February 26, 2025 • 52 mins
Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com take a look at the first weekend of the postseason in ECAC Hockey and Atlantic Hockey but first give a glance at the finish in Hockey East, where UConn swiped the regular-season title away from Boston University on the final day.
Janine Oman, the senior deputy athletic director at Ohio State and chair of the NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey committee, joins the show to talk about how it works when the committee meets to set up the NCAA tournament bracket. She also talks about the other work that the committee does through the year.
And we wrap up a show with a look at the playoff action this week in the five conferences, starting with Wednesday night games in Hockey East.
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.
Janine Oman, the senior deputy athletic director at Ohio State and chair of the NCAA National Collegiate women's ice hockey committee, joins the show to talk about how it works when the committee meets to set up the NCAA tournament bracket. She also talks about the other work that the committee does through the year.
And we wrap up a show with a look at the playoff action this week in the five conferences, starting with Wednesday night games in Hockey East.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
USCHO dot com. Hi, everyone, Welcome to the podcast. Todd
Maluski here with Nicole Hasey from us Echo dot com
and Nicole, we are in playoffs officially for everyone now.
We had a couple of leagues start their postseason last weekend,
(00:24):
while three of the conferences finished the regular season. But
I do want to start with one of the crazy
finishes to the regular season we saw last weekend that
was in Hockey East where we had seen and we
had talked about how Yukon had kind of put itself
behind the eight ball but going into the final weekend
and then they needed to sweep BEU in a home
(00:45):
and home series to win the championship, and lo and behold,
they did win the championship. So they five points behind
going into the weekend, and they emerged one point ahead
to claim that championship, the second straight Hockey East title,
or one win on Friday at home and a three
to one win Saturday at Walter Brown Arena in Boston
(01:07):
if a rinker broke a one to one tie a
five and a half minutes the third period for Yukon,
Tiashan thirty three saves in that win after Megan Warner
got the win, made twenty four saves in the first game. Uh,
just your reaction to that turn of events in Hockey
East where we had been talking about all the year,
(01:28):
who's going to step up and win this thing? And
sure enough final last weekend, we had someone step up
and win it and not like back into it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, kudos to Yukon. And I think the really important
part of that for me is that they the players
that scored in that game for Yukon were all like
non traditional scorers for them, and so I just think
it's really important, like that's you need players to step
up in big games and for them, like you had
a several players where it was like their first goal
(01:57):
of the season or first or second goal of the season,
and you had young ploorers, you had defenders, aver rinkers,
a defender, and so it wasn't sort of their highest scorers.
And though their goalies were as solid as we know
they always can't be, it wasn't like the goalie stood
on their heads. It was players from you know, other
parts of the lineup that really stepped up and made
the difference there. And I have to say, like I'm
(02:20):
a little shocked and like I'm sorry to both Yukon
and Bu. I think they puts insulting to both of
them in different ways. But yeah, I kind of thought
there's no way b you doesn't get out of this
weekend with a point, right, like it'll go to overtime
or whatever. And on Saturday, but you made the decision early.
It was two to one and they pulled their goalie
with like quite a few minutes left because they just
needed to force overtime and couldn't hold possession like they
(02:44):
had that player advantage, and uh, Yukon scored pretty early
on in that in that empty net, and so yeah,
like kudos to Yukon, as we said, as you said,
they stepped up big time. But yeah, I was watching
those games and know Yukon had a one o lead
and then be You tied it and it was like
the tension was like amazing in that way. But you know,
(03:08):
heartbreaking for beu uh sort of their Cinderella story, right.
We've been talking about them literally from the first episode
of the season, and they were picked I think to
fish finish fit or sixth, and so we really I
was really rooting for them, and then just because you know,
I love an underdog and it's uh so it's tough
for them. But on on the other hand, like this
was just the regular season title, like they still I
(03:30):
think have everything to play for in terms of if
it comes down to these two teams again for the
Hockey East title, it would be a very interesting game
to watch again and and for that autobid right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
And we knew going in that that game was going
to be at anyway. You guys a set location for
the championship game and picked Yukon for that, but no,
it would have been there anyway. I guess if you
want to if it comes down the Yukon being in
the championship game, uh since they get the one tied
and then we'll have to go for a second to
(04:02):
get into the NCAA tournament because it's looking more and
more like Hockey East is a one mid league this
season and so that tournament champion is going to be it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, I just I was struggling to get my my
paragraph up. I just want to put out it was
freshman Sadie Hoddles had I apologize, that's not how you
say her last name had one goal all season. She
scored on Friday, Martha Malbark scored her second goal of
the season on Friday, and then Averrinker the two goals
on Saturday were her second and third goal of the season.
(04:34):
So I just was really impressed, you know what, You
don't really recognize that as you're watching the game, and
then when I was writing up the recap, I was
just like it, you know you really it's so crucial
for players that aren't getting the attention from the defense
and that can can find that extra time and space
to make that decision, to make those decisions, to make
that impact, and that's what you con did.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
We will look ahead to all the playoffs matchups coming
up later in the show, but it is important to
mention that Hockey East does have a round of playoff
games on Wednesday night this week, so make sure to
pay attention to those give into the schedule a little
bit later. So Hockey East was the last of the
five conference champions to be blamed. New How was the fourth,
(05:22):
and that happened Friday, with Long Island wrapping up its
third straight championship with a two to one win at
Saint Anselm. Genie Walner and Grace Babington scored the goals.
Abby Thompson made twenty six saves for the Sharks and
that ended. You know, they were a bit aheaded going
into the weekend. Sacred Heart was in second, but Sacred
(05:43):
Heart didn't end up in second because Franklin Pierce got well.
They tied second, essentially had the same number of points,
but Franklin Pierce got the second seed in the playoffs,
which will be important potentially with two four nothing wins
at Saint Michael's and then Sacred Heart getting a split
in a home and home series with post winning one
(06:04):
nothing on Saturday on a Brook Larsen first period goal
and Hannah Saunders twenty seven saves for the shutout. A
little bit of a change there in New Highs. They
got to the finish line. We had been looking at
Long Island and Sacred Heart kind of going neck and
neck for a while there. Long Island pulled away a
little bit and then Franklin Pierce caught up to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, when we were talking last week, we kept we
were looking at the different times ties, and we kept
leaving Franklin Pierce out of the conversation. So apparently they
took that personally. No, I'm just teasing, like, but I'm
glad for them. In fact, in knew how we had
two different ties, and their second tiebreaker is Winden conference wins,
and so that's why Franklin Pierce finishes ahead of Sacred
(06:45):
Heart their seventeen conference wins over sixteen per Sacred Heart,
and then with Assumption and post Post finishes above Assumption
because they have eleven wins, Assumption has ten. So that's
where that came down to. There's definitely some confusion. Some
of the standings were wrong in different places, and so
I just want to make that clear because I went
(07:06):
to the source, I went to their community patients person,
and I think they actually a few emails went out
on Saturday clarifying all of this. So so that's how
that broke down.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll get back to the w c h A and
how their regular season finished in a minute, but let's
look at some of the playoff series or there's games,
single game eliminations that happened on the first weekend AC tournament.
There was one upset and that was the eight nine
Series eight nine, and I called a series everything. I'm
calling a Series eight nine game where Union beat Brown
(07:38):
to nothing. Harrianne Engelbert two goals and Sophie Matsukis. I
hope I'm saying that right. I'm probably not. I'm so
I apologize if I'm not. Thirty five says for the shutout,
you're saying something that's Union's first ever postseason win. Is
that christ Union's.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
First ever postseason win? First pose the winning program history.
Let's see, that was a new D one, So the
school Union has had a program. They were D three.
So when we're talking about records here, they are their
D one records, not overall program history. But Carrie and
Engelbert's set a new school record for points by a
(08:15):
rookie in D one, tied the schools D one rookie
scoring record. Senior captain Mayreon Friday assisted on both of
those goals to become the all time points leader against
among Union Blue Liners with fifty career points. Junior Stephanie
Bork recorded her twenty second point of the season, moving
into first place on the school season single season list
for points by a defender, and Matsukis tied the program
(08:37):
record for career shutouts with six. So it was an
absolute banner day for the Garnet Chargers. And you can
just tell like a so excited for them. What a
big you know, first post I mean ECAT tournament just expanded,
So that's that's part of it. They just didn't even
get to play in the postseason tournament for many years.
But yeah, good for them.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
And week because it was announced last week that you
we'll host next year's next season's Icebreaker tournament at their
new Mohawk Harbor Arena October seventeen nineteen in St. Ansel.
Vermont and Wisconsin are going to be in that event,
the fifth ever women's icebreaker. So, I mean, big things happening,
and you never know what effect that the building is
(09:21):
going to have on a team. We've seen some tools
where that really you know, helps with recruiting and gets
people in the door or gets them in a conversation
anywhere where they hadn't been before. And I wonder whether
Union maybe takes a step because of that. And you know,
we see with an icebreaker tournament as a bit of
(09:42):
a welcome to your new building here.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Right, And you combine that now with the first you know,
like the first program postseason win, like you see growth
within the program and what the program's being able to do.
I mean, there are not very many seasons removed from
a winless season, and so yeah, just massive changes and
improvements happening there. And you know, their men's side has been,
uh has had some great seasons. They won a title,
(10:07):
right yes, making that up. And the women's side just
hasn't had that same success. And so I'm hoping that
all of these are good signs and and we'll get
a little bit more or a little bit more cohesion
there between those two programs and see see the Union
women continue to do well and grow and start reaching
that that same height.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah. Elsewhere in ec AC last week, Princeton bwp I
three two, Quinnipa two nothing over Harvard and Yale for
one of the Dartmouth to advance into the quarterfinals, which
are best of three series this week again, chat about
those in a little while. Atlantic hockey first round games.
One of them was a doozy Syracuse trailed Robert Morris
(10:50):
two to one late into the third period or Brins
Sarah Las scored with three fifty nine left to tie
it at two. Worst overtime where kept going And I
think we mentioned before we loved the chaos of multiple overtimes,
and we got one right away Syracuse won it in
double overtime two minutes into the second OT on a
Peyton Armstrong goal for a three to two win to
(11:12):
advance into the semi finals. This week, rit also advancing
with a four nothing win over Lyndon Wood. So we
got our first multiple overtime games, so I know, we
love love checking those off the list.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, I had turned that one on in overtime and
I kind of felt like I jinxed it, like I
was switching between all the games I turned. I was like, oh,
second overtime starting, let me switch back, and then the
game end and I was like, well, well, so much
for that. I was all excited to watch them along
along second overtime, but they were done playing. Apparently they
were like, we're good here. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And the WHA radio season wrapped up last week. There
was a race for second place. Wisconsin had already clinched first.
