field.
Nicole offers insight into what she has seen at the tournament, which features more than 40 players who are committed to NCAA schools and more that will be college players in a few years. Check out Nicole's list of commitments here.
The series between the top two teams in the rankings was a highlight of the first weekend of 2025 but there was more movement among national contenders to talk about.
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.
Nicole offers insight into what she has seen at the tournament, which features more than 40 players who are committed to NCAA schools and more that will be college players in a few years. Check out Nicole's list of commitments here.
The series between the top two teams in the rankings was a highlight of the first weekend of 2025 but there was more movement among national contenders to talk about.
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Us cho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi everyone, welcome to the podcast, us cho dot COM's
weekly look at NCAA women's hockey and a little bit more.
This week, I'm Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hasey, and
Nicole is joining us from Finland, so there's some h
This is the first chance we've gotten to actually, you know,
find the times common enough between the two areas of
(00:31):
the world that we could have some time to record.
So Nicole, tell us why you're in Finland and you
know people that have been paying attention, no, but for
everyone else, what's happening there?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
So I am just outside Helsinki and Vanta for the
U eighteen Women's World Championships, so we have been playing
for about weeks. Semifinals are tomorrow, Finals tomorrow Saturday. Semifinals
are Sunday. So yeah, that's I've been. You're in the
snow and the wind and the cold. Though I know
it's like that a bit back at home, but yeah,
(01:04):
there's eight hours difference between Todd and I, so trying
to find I'm going, I'm well asleep when he is,
you know, after after his workday. So it's it's been
difficult trying to find stuff, and I just apologize to him.
I think I'm gonna end up beyonding my way through this.
It's a little after ten here, well.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And we're recording this on on Friday, Friday afternoon in
the US and you know, late later in the night
in Finland. And this is the off day, so you've
you've had a chance to do some stuff and look around.
But I mean, the the reason why this this tournament
is really a connection to college hockey is that. I mean, Nicole,
you put this on us ho dot com. There's forty five,
(01:43):
I believe was the count of college committed players playing
in this tournament.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
College committed or currently in college.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I guess when we want to consider Chloyd Primurano from
Minnesota and probably going to be more than that when
it all shakes out. Because I know you've seen some
college recruiters, college coaches looking around at that tournament.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah. Absolutely, It's always funny to be wandering the halls
and suddenly like I've used to see some of this stuff,
so I don't there's that disconnect. Oh wait, yes, it
is weird to see. You know. I've definitely seen some
Ohio State here. I saw someone from Mercy Hurst and
so yeah, there's definitely recruiters here. There are definitely players,
particularly those not playing in the US and Canada, that
(02:30):
have expressed that they are hoping to, you know, come
to the NCAA. So it's definitely a path and those
forty five players, like, that's not just the US and
Canadian players. There are already several players from non North
American schools that are hoping or that are already committed
to come play. So yeah, that's the connection. I mean,
I have always been interested in this tournament. We were
(02:53):
lucky that it was hosted in Madison in twenty twenty two,
after the IHS had said they weren't going to host it,
they were cancel it. You know, USA Hockey. They basically told,
if you USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, if you want
this event happen, you're gonna host it. So that's that's
how we ended up in Madison. But being there just
made it so obvious to me how important it was
(03:13):
to cover this tournament. You know, it's twenty twenty five.
The twenty nineteen tournament in Slovakia was broadcast on basically
a doorbell cam with like a live barn feed. Uh. So,
you know, this just isn't and to this point, like I,
you know, the last two years, I've been the only
North American reporter here. So yeah, it's it. These are players.
(03:33):
Many of these players are already playing in the Senior
World Championships, will play in the Olympics. These are the
you know, not just the future of women's hockey, but
the current of women's hockey. And so I think it's
important to make sure that this tournament gets covered and it,
you know, it makes me a better reporter. I know
who these players are when it comes to talking about
them collegiately and internationally. So uh, it just holds a
(03:55):
little a little special place in my heart, this tournament,
and I'm just really lucky that I get to come
and cover it.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, and I wonder if we'll get into the kind
of some of the results we've seen and look ahead
to the semi finals on Saturday in a minute here,
But I wonder maybe just can you give me your
impressions or what the vibe is around this tournament this time.
Is it different than the ones you've seen in the past.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That's an interesting question, I feel like. So the first
one we did was Madison. Then the following year I
was in Osterritan, Sweden, which is in the middle of
the country. Last year we were in Zoos, Switzerland, which
was just outside of Zurich. So I've kind of been
in and out of major cities and it's always like
(04:39):
I felt like in Sweden there was more of an
excitement for it. When I landed in the Ostertian airput part,
there were signs everywhere, like the town all knew it
was happening. So maybe the fact that I'm in a
bigger city, but there's just there wasn't any signage here
and so that's kind of disappointing. There has been fans
(04:59):
support some, but like not massive, and so that's just
always like sad and hard to see. But I also
come from a different perspective where like, you know, we
see the big support in Madison, and you know, we've
seen these cellouts from p WHL games, and according to
people here, these are like these are big crowds, and
these are the biggest crowds that most of the Finland
(05:19):
girls have played in front of. So you know, it's
it's I think that it can be better, but I
think that people here think that this is this is
pretty good and it's exciting, and there are young boys
and young girls in the crowd, you know, wanting jerseys
and reaching over for hands, uh, you know, handshakes and
things like that, so there is some excitement. But yeah,
(05:40):
I think it for me, I'm a little tempered because
I think it could be better. But yeah, the vibe
is it's the hockey is so good and it's like
just disappointing for me when when there's not more attention paid,
right and like these games are only on a nh
WEL network in the US and and things like that,
so it's always you know, a little positive, a little negative.
(06:03):
I think. I don't know if that answers any questions, but.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, and I think it's it's something that.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, I'm I'd be curious to see if and
when it does come back to North America, which I
would imagine is happening soon.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Canada next year. In Canada next year.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You would imagine the profile gets raised a little bit there,
But then what does that do?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Does that? Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Does that change anything? When it goes back to Europe?
Are we talking about something else? And whether you go
to the uh, the smaller areas for the reason you
were talking about that, it's no everyone that's there knows
about it as opposed to it being just kind of
another event than the Hell's Greater hell Sinky area. So yeah,
(06:50):
I wonder if if how that how that plays out
over the next few years, what what they look at
for for hosting that term right now.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, And I was thinking about this too, because you know,
I'm like almost perspective of being the one that's here,
and like, I know that in Canada next year it's
going to get a ton of attention because it'll be
nearby and easy for people to cover, and then you know,
then it'll go back into obscurity again, and that's just
like kind of frustrating to me. So like it, I'll
be excited that people will pay attention and look next year,
(07:21):
but ever hopeful that it that manifests in something as
opposed to just being because it's there in Canada and
easily accessible in North America. You know when the twenty
twenty one was canceled and how we ended up in
Madison in twenty twenty when twenty twenty one was canceled
and the tournament was the men's the World Juniors continued.
(07:45):
There was massive outcry and all these outlets covered, you know,
the supposed sexism, and you know, how could the IHF
do this? And when we rescheduled for twenty twenty two
and it was going to be in Madison, I literally
googled who wrote about it being canceled and I reached
out to every one of those outlets and said, I
live here, this is I know what I'm talking about,
this is what I cover, Like, will you now cover
(08:08):
this tournament? And nobody wanted to. I mean, it's telling
them it's twenty twenty five and I'm I pay for
me to be here. I come and I write about
it for the website that I own. Right, I'm not
like nobody sending me to do this. I'm not getting
nobody's letting me do it on bigger sites. And so
that sucks. There's no simple way to say that. That's
(08:29):
still where we're at. And again, like there's there's probably
a half dozen to a dozen players here that are
already playing at the senior level. You know, last year
Canada or two years ago, the US lost their semi final.
Last year Canada lost their semi final. Like we're not
on a collision course, that's an assumption of US and
Canada in the final anymore. Like this is where the
(08:51):
growth is happening. This is where you're seeing like what
happened with Chechia at the senior level, Like that's trickling
down here. And so yeah, there's just there's a lot
of really interesting stories to be had here and it's frustrating,
like I don't have enough bandwidth to cover it, you know,
like I'm writing five thousand words a day about this
and I wish I could do more. So I guess
(09:14):
maybe I don't know, does that sound angrateful? But yeah,
I just it's there's so much that could and should
be done here, and it's frustrating that it doesn't get more.
I guess that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, well, let's kind of take a look at what
you've seen there on the ice so far. And I
don't think there was too many surprises in the quarterfinals
on Thursday, Sweden beating Switzerland for to one, the US
beating Slovakia nine to one, Joshia beating Finland six nothing
in Canada with a epic route of Japan seventeen nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And I know people saw that number.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I saw a lot of outlets putting that number out
on social media after the game on Thursday, and it
was kind of like, you know, eye popping emoji was
all you could really do on that and I guess
maybe start at the end there seventeen to nothing, huh.
That's and it seemed like that was a pretty accurate
representation of what the game was.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
It was but by that point I think Japan, let's
go back. Japan very very nearly beat Finland Japan. Sweden
needed overtime to beat Japan in the opening rounds, like
they came in here and let me post only stuff.
I have to keep paying backwards. Okay, So the IHF
is a tiered there's promotion and relegation. What I am
(10:34):
at is at the top tier there is Division D
one A right below this. The top team in that
group gets moved up and the bottom team in our
group gets moved down. So last year, Journey got relegated
and Japan got promoted. One thing that we've talked about
this week that's really difficult for Japan is that all
of these other teams get to play each other, and
(10:55):
particularly when we're talking the European teams, the teams that
aren't the US and Canada where they're going to school
and at this kind of elite level of development already.
Those The one of the things that helps is that
the European national teams play each other and have every
year all year to play each other in several different
tournaments and iterations, and that, you know, helps them know
(11:18):
where they stand and helps them get better. Japan is
far far away and doesn't really have the opportunity to
do that, right, Like their players aren't playing in leagues,
they aren't playing semi pro, they aren't going to prep schools,
like there's just such a difference in what they're able
to do to be able to be prepared for this tournament.
