October 13, 2025 • 24 mins
Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week.
Key highlights include major upsets with top-ranked Western Michigan losing to Ferris State, Michigan narrowly defeated at home by New Hampshire, and Penn State falling to Clarkson, all on Thursday evening.
The trio also examines notable games involving Boston College at Minnesota, and Denver at Air Force. They note the difficulties in ranking teams due to big roster changes leading to unpredictable outcomes. The show also touches on Michigan's strong performance and the challenges Big Ten teams face in living up to national expectations.
Lastly, they look at promotional opportunities for college hockey marquee events like the Icebreaker Tournament and emphasize the need for more media coverage.
Find all of our podcasts at USCHO.com/podcasts
Key highlights include major upsets with top-ranked Western Michigan losing to Ferris State, Michigan narrowly defeated at home by New Hampshire, and Penn State falling to Clarkson, all on Thursday evening.
The trio also examines notable games involving Boston College at Minnesota, and Denver at Air Force. They note the difficulties in ranking teams due to big roster changes leading to unpredictable outcomes. The show also touches on Michigan's strong performance and the challenges Big Ten teams face in living up to national expectations.
Lastly, they look at promotional opportunities for college hockey marquee events like the Icebreaker Tournament and emphasize the need for more media coverage.
Find all of our podcasts at USCHO.com/podcasts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to usccho weekend review from Monday, October thirteenth, twenty
twenty five. I met Trevsker alongside Derek Schooley and Jim Connolly,
and what a weekend. It's early season, of course, and
you're going to expect some strange things. But because of
college football, the weekend got started on Thursday, and it
(00:35):
was really kind of a Thursday night massacre? Or is
our friend Brad Slassman said in a tweet chaos. Number
one Western Michigan lost at home versus Farris State. Number
two Michigan State allowed a last second goal like five
seconds left to lose four to three at home to
New Hampshire, and number four Penn State lost in Happy
(00:56):
Valley six to four to Clarkson. All three teams did
bounce back the next night, but that had a few
people scratching their heads after Thursday's games came in.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
That was crazy. And the other game that night was
a great game between Boston College and Minnesota, two nationally
ranking teams. You know again the visiting team. I just
I thought the ability for teams to go on the
road on Thursday and win were so surprising, shocking, whatever
you know, I think the Western Michigan loss. Just talked
(01:29):
to Pat first while a few minutes ago, he said
that you couldn't blame it on them, thinking about last
year's national championship, he said they were honestly, they didn't
play perfectly, They didn't play at the game they need
to play to win. And more importantly, he thought that
Ferris played really well. Their goaltender played extremely well. So
you never know when these types of situations are going
to arise, but to have it all happened. And one
(01:50):
night you mentioned the ending in East Lansing that was
a crazy one with Michigan State and New Hampshire finds
himself in a tie game and Marty Lavin, you know, just
hops on the loose puck with three seconds left or
something like that. You know, those are the types of
games you see early on. But I'll tell you putting
my poll ballot together this week was really difficult. There
(02:14):
was just very few teams in near the top that
I felt comfortable saying, Oh, I think that they're at
number two or number three or number one. It's I
don't have a good feel for who even is the
best team in the country right now.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
It was really interesting.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
We were off this week and so I had a
chance to watch a lot of hockey and both men's
and women's hockey. And with the games on Thursday, you
saw the dynamic offensive Penn State, but you also saw
never quit a clarks which after being beat the previous weekend.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I was surprised.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I thought once Penn State got rolling, that was the game,
and they just weren't quit. They wouldn't wit, they wouldn't quit,
and next thing you know, they've got an upset. Then
you've got all these other games that are going down
to the wire. The Boston College Minnesota game back to back.
It was chaos. That was a massacre. It was You
(03:09):
wouldn't have wrote.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
It that way.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I think if you would have picked all the underdogs lent,
people would have looked at you like you're like you're crazie.
And there we had it on day one on Thursday,
just to open the weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Other top five teams had a few blemishes on their
record over the weekend. Number three bu down Colgate six
to two on Friday, but a two to two tie
on Saturday. Number five Denver tied Air Force won one
at home on Friday, and they did bounce back against
Bentley six. Nothing went on Saturday did the Pioneers. But
(03:41):
Carter clefton goaltender for air Force, fifty eight saves in
that game.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
In what is.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Sort of goaltending by committee out there.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Yeah, air Force didn't really know who their goaltender was
going to be this year. I think Frank alluded to it.