Minnesota was trying to catch up to Ohio State, but
Wiow State held them off. Ohiose State got a home
sweep of Saint Cloud State five to three on Friday
and three to two on Saturday. It was a jocely
(12:10):
On Amos hat trick in that first game, giving her
At that point, she had seven goals in a four
game stretch, which is the way you really loved to
go into the postseason on a heater like that's that's
pretty exciting. The Saturday Saint Cloud rally from a two
to nothing deficit with Emma Gentry and Abby Promersburger goals,
but McKenna Webster scored the winner with two twenty two
(12:33):
left for the Buckeyes. Over in Minnesota, a couple of
really close games. Ella Huber broke a one to one
tie in the second for the Minnesota up for good
on Friday, and then Abby Murphy scored the only goal
in a one nothing win on Saturday. I scored that
with eight and a half minutes left. Hannah Clark getting
(12:54):
both of those wins for Minnesota with the shutout in
twenty two saves on Saturday. Shout out to v gust
going for forty eight saves and a one nothing loss.
That's that's a rough one. When you make forty eight
saves give a one goal, it's you know, and.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It's the flukiest goal, like clubhouse leader for weirdest goal
of the season, if not ever.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, that's a rough one.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, So I if anybody didn't see it, the the
Abby Murphy took a shot, went over the top of
the net, heads off, the back glass, comes back over
the net, doesn't hit the ground, sort of like listen,
I don't know, I don't there's no way to describe this.
And as they said during the prodcast, there's basically like
seven events happening at Minnesota at the same time. So
(13:37):
the like they were working sort of on a skeleton
crew in sorts of like being able to get different
camera angles and clips and things. And so the goal
was reviewed and called good. So I'm assuming the overhead
shot showed it the best. But yeah, the goal sort
of mid air crosses the line and then a gascon
kind of swipes at it, and and yeah, it's a
it's a weird, weird goal, and it was the only
(13:59):
one that happen in the game. And that's a creddy
way to get a loss.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, I I stayed to finish second in the WHA
two points ahead of Minnesota, so gets fourth. I suspect
we will be hearing from those schools again. Will have
stayed in Minnesota fairly soon with finishing second and third,
that would match them up in the semi finals of
(14:27):
the conference tournament if they both get through the first
round this week. Okay, that's the regular season. We're going
to turn our attention to the postseason even more for
all the conferences in a little bit. But next up,
we have an interview coming up after the break with
Gene Omen, who is the chair of the NCAA and
National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Committee, and she's going to
(14:49):
talk to us about the selection process, what the committee
does on the days before the brackets come out, and
what they do the rest of the season. Stay with
us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd
Moleski and Nicole Hasey with you, and our guest this
(15:12):
week is the chair of the NCAA National Collegiate Women's
Ice Hockey Committee and also the Senior Deputy Athletic Director
and Senior women's Administrator at Ohio State. That's Janine Omen. Janine,
thanks for joining us. A pleasure to have you with
us and talking about kind of what's coming up in
the next couple of weeks with the selection process.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Well, thank you for the invite and we're very excited
for what's to come in the season.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I know this is the big time of the
year that the selection or that the committee kind of
determines how the bracket is going to look. And I
was hoping you can take our listeners through kind of
how that selection process happens. We know it's basically you're
given a list of teams and their seeds, then you
(16:00):
have to put them in a bracket. Can you walk
us through how that works, what you get and just
maybe the timing on it all.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, as you know, the NCAA does use the pair
wise and so and I'm somebody who's served on a
number of different sport committees and actually from a hockey perspective,
there's less selection in that sense because the numbers are
the numbers what are there, So the pair wise with
(16:28):
the NPI factored in or what we use. So we're
going to have the numbers from one down, you know,
So we first have to determine who are the five aqs.
So right now there's obviously the tournaments will be beginning,
so we can get updates from that, and then there
will be six at large selections from that, and again
(16:48):
it is really based on the numbers that are there.
So once we have those you'll have number one through
four are going to be the one seeds, and so
they're going to be if they've the bids, they will
be hosting for that. So we've been doing sourcing making
sure we have bids for those that would be in
contention to host. Then the numbers five through eight really
(17:13):
are number two seats, and then nine through eleven are
three seeds. With that so four and five will always
play each other. And then what we have to do
is one of the criteria is in first round games,
we don't want to pick conference opponents against each other.
The only time that what happen is really in the
four or five games, so we try to avoid that.
(17:35):
And then after that it's really putting those seeds in
place ones, twos, and threes together.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
My first question is have you all come to a
consensus so what to call those first round games?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I call them first round games.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Sorry I will.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I can defer to my NCAA folks if I'm a
label that wrong, but I refer to them as a
first round game.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
With the expansion of the bracket a few years back,
we ended up I feel like everybody has a slightly
different name for those that before the games before the regionals,
and so I was just curious, it's coming from you all?
What you called them? Yeah, and I also wanted to
ask because I had never heard, so what happens. I
did not know that they had to submit a bid.
What happens if they don't submit.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
A bid to host, then we would What we would
have to do is our NC DOUBLEA representatives who are
a really great job, so Caleb is who we have now.
They reach out to the individual institutions that are in
the running for hosting bids to make sure that there's
not any issues and they just have to submit a
bid by a certain date that's there and submit on
(18:48):
the information along with that. So so yeah, that's where
we do. You actually have to submit a bid to
be able to host that. So that's pretty common across
the NC DOUBLEA and other sports as well.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, that makes sense. It was just something I had
to come across before. It is there like protocol for
if something happens and somebody isn't able or doesn't want
to host.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, I'm going to defer to Caleble on that,
but essentially you would go down to the next highest
seed in my opinion, but I'll have him correct me
if I'm wrong there. But that's what we've done in
other sports. I can't tell you that it's ever happened
in my time on sport committees, but I think that's
what we would do.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We have Caleb on the call. So is that right?
Is that the accurate way of looking at it?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Yes, I, like Janine said, it's it's very uncommon, especially
in a sport like ice hockey where you can see
a visible ranking, so there are is obviously a chance
where something might be going on. They weren't ever expecting
in the beginning of the season to host, so there's
other events going on. If that were to happen, Yes,
we'd be looking at the lower seeds, you know, to
put in a bid to host, and then higher seed
(20:00):
who'd earned the right toast, would go on the road.
So it depended on the scenario and who was missing
a bid and what that meant for the rest of
the bracket, and then making sure we had some of
those lower seed bids in which we will get those.
You know, we'll have bids from all different schools just
knowing that our bid deadline is coming up and they
want to be in contention. If if things change over
(20:22):
the next two weeks or so.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's interesting. It's just a part of the process. I
hadn't heard before.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Jadine when when you said that the the one thing
that's kind of locked in is that the four teams
going to play the five team that's that's rights has
decided that's the way it wants it to go. Were
you part of that original decision on that when the expansion,
Can you kind of clue us in why that was
important to make sure those two teams got locked in,
(20:52):
because there's a difference when you're talking about a five
the five overall to with the six overall in terms
of the number of games you have to play and
where you often play them.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, No, I was not involved with that. I could
suppose when you look at bracket integrity, the NCAA has
a lot of depending on the sport and then the
sports sponsorship, you can have some all numbers that are there.
So it's not like all sixty four or thirty two
or forty eight. There's a number of sport nc Double
(21:24):
A championships or collegiate championships that may have seven, they
may have nine, they may have eleven. So I think
when you look at it, and Calebe can weigh in
as well. It's looking at from a bracket integrity and
what makes the most sense, but in looking at those
that have earned one seeds and those that are four
(21:44):
or five. So it's really the bracketing principles and making
sure they're creating a really good bracket that has bracket integrity. Caleb,
is there anything different on that?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
No, I think you said it right, Janine. You know
that that four or five matchup is something the committee
has prioritized wanting to maintain that integrity and having that flexibility.
So it's great that it is, uh in writing and
in the manual.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Sure, when you have a team as a committee member
that happens to be your team that you're discussing where
to see or things like that, how does that impact
you because Janine, your team, well, how state is always
involved in this?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well, mini member.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, so it's interesting. So in all my committees, that's
been true. I've been the committee chair of my team's
won the national championship in men's volleyball, I've been so
essentially we recuse ourselves, so I either if it's an
in person, I step out of the room, when they're
discussing Ohio State. In the case of a call, which
(22:56):
is more of what men's volleyball and women's ice hockey,
I dropped off the call. So my job is the
chair in working with Caleb as we set up the
framework and go through the ground rules with the committee members.
This is what it has to look like. But when
they're actually making decisions or the seating and like where
your brackets. In compiling the bracket, I hop off there
(23:18):
we do when we run scenarios before we're actually making selections,
we're working with any of the committee members or questions
and things like that. But actually on that Saturday night,
I will hop off the call.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
One Saturday night, so the brackets are done by the
end of.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's the bowl.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
As I said, this one is the numbers are the numbers,
and so in building brackets compared to other ones, this
one is not as challenging as other sports where you're
building a bracket.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
You had mentioned, you know, the avoiding intraconference matchups in
those first round games. What are the priorities that you
guys have in terms of like when you're moving teams
and deciding sort of who gets moved where how do
you what is the sort of process and what are
you considering when you have to change out of you know,
direct seed seating because of interconference. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So again, one of the things we've always heard loud
and clear from the coaches is Bracken integrity is very
important to them. So what we look at is I
mentioned to you there's going to be one seats, there's
two seats, and there's three seeds. And this holds true
for out all a number of the championships committees that
(24:41):
I've been on. Two seats can be interchangeable and three
seats can be interchangeable. So if we have to make
a change that if somebody was a two, right, we
would switch out in that same seed line for it.
