December 9, 2025 • 44 mins
On the Dec. 9, 2025, edition of the PodKaz, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com look back No. 1 Wisconsin's road sweep of No. 2 Ohio State. The Badgers held the Buckeyes to two goals in the series, with goalie Ava McNaughton stopping 60 shots.
No. 11 Princeton had a big weekend, too, earning road wins at No. 14 Colgate and No. 8 Cornell to improve its winning streak to seven games. Cornell, on the other hand, has lost three of four.
Northeastern rebounded from its first Hockey East loss of the season to sweep Boston College and open an 11-point lead.
Lindenwood bounced back from a 10-1 loss at Mercyhurst for a 5-2 win in the second game of an Atlantic Hockey series.
And Franklin Pierce narrowed Saint Anselm's lead in NEWHA to six points with a win and a shootout win in a series between the teams.
Our second segment includes a look ahead at this week's brief schedule in college hockey, the Under-18 World Championship scheduled for January and the Rivalry Series games between the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday and Saturday.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email todd.milewski@uscho.com.
No. 11 Princeton had a big weekend, too, earning road wins at No. 14 Colgate and No. 8 Cornell to improve its winning streak to seven games. Cornell, on the other hand, has lost three of four.
Northeastern rebounded from its first Hockey East loss of the season to sweep Boston College and open an 11-point lead.
Lindenwood bounced back from a 10-1 loss at Mercyhurst for a 5-2 win in the second game of an Atlantic Hockey series.
And Franklin Pierce narrowed Saint Anselm's lead in NEWHA to six points with a win and a shootout win in a series between the teams.
Our second segment includes a look ahead at this week's brief schedule in college hockey, the Under-18 World Championship scheduled for January and the Rivalry Series games between the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday and Saturday.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email todd.milewski@uscho.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Uscho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Todd Lusky here with Nicole Hosey from us echo
dot com. And Nicole, we've got a number one versus
Number two series to talk about. We've got a few
other impressive results shout out to Princeton. We'll get to
them in a few minutes for a couple of wins
last weekend, but we've got to.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Start with that one versus two series.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Wisconsin coming in with the top spot in the country,
but not in the WCHA that belong to O House
state by a point. But now Wisconsin is the unquestioned
I think leader of well definitely in both rankings and
the WHA standings, and really kind of vibe after they
go into the os U I s Rink and get
(00:52):
a two to one win on Friday and the six
to one win on Saturday to end the twenty twenty
five portion of their schedule with a pretty impres of sweep.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I expected either team
to get a sweep, so I think either way that
would have went, a sweep would be impressive. But yeah,
that that six to one win on Saturday really was
just sort of the capper. I thought Ohio State looked,
you know, very good, especially to start on Friday, and
by Saturday it was like, well this this is Wisconsin's game.
So uh yeah, a surprising result, I would say overall,
(01:23):
and I imagine there's a lot that Ohio State will
be working on coming.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Out of that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
But after some some faults and some you know things
that had had us pointing out some issues with Wisconsin,
they really pulled it together when they needed to and
sort of played their their best hockey against the other
top team in the conference and in the country.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I mean it's it's easy to make something on the
six on the on that side of things for Wisconsin
on Saturday, but only allowing two goals at Ohio State,
a team that's got a lot of firepower, a lot
of people that can put the puck in, then that
stood out to me. And it seemed like they did
a pretty good job containing the big players the joy Dons. Uh.
(02:06):
It just felt like, yes, done scored but and had
a lot of chances. But Avin McNaughton did well and
goal for Wisconsin to uh to keep the Buckeyes only
two goals on the weekend, and really the whole defensive
court didn't seem flustered like we've seen them in the
past against Ohio State at times.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Right, they weren't making those sort of week passes or
trying to take too much time. Yeah, they were doing
sort of all those little things that the coaches love.
And it is absolutely a sliding scale, like it's super unfair,
but like I felt like, this is the best Eva
McNaughton has looked in a while. And that's you know,
that's that's going against her own standard and an own
(02:48):
the own UW goalie standard. It's not like she has
ever looked bad at all, but just this was as
sharp as she's looked and probably all season and maybe
maybe you know up to a year she really locked in,
really was there was a ton of rebound control if
she was getting them up at all, there just weren't
the second chance opportunities, which is something Ohio State, you know,
(03:12):
they really can crowd in front of the net there
and really get sticks to extra opportunities or cycling the
puck around, and they just really weren't getting those chances.
And that's it wasn't just that she was making great saves,
but it was what she and the defense were doing
to sort of really control the defensive end of the
ice and not let Ohio State really get set into
what they want to do.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
One of the things that the Wisconsin side was saying
before the series is that at least Mark Johnson was
saying that this was gonna be the fastest games that
they play, and it helps when you're in fast games
to have fast players. And then we saw Caroline Harvey
just take off up the middle of the ice in
each game and score a breakaway goal kind of carbon copies.
(03:54):
The first one gave the Badges a two nothing lead
on Friday, and then she scored again on Saturday. I
believe that was also to make.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It to nothing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I can't they were both, but I think both game winners,
right technically, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And and and so and both in four on four play.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's just that little bit of extra open ice made
so much of a difference for her. And when when
you let her have room to skate, and especially with
the the skate with the pock, that's that's trouble. You're
You're we're seeing how how much of a talent she is,
not that we haven't before, but that it's still growing.
And it's that it's finding new levels, which is really
(04:34):
exciting for the US as you go a new Olympic
campaign later this year, to have someone playing at that
kind of level.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, it's comical to think back about how she really
didn't get on the ice in the last Olympics when
you think about what we've seen from her in the
past few seasons. But yeah, for me, it's maybe it's
because we're lucky to get to see her quite a
bit in person, but it's yeah, it's the growth and
the details. Not The four and four gave her more ice,
but also gave her a little bit more time to
(05:00):
sort of see how plays develop. The puck's not moving
quite as quickly, right, Like, they're a little bit longer
passes and things, and she can just really slow down
the game and really predict what's coming. And so that
really gave her that chance. But her her east to
west movement and just I think she's just so much
smarter with the puck than she used to be. You know,
if she'd get the puck up top and didn't necessarily
(05:22):
see things, she was just putting it on net and
you know, sort of hoping for the best in terms
of knowing that she's got top tier talent up there.
But you know that is also like you just throw
a shot out and it can end up as a turnover,
and that's not something she's doing much anymore in her
you know, in the last two years. And yeah, I
think like, if you've got a young defender that's interested
in sort of going to the next level, you should
be watching.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Tape of KK.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It's just it's really impressive to watch, like you said,
just the growth. I mean, she was an Olympian and
she was All American her freshman year, and she's gotten better,
like exponentially better since then.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right, Yeah, I'm really I mean we've seen her play
at you know, the World Championship level and those levels,
so it's not like it's gonna be a lot different
to see in the Olympic level. But just like you said,
that comparison of four years ago being you know, this
was she eighteen years old, seventeen years old or whatever
on that team, and just how much you know, everyone
(06:21):
thought of her and that the potential that she had,
how much that'll just kind of carry into these Olympics,
because you know, we know everyone watches the Olympics you know,
women's hockey gets this four year bump, right, and we're
starting to see it even out in the middle because
of the PWHL a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But if if.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
She's able to, you know, have a star turn on
the Olympic stage, that's that's a heck of a way
to I mean, this is her senior season, it's a
heck of way to wrap up a college career that
man has been been pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, it feels like it there's a chance that the
world becomes her orster right, Like, lots of opportunities, and
I think at this point she's probably the consensus number
one pick heading into the PWHL draft, which is no
shade to the Abbey Murphy's and other forwards, but like
she's a generational defender, like you, the drop between her
(07:18):
and the next best defender is much bigger than the
drop between the number one and number two forwards. That like,
I if you, I don't know, if you feel like
you need a defender, like you still are going to
take KK and so I think that is just yeah,
there's just it feels like there's a she's she's at
a pres spice and there's a lot wide open in
front of her, and so it'll it'll be fun to
see what happens next. And I just wanted to say
(07:39):
we kind of got talking to KK, but I thought
it was interesting. The goal on Friday came as Ohio
State was pressing at the point it's one to oh
and they forgot to play defense, and it's one of
the things we kind of talked about, and you get
it at that point when they're really pressing for that goal,
but there was all that ice because they were on
their front foot and they were pressing and they were
looking for the chances and K saw that immediately and
(08:01):
took off on that breakout. The second one does look
the same ultimately, but is somewhat different in that she
just took the puck right off of mere younger stick.