The only reason they have five goys is that they
don't have six, or something to that effect. But to
be able to have that kind of weekend, they were
really tight with Colora College.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
A little bit of uh, maybe.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Some controversy on the game time goal that Denver had
on Friday and the one to one tie, but other
than that, that's a really solid weekend for air Force.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Good balance back for Denver.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
But it goes back to the saying that Greg power
set after the icebreaker. Anybody can beat anybody in college
hockey right now. Because of the parody, everybody thought that
everybody's getting these big time players, but everybody's getting better
players and it is going to be hard to win
in college hockey this year.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And to put some perspective, you mentioned Boston University. They
had a Bloomers. They had that too to tie the poll,
though they've now jumped up to number one with everything
all the carnage that was happening at the top. So
that just shows how this is going to be a
very unpredictable season for college hockey and I don't I
don't mind being along for the ride right.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Up there with BU and the Hockey East standings and
maybe even nationally is going to be number six. Main
who actually dropped to number seven despite sweeping on the weekend,
shows you how things have moved around. They manhandled Holy
Cross at home five to two and six nothing. Rookie
Jayden Lipinski from the whl Out in Vancouver scored a
(05:24):
hat trick in his first collegiate game on Friday and
got another assists on Saturday for a four point weekend.
Watch out for Ben Barr's Black Bear.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Listen, things have been heading in the right direction for
Ben Barr for a couple of years now, and you
just heard last year winning the Hockey East postseason titled
the NCAA Appearances. These are all the steps to get
Maine back to being the main that we all know
and love. I think that right now this team is
there's just there's almost no limit to how well this
(05:58):
team can play. They have a lot of the p says.
Now you're seeing you mentioned that WHL player comes in
getst the hat trick in game one. I mean, these
are these are things you know, you don't see a
bookie jumping in and having such impact in a lot
of programs. And the other thing, too, is to drop
them in the poll. That made no sense to me.
I think I had the number three on my ballot,
maybe even number two. Great this holy Cross team, this
(06:21):
is a good holy Cross team that they just really manhandled.
I think that people aren't really realizing that that was
a good holy Cross team that they had to beat
at home.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I know we're gonna stop saying from the WHL, from
the OHL, they're.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Now just college hockey players.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Like we don't say hey, so and so from the USHL,
or so and so from the n EHL.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I think it's worby where we're gonna is.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
It's gonna be like a month now that we got
to until we just say they're college hockey players.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I don't know that there's a point of which you
can't say Happy New Year. After January first, there'll be
a point where we can't you know, always reference, But
I honestly, I think I'm going to still reference the
fact that they's a HL players for quite some time
because that is really what makes them stand out.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I mean, we'll say somebody's from Shattuck or Avon Old
Farms or the US National Development Team. I think, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
In this program, we haven't we haven't said it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Well, maybe player Rex from the Super Ball Stampede of
the us HL.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
I mean, it's well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I hear you, But you know what I think. As
you were talking about that, I was already thinking about
how Ben Barr now has the q MJHL right in
his backyard and doesn't main seem like a natural place
for the Quebec and maritime players to show up and.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Learn how to speak French or polish up on your French.
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now a team that actually people had been laughing a
bit about Michigan getting one first place vote in the
first couple of polls, and they came into the weekend
number nine. They did have big wins over Mercyhurst last weekend,
but we know that that was maybe a bit of
a mismatch. But five to one and three to one
(08:04):
on the road at number seven Providence. Michigan's now outscored
their opponents twenty six to three in their first four games.
They move all the way up to number four eight
first place votes in today's poll. Is Michigan taking people
by surprise or is it just early?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I'd hate to be the person that plays them next.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Oh that's right.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I mean you just went out and pumped their tires.
I mean, holy cow, why haven't play the game? No, no,
And obviously they've had a great start.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
They've got a dynamic offense, they've got a lot of
pieces to the puzzle, and you hear about all the
big time players that other programs have, and they went
out and did a really nice job getting some high
end picks a little bit under the radar compared to
the other teams. You know, Gavin McKenna and from North Dakota,
they got a all the height and they've done a
(09:02):
really nice job and they're getting there.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
They're getting there.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
They did a really really good job out of Providence
this week. There was that Providence got got handled a
little bit by Michigan, and I'll.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Get I'll give you an.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
Update next week on on the if they should be
have been more than eight the first place votes.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I only got to see parts of the Friday night
game against Providence, but I was really impressed. They're a
fast teams. They get up and down really quick. I
thought that they were really committed defensively too. They did
not really give up a lot for Providence in terms
of good chances and what I could see. So if
this team again, I know you don't want us to
(09:45):
say it, but I mean that they had some HL
players that I don't know that we understood how much
impact they could have. That they're they're coming in and
making some impact. So I look at this Michigan team
as one that I may I wasn't thinking about them.
