It's NCAA tournament time; here's a bracket breakdown and a look at how we got here

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com start this edition of the PodKaz with a look back on the five conference championships, won by Penn State, Cornell, Boston University, Sacred Heart and Wisconsin.

The NCAA tournament bracket was unveiled Sunday morning but the production left a lot to be desired.

And the show concludes with a discussion of each of the four NCAA regionals, hosted by Wisconsin, Ohio State, Cornell and Minnesota.

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Uscho dot com conference tournaments are over. The NCAA Tournament
is next high and welcome to the podcast. I'm Todd
Mlusky here with Nicole Hawsey, looking back on what we
saw with five conference champions crowned on Saturday and then

(00:25):
the brackets announced on Sunday for the eleven team NCAA
National Collegiate Women's Hockey Tournament. Nicole, let's I guess maybe
look back first, Do you have any I guess maybe
any takes on just what we saw from the the
on ice play over the weekend in terms of, you know,
having some championships won in overtime and having some games

(00:48):
go to multiple overtimes, and it did seem like a
pretty compelling weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was, and I think I felt like any time
I thought maybe I had a little bit grasp on
things like like you know, I was assuming Cornell would
be tired after a three over time game. You know,
they turned around and scored two goals in the opening
two minutes, or you know, sort of basing the last
couple of weeks of the regular season how Minnesota had performed,
and they came out and showed, you know that they're

(01:14):
a different team in the postseason, so I thought it
was all really interesting between the you know, the let's say,
the upset in New Ha, the overtimes, just surprising outcomes.
Maybe I overall, I was great, even though you know,
we were both in house for w CCH like, I
loved how the games were staggered and I had we
both had our tablets up watching games, you know, the

(01:36):
whole time. It was awesome to be able to watch
and not have everything happening all at once.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, Cornell winning the championship in ECAC Hockey Wisconsin and
w CCHA, Penn State in Atlantic Hockey America, Boston University
and Hockey East, and Sacred Heart in New haw We'll
get into all of those as we go through the
first segment here. I want to start with the ones,

(02:01):
the three tournament games, three conference championship games that were
win or you're out for one of the teams at least.
That's Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East and New high and in
Hockey East, Boston University three, Northeastern two in overtime. The
Terriers trailed in the third period, but Clara un tied
the score and then Sidney Heay got the overtime winner.

(02:23):
There is six Hockey East title, but there first since
twenty fifteen. Think about that, that it's been ten years
since BU has been in the tournament. And you know,
they had to do it the hard way. All three
of their wins in overtime or double overtime in the
Hockey East Tournament and that's I mean, there's some resilience
there and being down against a really good team again

(02:44):
like Northeastern that knows how to lock things down in
the third period. Not the way you want to be playing,
but they found a way to get it done.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
No, yeah, Northeastern is the is a third period team,
right Like as soon as that they went into that
with the advantage, I thought, oh, this is the end
of the road for BEU. And you know, we talked
last week, like you kind of said, like you don't
want to be the team that keeps sonning in overtime,
like that doesn't vode well for you, but like, hey
keeps working, so you know, do you go with what works.
I guess the Cardiac kids could have been a monarch

(03:14):
for about six different teams as the season won't wound down,
but I think be You's taking the cake there. That
was a weird game. There were just long stretches without
shots from both teams and just a very like, sort
of strange way that game came together. But yeah, really exciting.
I mean literally, the last time BU was in the
tournament briefly plan was there, right, Like, that's how long

(03:35):
ago we're talking for people. And very cool for Tara Watchhorton.
This is her alma mater. You know, she went back
to coach there. It's only her second year. I mean,
we'd be You's been a storyline we've been talking about
literally since that first weekend, So very cool to see
it come to fruition. I you know, I was disappointed
for them when they had lost the regular season in
that final weekend, and it felt like this would be

(03:57):
good redemption and with the overtimes, I was where they
were going to get it. So yeah, just super compelling
to me that this team nobody picked to do well
as the team that got the NCA bid, and I
saw the Terriers chose to give the game puck to
Tara Watchorn, which was Yeah, it was really the whole
thing was just really touching and sweet and did a

(04:17):
huge step for that program that had been sort of
at the top before but not in recent years.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Right, it feels like this has been a couple of
different seasons than one. For bid, you had a pretty
good start, got their name out there again, kind of
fell off a little bit, picked it back up, and
then you know, like we've mentioned, toward the last couple
weeks of the regular season, had some struggles and couldn't
get the point that they needed in the last weekend
against Yukon to win the regular season championship. But then

(04:46):
to do this over two weeks in the Hockey Tournament,
of getting forced to overtime three times and coming out
with wins all of them, you start to think, well,
maybe there's there's something charmed a little bit there toward
the finish.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, there's definitely something of that resiliency, right, Like you
mentioned it about the postseason, but I think it probably
talks about their whole season, like things went a little poorly,
but they they you know, they came back in the
second half. And it's always funny, I mean, especially when
we're talking the postseason. I mean, it feels like it's
been a couple of seasons in the last two weeks,
and one of the things when I'm doing, like U
eighteen Women's World Championships. Is how it feels like so

(05:22):
much happens and shut such a short amount of time,
like to see a team grow in like just a
handful of games and in like ten days. And I
feel like we saw a lot of growth from teams
from like say that the first weekend of the conference
tournaments to now, and so that's always interesting to me.
And I think it's really good that it's a good
sign for what be you could be able to do
this postseason that they were sort of sort of able

(05:45):
to answer some of those questions and make that bounce back.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, let's move over to Atlantic Coacki America, Penn State
another well, I was College Hockey America the last couple
of seasons or before this. Now it's Atlanta Cockay America.
But they're still the champion.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Every time I've tried to figure out how to write that,
like twenty sentences and I'm like, I got nothing. Well, just.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
They beat most Hearson the championship game for I believe
the third time in a row. All those Yeah, and
it's a four to one win for the Nidney Lions.
On Saturday, Brionna Brooks two goals in that championship game,
and you know, Penn State, uh is is the team
to beat in that conference, has been and will be,
and no one's taken her away from home yet.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
No, it's a good sign for Penn State that they
did that without Tessa Janick scoring in that game, right,
Like they have her in their back pocket, but they
the part where they don't need her, I think is
really important. And we'll get to this, but there it's
a rematch for them in the NCAAs this year in
that first round game, and I just think there's a
lot that they've learned in a lot of growing they've done.
And so to get that really secure win, this wasn't

(06:53):
like we weren't sure. Mercy Hurst is the only team
that had given them trouble within the conference. We weren't
sure what to expect, and I felt like they kind
of they handled that. You know, it was two oh
right away Mercy Hurst cut into the lead, but it
really just didn't feel in doubt for the Allions and
so just a really strong, you know showing for them,
and I think they got to have the confidence heading

(07:14):
into that heading into the NCAA's.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, Penn State was locked into the tournament, either as
an at large or with the automatic qualifier by winning
the conference tournament. Going in the Saturday, Mercyris needed to
win that to get in, and if the Lakers had won,
that would have kept Saint Lawrence out as as the
last at large team. So there was there was a
lot a lot of eyes on that game Saturday afternoon

(07:36):
into evening too to see how that was going to
shake out. It is, you know, probably important to mention
that we'll get in this little bit more. It does
create that that rematch in the first round Penn State
Saint Lawrence, who saw that in Madison last year in
an overtime game that the the Saints won, won nothing.