So the fact that they came in here and pushed
(11:41):
Sweden and Finland in their opening round games, like they
they had leads in both of those games, and like
mostly their coach said, you know, we don't have any
idea how to play with the lead, Like it was
just a massive experience for them. It's unfortunate that that
they had to get it by losing those games, But
like you have to learn how to play with the lead,
you have to learn how to let to like handle
(12:02):
those emotions, and particularly the teenagers and at U eighteen,
I think they're less about coaching the skills and they
are more about handling the mental side of the game, right,
Like that's this is the first international tournament for most
of these people. This is the first big time wearing
their their country's sweater and so handling all of that. Yeah,
(12:23):
so all that have to say is that, like I
feel like, man, that's seventeen nothing does not do Japan
justice and I hate that that's how that kind of
closed out and like what people are going to see
from this because Japan played really well, the US beat
them fix nothing, and this Canada team isn't three times
better than the US team, you know what I'm saying,
(12:44):
Like the seventeen nothing, it's more about Japan being in
their fourth game, being mentally fatigued, not being prepared because
it's hard to be when you live on the other
side of the world for this tournament. But yeah, yeah,
so that wasn't fair. I hate that that happened for them.
You know, they they're two preliminited on were eliminary round
(13:08):
games that they lost. The girls were in tears because
they it was so close for them, you know, they were.
It was the generally the promoted team is not a
team that I expect to come in and do stuff.
And uh, in fact, you know, at the end of
last year, I like Switzerland really struggled. They won their
the final games to stay up in the top, you know,
(13:29):
the top tier, so that Germany got relegated, but I
mean Switzerland's really surprised. They took a huge step forward.
So the hockey's been really good and so I hope
and I know it's hard because the games aren't widely
televised and people aren't don't get a chance to watch,
but I hope that seventeen oh isn't what people take
away from this tournament because it's it's just not indicative
(13:50):
of the hockey that was has been played.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, a couple of pat tricks for Canada and that
game record is a blockie from a Northeastern command three
goals to assist, same line for Maxine Cimmaroni from well,
Ohio state. I keep saying from but they're not from yet.
They're in Ohio state. She's in Ohio state. Uh. Cloyd Permano,
the Minnesota freshmen, had two goals and three assists. So yeah,
(14:13):
that was a pretty impressive showing from Canada's skilled players.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I mean it's it's skilled, right, right, That's what shows
through in these kind of events, and and that's that's
what they brought.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, I think too, like there's there's just no the
japan is so small and when you get them against
a team like like that's part of why the Sweden
game was so impressive to me, because like Sweden is
a super physical team. There tend to be like larger
girls and because the SDHL where many of them play
(14:47):
the pro league in Sweden allows body contact. For Japan
to do really well in that situation was just I thought,
really amazing because they're they're just they're gonna bounce off
some of these players. They're just much smaller, so they're
using their speed, they're using sort of more finesse and yeah,
so the skill level is just really different when you
(15:11):
get to Canada, and you're also like everybody is pretty
bad on the first game or two because they're all,
you know, they haven't been playing together very long and
they're still figuring it out. When you get Canada on
their fourth game of the tournament, they're firing on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That the US nine to one win over Slovakia. That
one was the first goal allowed by the US in
the tournament. And you've got some information on how far
back it goes, since the US has allowed to even
strength goal.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This in the U eighteen tournament.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, so back to twenty twenty three, so two and
a half tournaments ago, twelve games ago. The last even
strength goal they gave up was to Kaitlin Kramer of
Canada in twenty twenty three in their opening round game.
So since then they've given up eight goals. I believe
it's one short handed, seven power play goals, but yeah,
(16:02):
seven and twenty six minutes plus of hockey played over
what are we talking almost two years that the US
has given up an even strength goal? And yeah they're
goalie is this year Morgan Stickney Is I think maybe
not who everyone expected to get the starting job. Natalia
Dilbone was on the team last year, and yeah, Morgan
(16:25):
went through the opening rounds. She's the only goalie ever
so to have three consecutive shutouts. So she's having a
heck of a tournament. But so is their defense. They haven't.
The US is not given up a whole lot of shots.
I mean she she herself said, I haven't been super tested,
but in that game.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I think the same with Slovakia is they just don't
have the same depth. They are. They're doing a good
job of growing, you know, where they are since we
first saw them in twenty twenty two. I think there's
huge strides, but they they're just they started to run
out of gas that you know. Their coach said, we
don't have players that play seven days a week. They
(17:06):
practice two or three times a week. They don't have
the same conditioning and fitness, and so I think Slovakia
just hit a little bit of a wall when it
came to that. But they have two players that are
committed to the NCAA. Nola la Pusinova's committed to Wisconsin
and Emma Totava is committed to Ohio State. Nela their
team has nine goals, and Nella has nine points. She
(17:27):
has either scored or assistant on every single one of
their team's goals, and Emma Totava has five points, so
she's got two goals and three assists. So I would
not be surprised if we see more Slovakian players coming over.
Nella moved to the US two years ago and is
(17:47):
playing with Bak Slex And it came out this week
that she's like the Buffalo Bills, like football player of
the year too, just like she's she's like casually the
very best app anyone's ever seen. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, that's gonna be fun to see that develop over
four years of college too, I think. I mean, there's
obviously a lot of expectations coming in when she gets
to school at Wisconsin, going to a big program like that,
But if her game is still growing and it's already
(18:25):
where it is, I mean, man, you're talking about something
pretty special.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah. I mean, she was the MVP of the twenty
twenty three tournament at fourteen years old. The EU eighteens
changed format last year, so it used to be sort
of all the strong teams in one group and all
like the you know, sort of rankings one through four
in one group and rankings five, three and another. Last
year that changed and it's it's sort of the groups
are sort of like snake, right, Like one is one,
(18:51):
Group A is number one, Group B is number two,
you know, so sort of a snake across Nella and
Slovakia struggled a little bit last through with that first change,
but made huge strides this year. I think, like you
could just tell that they you know, that first time
around it was very different, and this year they're definitely
much more prepared. Those two Nola and Emma definitely are
(19:14):
little bit head and shoulders above their teammates, and their
teammates I think still defer to them. There was a
point where you could tell that Slovakia panicked a little
and it was like get the buck to Nella and
it's like, okay, guys, like deep breath, you all are
good players. You don't need to you know, it doesn't
behoove you to telegraph that the bug is always going
to their But yeah, and Nella's game has just progressed.
(19:36):
I mean she was trick shots and she was dominating
sort of that lower tier group and now and then
last year struggled a little with that higher level of competition,
and now you can just see there's more of a
two hundred foot game. It's not you know, just what
she can do trying to dangle through opponents. There's just
you know, some maturity and growth to her game. So
that's good to see you obviously, you know she's still
(19:57):
only sixty as well, which is just tilly right for
the US.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
A couple of two goal scorers in that game, Evelyn
Doyle and Yale commit and Wisconsin committed Haley Box both
had two goals and an assist, and so that sets
up the semi finals on Saturday. USA versus Sweden is
the early game, Canada versus Chechia the later game.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Both of those starting in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Here US time uh seven am starts Central time for
the US Sweden game. Tell me what you expect to
see out of those Like you mentioned before, don't assume
anything out of semi final results at this tournament because
we've been you know, surprised before.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So uh well, Sweden is the US two years ago
and checks who beat Canada last year. So we've got
maximum intrigue, which is nice that the re received going
into this, so we weren't sure exactly how that would
go down. But yeah, so we've got two rematches of
the last two big upsets from Sweden. They have been
playing with just a bit more depth. They've got some
(21:01):
really good defenders they've got they're moving the puck a
little bit more as I said, they're just a very
physical team. The US is gonna Liz Keaty Norton, the coach,
talks about her team being dirty dogs. She wants them to,
you know, really be gritty and finding room in front
of the net and cleaning up and like, so many
of their goals in the quarterfinals were on second and
(21:22):
third opportunities, and Sweden's gonna try really hard to not
let that happen in any way, shape or form. Like
they're they're gonna try it on the ice. They're gonna
try and keep the US to the outside. They're gonna
try and win battles along the boards. So I think
the two teams match up pretty well in terms of
their style, in terms of like what they would like
(21:42):
to accomplish, and so yeah, I think it's just gonna
be a battle of wills. I also think it's gonna
be a battle of not taking penalties and spending the
whole time on special teams. Yeah, Sweden has not scored
as much as I think that they would like, and
they have struggled a little with It took till the
corner finals for them to really play the game that
(22:05):
their coaches wanted them to play like to put all
the pieces together, and I think their coaching staff was
a little frustrated heading into that game, so it was
good for them to do that. And there's always something
with the coaches at this age where they're like, well,
they know what to do, but they're not doing it.
So I don't know, because teenagers, it's very interesting sometimes
(22:25):
to watch the hockey and you can almost forget how
young they are and then you go in the mix
ow and you're like, yep, these are all girls. So yeah,
I think they had things come together, and so it
will be that battle of wills of sort of physicality
and who can find space down the ice to do what,
like to really put their stamp on the game for
(22:46):
US and US and Sweden.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, one thing I want to mention looking at the
top scorers in the tournament. Now, this is obviously swayed
heavily by that Canada result that they in the quarterfinals,
but looking at the top five scorers represent UH commits
or players current players at five different colleges, which is
(23:09):
pretty cool to see that. You know, obviously there's no
Hoose they commit there as a Wisconsin commit. There there's
a Minnesota player there, but there's also someone committed to
Northeastern and someone committed to Clarkson. When you go ahead
a little farther, uh, there's a player committed to Yukon. Uh.
There there's a player that's uncommitted because I believe she's
still not eligible to have a.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Have ah yeah, has not yet en c eligible.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
So there's there's uh, you know, more than just you know,
the the heavy hitters there. As you're looking at the
the who's committed to to where I mean, obviously there's
that's represented in that group, the big the schools that
are near the top of the poles and the rankings
and pairwise, but uh, I think that that's a good
(23:58):
thing to have, you know, things spread out a little
bit and see uh see some of these players that
have have this international experience that.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Have done well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Uh then going to different schools uh in a in
a year or two.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Yeah, it's been pretty cool. Kind of starting goalie is
committed to U n T. Sofia Ishmael had a really
big game. She's committed to Penn State. There was one
more I was just going to shout out, I'm sorry, Oh,
a really big d from Canada. Alex theory. She's committed
to u n H. So yeah, there's just the fans
(24:31):
need to know that there's there's girls here that aren't
you know, it's not just a case of the rich
keep getting richer. There's a lot of pretty cool different
representations here and I like it's been enjoyable to watch
and I just I'm excited. You know, Morgan Stickney, the
US goalie that had the shutout Street, she's committed to
Penn State. So I'm just excited to see these players
(24:52):
when they make it, you know, to the college game
and see how they you know, it's it's I got
to watch Caitlyn and Kramer have her come out in
Sweden two years ago, you don't have this big breakout
year for Canada, and then to see her have this
big freshman season at UND It's been fun to be
able to follow those through lines and see them make
(25:13):
a difference and also get to you know, Canada roster.