I probably had them buried a little bit in the
middle of the Big ten. I see them as a
team like Maine. They deserve to be in the top five,
(10:08):
no doubt.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
Well that maybe some team can maybe knock them off
this weekend and knock them out of the top five.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
How about that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I wish you luck with that, Derek. We know you're
all figuring out how to take on that fast paced,
a ice scoring team. I'm going to ask something here.
Last year we were talking about Oh, is this the
year for the Big Ten? Is the Big Ten going
to dominate things? And Western NCCHC team won the national championship,
But right now we're looking at a really hot Michigan team.
(10:37):
There's Michigan State, Penn State, which is a lot of
people's favorite, it's the betting line favorite to win the
national championship. Minnesota is in there. At least four teams
in the Big Ten are going to be right up
in the mix of things. Are we going to be
saying at the come February in March, Oh, it's the
Big Ten's year and then see the league not I'm
(11:00):
away with a championship? Or do they get over the
hump this time?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I'm still in approve it mode. Listen. I've touted blowing
the horn, whatever you want to say, blowing the trumpet.
I've done it all for the Big Ten since they
were formed, and they still haven't gotten over the helm.
So they're still an improved phase to me. But the
players are there, the coaching's there, the teams are really impressive.
(11:24):
They got to find a way to win the big games.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Though I agree with you one percent, I think we
sat there in Saint Paul or not in Saint Paul
on Tampa, Tampa.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And we're really worried about this being.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Seventeen race all out of the big ten from here
on out, and they haven't got the job done. And
until they get the job done, it's a it's a
wait and see. But you're right, Jimmy, and Hey, they've
got the talent, they've got the nil they've got a
lot of things going in their favorite it's just will
they be able to get the job done.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, we're going to take a break and talk about
more college from the weekend, including the Icebreaker Tournament. We're
back with us Echo Weekend Review number fifteen. Arizona State
(12:21):
hosted and won the Icebreaker, a five to three win
over Notre Dame in the semifinals and five to two
over Alaska in the finals. And Alaska was in the
finals after upsetting then number eight Quinnipiac two to one
in the semi final. So some good hockey being played
there at mullt Arena. A couple of wins after getting
swept last weekend in comeback victories by Penn State for
(12:46):
the Sun Devils. But jim you were kind of just
in the direction of maybe talk bigger picture about the icebreaker,
asking if it's a missed opportunity for college hockey and
maybe not promo enough. I'm sure it's promoted like crazy
there where it's held, but not maybe not promoted enough
on the national stage. Maybe some national TV would be
(13:08):
good for an event like that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, I think you've hit it right in the head there,
And you know, I just think of this, this should
be a big event. There should be really two big
events in college hockey. One starts the season, one ends
it's your kind of your opener here to let everybody
know the circus is coming. And then let's you know,
(13:31):
we'll we'll celebrate how the circus went at the end
of the season. But it's because we don't really I'm
not going to say it's not promoted, but market to market,
I'm not sure that it's consistently there, and I'm not
sure that the fields are fields that are attracting the
best teams. I like, if you have to put North
(13:52):
Dakota in this every year to make sure that a
lot of fans travel to it, do it, don't. I
don't care what it takes. Puts goals with great fan bases.
It's what it comes out. I'm trying to remember the year,
probably twenty twenty one ish, somewhere in there. He was
out in Worcester. Holy Cross was the host and they
hosted at the DCU Center. I'm not sure if it's
(14:14):
called it, but the AHL Building and now in East
Coast League building, big building, and they had about maybe
about twenty five hundred fans there in a twelve thousand
seat building. That just that to me just screamed like
a missed opportunity. And I'm not sure that we've seen
it picked up. And now I thought that this weekend
out at Mullet you had some great crowds there and
(14:36):
that's that's the type of event you need. But where's
the TV partner in this? That game wasn't televised in
easily available and I think that that's where college hockey
has kind of I know that people will say, oh,
it's a lot to get people to want to put
these on TV, and so it's a lot. That's a
big step. I understand. Make it happens. It's going to happen.
(15:00):
Just think that the product right now, the hockey product
that we have is so good you can't afford to
not market this.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
They've they've done a lot though, Jimmy and They've they've
gone split venues. I think last year was Denver Air Force.
