Veteran college hockey writer Neil Koepke joins hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) to talk about Michigan State and the Big Ten, including a look at this year's Spartans and a capsule analysis of the rest of this college hockey conference.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men's Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men's Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour
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Usccho dot com. Welcome to usEcho Spotlight for Thursday, March seventh,
twenty twenty four. This podcast issponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozen
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four April eleventh and thirteenth at XLEnergy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Visit NCAA dot com slash m Frozenfour to get your tickets. Today entering
playoffs this weekend is the Big Ten, but the team that finished first has
the weekend off, and we're goingto talk a little bit about Michigan State
and the Big Ten. Well callthem the writer emeritus and let's just call
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him one of the greatest writers everin college hockey, used to write for
MSU Spartans dot com and is stillaround doing a lot of stuff these days.
One of our great friends, ofthe best guys in college hockey,
Neil Kepke, Welcome back, Sparti. We had you on in October and
he was saying Sparti was pretty good. And now Spartan has won the Big
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Ten regular season title. I'm surethat's something they're taking a lot of parting.
You started before the season started.What do you see from the season,
Neil, Well, you know,I didn't really think they'd be this
good, guys. I really thoughtthey would be an NCAA contender and maybe
a top three finisher behind maybe Minnesotaand Michigan. I didn't think Wisconsin either
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either, So, but what theydid as a team, and what coach
and Manuel has done is just bringingtogether the program and the team to the
point where they compete every night.They've got good skill, They've got sort
of all stars in goal and ondefense, and a lot of guys up
front that don't get a lot ofattention because they there's no one or two
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scores that just stand out. Butit's a lot of three line players with
a fourth line that four checks theheck out of everybody, and they create
chances and score goals and they're partof the whole process here. But yeah,
it's been a fine season. Firsttime, guys, that Michigan State
has won a regular season title inany league CCCHA or MAKED ten since two
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thousand, two thousand and one,when Ron Mason was the coaching his second
last year as the Helm of theSpartans. I look at this team,
and by the way, that's prettyamazing because they had some pretty good teams
in between there that never won regularseason titles. But I look at what
Adam Nightingale has done, and forsome reason, I was just going back
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and looking at the history and Ifelt like this was year three or year
four for him, and it's yeartwo. He came in with the plan
and I guess that is probably thekey to how he's developed this team.
But do you even think for him, maybe this road map that he had
to success is even faster than hecould have imagined. Yeah, I think
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so. You know, he hadno idea really what was going to happen
in terms of the second season.With in freshmen and five transfers. He
was open they would, you know, get together and become a pretty good
quality team and you'd have good momentsthere. They all joined the team except
for one player in July July.First they took classes, were on campus,
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so they got to know each other, they got to skate together,
obviously not under the coach's supervision.And then when September game, they all
went together and basically he had agroup that was really close and freshmen and
transfers that really fit in well.Three of the transfers are among their top
scores and basically one of the freshmenis like going to be a first round
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NHL draft pick, probably one tofive or so in ardam Levishnov, the
defenseman from Belarus. So there werethings that went together, and they really
they put together a strong start.Then in the second half, that's when
everybody gets better around the league.So there were some splits there, but
probably the biggest thing that they didwas beat Michigan three times out of four,
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despite the fact guys that in thefirst game at Man Arena between the
two teams they lost seven to oneor seven to two, I think they
got a late goal. Yeah,And then they went to in Arbor the
next night and we're down four toone in the second period, being outshot
about thirty to ten, and thenall of a sudden being being tied it
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up, took the lead and wonseven to five, And from that point
on, I thought that was likea turning point where they start to believe,
start to believe. They ended upbeating Michigan two more times that season,
once in Yo Serena again and anothertime at Little Caesars before nineteen thousand
fans in a great game in themiddle of February. So a lot of
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little things, but and they wereable to win a game on the road
against Wisconsin in front of fifteen thousandfans to clinch the title last Friday night
at the Coal Center. I wantto kind of ask you about some of
the players Neil and the guy standsout to me, you know, fifteen
goals in thirty four games, JoeyLarson and what he's done in his second
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season at Michigan State. How dynamicis that he been for this offense.
Well, he's really good, andhe was out to a good start.
He hasn't scored probably in about sixgames now. But Joey is a transfer
from Northern Michigan where he did putup some goals last year. He just
wanted to play at a higher leveland he wasn't drafted, so he thought
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if he came to Michigan State andgot more attention, he'd be better off
in the future for his free agencystatus. And he's done that. Basically.
I think he's coming back next yearbecause he's not overwhelmingly great and good.
I think he needs another year.He's only like probably in nineteen or
twenty. But Larson's been good,and you know, the two other guys
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that have really been dominant on thisteam are the goaltender Trey Augustine, who's
the youngest goalie in college hockey ateighteen years old and drafted by the Red
Wings in the second round last year, so he's really a bit of factory.
He's probably is the team's MVP.And then again he probably won't be
on the first or second all beten teams because of his goals against average
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and say percentage is it as goodas say Kyle McClelland of Wisconsin. Ryan
bischel Al a Notre Dame at JustinClose of Minnesota, but he's still been
the key. He's made several timesforty four forty saves in a game to
keep the Spartans in the game.And then the other guy is ardam Leshnoff,
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the defenseman who going in the lastweekend was a plus twenty seven and
one of the top scoring defensemen incollege hockey. And he actually leads I'm
Michigan State in his scoring right nowafter a goal and an assistan with the
weekend. So those two guys havereally been positive and along with Larcen's fifteen
goals and so forth. But thereare there are like five guys on the
team with ten or more goals,and you just never know, guys who's
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going to score the goal in thefirst goal of the game or whatever,
or the winning goal. And lastweek in Minnesota, last weekend reed Lebster
scored the winning goal with seven minutesleft. And he is the transfer of
fifty year grad from where University ofMassachusetts, even though at one time guys
he was committed to Michigan State andthen for some reason he committed went to
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UMass and he played for assistant coachfor Michigan State Jared Tomichael. So he
knew Demichael coming in and he said, you know what, I'm from Grand
Rapis. Half my family goes toMichigan State or has he's got a cousin
I think on the soccer team orwhatever. And so he came in and
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he's doing the third line guy basically, but a good player and a good
role model for these guys. Andhe's probably the oldest part and along with
Nashneenhouse at about five years old.I want to ask you about believability in
this team and what it looks likeinside the locker room. I know you're
around these guys a lot. Doyou feel like there's a lot of believability?
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I know, when you can geta first time team into a position
of maybe some dominance and winning aconference championship. One of the hardest things
now is going to the postseason whereyou might have one game and you're done.