So we could exchange a three for two. So we
would have to look in that same seed line where
we look at it probably a little bit closer, and
(25:02):
some conversation comes in as if there's a large gap
and an NPI that we're looking at between those two seeds,
between those within those two seeds. If there's a large gap,
we will look at that as well. But for the
most part, you're looking at two seeds. Just you could
potentially swap out two seeds in there, or if it's
(25:23):
the three seeds, you'd swap out of three three seeds
for a three seed.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
If that, if you understand, I can imagine that there
are you know, maybe it has happens where some people
might want to see it happen one way, some people
might want to see it happen another way. And there
are five people on the committee. Does it come down
to a vote at some point if if there just
can't come to a consensus.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, all committees and a I'll like Caleb, he's kind
of Roberts rule of order person, but yeah, they do
come down to a vote. When you look at that
and it's a it's a conversation that happens and everybody's
way in. And what we're trying to do is create
a bracket, you know, that's a very competitive bracket that
(26:06):
really maintains integrity.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
We uh, we hear about the committee on this this
weekend that we're talking about coming up in March every year,
but I know there's more work that throughout the year.
Can you kind of clue us into what what some
of that is as as you meet in the off
season and then again meet occasionally during the season too
to set the you know, kind of the framework of
(26:34):
what's being done around women's college hockey.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Yeah, so as you look at when we're in an
academic year, so really our focus at that point is
on the championship that will be upcoming in March. So
we're working whether with it's the host institution, making sure
that they have their plans for the championship and how
(26:58):
are they going to execute the operations. Do a site
visit to that institution where where we look at hotels,
we're looking at the site that's there and kind of
reviewing all the logistics with them. So that's usually on
the committee chair side, but the rest of the committee,
(27:18):
what we're doing is just having conversations about planning that event.
So our calls are really around maybe the Patty caaz
where's the location that Patty Cas do we want to
do something different with that. We're having conversations with Chrissy
Lane on the official side, and so she's providing us updates,
(27:39):
whether it's on rule changes and really her structure and
as she is going into selections for officials of what
that process looks like. So it's really then nuts and
bolts of running that championship, because that's what you're on
an NCAA Sport committee. That's really your charge is to
run those championships because we're the member institutions, so we
(27:59):
are selected by our conferences and in this particular case,
to represent our conference so that all voices are heard,
if you will, so that during the academic year it's
really based off of running that championship. Then we'll go
once the championship is over, there is you know, the
coaches conventions, so there's usually meetings in April, you know
(28:23):
in Florida. May depends on the year. This year, I
believe it's May, so to do some debriefs and we'll
meet uh with coaches as able and those types of things.
If it's a rules year, we will really be learning
more about what are some of the proposed rules changes,
and so somebody from the n CUBA will work with
(28:44):
us on that. We do a meeting usually in the
summer that's going to be a recap from the previous
year and then looking at forward planning for the next year,
and so one of the things you look at. It
depends also if it's in a big cycle for site selection.
You know, our NCAA representative will give us the updates
(29:05):
some where we're at with that, and then the other pieces.
Everybody's term is usually four years on the committee, and
so we may have people rotating off, so we may
have to review people that have been submitted to sit
on this committee in the future. So those are kind
of the things as we look at it. So it's
(29:26):
really focused heavily on running that championship in what's that
environment we could create and ultimately support women's iceacking at
the highest level and showcase really the great sport that
it is.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You mentioned a little bit about reviewing site bids and
if it's it's a cycle for that, how much how
are you how much are you involved in terms of
selecting those sites and reviewing the bids and if you
can give any insight to sort of what you're looking
for when you when you look at those bids.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, so know and this is true across UH the
UH Sport n C double A committees I've been on.
What you're looking at are essentially what from a fan perspective,
from a ticket perspective, what are the hotels like finances?
You know, what are incentives? You know? So what's that
(30:20):
whole package look like. But again we were we can
only review who submits that's there, and you know, and
I think it's trying to look at location like where
is it right and is it in a place that
will be a good draws that a place has never
been that you know, there's lots of conversation that goes in,
but it's really we don't know what we have until
(30:43):
they're actually in the portal that we can look at it.
But it's usually around those types of criteria that we're
looking at and those are the conversations and then kind
of we review them, have a conversation and you know,
provides feedback to our n C double a rep as
to good places or that a bit that would be
great options to go.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Uh frozen fours in Minneapolis this year, and I know
we've all been there before and we know how the
environment that can be when that building gets sounds like
tickets have just about sold out, if not sold out,
So I know that's that's really encouraging. And I wonder
you mentioned that you're talking about, you know, where the
Patty cas ceremonies and things like that, and I think
(31:26):
a lot of people have been excited last years that
that's right there in the building and right part of
the environment. And I wonder if if there's been any
movement this year to have any more of those kind
of not that you have another reward to give away,
but you know, any more of those kind of fan
engagements that might be able to you know, add a
(31:48):
little bit more to that and whether that's I guess
a priority for the Committee and the NCAA going forward.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You know, any type of fan engagement that you can do,
I think is helpful to the environment that's there right. So,
you know, I think one of the great things with
moving Patty Kaz where you know, there's a lot of
youth clinics associates, so you're seeing a lot of the
young girls that are playing hockey right so that they
can see themselves and the young women that are in
(32:16):
front of them. So so I think that you know,
as we look at those, we're always looking at what
fits in with what we're doing and what are ways
that we can engage the fans to bring them out.
Because the really great thing on women's ice hockey, there's
so just outstanding young women who play who are really
great role models and for people to learn more about
(32:39):
the stories that are there and uh, you know, really
draw and really continue to grow that sport, and so
we see young girls that want to play with it.
So with that, you know, Caleb's usually are our intake
of a lot of the different types of activities that
can come in, you know, and part of it is
(32:59):
just you make it work within the context of everything
else that's going on without overloading and putting too much
stressful the system or the teams that are there, because
at the end of the day, they're there too for
one thing, and that's straight to win a championship.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
So can I just ask about so one of the
things with the growth the popularity of women's sports in
general growing and then the advent of the PWHL and
women's hockey sort of having its particular moment. One of
the things that came up in the last year I
heard as feedback from fans was all four regional games
were taking place at the same time. So as from
(33:36):
a fan perspective of somebody that couldn't be, well, you
can't possibly be at all of those. They could only
watch one game or maybe two if they had an
extra screen. So I know that right now or I believe.
I understand that you guys allowed the host to decide
what time the game should be, and we and prioritize
(33:58):
in person attendance. But we were curious and we had asked,
maybe in years past about if there's been any thought
to sort of staggering those times at all so that
you're sort of getting an all day audience and really
allowing people to see, like, this is the very best
of women's college hockey, and if they're all at the
same time, that's it feels a little bit like maybe
a waste of an opportunity to showcase those.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yes, So those are you talk about what we do
all year? Uh, those are the types of conversations we
have right is, and we do rely on the host
institutions as to what works in their facilities, but also
what's also going on on their campuses, and so you know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
To just a busy time of year, it's.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
A time there's a lot going on. But we have
made to ask, you know, to see if we can
have some some movement around some of those right to
answer that question, so it's not so jumbled. I think
the other piece of it that you have to recognize too,
is the later you have it. If you have somebody
(35:02):
that's a visiting team advancing, they got to get back
home and then get to another location relatively quickly, and
so depending on where they're at, it may be difficult
for them to get out that evening to get back
to their home location, so they can make arrangements to
get them, in this case, back to Minneapolis, right. So,
I think there's probably a little sensitivity depending on the
(35:24):
location of where things are at and who's there and
how they're getting there. Right. So I'm a little bit mindful,
and I mean we were home last year and had
to figure out right how to get to New Hampshire
in a pretty short period of time with that, so
I think there's a little bit of stress on the system.
We can make it happen, but so I think that
(35:45):
adds a little bit to it as well. But we've
definitely heard that feedback and we're trying to address it
so they aren't to see if there's some flexibility in
that to your point to allow people to see more
of the games.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Well, Jane, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck
with the rest of the season and good luck with
the selection process and all of that, and we hope
for your sake that it's an early night on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
That's right. Well, and let me just say I want
to thank you too for your passion for women's ice hockey.
It's really great to have people that you know, really
support a sport that most people are just starting to
learn about, and that this has been a passion for you,
and that you really tell us stories in a great
way of these young women and the teams that and
the great work that they do.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Thanks for saying that. We are going to take a
quick break. We'll be right back on the podcast. Welcome
back to the podcast. Todd Molusky and Nicole Hasey here
for our last segment this week, and we're going to
talk about all of these playoff series that are coming up,
(36:51):
and mostly series some games. Atlantic Hockey plays best of three,
Hockey East is all single games as they go through
their tournament quarterfinals, and w CHA New haw ECC are
all best of three. So lots of games coming up
with a lot of meaning to them. Where do you
(37:12):
want to start? I guess when you look around the
country in terms of maybe where we might get our
most bang for our buck.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
I feel like it's got to be quinnipiack at Clerkson,
doesn't it because not only is that within the tournament,
but those are two teams like on the cusp of
whether or not they get to make the like if
they would get in at large bid. So for me,
I mean, we're getting a ten to nine like national
ranked update in the second round of their tournament, like
(37:43):
before we even get to the semi finals or finals.
So to me, that game is like Circle Star gonna
be I think, a fight to the finish, two tech
teams that are very good on defense. I just it's
everything you want a playoff game to be, and we're
getting it in around like weeks before, you know, a
(38:04):
week or two before I would expect something that good.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Expect that to be you know, a semi final game
or a championship game when yeah, stakes on the line
for you know, whoever loses that series might as well
pack it up because you're not gonna be in contention
for a large spot after that.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, Like, there's just so much on the line for
a game that sort of early. I know it's not,
but you know how I'm I'm not saying it well,
but yeah, there's just so much on the line for
that game like that is win or go home. And
I mean that's the case for lots of teams, you know,
in terms of elimination tournament. But like when you've sent
all season, you know, on the vergein hoping that you
(38:44):
can make the NCAA tournament. To have this one game
be the sort of the deciding factors. It's kind of
nuts and kind of fascinating and great for fans. And
we also have another in ec AC We have another
ring to match up with Princeton at Colgate. Know that
Princeton can score in bunches. I Isy Wonder has come
on huge, even more so at the end of this season.