I think it was Mira just like she's holding the puck,
she's trying to decide what to do on the power
playing KK just like skates over takes it off R
and goes down. Sort Of interesting just the two differences
(08:22):
there of how that built up. But I just thought
that was we had talked a lot about the Ohio
State need to remember defense because it's just something they
haven't had to do a ton of and I feel
like they did a good especially in that first game,
a really good job of it. But it was like
once that pressure of there's only a couple of minutes
left and we can tie this and change this game,
then it was like oops, that bit fell out the
(08:43):
back of the brain and they were just really pushing
towards the goal. So I thought that was interesting just
in terms of sort of how we had talked about
how that game might develop.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yep, all right, so Wisconsin goes five points ahead of
Ohio State as we wind down for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
They'll pick that up again in twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Twenty six, and of course we'll have to pay attention
to win all of those players go to the Olympics
Olympic Camps, because that'll change things for a lot of
teams in the back end of the second half of
the season. Here, so plenty to watch for there. Okay,
let's take a spin around the country last week. Start
(09:23):
with number eleven Princeton getting a six to one win
at number fourteen Coldgate on Friday, and then a three
to win at number eight Cornell on Saturday. Princeton moving
up to number nine in the US Echo dot Com
rankings this week. I believe you said this is they've
won seven in a row.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Is that correct? I haven't done the math, but do
you have.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, that's that's what I founded the write ups.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, they were, you know, at six and then they
want to get on Saturday, and I think it was
like their first sweep of that, you know, our travel
partners thing, but that their first sweep of that for
like a good six, seven, eight years. I can't my
note now, but just really huge for them to be
able to get both of those wins and really like
all this conversation we've had about hot your ECAC, we
(10:09):
really haven't talked about Princeton, and they forced themselves into
the conversation here for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And they do that with a hat trick on Friday
from Mackenzie Alexander adding an assist as well for a
four point night, and then is he Wonder scores tying
in goal ahead goals in the second period at Cornell
on Saturday. And we'll talk about Cornell in a minute,
but on the Princeton side of things, this.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Is a.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Group that obviously can has big things in mind and
shown that they can do that how much of is
it kind of like playing with house money at some
point though, where you know they've they've done pretty well,
they know they're going to be able to compete, and
now you just go ahead and go out and do
(10:57):
whatever you can because you know, I don't know that
a lot of people were expecting this, but if they
can do this this far, they're gonna be able to
do it in the second half too.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Right, Like we talked about a bunch of different teams,
and then QUINNIPIEC had that hot start and Princeton didn't
have the cleanest start. The other thing is the loss
of Sarah Paul and the transfer portal, Right, so like
we expected that was going to have a huge inspect impact.
And I mean, I think Mackenzie Alexander's you know, I
think she has twelve points in those seven wins, that
seven win streak, seven goals, five assists, and so she's
(11:31):
already forced herself into the Rookie of the Year conversation
basically over the course of a couple of games. And
I think for every team, you know, part of their
fortunes comes from how quickly your freshmen get up to speed.
Everybody is bringing in top recruits and how quickly can
they make an impact? And Mackenzie Alexander, you know, stepped
into some pretty big shoes there, and Izzy Wonder needed
(11:52):
some help and needed you know, a foil for some
of that, and we're just seeing that. And then some
of the other Princeton players too have just taken up
a bigger role, Jeane Key and a few others, and
so yeah, I think like there was very low.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Expectations on them.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
We weren't paying attention to start because of other things
going on. And so now I feel like they're just,
like you said, a little bit playing with house money.
Like they've got all the confidence, all the momentum, and
they know that they can do you know what, maybe
they weren't even themselves weren't expecting to do. So when
you've beaten all the other top teams in the conference,
it really puts you in a really good spot heading
(12:27):
into the second half.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Right, And they are in first place as we get
to the end of the twenty twenty five part of
the schedule, And again, I don't know if a lot
of people would have had that as the team had.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
The Tigers leading the way as the end of the
year approaches.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
On the other side of that, though, is you know,
Cornell having lost now three out of its last four games,
after they also lost on Friday to Quinnipiac three nothing
Felicia Franks shut them out despite thirty four eighteen being
the shots and goal in favor of the Big Red.
This is a thing where, you know, Princeton's on the up,
(13:06):
Cornell's a little bit on the down, and I don't
know how far the slide continues. Is this going to
be just a you know, the late part of November,
early part of December was really bad for them, and
second half they'll pick it right back up where they
started the season. Or are we really seeing cracks here
for Cornell?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I mean, it certainly feels like some cracks, but I
mean they're they've probably got the best case for very
excited for the holiday break and a chance to reset.
I'm not sure any team is more excited than they are.
But for me, it's the sort of the inconsistency, like
we just you know, watch some of the goals they
gave up against Vermont. It just was like, this is
(13:46):
so uncharacteristic of a really defensive team with an a
plus goaltender, like, what what's going on here? And so yeah,
it's I think a good bit of it's probably mental
at this point. It's a it's a little bit of
a self fulfill prophecy. I think for them there, they
got to be pretty low. The confidence is pretty low,
and it's showing out on the ice, and so I
(14:07):
think hopefully for them they get through their exams and
get a chance to just start over and get a reset.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
They we know what they're capable of. They did it
last year.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
They have much the same roster they did it to
start the year, and so I think it's just a
matter of finding what it takes to get those puzzle
pieces to go back together in the right formation, right.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Right U And then Quinnipiac, which had which defeated Cornell Friday,
then lost in overtime to Colgate two to one on
Saturday with a Sarah Stewart overtime goal for the Raiders. Again,
this is one of those where you know, okay, Princeton
got two wins, it seemed like everyone else was kind
of in splitsville.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Again.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We saw Brown beat Yale on Saturday, but then lose
the Yale on Sunday, So it it feels like there's
the advantage of of coming away with two wins on
a weekend as you you gain that little bit of
ground on everyone else that splits.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, and at this point, I mean, I think the
sweeps are kind of few and far between across you know,
every conference, not just in the ECAC. So anytime you
walk away with all those points, it's just such a
huge that the swing there is just like massive, and
we're talking you know, I didn't look at it this week,
but we're talking a handful of points and including half
points from like first to eighth in the ECAC, and
(15:24):
so one point one win versus a loss like one,
you know, one point three points is makes just a
huge difference right now. And I think if a team
can string together a couple of those weekend sweeps like
Princeton has been doing, like suddenly they've pulled ahead and
you you're less scrambling. So yeah, I think the rest
(15:45):
of the ECAC is probably also happy for a little
chance to maybe try and slow some of that momentum,
watch some tape and see what they can do.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Move over to Hockey East. Last week, New Hampshire handed
Northeastern its first conference loss of the season, four to
three in overtime a midweek game last Tuesday night. Kelly
Hardy scored in overtime to win that one. Northeastern did
rebound with three to one and four to two wins
in a home and home series with Boston College over
(16:13):
the weekend and open a eleven point lead on the
Eagles for first place.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
So that's important for Northeastern bounce back.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
They lost that second game of the series to Penn State,
then they lost the midweek game to New Hampshire. Getting
a couple of wins against BC an important step for
them to get right back on.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You don't want to go into the break on a little.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Bit of a slide there, especially after you've started things
off so well and built a pretty comfortable lead.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, now it's even.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
More comfortable, Yeah, I thought importantly the second game in
that series, which was the one at Matthew's where they
had their senior night, and sort of this weird, this
weird order of things that they're having to do this year.
B C went up first and so sort of expected,
you know that that series might be a little bit
and forth, and after Northeastern won the first game, it
(17:03):
was like, okay, BC is here to play. And then
the Northeastern really you know it, sort of came back
and took control of the game and did what they
do with you know, Lily Shannon speed and things like that.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And so not just the win.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But the way that they were able to get that win,
not just for the the emotional of the Matthews of
it all, the senior night of it all, but of
being able to beat like this is your closest competitor
in the conference. You know, they came into your house
and sort of tried to push you around, and you
came back and did it back. And I think that
that will go a long way for them to We
talked about this all the time, like even some of
(17:36):
the losses, like you you want those sorts of wins
or losses because you need to learn those lessons now.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yukon number seven in the country, got a couple of
challenges from Boston University. One one tie on Friday, Tiachan
had to make forty three saves and Mary Peterson forty
two for BU and then you Count won three to
two on Saturday with a last minute goal.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Again Shen Schalefu. I'm sorry, it's my best French. I
am probably.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Overdoing it, but apologies, thank you. Game winning goals seven
seconds left in that one. So Yukon comes away without
a loss on the weekend. Be you that close to.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You know, kind of.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
There was a point where it felt like they had
been able to turn this first half around and that kind.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Of slipped away from.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Them and had that one last chance to make something
happen on their final weekend of the first half of
the year, and instead Yukon pulls out the win at
the end. Important win for Yukon though in the in
the NPI discussions.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, absolutely, can you just that that first game eighty
would you say? I think eighty five total saves and
it was a one to one tie, Like what was
happening in that game? Yes, I had done for a
little while and it was just like this, I don't
so kudos to bout the goalies and the defenses, but yeah,
that was that was a bit of a mind boggling.
A few times, I'm like, how is the book still
(19:05):
outside of the net? But you know, same as we
were kind of saying with Northeastern, Yukon getting that goal
was seven seconds left, Like that was a stunner, and
be you had just come back to tide I think
in the final two or three minutes and so you know,
bus riding that high. They'd gotten the tie the night before,
they're you know, sort of showing some fight and that
(19:26):
was just like such a heartbreaker. But but kudos to
Yukon for for not getting up, given up and play
into the buzzer. And as you said, they just those
are really important points for them, not just from an
MPI standpoint, I think, but also just from a ViBe's
and a like reputation standpoint.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You got you at this.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Point, like there's a lot going on Northeastern sort of
proving their cells upong the top. You need to be
showing that you're you know, you're another team that should
be considered like Hockey's got one team last year. So there's, yeah,
there's a lot on you know, riding on some of
this for them, And so I thought just from a
like sending them into the break and you know, just
(20:05):
sort of proving that they're a team that's still worth
you know having in the conversation, I thought those were
really important wins.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, a couple of weeks ago, I think I said something, well, yeah,
not not a couple of wins, but winmen, But a
couple of weeks ago I said something about, and this
was involving New Haul leader Saint Anselm, that they'd gotten
off to a lead that felt like it was pretty secure.