Do you feel like there's some extrabelievability right now? Yeah? I
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do. I think that the teambonded well together. They're really close.
Like you say, it's not ateam that has a lot of great scores,
a lot of good scores, andthen you know on defense they're better.
It probably still is. Their weaknessis basically defending at times and taking
too many penalties. They lead tobig ten penalties and we're always sort of
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joking in the press box, whoin the last five minutes is going to
take a penalty and cause us tohave a Neil Butter of a hockey.
But the believability is there, andone of the things like Trey Augustine has
been on the World junior team forthe last two years and played in some
big games, won a gold medal, and so he is he's really really
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got the confidence that he can playin big games and knocked your rattle.
He's very calm, he's he's nota wardsmith. He doesn't after games talk
in wild sentences and talk colorful stuff. He basically is, well, I
played well, I thought I wasseeing the punk well and we got some
breaks and that's it. And hegoes on and he goes so short sentences.
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But Augustine is one of those guysthat has been in big games,
played for the US team for twoyears or so, and the other guys
too seem to have like that experiencethat like Maxim Skerbat, one of the
freshmen defensemen from Slovakia, he's playedin two World Juniors and he's got another
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one or two left, so hebasically has been in those type of games
too. So they don't seem towill they don't seem to get taken away
by the seriousness of the situation.And it'll be still tested again because obviously
they play a semi final game andnow it's one and done in the Big
ten tournament won't played a week fromSaturday, and then if they win that,
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they'll play the championship game also athome because of the first place finished.
So I would say, yes,they're not I wouldn't say they call
them a great team. I'm notsure there's a great team in college hockey.
Maybe for what I'm seeing, andyou guys have seen Boston College,
maybe you could say that is prettyof a dominant team. But I don't
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think the Spartans are great, andthey think can end up losing to Michigan
or whatever in the playoffs. Butthey're still in the NCAA tournament and we'll
see how they get. Now,the next two games will decide whether they're
a number four seed, five sixor whatever. So they they would love
to obviously get the number one seedon a number one seed and get tend
to Saint Louis or so and havea little better of a first game and
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then go for it in the titlegame. But yeah, I'm thinking they're
ready. But again, they're notwhat I would call just a dominant team
like we've seen in the past insome n CUAA tournaments or but then again,
guys, Michigan was a dominant teamfor a couple of years, winning
the title in the playoffs, notso much in the regular season. Because
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you know, one of the greattrivia questions now is just name the one
team in the Big ten that's neverfinished in first place, and one of
those teams used to be in MichiganState. But guess what, the only
team that has it is Michigan,Ohio, Sate, Penn State. Everybody's
in there a eight, it's finishedfirst, but the Wolverines only seem to
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win regular playoff titles like they havethe last two years against Minnesota at Minnesota.
So again, yeah, I thinkthe Sparn's are ready, but again
I don't think necessarily they're a lock. When if they play Michigan at Long
in a week or so, ifItshing gets by Notre Dame, then I
think you're going to see almost aPickham game with the Spartans a slight favorite
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because of the home ice advantage.But but nothing would surprise me with the
top four teams in this league rightnow. More with Neil Kepke in a
Moment. This podcast is sponsored bythe NCAA Men's Division One Frozen four April
eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel Energy Centerin Saint Paul, Minnesota. Where are
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my hockey fans at? Welcome tofandom one oh one. It's NCAA Ice
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fool class dismissed. We're back withveteran hockey writer Neil Kepke. Neil,
let's talk a little bit about therest of the Big Ten. You mentioned
Wisconsin. Now, Mike Hastings hasnever had a losing season at any level
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is that he's coached at, anda lot of folks thought maybe this would
be the first year for that,and then it might take two or three
years for the Badgers to get upto the top of the league. Here
they are right in there, rightto the last weekend, fighting for the
top. Probably you could say thesame thing about them, No big,
huge stars, not a dominant team, but they've had a successful season.
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So what's your take on the Badgers. Badgers are really good. They're good.
They're like a cohesive team, andMike Casings has brought in structure I
mean, I'm more shocked at Wisconsingoing from seventh second and having a chance
at winning it all in for firstplace in the last week in the season.
But they're like Michigan State in away. They they've had great Gold
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teneam from McClellan. It's surprisingly youknow, he's a grad grad transfer from
what I think Mercieres and and didn'tplay that and create last year according to
Lewiss and media types that I know. But this year he's been dominant seven
seven shutouts and and they've got someguys that really have like turned the corner
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and brought in three trips from lastyear's team and brought in three transfers with
Mike Castings from Minnesota State, Ithink he won freshmen. So they're pretty
good. They're many defensively than theyhave been in years, and yet I
don't see them as really like afavorite. The team that I would say
that is the most dangerous to meright now in the big tent is Minnesota.
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They're sort of laying in the woodsthere because they really had some some
I would say struggles, but justearly in the season, lot some games
tied to some games got behind MichiganState in Wisconsin in the points race,
but they're still they got two goodlines, and the first line with pitt
Lick and Snuggar Rude and Freshman morethat is a very great line. And
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even the second line with Jackson Nelson. They scare us more than I would
say any other team in the BigTen right now. And I would say
if everybody holds court and Penn Statedoesn't upset Minnesota and Wescio State doesn't upset
Wisconsin, you're going to have anOhio State Minnesota rematch at the Coal Center
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a week from Sunday. So thatto me would be I would favor Minnesota
just the way they're playing right now, and yet mccleown would have to be
great. That's going to be agood atmosphere because I think they'll probably sell
it out in Madison. But Wisconsingiven credit. They it went down to
the last weekend and the same forCoach of the Year, it's either Hastings
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or Nightingale, and I think nowwith the win with the Spartans, Nightingale
will get it. But Hastings hasreally done a great job there in one
season, whereas Nightingale is in hissecond season. But kudos to the Badgers
because that was a pretty good teamand they really got on a roll,
even after losing some games to MichiganState. I think Linden would they lost,
and then they won ten straight andthey finally in the second DAFT came
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down to reality a little bit withsome splits and getting swept by some teams.
But they're still good and I understandwhy they're in the pairwise at number
four, five or six or whatever, and they're probably gonna beat Ohio State.
It's like they did in the regularseason up until the last weekend,
of course, when they went lostin overtime and they lost to Ohio State
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to give the Spartans a little bitof a break there. So I would
say Wisconsin good, Minnesota really onthe mold right now to be an NCAA
contender for sure. Michigan is findingitself right on the edge of whether they'll
make it in the tournament. Certainly, if they do well in the Big
Ten tournament, that'll help them.Last year, Brandon Narrato did a terrific
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job by taking over the team verylate in the summer. Maybe a little
bit of rebuilding has Michigan taken abig step back from last year or is
it just that everybody in the leaguehas stuffed up their game. No,
I think they've taken a step backa little bit. They lost a lot
of good players, there's no question, and they still have two lines that
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are very, very good and dangerous. And their power play I think is
still at thirty seven percent, soyou don't want to take penalties against them.