(07:58):
I believe right that was the only goal of the game.
I think it was scoreding overtime.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Have to be sounds, it might have been, Yeah, it
was low scoring, whatever it was.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, you know, Penn State is going to be I mean,
they got a little bit more experienced now that it's
you know, it's starting to roll for them. Any team
with Tesla Janicky, as we mentioned, is going to have
a chance. And so we'll get into more on them later.
But another really good story for for Penn State, who's
having some pretty good fortunes on women's and men's sides

(08:28):
right right now, men's teams doing one of the hot
is one of the hotest teams in the country. And uh,
I mean look at Fence State with on the women's
side with thirty one wins, pretty pretty good.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
It was a one nothing game, Okay, I.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Forget a lot of things, and but that was one
of those, Like I was wondering how long we were
going to go with that game. Yeah, zero zero, But
it was.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
A really good game. They were just well well matched
teams and back and forth in the strategy of it.
So I'm sure they're not thrilled about playing each other again,
but for for for the I think it'll be a
fun name to watch.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, and we'll get into our next segment a little
bit of how that shook out of why those two
teams are matched again. But let's move over to the
new HA Sacred Heart with its first conference championship A
or first NCAA appearance, four two win at Long Island
to wrap up that championship on Saturday. Isabella chaphoo I'm

(09:22):
gonna say shaphooh or shot put, I don't know. I'm
sorry I pronounced it French. I don't know for sure,
so I apologize in advantage.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Did go looking for a pronunciation? Guy? We tried.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Sacred Heart fell behind one nothing, but she scored twice
to tie the game and then to give a three
to one lead. Sacred Heart comes away with this one
on the road. Impressive feet there. And you know, I
think we've mentioned before Sacred Heart and l I you
were kind of neck and neck for a long time.
Sacred Heart fell off a little bit at the end

(09:54):
and dropped to the third seed. But here they are
with the conference championship in the end and the NCAA
tournament bit a really good thing for them.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, I said this on my nc notebook this morning
at Victory Press. But this, this was the the only
happy thing about one of the They have the camera.
The angle that you have to watch the game from
is at the back of the bleachers, so it's it's
a pretty far away view of the ice, but you
do get to see a lot of the bleachers. And goodness,
were the Sacred Heart fans so adorable so into it

(10:25):
just every like they they made watching that extra joyful,
like you could just I mean, I had that on.
That was the last game of the night. So I
was back in my hotel room writing up the w
C story and so I had this game on my
tablet but with the sound off, and but you could
just like the joy was infectious, Like I was getting
all of their excitement and I didn't even have the
sound on. Just every play, every stop, every save. Their

(10:49):
fans were just so into it. It was it made it
an even more fun watch. And yeah, just a really
good showing. Like you said, they they were a Sacred
Heart went down at one point, l a U brought
back in with within one, but Sacred Heart quickly scored
after that. Just it kind of felt like they they
weren't going to lose that game, Like they went in
there thinking, you know, with the attitude like this, that
this isn't going to happen, We're going to do this.

(11:11):
And so is there technically their second conference tournament championship,
they won in the first year of the new HA
when they did not yet have an auto bid.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Okay, right, but it's the first first NCAA tournament appearance.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yea, so huge, huge, huge win for them. They were
just like I said, the fans joy and then the
ladies on the ice afterwards. It was it was a
lot of fun, I think, as particularly at the end
of a very busy weekend. It was just it was
a good sort of reminder of what we're all doing
and what they're playing for, and like why this is

(11:46):
so much fun.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
So those were the three conferences that all went direct
to championship game on Saturday without semifinals on Friday. E
C a C and w C h A both had
the semis on Friday, and ECAC started off with a
marathon Cornell at the host of the tournament ATLTA three
overtime to one win over Clarkson Lee de Leonidas. The

(12:11):
goal one hundred and three minutes and thirty three seconds
into that one anlie bergman fifty four save for the win.
That you know, when you're getting into the third overtime,
you're gonna have a pretty high save count for whoever
gets to win there, and that that was certainly the case.
You mentioned that that's that's a heck of a way
to start a championship weekend. We were talking a little

(12:33):
bit as was going on that. Man, you feel a
little bit for the the Colgate and Saint Lawrence. Teams
that are there just waiting for their their chance, you know,
have to wait an extra hour their you know, pregame
gets delayed. It's really it was.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Two hours they like they started two hours later then planned.
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, that's you know, you start thinking, okay, where are
we finding the food for the intermissions because we might
need something or get a little stretched out here from
the pregame meal. And it's a but that second game
turned out to be a pretty good one too, even
though it started with a three to nothing lead for
Colegate Saint Lawrence came back to cut that the three

(13:11):
to two. Alisa Biederman scored an empty netter for a
four to Colgate win, setting up the championship game, which
I mean really everyone you know maybe saw coming number
the teams that kind of were chasing the championship and
it ended up being a winner gets a home game

(13:32):
in the NCAA tournament. I think loser has to go
on the road. Cornell got that win, as you mentioned earlier,
with two quick goals early in a five to one win.
McKenna van Gelder and Lindsey Avar scored those first period
goals for Cornell Correll Prefontaine scored in the third period
to make it three to one, and then they added
two empty netters. First playoff championship. Speaking like bu we

(13:53):
were talking about had won a playoff championships in twenty fifteen,
so it's been since twenty fourteen for Cornell that had
its largest crowd at line of rink since before the pandemic,
which is pretty cool. Eighteen seventy on hand for that
largest crowd for women's hockey game since the pandemic. I
should say that's nice to see that the fans got

(14:14):
involved there, that they had a good crowd for it,
and I think Colgate would would, you know, rather that
score line be a little closer, But you know, throw
two empty netters in. There's every one game.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
And it's really hard to come back when you're down
two zero after two minutes in the game, end of
the game, and then that they are at home. I mean,
this is for me, one of the things that I
took from this is we you know, we kind of
talked all year long about like every point matters in
the conference. Cornell won the right to host this by
winning the conference regular season titled by two points, and

(14:47):
I'm not sure if this is a team that comes
back from a three overtime, one hundred plus minute game
to score two goals in the opening minutes of the
next game if they're.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Not at home, right, and especially because if they're not
at home, they're playing the second game in the three
overtimes and even later for a yeah, and turn around right.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
So I just like, and there were times I felt
like maybe we were pushing too hard and like why
all that was important in the seating and all that
sort of stuff, but like you extrapolated out and like
I just think they really felt like a they got
to sleep in their own beds and things like that,
but also they just really fed on that home crowd
and it was it was allowed in there definitely made me.
It was one of those where I was like, why

(15:27):
I wish I was there? I like, now I'm really
I mean I already did want to go to see
a game there, but I was like, it really put
me in the like fomo of wanting to go see
a game in LINEU. They were just loud and fun,
and I think it's just they created an atmosphere that
got their team going that put Colgate in a hole
early and really like pretty much decide. I feel like
decided that game before it really even got started. Like

(15:50):
everything should have been working against Cornell there in terms
of heavy legs and all that sort of stuff, and
to be able to come out and make that difference
so quickly, it was I think just absolutely everything for
them to be able to win that game.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah. Then in the WHA, the final face off in Duluth,
Wisconsin started off with a three to one win over
the host Bulldogs despite falling behind in the first period.
Caroline Harvey scored the goal ahead goal in the second
period for the Badgers. And then in the second game Friday,
Minnesota fell down fell down to nothing in the first