Franklin Pierce says, not so fast, because two to one
(20:32):
win and a three to three tie and a shootout
win in a home and home series over Saint ansel
means that that lead is now down to six points.
So not it's it's still a pretty significant lead there.
But Franklin Pierce did its job and cutting into it
last weekend.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
That was a Wednesday Thursday series last week.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Abigail bros With the go ahead goal in the early
part of the third period on Wednesday, and then, like
I said, Franklin Piers won the shootout after the three
to three tie on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, we said we put that in aumn yet.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, I think, you know, fair play to Franklin Pearson
in apologies to the rest of New Hawk because we
said that based on sort of how the you know,
the team right below was like we were like, well,
that's if they're not contending then and Franklin Peers.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I just love how scrappy they are.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
They sort of won my heart a few years ago
when they like overtime game after overtime game, weighed their
way through the New Hawk tournament and just kept kind
of you know, cardiac kids. And I think they continue
to play like that, whether they get the the wins
or not. They just played this really scrappy, really gritty
sort of game. And I don't think that they think
that they're out of any game. They're all on the
(21:46):
table for them, and I like that mentality really serves
them well.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Appreciated that we they were like, oh, I guess not
hold my peers, hold hold my energy, drink my But yeah,
they just were like, excuse this, we have something to
say about this conversation. And I appreciate that. That's it's
again the chaos makes it fun. So good for them,
And I think they's somebody that are that have shown that,
(22:13):
like they get better, you continually get better as the
season goes on, which not everybody can say. And that's
just that mentality of like they are. They are constantly
in a game regardless, and I think that makes it
really dangerous.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Over in Atlantic Hockey America a couple of results. I
wanted to point out Mercy Hears ran all over linden
with ten to one on Friday behind a hat trick
from Julius Shallon, but hats off to the Lions for
bouncing back with a five to win on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
That that can't be easy.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I mean, you you lose by nine goals one night,
you got another game to play at Mercy Hearris, and
you come out and you win the second game. That's
There's They're having a lot of a ton of wins
for linden Would, but getting one in those specific circumstances
I thought was worth highlighting.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Absolutely, Lindenwood is part of the as we keep having
this conversation of like, it doesn't make any sense to
me how these wins are happening, right, Like Vermont last
week beat Cornell and then this week lost to holy Cross,
and then we had you know, like the Syracuses and
the ri t Like we're seeing some of the Age
A teams, you know, do some do some damage after
(23:28):
like losing really poorly, you know, to really like tough
game or really like hard losses. And so yeah, I
a kudos to Linden would for for getting that back
against you know, the number two, like the pretty solidly
number two team in their conference for several years at
this point.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
But also, I just like this is.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
When when when I say I'm confused about what's happening,
That's one of the things that I'm talking about, because
I'm like, how do you how is a team you know,
the ups and downs of it? How do you lose
ten one and then come back and win five to two.
I just like I it does not compete for me.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
One more one to wrap up with here, back into
the WHA. Saint Clouds State number thirteen and Minnesota State
number twelve. The Huskies and the Mavericks split a weekend series,
but the Huskies get the four points out of the
series because they took the second game to overtime four nothing.
Saint Cloud in the first game, three to two, Minnesota
(24:22):
State in the second game. Cameron van Batavia with the
overtime goal. On the second night, Emilia Kurico twenty eight
saves for the shutout in the opener. And these are
teams that you know, we've we were surprised by Saint
Cloud's overall record earlier in the season, and especially the
(24:43):
fact that they were still staying ranked, because I think
everyone expected that this was going to turn around for them,
and we saw that a little bit Friday, and maybe
then again a little bit in at least getting into
overtime with the Mavericks on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Right, And conversely, like the Mavericks are proving that, you know,
some of their stuff are it's not a fluke either,
Like they're they're also playing, you know this good against
another rank team and they're in that conversation and deserve
to be all right.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That is going to wrap up our look back at
last week. When we come back, we'll talk about what
is ahead and we'll actually there's some rivalry series games
to talk about this week as well. Stay with us
on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Nicole
(25:35):
here with you to wrap up what's our last real
like normal kind.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Of podcast of the twenty twenty five calendar year.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
We're going to have one more episode next week, kind
of wrapping up what we've seen in the first half
of the season. But it's a very quiet week around
college hockey this coming week. Only four games on the
schedule to Friday to Saturday, Saint Michael's at Dartmouth on Friday,
Saint Anselm at Dartmouth on Saturday, and then a two
game series between Long Island and Robert Morris in the
(26:09):
Pittsburgh area on Friday and Saturday. Those are the last
games on the college hockey schedule until December thirtieth. Then
there's only two games that day and then we're done
with twenty twenty five all together. So the games are
winding down for the calendar year. Make sure you stay
with us Echo dot com for all the scores and
(26:29):
stats on those. A couple other events coming up that
we want to touch on. One Nicole will be at
the U eighteen Women's World Championship. Nicole, you want to
tell us a little bit about that, where it is,
when it's going to be, and what you're looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Sure, yeah, this is what my fifth year going. It
starts on January tenth. We're going to be in Sydney,
and I assume you Saint memberto number two. We're going
to be in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. So when we
learned about this as the location, I learned that you
can go four hours east of Halifax, because yeah, I
was planning to fly to Halifax and I was like, wow,
(27:07):
it's much further from there, So yeah, I'll be in
a whole new time zone that we don't even have
here in the US. But yes, Canada hosting U eighteen
World Championships, like I said, starts January. It's January tenth
to eighteenth, so I will be up there covering that
USA has released their roster. But we're sort of waiting
on everybody else. But we're, you know, a month out,
so at this point we should we should be starting
(27:28):
to see those and just again as a reminder, like
particularly US and Canada, but across all of the participating countries.
These are players that most have committed to play in
the NCAA in the next year. Starting in the next
year or two, so most every player on the US
in Canada, unless they are too young to have officially
committed yet, will be committed to an NCAA school, and
(27:51):
then we will see several players across the other countries.
Group A is Canada, Swede, and Switzerland and Hungary. Group
B is the US C, Chechia, Finland, and Slovakia. So
gold medal game or metal round games will be on
the eighteenth.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Like I said, I will be up there. Coverage will
be mostly on Victory Press.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
It's a good time to get a subscription there because
I do things like take a video in the mix
zone and share it to our paying subscribers there. But
we'll also have some coverage at usc h O in
terms of the how it relates the NCAA, and yeah,
it's just a lot of fun. You know, Canada are
the reigning champions, but we are also not that far
(28:32):
removed from Canada taking the bronze because they were upset
by Chechia the year before and Chechia playing in that
you know, gold medal game that the US won. So
there's just all of the sort of growth that we've
seen across the senior national teams and the competitions being
stepped up there that is also happening down at you eighteens.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And so again, as we've talked about.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Some of the really great rookies this year in the NCAA,
you know Hildas Fence in at at Ohio State and
like Caitlyn Kramer, the sophomore up at UMD. These are
all players that like I first got to see in
the last couple of years at U eighteens, and they
are players that that you know, start there get chances
based on how they play there and with their NCAA
(29:14):
teams to play on the senior national teams. You know,
Chloe Permurano played in U eighteens last year and though
she was already at Minnesota. So it's just the the
very best of what's next. We don't do World Juniors
and the women yet. One day we might get at
U twenties, but this is these are the future stars
of the NCAA and that's why I love going and
(29:35):
putting a putting the attention on these teams. So presumably
several games will be on NHL Network. TSN usually does
the broadcast out of Canada, and then it depends on
what you know is bought down here in the US.
But yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. It's a whirlwind.
I'm usually, well, this might be better in Canada, but
(29:55):
the past few years I've been one of the only
press people there. So yeah, I just wanted to shout
out because unbelievably we are a month out on that one,
and so though we don't have rosters yet, we're starting
to get there and those will trickle out, I imagine
coming after both the upcoming international break that we're going
to talk about with the rival Series Rivalry Series and
(30:17):
the Euro Hockey Tour.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I imagine then we'll see some of this coming out
of that.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
So yeah, just an exciting time and I think a
really I think it's important to start having more of
a conversation about what comes next and sort of the
prospects in a way that we do on the men's side.
These younger players, we get really excited when they come
to the NCAA or when they start playing on the
senior national team, but we could be paying attention to
(30:41):
them way before that.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You mentioned in there that you know there isn't a
U twenty tournament for women.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You said yet not to put you on a soapbox here,
do anything like that. But what's the hurdle there?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I mean, I can imagine there's a timing pretty significant
timing hurdle is if you're having to put another tournament
into THEAHF calendar, and also at a time when you're
going to be taking college players away from their college teams,
they would have me the significant discussions about when that happens, Right,
what else is it.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Well, if Women's Worlds is no longer in April after
the NCAA season ends, there is a window there.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Now, let me say this as like, this is a
personal soapbox. This is not based on necessarily any like
I just want to point out that this is less
reporter and more personal. But like Todd and I have
like had Luke Tardiff in a room and been like,
why isn't this happening? You basically said be patient. And
that was twenty twenty one. And so you know, the
(31:43):
IHF did partner with the PWHL this year, which is
a big step for the IHF is just really behind
when it comes to women's hockey. In my opinion, they're
just a lot of they don't I think they don't
want to get caught in things like the CHL folding
and stuff like that, and so they're just overly cautious
in a way that you would not ever see them
be on the other side of things. And so you know,
(32:06):
there's a lot of oh, we might not have enough
players like that. That conversation is moot to me at
this point. You know, if you think that there's not
enough talented women to play in a even if we
took it to you twenty two. Honestly, it doesn't have
to look exactly like the men.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That was one of the arguments from IHF President Lutardiff.