(39:05):
Here her and Sarah Paul sort of with I always
think it's interesting when an IVY leaguer is in the
top of the scoring because they play fewer games and
so both of them are among the scoring leaders in
the country. Uh, and so you know, we've also seen
games where they're they're not doing that. So depending what
Princeton team comes out, yeah, that could be. It could
(39:27):
be one of those no defense games where we just
see a really huge score. That one I think is
also interesting and I'm very glad those teams those games
are not at the same time, So one Quinnipiac at
Clarkson three o'clock eastern, Prince at Colgate six o'clock eastern.
So excited for that. Those are sort of the two
games for there that I'm really looking forward to. Oh
(39:48):
that's things. I didn't realize that quinn cla Kirkston was
three in the afternoon on Friday. Didn't put that together.
I will be watching and I have writing about it
on social media if you want to check it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
So Cornell hosting Union and St. Lawrence hosting the other
two quarterfinals series. We mentioned earlier that Hockey East has
its first round on Wednesday night this week holy Cross
at Vermont, Merrimack at New Hampshire single games. As life said,
we said, they play single games all the way through
(40:20):
winners going into the quarterfinals on Saturday to play the
top two seeds Yukon and bu Then Saturday also has
Maine at Boston College and Northeastern at Providence. That the
Northeastern Providence one. It really it usually probably comes down
to the five four or five matchups as being the
ones that are maybe the most enticing. But there's really
(40:44):
no question for me that that one is going to
be one to watch because, uh, you know, Providence gets
to host it. Northeastern has a lot of experience in
big games. I I'm intrigued.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yeah, Like Providence is me be more interesting this late
this part of the season, like how they put the
last weeks in their offense, just what they've been able
to accomplish. I think they've just been shown like a
lot of growth and creativity in the Northeastern has Lee
Sanson and goal and so like that's your that's your
push pull. And of course, like you said, the experience,
(41:19):
like a player like Skyler Irving could take that over
and you know, sort of in no time. She she
is a big game player and has all that experience.
So I think that, yeah, like you said, the push
poll there is really interesting. But I actually like Tomorrow's
games in I'm sorry, Wednesday's games in Hockey East too.
The thing about holy Cross, mayor New Hampshire is all
of them have had big wins, Like all of them
(41:41):
have pulled out interesting over you know, victories over teams
below them in the standings, and so like for me,
both of those are massive toss ups and I feel
like whoever wins those games has that momentum. And the
thing about the top two seeds, you know, having that
break is is that getting a big win here in
(42:02):
this first game of Hockey East tournament could be just
a really big sort of boost heading into those games. Right,
But like we saw Merrimac with some big wins like
they beat BC and yeah, Vermont had just beaten Northeast Northeastern,
So I yeah, I to me, I mean, go big
picture at Hockey East's tournament is one giant toss up.
(42:22):
I assume like you could put like balls in a
bingo turner and like get a more a clearer picture
of what's gonna happen. But that's what makes it fun
to me, Like I have no and I don't mean
this is like negative to Ukon, but like I don't
I don't necessarily think like it's clear that Yukon's gonna
win the tournament and win the auto bid, like there's
(42:42):
just any one of these teams on any given day,
and because it is single elimination, like we're just we're
gonna see I think some interesting matchups and some interesting
upsets in this tournament. And I say that, so of
course it'll probably not be at all. But the way
that this conference has gone all season, where there hasn't
been one team just sort of just dominating everybody else,
means that I think we're going to get a lot
(43:03):
of fun in a bit of a like if it's
win or go home, then you play it. You're allowed
to play it very free and play a different sort
of game when there's nothing on the line.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Well said, that's very true, I think, and that's what
we hope to see through the playoffs. Really wha best
of three quarterfinals. But Midgee State at Wisconsin. St. Thomas
at Ohio State, Minnesota State at Minnesota, Sat Cloud State
at Minnesota LU. Interesting thing about the Ohio State series,
So if you know about the OSU Ice Rink, it's
across the street from Ohio Stadium and there's a fairly
(43:38):
major event happening on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. The stadium
series is going on with the Blue Jackets playing the
Red Wings.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Right, yes, it's Detroit.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
So I saw somewhere that there is going to be
some recognition of the Ohio State national champions in football
and women's hockey. So we'll be part of that. But
they've got a game to play. During the afternoon, so
it should be an interesting kind of environment right around
(44:12):
there to to take in everything there and you know, hey.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, it's a three o'clock game. It's not like it's
a Newton game like that's fascinating. They're gonna like what
walk right over right after the well right, I'm very
I have logistics lies. I have so many questions.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Again, the four or fives, there is Minnesota d Luth
and Sat Cloud State, who we know have had some
pretty good games in the past and we know have
been in this exact scenario before, Sink Cloud trying to
take that next step, the Luth trying to fight them off,
thoughts on.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That it should be an amazing goaltending duel of gascon
it has been so good. And then Sink Cloud with
both Snia Hola an Amelia Kirko. Uh, yeah, I don't know.
I have no idea. Both teams uh sometimes struggled to
find the back of the net, and both teams are
(45:09):
good on defense and have great goalies. So these could
just be some duels about you know, who gets who
gets that one or one or two goals. Saint Cloud
State has been really good on transition and scoring in
sort of breakaways, So deLuce got to watch out for that.
But yeah, I would I wouldn't bet any money on
the outcome of that. You know, the three game series
(45:30):
is always gonna give you know, I think a bit
of an advantage to the higher seeded team. You know,
if this were a one off game, I would think
Minnesota Duluth would be more worried. But uh, yeah, I
mean I believe in Saint Cloud State and what they're
able to do, and so yeah, that's probably if you know,
you asked me about early on about that would have
been the other series for me that Quidipiac and Clarkson
(45:53):
is one game and then this series I think are
the ones that are most likely to produce sort of
the best hockey and the most fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
This weekend, Ohio State hosting Sat Thomas in the two
seven matchup. There, you've got that that maybe more intriguing
than a two seven matchup normally, is is what you're thinking?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know St. Thomas has pulled points
away from Ohio State. They beat them, right like not
making this up or was it a yeah? So Saint
Thomas has has given them problems and I think that
three game series, and particularly here favors Ohio State. I
(46:34):
think Saint Thomas can definitely pull you know, one win,
can they pull two? Particularly you know if it comes
at it's it's the part where Ohio State is scarier
after the loss. Uh Naden is scarier after a loss.
But yeah, I I think, like you said, this is
just a much more interesting matchup than a two seven
might normally be. And again, when you have nothing to lose,
(46:58):
it enables you to play in a different way. And
so I just think like that favors Saint Thomas here,
and they they they have all the confidence and the
momentum and knowing that they can take like they're not
going into this thinking like this is a hugely insurmountable hill,
right like they had that one to zero loss in
overtime at home against Ohio State and then Saint Thomas
(47:22):
continued sort of to just do well, they don't have
a win. I have wrong there, but I just want
I just think that there is more. This is going
I think to be a closer game than maybe their
more closer series than maybe Ohio State would be comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
The Atlanta Hockey semi Finals are rit at Penn State
Syracuse at Mercy Hurst. See Syracuse having the time double
overtime success last weekend, I would think that would be
the Maybe the formula again is to keep that game
close as long as you can and then try and
(48:00):
get a winner toward the end or an overtime for
for Syracuse to try and pull an upset there.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, you know, they get the time to recover. It's
not a massive travel for them over to Mercy Herst,
so that all works in their favor as well. Yeah.
I think Syracuse has, you know, a pretty experienced team,
like they've got quite a few seniors in fifth years,
and I think that just plays into this that like
these are these are players that have been in situations before,
(48:26):
have played in the postseason, and you know, like you said,
sort of are able to grind down their opponent and
really hold on to that. I mean, that's that's a
skill in its own right, right, Like being able to
come from behind or hold on to a tie is
a specific skill set. And if they can do that
here and really grind versus Hurst down, I think, like
you said that that could be the key for them
(48:47):
to get that win.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
The quarterfinals in newha are Long Island hosting Saint Michael's,
Franklin Pierce hosting hosts, Sacred Heart hosting Assumption, and Stone
Hill hosting Saint Ansel. So, uh, we see where the
the loss costs Sacred Heart on last Saturday, dropping them
to the third seed, which if they get into a
(49:11):
semi final, would make them the lower seed than that
against if Franklin Pierce, I should say, and Long Island
also advance. So there's I think what we've learned in
the last few weeks is don't assume any results are
going to happen in New Hat because Post is taking
(49:31):
care of business. Saint Michael's has done pretty well, so
who knows what you'll see and when when it turns
to the playoffs there.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yeah, and for me, the I mean, I know they're
two seed, it wouldn't be like a mass of upset
or anything. But just in general, my eye is on
Franklin Pierce because of what they pulled in the postseason
last year. Like they were they were the cardiac kids.
They came from behind, they won several games and overtime
like they just they put themselves through the paces. Uh,
and you can't sort of replace that experience like being
(50:03):
able to win those kinds of games repeatedly and and
never sort of count yourself out. You know. There's they're
already a favorite, you know, as the number two seed,
but they're just there's someone that I will watch like,
especially during the postseason, just because of what they've been
able to do in the past. And I think that
that shows sort of what they're capable of and makes
them a little even scarier than just the fact that
(50:25):
they're the two seed.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
Well, that's the wrap up of what's coming this weekend.
This weekend weekend, I guess when include the Wednesday night
these games, Nicole, You'll be online to be watching all
these so if you're you're only able to follow on
on x, Twitter, whatever, Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I'll post on both.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Give me the updates.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Yeah, that's uh. I don't think that I'm going to
go to any games this weekend. I'm just gonna stay
home with all my screens. So that's uh. That's exciting
for me. And it's going to be a lot of
hockey starting tomorrow or starting Wednesday, so that's exciting. Sorry,
I keep saying tomorrow. When this is gonna post on
Wednesday Wednesday night for Hockey East. Yeah, that I'm just
really excited. As we've gone through this, I hadn't really
(51:12):
paid a ton of attention to the timing and a
lot of the games are staggered, so it's nice to
see that we're not going to have every game happening
at one time.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Even on Saturday, there was a good from what I remember,
there's an afternoon cycle in an evening cycle, so that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Often, like when it's a Friday Saturday, like the Saturday
games are really kind of all done by like five o'clock,
and that's just not the case, right, you know, with
the schedule, so you really can I mean, the the
on Saturday, the Saint Cloud State Minnesota du Loose game
is at one Central and we have a game starting
at like seven thirty eastern, seven o'clock eastern. So yeah,
(51:50):
there are it is a full day.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
It'd be exciting and should be a lot of good
hockey this weekend. So we hope you enjoy it. We
hope you reach out to us through social media through
the email that is in our show notes if you
have thoughts or comments. Otherwise, we will talk to you
next week on the podcast.