I think all but one are committed, but like half
the US roster is not yet old enough to commit
to the NCAA. They went pretty young this year and
Mary Sierra Baker is one of the reasons why because
she played last year at fifteen and handled herself. She
was really good, and that gave them the confidence to
(25:33):
know that they don't have to that they can widen
the net for who is playing. And for many years
it was like, oh, you had to be in you
know whatever, you're born to be eligible. And that's just
we're not seeing that be the case in North America anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Well, good stuff about the tournament. Stay with us here
when we come back. We're going take a quick break.
When we come back, we will talk about what we've
seen in NCAA hockey since really the start of the
year and since things picked up again. Stay with us
on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Todd Maluski here with Nicole Hosey, who is in Finland
covering the IHF Under eighteen Women's World Championship. And Nicole,
I know you haven't really because you've been covering those games.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You haven't had a chance to watch a lot of NCAA.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Games since the start of the year. But we've seen
I know you've seen results, you've read some things. We
had a really big series right out of the gate
for twenty twenty five, number one Wisconsin against number two
Ohio State and we know when those two teams get together,
there's usually a lot to unpack out of that, and
(26:45):
I think there definitely was. With a Wisconsin six nothing
win last Thursday and then a three to three tie
on Saturday at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the outdoor game
part of the Big Tens weekend of games, Ohio State
won the shootout, won nothing in the Oh jeez, what
was it the seventh.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Or eighth round?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
There are so many I think it's seventh. I wrote
down eighth, but I think it was the seventh. Yeah,
And and so that's, you know, was a really important
result for Ohio State to come back and you know,
show that six nothing was was not the way this
is going to go for the rest of the season
for them against you know, good competition. So important result
(27:26):
for them, even though it wasn't technically a win, they
felt like they came away with a win with the
shootout result. What do you take out of of seeing
those that pair of results.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, it's interesting because the frozen friendly game or friendly
frozen confines game. And you can talk about this, I
know that, you know, particularly as the game went on,
people were complaining about ice conditions. I mean to watch
the first two periods and then fell asleep because it
was three am here or something like that. So I
(28:01):
don't know, and you can tell me, like, should should
we be taking the that second game's results as like
indicative of the play or is the was the location
the bigger factor in what happened in that game?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I think it was a factor.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I don't think it was a deciding factor, though, because
I think the deciding factor was that Ohio State had
he really was pretty much embarrassed on Thursday and came
out and did something about it. That was the the
takeaway that I that I came back with, because yes,
the the ice wasn't great, but you know, they're they're
(28:38):
both playing the same way.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It's you know, it's the same idea.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
But I do think that outdoor games are are not
necessarily conducive to teams that try to do a lot
with the puck. And we've seen Wisconsin in the past
and really a lot of this season.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
They play that.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Style because they can successful, yeah, and it just doesn't
work on how door ice. And we saw that in
the show a couple of players trying to make moves
and just lost the puck and didn't even get a
shot on goal, and it was really you know, tough
to make the kind of cross ice passes that we've
seen out of the Badgers throughout the year and to
(29:20):
set up one timers, and so that wasn't playing into
their favor. Now they they had a lead, they you know,
came back from House States scored in the first minute.
The Badgers came back to take it to one lead,
hence sorre. Ohio State came back to take a three
to two lead. Then the Badgers tied it with five
(29:41):
minutes and change left to to force the overtime.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
But that was.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It really got squirreling from there because in the last
few minutes of regulation and the entirety of overtime were
kind of crazy, uh, to watch the chances going both ways.
Ohio State ended up with a power play in overtime
because Wisconsin got called for too many players, which was valid.
They had four on the ice in a three on
three situation for tens And.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I did not realize that that's news to me if
that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Just out of the fact that it was going so far,
you know, so fast, both directions Wisconsin had, you know,
was trying to come back and had an extra player
jump on when when one came off, and it's kind
of the overtime. It was just you know, Wisconsin had
(30:36):
had calls for a penalty on Ohio State Casey O'Brien
had a chance down the stretch and what I don't
really call it a breakaway, it was kind of a
breakaway and she got tied up and no penalty call.
They let him play on And that was something that
I thought was a little interesting out of that that game,
is that the referees, you know, we've seen in Ohio
(30:58):
State Wisconsin games kind of let them play. I mean
they then evenly matched. They know that unless there's something
that's obvious it's you know, somebody taken down on a
clear scoring attempt or uh something that you know, a
foul that caused a turnover that's going to lead to
a scoring attempt, you got to call those. But they
typically have let them play, like they did in the
National Championship Game last season. But this one was was
(31:21):
a lot more special teams driven. I think Ohio State
had six, Wisconsin had two, or maybe that was just
a number of penalties called, but.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
It was it was a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
There was some body checking calls, it was there was
a lot to work through there, and that ended that
it still was a really good game between two elite opponents.
And I think that's, you know, hardly the last time
we're going to see them playing each other this season.
And and so I just, you know, wonder whether this
(31:56):
game kind of sets the stage for the next one
or if it was just kind of a you know,
a throwaway one because of the ice conditions and because
because it was such a unique environment playing outside and
you know, with a a big venue, I don't know
if we're gonna be able to read much out of
that if we see them playing again in the w
c h A tournament or in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Yeah. I guess one of the things that I was
wondering is because I expected that Ohio State was going
to come out, you know like that as you said,
they were embarrassed. That's that's not what they want. That's
I mean, any team would feel that way, but particularly
an ad and thus we're all coach team, it's gonna
you know, really be pissed off and come out and
so does it Like for me, I'm thinking, like does
(32:40):
that mean they did that in Wisconsin was study it
and came out with essentially a tie, Like is that
a positive? Like just wiscone to look at that as
a positive, like we poked the hornets nests and the
best that they could come up with after that.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
That's why I was trying to ask about the ice
and like what what to take out of the tie?
You know what I'm saying, right.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, I don't think Wisconsin felt bad about much of
anything there, you know, other than the shootout result not
going their direction. Yeah, still massively ahead in the pair,
Wiser's still massively ahead in the w c h A.
They don't have a lot to worry about in those
races necessarily yet unless things go incredibly wrong for them
(33:25):
in the second half of the season. But you do
know that when it's going to come down to a
one and done situation in a tournament setting, is you know,
for the potential next time you're playing Ohio State, you'd
much rather be going into that with the memory of
a six to nothing win than a three to three
(33:45):
tie in a shootout loss. So that's where I just
don't know, if you know, they just take that that
game and like ball it up and throat and trash
and it's like all right, we're moving on. Yeah, I'll
say I do have to say this. So the jerseys
on both sides were incredible. A big sweater person, I
don't like radom or anything like that, but I thought
(34:08):
they were both great. And Wisconsin had a white sweater
with a cursive Wisconsin on the front, and Ohio State
had a black one with a red stripe through the
middle with a mascot brutus that I haven't seen that
imagery before and maybe that they haven't ever used that
(34:30):
before on any of their sweaters.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
So, and any Ohio State rep that's here in Finland
was wearing something with that brutus on it, which I
thought was funny. I spotted it immediately.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So yeah, the aust players didn't know what was on
those sweaters until the day of the game, which I
thought was an interesting way of doing a real you know,
because I hadn't seen anything about it until that day
for sure, And it was like it came out after
the game that Yeah, that was the first time they
saw him and they got to the stadium that day.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
There's a different way.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Of doing that I would have liked Wisconsin's and cream,
and I heard that that was a logistic thing. They
also would have liked them in cream, right. I really
liked the Wisconsin men's jerseys, but I'm a big fan
of like stripes or hoops. It's their jersey terminology goes.
So the men's team jerseys, the Wisconsin men's change jerseys
(35:26):
did that well. But yeah, all because there were four
men's teams that also played in UH really, and all
of the teams had I thought did interesting things, some
better than others. But specialty jerseys can go very good
and very wrong, and I didn't feel like anybody went
very wrong, which was nice. And yeah, I think the
(35:46):
women get fewer opportunities to do, you know, the interesting
one off jerseys. And I thought both teams in Ohio
State and Wisconsin did a really good job. Just there
were some really cool details. And Wisconsin also had a
hoodie that I already like. I screencapped one of the
girls Instagram stories because they had like a hoodie with
the baseball diamond on it, and I thought it was
really cool. I was like, Ooh, I'm gonna have to
(36:08):
ask about that when I get back. I just thought, Yeah,
all the details were great. I just for both teams
and all the pictures that came out afterwards. There were
a couple of different photographers that have posted a bunch
of their things from both ends, from both teams, from
both sides, and yeah, just some really cool you know,
it's always nice to see the hat the took on
(36:30):
the goalie on top of the goalie mask and the EyeBlack,
and you know, the Badgers some of them walked in
their their varsity jackets which worked in that setting. And yeah,
there were just so many cool little details. And you
could tell the players from both women's teams who I
follow several on social media just they're still posting stuff.
(36:52):
It was a really cool experience for them, and they
got to be on regular B ten and I hope
you know, like it was so cool to have the
number one number two t like the two best teams,
the best that you can get in women's college hockey
right now, being showcased in that situation and then going
to an eight round shootout like it was it. If
(37:13):
we could write it, that's how we'd want to write it.
You don't want the six to oz games as being
the one that's being highlighted in the middle of of
you know, this frozen confine. Like it was just cool
that it all worked out and everybody came out of
it healthy and it was a really good game and
a really good showcase for women's college hockey.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, it's I was there for both of the days
of the the event. There's two men's games Saturday or Friday,
and then the women's game Saturday and then another men's
game on Saturday, and it was it was really well
put on.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
They got what they wanted out their four really good games.
I mean there were.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Two that ended up three to three, one four to
three that was one in the last minute, and then
one four to three.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
That was one in overtime.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So I mean that as far as competitive games and
good TV and good watching, it was. It was all great.
The setting was was awesome. It was it was chilly.