Just there's a lot, there's plenty of excuses, and as
far as I'm concerned, not a lot enough forward thinking
or action to try and overcome some of these perceived hurdles.
There's a lot of we'll just wait and see and
maybe it'll happen. But I mean that is completely unsurprised.
(32:43):
I mean, the only reason we had a twenty twenty
one U eighteen World Championships in the US is because
the US and Hockey USA Hockey and Hockey Canada basically
stepped up and did it. IHF said, you can have it,
but you have to put it together. And I kind
of feel like that's what's going to need to happen here,
Like something like the US and Canadian Collegiate Series maybe
needs to get a little bigger and include country teams
(33:06):
from other countries.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Things like that. I'm having a Monday apologize friends.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
With the speaking words are hard today, But yeah, I
just think at some point, I think if we rely
on the IHF it's probably never going to happen, but
I do think that there are plenty of people that
see the need for it, and I think continuing the
p WHL plays into that now that there's another next
step and that need for developing that middle tier, especially
(33:32):
as we see players in the PWHL that didn't come
out of college as top tier players. There's a plenty
of girls and PWHL rosters. And I say this with
utmost respect that when they graduated, we wouldn't have said
that as a professional player that is going to succeed
and get a long term contract. Things have changed in
the last few years, and so I think there just
needs to be a really big rewiring about how we
(33:53):
approach it. And the IHF is just never going to
be at the forefront of any of that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
That's not there. That's not their em all.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
They want all but guaranteed success, right, And so I
think it's going to be on federations and whomever, teams
and coaches and all that sort of stuff to put
on events and prove that they're sucuccessful. And I wish
that it wasn't like that. I think that is a
backwards way for things to happen. The Federation should be
pushing a lot of this stuff. Again, this is my
(34:21):
personal opinion. I just want to keep saying that, But
I just I say yet, because I am hopeful and
I think there's a need for it. I think there
is a proven need for something that between the IHFU
eighteens and either pro or senior national team, there's there's
just not there's too many players now at this point,
(34:42):
you know, there's forty four and C eight teams, You've
got all the U sports teams. There are players coming
out of you know, Sweden and Finland, Nation LEAs the
Switzerland national League that are in that area that have
promised and aren't getting the support that they need to
continue to develop their game. And so I think, you know,
it's just really clear that there's a need for it
(35:02):
and that that's where we should be headed next. And
so I'm going to just keep saying yet, and I
think we should just keep talking about it and forcing
those conversations. But do I think the IHF is on
verge of having that tournament.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
No, absolutely not, that's not their deal.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Hasn't been to date.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
No, not expecting that to change immediately, right, but something
to continue the conversations on and so by having at
least talking about it, that at least maybe Yeah, I
think keeps the ideas moving of like how could this work,
When could this work?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Where could it work? Who's going to step up financially
for it?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yeah, I mean I think even to some extent, we're
seeing it, Like with the Women's Zero Hockey Tour, it's
not always like the top team from Sweden or Finland,
like some of their players are playing the pedu or
doing other things, and so we're already seeing sort of
a B squad or a training squad however you want
to say it, playing in some of these terms. There's
clearly an opportunity and there's clearly enough players, so to me,
(36:06):
that bit's a no brainer.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
There's clearly some logistical.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Questions, and I get that, and I'm willing if we
were at the point where we were like, hey, we
could have this, but we're not sure like when to
hold it, I would be thrilled, like, get me to
the logistical questions and we'll figure that bit out. But
it's not as though the IHF is like, oh, we
could do this, but we just don't know when. Like, no,
they're not there, So I just think, yeah, there's we
(36:30):
don't I want other people to understand this and know
about this and keep having these conversations and pushing it
because that's the only way. I mean, that's what we've
see and we know we have to help force that change.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
All right. You had mentioned the international break, and that's where.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
We're at in that we have a rivalry series and
a yuro series week I guess the revalry series happens
Wednesday and Saturday in Edmonton, US and Canada playing two
games there after the US one. The first two of
those games one in Cleveland, one in Buffalo back in November.
(37:07):
What what should we be looking for here? This is
another one of those one step closer to Olympic selection
roster selection time kind of events that we're going to
see with the rivalry series. Who I mean, obviously there
are players playing for a spot. I just wonder whether
they're going to get those opportunities in these two games
(37:30):
to have a you know, a last last show and
if that's something we need to be on the lookout for.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
I I mean, I think so.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
But also I don't know that either coaching staff has
shown a propensity for putting in, you know, sort of
experimenting with their lineups or their rosters and putting in
some of those players that being said, Canada did it
does have a different third goalie in their mix of
guests going not on the list I think is a
Kaylie Doyle is And so that is just they're just
(38:01):
a couple of changes in terms of who is there
and who isn't. And there was in that first set
of Rivalry Series games as well. So weirdly, like unusually
to me, because I feel like Canada is sort of
less likely to make changes, they've been the ones that
I think have been doing a little bit more of like,
let's get some of these people into the lineup and
(38:21):
on the ice.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
And see how they're working together.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
I think the thing we're all going to be looking
to see is now that the PWHL is up and
running and players have games under their belt. A reminder
that the first Rivalry Series games happened before the p
WHL started, so the collegiate players were in mid season
form but nobody else was. And a reminders there aren't
really collegian players or players on the Canadian roster, so
we've seen this in past years in the rivalry series
(38:45):
that the US did really good in those early games
with their collegiate players, and then things even out a
little more. So again, I think that's the thing to
look out for for these games in December is to
see where Canada looks compared to the US in terms
of of now that the players are sort of all
at an even fitness and comfort and season four situation,
(39:08):
so that that's probably the biggest thing, because in previous
years there's there's been a little regression of the gap
between the two. So the US is going to look
to still, you know, have a little bit of domination,
but it seems probably unlikely that it'll be as strong
as it was in that first set of games.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Right over in Europe, we have a four team tournament
that details are sketchy from what we've been able to
piece together.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
On the web, but we believe in English internet, Yes, yes,
we believe.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
It's Wednesday through Friday in Finland, with Chechia, Sweden and
Switzerland joining the hosts for a four team event. Yes,
and that evolving a few college players. From what we've
been able to see, at least, I would imagine there's
this being a pretty getting pretty closely the Olympics, we're
(40:03):
going to see quite a quite a few of those
college players participating.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, I mean we saw announcements from a couple NCAA
teams about their players going over. I do remember seeing
that Finland is leaving some of their biggest names at
home or I guess at their homes, not at home
in Finland. Their roster is not necessarily full of their
biggest names. But I did see, you know, like a
few of the Chechio players posting on Instagram on their
(40:30):
trips to Finland, so you know, like I saw Calty,
you know, on her plate and to Helsinki. So I
do think it's it's always a mix about who decides
to bring him on their roster. But yeah, it looks
like there'll be six games, a little round robin. When
we were in Finland for U eighteen Worlds last year,
a lot of these games were shown on a TV
(40:53):
an internet station that we were able to get, so
it would have finished commentary. But if I can find
those links, I'll make sure I share those on social
media and go put them in the story on us
h O for this podcast episode. So at least that
way we can watch these games, which is nice even
if you probably have to do it on mute unless
you speak Finnish, but it.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Is I feel like a challenge try to understand any
of that finish, right, That's that's one of the hardest
languages understands, as did you.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
Speak yes uh?
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And Michelle Curvin in apparently barely still speaks Finnish, which
I think is amazing that that was one of the
things that.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
Came out in some of her interviews. Head again to
the p WHL season, so all the time she spent there.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Anyway, moral of the story is we should at least
be able to watch some of those and just that
last tune up for those countries heading into the Olympics
as well.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So it should give us, you know, just an interesting.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Look at things that, you know, the last group of
games in August, we had some interesting outcomes to like
Switzerland being Sweden in a shootout and only losing to
Chechia one. Nothing like there's usually Switzerland's usually a step
behind some of those teams, and so Switzerland really pushing,
which I think is fun. Finland is leading the standings,
(42:11):
has five wins CHECKI is two and three. Switzerland's one
to win three losses and Sweden's got to win in
three losses, so Finland definitely leading those. But again, everybody
is not always taking full rosters there, so it's not
definitive by any means, but still an interesting look ex
sort of of how that how things are looking.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
We are less than two months out from the Olympics now,
so that is creeping up on us quickly. It's creeping
up on the uh the international world quickly in a
lot of ways. And how everyone's reacting to the the
ice surface being.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Hopefully there's shorter.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Uh well, yeah, it sounds like that that's gonna be okay.
Now everyone is up in arms. Bot it's going to
be three feet shorter than an age knew? Oh my goodness, right,
that wasn't news. But it's also like, come play in
college at some point where the rinks are anywhere from
five to ten fifteen feet wider or indifference.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
You're you seem sure that the rink's going to be completed,
because I sure know I don't feel like I.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Think I think a rink will be completed. And will
they be able to put people in the seats? Maybe not,
but a.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Lot of this conversation has been about the men's rink
and weren't the Wind's supposed to be playing somewhere else?