USCHO dot com. Hi, everyone, Welcome to the podcast. Todd
Maluski here with Nicole Hasey from us Echo dot com
and Nicole, we are in playoffs officially for everyone now.
We had a couple of leagues start their postseason last weekend,
(00:24):
while three of the conferences finished the regular season. But
I do want to start with one of the crazy
finishes to the regular season we saw last weekend that
was in Hockey East where we had seen and we
had talked about how Yukon had kind of put itself
behind the eight ball but going into the final weekend
and then they needed to sweep BEU in a home
(00:45):
and home series to win the championship, and lo and behold,
they did win the championship. So they five points behind
going into the weekend, and they emerged one point ahead
to claim that championship, the second straight Hockey East title,
or one win on Friday at home and a three
to one win Saturday at Walter Brown Arena in Boston
(01:07):
if a rinker broke a one to one tie a
five and a half minutes the third period for Yukon,
Tiashan thirty three saves in that win after Megan Warner
got the win, made twenty four saves in the first game. Uh,
just your reaction to that turn of events in Hockey
East where we had been talking about all the year,
(01:28):
who's going to step up and win this thing? And
sure enough final last weekend, we had someone step up
and win it and not like back into it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, kudos to Yukon. And I think the really important
part of that for me is that they the players
that scored in that game for Yukon were all like
non traditional scorers for them, and so I just think
it's really important, like that's you need players to step
up in big games and for them, like you had
a several players where it was like their first goal
(01:57):
of the season or first or second goal of the season,
and you had young ploorers, you had defenders, aver rinkers,
a defender, and so it wasn't sort of their highest scorers.
And though their goalies were as solid as we know
they always can't be, it wasn't like the goalie stood
on their heads. It was players from you know, other
parts of the lineup that really stepped up and made
the difference there. And I have to say, like I'm
(02:20):
a little shocked and like I'm sorry to both Yukon
and Bu. I think they puts insulting to both of
them in different ways. But yeah, I kind of thought
there's no way b you doesn't get out of this
weekend with a point, right, like it'll go to overtime
or whatever. And on Saturday, but you made the decision early.
It was two to one and they pulled their goalie
with like quite a few minutes left because they just
needed to force overtime and couldn't hold possession like they
(02:44):
had that player advantage, and uh, Yukon scored pretty early
on in that in that empty net, and so yeah,
like kudos to Yukon, as we said, as you said,
they stepped up big time. But yeah, I was watching
those games and know Yukon had a one o lead
and then be You tied it and it was like
the tension was like amazing in that way. But you know,
(03:08):
heartbreaking for beu uh sort of their Cinderella story, right.
We've been talking about them literally from the first episode
of the season, and they were picked I think to
fish finish fit or sixth, and so we really I
was really rooting for them, and then just because you know,
I love an underdog and it's uh so it's tough
for them. But on on the other hand, like this
was just the regular season title, like they still I
(03:30):
think have everything to play for in terms of if
it comes down to these two teams again for the
Hockey East title, it would be a very interesting game
to watch again and and for that autobid right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
And we knew going in that that game was going
to be at anyway. You guys a set location for
the championship game and picked Yukon for that, but no,
it would have been there anyway. I guess if you
want to if it comes down the Yukon being in
the championship game, uh since they get the one tied
and then we'll have to go for a second to
(04:02):
get into the NCAA tournament because it's looking more and
more like Hockey East is a one mid league this
season and so that tournament champion is going to be it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, I just I was struggling to get my my
paragraph up. I just want to put out it was
freshman Sadie Hoddles had I apologize, that's not how you
say her last name had one goal all season. She
scored on Friday, Martha Malbark scored her second goal of
the season on Friday, and then Averrinker the two goals
on Saturday were her second and third goal of the season.
(04:34):
So I just was really impressed, you know what, You
don't really recognize that as you're watching the game, and
then when I was writing up the recap, I was
just like it, you know you really it's so crucial
for players that aren't getting the attention from the defense
and that can can find that extra time and space
to make that decision, to make those decisions, to make
that impact, and that's what you con did.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
We will look ahead to all the playoffs matchups coming
up later in the show, but it is important to
mention that Hockey East does have a round of playoff
games on Wednesday night this week, so make sure to
pay attention to those give into the schedule a little
bit later. So Hockey East was the last of the
five conference champions to be blamed. New How was the fourth,
(05:22):
and that happened Friday, with Long Island wrapping up its
third straight championship with a two to one win at
Saint Anselm. Genie Walner and Grace Babington scored the goals.
Abby Thompson made twenty six saves for the Sharks and
that ended. You know, they were a bit aheaded going
into the weekend. Sacred Heart was in second, but Sacred
(05:43):
Heart didn't end up in second because Franklin Pierce got well.
They tied second, essentially had the same number of points,
but Franklin Pierce got the second seed in the playoffs,
which will be important potentially with two four nothing wins
at Saint Michael's and then Sacred Heart getting a split
in a home and home series with post winning one
(06:04):
nothing on Saturday on a Brook Larsen first period goal
and Hannah Saunders twenty seven saves for the shutout. A
little bit of a change there in New Highs. They
got to the finish line. We had been looking at
Long Island and Sacred Heart kind of going neck and
neck for a while there. Long Island pulled away a
little bit and then Franklin Pierce caught up to.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, when we were talking last week, we kept we
were looking at the different times ties, and we kept
leaving Franklin Pierce out of the conversation. So apparently they
took that personally. No, I'm just teasing, like, but I'm
glad for them. In fact, in knew how we had
two different ties, and their second tiebreaker is Winden conference wins,
and so that's why Franklin Pierce finishes ahead of Sacred
(06:45):
Heart their seventeen conference wins over sixteen per Sacred Heart,
and then with Assumption and post Post finishes above Assumption
because they have eleven wins, Assumption has ten. So that's
where that came down to. There's definitely some confusion. Some
of the standings were wrong in different places, and so
I just want to make that clear because I went
(07:06):
to the source, I went to their community patients person,
and I think they actually a few emails went out
on Saturday clarifying all of this. So so that's how
that broke down.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll get back to the w c h A and
how their regular season finished in a minute, but let's
look at some of the playoff series or there's games,
single game eliminations that happened on the first weekend AC tournament.
There was one upset and that was the eight nine
Series eight nine, and I called a series everything. I'm
calling a Series eight nine game where Union beat Brown
(07:38):
to nothing. Harrianne Engelbert two goals and Sophie Matsukis. I
hope I'm saying that right. I'm probably not. I'm so
I apologize if I'm not. Thirty five says for the shutout,
you're saying something that's Union's first ever postseason win. Is
that christ Union's.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
First ever postseason win? First pose the winning program history.
Let's see, that was a new D one, So the
school Union has had a program. They were D three.
So when we're talking about records here, they are their
D one records, not overall program history. But Carrie and
Engelbert's set a new school record for points by a
(08:15):
rookie in D one, tied the schools D one rookie
scoring record. Senior captain Mayreon Friday assisted on both of
those goals to become the all time points leader against
among Union Blue Liners with fifty career points. Junior Stephanie
Bork recorded her twenty second point of the season, moving
into first place on the school season single season list
for points by a defender, and Matsukis tied the program
(08:37):
record for career shutouts with six. So it was an
absolute banner day for the Garnet Chargers. And you can
just tell like a so excited for them. What a
big you know, first post I mean ECAT tournament just expanded,
So that's that's part of it. They just didn't even
get to play in the postseason tournament for many years.
But yeah, good for them.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
And week because it was announced last week that you
we'll host next year's next season's Icebreaker tournament at their
new Mohawk Harbor Arena October seventeen nineteen in St. Ansel.
Vermont and Wisconsin are going to be in that event,
the fifth ever women's icebreaker. So, I mean, big things happening,
and you never know what effect that the building is
(09:21):
going to have on a team. We've seen some tools
where that really you know, helps with recruiting and gets
people in the door or gets them in a conversation
anywhere where they hadn't been before. And I wonder whether
Union maybe takes a step because of that. And you know,
we see with an icebreaker tournament as a bit of
(09:42):
a welcome to your new building here.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Right, And you combine that now with the first you know,
like the first program postseason win, like you see growth
within the program and what the program's being able to do.
I mean, there are not very many seasons removed from
a winless season, and so yeah, just massive changes and
improvements happening there. And you know, their men's side has been,
uh has had some great seasons. They won a title,
(10:07):
right yes, making that up. And the women's side just
hasn't had that same success. And so I'm hoping that
all of these are good signs and and we'll get
a little bit more or a little bit more cohesion
there between those two programs and see see the Union
women continue to do well and grow and start reaching
that that same height.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah. Elsewhere in ec AC last week, Princeton bwp I
three two, Quinnipa two nothing over Harvard and Yale for
one of the Dartmouth to advance into the quarterfinals, which
are best of three series this week again, chat about
those in a little while. Atlantic hockey first round games.
One of them was a doozy Syracuse trailed Robert Morris
(10:50):
two to one late into the third period or Brins
Sarah Las scored with three fifty nine left to tie
it at two. Worst overtime where kept going And I
think we mentioned before we loved the chaos of multiple overtimes,
and we got one right away Syracuse won it in
double overtime two minutes into the second OT on a
Peyton Armstrong goal for a three to two win to
(11:12):
advance into the semi finals. This week, rit also advancing
with a four nothing win over Lyndon Wood. So we
got our first multiple overtime games, so I know, we
love love checking those off the list.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, I had turned that one on in overtime and
I kind of felt like I jinxed it, like I
was switching between all the games I turned. I was like, oh,
second overtime starting, let me switch back, and then the
game end and I was like, well, well, so much
for that. I was all excited to watch them along
along second overtime, but they were done playing. Apparently they
were like, we're good here. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And the WHA radio season wrapped up last week. There
was a race for second place. Wisconsin had already clinched first.