(16:25):
period against Ohio State, but got back in it with
two power play goals before the end of the first period,
Abby Murphy and Ella Huber getting those, and then Audrey
Wethington scoring in the second period to give the goal
forer his lead for good. Six to two. Final there,
and that final did not sit answer, Yeah, did not
sit well on the Ohio State side, did it.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
It did not. Yeah. It was one of the more
awkward and postgame press conferences we've been to for sure.
I will say I like, there were I literally have
had so many people contacting me about rumors about what
was said or done with Ohio State. And you know,

(17:08):
Nadine is who she is, and I'm not going to
defend or or you know, whatever anythings. I do think
it is telling to me that those conversations are head
about a woman coach and not a man coach. And
I think, you know, we just really need to think
about some of that stuff and why people are up
in arms or upset about things. But you know, she

(17:29):
was pretty measured in the postseason in the postgame press conference,
and her point was not that her team lost. It
was that she felt like they quit and gave up, said.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
That we quit and said with two of her players
right on either side of her, and you know, we quit.
And so I don't think she's saying anything there that
she didn't say a couple of minutes earlier in the
locker room either.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
So yeah, I just she was like, if we lose,
we lose, but we're going to take it on the
chin and we're going to go down fighting, and she
didn't feel like her team did that, and uh, yeah,
it was. It was a weird game. I mean it
was not the way that I thought either team would
play in that game for sure, but yeah, it the

(18:10):
way that Ohio State can play when they go out
to a too o lead. I was like, this is
this is not good for the Gophers were kind of good.
Good for whoever they're playing. Really, I would feel that
about whatever team went down quickly to to Ohio State.
So uh yeah, just a strange game all around. And
I mean I will say, I, you know, an upset
and ticked off Ohio State is not a team I

(18:32):
want to face as an oppoint.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Last year when we got into the NCAA tournament, when
they put a epic beat down on Duluth in their game, yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
They I mean to some extent this, you know, mozerall
talked about it in the press conference, Like they got
beat by Wisconsin pretty bad in the w c h
I final last year. They didn't love that either. Uh
And obviously they turn around and won the nationalchampionship beating
Wisconsin one nothing. So if not only regardless of last

(19:06):
year's out come, if there's any coach that I think
can you know, sort of talk to her team and
motivate them and make the changes need to be made.
In a week. It's her add in that they did
this last year, and like, I mean, I don't think
there's anything to worry about if you're a Buckeye fan.
It wasn't a great showing, I will, you know, but
last year's team was full of prad students, Like they

(19:26):
had a really experienced team, and this is overall a
fairly young team. The top players in the top scorers
on that team are sophomores. They played in last year,
but they weren't in starring roles for the most part. Right,
like joy done is joy done, But like they weren't.
They weren't the leadership. They weren't you know, caring as
much on their shoulders. So it's all a learning experience

(19:47):
and they're gonna be better for having lost that game.
I mean, every coach to a person this weekend talked
about sort of you learn more from games like this.
You know, Minnesota Duluce was really happy with the game
they played, even though you know it was another comfort
behind win for Wisconsin who had just done that to
them twice in Duluth. Like, they played the game they

(20:08):
wanted to play. They kept a very prolific Wisconsin offense
to like a pretty low score, all of that sort
of stuff, and so like that's a huge learning experience
for them. There has to be some confidence for them,
like this is the game we wanted to play, this
is how we wanted to win. In Minnesota felt the
same way and losing the game the championship game. So yeah,

(20:29):
all of that to say is like I'm not worried
about any of those four teams from that in terms
of the showing or you know what they looked like.
I think Ohio State will be just fine.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
That championship game that you mentioned went down to the
final minute. Badgers got a four to three win over
the Gophers. Sarah Wasnavic with a finish with twenty four
and a half seconds left to break the tie off
of a really nice behind or between the legs, behind
the back, and how we want to look at it,
passed from Casey O'Brien to set that up. So the

(21:02):
Badgers win the final face off for the second straight year.
They're five and zero against the Gophers this season, which
is I mean, and those games, a couple of them
have have been runaway wins, but this last one certainly
was not the second one at Minnesota certainly was not.
The Badgers had to come from three nothing down to
win that one. This is a potential frozen four semifinal

(21:26):
matchup that we're looking at the way the brackets have
have shaken out, and I you know, the Minnesota players
after that one were they're ready for it if it,
if it comes, they they want that chance again because
they know that they're right there with Wisconsin and yeah, Natalie, it.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Was like, I want them again. I believe we can
beat them. So that was like the most confident I
feel like I've seen a team after a loss in
a while. Yeah, just sort of like there there was
no nobody on Minnesota was. I mean, obviously they were
upset they lost, but nobody came out of that being
like upset with the team or upset with their performance
or like I feel like they they gained the confidence

(22:05):
having just lost two pretty pretty overwhelming games to the
Badgers in Madison, like this was a huge step forward
for them and just the confidence, and coach Bradfrost said
it wasn't It's not just the confidence knowing that you
can beat Wisconsin or beat the number one team, but
that you can play with anybody, even though they have
been highly ranked, like they have lost several more games,

(22:27):
and like they're you know, have benefit from a strength
of schedule and things like that, and so some losses
they would have liked to not have and things like
that and so and in big, big picture, there probably
could have or would have been some question marks with
them in terms of going into this postseason. And that
game really sort of quieted any sort of personal disquiet.

(22:48):
I think any of the players might add, like, we
can play with the best team in the country, and
we lost on the fluke of a goal.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Wisconsin goes in the NCAA's thirty five to one and
two with twenty four straight or twenty four games without
a loss. It's, you know, it's really impressive numbers. It's
also you know, the time of the season where that
really doesn't mean a lot. You know, it gets you
a good seed, but you know, one loss throws that

(23:16):
all in the in the in the recycling bin.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
We've seed it from plenty of teams and both bens
and women's in college, right, and I don't know I
will you know, like goalie even McNaughton said all the
right things after the game in terms of like it's
one and done. We know that like this is a
new season, slate, white, clean, all that sort of stuff.
I think one of the good things for the Badgers
out of the last few weeks is the different ways
that they've won a game. You know that semi final game,

(23:42):
didn't you see Casey O'Brien didn't have a shot until
like late in that game.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, I didn't even have an attempt in the first
two periods, I want to say, or maybe until late
in the second period now.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
So just different people doing things and coming from behind
and responding all the stuff that they haven't had to
do a ton of in some of their games this year.
So I think in terms of being prepared for what
it takes in the postseason, I feel like they've done
a good job in the past couple of weeks of

(24:12):
finding different ways to win. And I think much like
we were just talking about with Minnesota, like you that
confidence regardless of whether you're a one lost team or not,
like you need to know that you can face adversity
and come out of it. I think that's that's a
huge thing for any athlete, but I think when you're
talking twenty year olds, it's a huge that mental bit
of it.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yep. All right, that's our look back at conference championship weekend.
When we return, we will turn our attention to the
NCAA Tournament. Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back
to the podcast, Todd Miluski and Nicole Hasey. Here, let's
take a look at the NCAA Tournament bracket that was

(24:53):
released Sunday morning, Wisconsin. As everyone knew, was the number
one overall seed. And there okay, no surprises, none surprises,
zero in terms of how things shook out here, right, Nicole.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, regardless of the drama the selection show tried to
drum up. Uh, we had two straight committee chairs tell
us that, like they're gonna go with the pair wise
and you know, last year it was literally straight down.
This year we had to make a change because of
intra con int in it doesn't matter two teams from
the same conference playing in the regional semifinal. But yeah,