But they even erratic. One timethey look like the best team in
the league. The next time theylook like they're not going to win a
game the rest of the season.And I think maybe the story of the
season might be reflected in last Saturdays, where they'd already like clinched, you
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know, third place, and theywere not going or fourth place. They
were not going to get to Minnesotabecause they lost six to two. Then
on the second night they built upa three to nothing lead that it was
three to one, then it wasfour to one over Minnesota at Minnesota,
and all of a sudden the Goverscame back and tied it. Michigan went
they had five to four, goFirst, tied it again when the last
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minute and a half with the goaliepull and then in an overtime on a
power play, Samus Casey scored andthat gave him the six to five victory.
And yet it was like, wow, we almost got swept here in
giving up a big lead, andthey basically lost three or four to Michigan
State. They lost the singing seriesagainst Wisconsin and the seasons series against Minnesota.
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They won the season series against NotreDame and Ohio State and Penn State,
but they just were a erratic andbasically inconsistent. And yet Mcroorty is
going to be the Big Ten playerof the year. I suspect and his
running me line me to Brindley isvery good. He'll be on the first
team, Frank Nazzar will be probablybe on the second team, and Seamus
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Casey will be the first team,one of the first team defensemen. And
so they they've got the players,they just haven't been in sync most of
the season. And we'll see nowwith the tournament coming up, just how
they do in the playoffs. Andlike you say, if they would lose
to Notre Dame, they're probably outof the of the NCBA tournament. They're
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probably back to fifteen sixteen or whateverand probably not going to get in,
so this is a big series forhim. Again. Two weeks ago,
they beat Notre Dame at Yost fornothing and two to one. So Notre
Dame has problems scoring goals, andfor once, Michigan just had a good
time not giving up a lot ofgoals with another shutout in a one goal
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game. So again, Michigan isa team to watch. I think that's
the only series in the Big Tenplayoffs this coming week that basically can go
one way or the other. Andwhen you're coaching, when you're playing against
Jeff Jackson, you just never know, I believe going into that last series
with Notre Dame in Michigan two weeksago, Notre Dame had won seven of
the last eight games at Yost Arena. And yet that's why we all thought
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that maybe Notre Dame could win thatseries and then pull away and finished fourth
at a host Michigan instead of goingon the road. But that wasn't the
case, or Michigan played a verygood game. Notre Dame can score,
So now we're at a rematch situation. But I wouldn't count Notre Dame out
just yet because they're still the gooddefensive team opportunistic, They've got a good
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goaltender, one of the best,and they've also got a structure that if
they get the lead fast early,I think they can pull an upset there.
But again, overall, with Michigan'sgoal scoring power and power play,
I would give the edge to Michigan. But we'll see, because you never
know just how they're going to playweek to week. Yeah, Notre Dame
with Ryan bish Old, one ofthe four Richter semi finalists coming from the
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Big Ten and really the veteran whohas been terrific in that so many years
for the fighting Irish among them,I guess Notre Dame really has the best
chance at an upset. What aboutPenn State and what about Ohio State that
has already shown that it can handlethe Badgers. Yeah, that was a
surprise to three weeks ago whatever inColumbus where the badgerers went in there and
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you know, they went in therelost too. They did get a point,
so they kept a little bit close. And then they went in the
Penn State, which is a placethe Badgers don't really play well. They
and they swept. They did agood job there. But I think Ohio
State, you know, is playingfor just fun. They know they could
beat the Badgers, but now it'sin the Coal Center and the Badgers have
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something to play for here. They'realready in the tournament, so there's no
pressure there, but they want toget back and see what they can do
and maybe rematch with Michigan State obviously, but Ohio State is another team that
is probably underachieving just because of thefact they've got some decent scores, they're
speedy, and once they get thegoaltending situation settle, they basically are split.
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They basically made some inroads in thelast part of the season, but
still they're an overwhelming underdog I thinkin that series and with Penn State.
Penn State you never know either becausethey don't have the big scores. But
at times they do come through withthe goal scoring prowess and the attack that
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they do, always throwing parks atthe net and trying to play offense like
they did. But they don't havethose big time scores, and obviously they
do a freshman at Ayden Fink who'svery good. In senior Ryan Kerwin very
good too. Goaltending is like prettyinconsistent. It's not one of their strengths,
and even is their defense, whichis basically one of their strengths when
they were like in the top threein the year's past two weeks ago,
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maybe three weeks ago out they playedit Minnesota and got shut out twice.
So here we go again. Canthe can Then Alliance score a goal and
keep it close? And the waythe Govers are playing, I think that's
going to be tough because the Gophers, like Michigan, have that great offense
and uh, you put them onthe power play and they're gonna, you
know, they're gonna do damage foryou. And they've got the good goaltender
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too close is very probably underrated becausesome of the other goalies in the Big
Ten, but he still is oneof the best. And their defense,
even though they've got four freshmen ond, they have come a long way
from October November and the last timethe Spartans played them, Adam Nightingale was
even commenting and how good those defensewould have come those freshmen and the other
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guys that are basically back there asjuniors and software. So so it's a
good defense too, But they're mostlybasically an offensive uh gunner type team,
and yet with the goalie and defense. They stay in games and they can
overwhelm you sometimes, So that wouldbe a decent and series to see if
Penn stink and bring it up alittle level offensively and put some pressure on
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Minnesota. But I think again,Minnesota is an overwhelming favorite to win that
series. Before that two goanill andmaybe you just tipped your hat to this
a little bit. If I hadto force you to pick one upset this
weekend, which series do you thinkwe could see an upset in the best
of three? For sure? Andme Notre Dame over Michigan, because you
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all know Notre Dame knows how towin. On your Jeff Jackson, they
may not be the most prolific scortingteam, and they don't. They play
a little bit of a trap,a little bit of a stay at home
defense, and when you make amistake, they spring the opportunistic team that
they are. So that would bethe one I think Notre Dame can beat
Michigan. I wouldn't necessarily bet onit, but I think that's the one
where you could see Notre Dame stayingalive and then coming to Michigan State for
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another series there after. The Spartanssplit with them the last time they played
at Notre Dame. Would it haveto be two to one, lost,
five, seven to five two onewins for Notre Dame. Yeah, pretty
much, yeah, two one,three two. I mean, if Notre
Dame can score three goals, theygot a good chance. But if they
can score one against a team likeMichigan, you better not hold that.