Minnesota was trying to catch up to Ohio State, but
Wiow State held them off. Ohiose State got a home
sweep of Saint Cloud State five to three on Friday
and three to two on Saturday. It was a jocely
(12:10):
On Amos hat trick in that first game, giving her
At that point, she had seven goals in a four
game stretch, which is the way you really loved to
go into the postseason on a heater like that's that's
pretty exciting. The Saturday Saint Cloud rally from a two
to nothing deficit with Emma Gentry and Abby Promersburger goals,
but McKenna Webster scored the winner with two twenty two
(12:33):
left for the Buckeyes. Over in Minnesota, a couple of
really close games. Ella Huber broke a one to one
tie in the second for the Minnesota up for good
on Friday, and then Abby Murphy scored the only goal
in a one nothing win on Saturday. I scored that
with eight and a half minutes left. Hannah Clark getting
(12:54):
both of those wins for Minnesota with the shutout in
twenty two saves on Saturday. Shout out to v gust
going for forty eight saves and a one nothing loss.
That's that's a rough one. When you make forty eight
saves give a one goal, it's you know, and.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
It's the flukiest goal, like clubhouse leader for weirdest goal
of the season, if not ever.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah, that's a rough one.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, So I if anybody didn't see it, the the
Abby Murphy took a shot, went over the top of
the net, heads off, the back glass, comes back over
the net, doesn't hit the ground, sort of like listen,
I don't know, I don't there's no way to describe this.
And as they said during the prodcast, there's basically like
seven events happening at Minnesota at the same time. So
(13:37):
the like they were working sort of on a skeleton
crew in sorts of like being able to get different
camera angles and clips and things. And so the goal
was reviewed and called good. So I'm assuming the overhead
shot showed it the best. But yeah, the goal sort
of mid air crosses the line and then a gascon
kind of swipes at it, and and yeah, it's a
it's a weird, weird goal, and it was the only
(13:59):
one that happen in the game. And that's a creddy
way to get a loss.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, I I stayed to finish second in the WHA
two points ahead of Minnesota, so gets fourth. I suspect
we will be hearing from those schools again. Will have
stayed in Minnesota fairly soon with finishing second and third,
that would match them up in the semi finals of
(14:27):
the conference tournament if they both get through the first
round this week. Okay, that's the regular season. We're going
to turn our attention to the postseason even more for
all the conferences in a little bit. But next up,
we have an interview coming up after the break with
Gene Omen, who is the chair of the NCAA and
National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Committee, and she's going to
(14:49):
talk to us about the selection process, what the committee
does on the days before the brackets come out, and
what they do the rest of the season. Stay with
us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd
Moleski and Nicole Hasey with you, and our guest this
(15:12):
week is the chair of the NCAA National Collegiate Women's
Ice Hockey Committee and also the Senior Deputy Athletic Director
and Senior women's Administrator at Ohio State. That's Janine Omen. Janine,
thanks for joining us. A pleasure to have you with
us and talking about kind of what's coming up in
the next couple of weeks with the selection process.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Well, thank you for the invite and we're very excited
for what's to come in the season.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I know this is the big time of the
year that the selection or that the committee kind of
determines how the bracket is going to look. And I
was hoping you can take our listeners through kind of
how that selection process happens. We know it's basically you're
given a list of teams and their seeds, then you
(16:00):
have to put them in a bracket. Can you walk
us through how that works, what you get and just
maybe the timing on it all.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, as you know, the NCAA does use the pair
wise and so and I'm somebody who's served on a
number of different sport committees and actually from a hockey perspective,
there's less selection in that sense because the numbers are
the numbers what are there, So the pair wise with
(16:28):
the NPI factored in or what we use. So we're
going to have the numbers from one down, you know,
So we first have to determine who are the five aqs.
So right now there's obviously the tournaments will be beginning,
so we can get updates from that, and then there
will be six at large selections from that, and again
(16:48):
it is really based on the numbers that are there.
So once we have those you'll have number one through
four are going to be the one seeds, and so
they're going to be if they've the bids, they will
be hosting for that. So we've been doing sourcing making
sure we have bids for those that would be in
contention to host. Then the numbers five through eight really
(17:13):
are number two seats, and then nine through eleven are
three seeds. With that so four and five will always
play each other. And then what we have to do
is one of the criteria is in first round games,
we don't want to pick conference opponents against each other.
The only time that what happen is really in the
four or five games, so we try to avoid that.
(17:35):
And then after that it's really putting those seeds in
place ones, twos, and threes together.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
My first question is have you all come to a
consensus so what to call those first round games?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I call them first round games.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Sorry I will.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I can defer to my NCAA folks if I'm a
label that wrong, but I refer to them as a
first round game.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
With the expansion of the bracket a few years back,
we ended up I feel like everybody has a slightly
different name for those that before the games before the regionals,
and so I was just curious, it's coming from you all?
What you called them? Yeah, and I also wanted to
ask because I had never heard, so what happens. I
did not know that they had to submit a bid.
What happens if they don't submit.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
A bid to host, then we would What we would
have to do is our NC DOUBLEA representatives who are
a really great job, so Caleb is who we have now.
They reach out to the individual institutions that are in
the running for hosting bids to make sure that there's
not any issues and they just have to submit a
bid by a certain date that's there and submit on
(18:48):
the information along with that. So so yeah, that's where
we do. You actually have to submit a bid to
be able to host that. So that's pretty common across
the NC DOUBLEA and other sports as well.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, that makes sense. It was just something I had
to come across before. It is there like protocol for
if something happens and somebody isn't able or doesn't want
to host.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, I'm going to defer to Caleble on that,
but essentially you would go down to the next highest
seed in my opinion, but I'll have him correct me
if I'm wrong there. But that's what we've done in
other sports. I can't tell you that it's ever happened
in my time on sport committees, but I think that's
what we would do.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We have Caleb on the call. So is that right?
Is that the accurate way of looking at it?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Yes, I, like Janine said, it's it's very uncommon, especially
in a sport like ice hockey where you can see
a visible ranking, so there are is obviously a chance
where something might be going on. They weren't ever expecting
in the beginning of the season to host, so there's
other events going on. If that were to happen, Yes,
we'd be looking at the lower seeds, you know, to
put in a bid to host, and then higher seed
(20:00):
who'd earned the right toast, would go on the road.
So it depended on the scenario and who was missing
a bid and what that meant for the rest of
the bracket, and then making sure we had some of
those lower seed bids in which we will get those.
You know, we'll have bids from all different schools just
knowing that our bid deadline is coming up and they
want to be in contention. If if things change over
(20:22):
the next two weeks or so.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's interesting. It's just a part of the process. I
hadn't heard before.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Jadine when when you said that the the one thing
that's kind of locked in is that the four teams
going to play the five team that's that's rights has
decided that's the way it wants it to go. Were
you part of that original decision on that when the expansion,
Can you kind of clue us in why that was
important to make sure those two teams got locked in,
(20:52):
because there's a difference when you're talking about a five
the five overall to with the six overall in terms
of the number of games you have to play and
where you often play them.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, No, I was not involved with that. I could
suppose when you look at bracket integrity, the NCAA has
a lot of depending on the sport and then the
sports sponsorship, you can have some all numbers that are there.
So it's not like all sixty four or thirty two
or forty eight. There's a number of sport nc Double
(21:24):
A championships or collegiate championships that may have seven, they
may have nine, they may have eleven. So I think
when you look at it, and Calebe can weigh in
as well. It's looking at from a bracket integrity and
what makes the most sense, but in looking at those
that have earned one seeds and those that are four
(21:44):
or five. So it's really the bracketing principles and making
sure they're creating a really good bracket that has bracket integrity. Caleb,
is there anything different on that?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
No, I think you said it right, Janine. You know
that that four or five matchup is something the committee
has prioritized wanting to maintain that integrity and having that flexibility.
So it's great that it is, uh in writing and
in the manual.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Sure, when you have a team as a committee member
that happens to be your team that you're discussing where
to see or things like that, how does that impact
you because Janine, your team, well, how state is always
involved in this?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well, mini member.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, so it's interesting. So in all my committees, that's
been true. I've been the committee chair of my team's
won the national championship in men's volleyball, I've been so
essentially we recuse ourselves, so I either if it's an
in person, I step out of the room, when they're
discussing Ohio State. In the case of a call, which
(22:56):
is more of what men's volleyball and women's ice hockey,
I dropped off the call. So my job is the
chair in working with Caleb as we set up the
framework and go through the ground rules with the committee members.
This is what it has to look like. But when
they're actually making decisions or the seating and like where
your brackets. In compiling the bracket, I hop off there
(23:18):
we do when we run scenarios before we're actually making selections,
we're working with any of the committee members or questions
and things like that. But actually on that Saturday night,
I will hop off the call.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
One Saturday night, so the brackets are done by the
end of.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's the bowl.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
As I said, this one is the numbers are the numbers,
and so in building brackets compared to other ones, this
one is not as challenging as other sports where you're
building a bracket.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
You had mentioned, you know, the avoiding intraconference matchups in
those first round games. What are the priorities that you
guys have in terms of like when you're moving teams
and deciding sort of who gets moved where how do
you what is the sort of process and what are
you considering when you have to change out of you know,
direct seed seating because of interconference. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So again, one of the things we've always heard loud
and clear from the coaches is Bracken integrity is very
important to them. So what we look at is I
mentioned to you there's going to be one seats, there's
two seats, and there's three seeds. And this holds true
for out all a number of the championships committees that
(24:41):
I've been on. Two seats can be interchangeable and three
seats can be interchangeable. So if we have to make
a change that if somebody was a two, right, we
would switch out in that same seed line for it.
So we could exchange a three for two. So we
would have to look in that same seed line where
we look at it probably a little bit closer, and
(25:02):
some conversation comes in as if there's a large gap
and an NPI that we're looking at between those two seeds,
between those within those two seeds. If there's a large gap,
we will look at that as well. But for the
most part, you're looking at two seeds. Just you could
potentially swap out two seeds in there, or if it's
(25:23):
the three seeds, you'd swap out of three three seeds
for a three seed.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
If that, if you understand, I can imagine that there
are you know, maybe it has happens where some people
might want to see it happen one way, some people
might want to see it happen another way. And there
are five people on the committee. Does it come down
to a vote at some point if if there just
can't come to a consensus.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, all committees and a I'll like Caleb, he's kind
of Roberts rule of order person, but yeah, they do
come down to a vote. When you look at that
and it's a it's a conversation that happens and everybody's
way in. And what we're trying to do is create
a bracket, you know, that's a very competitive bracket that
(26:06):
really maintains integrity.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
We uh, we hear about the committee on this this
weekend that we're talking about coming up in March every year,
but I know there's more work that throughout the year.