(25:32):
this was I literally this is the bracket we assumed
it would be before the show ever happened. Right, looking
at everything based because we've had two state committee chairs
tell us how they're gonna make those decisions, it's it's
pretty straightforward.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, So that led us with Wisconsin in the one
overall seed, Ohio State at the number two, Cornell moving
past Minnesota for the three, Minnesota king of the four.
That was the interesting thing about Saturday's games. Minnesota could
been the number three overall with a win in the
WHCH Championship game and most likely then hosting Minnesota Duluth

(26:10):
and Sacred Heart, which would have kept the Duluth fans
closer to home or the team closer to home. But yeah,
how many times have they had to go through rhetor
It's strange. But so Colgate at the five goes to Minnesota,

(26:31):
that being because Colgate could have taken the three if
it had beaten Cornell, but Cornell won that one, so
it fell out and fell into a going on the
road spot in that five seed which plays the four.
That's automatic. That is one thing that the committee has
no choice on whatsoever. Who's ever in number four, who's

(26:52):
ever in number five, They're going to play each other.
That's something that's set up. The one thing, as Nicole mentioned,
that they did have to change was that the eight
and nine ended up to be both ECAC Hockey teams.
Eight Saint Law or sorry eight Clarkson and nine Saint Lawrence,
and so those teams can't play in the first round
unless there is a glut of teams from the same

(27:13):
conference in that bottom those what would be in those
first round games. So they moved while they swapped out
Boston University and Saint Lawrence, sending Boston University to play
Clarkson and giving us that rematch Penn State Saint Lawrence

(27:35):
for the first round.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
There what's interesting about that eight nine is the is
the committee told us they're sort of bands, and they
only moved teams within those bands. And so eight and
nine are in two different bands, so you would either
switch the eight with someone above them or the nine
with someone below them, And so that that would have
been the only sort of questions to what they did.
And it was what nine and ten were much closer
in NBI, right and than seven were.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, so you're gonna try and move within one spot
if you can, and so that's why you're looking at
either swapping seven and eight or swapping nine and ten,
and seven and eight were yeah, farther apart in NPI
than nine and ten. So that was that made it
a little bit easier choice. And plus I think I

(28:23):
don't know if it would have made much of a difference,
but I've kind of had the feeling that they liked it.
Try to protect the number one overall seed and make
sure they face the number eight or you know how
when it lines up that that's who they would get
in second their first game. So that's I don't think
that played much into it this one. It just made

(28:44):
more sense to stick with the you know, swapping teams
that are closer in NPI. So yeah, that's that was
really the only change they had to make. It was
pretty straightforward otherwise, I can't imagine that call took too
too long. As long as everyone had their hosting bids
in and everything like that. Everything checked out there, so

(29:05):
we got a half hour show out of that with
a couple of commercial breaks. I can see the pain
on Nicole's face already.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
It is the most awkward, painful selection show it possibly
could have been.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, I'll I'll kind of excuse myself here because racket
I just started working on things and kind of tuned
I still had it on, but I had tuned it out.
I I we know that you know, there's not a

(29:41):
lot of women's hockey on television. On linear television, there's
a lot everything basically is on streams. You can find
everything you want, but ESPN jumps into it. In the
NCAA tournament, there's a couple of games they showed the
the Hockey East Championship, and there's been I don't know
if there was anything else this season, but I know

(30:02):
there's been games on in the past. There was that.
There was one Hockey East game I think maybe the
BC Wisconsin game early in the season at BC was
was on ESPN two or ESPN one of the ESPNU
something like that.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
And Nesson is an ESPN property, and Nesson shows quite
a bit of hockey, right.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
They have the main part of the deal, but ESPN
also carries the the online portion of it, so that's
their distribute distribution there. I just wonder what your thoughts
are on what we saw on TV and kind of
where it leads us into what we're going to see

(30:43):
in the next two weeks on TV.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Goodness. I mean, I've made my thoughts pretty clear on
this on on social media. It was it was a
train wreck. It was a disaster, and it was an
embarrassment and it was disrespectful to the players, and I'm
sorry if that's too blunt for people. I don't want
it to be a personal attack and any of the
three people that did it. But if you are going
to create the show and put it on television, I

(31:08):
think you need to put people on that show that
are going to be able to reliably talk about what
they need to talk about about the teams. Literally, I
don't know that any employer that was mentioned or coach
had their name pronounced correctly. And we are talking mispronunciations
of uh. Of course I said that word. Weird. Mispronunciations

(31:29):
of Brad Frost and Casey O'Brien, you know, really tough, difficult,
hard to understand names never come across those before. In
this game, Kirstensen's name was spelled completely wrong. It was Kristin,
and it was Ian not Ian, and so instead of
Kirsten Ian, it was kristen Ian Uh. In the Patti
Cast Top ten graphic they had Paige Capastrawn said that

(31:54):
Ohio State was looking to avenge their loss in the
National Championship game last year. Spoiler alert, They won that
game and attempted to fix it after coming back from break.
That was actually even more awkward I kind of wish
that she would just apologize for got getting it wrong
and moving and then just moved ahead it. You know,
there was not one bit of in depth analysis. There
was not one bit of discussion of sort of what

(32:17):
to look for in the games. As the brackets were announced,
like why is this an interesting matchup? Nobody mentioned that
Penn State and Saint Lawrence you know, had that history.
There was There's just there's a lot of low hanging fruit.
There's a lot of information out there. ESPN has researchers,
there are people like I personally would have liked, you know,
if these are the people you're putting on the stage,

(32:38):
I think they should be able to like organically talk
about these things. Again, the bracket wasn't a surprise, so
like what they were now, this was all information that
like should have been prepared and they would have known
ahead of time. We knew, you know, all what it
was possible for twelve different teams to get in and
that was it or thirteen, Like there wasn't There wasn't
this vast array of information that like they had to

(32:58):
plan for. And again they like people that were on stage,
they employ other people to do all this research and
just nothing was there. We got things like I love
hockey and look at that top five, like this is
the analysis we were getting, and it was just it
was awkward, it was stilted, and I just mostly I'm
upset for the players. I mean, they very rarely get
this sort of attention, you know, to be an ESPN

(33:22):
to get a full selection show and to have it
go like that, to not even get the respect of
their names pronounced correctly, just over and over and over again.
But why bother doing the show if you're not going
to put it's half an hour show, And it was
just so clear that nobody put any time or effort
into ensuring that it was like informative or helpful. And
if I'm somebody that has never watched this and I'm like, oh,

(33:43):
a selection show, I'm excited. I'm a PWh L fan,
and I'm excited about watching the women's college hockey tournament.
I don't know anything about these teams or those games
based on watching that show, and so that's it's just
really frustrating. And it goes to the same conversation we've
had about you know, you have to there has to
be buy in, there has to be production value, all

(34:04):
of those sorts of things, and these three people tripped
over their words. They were awkward, they were nervous. It was.
It was an uncomfortable watch and nothing about that to
me said please come watch more women's college hockey with us,
and and you know, I I'm so flustered. I just
it was it was really I was really disappointed in