They've done uh the Midgie de Lute where they each
get home games. They've they've done split ben They've done
things like that to try to market it. I think
why you're thinking it's a missed opportunity this year is
(15:29):
because I think all the times we think it's a
missed opportunity when it's I'm so far west and different
time zones, so we're we're You're going to bed after
your Hockey East games and they're playing the games, and
you wake up that it's like the it's like and
their their tournament in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's so late and their games are so late.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
It's tough to tough to to make yourself stay up
to watch them if you're an Eastern guy. So I
think that that I think we do a lot to
try to help. I know, the commissioners all work together.
I would say that we have done as much as
we pronstantly can to do it. This is a fundraiser
for the Hockey Commissioners Association. It's a fundraiser a little
(16:14):
bit for college hockey eek as well. This is there's
a high guarantee, there's money that you have to pay
out to get the teams in, So yes, you do
have to put people in the stands. And also if
you want that on TV, you have to pay to
get it on TV. So you're spending a lot when
this is marketing to make money.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
For these associations.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
So I think I see your frustration a little bit,
but I also think there's a lot more to it
than the average person knows.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And trust me, I'm not trying to say that it's easy.
I hope that that's not. You know how it comes
across listen, I know that marketing and college hockey. You know,
with a site like us EHL that's been around for
thirty years, it's not making millions of dollars, so we know, yeah,
it's a marketing budget right down. You know, I understand
(17:05):
it's it's difficult, But I just see college hockey in
a different place right now, and I see it ready
to take a big step, and I maybe I'm just
always looking for bigger opportunities to market this sport.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know, Jim, last week in the TMQ column, you
and I discussed how long it was going to take
for college hockey to be half of the players in
the NHL, and it's probably not all that many years.
Probably within a decade. Are we getting to the point where, oh,
I don't know, NHL network, maybe ESPN two, maybe one
(17:40):
of the other networks does something and has a college
hockey game of the week. We had that in the
old days of CSTV and the early switch to CBS
Sports before they had the exclusive with the NCC. Just
some you know, like an n HL network, maybe the
NHL two. I think they have two of them. I
(18:02):
don't know. There's there's like five hundred on my streaming service,
so I don't even know. But something like that to
get some exposure a top game that they could pick
up one from the NCCHC or Hockey East or Big Ten,
that would be that would be terrific and certainly would
raise the profile of the sport.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Yeah, I think we still have to remember in the
world of streaming, and I get it a lot of
people want to use streaming, there's still a really big
percentage of your population still relies on the linear television
to get their their delivery. So when you can still
hit that linear market. I think it has some value.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, we don't get comped the streaming services, and I
don't think I'm going to shell out to buy every
league service, especially because I'm busy on those nights.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
But anyway, I would just I would take it one
step further before we go on linear TV. I would
like one one service for all the league. Yeah, I
think that that's where you got to go. And I
know everybody leeds has got to make their own MIC,
but I wish that all leagues were on the same service.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I hear that from fans all the time. Also, this
weekend there was a big match up Number eleven Boston
College visiting Number twelve Minnesota, probably the most entertaining series
of the weekend. Three to one BC on Thursday and
two to two on Friday and a tie. Good for
(19:32):
the Eagles after they got kind of beat up a
little bit by Quinnipiac and their home opener. Meanwhile, Minnesota,
after splitting last weekend with Michigan Tech, they're now one
two and one to start, So let's start with them.
Is this a cause for concern or are Bob Motsko's
guys just kind of getting going I was a.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Little bit concerned going into this weekend, you know, coming
off of the loss to Michigan Tech. So I guess
I didn't lose any of that concern, you know, seeing
them get beat by Boston College on Thursday and then
not finding a way to put away a game on
Friday and ended up going to a tie. The shootout
(20:14):
didn't matter, even though Minnesota wins it. It's a you know,
a non It doesn't matter. I have no better way
to say it, but I think that Minnesota they'd like
to see some more consistency. Bob Motskow knows what he
has for a team, but it needs to get a
little bit more consistency. It's early, but I'm not a
(20:36):
panic button presser in week two, but I certainly get
a little nervous.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I don't know how you don't think that that was
a big shootout win for Minnesota. They hadn't won a
shootout in basically since twenty twenty. They hadn't scored a
shootout goal since February fourteenth, twenty twenty eight straight attempts
(21:01):
without a goal. They think of the talent that Minnesota's
had there.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
We talked about this.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I think last year or maybe even the year before,
they hadn't sport a shootout goal in twenty eight straight attempts,
I mean, eleven volume shootouts. They hadn't added won eleven
shootouts they had. I mean, so this is this was
a big deal for them to win. That's they celebrated
like they won the Stanley Cup. And there was actually
(21:27):
a joke online that's why they celebrated. It wasn't downgrade
Boston College. It's just it's been so long so that
that was the humor of that game. But still at
the end of the day, you're still talking Minnesota, You're
still talking Boston College.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
This is the this is a These.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Are two big time teams to have early season matchups,
and it seemed kind of lost a little bit in
my opinion. It went on late after the Penn State
game on Thursday night.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
I thought it it was sold out.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
I mean, it just seemed like a little lost game
on a Thursday night when it's two top ranked teams
and they're going to be playing a lot of hockey.