Luckily I was able to be in the press box,
which was warm. And I'm gonna ask because the press
box there is uh kind of looks like it's being
held up by wire at times a little bit. It
(38:20):
had some renovation done in the last uh five years
ago or whenever.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
They did a lot of work but.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Uh yeah, luckily the windows did close, and if you're
in the first row and next to the windows, it
was it was cold. So luckily I was Yeah, yeah,
I was not upset to be a little farther away
from it, other than the fact that I do have
to say that some of the numbers on the sweaters
were really hard to read from that distance, and I
(38:51):
knowed that. I know, I'm old and I have bad eyes,
but black numbers on black sweaters with just you know,
through the red stripe not helpful. Wisconsin's women's sweaters not
helpful because of the the curve makes the two.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Look like a seven. It was.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
There were a couple I was just like, no, I've
got no idea who that was. But yeah, it was
a cool event. So hopefully there'll be more of those
kind of you know, spotlights for women's hockey, uh down
down the road. And we know the Big Ten. You know,
when you have Big Ten schools that are part of it,
that's that's someone who can pull off something like that,
(39:28):
So I know there'll I'm sure there will be another
Frozen fenway down the road that we'll see some maybe
some hockey schools involved into so pretty cool to get
that experience.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, one thing I wanted to mention also about.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Last week's results. I know we're a little bit delayed
this weekend. Like I mentioned before, we've we've had some
time issues of trying to find um time here and
looking back on the weekend, one of the things that
stood out when I was looking back at results and
I knew that Clarkson had lost twice. One of them
(40:08):
was to Cornell, one of them was to Colgate, both
of them at home. But I didn't know right away
the damage that did in the pair wise because I
didn't find them right away when I was looking through
the pair wise. And it turns out Clarkson fell to fourteenth,
which is a number that I did not expect.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
Because there's two other ranked teams.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Like what were exactly, and you know, it's that's a
that's a rough fall. And not not to say that
you can't turn that around again because they're gonna be
playing more ranked teams obviously as they're going through.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
An ECAC schedule.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
But now they've got their work cut out for them
and there's not a lot more sliding that they can
do through the second half of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah, I mean you told me that they had drive
so far, and I was really surprised. But then I
also went and looked in Their strength of schedule is
thirty second, and so I think that means that, you know,
when you have a rinked game and you don't come
out of it with any points, like that's that's how
that calculation is going to really work against you. So
Colgate's strength the schedule I think is thirty and so
if the same thing happened to them, they would take
(41:19):
a similar drop. But yeah, that's that is a rough
hit for them. It's still early, we're still early January.
But yeah, that's that's that's rough some of this.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Clarkson fell the seventh in the uc h O dot
com rankings at RPI and at Union this weekend, so
a chance to get back going in a positive direction there.
But I don't know how much you know, even if
they win those games, how much that nets them in
terms of results or pair wise kind of results.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
So I'll have to wait and see on that.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Kind of spinning through some of the other results out
of last weekend, Saint Lawrence with a win against Colgate
three to two. We had a one to one tie
between Yukon and BC.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
The U kind of won the extra point in a
shootout there.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
And there was also a result that you were texting
me about during the Saturday game when I was in Chicago.
I think I don't know if it was I think
it was for nothing when you when you texted me,
because Penn State ended up with a six to two
win at Minnesota, which I mean, you know, Penn Sate,
(42:36):
you know, clearly a good team, but doing that at
Minnesota is really an eye opener. Penn State led four
nothing after the first period but on only six shots
on goal.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Was the real like WHOA wasn't necessarily expecting that kind
of moment?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, well, I knew you were busy and in Chicago,
and when I'm live hosting about the games, I'm pretty
much constantly on Twitter and Blue Sky, and so I
was seeing the updates happen and I was like, holy cow,
I'm so surprised, Like I was sad that I couldn't,
you know, put it on and see what was going on.
But yeah, that was was an outcome I was not
prepared for, like, not necessarily that Penn State could win there,
(43:15):
but that it was you know, four holes on six
shots in the first period. I mean, this was something
Minnesota hosted called the East West Classic. It was Minnesota,
Penn State, Brown and Bamidgee and in. You know, I
think Minnesota hosts something like that. The expectation of walking
away with winds and so yeah, that was definitely a
statement for Penn State. And Penn State has been aggressive
(43:39):
with their non conference schedule for several years now because
they know that they you know, they usually sit on
that edge, right on the outside looking in if they
don't win their AUTOVID and so good for them for
going out that. That had to give them a huge,
huge bump as well.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
So yeah, Penn State started this weekend's play at tenth
and pair wise. But you know that again, that's that's
a position where you're going to be probably needing to
win your the Atlantic Hockey America Championship, postseason championship anyway
to get if you're around that number, because that's a
that's right on the cusp of falling out, especially when
(44:16):
you're talking about other teams from other conferences than getting in.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
So yeah, a lot, sure, a.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Lot to play obviously, still before we're talking about what
those numbers really mean, but definitely a better spot.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yeah, pen State, Well, pen State knows that they're not
going to get strengthen to schedule within their own conference,
right like they're usually the only team possibly someone might
you know, sneak in into fourteen or fifteen, and so
they go out and get those aggressive non conference games,
and I just think it's it's a really smart move
by Jeff Campersoll.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Yeah, one thing that stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
So every once in a while I try and do
a bracketology kind of look at, you know, how things
stand right now and what the tournament might look like
if things would end this way. And I don't think
there's any possible scenario where it's going to end up
like this in March. But looking at it otherwise, as
(45:11):
this weekend started, you had Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, Minnesotaduluth
in the top four spots, So all four regionals would
be at w c HA sites. The rest of the
teams in the tournament would be from Eastern schools, and
so this is that would shape up to be a
let's just say the NCAA probably would love seeing that.
(45:34):
From a financial standpoint.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
A very expensive tournament.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
For the very expensive tournament, is right, and you know,
not necessarily getting a lot of fans traveling, probably for
those from from the Roads teams, you know, parents obviously,
but that I don't know that that would be great
a great outcome, And I don't think it will be
the outcome because you're talking about I don't think you're
(45:59):
going to see some movement in that, especially in that
middle area.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Uh you know the.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, not all of those teams can keep winning all
of their games obviously because they weren't playing each other Wisconsin, Minnesota,
House State and d Luth. So you're gonna see some
movement there. You're going to see some movement among the
ec A C schools. You know, b C and BU
are going to be squaring off a couple of times,
and yeah, there's a lot that's gonna happen there. But
I just was looking at that and I was like, oh,
(46:26):
that's uh, that could uh make for some some costly
team travel when it gets to to March.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, that gives me like a mental image of someone
at the NCAA like ouigy board, magic a ball, Robin Sage,
like whatever they can do. I mean, yeah, I'm obviously
making jokes but yeah, that's that's a lot of travel costs,
particularly you know, the ones that would host a prelim
game and then you know, like a playing game and
(46:56):
then the host team. So h yeah, they're definitely not
hoping for that. I don't think it's not ideal.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeap, just want to take a quick spin through a
couple of the games between ranked teams that are happening
this weekend. But by the time you're listening to us here,
a lot of these games, series or games may have
started or maybe done. So take that for what it is.
But Cornell and Colgate are playing home and home. That's
a Friday Saturday Princeton at Quinnipiac on Friday, a Friday
(47:31):
Saturday series between Saint.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Cloud and Minnesota Duluth and WHA.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
But then we did want to mention also Tuesday night
is the start of the bean Pot, which the semi
final night is being hosted by Northeastern this season, Number
thirteen BU playing Harvard, Northeastern playing Number twelve BC in
the semi finals, both of those games being on Nessen
and then leading into Tuesday night, January twenty first, they're
(47:57):
playing the third place game in the championship game at
t Garden for the second straight season, which is a
massive step for that tournament to be having that that
platform and that facility available for them to play the
championship night in. But beyond it just being for the
bean Pot Championship, there's there's some pretty important games there
(48:19):
for the in terms of pairwise, in terms of in
Northeastern too, I mean Northeastern's eleventh in the pairwise, so
they're not exactly out of things here either, So a
lot of movement could happen there in terms of some
of those results that take place.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Yeah, last year was the first year they got to
play at tea place and they got a massive crowd,
and I really hope that that continues. I hope that
wasn't you know, the excitement of the first time around.
I saw, you know, some of the fellow journalists I
follow they were doing they had a whole media day
already and we're doing different video packages. So really awesome
that Nessen and Hockey East to have teamed up on
(49:00):
this and really have made it such a big deal,
and that the the women's being Pot is getting the
same attention, and you know, it's the word that I want,
like the details, right, they're getting the media the whole
package and not just sort of also rans alongside them then,
so definitely people need to tune in. They should tune
(49:22):
in anyway. But as you mentioned, these are going to
be some pretty good matchups and there's a lot on
the line. I mean, they're technically non conference games, but
the pairwise does not care about that. So yeah, lots
of This is the first time in several years I
feel like that that so all like three of the
four teams like these are these are massive games.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
Yep. All right, Well that's going to wrap it up
for this week.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Nicole, give a plug for where everyone can read your
U eighteens coverage on Victory Press.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yes, the site is victorypress dot org. There's tons of
stuff that is posted for free. We also have sense
of description options and one of the things that you
get as a paying member is videos from postgame mix Zone.
So not just with it's cool to be able to see,
you know what, what the US and Canadian players and
coaches and singing are saying, but also some of the
(50:14):
players from other countries as well.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
So Victory Press dot org. That's my website. That's where
I'm posting stuff. I have been using Twitter because that's
where I HF posts all of their stuff, so live
tweeting all those games there. I will continue to do that,
try to share some on Blue Sky as well.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
But huh, that's a pretty massive side before you said Twitter.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
Well, yeah, I would very much love to divest of Twitter,
but sports as a general rule is still very much
on Twitter. So no teams really have moved over to
any to Blue Sky or anything like that, so I
would ideally not be there. But yeah, since this is
my job, that's where we are.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
And so yeah, business is busy.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Victorypress dot org is the answer to that. And then
my Twitter handle is just my name at Nicole Hazy.
The same thing on Blue Sky. Oh and if I've
been posting a ton to Instagram, so not just in
arena tournament stuff, but in and around hell Sinky as well.
In my Twitter or I'm sorry, my Instagram is at
Nicole Hasey fourteen. So yeah, And there's a highlight for
(51:26):
Finland so you can watch old stories. So everything from
being out today in the snow seeing some different light installations.
There's a there's a pretty cool art night light installation.
I went to a sea fortress. I've been doing all
trying to put as much as I can out on Instagram.
So if you want to see what I've been doing
in Finland, as well as stuff from inside the arena,
(51:47):
check out on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Sounds awesome. I'm jealous.