(34:26):
the end that that's that was the showcase that are
the players got and that our game got. You know,
we've talked in the past about like it made a
difference when when w NBA games started getting people commentated
about it that could give stories about the game and
could break down the place. It made a difference when
the women's basketball tournament started getting actual production value and

(34:47):
the time and energy put into it that the men's
basketball tournament was getting, and what we got here made
it clear that there's still just this massive gap, and
that was frustrating. I don't I have I don't know.
I I could say it's seventy two different ways, and
I put some of it out on social media, but yeah,
I just it was after such an exciting weekend of

(35:07):
such amazing hockey to get that it was just like
it all fell really flat.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
I'll tell you. The highlight of the show for me
was Hogy dancing in the room. And I know they
they appreciated that in the studio too, but everyone loves
Hogy and Duluth and with good reason, and to see
him cut it up on the floor and everyone was
a good couple of seconds of the show anyway, literally, thing, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
That made me smile. Yeah, it's hard, I'm trying. Like
the thing for me is that you don't get change
if you don't point things out and you don't ask
for better, and and quite frankly, this has to be better.
There's just there is no better. There are no other words,
like the head. The demand has to be there that
this is not what the broadcast partner is putting out

(35:57):
and what the NCAA sanctioning as okay, as a selection
show for the for their student athletes. It's just like
it's not okay.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
You've pointed out many times on this show that the
report a couple of years ago pointed out all sorts
of discrepancies between the men's tournament tournament and the women's tournament,
and you know, so pointing those things out is fair.
Let's you know, just get that right out. That's you know,
where we need to start the conversation with is like

(36:25):
let's understand where things are are different here. I don't know,
I've I've now that I bring that up, though I
can say I've I've had some difficulties with the Men's
Selection Show over the years too, with a lot of
the same thing. So uh, it really is a function of,
you know, let's let's have more attention on the sport

(36:47):
throughout the season and maybe these these things don't come
up at the end.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Yeah, And I think to be clear, like this, pronunciations happened,
typos happen, Like.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
We all to get a pronunciation guy, absolutely right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
I mean I was just gonna say that you you.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Know you all the time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
But it also was a mistake after mistake after mistake
after mistake, and things like Brad Frost should not need
a pronunciation guide, Casey O'Brien being called Cassie over and
over again. Like I said, Kristen Sims, things like saying
Joscelyn Amos for Ohio State was a net I mean,
just very straightforward things that, like any one of them

(37:27):
would have been frustrating to me. Because I do have
like a high standard for of this, like and it
was what maybe twenty minutes of actual camera time, and
it is the only focus that these women get in
this kind of situation, and so I like, I think,
I fully admit that I want it to be a
high standard. I think that's absolutely fair, and I think
it's well within our right to demand it. But if

(37:50):
any of these things happened on their own, I would
probably be upset about it, but everybody else probably would
have overlooked it. It was the it was from start
to finish that it was a problem from all them,
everything just over and over and over again. And so
I think, you know, I'm pointing it out because it
was so bad and so many different things, and change

(38:11):
happens when we hold people accountable, and like things that
we've brought up on this show that I've brought up
on social media, like those things have changed because we
talk about them and because we bring them up, And
so I just think it's really important that we have
these public conversations and say, like that wasn't good enough.
Aside from from my feelings on any of those things,
like the student athletes deserved more respect than that show

(38:32):
gave them like point blank period. The rest of what
I said doesn't matter. The student athletes deserved more respect
than having their names was pronounced and having pronouncements made
about wrong you know, wrong positions, wrong national champions, like
just pure basic facts and needs to be better.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah, and so let's turn the page on that. It's over.
Let's move on to some things that are we are
going to be highlights over the next couple of weeks.
We've got the Patty Casmier Award top ten being narrowed down. Well,
the voting has already happened this week. The top three
are coming out maybe by the time you're listening to
this on Tuesday, Wednesday. I'm not quite sure if they're

(39:15):
releasing that Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
It's Tuesday evening, but sure.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
So that will be out there, and then that ward
is going to be presented in Minneapolis on the Saturday
between the Frozen four semifinals and the final.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
And we also have the it'll be free and open
to the public on campus.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Center. I believe is what I call it the.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Agro Craig, which is a very like specific reference, but
it looks like it looks like a Rocky Mountain thing,
but that will be free and open to the public.
They are doing they were going to have several former winners,
Taylor Heisei, Asian Malesco, a few others names are Chrissy
Weddell on site doing autographs afterwards, so kind of a

(40:03):
who's who, which is pretty on. Kendall kend' coin Schofield
will be there, so that's pretty cool hearing the Twin Cities.
I would plan on that.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yes, and we also have an announcement of the National
Goaltender of the Year Award at some point that we
can believe. I don't know if it's part of the
same timing as that, but it's I believe it's happening
at some point through the weekend.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Possibly that one I actually vote for. And I don't know. Sorry,
I was not on the Patty Cannedy this year.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
I do.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I don't have a date on Coolie of the Year.
I apologize. That is not what I'm I'm positive on.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
All right, Well, uh, we've got well the seven games
coming up this week count. I should have known that
off the top of my head, but yes, seven games
coming up this week. We are going to look forward
to them when we come back on the podcast, Stay
with us, Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Maluski and

(41:05):
Nicole Hosey wrapping things up this week with a look
at what is coming up in the NCAA tournament first
round and quarterfinals or regional semifinals regional finals if you
prefer to look at it that way. We're gonna go
regional by a regional looking at the games and what
potentially could happen in the quarterfinals. We only know one

(41:25):
of the actual quarterfinal matchups so far. Let's start in
the at the top of the bracket with the Madison
Regional that being hosted by Wisconsin, the first round game
being Clarkson against Boston University. Boston University, as we've mentioned before,
has won three straight overtime games in the Hockey East

(41:46):
tournaments to get here. They that was the only way
they were getting in is winning the championship. Clarkson got
in as an at large after losing in three overtimes
of the AC semifinals last week. What are your thoughts
on the Golden Knights and the Terriers.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Markson's such an interesting team because they're leading scorers, like
two of their three leading scorers are their top defensive
line like Haley Win is their top scorer, and Nicole
Gostling I think is tied for their their third score. Yeah,
it's just a I'm not sure that you has faced
a team like them. I don't know. It will be

(42:28):
very interesting to see how they handle sort of that
pressure from the top. It's not like Clarkson is just
hitting slappers from the blue line and hoping like those
two are will get down and get into the play
and things like that. But yeah, I think both teams
scoring can sometimes be at a premium, and so I
think just getting on the boarding and sort of breaking

(42:49):
the goosegg is going to be really important in that game,
and and sort of getting that confidence and getting the
ball rolling. Obviously it's a it's a trip for both
of them, and like said, Clerkson had that nice long game.
So I think just sort of prep and recovery and
all that sort of stuff, all the not very exciting
but off ice stuff I think could play a pretty

(43:10):
decent role in whether these two teams are prepared for
that game. On Thursday.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
One of the things that came to mind for me
this week was that Clarkson was heading to Madison for
a horror final game in twenty twenty and got there
just to see that the tournament had been canceled. And
so here we are five years later and Clarkson's heading
back to Madison. Hopefully their their trip is a little
easier and a little more, a little more rewarding this time.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Anyway, then, yes, I remember correctly, like they weren't all
even on the same flight. Some people went through Canada.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
That was, oh yeah, a whole mess for them, yes
it was.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, So hopefully for their their sake that it goes
a little with the time around.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yes for all of us too, really, because.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Well, yes, that part two.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
But the winner gets Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon. I should
say that the the Clarkson BU game is seven o'clock
Central time. Saturday's game against Wisconsin for the winner is
at two o'clock Central time. Wisconsin hasn't allowed a goal
at Labon Arena in the NCAA tournament since twenty fifteen,
and that was by bus. It was not Marie fully

(44:17):
pulled that. I had my head. It probably was, but
it was not.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Now she actually did not have a superstellar game. I
remember thinking at the time like I was very excited
to watch her play and obviously like it was an
anomaly and I'm certainly not picking on her, but at
the time I remember being like, oh, sure, sort of
jokingly like, oh, what's all the fuss about?