Can you kind of clue us into what what some
of that is as as you meet in the off
season and then again meet occasionally during the season too
to set the you know, kind of the framework of
(26:34):
what's being done around women's college hockey.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Yeah, so as you look at when we're in an
academic year, so really our focus at that point is
on the championship that will be upcoming in March. So
we're working whether with it's the host institution, making sure
that they have their plans for the championship and how
(26:58):
are they going to execute the operations. Do a site
visit to that institution where where we look at hotels,
we're looking at the site that's there and kind of
reviewing all the logistics with them. So that's usually on
the committee chair side, but the rest of the committee,
(27:18):
what we're doing is just having conversations about planning that event.
So our calls are really around maybe the Patty caaz
where's the location that Patty Cas do we want to
do something different with that. We're having conversations with Chrissy
Lane on the official side, and so she's providing us updates,
(27:39):
whether it's on rule changes and really her structure and
as she is going into selections for officials of what
that process looks like. So it's really then nuts and
bolts of running that championship, because that's what you're on
an NCAA Sport committee. That's really your charge is to
run those championships because we're the member institutions, so we
(27:59):
are selected by our conferences and in this particular case,
to represent our conference so that all voices are heard,
if you will, so that during the academic year it's
really based off of running that championship. Then we'll go
once the championship is over, there is you know, the
coaches conventions, so there's usually meetings in April, you know
(28:23):
in Florida. May depends on the year. This year, I
believe it's May, so to do some debriefs and we'll
meet uh with coaches as able and those types of things.
If it's a rules year, we will really be learning
more about what are some of the proposed rules changes,
and so somebody from the n CUBA will work with
(28:44):
us on that. We do a meeting usually in the
summer that's going to be a recap from the previous
year and then looking at forward planning for the next year,
and so one of the things you look at. It
depends also if it's in a big cycle for site selection.
You know, our NCAA representative will give us the updates
(29:05):
some where we're at with that, and then the other pieces.
Everybody's term is usually four years on the committee, and
so we may have people rotating off, so we may
have to review people that have been submitted to sit
on this committee in the future. So those are kind
of the things as we look at it. So it's
(29:26):
really focused heavily on running that championship in what's that
environment we could create and ultimately support women's iceacking at
the highest level and showcase really the great sport that
it is.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
You mentioned a little bit about reviewing site bids and
if it's it's a cycle for that, how much how
are you how much are you involved in terms of
selecting those sites and reviewing the bids and if you
can give any insight to sort of what you're looking
for when you when you look at those bids.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, so know and this is true across UH the
UH Sport n C double A committees I've been on.
What you're looking at are essentially what from a fan perspective,
from a ticket perspective, what are the hotels like finances?
You know, what are incentives? You know? So what's that
(30:20):
whole package look like. But again we were we can
only review who submits that's there, and you know, and
I think it's trying to look at location like where
is it right and is it in a place that
will be a good draws that a place has never
been that you know, there's lots of conversation that goes in,
but it's really we don't know what we have until
(30:43):
they're actually in the portal that we can look at it.
But it's usually around those types of criteria that we're
looking at and those are the conversations and then kind
of we review them, have a conversation and you know,
provides feedback to our n C double a rep as
to good places or that a bit that would be
great options to go.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Uh frozen fours in Minneapolis this year, and I know
we've all been there before and we know how the
environment that can be when that building gets sounds like
tickets have just about sold out, if not sold out,
So I know that's that's really encouraging. And I wonder
you mentioned that you're talking about, you know, where the
Patty cas ceremonies and things like that, and I think
(31:26):
a lot of people have been excited last years that
that's right there in the building and right part of
the environment. And I wonder if if there's been any
movement this year to have any more of those kind
of not that you have another reward to give away,
but you know, any more of those kind of fan
engagements that might be able to you know, add a
(31:48):
little bit more to that and whether that's I guess
a priority for the Committee and the NCAA going forward.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You know, any type of fan engagement that you can do,
I think is helpful to the environment that's there right. So,
you know, I think one of the great things with
moving Patty Kaz where you know, there's a lot of
youth clinics associates, so you're seeing a lot of the
young girls that are playing hockey right so that they
can see themselves and the young women that are in
(32:16):
front of them. So so I think that you know,
as we look at those, we're always looking at what
fits in with what we're doing and what are ways
that we can engage the fans to bring them out.
Because the really great thing on women's ice hockey, there's
so just outstanding young women who play who are really
great role models and for people to learn more about
(32:39):
the stories that are there and uh, you know, really
draw and really continue to grow that sport, and so
we see young girls that want to play with it.
So with that, you know, Caleb's usually are our intake
of a lot of the different types of activities that
can come in, you know, and part of it is
(32:59):
just you make it work within the context of everything
else that's going on without overloading and putting too much
stressful the system or the teams that are there, because
at the end of the day, they're there too for
one thing, and that's straight to win a championship.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
So can I just ask about so one of the
things with the growth the popularity of women's sports in
general growing and then the advent of the PWHL and
women's hockey sort of having its particular moment. One of
the things that came up in the last year I
heard as feedback from fans was all four regional games
were taking place at the same time. So as from
(33:36):
a fan perspective of somebody that couldn't be, well, you
can't possibly be at all of those. They could only
watch one game or maybe two if they had an
extra screen. So I know that right now or I believe.
I understand that you guys allowed the host to decide
what time the game should be, and we and prioritize
(33:58):
in person attendance. But we were curious and we had asked,
maybe in years past about if there's been any thought
to sort of staggering those times at all so that
you're sort of getting an all day audience and really
allowing people to see, like, this is the very best
of women's college hockey, and if they're all at the
same time, that's it feels a little bit like maybe
a waste of an opportunity to showcase those.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yes, So those are you talk about what we do
all year? Uh, those are the types of conversations we
have right is, and we do rely on the host
institutions as to what works in their facilities, but also
what's also going on on their campuses, and so you know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
To just a busy time of year, it's.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
A time there's a lot going on. But we have
made to ask, you know, to see if we can
have some some movement around some of those right to
answer that question, so it's not so jumbled. I think
the other piece of it that you have to recognize too,
is the later you have it. If you have somebody
(35:02):
that's a visiting team advancing, they got to get back
home and then get to another location relatively quickly, and
so depending on where they're at, it may be difficult
for them to get out that evening to get back
to their home location, so they can make arrangements to
get them, in this case, back to Minneapolis, right. So,
I think there's probably a little sensitivity depending on the
(35:24):
location of where things are at and who's there and
how they're getting there. Right. So I'm a little bit mindful,
and I mean we were home last year and had
to figure out right how to get to New Hampshire
in a pretty short period of time with that, so
I think there's a little bit of stress on the system.
We can make it happen, but so I think that
(35:45):
adds a little bit to it as well. But we've
definitely heard that feedback and we're trying to address it
so they aren't to see if there's some flexibility in
that to your point to allow people to see more
of the games.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Well, Jane, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck
with the rest of the season and good luck with
the selection process and all of that, and we hope
for your sake that it's an early night on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
That's right. Well, and let me just say I want
to thank you too for your passion for women's ice hockey.
It's really great to have people that you know, really
support a sport that most people are just starting to
learn about, and that this has been a passion for you,
and that you really tell us stories in a great
way of these young women and the teams that and
the great work that they do.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Thanks for saying that. We are going to take a
quick break. We'll be right back on the podcast. Welcome
back to the podcast. Todd Molusky and Nicole Hasey here
for our last segment this week, and we're going to
talk about all of these playoff series that are coming up,
(36:51):
and mostly series some games. Atlantic Hockey plays best of three,
Hockey East is all single games as they go through
their tournament quarterfinals, and w CHA New haw ECC are
all best of three. So lots of games coming up
with a lot of meaning to them. Where do you
(37:12):
want to start? I guess when you look around the
country in terms of maybe where we might get our
most bang for our buck.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
I feel like it's got to be quinnipiack at Clerkson,
doesn't it because not only is that within the tournament,
but those are two teams like on the cusp of
whether or not they get to make the like if
they would get in at large bid. So for me,
I mean, we're getting a ten to nine like national
ranked update in the second round of their tournament, like
(37:43):
before we even get to the semi finals or finals.
So to me, that game is like Circle Star gonna
be I think, a fight to the finish, two tech
teams that are very good on defense. I just it's
everything you want a playoff game to be, and we're
getting it in around like weeks before, you know, a
(38:04):
week or two before I would expect something that good.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Expect that to be you know, a semi final game
or a championship game when yeah, stakes on the line
for you know, whoever loses that series might as well
pack it up because you're not gonna be in contention
for a large spot after that.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, Like, there's just so much on the line for
a game that sort of early. I know it's not,
but you know how I'm I'm not saying it well,
but yeah, there's just so much on the line for
that game like that is win or go home. And
I mean that's the case for lots of teams, you know,
in terms of elimination tournament. But like when you've sent
all season, you know, on the vergein hoping that you
(38:44):
can make the NCAA tournament. To have this one game
be the sort of the deciding factors. It's kind of
nuts and kind of fascinating and great for fans. And
we also have another in ec AC We have another
ring to match up with Princeton at Colgate. Know that
Princeton can score in bunches. I Isy Wonder has come
on huge, even more so at the end of this season.
(39:05):
Here her and Sarah Paul sort of with I always
think it's interesting when an IVY leaguer is in the
top of the scoring because they play fewer games and
so both of them are among the scoring leaders in
the country. Uh, and so you know, we've also seen
games where they're they're not doing that. So depending what
Princeton team comes out, yeah, that could be. It could
(39:27):
be one of those no defense games where we just
see a really huge score. That one I think is
also interesting and I'm very glad those teams those games
are not at the same time, So one Quinnipiac at
Clarkson three o'clock eastern, Prince at Colgate six o'clock eastern.