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Like in a positive you got toscore two or three and then you got
to just hold off that power standof Hillymocks. And also just uh,
every time McGroarty and uh, bruneLee and Niser around the eyes, just
hold your breath and hopefully they don'tget around the neck because they are they're
a scoring machine. They're not asgreat scoring as the team from two years
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ago when he had all those NHLdraft picks for front draft picks, but
they've got enough potential scores to take. And Shamas Casey the defenseman has led
the league in scoring by defenseman withthe Leshnov most of the season. At
one time he was the leading scorerin the Big Ten. Now he's,
you know, more of a defensiveguy and he's set up guy. But
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and the other guys have like takenover at the offensive rains Michigan. Mischig
for most of the season has hadthe top six scorers in the Big Ten
every week. And yet they werelucky to finish five hundred. I mean,
if they would have lost on Saturdaynight in that wild game at Minnesota,
they would have been two games lowfive hundred, and yet that pulled
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them to five hundred in the leagueoverall, they basically were over five hundred
by about five games. But thenagain, two of those games were against
against Lyndon Wood and two of thegames were against another starting team what was
to be the one in Boston stoneHill, stone Hill. Yeah, and
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each series of those games they scoredeighteen goals in each series. Thirty eight
goals of their goals this year hadbeen from those four games. So really
I sometimes wonder with the pairwise,how they're really ran so high with those
teams on their record. Now,yes, they played at Saint Cloud,
they played at UMass, and youknow, so they've had a split that
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you at UMass and a win anda tie at Saint Cloud. So they
played some good teams. And heplayed Providence too to a split. So
so those those are good teams toplay against. But the other four four
games, they just they just malled. Uh always like nine to two and
ten to one or so. Butbut again the gods the scoring power.
Can they get the defense? Andthat matchup will be fun to watch,
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just because of the fact that NotreDame is so good at shutting down a
team. Whether they can do itthis time, we'll see. Well,
you get a somewhat weekend off hereas Sparti is idle, but I'm sure
you will be watching a lot oftelevision televised hockey if you're not trying to
find a barn to go do.I'm sure you probably try to do that
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too. But Neil Keke, thedean of all hockey writers in the United
States. We we appreciate you joiningthe show today. It's always a pleasure
to talk to you. Will wesee you in Saint Paul. I guess
that's our big question. We don'tknow the answer to that. Yes,
you will. I'm making my returnsit. That is the best news we
for it all day. I wentto Madison last weekend, had a great
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time as on my own, andI'm going to this frozen four just because
Minnesota and if you guys are havinga show again at the at We'll be
Tom Reis, Tom Rains, I'llbe there with you after all the practices
and stuff. That'll be fun.That's our good friend, Neil Kepke Jim.
Adam Nightingale has really seen things turnaround under his leadership in a very
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quick way, all the way tofirst place in the regular season for Michigan
State for the first time in decades. And it's brought a lot of attention
to the program too. The Spartansare very well thought of as a place
for player development. There's an articlein the Latest Hockey News. They get
all kinds of TV and media attentionthere in East Lansing. What a change
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in such a short time, itreally is. And I honestly said that
to Neil that I had to goback and see how many years Adam Knightingale
have been there, because fell likethree or four. It's only been not
even a full two years. Soimpressive of what he's been able to do.
But you kind of highlighted it too, right, like this changes everything
and timing is good too, rightthat mont Arena gets its renovation just finished.
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One of the now elite hockey arenas. Again, in college hockey always
was one of the best back inthe eighties and nineties. You always thought
about that, and I think atthe regionals I went to and with teams
that participated in the regionals out there, it was always first class. But
it got old and we got Igot back there in the early twenty tens,
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I guess, and it looked oldand it needs an upgrade. And
then you go, you know,into the locker room, the wave facilities,
all that stuff that players really lookat that has improved as well.
And I think Adam Nightingale did afantastic job taking that across the finish line
and making sure that building was readyto be the best it could be.
(30:03):
As this team is one of thebest teams they've seen on campus probably,
you know, I don't want totake anything away from it. Calmly.
You won a national championship, butyou haven't had a league champion since the
days of Ron Basin, which iscrazy. But I do look at this
year's Michigan State team is one that'svery special and I'll be interested to watch
(30:25):
them along the way. You dohave to go through the whole thing that
we talk about all the time,and it's teams that haven't been there.
How do they perform the first timethey are on the big stage, and
they've been on a big stage allyear. You're in the Big ten is
a tough league. I get it, But now you have to win in
these one and done scenarios. Thisis going to be the toughest test the
(30:48):
Spartans face. I'll be interested towatch them afar, but as Neil puts
it, they seem ready for primetime. You know, it's funny.
And then we can leave off withthis. When Neil talked about the team
having no real standout player but threegood lines and then also having great goaltending,
(31:08):
it made me think about a teamthat won the national championship in two
thousand and seven that kind of fitthat same description. It's understandable that,
you know, you don't always haveto have that standout line, and I
you know, I cover Boston Collegea lot, and right now they have,
you know, two stand out lines, an entire freshman line, and
(31:30):
then you you know, you canthrow in, you know, another player
in there, and then the threeplayers in there when you really come to
an end up. But two ofthe best lines in college hockey. But
right now, you don't don't necessarilyneed that. And that's what a lot
of teams have based the success on. I think of Yale, I think
of Union, I think of Providenceand teams that were darn good but nobody
(31:55):
thought were phenomenal, and they allfound a way to win national championships despite
the fact that nobody gave them alot of credit. Nobody's gonna give Michigan
State a lot of credit. They'regonna say, ah, that too young,
they've never been there before. Butif they go on to run and
Adam Nightingale is a winning coach,you get a winner in there as a
coach. You don't get panicked insidethose big game experiences. You never know
(32:21):
how far our team like that cango. This podcast has been sponsored by
the NCAA Men's Division One Frozen fourApril eleventh and thirteenth at Excel Energy Center
in Saint Paul, Minnesota. VisitNCAA dot com slash m Frozen four to
get your tickets Today For Jim Connolly, I'm ed Trefsker and this has been USCCHO Spotlight
Usccho dot com. Welcome to usEcho Spotlight for Thursday, March seventh,
twenty twenty four. This podcast issponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozen
(00:24):
four April eleventh and thirteenth at XLEnergy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Visit NCAA dot com slash m Frozenfour to get your tickets. Today entering
playoffs this weekend is the Big Ten, but the team that finished first has
the weekend off, and we're goingto talk a little bit about Michigan State
and the Big Ten. Well callthem the writer emeritus and let's just call
(00:49):
him one of the greatest writers everin college hockey, used to write for
MSU Spartans dot com and is stillaround doing a lot of stuff these days.