Speaker 1 (44:38):
The Badgers have at times the season looked unstoppable. I
don't know that I would necessarily use that word right now.
They have been a team that's had to do the
work to get these last few wins, which you would
hope in the playoffs, you know it should be that way.
But the scoring has has slowed a little bit. Theyre's

(44:59):
still getting goals from really talented players, and you know,
getting a winning goal from Sarah Wazn'tavitch last Saturday, a
third liner who got bumped up to play with the
top line for offensive zone face off in the last
thirty seconds of the game.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
That's the blood defenders in the semi final. Yeah, I mean,
that's that's the thing. Like one all is said and done,
The problem for people playing against Wisconsin is that everybody
on that team is going to score like they don't.
It doesn't have to be the top line, it doesn't
have to be the second line, it doesn't have to
be the forwards, and so that depth is just it's
that's the part that that is just difficult for teams

(45:38):
to match up with and can stop a number of
players and still be in trouble. Yep, all right, do
you have any do you have any gut feelings on
that Clarkson BU match up?

Speaker 1 (45:49):
I for me, I take Clarkson as being the more
experienced team in the NCAA tournament. I guess I don't
know necessarily how many of those players have played NCAA games,
but it's got to be a pretty good number of them,
and I I you can't count out be you just because,

(46:10):
like we talked about the resilience that they've shown in
the last few weeks. But I think Clarkson's the team
that has you know, it's been here before more recently
and been been through a lot a lot of things
to get here, So I would I would kind of
lean that direction. What about you?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yeah, I think to two markers. One is if BU
scores early, I think that bodes well for them. I
think the other is if they hold Clerkson. The longer
they hold Clerkson off the board, I think the better
off their odds are. I do think that once Clerk.
Once Clerkson scores, they can score in bunches, but it's
about them getting that like clicking and really finding it

(46:49):
all together. So I think that a lower scoring game
is to be U's benefit. But yeah, I think the experience.
But it's hard to count out with you at this point,
Like like we talked about, I didn't you know, I
wasn't quite sure how that would go against Northeastern, and

(47:09):
they handled it, and so part of me feels like
at this point not picking against that team because they
keep pulling it out of a head.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Yep, all right, let's move down the bracket and move
up in our state ninety four to Minneapolis, where there
is no regional semi final game goes right to the
regional final because it is the four or five matchup
between Minnesota and Colgate, both teams, you know, went into
the last day of the conference championship weekend with hopes

(47:38):
of hosting a game. Minnesota is the one that actually
got it because well, they also had hopes of being
the number three seed overall, but neither one of them
really got what they wanted on the last day of
the season, the conference championship season. I guess if you
want to look at it that way. So that sets
up a you know, a game between two teams that
you know, have all week to prepare for who they're

(47:59):
going to face, Unlike you know, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Cornell,
this these are teams that should know a little bit
about each other going into it.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Yeah, it's going to be I think a fascinating game.
Colgate is probably the most physical of the ECAC squads.
I imagine that how the game is officiated and whether
or not there are a lot of whistles is going
to Unford. Like I wish that wasn't the case. I
shouldn't have to say that, but I just think that
whether the officials let them play or they're calling it

(48:34):
really tight will really have him impact on this game,
because I think both of these teams are are gonna
really use their physicality and really sort of be strong
on the boards and do all that sort of stuff.
And so if there's a lot of whistles, we could
be looking at one heck of a special team's showdown.
It's just interesting, like these teams haven't really played each
other much over the years. Colgate did play U n

(48:57):
D this year and split with U split a series
with them in terms of like kind of a common
opponent Colgate Kogate can get skating downhill right like they can.
They're a bit like the Badges in that way that
like when it clicks, like things are really clicking. Kulti
cult and Kova has been outstanding at times. This year
has been a little quiet since she was with Chechia

(49:19):
at the Women's Zero Hockey Tour since coming back hasn't
been quite at the same pace. But yeah, Kolgiate's got
some depth, They've got goaltending. But as we talked about
earlier with with Minnesota, they you know, they have sort
of all the confidence after taking Wisconsin to the final
twenty four point five seconds of that that championship game.

(49:39):
To me, this is one of two games that I'm
sort of like really up circled and excited to watch.
I think it's just a sort of too two different
both style, there's similar there are similarities to the way
these two teams play, but also differences and and sort
of tops of two different conferences, and so I'm I'm
excited just to see how they match up and sort
of what what works for each one and what doesn't.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
I mean, we know that Minnesota is home for as
long as they're alive in the tournament. Now they get
this game and then the Frozen four is right there
back at Arena the next week, So I know that's.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
That's a huge motivating actually a big thing.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
You know, just hearing them after a couple of games
last weekend, you could you can tell that that is
something that is driving them. But Colcate has has been
a team that has you know, been around, and you
know it hasn't shied away from a lot this season.
It doesn't, I mean you can't really you know. Yeah,

(50:38):
they've had their ups and downs, like everyone in ECAC
hockey did, you know, at at some point, I just
I like what they have. And you mentioned Calton Culton
covid that that's a key piece for them if she
can pop in a couple of goals. But on the
other side, you've got Abby Murphy who has been popping
in a couple of goals and took over the national

(50:59):
lead and scoring with thirty and thirty one last weekend.
So yeah, that, I mean, the four and five game
is typically probably should be one of the better ones,
and it kind of looks like we've got that this year,
and that was if I'm remembering it right, wasn't that
last season? Then that game go to two or three overtimes?

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Was that Clarkston in Minnesota last year? Was the four five?

Speaker 1 (51:26):
That would make sense right because Clarkston then played Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
So yes, yeah, that went into several of our times. Well, yeah,
I think too, this is just like a pride thing.
Like Minnesota went through that stretch where they were in
every frozen four for like what six year or something
like that, and it's it's been a little spottier since
then twenty seven, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty three, like they
haven't had the sort of sustained prominence and so to

(51:50):
get back to a frozen four on home ice, I
think is just sort of like been the big blinking
light that they've been they've been walking towards this entire season.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Okay, let's go to Ithaca, New York, where Cornell is
the host team, the number three overall seed. First round
game there is Minnesota luth against Sacred Heart, that being
seven o'clock Eastern on Thursday, I should say, the Minnesota
Colgate game two pm Central on Saturday. So back to
Ithca now, Duluth and Sacred Heart playing seven o'clock eastern

(52:24):
Thursday night, Winter getting Cornell at four eastern on Saturday.
This is the six to eleven matchup, and the Luth
was pretty much locked in the six for most of
last weekend. Sacred Heart had to win on the road