And it's been hard to keep track of all the
ways that this has not gone well for hockey ice
in Italy.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I thought, and this I don't know for sure, but
I thought the the the part of the tournament was
in the main venue, the large venue that's being built.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
So maybe there was a point where there was like
Convention Center and they were going to put Yeah, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
It's upsetting and consistently changing, so I'm not keeping up
with it. That's really the moral of the story. So
I should maybe be clearer on what it is. But
it's like I just I don't worrying about it. I
personally can't do anything about it, so I just hope
that there's somewhere for the games to be played and
that it's in shape, safe convict conditions.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Yes, agreed, Okay, I think that's going to wrap it
up for us this week. We appreciate you listening, and
once again next week is going to be kind of.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
A wrap up edition of the show.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
If you have questions for us, drop us a line
there's an email address in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
We'll get to as many.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Of those as we can, or if you have ideas
for discussion, we're happy to hear those two. So thanks
for listening, thanks for watching. We'll catch you next week
on the podcast
Uscho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hi, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Todd Lusky here with Nicole Hosey from us echo
dot com. And Nicole, we've got a number one versus
Number two series to talk about. We've got a few
other impressive results shout out to Princeton. We'll get to
them in a few minutes for a couple of wins
last weekend, but we've got to.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Start with that one versus two series.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Wisconsin coming in with the top spot in the country,
but not in the WCHA that belong to O House
state by a point. But now Wisconsin is the unquestioned
I think leader of well definitely in both rankings and
the WHA standings, and really kind of vibe after they
go into the os U I s Rink and get
(00:52):
a two to one win on Friday and the six
to one win on Saturday to end the twenty twenty
five portion of their schedule with a pretty impres of sweep.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I expected either team
to get a sweep, so I think either way that
would have went, a sweep would be impressive. But yeah,
that that six to one win on Saturday really was
just sort of the capper. I thought Ohio State looked,
you know, very good, especially to start on Friday, and
by Saturday it was like, well this this is Wisconsin's game.
So uh yeah, a surprising result, I would say overall,
(01:23):
and I imagine there's a lot that Ohio State will
be working on coming.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Out of that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
But after some some faults and some you know things
that had had us pointing out some issues with Wisconsin,
they really pulled it together when they needed to and
sort of played their their best hockey against the other
top team in the conference and in the country.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I mean it's it's easy to make something on the
six on the on that side of things for Wisconsin
on Saturday, but only allowing two goals at Ohio State,
a team that's got a lot of firepower, a lot
of people that can put the puck in, then that
stood out to me. And it seemed like they did
a pretty good job containing the big players the joy Dons. Uh.
(02:06):
It just felt like, yes, done scored but and had
a lot of chances. But Avin McNaughton did well and
goal for Wisconsin to uh to keep the Buckeyes only
two goals on the weekend, and really the whole defensive
court didn't seem flustered like we've seen them in the
past against Ohio State at times.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Right, they weren't making those sort of week passes or
trying to take too much time. Yeah, they were doing
sort of all those little things that the coaches love.
And it is absolutely a sliding scale, like it's super unfair,
but like I felt like, this is the best Eva
McNaughton has looked in a while. And that's you know,
that's that's going against her own standard and an own
(02:48):
the own UW goalie standard. It's not like she has
ever looked bad at all, but just this was as
sharp as she's looked and probably all season and maybe
maybe you know up to a year she really locked in,
really was there was a ton of rebound control if
she was getting them up at all, there just weren't
the second chance opportunities, which is something Ohio State, you know,
(03:12):
they really can crowd in front of the net there
and really get sticks to extra opportunities or cycling the
puck around, and they just really weren't getting those chances.
And that's it wasn't just that she was making great saves,
but it was what she and the defense were doing
to sort of really control the defensive end of the
ice and not let Ohio State really get set into
what they want to do.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
One of the things that the Wisconsin side was saying
before the series is that at least Mark Johnson was
saying that this was gonna be the fastest games that
they play, and it helps when you're in fast games
to have fast players. And then we saw Caroline Harvey
just take off up the middle of the ice in
each game and score a breakaway goal kind of carbon copies.
(03:54):
The first one gave the Badges a two nothing lead
on Friday, and then she scored again on Saturday. I
believe that was also to make.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It to nothing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I can't they were both, but I think both game winners,
right technically, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
And and and so and both in four on four play.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's just that little bit of extra open ice made
so much of a difference for her. And when when
you let her have room to skate, and especially with
the the skate with the pock, that's that's trouble. You're
You're we're seeing how how much of a talent she is,
not that we haven't before, but that it's still growing.
And it's that it's finding new levels, which is really
(04:34):
exciting for the US as you go a new Olympic
campaign later this year, to have someone playing at that
kind of level.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, it's comical to think back about how she really
didn't get on the ice in the last Olympics when
you think about what we've seen from her in the
past few seasons. But yeah, for me, it's maybe it's
because we're lucky to get to see her quite a
bit in person, but it's yeah, it's the growth and
the details. Not The four and four gave her more ice,
but also gave her a little bit more time to
(05:00):
sort of see how plays develop. The puck's not moving
quite as quickly, right, Like, they're a little bit longer
passes and things, and she can just really slow down
the game and really predict what's coming. And so that
really gave her that chance. But her her east to
west movement and just I think she's just so much
smarter with the puck than she used to be. You know,
if she'd get the puck up top and didn't necessarily
(05:22):
see things, she was just putting it on net and
you know, sort of hoping for the best in terms
of knowing that she's got top tier talent up there.
But you know that is also like you just throw
a shot out and it can end up as a turnover,
and that's not something she's doing much anymore in her
you know, in the last two years. And yeah, I
think like, if you've got a young defender that's interested
in sort of going to the next level, you should
be watching.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Tape of KK.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It's just it's really impressive to watch, like you said,
just the growth. I mean, she was an Olympian and
she was All American her freshman year, and she's gotten better,
like exponentially better since then.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right, Yeah, I'm really I mean we've seen her play
at you know, the World Championship level and those levels,
so it's not like it's gonna be a lot different
to see in the Olympic level. But just like you said,
that comparison of four years ago being you know, this
was she eighteen years old, seventeen years old or whatever
on that team, and just how much you know, everyone
(06:21):
thought of her and that the potential that she had,
how much that'll just kind of carry into these Olympics,
because you know, we know everyone watches the Olympics you know,
women's hockey gets this four year bump, right, and we're
starting to see it even out in the middle because
of the PWHL a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But if if.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
She's able to, you know, have a star turn on
the Olympic stage, that's that's a heck of a way
to I mean, this is her senior season, it's a
heck of way to wrap up a college career that
man has been been pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, it feels like it there's a chance that the
world becomes her orster right, Like, lots of opportunities, and
I think at this point she's probably the consensus number
one pick heading into the PWHL draft, which is no
shade to the Abbey Murphy's and other forwards, but like
she's a generational defender, like you, the drop between her
(07:18):
and the next best defender is much bigger than the
drop between the number one and number two forwards. That like,
I if you, I don't know, if you feel like
you need a defender, like you still are going to
take KK and so I think that is just yeah,
there's just it feels like there's a she's she's at
a pres spice and there's a lot wide open in
front of her, and so it'll it'll be fun to
see what happens next. And I just wanted to say
(07:39):
we kind of got talking to KK, but I thought
it was interesting. The goal on Friday came as Ohio
State was pressing at the point it's one to oh
and they forgot to play defense, and it's one of
the things we kind of talked about, and you get
it at that point when they're really pressing for that goal,
but there was all that ice because they were on
their front foot and they were pressing and they were
looking for the chances and K saw that immediately and
(08:01):
took off on that breakout. The second one does look
the same ultimately, but is somewhat different in that she
just took the puck right off of mere younger stick.
I think it was Mira just like she's holding the puck,
she's trying to decide what to do on the power
playing KK just like skates over takes it off R
and goes down. Sort Of interesting just the two differences
(08:22):
there of how that built up. But I just thought
that was we had talked a lot about the Ohio
State need to remember defense because it's just something they
haven't had to do a ton of and I feel
like they did a good especially in that first game,
a really good job of it. But it was like
once that pressure of there's only a couple of minutes
left and we can tie this and change this game,
then it was like oops, that bit fell out the
(08:43):
back of the brain and they were just really pushing
towards the goal. So I thought that was interesting just
in terms of sort of how we had talked about
how that game might develop.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yep, all right, so Wisconsin goes five points ahead of
Ohio State as we wind down for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
They'll pick that up again in twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Twenty six, and of course we'll have to pay attention
to win all of those players go to the Olympics
Olympic Camps, because that'll change things for a lot of
teams in the back end of the second half of
the season. Here, so plenty to watch for there. Okay,
let's take a spin around the country last week. Start
(09:23):
with number eleven Princeton getting a six to one win
at number fourteen Coldgate on Friday, and then a three
to win at number eight Cornell on Saturday. Princeton moving
up to number nine in the US Echo dot Com
rankings this week. I believe you said this is they've
won seven in a row.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Is that correct? I haven't done the math, but do
you have.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, that's that's what I founded the write ups.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Yeah, they were, you know, at six and then they
want to get on Saturday, and I think it was
like their first sweep of that, you know, our travel
partners thing, but that their first sweep of that for
like a good six, seven, eight years. I can't my
note now, but just really huge for them to be
able to get both of those wins and really like
all this conversation we've had about hot your ECAC, we
(10:09):
really haven't talked about Princeton, and they forced themselves into
the conversation here for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And they do that with a hat trick on Friday
from Mackenzie Alexander adding an assist as well for a
four point night, and then is he Wonder scores tying
in goal ahead goals in the second period at Cornell
on Saturday. And we'll talk about Cornell in a minute,
but on the Princeton side of things, this.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Is a.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Group that obviously can has big things in mind and
shown that they can do that how much of is
it kind of like playing with house money at some
point though, where you know they've they've done pretty well,
they know they're going to be able to compete, and
now you just go ahead and go out and do
(10:57):
whatever you can because you know, I don't know that
a lot of people were expecting this, but if they
can do this this far, they're gonna be able to
do it in the second half too.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Right, Like we talked about a bunch of different teams,
and then QUINNIPIEC had that hot start and Princeton didn't
have the cleanest start. The other thing is the loss
of Sarah Paul and the transfer portal, Right, so like
we expected that was going to have a huge inspect impact.