Speaker 2 (51:51):
I wish I could take in something like that one
of these days, and maybe I will eventually, but but yeah,
well we don't.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
We don't know yet where we're in Canada next year
I have maybe it'll be somewhere or we can go.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
It's not gonna be quite like Finland though, or Sweden
or Switzerland or any of these.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
No, I am lucky. Shout out to my husband first
and foremost, and to the subscribers the Victory Press. I'm
very lucky I get to do this awesome.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Well, we thank you for joining us here. We will
talk to you again next week on the podcast
Us cho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi everyone, welcome to the podcast, us cho dot COM's
weekly look at NCAA women's hockey and a little bit more.
This week, I'm Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hasey, and
Nicole is joining us from Finland, so there's some h
This is the first chance we've gotten to actually, you know,
find the times common enough between the two areas of
(00:31):
the world that we could have some time to record.
So Nicole, tell us why you're in Finland and you
know people that have been paying attention, no, but for
everyone else, what's happening there?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
So I am just outside Helsinki and Vanta for the
U eighteen Women's World Championships, so we have been playing
for about weeks. Semifinals are tomorrow, Finals tomorrow Saturday. Semifinals
are Sunday. So yeah, that's I've been. You're in the
snow and the wind and the cold. Though I know
it's like that a bit back at home, but yeah,
(01:04):
there's eight hours difference between Todd and I, so trying
to find I'm going, I'm well asleep when he is,
you know, after after his workday. So it's it's been
difficult trying to find stuff, and I just apologize to him.
I think I'm gonna end up beyonding my way through this.
It's a little after ten here, well.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And we're recording this on on Friday, Friday afternoon in
the US and you know, late later in the night
in Finland. And this is the off day, so you've
you've had a chance to do some stuff and look around.
But I mean, the the reason why this this tournament
is really a connection to college hockey is that. I mean, Nicole,
you put this on us ho dot com. There's forty five,
(01:43):
I believe was the count of college committed players playing
in this tournament.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
College committed or currently in college.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I guess when we want to consider Chloyd Primurano from
Minnesota and probably going to be more than that when
it all shakes out. Because I know you've seen some
college recruiters, college coaches looking around at that tournament.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah. Absolutely, It's always funny to be wandering the halls
and suddenly like I've used to see some of this stuff,
so I don't there's that disconnect. Oh wait, yes, it
is weird to see. You know. I've definitely seen some
Ohio State here. I saw someone from Mercy Hurst and
so yeah, there's definitely recruiters here. There are definitely players,
particularly those not playing in the US and Canada, that
(02:30):
have expressed that they are hoping to, you know, come
to the NCAA. So it's definitely a path and those
forty five players, like, that's not just the US and
Canadian players. There are already several players from non North
American schools that are hoping or that are already committed
to come play. So yeah, that's the connection. I mean,
I have always been interested in this tournament. We were
(02:53):
lucky that it was hosted in Madison in twenty twenty two,
after the IHS had said they weren't going to host it,
they were cancel it. You know, USA Hockey. They basically told,
if you USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, if you want
this event happen, you're gonna host it. So that's that's
how we ended up in Madison. But being there just
made it so obvious to me how important it was
(03:13):
to cover this tournament. You know, it's twenty twenty five.
The twenty nineteen tournament in Slovakia was broadcast on basically
a doorbell cam with like a live barn feed. Uh. So,
you know, this just isn't and to this point, like I,
you know, the last two years, I've been the only
North American reporter here. So yeah, it's it. These are players.
(03:33):
Many of these players are already playing in the Senior
World Championships, will play in the Olympics. These are the
you know, not just the future of women's hockey, but
the current of women's hockey. And so I think it's
important to make sure that this tournament gets covered and it,
you know, it makes me a better reporter. I know
who these players are when it comes to talking about
them collegiately and internationally. So uh, it just holds a
(03:55):
little a little special place in my heart, this tournament,
and I'm just really lucky that I get to come
and cover it.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, and I wonder if we'll get into the kind
of some of the results we've seen and look ahead
to the semi finals on Saturday in a minute here,
But I wonder maybe just can you give me your
impressions or what the vibe is around this tournament this time.
Is it different than the ones you've seen in the past.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
That's an interesting question, I feel like. So the first
one we did was Madison. Then the following year I
was in Osterritan, Sweden, which is in the middle of
the country. Last year we were in Zoos, Switzerland, which
was just outside of Zurich. So I've kind of been
in and out of major cities and it's always like
(04:39):
I felt like in Sweden there was more of an
excitement for it. When I landed in the Ostertian airput part,
there were signs everywhere, like the town all knew it
was happening. So maybe the fact that I'm in a
bigger city, but there's just there wasn't any signage here
and so that's kind of disappointing. There has been fans
(04:59):
support some, but like not massive, and so that's just
always like sad and hard to see. But I also
come from a different perspective where like, you know, we
see the big support in Madison, and you know, we've
seen these cellouts from p WHL games, and according to
people here, these are like these are big crowds, and
these are the biggest crowds that most of the Finland
(05:19):
girls have played in front of. So you know, it's
it's I think that it can be better, but I
think that people here think that this is this is
pretty good and it's exciting, and there are young boys
and young girls in the crowd, you know, wanting jerseys
and reaching over for hands, uh, you know, handshakes and
things like that, so there is some excitement. But yeah,
(05:40):
I think it for me, I'm a little tempered because
I think it could be better. But yeah, the vibe
is it's the hockey is so good and it's like
just disappointing for me when when there's not more attention paid,
right and like these games are only on a nh
WEL network in the US and and things like that,
so it's always you know, a little positive, a little negative.
(06:03):
I think. I don't know if that answers any questions, but.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, and I think it's it's something that.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, I'm I'd be curious to see if and
when it does come back to North America, which I
would imagine is happening soon.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Canada next year. In Canada next year.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You would imagine the profile gets raised a little bit there,
But then what does that do?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Does that? Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Does that change anything? When it goes back to Europe?
Are we talking about something else? And whether you go
to the uh, the smaller areas for the reason you
were talking about that, it's no everyone that's there knows
about it as opposed to it being just kind of
another event than the Hell's Greater hell Sinky area. So yeah,
(06:50):
I wonder if if how that how that plays out
over the next few years, what what they look at
for for hosting that term right now.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, And I was thinking about this too, because you know,
I'm like almost perspective of being the one that's here,
and like, I know that in Canada next year it's
going to get a ton of attention because it'll be
nearby and easy for people to cover, and then you know,
then it'll go back into obscurity again, and that's just
like kind of frustrating to me. So like it, I'll
be excited that people will pay attention and look next year,
(07:21):
but ever hopeful that it that manifests in something as
opposed to just being because it's there in Canada and
easily accessible in North America. You know when the twenty
twenty one was canceled and how we ended up in
Madison in twenty twenty when twenty twenty one was canceled
and the tournament was the men's the World Juniors continued.
(07:45):
There was massive outcry and all these outlets covered, you know,
the supposed sexism, and you know, how could the IHF
do this? And when we rescheduled for twenty twenty two
and it was going to be in Madison, I literally
googled who wrote about it being canceled and I reached
out to every one of those outlets and said, I
live here, this is I know what I'm talking about,
this is what I cover, Like, will you now cover
(08:08):
this tournament? And nobody wanted to. I mean, it's telling
them it's twenty twenty five and I'm I pay for
me to be here. I come and I write about
it for the website that I own. Right, I'm not
like nobody sending me to do this. I'm not getting
nobody's letting me do it on bigger sites. And so
that sucks. There's no simple way to say that. That's
(08:29):
still where we're at. And again, like there's there's probably
a half dozen to a dozen players here that are
already playing at the senior level. You know, last year
Canada or two years ago, the US lost their semi final.
Last year Canada lost their semi final. Like we're not
on a collision course, that's an assumption of US and
Canada in the final anymore. Like this is where the
(08:51):
growth is happening. This is where you're seeing like what
happened with Chechia at the senior level, Like that's trickling
down here. And so yeah, there's just there's a lot
of really interesting stories to be had here and it's frustrating,
like I don't have enough bandwidth to cover it, you know,
like I'm writing five thousand words a day about this
and I wish I could do more. So I guess
(09:14):
maybe I don't know, does that sound angrateful? But yeah,
I just it's there's so much that could and should
be done here, and it's frustrating that it doesn't get more.
I guess that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, well, let's kind of take a look at what
you've seen there on the ice so far. And I
don't think there was too many surprises in the quarterfinals
on Thursday, Sweden beating Switzerland for to one, the US
beating Slovakia nine to one, Joshia beating Finland six nothing
in Canada with a epic route of Japan seventeen nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And I know people saw that number.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I saw a lot of outlets putting that number out
on social media after the game on Thursday, and it
was kind of like, you know, eye popping emoji was
all you could really do on that and I guess
maybe start at the end there seventeen to nothing, huh.
That's and it seemed like that was a pretty accurate
representation of what the game was.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
It was but by that point I think Japan, let's
go back. Japan very very nearly beat Finland Japan. Sweden
needed overtime to beat Japan in the opening rounds, like
they came in here and let me post only stuff.
I have to keep paying backwards. Okay, So the IHF
is a tiered there's promotion and relegation. What I am
(10:34):
at is at the top tier there is Division D
one A right below this. The top team in that
group gets moved up and the bottom team in our
group gets moved down. So last year, Journey got relegated
and Japan got promoted. One thing that we've talked about
this week that's really difficult for Japan is that all
of these other teams get to play each other, and
(10:55):
particularly when we're talking the European teams, the teams that
aren't the US and Canada where they're going to school
and at this kind of elite level of development already.
Those The one of the things that helps is that
the European national teams play each other and have every
year all year to play each other in several different
tournaments and iterations, and that, you know, helps them know
(11:18):
where they stand and helps them get better. Japan is
far far away and doesn't really have the opportunity to
do that, right, Like their players aren't playing in leagues,
they aren't playing semi pro, they aren't going to prep schools,
like there's just such a difference in what they're able
to do to be able to be prepared for this tournament.
So the fact that they came in here and pushed
(11:41):
Sweden and Finland in their opening round games, like they
they had leads in both of those games, and like
mostly their coach said, you know, we don't have any
idea how to play with the lead, Like it was
just a massive experience for them. It's unfortunate that that
they had to get it by losing those games, But
like you have to learn how to play with the lead,
you have to learn how to let to like handle
(12:02):
those emotions, and particularly the teenagers and at U eighteen,
I think they're less about coaching the skills and they
are more about handling the mental side of the game, right,
Like that's this is the first international tournament for most
of these people. This is the first big time wearing
their their country's sweater and so handling all of that. Yeah,
(12:23):
so all that have to say is that, like I
feel like, man, that's seventeen nothing does not do Japan
justice and I hate that that's how that kind of
closed out and like what people are going to see
from this because Japan played really well, the US beat
them fix nothing, and this Canada team isn't three times
better than the US team, you know what I'm saying,
(12:44):
Like the seventeen nothing, it's more about Japan being in
their fourth game, being mentally fatigued, not being prepared because
it's hard to be when you live on the other
side of the world for this tournament. But yeah, yeah,
so that wasn't fair. I hate that that happened for them.