(52:44):
to get in, and you know, the new hot teams
are pretty far down in terms of the NPI, So
I don't think there are a lot of people that
are expecting a lot out of the Pioneers this weekend. Fair.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Yeah, I feel bad saying it, right, but yeah, I mean,
I think it's a tough game no matter the situation.
And then you add in the really tough defense and
the outstanding goaltending that U m D has, and I
think it's going to be a tough, tough situation for them.
I think the again, this is one of those ones
where I think if Sacred Heart can the longer they

(53:27):
can keep U. M D off the board, the better
off they are going to be. Um D is not
a massively high scoring team. They tend to, you know,
do that defense first and really like shut things down
on that end. But I also imagine that they're going
to be trying to use some speed, some physicality, send
Kaitlyn Gramer as often as you can to the front

(53:48):
of the net, and I expect that that will probably
be a pretty successful situation for them. As you said,
they might not be thrilled about going to Upstate New York,
but I actually think they're quite happy to be making
that trip instead of, you know, going to end their
season in Minneapolis, uh, which is what has been happening
the past couple of years for you empty. So yes,

(54:10):
it would be closer, but I think they're happy for
a change of venue and an opportunity to advance.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Yeah. One of the things that you know, maybe we
don't talk about enough in this week is that you
don't only have like a few hours to arrange travel
once you learn where you're going on Sunday morning, because
you know, for these teams that are playing Thursday, they
are they might be leaving Tuesday, they certainly are leaving Tuesday.

(54:36):
In fact.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Yeah, that's why when like the so the Friday STEMI
final games, the day games did suck and we're annoying
like it's because those tournaments now have decided that they're
going to be done by Saturday and have their teams
back home so that when they find out on Sunday,
they can immediately be working towards leaving for wherever they
need to go. It's just like a natural progression of that. So, uh,

(54:58):
that's fair because you know, flying from Deluth to Ithaca
a easy friends.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Uh, that is easy to do the ethical side, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Just all around it. You know, it's tough for sort
of everybody. I mean it's it's it's slightly closer, but
Sacred Heart to Ithica any easy flight either. Yeah, it's
you know, especially for some of the schools that are
in smaller towns and things. So yeah, on the one hand,
we were complaining about all that stuff, but I do
get it because you said this this happens fast.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Yes it does. That regional final Cornell against to be determined,
but if if it is Duluth, You've got to me,
what looks like a really compelling goalie matchup in that one?
Absolutely Atli's Bergmann on the Cornell side, Gascon on the
du side, two of the.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Three finalists for Goalie of the Year.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
I mean, goalies can't win the game by themselves. We
know that somebody's got to score. Someone's got to you know,
defenses have to play in front of them. But you
get to this point of the year and you have
a goalie who's playing really well, you can do a
lot of damage.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Of the six players on the ice, they're the ones
that can have the biggest impact individually.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Right, They're the ones that are on the ice all
the time. So yeah, that's absolutely the case.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
I wanted to say to you because you mentioned Clerkston
like court, you were saying it had been so long
for Cornell to win that title. Cornell was probably the
number one I think we were waiting they were going
to be the number one team for the canceled tournament, right,
the twenty twenty tournament.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
That sounds right.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Yeah, if they weren't number one, they were top three.
So this has been a great you sort of return
to the top and getting to host and all the
sort of stuff that they really missed out on in
that season. So excited for them for that. But yeah,
Cornell um D is going to be really interesting. I
think Cornell is a bit more offensive. I think that

(56:58):
you don't see teams sort of clogging up and creating
the slog the way that you MD can. That's how
we've seen them slow down Ohio State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Playing those three teams, you know, those six games over
the course of the season plus the postseason definitely prepares
you to play any team that can can move fast

(57:21):
and be quick with the puck. And so how Cornell
I think adjusts to that and prepares for that and
if they can do it without getting frustrated, because playing
a team that can really stimy you and stifle you
the way that you MD can can just really frustrate players.
And if they don't handle that, well, that's it's not
going to go. The outcome is not going to be there.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Right. You are correct, by the way, Cornell was the
number one seed in twenty twenty. So there you have it.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
I don't remember. You remember a lot more of the
details than I do, but I'm excited I got that
one right. Yeah, you know, Cornell's at home. We saw
what they could do last weekend. I think they still
have the the edge there, but certainly a fascinating game.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Yeah. The final region what we're going to talk about
is in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State the hosts there as
the number two overall seed, Penn State and Saint Lawrence
get a first round game seven o'clock Thursday night. The
winner plays Ohio State at six o'clock Saturday night. So
that one will be the last. Now that I said,

(58:26):
that's some one of the other games is going to
go three overtimes, and they're four overtimes and end after
Ohio State's game, But that one is the last starting
regional final. That's six Eastern six eastern, correct, So Penn
State Saint Lawrence, as we mentioned, is a rematch of
last season in Madison, where Saint Lawrence got a one

(58:48):
nothing overtime victory and as you mentioned before, a really
good game one that kind of there. I remember there
just being a lot of times people were just going
ooh and odd because it like felt there are lots
of chances, right, something was coming soon, and it just
never got into the net until overtime.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Yeah, a lot of up and down action. One thing
that I think will be interesting because I do think
sort of the positions that the teams are flipped in
that last year. I thought Saint Lawrence had, you know,
a few older players a bit more experience that sort
of thing, and that was still sort of a new
situation where I think that was the first year where
Penn State went in I think really feeling and like

(59:32):
really having the talent to really for that to really
be a full like we could win this game head
to head. And so now this year, Penn State returns
most of those players, testaganiky as a year older. They're
you know, they're just a more experienced team. They didn't
need the auto bid to get into the tournament, right, Like,
they're just sort of a more complete team. They had

(59:52):
one conference loss, and I think Saint Lawrence while they
still have you know, quite a few sort of returning players,
and I think Abbie Hustler still is sort of the
game changer for them. I do think sort of the
the experience and the talent and the confidence and the
momentum going in is on Penn side, Penn State side
this time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
So looking at Penn State's NCAA tournament history, twenty twenty three,
lost to Quinnipiac in the first round in three overtimes,
three to two, and then last season, don't remember that, No,
last season lost to Saint Lawrence, won nothing in overtime,
So they like been on the verge. Yeah, right, they
they are right there, and uh, you feel like it's

(01:00:33):
it's a matter of time before they get a breakthrough here,
and that maybe that's this Thursday night, was.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
That the year was that Quinnepiac at Ohio State where
they played like nineteen over times into two games.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Obviously, yes, that one was, Yeah, Quinnipec won three two
in overtime. And then okay, yeah second round.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
Uh yeah, I just I think, you know, all, I
think we talked about this a little bit last week,
but sort of all the work, this is the culmination
of what Penn State has been trying to do for
several seasons. They played these tougher opponents. They you know,
were scheduling the non conference games. Like I said, they
have the one conference loss. It's it really did sort
of all come together for them, and they didn't have

(01:01:20):
to win their tournament to get in. And so I
definitely think A because we watched these two teams play
a really close, close game last year, and B because
of what they've done this year. I think I think
Penn State has the edge over Saint Lawrence, but I
certainly think it's going to be it's a really compelling
first round match, and I generally don't love getting a repeat.
But in this case, since it was such a close

(01:01:41):
game and sort of all these little bits we're talking about,
I think it's gonna be a fascinating fun one to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
The winner gets an angry Ohio State to the regional final,
and angry is probably a kind way of putting it. Yeah.
Last season, Ohio State, I believe it was down sixth
to one to Wisconsin at some point in WHA championship
game and pulled it back to six to three for
the final. This year, in the semifinals, they were up