One of our great friends, ofthe best guys in college hockey,
Neil Kepke, Welcome back, Sparti. We had you on in October and
he was saying Sparti was pretty good. And now Spartan has won the Big
(01:11):
Ten regular season title. I'm surethat's something they're taking a lot of parting.
You started before the season started.What do you see from the season,
Neil, Well, you know,I didn't really think they'd be this
good, guys. I really thoughtthey would be an NCAA contender and maybe
a top three finisher behind maybe Minnesotaand Michigan. I didn't think Wisconsin either
(01:33):
either, So, but what theydid as a team, and what coach
and Manuel has done is just bringingtogether the program and the team to the
point where they compete every night.They've got good skill, They've got sort
of all stars in goal and ondefense, and a lot of guys up
front that don't get a lot ofattention because they there's no one or two
(01:57):
scores that just stand out. Butit's a lot of three line players with
a fourth line that four checks theheck out of everybody, and they create
chances and score goals and they're partof the whole process here. But yeah,
it's been a fine season. Firsttime, guys, that Michigan State
has won a regular season title inany league CCCHA or MAKED ten since two
(02:17):
thousand, two thousand and one,when Ron Mason was the coaching his second
last year as the Helm of theSpartans. I look at this team,
and by the way, that's prettyamazing because they had some pretty good teams
in between there that never won regularseason titles. But I look at what
Adam Nightingale has done, and forsome reason, I was just going back
(02:38):
and looking at the history and Ifelt like this was year three or year
four for him, and it's yeartwo. He came in with the plan
and I guess that is probably thekey to how he's developed this team.
But do you even think for him, maybe this road map that he had
to success is even faster than hecould have imagined. Yeah, I think
(03:00):
so. You know, he hadno idea really what was going to happen
in terms of the second season.With in freshmen and five transfers. He
was open they would, you know, get together and become a pretty good
quality team and you'd have good momentsthere. They all joined the team except
for one player in July July.First they took classes, were on campus,
(03:23):
so they got to know each other, they got to skate together,
obviously not under the coach's supervision.And then when September game, they all
went together and basically he had agroup that was really close and freshmen and
transfers that really fit in well.Three of the transfers are among their top
scores and basically one of the freshmenis like going to be a first round
(03:49):
NHL draft pick, probably one tofive or so in ardam Levishnov, the
defenseman from Belarus. So there werethings that went together, and they really
they put together a strong start.Then in the second half, that's when
everybody gets better around the league.So there were some splits there, but
probably the biggest thing that they didwas beat Michigan three times out of four,
(04:13):
despite the fact guys that in thefirst game at Man Arena between the
two teams they lost seven to oneor seven to two, I think they
got a late goal. Yeah,And then they went to in Arbor the
next night and we're down four toone in the second period, being outshot
about thirty to ten, and thenall of a sudden being being tied it
(04:34):
up, took the lead and wonseven to five, And from that point
on, I thought that was likea turning point where they start to believe,
start to believe. They ended upbeating Michigan two more times that season,
once in Yo Serena again and anothertime at Little Caesars before nineteen thousand
fans in a great game in themiddle of February. So a lot of
(04:58):
little things, but and they wereable to win a game on the road
against Wisconsin in front of fifteen thousandfans to clinch the title last Friday night
at the Coal Center. I wantto kind of ask you about some of
the players Neil and the guy standsout to me, you know, fifteen
goals in thirty four games, JoeyLarson and what he's done in his second
(05:20):
season at Michigan State. How dynamicis that he been for this offense.
Well, he's really good, andhe was out to a good start.
He hasn't scored probably in about sixgames now. But Joey is a transfer
from Northern Michigan where he did putup some goals last year. He just
wanted to play at a higher leveland he wasn't drafted, so he thought
(05:43):
if he came to Michigan State andgot more attention, he'd be better off
in the future for his free agencystatus. And he's done that. Basically.
I think he's coming back next yearbecause he's not overwhelmingly great and good.
I think he needs another year.He's only like probably in nineteen or
twenty. But Larson's been good,and you know, the two other guys
(06:03):
that have really been dominant on thisteam are the goaltender Trey Augustine, who's
the youngest goalie in college hockey ateighteen years old and drafted by the Red
Wings in the second round last year, so he's really a bit of factory.
He's probably is the team's MVP.And then again he probably won't be
on the first or second all beten teams because of his goals against average
(06:26):
and say percentage is it as goodas say Kyle McClelland of Wisconsin. Ryan
bischel Al a Notre Dame at JustinClose of Minnesota, but he's still been
the key. He's made several timesforty four forty saves in a game to
keep the Spartans in the game.And then the other guy is ardam Leshnoff,
(06:46):
the defenseman who going in the lastweekend was a plus twenty seven and
one of the top scoring defensemen incollege hockey. And he actually leads I'm
Michigan State in his scoring right nowafter a goal and an assistan with the
weekend. So those two guys havereally been positive and along with Larcen's fifteen
goals and so forth. But thereare there are like five guys on the
team with ten or more goals,and you just never know, guys who's
(07:11):
going to score the goal in thefirst goal of the game or whatever,
or the winning goal. And lastweek in Minnesota, last weekend reed Lebster
scored the winning goal with seven minutesleft. And he is the transfer of
fifty year grad from where University ofMassachusetts, even though at one time guys
he was committed to Michigan State andthen for some reason he committed went to
(07:35):
UMass and he played for assistant coachfor Michigan State Jared Tomichael. So he
knew Demichael coming in and he said, you know what, I'm from Grand
Rapis. Half my family goes toMichigan State or has he's got a cousin
I think on the soccer team orwhatever. And so he came in and
(07:56):
he's doing the third line guy basically, but a good player and a good
role model for these guys. Andhe's probably the oldest part and along with
Nashneenhouse at about five years old.I want to ask you about believability in
this team and what it looks likeinside the locker room. I know you're
around these guys a lot. Doyou feel like there's a lot of believability?
(08:16):
I know, when you can geta first time team into a position
of maybe some dominance and winning aconference championship. One of the hardest things
now is going to the postseason whereyou might have one game and you're done.
Do you feel like there's some extrabelievability right now? Yeah? I
(08:37):
do. I think that the teambonded well together. They're really close.
Like you say, it's not ateam that has a lot of great scores,
a lot of good scores, andthen you know on defense they're better.
It probably still is. Their weaknessis basically defending at times and taking
too many penalties. They lead tobig ten penalties and we're always sort of
(09:01):
joking in the press box, whoin the last five minutes is going to
take a penalty and cause us tohave a Neil Butter of a hockey.