They're both going to probably play, potentially play again in
the NCAA tournament, and they're going to be much different, and.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I think at the end of the day, we are looking.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
At a team that you talk about it, You've talked
about it Minnesota. I don't think they've got any CHL players.
If they do, not many, and you're going to see
if where are the traditional methods and how many did
Boston College have. I don't think they have many either
compare against the new recruiting methods of CHL players.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, one more for us to look at. Sunday night
at Excel Energy Center, number ten, North Dakota downing number
nineteen Saint Thomas five to two. I guess it's going
to be a while before North Dakota makes it back
to that building. With the NHC frozen face off going away,
What do we see out of that? Anything? Anything big
(23:07):
out of that Big.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Thomas outshot him.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, that's a really good weekend for North Dakota when
you think about, you know, the ability to play a
good Saint Thomas team and get two wins. That's a
really good weekend for the fighting Hawks. And you know,
new coach, there's a lot of newness there. I think
this these are all positive steps.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Yeah, I mean I think there was really you got
eleven thousand and grand forks on On in game one
and you had seven thousand at days Energies are looking
to be the lower Bowl fairly filled with a lot
of greed, and they're not going to be playing there again.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Obviously St.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Thomas's building will be up and running, but that's a
challenging weekend.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
St.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Thomas is going to be around at the end as well,
and the shots on goal fairly.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Even both games.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Saint Thomas did outshoot him the second night and North.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Dakota outshot him by a little.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Bit the first night, but resounding weekend for the fighting.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So we'll wrap it up there. Don't forget midweek on Wednesday,
we'll have upon further review where we bat around a
single topic. Look forward to that, but right now we'll
wrap it up. For Jim Connolly, for Derek Schooley. I'm
Ed Trevsker and this has been usc CHO weekend review.
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to usccho weekend review from Monday, October thirteenth, twenty
twenty five. I met Trevsker alongside Derek Schooley and Jim Connolly,
and what a weekend. It's early season, of course, and
you're going to expect some strange things. But because of
college football, the weekend got started on Thursday, and it
(00:35):
was really kind of a Thursday night massacre? Or is
our friend Brad Slassman said in a tweet chaos. Number
one Western Michigan lost at home versus Farris State. Number
two Michigan State allowed a last second goal like five
seconds left to lose four to three at home to
New Hampshire, and number four Penn State lost in Happy
(00:56):
Valley six to four to Clarkson. All three teams did
bounce back the next night, but that had a few
people scratching their heads after Thursday's games came in.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
That was crazy. And the other game that night was
a great game between Boston College and Minnesota, two nationally
ranking teams. You know again the visiting team. I just
I thought the ability for teams to go on the
road on Thursday and win were so surprising, shocking, whatever
you know, I think the Western Michigan loss. Just talked
(01:29):
to Pat first while a few minutes ago, he said
that you couldn't blame it on them, thinking about last
year's national championship, he said they were honestly, they didn't
play perfectly, They didn't play at the game they need
to play to win. And more importantly, he thought that
Ferris played really well. Their goaltender played extremely well. So
you never know when these types of situations are going
to arise, but to have it all happened. And one
(01:50):
night you mentioned the ending in East Lansing that was
a crazy one with Michigan State and New Hampshire finds
himself in a tie game and Marty Lavin, you know, just
hops on the loose puck with three seconds left or
something like that. You know, those are the types of
games you see early on. But I'll tell you putting
my poll ballot together this week was really difficult. There
(02:14):
was just very few teams in near the top that
I felt comfortable saying, Oh, I think that they're at
number two or number three or number one. It's I
don't have a good feel for who even is the
best team in the country right now.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
It was really interesting.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
We were off this week and so I had a
chance to watch a lot of hockey and both men's
and women's hockey. And with the games on Thursday, you
saw the dynamic offensive Penn State, but you also saw
never quit a clarks which after being beat the previous weekend.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I was surprised.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I thought once Penn State got rolling, that was the game,
and they just weren't quit. They wouldn't wit, they wouldn't quit,
and next thing you know, they've got an upset. Then
you've got all these other games that are going down
to the wire. The Boston College Minnesota game back to back.