(01:02:08):
to nothing and then gave up six straight goals to Minnesota.
We saw what happened last year. We mentioned this earlier.
They came back and in their first game of the
NCAA Tournament beat Minnesota Duluth nine to nothing and a
Duluth team that had to win one nothing in double
overtime in the first round against Yukon. So you're gonna

(01:02:28):
get a team that's just played a couple of days
ago facing the Ohio State team that is going to
be ready to play. I believe with everything, all evidence
that I've seen, and that's basically what we saw in
the postgame press conference after Friday's semifinal in Duluth. What

(01:02:53):
I think I'm probably telling you where I'm leaning on
that one, But where are you thinking about whoever ends
up winning that Penn State Saint Lawrence game going into
play Ohouse State at the OSU Ice Ring.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Well, I was also thinking, Yeah, that is not a
particularly hospitable place to play, not just because it's small
and loud and their fans are have gotten quite fervent,
but one of those teams, I'm guessing Saint Lawrenceree because
they're the lower seed, will not have a locker room
in the building. They will have to walk quite a
ways at every intermission and before the game, pretty much

(01:03:25):
across a whole basketball arena in order to get to
the there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Basically, yeah, through the crowd, through the lobby, through the
concession stand under.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
Oh, it's a whole other building. Like the last time
I'm going to remember the pictures of Quinnipiac, Like they
put a carpet across the basketball court, so you have
to walk across the whole basketball building to the other side.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
It's St. John Arena that's right next door. The former
OSU basketball arena is right some locker rooms.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Yes, I mean, you know I'm pointing it out because
it's not an ideal situation. But also, just like we've
talked about, you know, tired teams travel all of this
sort of stuff, and then you add and you don't
even really get to relax during intermission because you've got
travel to and from, Like all of those things are
going to play into making it difficult for whoever that
team is. The other visiting team will be downstairs as

(01:04:16):
you guys, arena and also a not very hospitable room.
So it's it's just not a great comfortable experience. And
I know Ohio State themselves would love a better arena,
but they've also embraced this wonky place that is theirs
and they've made they've got quite a homelice advantage there.
And that's outside of all the other stuff that you
said about sort of angry Ohio State. So yeah, it's, uh,

(01:04:38):
it does not bode well. That being said, Ohio State
proved themselves pretty fallible last weekend, and uh, you know,
you hope that and they hope that they respond to
how that went and become a little angry. But again,
it's a young team and I think that's a huge difference.
Like the several fifth year transfer old students that were

(01:05:00):
on the team last year, Like they several of them
had Olympic and US national team experience, and that that
allows you the versatility and the mental ability to bounce
back and really turn and flip that and and I'm
not sure I'm not saying the younger kids don't have that,
but like I'm less assured that the freshman and sophomores
that have really been driving this team are in a

(01:05:22):
position to to have learned how to do that and
bounce back the same way. So I don't I definitely
agree with you. I think the likelihood is Ohio State
bounces back here and it's not pretty for whoever they
have to whoever has to face them. But there's definitely
a non zero chance that it does not go that way,
and that they're you know, they're they're vulnerable.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
I think you saw that youth a little bit about,
you know, sometime during the second period of that semi
final game against Minnesota on Friday, where you know, okay,
they had a good start, it you know, backfired on
a couple of penalties that you know, maybe they don't
normal take, end up with the puck in the back
of the net. It was too too. But then Minnesota
got rolling in the second period, and I think some

(01:06:04):
of that youth showed through for Ohouse state of you know,
didn't have a way of stopping it and and didn't
cut it off and say okay, no more. Now it's
it's our game again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Right, And clearly they have the skill to do that,
like that was their Their loss in that semifinal was
a mental breakdown, not not a skill one. Right, And
so yeah, just like you said, lots of dumb penalties,
just just several things that like mistakes you can't afford
to make at this time of year. They you know,
were lucky that they put themselves in a position that

(01:06:35):
it didn't matter whether or not they won that game.
That is, they sort of got the freebie there, right,
Like that's here one get out of jail free card.
You can't do it again. And so and it's a again,
it's a short turn around. I mean, obviously they don't
at least have to play that Thursday game, but they
they've got a lot of work to do to get
their heads right and be prepared for this game. And

(01:06:56):
so I believe that if anybody can do it, it's Nadine.
I believe that this is something that like, this is
what she does. I believe they're gonna try their darkness.
But I also think you know, when the puck goes
down and you've got doubts in your head and you're
not sure, like that's yeah. I think there's a lot

(01:07:17):
more questions on this game than I would have had
before that semifinal game on Friday, right, I would have
had a very different take on how this is gonna go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Yeah, no more getting out of jail free cards for anyone.
That's the big thing for me this week is that
you know, you could have had the best season you've
ever had. You could be going along great and you
have maybe two bad periods or and poof, you're packing
it up for the season.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
So we've seen some very good number one, number two teams,
seated teams you know, have great seasons and and falter
at this point and nobody's talking about how how good
they were. So I don't think, you know, Wisconsin can't
get cocky, Ohio State has to recover. Like there's just

(01:08:05):
I think the top teams are more vulnerable than maybe
we like would have initially thought. A few weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
Yeah, all of these games until the Championship game are
scheduled to be on ESPN. Plus, let's keep our fingers
crossed that all of that works. And there is a
slight staggering of the the games on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
So I said, I was excited it was a little better. Todd,
you know, said it's it's not that good, and I
was like, well, we're gone, gone. I'm deciding to give
credit where you know where it's due. It's it's they're
not all at the same exact time, and so maybe
you know, if I'm going to complain about the stuff
I don't like, I'm definitely gonna give the props for it.
It's better than it was not having four two pm

(01:08:49):
puck drops. So are are what Todd said in off
off Aaron. One thing I'd like to see is that
they stagger fifteen twenty thirty minutes so that when there
is the same pup drop at least like the Internet,
missions don't also overlap. One of the worst things to happen,
and this is when every game is at in your
mission at the same time. So, uh, that's fine if

(01:09:11):
it all needs to be at a certain time in
the afternoon. But maybe maybe we can look at you
like a two thirty instead of a two o'clock. A
slight change would make a huge difference in terms of
being able to switch between games and see see more action.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
Right, very well could.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Putting that little bug out there?

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Yes, all right, anything else you want to mention before
we get into uh, you know, just getting these games
rolling on Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
No, I think they're you know, it's there are people
that are will say it's you know, the same teenes
and things like that, but I definitely think not just
saying it because because we're you know, trying to make
a show here.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
I do think that these games are a lot more
up in the air and a lot more unsure than
maybe people think that they are. I think I would
not be super surprised by any upsets here, So uh
that makes that makes me excited. I think it's going
to be a lot of great hockey and people should
make time to tune in.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
All right. Well, by the time we talk to you
next week, we will be down to the Frozen four
and will be talking about getting going in Minneapolis. So
let's hope for some good hockey this weekend. We hope
you're able to you know, maybe attend the game or
for sure watch them on ESPN Plus. So if you
want to get in touch with us, we will gladly

(01:10:27):
take your emails and social media messages. You can find
out that information on the show notes here wherever you
get this podcast, and so we appreciate your listening and
two weeks to go weeks ago, all right, thanks to Cole.
We'll talk to you next week. All right. For to Cole,
I'm Todd. Thanks for listening to the podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Goodbye,