But the believability is there, andone of the things like Trey Augustine has
been on the World junior team forthe last two years and played in some
big games, won a gold medal, and so he is he's really really
(09:22):
got the confidence that he can playin big games and knocked your rattle.
He's very calm, he's he's nota wardsmith. He doesn't after games talk
in wild sentences and talk colorful stuff. He basically is, well, I
played well, I thought I wasseeing the punk well and we got some
breaks and that's it. And hegoes on and he goes so short sentences.
(09:43):
But Augustine is one of those guysthat has been in big games,
played for the US team for twoyears or so, and the other guys
too seem to have like that experiencethat like Maxim Skerbat, one of the
freshmen defensemen from Slovakia, he's playedin two World Juniors and he's got another
(10:05):
one or two left, so hebasically has been in those type of games
too. So they don't seem towill they don't seem to get taken away
by the seriousness of the situation.And it'll be still tested again because obviously
they play a semi final game andnow it's one and done in the Big
ten tournament won't played a week fromSaturday, and then if they win that,
(10:26):
they'll play the championship game also athome because of the first place finished.
So I would say, yes,they're not I wouldn't say they call
them a great team. I'm notsure there's a great team in college hockey.
Maybe for what I'm seeing, andyou guys have seen Boston College,
maybe you could say that is prettyof a dominant team. But I don't
(10:46):
think the Spartans are great, andthey think can end up losing to Michigan
or whatever in the playoffs. Butthey're still in the NCAA tournament and we'll
see how they get. Now,the next two games will decide whether they're
a number four seed, five sixor whatever. So they they would love
to obviously get the number one seedon a number one seed and get tend
to Saint Louis or so and havea little better of a first game and
(11:09):
then go for it in the titlegame. But yeah, I'm thinking they're
ready. But again, they're notwhat I would call just a dominant team
like we've seen in the past insome n CUAA tournaments or but then again,
guys, Michigan was a dominant teamfor a couple of years, winning
the title in the playoffs, notso much in the regular season. Because
(11:31):
you know, one of the greattrivia questions now is just name the one
team in the Big ten that's neverfinished in first place, and one of
those teams used to be in MichiganState. But guess what, the only
team that has it is Michigan,Ohio, Sate, Penn State. Everybody's
in there a eight, it's finishedfirst, but the Wolverines only seem to
(11:52):
win regular playoff titles like they havethe last two years against Minnesota at Minnesota.
So again, yeah, I thinkthe Sparn's are ready, but again
I don't think necessarily they're a lock. When if they play Michigan at Long
in a week or so, ifItshing gets by Notre Dame, then I
think you're going to see almost aPickham game with the Spartans a slight favorite
(12:15):
because of the home ice advantage.But but nothing would surprise me with the
top four teams in this league rightnow. More with Neil Kepke in a
Moment. This podcast is sponsored bythe NCAA Men's Division One Frozen four April
eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel Energy Centerin Saint Paul, Minnesota. Where are
(12:37):
my hockey fans at? Welcome tofandom one oh one. It's NCAA Ice
Hockey Championship time. When the hottestteams in the country face off under one
group. Be there to see yoursquad hoist the ultimate trophy overhead the NCAA
Men's Frozen Fourth April eleventh and thirteenthin St. Paul, Minnesota. Attendance
(12:58):
is encouraged, Passion is mandatory.Viruses Today at NCAA dot com slash improfen
fool class dismissed. We're back withveteran hockey writer Neil Kepke. Neil,
let's talk a little bit about therest of the Big Ten. You mentioned
Wisconsin. Now, Mike Hastings hasnever had a losing season at any level
(13:24):
is that he's coached at, anda lot of folks thought maybe this would
be the first year for that,and then it might take two or three
years for the Badgers to get upto the top of the league. Here
they are right in there, rightto the last weekend, fighting for the
top. Probably you could say thesame thing about them, No big,
huge stars, not a dominant team, but they've had a successful season.
(13:46):
So what's your take on the Badgers. Badgers are really good. They're good.
They're like a cohesive team, andMike Casings has brought in structure I
mean, I'm more shocked at Wisconsingoing from seventh second and having a chance
at winning it all in for firstplace in the last week in the season.
But they're like Michigan State in away. They they've had great Gold
(14:09):
teneam from McClellan. It's surprisingly youknow, he's a grad grad transfer from
what I think Mercieres and and didn'tplay that and create last year according to
Lewiss and media types that I know. But this year he's been dominant seven
seven shutouts and and they've got someguys that really have like turned the corner
(14:31):
and brought in three trips from lastyear's team and brought in three transfers with
Mike Castings from Minnesota State, Ithink he won freshmen. So they're pretty
good. They're many defensively than theyhave been in years, and yet I
don't see them as really like afavorite. The team that I would say
that is the most dangerous to meright now in the big tent is Minnesota.
(14:52):
They're sort of laying in the woodsthere because they really had some some
I would say struggles, but justearly in the season, lot some games
tied to some games got behind MichiganState in Wisconsin in the points race,
but they're still they got two goodlines, and the first line with pitt
Lick and Snuggar Rude and Freshman morethat is a very great line. And
(15:18):
even the second line with Jackson Nelson. They scare us more than I would
say any other team in the BigTen right now. And I would say
if everybody holds court and Penn Statedoesn't upset Minnesota and Wescio State doesn't upset
Wisconsin, you're going to have anOhio State Minnesota rematch at the Coal Center
(15:41):
a week from Sunday. So thatto me would be I would favor Minnesota
just the way they're playing right now, and yet mccleown would have to be
great. That's going to be agood atmosphere because I think they'll probably sell
it out in Madison. But Wisconsingiven credit. They it went down to
the last weekend and the same forCoach of the Year, it's either Hastings
(16:03):
or Nightingale, and I think nowwith the win with the Spartans, Nightingale
will get it. But Hastings hasreally done a great job there in one
season, whereas Nightingale is in hissecond season. But kudos to the Badgers
because that was a pretty good teamand they really got on a roll,
even after losing some games to MichiganState. I think Linden would they lost,
and then they won ten straight andthey finally in the second DAFT came
(16:29):
down to reality a little bit withsome splits and getting swept by some teams.
But they're still good and I understandwhy they're in the pairwise at number
four, five or six or whatever, and they're probably gonna beat Ohio State.