It was chaos. That was a massacre. It was You
(03:09):
wouldn't have wrote.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
It that way.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
I think if you would have picked all the underdogs lent,
people would have looked at you like you're like you're crazie.
And there we had it on day one on Thursday,
just to open the weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Other top five teams had a few blemishes on their
record over the weekend. Number three bu down Colgate six
to two on Friday, but a two to two tie
on Saturday. Number five Denver tied Air Force won one
at home on Friday, and they did bounce back against
Bentley six. Nothing went on Saturday did the Pioneers. But
(03:41):
Carter clefton goaltender for air Force, fifty eight saves in
that game.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
In what is.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Sort of goaltending by committee out there.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Yeah, air Force didn't really know who their goaltender was
going to be this year. I think Frank alluded to it.
The only reason they have five goys is that they
don't have six, or something to that effect. But to
be able to have that kind of weekend, they were
really tight with Colora College.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
A little bit of uh, maybe.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Some controversy on the game time goal that Denver had
on Friday and the one to one tie, but other
than that, that's a really solid weekend for air Force.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Good balance back for Denver.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
But it goes back to the saying that Greg power
set after the icebreaker. Anybody can beat anybody in college
hockey right now. Because of the parody, everybody thought that
everybody's getting these big time players, but everybody's getting better
players and it is going to be hard to win
in college hockey this year.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
And to put some perspective, you mentioned Boston University. They
had a Bloomers. They had that too to tie the poll,
though they've now jumped up to number one with everything
all the carnage that was happening at the top. So
that just shows how this is going to be a
very unpredictable season for college hockey and I don't I
don't mind being along for the ride right.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Up there with BU and the Hockey East standings and
maybe even nationally is going to be number six. Main
who actually dropped to number seven despite sweeping on the weekend,
shows you how things have moved around. They manhandled Holy
Cross at home five to two and six nothing. Rookie
Jayden Lipinski from the whl Out in Vancouver scored a
(05:24):
hat trick in his first collegiate game on Friday and
got another assists on Saturday for a four point weekend.
Watch out for Ben Barr's Black Bear.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Listen, things have been heading in the right direction for
Ben Barr for a couple of years now, and you
just heard last year winning the Hockey East postseason titled
the NCAA Appearances. These are all the steps to get
Maine back to being the main that we all know
and love. I think that right now this team is
there's just there's almost no limit to how well this
(05:58):
team can play. They have a lot of the p says.
Now you're seeing you mentioned that WHL player comes in
getst the hat trick in game one. I mean, these
are these are things you know, you don't see a
bookie jumping in and having such impact in a lot
of programs. And the other thing, too, is to drop
them in the poll. That made no sense to me.
I think I had the number three on my ballot,
maybe even number two. Great this holy Cross team, this
(06:21):
is a good holy Cross team that they just really manhandled.
I think that people aren't really realizing that that was
a good holy Cross team that they had to beat
at home.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I know we're gonna stop saying from the WHL, from
the OHL, they're.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Now just college hockey players.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Like we don't say hey, so and so from the USHL,
or so and so from the n EHL.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I think it's worby where we're gonna is.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
It's gonna be like a month now that we got
to until we just say they're college hockey players.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I don't know that there's a point of which you
can't say Happy New Year. After January first, there'll be
a point where we can't you know, always reference, But
I honestly, I think I'm going to still reference the
fact that they's a HL players for quite some time
because that is really what makes them stand out.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I mean, we'll say somebody's from Shattuck or Avon Old
Farms or the US National Development Team. I think, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
In this program, we haven't we haven't said it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Well, maybe player Rex from the Super Ball Stampede of
the us HL.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
I mean, it's well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I hear you, But you know what I think. As
you were talking about that, I was already thinking about
how Ben Barr now has the q MJHL right in
his backyard and doesn't main seem like a natural place
for the Quebec and maritime players to show up and.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Learn how to speak French or polish up on your French.