And I mean, I think Mackenzie Alexander's you know, I
think she has twelve points in those seven wins, that
seven win streak, seven goals, five assists, and so she's
(11:31):
already forced herself into the Rookie of the Year conversation
basically over the course of a couple of games. And
I think for every team, you know, part of their
fortunes comes from how quickly your freshmen get up to speed.
Everybody is bringing in top recruits and how quickly can
they make an impact? And Mackenzie Alexander, you know, stepped
into some pretty big shoes there, and Izzy Wonder needed
(11:52):
some help and needed you know, a foil for some
of that, and we're just seeing that. And then some
of the other Princeton players too have just taken up
a bigger role, Jeane Key and a few others, and
so yeah, I think like there was very low.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Expectations on them.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
We weren't paying attention to start because of other things
going on. And so now I feel like they're just,
like you said, a little bit playing with house money.
Like they've got all the confidence, all the momentum, and
they know that they can do you know what, maybe
they weren't even themselves weren't expecting to do. So when
you've beaten all the other top teams in the conference,
it really puts you in a really good spot heading
(12:27):
into the second half.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Right, And they are in first place as we get
to the end of the twenty twenty five part of
the schedule, And again, I don't know if a lot
of people would have had that as the team had.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
The Tigers leading the way as the end of the
year approaches.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
On the other side of that, though, is you know,
Cornell having lost now three out of its last four games,
after they also lost on Friday to Quinnipiac three nothing
Felicia Franks shut them out despite thirty four eighteen being
the shots and goal in favor of the Big Red.
This is a thing where, you know, Princeton's on the up,
(13:06):
Cornell's a little bit on the down, and I don't
know how far the slide continues. Is this going to
be just a you know, the late part of November,
early part of December was really bad for them, and
second half they'll pick it right back up where they
started the season. Or are we really seeing cracks here
for Cornell?
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I mean, it certainly feels like some cracks, but I
mean they're they've probably got the best case for very
excited for the holiday break and a chance to reset.
I'm not sure any team is more excited than they are.
But for me, it's the sort of the inconsistency, like
we just you know, watch some of the goals they
gave up against Vermont. It just was like, this is
(13:46):
so uncharacteristic of a really defensive team with an a
plus goaltender, like, what what's going on here? And so yeah,
it's I think a good bit of it's probably mental
at this point. It's a it's a little bit of
a self fulfill prophecy. I think for them there, they
got to be pretty low. The confidence is pretty low,
and it's showing out on the ice, and so I
(14:07):
think hopefully for them they get through their exams and
get a chance to just start over and get a reset.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
They we know what they're capable of. They did it
last year.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
They have much the same roster they did it to
start the year, and so I think it's just a
matter of finding what it takes to get those puzzle
pieces to go back together in the right formation, right.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Right U And then Quinnipiac, which had which defeated Cornell Friday,
then lost in overtime to Colgate two to one on
Saturday with a Sarah Stewart overtime goal for the Raiders. Again,
this is one of those where you know, okay, Princeton
got two wins, it seemed like everyone else was kind
of in splitsville.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Again.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
We saw Brown beat Yale on Saturday, but then lose
the Yale on Sunday, So it it feels like there's
the advantage of of coming away with two wins on
a weekend as you you gain that little bit of
ground on everyone else that splits.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, and at this point, I mean, I think the
sweeps are kind of few and far between across you know,
every conference, not just in the ECAC. So anytime you
walk away with all those points, it's just such a
huge that the swing there is just like massive, and
we're talking you know, I didn't look at it this week,
but we're talking a handful of points and including half
points from like first to eighth in the ECAC, and
(15:24):
so one point one win versus a loss like one,
you know, one point three points is makes just a
huge difference right now. And I think if a team
can string together a couple of those weekend sweeps like
Princeton has been doing, like suddenly they've pulled ahead and
you you're less scrambling. So yeah, I think the rest
(15:45):
of the ECAC is probably also happy for a little
chance to maybe try and slow some of that momentum,
watch some tape and see what they can do.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Move over to Hockey East. Last week, New Hampshire handed
Northeastern its first conference loss of the season, four to
three in overtime a midweek game last Tuesday night. Kelly
Hardy scored in overtime to win that one. Northeastern did
rebound with three to one and four to two wins
in a home and home series with Boston College over
(16:13):
the weekend and open a eleven point lead on the
Eagles for first place.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
So that's important for Northeastern bounce back.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
They lost that second game of the series to Penn State,
then they lost the midweek game to New Hampshire. Getting
a couple of wins against BC an important step for
them to get right back on.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You don't want to go into the break on a little.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Bit of a slide there, especially after you've started things
off so well and built a pretty comfortable lead.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, now it's even.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
More comfortable, Yeah, I thought importantly the second game in
that series, which was the one at Matthew's where they
had their senior night, and sort of this weird, this
weird order of things that they're having to do this year.
B C went up first and so sort of expected,
you know that that series might be a little bit
and forth, and after Northeastern won the first game, it
(17:03):
was like, okay, BC is here to play. And then
the Northeastern really you know it, sort of came back
and took control of the game and did what they
do with you know, Lily Shannon speed and things like that.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And so not just the win.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But the way that they were able to get that win,
not just for the the emotional of the Matthews of
it all, the senior night of it all, but of
being able to beat like this is your closest competitor
in the conference. You know, they came into your house
and sort of tried to push you around, and you
came back and did it back. And I think that
that will go a long way for them to We
talked about this all the time, like even some of
(17:36):
the losses, like you you want those sorts of wins
or losses because you need to learn those lessons now.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yukon number seven in the country, got a couple of
challenges from Boston University. One one tie on Friday, Tiachan
had to make forty three saves and Mary Peterson forty
two for BU and then you Count won three to
two on Saturday with a last minute goal.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Again Shen Schalefu. I'm sorry, it's my best French. I
am probably.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Overdoing it, but apologies, thank you. Game winning goals seven
seconds left in that one. So Yukon comes away without
a loss on the weekend. Be you that close to.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You know, kind of.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
There was a point where it felt like they had
been able to turn this first half around and that kind.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Of slipped away from.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Them and had that one last chance to make something
happen on their final weekend of the first half of
the year, and instead Yukon pulls out the win at
the end. Important win for Yukon though in the in
the NPI discussions.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah, absolutely, can you just that that first game eighty
would you say? I think eighty five total saves and
it was a one to one tie, Like what was
happening in that game? Yes, I had done for a
little while and it was just like this, I don't
so kudos to bout the goalies and the defenses, but yeah,
that was that was a bit of a mind boggling.
A few times, I'm like, how is the book still
(19:05):
outside of the net? But you know, same as we
were kind of saying with Northeastern, Yukon getting that goal
was seven seconds left, Like that was a stunner, and
be you had just come back to tide I think
in the final two or three minutes and so you know,
bus riding that high. They'd gotten the tie the night before,
they're you know, sort of showing some fight and that
(19:26):
was just like such a heartbreaker. But but kudos to
Yukon for for not getting up, given up and play
into the buzzer. And as you said, they just those
are really important points for them, not just from an
MPI standpoint, I think, but also just from a ViBe's
and a like reputation standpoint.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You got you at this.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Point, like there's a lot going on Northeastern sort of
proving their cells upong the top. You need to be
showing that you're you know, you're another team that should
be considered like Hockey's got one team last year. So there's, yeah,
there's a lot on you know, riding on some of
this for them, And so I thought just from a
like sending them into the break and you know, just
(20:05):
sort of proving that they're a team that's still worth
you know having in the conversation, I thought those were
really important wins.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, a couple of weeks ago, I think I said something, well, yeah,
not not a couple of wins, but winmen, But a
couple of weeks ago I said something about, and this
was involving New Haul leader Saint Anselm, that they'd gotten
off to a lead that felt like it was pretty secure.
Franklin Pierce says, not so fast, because two to one
(20:32):
win and a three to three tie and a shootout
win in a home and home series over Saint ansel
means that that lead is now down to six points.
So not it's it's still a pretty significant lead there.