It's like they did in the regularseason up until the last weekend,
of course, when they went lostin overtime and they lost to Ohio State
(16:52):
to give the Spartans a little bitof a break there. So I would
say Wisconsin good, Minnesota really onthe mold right now to be an NCAA
contender for sure. Michigan is findingitself right on the edge of whether they'll
make it in the tournament. Certainly, if they do well in the Big
Ten tournament, that'll help them.Last year, Brandon Narrato did a terrific
(17:15):
job by taking over the team verylate in the summer. Maybe a little
bit of rebuilding has Michigan taken abig step back from last year or is
it just that everybody in the leaguehas stuffed up their game. No,
I think they've taken a step backa little bit. They lost a lot
of good players, there's no question, and they still have two lines that
(17:37):
are very, very good and dangerous. And their power play I think is
still at thirty seven percent, soyou don't want to take penalties against them.
But they even erratic. One timethey look like the best team in
the league. The next time theylook like they're not going to win a
game the rest of the season.And I think maybe the story of the
season might be reflected in last Saturdays, where they'd already like clinched, you
(18:03):
know, third place, and theywere not going or fourth place. They
were not going to get to Minnesotabecause they lost six to two. Then
on the second night they built upa three to nothing lead that it was
three to one, then it wasfour to one over Minnesota at Minnesota,
and all of a sudden the Goverscame back and tied it. Michigan went
they had five to four, goFirst, tied it again when the last
(18:23):
minute and a half with the goaliepull and then in an overtime on a
power play, Samus Casey scored andthat gave him the six to five victory.
And yet it was like, wow, we almost got swept here in
giving up a big lead, andthey basically lost three or four to Michigan
State. They lost the singing seriesagainst Wisconsin and the seasons series against Minnesota.
(18:47):
They won the season series against NotreDame and Ohio State and Penn State,
but they just were a erratic andbasically inconsistent. And yet Mcroorty is
going to be the Big Ten playerof the year. I suspect and his
running me line me to Brindley isvery good. He'll be on the first
team, Frank Nazzar will be probablybe on the second team, and Seamus
(19:11):
Casey will be the first team,one of the first team defensemen. And
so they they've got the players,they just haven't been in sync most of
the season. And we'll see nowwith the tournament coming up, just how
they do in the playoffs. Andlike you say, if they would lose
to Notre Dame, they're probably outof the of the NCBA tournament. They're
(19:33):
probably back to fifteen sixteen or whateverand probably not going to get in,
so this is a big series forhim. Again. Two weeks ago,
they beat Notre Dame at Yost fornothing and two to one. So Notre
Dame has problems scoring goals, andfor once, Michigan just had a good
time not giving up a lot ofgoals with another shutout in a one goal
(19:55):
game. So again, Michigan isa team to watch. I think that's
the only series in the Big Tenplayoffs this coming week that basically can go
one way or the other. Andwhen you're coaching, when you're playing against
Jeff Jackson, you just never know, I believe going into that last series
with Notre Dame in Michigan two weeksago, Notre Dame had won seven of
the last eight games at Yost Arena. And yet that's why we all thought
(20:18):
that maybe Notre Dame could win thatseries and then pull away and finished fourth
at a host Michigan instead of goingon the road. But that wasn't the
case, or Michigan played a verygood game. Notre Dame can score,
So now we're at a rematch situation. But I wouldn't count Notre Dame out
just yet because they're still the gooddefensive team opportunistic, They've got a good
(20:41):
goaltender, one of the best,and they've also got a structure that if
they get the lead fast early,I think they can pull an upset there.
But again, overall, with Michigan'sgoal scoring power and power play,
I would give the edge to Michigan. But we'll see, because you never
know just how they're going to playweek to week. Yeah, Notre Dame
with Ryan bish Old, one ofthe four Richter semi finalists coming from the
(21:03):
Big Ten and really the veteran whohas been terrific in that so many years
for the fighting Irish among them,I guess Notre Dame really has the best
chance at an upset. What aboutPenn State and what about Ohio State that
has already shown that it can handlethe Badgers. Yeah, that was a
surprise to three weeks ago whatever inColumbus where the badgerers went in there and
(21:29):
you know, they went in therelost too. They did get a point,
so they kept a little bit close. And then they went in the
Penn State, which is a placethe Badgers don't really play well. They
and they swept. They did agood job there. But I think Ohio
State, you know, is playingfor just fun. They know they could
beat the Badgers, but now it'sin the Coal Center and the Badgers have
(21:49):
something to play for here. They'realready in the tournament, so there's no
pressure there, but they want toget back and see what they can do
and maybe rematch with Michigan State obviously, but Ohio State is another team that
is probably underachieving just because of thefact they've got some decent scores, they're
speedy, and once they get thegoaltending situation settle, they basically are split.
(22:12):
They basically made some inroads in thelast part of the season, but
still they're an overwhelming underdog I thinkin that series and with Penn State.
Penn State you never know either becausethey don't have the big scores. But
at times they do come through withthe goal scoring prowess and the attack that
(22:33):
they do, always throwing parks atthe net and trying to play offense like
they did. But they don't havethose big time scores, and obviously they
do a freshman at Ayden Fink who'svery good. In senior Ryan Kerwin very
good too. Goaltending is like prettyinconsistent. It's not one of their strengths,
and even is their defense, whichis basically one of their strengths when
they were like in the top threein the year's past two weeks ago,
(22:57):
maybe three weeks ago out they playedit Minnesota and got shut out twice.
So here we go again. Canthe can Then Alliance score a goal and
keep it close? And the waythe Govers are playing, I think that's
going to be tough because the Gophers, like Michigan, have that great offense
and uh, you put them onthe power play and they're gonna, you
know, they're gonna do damage foryou. And they've got the good goaltender
(23:18):
too close is very probably underrated becausesome of the other goalies in the Big
Ten, but he still is oneof the best. And their defense,
even though they've got four freshmen ond, they have come a long way
from October November and the last timethe Spartans played them, Adam Nightingale was
even commenting and how good those defensewould have come those freshmen and the other
(23:41):
guys that are basically back there asjuniors and software. So so it's a
good defense too, But they're mostlybasically an offensive uh gunner type team,
and yet with the goalie and defense. They stay in games and they can
overwhelm you sometimes, So that wouldbe a decent and series to see if
Penn stink and bring it up alittle level offensively and put some pressure on
(24:04):
Minnesota. But I think again,Minnesota is an overwhelming favorite to win that
series. Before that two goanill andmaybe you just tipped your hat to this
a little bit. If I hadto force you to pick one upset this
weekend, which series do you thinkwe could see an upset in the best
of three? For sure? Andme Notre Dame over Michigan, because you
(24:26):
all know Notre Dame knows how towin. On your Jeff Jackson, they
may not be the most prolific scortingteam, and they don't. They play
a little bit of a trap,a little bit of a stay at home
defense, and when you make amistake, they spring the opportunistic team that
they are. So that would bethe one I think Notre Dame can beat
Michigan. I wouldn't necessarily bet onit, but I think that's the one
where you could see Notre Dame stayingalive and then coming to Michigan State for
(24:51):
another series there after. The Spartanssplit with them the last time they played
at Notre Dame. Would it haveto be two to one, lost,
five, seven to five two onewins for Notre Dame. Yeah, pretty
much, yeah, two one,three two. I mean, if Notre
Dame can score three goals, theygot a good chance. But if they
can score one against a team likeMichigan, you better not hold that.