That's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Now a team that actually people had been laughing a
bit about Michigan getting one first place vote in the
first couple of polls, and they came into the weekend
number nine. They did have big wins over Mercyhurst last weekend,
but we know that that was maybe a bit of
a mismatch. But five to one and three to one
(08:04):
on the road at number seven Providence. Michigan's now outscored
their opponents twenty six to three in their first four games.
They move all the way up to number four eight
first place votes in today's poll. Is Michigan taking people
by surprise or is it just early?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I'd hate to be the person that plays them next.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Oh that's right.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I mean you just went out and pumped their tires.
I mean, holy cow, why haven't play the game? No, no,
And obviously they've had a great start.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
They've got a dynamic offense, they've got a lot of
pieces to the puzzle, and you hear about all the
big time players that other programs have, and they went
out and did a really nice job getting some high
end picks a little bit under the radar compared to
the other teams. You know, Gavin McKenna and from North Dakota,
they got a all the height and they've done a
(09:02):
really nice job and they're getting there.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
They're getting there.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
They did a really really good job out of Providence
this week. There was that Providence got got handled a
little bit by Michigan, and I'll.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Get I'll give you an.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
Update next week on on the if they should be
have been more than eight the first place votes.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I only got to see parts of the Friday night
game against Providence, but I was really impressed. They're a
fast teams. They get up and down really quick. I
thought that they were really committed defensively too. They did
not really give up a lot for Providence in terms
of good chances and what I could see. So if
this team again, I know you don't want us to
(09:45):
say it, but I mean that they had some HL
players that I don't know that we understood how much
impact they could have. That they're they're coming in and
making some impact. So I look at this Michigan team
as one that I may I wasn't thinking about them.
I probably had them buried a little bit in the
middle of the Big ten. I see them as a
team like Maine. They deserve to be in the top five,
(10:08):
no doubt.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
Well that maybe some team can maybe knock them off
this weekend and knock them out of the top five.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
How about that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I wish you luck with that, Derek. We know you're
all figuring out how to take on that fast paced,
a ice scoring team. I'm going to ask something here.
Last year we were talking about Oh, is this the
year for the Big Ten? Is the Big Ten going
to dominate things? And Western NCCHC team won the national championship,
But right now we're looking at a really hot Michigan team.
(10:37):
There's Michigan State, Penn State, which is a lot of
people's favorite, it's the betting line favorite to win the
national championship. Minnesota is in there. At least four teams
in the Big Ten are going to be right up
in the mix of things. Are we going to be
saying at the come February in March, Oh, it's the
Big Ten's year and then see the league not I'm
(11:00):
away with a championship? Or do they get over the
hump this time?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I'm still in approve it mode. Listen. I've touted blowing
the horn, whatever you want to say, blowing the trumpet.
I've done it all for the Big Ten since they
were formed, and they still haven't gotten over the helm.
So they're still an improved phase to me. But the
players are there, the coaching's there, the teams are really impressive.
(11:24):
They got to find a way to win the big games.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Though I agree with you one percent, I think we
sat there in Saint Paul or not in Saint Paul
on Tampa, Tampa.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And we're really worried about this being.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Seventeen race all out of the big ten from here
on out, and they haven't got the job done. And
until they get the job done, it's a it's a
wait and see. But you're right, Jimmy, and Hey, they've
got the talent, they've got the nil they've got a
lot of things going in their favorite it's just will
they be able to get the job done.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Oh, we're going to take a break and talk about
more college from the weekend, including the Icebreaker Tournament. We're
back with us Echo Weekend Review number fifteen. Arizona State
(12:21):
hosted and won the Icebreaker, a five to three win
over Notre Dame in the semifinals and five to two
over Alaska in the finals. And Alaska was in the
finals after upsetting then number eight Quinnipiac two to one
in the semi final. So some good hockey being played
there at mullt Arena. A couple of wins after getting
swept last weekend in comeback victories by Penn State for
(12:46):
the Sun Devils. But jim you were kind of just
in the direction of maybe talk bigger picture about the icebreaker,
asking if it's a missed opportunity for college hockey and
maybe not promo enough. I'm sure it's promoted like crazy
there where it's held, but not maybe not promoted enough
on the national stage. Maybe some national TV would be
(13:08):
good for an event like that.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, I think you've hit it right in the head there,
And you know, I just think of this, this should
be a big event. There should be really two big
events in college hockey. One starts the season, one ends
it's your kind of your opener here to let everybody
know the circus is coming. And then let's you know,
(13:31):
we'll we'll celebrate how the circus went at the end
of the season. But it's because we don't really I'm
not going to say it's not promoted, but market to market,
I'm not sure that it's consistently there, and I'm not
sure that the fields are fields that are attracting the
best teams. I like, if you have to put North
(13:52):
Dakota in this every year to make sure that a
lot of fans travel to it, do it, don't. I
don't care what it takes. Puts goals with great fan bases.