But Franklin Pierce did its job and cutting into it
last weekend.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
That was a Wednesday Thursday series last week.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Abigail bros With the go ahead goal in the early
part of the third period on Wednesday, and then, like
I said, Franklin Piers won the shootout after the three
to three tie on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, we said we put that in aumn yet.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, I think, you know, fair play to Franklin Pearson
in apologies to the rest of New Hawk because we
said that based on sort of how the you know,
the team right below was like we were like, well,
that's if they're not contending then and Franklin Peers.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I just love how scrappy they are.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
They sort of won my heart a few years ago
when they like overtime game after overtime game, weighed their
way through the New Hawk tournament and just kept kind
of you know, cardiac kids. And I think they continue
to play like that, whether they get the the wins
or not. They just played this really scrappy, really gritty
sort of game. And I don't think that they think
that they're out of any game. They're all on the
(21:46):
table for them, and I like that mentality really serves
them well.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Appreciated that we they were like, oh, I guess not
hold my peers, hold hold my energy, drink my But yeah,
they just were like, excuse this, we have something to
say about this conversation. And I appreciate that. That's it's
again the chaos makes it fun. So good for them,
And I think they's somebody that are that have shown that,
(22:13):
like they get better, you continually get better as the
season goes on, which not everybody can say. And that's
just that mentality of like they are. They are constantly
in a game regardless, and I think that makes it
really dangerous.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Over in Atlantic Hockey America a couple of results. I
wanted to point out Mercy Hears ran all over linden
with ten to one on Friday behind a hat trick
from Julius Shallon, but hats off to the Lions for
bouncing back with a five to win on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
That that can't be easy.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I mean, you you lose by nine goals one night,
you got another game to play at Mercy Hearris, and
you come out and you win the second game. That's
There's They're having a lot of a ton of wins
for linden Would, but getting one in those specific circumstances
I thought was worth highlighting.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Absolutely, Lindenwood is part of the as we keep having
this conversation of like, it doesn't make any sense to
me how these wins are happening, right, Like Vermont last
week beat Cornell and then this week lost to holy Cross,
and then we had you know, like the Syracuses and
the ri t Like we're seeing some of the Age
A teams, you know, do some do some damage after
(23:28):
like losing really poorly, you know, to really like tough
game or really like hard losses. And so yeah, I
a kudos to Linden would for for getting that back
against you know, the number two, like the pretty solidly
number two team in their conference for several years at
this point.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
But also, I just like this is.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
When when when I say I'm confused about what's happening,
That's one of the things that I'm talking about, because
I'm like, how do you how is a team you know,
the ups and downs of it? How do you lose
ten one and then come back and win five to two.
I just like I it does not compete for me.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
One more one to wrap up with here, back into
the WHA. Saint Clouds State number thirteen and Minnesota State
number twelve. The Huskies and the Mavericks split a weekend series,
but the Huskies get the four points out of the
series because they took the second game to overtime four nothing.
Saint Cloud in the first game, three to two, Minnesota
(24:22):
State in the second game. Cameron van Batavia with the
overtime goal. On the second night, Emilia Kurico twenty eight
saves for the shutout in the opener. And these are
teams that you know, we've we were surprised by Saint
Cloud's overall record earlier in the season, and especially the
(24:43):
fact that they were still staying ranked, because I think
everyone expected that this was going to turn around for them,
and we saw that a little bit Friday, and maybe
then again a little bit in at least getting into
overtime with the Mavericks on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Right, And conversely, like the Mavericks are proving that, you know,
some of their stuff are it's not a fluke either,
Like they're they're also playing, you know this good against
another rank team and they're in that conversation and deserve
to be all right.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That is going to wrap up our look back at
last week. When we come back, we'll talk about what
is ahead and we'll actually there's some rivalry series games
to talk about this week as well. Stay with us
on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Nicole
(25:35):
here with you to wrap up what's our last real
like normal kind.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Of podcast of the twenty twenty five calendar year.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
We're going to have one more episode next week, kind
of wrapping up what we've seen in the first half
of the season. But it's a very quiet week around
college hockey this coming week. Only four games on the
schedule to Friday to Saturday, Saint Michael's at Dartmouth on Friday,
Saint Anselm at Dartmouth on Saturday, and then a two
game series between Long Island and Robert Morris in the
(26:09):
Pittsburgh area on Friday and Saturday. Those are the last
games on the college hockey schedule until December thirtieth. Then
there's only two games that day and then we're done
with twenty twenty five all together. So the games are
winding down for the calendar year. Make sure you stay
with us Echo dot com for all the scores and
(26:29):
stats on those. A couple other events coming up that
we want to touch on. One Nicole will be at
the U eighteen Women's World Championship. Nicole, you want to
tell us a little bit about that, where it is,
when it's going to be, and what you're looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Sure, yeah, this is what my fifth year going. It
starts on January tenth. We're going to be in Sydney,
and I assume you Saint memberto number two. We're going
to be in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. So when we
learned about this as the location, I learned that you
can go four hours east of Halifax, because yeah, I
was planning to fly to Halifax and I was like, wow,
(27:07):
it's much further from there, So yeah, I'll be in
a whole new time zone that we don't even have
here in the US. But yes, Canada hosting U eighteen
World Championships, like I said, starts January. It's January tenth
to eighteenth, so I will be up there covering that
USA has released their roster. But we're sort of waiting
on everybody else. But we're, you know, a month out,
so at this point we should we should be starting
(27:28):
to see those and just again as a reminder, like
particularly US and Canada, but across all of the participating countries.
These are players that most have committed to play in
the NCAA in the next year. Starting in the next
year or two, so most every player on the US
in Canada, unless they are too young to have officially
committed yet, will be committed to an NCAA school, and
(27:51):
then we will see several players across the other countries.
Group A is Canada, Swede, and Switzerland and Hungary. Group
B is the US C, Chechia, Finland, and Slovakia. So
gold medal game or metal round games will be on
the eighteenth.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Like I said, I will be up there. Coverage will
be mostly on Victory Press.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
It's a good time to get a subscription there because
I do things like take a video in the mix
zone and share it to our paying subscribers there. But
we'll also have some coverage at usc h O in
terms of the how it relates the NCAA, and yeah,
it's just a lot of fun. You know, Canada are
the reigning champions, but we are also not that far
(28:32):
removed from Canada taking the bronze because they were upset
by Chechia the year before and Chechia playing in that
you know, gold medal game that the US won. So
there's just all of the sort of growth that we've
seen across the senior national teams and the competitions being
stepped up there that is also happening down at you eighteens.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And so again, as we've talked about.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Some of the really great rookies this year in the NCAA,
you know Hildas Fence in at at Ohio State and
like Caitlyn Kramer, the sophomore up at UMD. These are
all players that like I first got to see in
the last couple of years at U eighteens, and they
are players that that you know, start there get chances
based on how they play there and with their NCAA
(29:14):
teams to play on the senior national teams. You know,
Chloe Permurano played in U eighteens last year and though
she was already at Minnesota. So it's just the the
very best of what's next. We don't do World Juniors
and the women yet. One day we might get at
U twenties, but this is these are the future stars
of the NCAA and that's why I love going and
(29:35):
putting a putting the attention on these teams. So presumably
several games will be on NHL Network. TSN usually does
the broadcast out of Canada, and then it depends on
what you know is bought down here in the US.
But yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. It's a whirlwind.
I'm usually, well, this might be better in Canada, but
(29:55):
the past few years I've been one of the only
press people there. So yeah, I just wanted to shout
out because unbelievably we are a month out on that one,
and so though we don't have rosters yet, we're starting
to get there and those will trickle out, I imagine
coming after both the upcoming international break that we're going
to talk about with the rival Series Rivalry Series and
(30:17):
the Euro Hockey Tour.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I imagine then we'll see some of this coming out
of that.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
So yeah, just an exciting time and I think a
really I think it's important to start having more of
a conversation about what comes next and sort of the
prospects in a way that we do on the men's side.
These younger players, we get really excited when they come
to the NCAA or when they start playing on the
senior national team, but we could be paying attention to
(30:41):
them way before that.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You mentioned in there that you know there isn't a
U twenty tournament for women.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You said yet not to put you on a soapbox here,
do anything like that. But what's the hurdle there?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
I mean, I can imagine there's a timing pretty significant
timing hurdle is if you're having to put another tournament
into THEAHF calendar, and also at a time when you're
going to be taking college players away from their college teams,
they would have me the significant discussions about when that happens, Right,
what else is it.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Well, if Women's Worlds is no longer in April after
the NCAA season ends, there is a window there.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Now, let me say this as like, this is a
personal soapbox. This is not based on necessarily any like
I just want to point out that this is less
reporter and more personal. But like Todd and I have
like had Luke Tardiff in a room and been like,
why isn't this happening? You basically said be patient. And
that was twenty twenty one. And so you know, the
(31:43):
IHF did partner with the PWHL this year, which is
a big step for the IHF is just really behind
when it comes to women's hockey. In my opinion, they're
just a lot of they don't I think they don't
want to get caught in things like the CHL folding
and stuff like that, and so they're just overly cautious
in a way that you would not ever see them
be on the other side of things. And so you know,
(32:06):
there's a lot of oh, we might not have enough
players like that. That conversation is moot to me at
this point. You know, if you think that there's not
enough talented women to play in a even if we
took it to you twenty two. Honestly, it doesn't have
to look exactly like the men.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That was one of the arguments from IHF President Lutardiff.
Just there's a lot, there's plenty of excuses, and as
far as I'm concerned, not a lot enough forward thinking
or action to try and overcome some of these perceived hurdles.
There's a lot of we'll just wait and see and
maybe it'll happen. But I mean that is completely unsurprised.