(25:14):
Like in a positive you got toscore two or three and then you got
to just hold off that power standof Hillymocks. And also just uh,
every time McGroarty and uh, bruneLee and Niser around the eyes, just
hold your breath and hopefully they don'tget around the neck because they are they're
a scoring machine. They're not asgreat scoring as the team from two years
(25:34):
ago when he had all those NHLdraft picks for front draft picks, but
they've got enough potential scores to take. And Shamas Casey the defenseman has led
the league in scoring by defenseman withthe Leshnov most of the season. At
one time he was the leading scorerin the Big Ten. Now he's,
you know, more of a defensiveguy and he's set up guy. But
(25:56):
and the other guys have like takenover at the offensive rains Michigan. Mischig
for most of the season has hadthe top six scorers in the Big Ten
every week. And yet they werelucky to finish five hundred. I mean,
if they would have lost on Saturdaynight in that wild game at Minnesota,
they would have been two games lowfive hundred, and yet that pulled
(26:17):
them to five hundred in the leagueoverall, they basically were over five hundred
by about five games. But thenagain, two of those games were against
against Lyndon Wood and two of thegames were against another starting team what was
to be the one in Boston stoneHill, stone Hill. Yeah, and
(26:38):
each series of those games they scoredeighteen goals in each series. Thirty eight
goals of their goals this year hadbeen from those four games. So really
I sometimes wonder with the pairwise,how they're really ran so high with those
teams on their record. Now,yes, they played at Saint Cloud,
they played at UMass, and youknow, so they've had a split that
(27:03):
you at UMass and a win anda tie at Saint Cloud. So they
played some good teams. And heplayed Providence too to a split. So
so those those are good teams toplay against. But the other four four
games, they just they just malled. Uh always like nine to two and
ten to one or so. Butbut again the gods the scoring power.
Can they get the defense? Andthat matchup will be fun to watch,
(27:26):
just because of the fact that NotreDame is so good at shutting down a
team. Whether they can do itthis time, we'll see. Well,
you get a somewhat weekend off hereas Sparti is idle, but I'm sure
you will be watching a lot oftelevision televised hockey if you're not trying to
find a barn to go do.I'm sure you probably try to do that
(27:47):
too. But Neil Keke, thedean of all hockey writers in the United
States. We we appreciate you joiningthe show today. It's always a pleasure
to talk to you. Will wesee you in Saint Paul. I guess
that's our big question. We don'tknow the answer to that. Yes,
you will. I'm making my returnsit. That is the best news we
for it all day. I wentto Madison last weekend, had a great
(28:07):
time as on my own, andI'm going to this frozen four just because
Minnesota and if you guys are havinga show again at the at We'll be
Tom Reis, Tom Rains, I'llbe there with you after all the practices
and stuff. That'll be fun.That's our good friend, Neil Kepke Jim.
Adam Nightingale has really seen things turnaround under his leadership in a very
(28:33):
quick way, all the way tofirst place in the regular season for Michigan
State for the first time in decades. And it's brought a lot of attention
to the program too. The Spartansare very well thought of as a place
for player development. There's an articlein the Latest Hockey News. They get
all kinds of TV and media attentionthere in East Lansing. What a change
(28:55):
in such a short time, itreally is. And I honestly said that
to Neil that I had to goback and see how many years Adam Knightingale
have been there, because fell likethree or four. It's only been not
even a full two years. Soimpressive of what he's been able to do.
But you kind of highlighted it too, right, like this changes everything
and timing is good too, rightthat mont Arena gets its renovation just finished.
(29:19):
One of the now elite hockey arenas. Again, in college hockey always
was one of the best back inthe eighties and nineties. You always thought
about that, and I think atthe regionals I went to and with teams
that participated in the regionals out there, it was always first class. But
it got old and we got Igot back there in the early twenty tens,
(29:42):
I guess, and it looked oldand it needs an upgrade. And
then you go, you know,into the locker room, the wave facilities,
all that stuff that players really lookat that has improved as well.
And I think Adam Nightingale did afantastic job taking that across the finish line
and making sure that building was readyto be the best it could be.
(30:03):
As this team is one of thebest teams they've seen on campus probably,
you know, I don't want totake anything away from it. Calmly.
You won a national championship, butyou haven't had a league champion since the
days of Ron Basin, which iscrazy. But I do look at this
year's Michigan State team is one that'svery special and I'll be interested to watch
(30:25):
them along the way. You dohave to go through the whole thing that
we talk about all the time,and it's teams that haven't been there.
How do they perform the first timethey are on the big stage, and
they've been on a big stage allyear. You're in the Big ten is
a tough league. I get it, But now you have to win in
these one and done scenarios. Thisis going to be the toughest test the
(30:48):
Spartans face. I'll be interested towatch them afar, but as Neil puts
it, they seem ready for primetime. You know, it's funny.
And then we can leave off withthis. When Neil talked about the team
having no real standout player but threegood lines and then also having great goaltending,
(31:08):
it made me think about a teamthat won the national championship in two
thousand and seven that kind of fitthat same description. It's understandable that,
you know, you don't always haveto have that standout line, and I
you know, I cover Boston Collegea lot, and right now they have,
you know, two stand out lines, an entire freshman line, and
(31:30):
then you you know, you canthrow in, you know, another player
in there, and then the threeplayers in there when you really come to
an end up. But two ofthe best lines in college hockey. But
right now, you don't don't necessarilyneed that. And that's what a lot
of teams have based the success on. I think of Yale, I think
of Union, I think of Providenceand teams that were darn good but nobody
(31:55):
thought were phenomenal, and they allfound a way to win national championships despite
the fact that nobody gave them alot of credit. Nobody's gonna give Michigan
State a lot of credit. They'regonna say, ah, that too young,
they've never been there before. Butif they go on to run and
Adam Nightingale is a winning coach,you get a winner in there as a
coach. You don't get panicked insidethose big game experiences. You never know
(32:21):
how far our team like that cango. This podcast has been sponsored by
the NCAA Men's Division One Frozen fourApril eleventh and thirteenth at Excel Energy Center
in Saint Paul, Minnesota. VisitNCAA dot com slash m Frozen four to
get your tickets Today For Jim Connolly, I'm ed Trefsker and this has been USCCHO Spotlight
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