So excited for that. Those are sort of the two
games for there that I'm really looking forward to. Oh
(39:48):
that's things. I didn't realize that quinn cla Kirkston was
three in the afternoon on Friday. Didn't put that together.
I will be watching and I have writing about it
on social media if you want to check it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
So Cornell hosting Union and St. Lawrence hosting the other
two quarterfinals series. We mentioned earlier that Hockey East has
its first round on Wednesday night this week holy Cross
at Vermont, Merrimack at New Hampshire single games. As life said,
we said, they play single games all the way through
(40:20):
winners going into the quarterfinals on Saturday to play the
top two seeds Yukon and bu Then Saturday also has
Maine at Boston College and Northeastern at Providence. That the
Northeastern Providence one. It really it usually probably comes down
to the five four or five matchups as being the
ones that are maybe the most enticing. But there's really
(40:44):
no question for me that that one is going to
be one to watch because, uh, you know, Providence gets
to host it. Northeastern has a lot of experience in
big games. I I'm intrigued.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yeah, Like Providence is me be more interesting this late
this part of the season, like how they put the
last weeks in their offense, just what they've been able
to accomplish. I think they've just been shown like a
lot of growth and creativity in the Northeastern has Lee
Sanson and goal and so like that's your that's your
push pull. And of course, like you said, the experience,
(41:19):
like a player like Skyler Irving could take that over
and you know, sort of in no time. She she
is a big game player and has all that experience.
So I think that, yeah, like you said, the push
poll there is really interesting. But I actually like Tomorrow's
games in I'm sorry, Wednesday's games in Hockey East too.
The thing about holy Cross, mayor New Hampshire is all
of them have had big wins, Like all of them
(41:41):
have pulled out interesting over you know, victories over teams
below them in the standings, and so like for me,
both of those are massive toss ups and I feel
like whoever wins those games has that momentum. And the
thing about the top two seeds, you know, having that
break is is that getting a big win here in
(42:02):
this first game of Hockey East tournament could be just
a really big sort of boost heading into those games. Right,
But like we saw Merrimac with some big wins like
they beat BC and yeah, Vermont had just beaten Northeast Northeastern,
So I yeah, I to me, I mean, go big
picture at Hockey East's tournament is one giant toss up.
(42:22):
I assume like you could put like balls in a
bingo turner and like get a more a clearer picture
of what's gonna happen. But that's what makes it fun
to me, Like I have no and I don't mean
this is like negative to Ukon, but like I don't
I don't necessarily think like it's clear that Yukon's gonna
win the tournament and win the auto bid, like there's
(42:42):
just any one of these teams on any given day,
and because it is single elimination, like we're just we're
gonna see I think some interesting matchups and some interesting
upsets in this tournament. And I say that, so of
course it'll probably not be at all. But the way
that this conference has gone all season, where there hasn't
been one team just sort of just dominating everybody else,
means that I think we're going to get a lot
(43:03):
of fun in a bit of a like if it's
win or go home, then you play it. You're allowed
to play it very free and play a different sort
of game when there's nothing on the line.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Well said, that's very true, I think, and that's what
we hope to see through the playoffs. Really wha best
of three quarterfinals. But Midgee State at Wisconsin. St. Thomas
at Ohio State, Minnesota State at Minnesota, Sat Cloud State
at Minnesota LU. Interesting thing about the Ohio State series,
So if you know about the OSU Ice Rink, it's
across the street from Ohio Stadium and there's a fairly
(43:38):
major event happening on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. The stadium
series is going on with the Blue Jackets playing the
Red Wings.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Right, yes, it's Detroit.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
So I saw somewhere that there is going to be
some recognition of the Ohio State national champions in football
and women's hockey. So we'll be part of that. But
they've got a game to play. During the afternoon, so
it should be an interesting kind of environment right around
(44:12):
there to to take in everything there and you know, hey.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, it's a three o'clock game. It's not like it's
a Newton game like that's fascinating. They're gonna like what
walk right over right after the well right, I'm very
I have logistics lies. I have so many questions.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Again, the four or fives, there is Minnesota d Luth
and Sat Cloud State, who we know have had some
pretty good games in the past and we know have
been in this exact scenario before, Sink Cloud trying to
take that next step, the Luth trying to fight them off,
thoughts on.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That it should be an amazing goaltending duel of gascon
it has been so good. And then Sink Cloud with
both Snia Hola an Amelia Kirko. Uh, yeah, I don't know.
I have no idea. Both teams uh sometimes struggled to
find the back of the net, and both teams are
(45:09):
good on defense and have great goalies. So these could
just be some duels about you know, who gets who
gets that one or one or two goals. Saint Cloud
State has been really good on transition and scoring in
sort of breakaways, So deLuce got to watch out for that.
But yeah, I would I wouldn't bet any money on
the outcome of that. You know, the three game series
(45:30):
is always gonna give you know, I think a bit
of an advantage to the higher seeded team. You know,
if this were a one off game, I would think
Minnesota Duluth would be more worried. But uh, yeah, I
mean I believe in Saint Cloud State and what they're
able to do, and so yeah, that's probably if you know,
you asked me about early on about that would have
been the other series for me that Quidipiac and Clarkson
(45:53):
is one game and then this series I think are
the ones that are most likely to produce sort of
the best hockey and the most fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
This weekend, Ohio State hosting Sat Thomas in the two
seven matchup. There, you've got that that maybe more intriguing
than a two seven matchup normally, is is what you're thinking?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Yeah, I mean, you know St. Thomas has pulled points
away from Ohio State. They beat them, right like not
making this up or was it a yeah? So Saint
Thomas has has given them problems and I think that
three game series, and particularly here favors Ohio State. I
(46:34):
think Saint Thomas can definitely pull you know, one win,
can they pull two? Particularly you know if it comes
at it's it's the part where Ohio State is scarier
after the loss. Uh Naden is scarier after a loss.
But yeah, I I think, like you said, this is
just a much more interesting matchup than a two seven
might normally be. And again, when you have nothing to lose,
(46:58):
it enables you to play in a different way. And
so I just think like that favors Saint Thomas here,
and they they they have all the confidence and the
momentum and knowing that they can take like they're not
going into this thinking like this is a hugely insurmountable hill,
right like they had that one to zero loss in
overtime at home against Ohio State and then Saint Thomas
(47:22):
continued sort of to just do well, they don't have
a win. I have wrong there, but I just want
I just think that there is more. This is going
I think to be a closer game than maybe their
more closer series than maybe Ohio State would be comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
The Atlanta Hockey semi Finals are rit at Penn State
Syracuse at Mercy Hurst. See Syracuse having the time double
overtime success last weekend, I would think that would be
the Maybe the formula again is to keep that game
close as long as you can and then try and
(48:00):
get a winner toward the end or an overtime for
for Syracuse to try and pull an upset there.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, you know, they get the time to recover. It's
not a massive travel for them over to Mercy Herst,
so that all works in their favor as well. Yeah.
I think Syracuse has, you know, a pretty experienced team,
like they've got quite a few seniors in fifth years,
and I think that just plays into this that like
these are these are players that have been in situations before,
(48:26):
have played in the postseason, and you know, like you said,
sort of are able to grind down their opponent and
really hold on to that. I mean, that's that's a
skill in its own right, right, Like being able to
come from behind or hold on to a tie is
a specific skill set. And if they can do that
here and really grind versus Hurst down, I think, like
you said that that could be the key for them
(48:47):
to get that win.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
The quarterfinals in newha are Long Island hosting Saint Michael's,
Franklin Pierce hosting hosts, Sacred Heart hosting Assumption, and Stone
Hill hosting Saint Ansel. So, uh, we see where the
the loss costs Sacred Heart on last Saturday, dropping them
to the third seed, which if they get into a
(49:11):
semi final, would make them the lower seed than that
against if Franklin Pierce, I should say, and Long Island
also advance. So there's I think what we've learned in
the last few weeks is don't assume any results are
going to happen in New Hat because Post is taking
(49:31):
care of business. Saint Michael's has done pretty well, so
who knows what you'll see and when when it turns
to the playoffs there.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yeah, and for me, the I mean, I know they're
two seed, it wouldn't be like a mass of upset
or anything. But just in general, my eye is on
Franklin Pierce because of what they pulled in the postseason
last year. Like they were they were the cardiac kids.
They came from behind, they won several games and overtime
like they just they put themselves through the paces. Uh,
and you can't sort of replace that experience like being
(50:03):
able to win those kinds of games repeatedly and and
never sort of count yourself out. You know. There's they're
already a favorite, you know, as the number two seed,
but they're just there's someone that I will watch like,
especially during the postseason, just because of what they've been
able to do in the past. And I think that
that shows sort of what they're capable of and makes
them a little even scarier than just the fact that
(50:25):
they're the two seed.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
Well, that's the wrap up of what's coming this weekend.
This weekend weekend, I guess when include the Wednesday night
these games, Nicole, You'll be online to be watching all
these so if you're you're only able to follow on
on x, Twitter, whatever, Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
I'll post on both.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Give me the updates.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Yeah, that's uh. I don't think that I'm going to
go to any games this weekend. I'm just gonna stay
home with all my screens. So that's uh. That's exciting
for me. And it's going to be a lot of
hockey starting tomorrow or starting Wednesday, so that's exciting. Sorry,
I keep saying tomorrow. When this is gonna post on
Wednesday Wednesday night for Hockey East. Yeah, that I'm just
really excited. As we've gone through this, I hadn't really
(51:12):
paid a ton of attention to the timing and a
lot of the games are staggered, so it's nice to
see that we're not going to have every game happening
at one time.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Even on Saturday, there was a good from what I remember,
there's an afternoon cycle in an evening cycle, so that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:30):
Often, like when it's a Friday Saturday, like the Saturday
games are really kind of all done by like five o'clock,
and that's just not the case, right, you know, with
the schedule, so you really can I mean, the the
on Saturday, the Saint Cloud State Minnesota du Loose game
is at one Central and we have a game starting
at like seven thirty eastern, seven o'clock eastern. So yeah,
(51:50):
there are it is a full day.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
It'd be exciting and should be a lot of good
hockey this weekend. So we hope you enjoy it. We
hope you reach out to us through social media through
the email that is in our show notes if you
have thoughts or comments. Otherwise, we will talk to you
next week on the podcast.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com