(32:43):
I mean, the only reason we had a twenty twenty
one U eighteen World Championships in the US is because
the US and Hockey USA Hockey and Hockey Canada basically
stepped up and did it. IHF said, you can have it,
but you have to put it together. And I kind
of feel like that's what's going to need to happen here,
Like something like the US and Canadian Collegiate Series maybe
needs to get a little bigger and include country teams
(33:06):
from other countries.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Things like that. I'm having a Monday apologize friends.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
With the speaking words are hard today, But yeah, I
just think at some point, I think if we rely
on the IHF it's probably never going to happen, but
I do think that there are plenty of people that
see the need for it, and I think continuing the
p WHL plays into that now that there's another next
step and that need for developing that middle tier, especially
(33:32):
as we see players in the PWHL that didn't come
out of college as top tier players. There's a plenty
of girls and PWHL rosters. And I say this with
utmost respect that when they graduated, we wouldn't have said
that as a professional player that is going to succeed
and get a long term contract. Things have changed in
the last few years, and so I think there just
needs to be a really big rewiring about how we
(33:53):
approach it. And the IHF is just never going to
be at the forefront of any of that.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
That's not there. That's not their em all.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
They want all but guaranteed success, right, And so I
think it's going to be on federations and whomever, teams
and coaches and all that sort of stuff to put
on events and prove that they're sucuccessful. And I wish
that it wasn't like that. I think that is a
backwards way for things to happen. The Federation should be
pushing a lot of this stuff. Again, this is my
(34:21):
personal opinion. I just want to keep saying that, But
I just I say yet, because I am hopeful and
I think there's a need for it. I think there
is a proven need for something that between the IHFU
eighteens and either pro or senior national team, there's there's
just not there's too many players now at this point,
(34:42):
you know, there's forty four and C eight teams, You've
got all the U sports teams. There are players coming
out of you know, Sweden and Finland, Nation LEAs the
Switzerland national League that are in that area that have
promised and aren't getting the support that they need to
continue to develop their game. And so I think, you know,
it's just really clear that there's a need for it
(35:02):
and that that's where we should be headed next. And
so I'm going to just keep saying yet, and I
think we should just keep talking about it and forcing
those conversations. But do I think the IHF is on
verge of having that tournament.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
No, absolutely not, that's not their deal.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Hasn't been to date.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
No, not expecting that to change immediately, right, but something
to continue the conversations on and so by having at
least talking about it, that at least maybe Yeah, I
think keeps the ideas moving of like how could this work,
When could this work?
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Where could it work? Who's going to step up financially
for it?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yeah, I mean I think even to some extent, we're
seeing it, Like with the Women's Zero Hockey Tour, it's
not always like the top team from Sweden or Finland,
like some of their players are playing the pedu or
doing other things, and so we're already seeing sort of
a B squad or a training squad however you want
to say it, playing in some of these terms. There's
clearly an opportunity and there's clearly enough players, so to me,
(36:06):
that bit's a no brainer.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
There's clearly some logistical.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Questions, and I get that, and I'm willing if we
were at the point where we were like, hey, we
could have this, but we're not sure like when to
hold it, I would be thrilled, like, get me to
the logistical questions and we'll figure that bit out. But
it's not as though the IHF is like, oh, we
could do this, but we just don't know when. Like, no,
they're not there, So I just think, yeah, there's we
(36:30):
don't I want other people to understand this and know
about this and keep having these conversations and pushing it
because that's the only way. I mean, that's what we've
see and we know we have to help force that change.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
All right. You had mentioned the international break, and that's where.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
We're at in that we have a rivalry series and
a yuro series week I guess the revalry series happens
Wednesday and Saturday in Edmonton, US and Canada playing two
games there after the US one. The first two of
those games one in Cleveland, one in Buffalo back in November.
(37:07):
What what should we be looking for here? This is
another one of those one step closer to Olympic selection
roster selection time kind of events that we're going to
see with the rivalry series. Who I mean, obviously there
are players playing for a spot. I just wonder whether
they're going to get those opportunities in these two games
(37:30):
to have a you know, a last last show and
if that's something we need to be on the lookout for.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
I I mean, I think so.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
But also I don't know that either coaching staff has
shown a propensity for putting in, you know, sort of
experimenting with their lineups or their rosters and putting in
some of those players that being said, Canada did it
does have a different third goalie in their mix of
guests going not on the list I think is a
Kaylie Doyle is And so that is just they're just
(38:01):
a couple of changes in terms of who is there
and who isn't. And there was in that first set
of Rivalry Series games as well. So weirdly, like unusually
to me, because I feel like Canada is sort of
less likely to make changes, they've been the ones that
I think have been doing a little bit more of like,
let's get some of these people into the lineup and
(38:21):
on the ice.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
And see how they're working together.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
I think the thing we're all going to be looking
to see is now that the PWHL is up and
running and players have games under their belt. A reminder
that the first Rivalry Series games happened before the p
WHL started, so the collegiate players were in mid season
form but nobody else was. And a reminders there aren't
really collegian players or players on the Canadian roster, so
we've seen this in past years in the rivalry series
(38:45):
that the US did really good in those early games
with their collegiate players, and then things even out a
little more. So again, I think that's the thing to
look out for for these games in December is to
see where Canada looks compared to the US in terms
of of now that the players are sort of all
at an even fitness and comfort and season four situation,
(39:08):
so that that's probably the biggest thing, because in previous
years there's there's been a little regression of the gap
between the two. So the US is going to look
to still, you know, have a little bit of domination,
but it seems probably unlikely that it'll be as strong
as it was in that first set of games.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Right over in Europe, we have a four team tournament
that details are sketchy from what we've been able to
piece together.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
On the web, but we believe in English internet, Yes, yes,
we believe.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
It's Wednesday through Friday in Finland, with Chechia, Sweden and
Switzerland joining the hosts for a four team event. Yes,
and that evolving a few college players. From what we've
been able to see, at least, I would imagine there's
this being a pretty getting pretty closely the Olympics, we're
(40:03):
going to see quite a quite a few of those
college players participating.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, I mean we saw announcements from a couple NCAA
teams about their players going over. I do remember seeing
that Finland is leaving some of their biggest names at
home or I guess at their homes, not at home
in Finland. Their roster is not necessarily full of their
biggest names. But I did see, you know, like a
few of the Chechio players posting on Instagram on their
(40:30):
trips to Finland, so you know, like I saw Calty,
you know, on her plate and to Helsinki. So I
do think it's it's always a mix about who decides
to bring him on their roster. But yeah, it looks
like there'll be six games, a little round robin. When
we were in Finland for U eighteen Worlds last year,
a lot of these games were shown on a TV
(40:53):
an internet station that we were able to get, so
it would have finished commentary. But if I can find
those links, I'll make sure I share those on social
media and go put them in the story on us
h O for this podcast episode. So at least that
way we can watch these games, which is nice even
if you probably have to do it on mute unless
you speak Finnish, but it.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Is I feel like a challenge try to understand any
of that finish, right, That's that's one of the hardest
languages understands, as did you.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
Speak yes uh?
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And Michelle Curvin in apparently barely still speaks Finnish, which
I think is amazing that that was one of the
things that.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
Came out in some of her interviews. Head again to
the p WHL season, so all the time she spent there.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Anyway, moral of the story is we should at least
be able to watch some of those and just that
last tune up for those countries heading into the Olympics
as well.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
So it should give us, you know, just an interesting.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Look at things that, you know, the last group of
games in August, we had some interesting outcomes to like
Switzerland being Sweden in a shootout and only losing to
Chechia one. Nothing like there's usually Switzerland's usually a step
behind some of those teams, and so Switzerland really pushing,
which I think is fun. Finland is leading the standings,
(42:11):
has five wins CHECKI is two and three. Switzerland's one
to win three losses and Sweden's got to win in
three losses, so Finland definitely leading those. But again, everybody
is not always taking full rosters there, so it's not
definitive by any means, but still an interesting look ex
sort of of how that how things are looking.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
We are less than two months out from the Olympics now,
so that is creeping up on us quickly. It's creeping
up on the uh the international world quickly in a
lot of ways. And how everyone's reacting to the the
ice surface being.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Hopefully there's shorter.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Uh well, yeah, it sounds like that that's gonna be okay.
Now everyone is up in arms. Bot it's going to
be three feet shorter than an age knew? Oh my goodness, right,
that wasn't news. But it's also like, come play in
college at some point where the rinks are anywhere from
five to ten fifteen feet wider or indifference.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So I'm glad.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
You're you seem sure that the rink's going to be completed,
because I sure know I don't feel like I.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Think I think a rink will be completed. And will
they be able to put people in the seats? Maybe not,
but a.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Lot of this conversation has been about the men's rink
and weren't the Wind's supposed to be playing somewhere else?
And it's been hard to keep track of all the
ways that this has not gone well for hockey ice
in Italy.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
I thought, and this I don't know for sure, but
I thought the the the part of the tournament was
in the main venue, the large venue that's being built.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
So maybe there was a point where there was like
Convention Center and they were going to put Yeah, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
It's upsetting and consistently changing, so I'm not keeping up
with it. That's really the moral of the story. So
I should maybe be clearer on what it is. But
it's like I just I don't worrying about it. I
personally can't do anything about it, so I just hope
that there's somewhere for the games to be played and
that it's in shape, safe convict conditions.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Yes, agreed, Okay, I think that's going to wrap it
up for us this week. We appreciate you listening, and
once again next week is going to be kind of.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
A wrap up edition of the show.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
If you have questions for us, drop us a line
there's an email address in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
We'll get to as many.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Of those as we can, or if you have ideas
for discussion, we're happy to hear those two. So thanks
for listening, thanks for watching. We'll catch you next week
on the podcast
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