You know, they they're two preliminited on were eliminary round
(13:08):
games that they lost. The girls were in tears because
they it was so close for them, you know, they were.
It was the generally the promoted team is not a
team that I expect to come in and do stuff.
And uh, in fact, you know, at the end of
last year, I like Switzerland really struggled. They won their
the final games to stay up in the top, you know,
(13:29):
the top tier, so that Germany got relegated, but I
mean Switzerland's really surprised. They took a huge step forward.
So the hockey's been really good and so I hope
and I know it's hard because the games aren't widely
televised and people aren't don't get a chance to watch,
but I hope that seventeen oh isn't what people take
away from this tournament because it's it's just not indicative
(13:50):
of the hockey that was has been played.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, a couple of pat tricks for Canada and that
game record is a blockie from a Northeastern command three
goals to assist, same line for Maxine Cimmaroni from well,
Ohio state. I keep saying from but they're not from yet.
They're in Ohio state. She's in Ohio state. Uh. Cloyd Permano,
the Minnesota freshmen, had two goals and three assists. So yeah,
(14:13):
that was a pretty impressive showing from Canada's skilled players.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I mean it's it's skilled, right, right, That's what shows
through in these kind of events, and and that's that's
what they brought.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, I think too, like there's there's just no the
japan is so small and when you get them against
a team like like that's part of why the Sweden
game was so impressive to me, because like Sweden is
a super physical team. There tend to be like larger
girls and because the SDHL where many of them play
(14:47):
the pro league in Sweden allows body contact. For Japan
to do really well in that situation was just I thought,
really amazing because they're they're just they're gonna bounce off
some of these players. They're just much smaller, so they're
using their speed, they're using sort of more finesse and yeah,
so the skill level is just really different when you
(15:11):
get to Canada, and you're also like everybody is pretty
bad on the first game or two because they're all,
you know, they haven't been playing together very long and
they're still figuring it out. When you get Canada on
their fourth game of the tournament, they're firing on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That the US nine to one win over Slovakia. That
one was the first goal allowed by the US in
the tournament. And you've got some information on how far
back it goes, since the US has allowed to even
strength goal.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This in the U eighteen tournament.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, so back to twenty twenty three, so two and
a half tournaments ago, twelve games ago. The last even
strength goal they gave up was to Kaitlin Kramer of
Canada in twenty twenty three in their opening round game.
So since then they've given up eight goals. I believe
it's one short handed, seven power play goals, but yeah,
(16:02):
seven and twenty six minutes plus of hockey played over
what are we talking almost two years that the US
has given up an even strength goal? And yeah they're
goalie is this year Morgan Stickney Is I think maybe
not who everyone expected to get the starting job. Natalia
Dilbone was on the team last year, and yeah, Morgan
(16:25):
went through the opening rounds. She's the only goalie ever
so to have three consecutive shutouts. So she's having a
heck of a tournament. But so is their defense. They haven't.
The US is not given up a whole lot of shots.
I mean she she herself said, I haven't been super tested,
but in that game.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I think the same with Slovakia is they just don't
have the same depth. They are. They're doing a good
job of growing, you know, where they are since we
first saw them in twenty twenty two. I think there's
huge strides, but they they're just they started to run
out of gas that you know. Their coach said, we
don't have players that play seven days a week. They
(17:06):
practice two or three times a week. They don't have
the same conditioning and fitness, and so I think Slovakia
just hit a little bit of a wall when it
came to that. But they have two players that are
committed to the NCAA. Nola la Pusinova's committed to Wisconsin
and Emma Totava is committed to Ohio State. Nela their
team has nine goals, and Nella has nine points. She
(17:27):
has either scored or assistant on every single one of
their team's goals, and Emma Totava has five points, so
she's got two goals and three assists. So I would
not be surprised if we see more Slovakian players coming over.
Nella moved to the US two years ago and is
(17:47):
playing with Bak Slex And it came out this week
that she's like the Buffalo Bills, like football player of
the year too, just like she's she's like casually the
very best app anyone's ever seen. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, that's gonna be fun to see that develop over
four years of college too, I think. I mean, there's
obviously a lot of expectations coming in when she gets
to school at Wisconsin, going to a big program like that,
But if her game is still growing and it's already
(18:25):
where it is, I mean, man, you're talking about something
pretty special.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah. I mean, she was the MVP of the twenty
twenty three tournament at fourteen years old. The EU eighteens
changed format last year, so it used to be sort
of all the strong teams in one group and all
like the you know, sort of rankings one through four
in one group and rankings five, three and another. Last
year that changed and it's it's sort of the groups
are sort of like snake, right, Like one is one,
(18:51):
Group A is number one, Group B is number two,
you know, so sort of a snake across Nella and
Slovakia struggled a little bit last through with that first change,
but made huge strides this year. I think, like you
could just tell that they you know, that first time
around it was very different, and this year they're definitely
much more prepared. Those two Nola and Emma definitely are
(19:14):
little bit head and shoulders above their teammates, and their
teammates I think still defer to them. There was a
point where you could tell that Slovakia panicked a little
and it was like get the buck to Nella and
it's like, okay, guys, like deep breath, you all are
good players. You don't need to you know, it doesn't
behoove you to telegraph that the bug is always going
to their But yeah, and Nella's game has just progressed.
(19:36):
I mean she was trick shots and she was dominating
sort of that lower tier group and now and then
last year struggled a little with that higher level of competition,
and now you can just see there's more of a
two hundred foot game. It's not you know, just what
she can do trying to dangle through opponents. There's just
you know, some maturity and growth to her game. So
that's good to see you obviously, you know she's still
(19:57):
only sixty as well, which is just tilly right for
the US.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
A couple of two goal scorers in that game, Evelyn
Doyle and Yale commit and Wisconsin committed Haley Box both
had two goals and an assist, and so that sets
up the semi finals on Saturday. USA versus Sweden is
the early game, Canada versus Chechia the later game.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Both of those starting in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Here US time uh seven am starts Central time for
the US Sweden game. Tell me what you expect to
see out of those Like you mentioned before, don't assume
anything out of semi final results at this tournament because
we've been you know, surprised before.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
So uh well, Sweden is the US two years ago
and checks who beat Canada last year. So we've got
maximum intrigue, which is nice that the re received going
into this, so we weren't sure exactly how that would
go down. But yeah, so we've got two rematches of
the last two big upsets from Sweden. They have been
playing with just a bit more depth. They've got some
(21:01):
really good defenders they've got they're moving the puck a
little bit more as I said, they're just a very
physical team. The US is gonna Liz Keaty Norton, the coach,
talks about her team being dirty dogs. She wants them to,
you know, really be gritty and finding room in front
of the net and cleaning up and like, so many
of their goals in the quarterfinals were on second and
(21:22):
third opportunities, and Sweden's gonna try really hard to not
let that happen in any way, shape or form. Like
they're they're gonna try it on the ice. They're gonna
try and keep the US to the outside. They're gonna
try and win battles along the boards. So I think
the two teams match up pretty well in terms of
their style, in terms of like what they would like
(21:42):
to accomplish, and so yeah, I think it's just gonna
be a battle of wills. I also think it's gonna
be a battle of not taking penalties and spending the
whole time on special teams. Yeah, Sweden has not scored
as much as I think that they would like, and
they have struggled a little with It took till the
corner finals for them to really play the game that
(22:05):
their coaches wanted them to play like to put all
the pieces together, and I think their coaching staff was
a little frustrated heading into that game, so it was
good for them to do that. And there's always something
with the coaches at this age where they're like, well,
they know what to do, but they're not doing it.
So I don't know, because teenagers, it's very interesting sometimes
(22:25):
to watch the hockey and you can almost forget how
young they are and then you go in the mix
ow and you're like, yep, these are all girls. So yeah,
I think they had things come together, and so it
will be that battle of wills of sort of physicality
and who can find space down the ice to do what,
like to really put their stamp on the game for
(22:46):
US and US and Sweden.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, one thing I want to mention looking at the
top scorers in the tournament. Now, this is obviously swayed
heavily by that Canada result that they in the quarterfinals,
but looking at the top five scorers represent UH commits
or players current players at five different colleges, which is
(23:09):
pretty cool to see that. You know, obviously there's no
Hoose they commit there as a Wisconsin commit. There there's
a Minnesota player there, but there's also someone committed to
Northeastern and someone committed to Clarkson. When you go ahead
a little farther, uh, there's a player committed to Yukon. Uh.
There there's a player that's uncommitted because I believe she's
still not eligible to have a.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Have ah yeah, has not yet en c eligible.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
So there's there's uh, you know, more than just you know,
the the heavy hitters there. As you're looking at the
the who's committed to to where I mean, obviously there's
that's represented in that group, the big the schools that
are near the top of the poles and the rankings
and pairwise, but uh, I think that that's a good
(23:58):
thing to have, you know, things spread out a little
bit and see uh see some of these players that
have have this international experience that.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Have done well.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Uh then going to different schools uh in a in
a year or two.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Yeah, it's been pretty cool. Kind of starting goalie is
committed to U n T. Sofia Ishmael had a really
big game. She's committed to Penn State. There was one
more I was just going to shout out, I'm sorry, Oh,
a really big d from Canada. Alex theory. She's committed
to u n H. So yeah, there's just the fans
(24:31):
need to know that there's there's girls here that aren't
you know, it's not just a case of the rich
keep getting richer. There's a lot of pretty cool different
representations here and I like it's been enjoyable to watch
and I just I'm excited. You know, Morgan Stickney, the
US goalie that had the shutout Street, she's committed to
Penn State. So I'm just excited to see these players
(24:52):
when they make it, you know, to the college game
and see how they you know, it's it's I got
to watch Caitlyn and Kramer have her come out in
Sweden two years ago, you don't have this big breakout
year for Canada, and then to see her have this
big freshman season at UND It's been fun to be
able to follow those through lines and see them make
(25:13):
a difference and also get to you know, Canada roster.
I think all but one are committed, but like half
the US roster is not yet old enough to commit
to the NCAA. They went pretty young this year and
Mary Sierra Baker is one of the reasons why because
she played last year at fifteen and handled herself. She
was really good, and that gave them the confidence to
(25:33):
know that they don't have to that they can widen
the net for who is playing. And for many years
it was like, oh, you had to be in you
know whatever, you're born to be eligible. And that's just
we're not seeing that be the case in North America anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Well, good stuff about the tournament. Stay with us here
when we come back. We're going take a quick break.
When we come back, we will talk about what we've
seen in NCAA hockey since really the start of the
year and since things picked up again. Stay with us
on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Todd Maluski here with Nicole Hosey, who is in Finland
covering the IHF Under eighteen Women's World Championship. And Nicole,
I know you haven't really because you've been covering those games.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
You haven't had a chance to watch a lot of NCAA.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Games since the start of the year. But we've seen
I know you've seen results, you've read some things. We
had a really big series right out of the gate
for twenty twenty five, number one Wisconsin against number two
Ohio State and we know when those two teams get together,
there's usually a lot to unpack out of that, and
(26:45):
I think there definitely was. With a Wisconsin six nothing
win last Thursday and then a three to three tie
on Saturday at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the outdoor game
part of the Big Tens weekend of games, Ohio State
won the shootout, won nothing in the Oh jeez, what
was it the seventh.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Or eighth round?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
There are so many I think it's seventh. I wrote
down eighth, but I think it was the seventh. Yeah,
And and so that's, you know, was a really important
result for Ohio State to come back and you know,
show that six nothing was was not the way this
is going to go for the rest of the season
for them against you know, good competition. So important result
(27:26):
for them, even though it wasn't technically a win, they
felt like they came away with a win with the
shootout result. What do you take out of of seeing
those that pair of results.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, it's interesting because the frozen friendly game or friendly
frozen confines game. And you can talk about this, I
know that, you know, particularly as the game went on,
people were complaining about ice conditions. I mean to watch
the first two periods and then fell asleep because it
was three am here or something like that. So I
(28:01):
don't know, and you can tell me, like, should should
we be taking the that second game's results as like
indicative of the play or is the was the location
the bigger factor in what happened in that game?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I think it was a factor.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I don't think it was a deciding factor, though, because
I think the deciding factor was that Ohio State had
he really was pretty much embarrassed on Thursday and came
out and did something about it. That was the the
takeaway that I that I came back with, because yes,
the the ice wasn't great, but you know, they're they're
(28:38):
both playing the same way.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It's you know, it's the same idea.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
But I do think that outdoor games are are not
necessarily conducive to teams that try to do a lot
with the puck. And we've seen Wisconsin in the past
and really a lot of this season.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
They play that.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Style because they can successful, yeah, and it just doesn't
work on how door ice. And we saw that in
the show a couple of players trying to make moves
and just lost the puck and didn't even get a
shot on goal, and it was really you know, tough
to make the kind of cross ice passes that we've
seen out of the Badgers throughout the year and to
(29:20):
set up one timers, and so that wasn't playing into
their favor. Now they they had a lead, they you know,
came back from House States scored in the first minute.
The Badgers came back to take it to one lead,
hence sorre. Ohio State came back to take a three
to two lead. Then the Badgers tied it with five
(29:41):
minutes and change left to to force the overtime.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
But that was.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It really got squirreling from there because in the last
few minutes of regulation and the entirety of overtime were
kind of crazy, uh, to watch the chances going both ways.
Ohio State ended up with a power play in overtime
because Wisconsin got called for too many players, which was valid.
They had four on the ice in a three on
three situation for tens And.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I did not realize that that's news to me if
that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Just out of the fact that it was going so far,
you know, so fast, both directions Wisconsin had, you know,
was trying to come back and had an extra player
jump on when when one came off, and it's kind
of the overtime. It was just you know, Wisconsin had
(30:36):
had calls for a penalty on Ohio State Casey O'Brien
had a chance down the stretch and what I don't
really call it a breakaway, it was kind of a
breakaway and she got tied up and no penalty call.
They let him play on And that was something that
I thought was a little interesting out of that that game,
is that the referees, you know, we've seen in Ohio
(30:58):
State Wisconsin games kind of let them play. I mean
they then evenly matched. They know that unless there's something
that's obvious it's you know, somebody taken down on a
clear scoring attempt or uh something that you know, a
foul that caused a turnover that's going to lead to
a scoring attempt, you got to call those. But they
typically have let them play, like they did in the
National Championship Game last season. But this one was was
(31:21):
a lot more special teams driven. I think Ohio State
had six, Wisconsin had two, or maybe that was just
a number of penalties called, but.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
It was it was a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
There was some body checking calls, it was there was
a lot to work through there, and that ended that
it still was a really good game between two elite opponents.
And I think that's, you know, hardly the last time
we're going to see them playing each other this season.
And and so I just, you know, wonder whether this
(31:56):
game kind of sets the stage for the next one
or if it was just kind of a you know,
a throwaway one because of the ice conditions and because
because it was such a unique environment playing outside and
you know, with a a big venue, I don't know
if we're gonna be able to read much out of
that if we see them playing again in the w
c h A tournament or in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Yeah. I guess one of the things that I was
wondering is because I expected that Ohio State was going
to come out, you know like that as you said,
they were embarrassed. That's that's not what they want. That's
I mean, any team would feel that way, but particularly
an ad and thus we're all coach team, it's gonna
you know, really be pissed off and come out and
so does it Like for me, I'm thinking, like does
(32:40):
that mean they did that in Wisconsin was study it
and came out with essentially a tie, Like is that
a positive? Like just wiscone to look at that as
a positive, like we poked the hornets nests and the
best that they could come up with after that.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
That's why I was trying to ask about the ice
and like what what to take out of the tie?
You know what I'm saying, right.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, I don't think Wisconsin felt bad about much of
anything there, you know, other than the shootout result not
going their direction. Yeah, still massively ahead in the pair,
Wiser's still massively ahead in the w c h A.
They don't have a lot to worry about in those
races necessarily yet unless things go incredibly wrong for them
(33:25):
in the second half of the season. But you do
know that when it's going to come down to a
one and done situation in a tournament setting, is you know,
for the potential next time you're playing Ohio State, you'd
much rather be going into that with the memory of
a six to nothing win than a three to three
(33:45):
tie in a shootout loss. So that's where I just
don't know, if you know, they just take that that
game and like ball it up and throat and trash
and it's like all right, we're moving on. Yeah, I'll
say I do have to say this. So the jerseys
on both sides were incredible. A big sweater person, I
don't like radom or anything like that, but I thought
(34:08):
they were both great. And Wisconsin had a white sweater
with a cursive Wisconsin on the front, and Ohio State
had a black one with a red stripe through the
middle with a mascot brutus that I haven't seen that
imagery before and maybe that they haven't ever used that
(34:30):
before on any of their sweaters.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
So, and any Ohio State rep that's here in Finland
was wearing something with that brutus on it, which I
thought was funny. I spotted it immediately.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
So yeah, the aust players didn't know what was on
those sweaters until the day of the game, which I
thought was an interesting way of doing a real you know,
because I hadn't seen anything about it until that day
for sure, And it was like it came out after
the game that Yeah, that was the first time they
saw him and they got to the stadium that day.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
There's a different way.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Of doing that I would have liked Wisconsin's and cream,
and I heard that that was a logistic thing. They
also would have liked them in cream, right. I really
liked the Wisconsin men's jerseys, but I'm a big fan
of like stripes or hoops. It's their jersey terminology goes.
So the men's team jerseys, the Wisconsin men's change jerseys
(35:26):
did that well. But yeah, all because there were four
men's teams that also played in UH really, and all
of the teams had I thought did interesting things, some
better than others. But specialty jerseys can go very good
and very wrong, and I didn't feel like anybody went
very wrong, which was nice. And yeah, I think the
(35:46):
women get fewer opportunities to do, you know, the interesting
one off jerseys. And I thought both teams in Ohio
State and Wisconsin did a really good job. Just there
were some really cool details. And Wisconsin also had a
hoodie that I already like. I screencapped one of the
girls Instagram stories because they had like a hoodie with
the baseball diamond on it, and I thought it was
really cool. I was like, Ooh, I'm gonna have to
(36:08):
ask about that when I get back. I just thought, Yeah,
all the details were great. I just for both teams
and all the pictures that came out afterwards. There were
a couple of different photographers that have posted a bunch
of their things from both ends, from both teams, from
both sides, and yeah, just some really cool you know,
it's always nice to see the hat the took on
(36:30):
the goalie on top of the goalie mask and the EyeBlack,
and you know, the Badgers some of them walked in
their their varsity jackets which worked in that setting. And yeah,
there were just so many cool little details. And you
could tell the players from both women's teams who I
follow several on social media just they're still posting stuff.
(36:52):
It was a really cool experience for them, and they
got to be on regular B ten and I hope
you know, like it was so cool to have the
number one number two t like the two best teams,
the best that you can get in women's college hockey
right now, being showcased in that situation and then going
to an eight round shootout like it was it. If
(37:13):
we could write it, that's how we'd want to write it.
You don't want the six to oz games as being
the one that's being highlighted in the middle of of
you know, this frozen confine. Like it was just cool
that it all worked out and everybody came out of
it healthy and it was a really good game and
a really good showcase for women's college hockey.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, it's I was there for both of the days
of the the event. There's two men's games Saturday or Friday,
and then the women's game Saturday and then another men's
game on Saturday, and it was it was really well
put on.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
They got what they wanted out their four really good games.
I mean there were.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Two that ended up three to three, one four to
three that was one in the last minute, and then
one four to three.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
That was one in overtime.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So I mean that as far as competitive games and
good TV and good watching, it was. It was all great.
The setting was was awesome. It was it was chilly.
Luckily I was able to be in the press box,
which was warm. And I'm gonna ask because the press
box there is uh kind of looks like it's being
held up by wire at times a little bit. It
(38:20):
had some renovation done in the last uh five years
ago or whenever.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
They did a lot of work but.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Uh yeah, luckily the windows did close, and if you're
in the first row and next to the windows, it
was it was cold. So luckily I was Yeah, yeah,
I was not upset to be a little farther away
from it, other than the fact that I do have
to say that some of the numbers on the sweaters
were really hard to read from that distance, and I
(38:51):
knowed that. I know, I'm old and I have bad eyes,
but black numbers on black sweaters with just you know,
through the red stripe not helpful. Wisconsin's women's sweaters not
helpful because of the the curve makes the two.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Look like a seven. It was.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
There were a couple I was just like, no, I've
got no idea who that was. But yeah, it was
a cool event. So hopefully there'll be more of those
kind of you know, spotlights for women's hockey, uh down
down the road. And we know the Big Ten. You know,
when you have Big Ten schools that are part of it,
that's that's someone who can pull off something like that,
(39:28):
So I know there'll I'm sure there will be another
Frozen fenway down the road that we'll see some maybe
some hockey schools involved into so pretty cool to get
that experience.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, one thing I wanted to mention also about.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Last week's results. I know we're a little bit delayed
this weekend. Like I mentioned before, we've we've had some
time issues of trying to find um time here and
looking back on the weekend, one of the things that
stood out when I was looking back at results and
I knew that Clarkson had lost twice. One of them
(40:08):
was to Cornell, one of them was to Colgate, both
of them at home. But I didn't know right away
the damage that did in the pair wise because I
didn't find them right away when I was looking through
the pair wise. And it turns out Clarkson fell to fourteenth,
which is a number that I did not expect.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
Because there's two other ranked teams.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Like what were exactly, and you know, it's that's a
that's a rough fall. And not not to say that
you can't turn that around again because they're gonna be
playing more ranked teams obviously as they're going through.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
An ECAC schedule.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
But now they've got their work cut out for them
and there's not a lot more sliding that they can
do through the second half of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Yeah, I mean you told me that they had drive
so far, and I was really surprised. But then I
also went and looked in Their strength of schedule is
thirty second, and so I think that means that, you know,
when you have a rinked game and you don't come
out of it with any points, like that's that's how
that calculation is going to really work against you. So
Colgate's strength the schedule I think is thirty and so
if the same thing happened to them, they would take
(41:19):
a similar drop. But yeah, that's that is a rough
hit for them. It's still early, we're still early January.
But yeah, that's that's that's rough some of this.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Clarkson fell the seventh in the uc h O dot
com rankings at RPI and at Union this weekend, so
a chance to get back going in a positive direction there.
But I don't know how much you know, even if
they win those games, how much that nets them in
terms of results or pair wise kind of results.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
So I'll have to wait and see on that.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Kind of spinning through some of the other results out
of last weekend, Saint Lawrence with a win against Colgate
three to two. We had a one to one tie
between Yukon and BC.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
The U kind of won the extra point in a
shootout there.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
And there was also a result that you were texting
me about during the Saturday game when I was in Chicago.
I think I don't know if it was I think
it was for nothing when you when you texted me,
because Penn State ended up with a six to two
win at Minnesota, which I mean, you know, Penn Sate,
(42:36):
you know, clearly a good team, but doing that at
Minnesota is really an eye opener. Penn State led four
nothing after the first period but on only six shots
on goal.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Was the real like WHOA wasn't necessarily expecting that kind
of moment?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, well, I knew you were busy and in Chicago,
and when I'm live hosting about the games, I'm pretty
much constantly on Twitter and Blue Sky, and so I
was seeing the updates happen and I was like, holy cow,
I'm so surprised, Like I was sad that I couldn't,
you know, put it on and see what was going on.
But yeah, that was was an outcome I was not
prepared for, like, not necessarily that Penn State could win there,
(43:15):
but that it was you know, four holes on six
shots in the first period. I mean, this was something
Minnesota hosted called the East West Classic. It was Minnesota,
Penn State, Brown and Bamidgee and in. You know, I
think Minnesota hosts something like that. The expectation of walking
away with winds and so yeah, that was definitely a
statement for Penn State. And Penn State has been aggressive
(43:39):
with their non conference schedule for several years now because
they know that they you know, they usually sit on
that edge, right on the outside looking in if they
don't win their AUTOVID and so good for them for
going out that. That had to give them a huge,
huge bump as well.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
So yeah, Penn State started this weekend's play at tenth
and pair wise. But you know that again, that's that's
a position where you're going to be probably needing to
win your the Atlantic Hockey America Championship, postseason championship anyway
to get if you're around that number, because that's a
that's right on the cusp of falling out, especially when
(44:16):
you're talking about other teams from other conferences than getting in.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
So yeah, a lot, sure, a.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
Lot to play obviously, still before we're talking about what
those numbers really mean, but definitely a better spot.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yeah, pen State, Well, pen State knows that they're not
going to get strengthen to schedule within their own conference,
right like they're usually the only team possibly someone might
you know, sneak in into fourteen or fifteen, and so
they go out and get those aggressive non conference games,
and I just think it's it's a really smart move
by Jeff Campersoll.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Yeah, one thing that stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
So every once in a while I try and do
a bracketology kind of look at, you know, how things
stand right now and what the tournament might look like
if things would end this way. And I don't think
there's any possible scenario where it's going to end up
like this in March. But looking at it otherwise, as
(45:11):
this weekend started, you had Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, Minnesotaduluth
in the top four spots, So all four regionals would
be at w c HA sites. The rest of the
teams in the tournament would be from Eastern schools, and
so this is that would shape up to be a
let's just say the NCAA probably would love seeing that.
(45:34):
From a financial standpoint.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
A very expensive tournament.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
For the very expensive tournament, is right, and you know,
not necessarily getting a lot of fans traveling, probably for
those from from the Roads teams, you know, parents obviously,
but that I don't know that that would be great
a great outcome, And I don't think it will be
the outcome because you're talking about I don't think you're
(45:59):
going to see some movement in that, especially in that
middle area.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Uh you know the.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, not all of those teams can keep winning all
of their games obviously because they weren't playing each other Wisconsin, Minnesota,
House State and d Luth. So you're gonna see some
movement there. You're going to see some movement among the
ec A C schools. You know, b C and BU
are going to be squaring off a couple of times,
and yeah, there's a lot that's gonna happen there. But
I just was looking at that and I was like, oh,
(46:26):
that's uh, that could uh make for some some costly
team travel when it gets to to March.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, that gives me like a mental image of someone
at the NCAA like ouigy board, magic a ball, Robin Sage,
like whatever they can do. I mean, yeah, I'm obviously
making jokes but yeah, that's that's a lot of travel costs,
particularly you know, the ones that would host a prelim
game and then you know, like a playing game and
(46:56):
then the host team. So h yeah, they're definitely not
hoping for that. I don't think it's not ideal.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeap, just want to take a quick spin through a
couple of the games between ranked teams that are happening
this weekend. But by the time you're listening to us here,
a lot of these games, series or games may have
started or maybe done. So take that for what it is.
But Cornell and Colgate are playing home and home. That's
a Friday Saturday Princeton at Quinnipiac on Friday, a Friday
(47:31):
Saturday series between Saint.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Cloud and Minnesota Duluth and WHA.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
But then we did want to mention also Tuesday night
is the start of the bean Pot, which the semi
final night is being hosted by Northeastern this season, Number
thirteen BU playing Harvard, Northeastern playing Number twelve BC in
the semi finals, both of those games being on Nessen
and then leading into Tuesday night, January twenty first, they're
(47:57):
playing the third place game in the championship game at
t Garden for the second straight season, which is a
massive step for that tournament to be having that that
platform and that facility available for them to play the
championship night in. But beyond it just being for the
bean Pot Championship, there's there's some pretty important games there
(48:19):
for the in terms of pairwise, in terms of in
Northeastern too, I mean Northeastern's eleventh in the pairwise, so
they're not exactly out of things here either, So a
lot of movement could happen there in terms of some
of those results that take place.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Yeah, last year was the first year they got to
play at tea place and they got a massive crowd,
and I really hope that that continues. I hope that
wasn't you know, the excitement of the first time around.
I saw, you know, some of the fellow journalists I
follow they were doing they had a whole media day
already and we're doing different video packages. So really awesome
that Nessen and Hockey East to have teamed up on
(49:00):
this and really have made it such a big deal,
and that the the women's being Pot is getting the
same attention, and you know, it's the word that I want,
like the details, right, they're getting the media the whole
package and not just sort of also rans alongside them then,
so definitely people need to tune in. They should tune
(49:22):
in anyway. But as you mentioned, these are going to
be some pretty good matchups and there's a lot on
the line. I mean, they're technically non conference games, but
the pairwise does not care about that. So yeah, lots
of This is the first time in several years I
feel like that that so all like three of the
four teams like these are these are massive games.
Speaker 1 (49:44):
Yep. All right, Well that's going to wrap it up
for this week.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Nicole, give a plug for where everyone can read your
U eighteens coverage on Victory Press.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yes, the site is victorypress dot org. There's tons of
stuff that is posted for free. We also have sense
of description options and one of the things that you
get as a paying member is videos from postgame mix Zone.
So not just with it's cool to be able to see,
you know what, what the US and Canadian players and
coaches and singing are saying, but also some of the
(50:14):
players from other countries as well.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
So Victory Press dot org. That's my website. That's where
I'm posting stuff. I have been using Twitter because that's
where I HF posts all of their stuff, so live
tweeting all those games there. I will continue to do that,
try to share some on Blue Sky as well.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
But huh, that's a pretty massive side before you said Twitter.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
Well, yeah, I would very much love to divest of Twitter,
but sports as a general rule is still very much
on Twitter. So no teams really have moved over to
any to Blue Sky or anything like that, so I
would ideally not be there. But yeah, since this is
my job, that's where we are.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
And so yeah, business is busy.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Victorypress dot org is the answer to that. And then
my Twitter handle is just my name at Nicole Hazy.
The same thing on Blue Sky. Oh and if I've
been posting a ton to Instagram, so not just in
arena tournament stuff, but in and around hell Sinky as well.
In my Twitter or I'm sorry, my Instagram is at
Nicole Hasey fourteen. So yeah, And there's a highlight for
(51:26):
Finland so you can watch old stories. So everything from
being out today in the snow seeing some different light installations.
There's a there's a pretty cool art night light installation.
I went to a sea fortress. I've been doing all
trying to put as much as I can out on Instagram.
So if you want to see what I've been doing
in Finland, as well as stuff from inside the arena,
(51:47):
check out on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Sounds awesome. I'm jealous.
Speaker 2 (51:51):
I wish I could take in something like that one
of these days, and maybe I will eventually, but but yeah,
well we don't.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
We don't know yet where we're in Canada next year
I have maybe it'll be somewhere or we can go.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
It's not gonna be quite like Finland though, or Sweden
or Switzerland or any of these.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
No, I am lucky. Shout out to my husband first
and foremost, and to the subscribers the Victory Press. I'm
very lucky I get to do this awesome.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Well, we thank you for joining us here. We will
talk to you again next week on the podcast
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