It's what it comes out. I'm trying to remember the year,
probably twenty twenty one ish, somewhere in there. He was
out in Worcester. Holy Cross was the host and they
hosted at the DCU Center. I'm not sure if it's
(14:14):
called it, but the AHL Building and now in East
Coast League building, big building, and they had about maybe
about twenty five hundred fans there in a twelve thousand
seat building. That just that to me just screamed like
a missed opportunity. And I'm not sure that we've seen
it picked up. And now I thought that this weekend
out at Mullet you had some great crowds there and
(14:36):
that's that's the type of event you need. But where's
the TV partner in this? That game wasn't televised in
easily available and I think that that's where college hockey
has kind of I know that people will say, oh,
it's a lot to get people to want to put
these on TV, and so it's a lot. That's a
big step. I understand. Make it happens. It's going to happen.
(15:00):
Just think that the product right now, the hockey product
that we have is so good you can't afford to
not market this.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
They've they've done a lot though, Jimmy and They've they've
gone split venues. I think last year was Denver Air Force.
They've done uh the Midgie de Lute where they each
get home games. They've they've done split ben They've done
things like that to try to market it. I think
why you're thinking it's a missed opportunity this year is
(15:29):
because I think all the times we think it's a
missed opportunity when it's I'm so far west and different
time zones, so we're we're You're going to bed after
your Hockey East games and they're playing the games, and
you wake up that it's like the it's like and
their their tournament in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's so late and their games are so late.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
It's tough to tough to to make yourself stay up
to watch them if you're an Eastern guy. So I
think that that I think we do a lot to
try to help. I know, the commissioners all work together.
I would say that we have done as much as
we pronstantly can to do it. This is a fundraiser
for the Hockey Commissioners Association. It's a fundraiser a little
(16:14):
bit for college hockey eek as well. This is there's
a high guarantee, there's money that you have to pay
out to get the teams in, So yes, you do
have to put people in the stands. And also if
you want that on TV, you have to pay to
get it on TV. So you're spending a lot when
this is marketing to make money.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
For these associations.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
So I think I see your frustration a little bit,
but I also think there's a lot more to it
than the average person knows.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And trust me, I'm not trying to say that it's easy.
I hope that that's not. You know how it comes
across listen, I know that marketing and college hockey. You know,
with a site like us EHL that's been around for
thirty years, it's not making millions of dollars, so we know, yeah,
it's a marketing budget right down. You know, I understand
(17:05):
it's it's difficult, But I just see college hockey in
a different place right now, and I see it ready
to take a big step, and I maybe I'm just
always looking for bigger opportunities to market this sport.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know, Jim, last week in the TMQ column, you
and I discussed how long it was going to take
for college hockey to be half of the players in
the NHL, and it's probably not all that many years.
Probably within a decade. Are we getting to the point where, oh,
I don't know, NHL network, maybe ESPN two, maybe one
(17:40):
of the other networks does something and has a college
hockey game of the week. We had that in the
old days of CSTV and the early switch to CBS
Sports before they had the exclusive with the NCC. Just
some you know, like an n HL network, maybe the
NHL two. I think they have two of them. I
(18:02):
don't know. There's there's like five hundred on my streaming service,
so I don't even know. But something like that to
get some exposure a top game that they could pick
up one from the NCCHC or Hockey East or Big Ten,
that would be that would be terrific and certainly would
raise the profile of the sport.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Yeah, I think we still have to remember in the
world of streaming, and I get it a lot of
people want to use streaming, there's still a really big
percentage of your population still relies on the linear television
to get their their delivery. So when you can still
hit that linear market. I think it has some value.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, we don't get comped the streaming services, and I
don't think I'm going to shell out to buy every
league service, especially because I'm busy on those nights.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
But anyway, I would just I would take it one
step further before we go on linear TV. I would
like one one service for all the league. Yeah, I
think that that's where you got to go. And I
know everybody leeds has got to make their own MIC,
but I wish that all leagues were on the same service.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I hear that from fans all the time. Also, this
weekend there was a big match up Number eleven Boston
College visiting Number twelve Minnesota, probably the most entertaining series
of the weekend. Three to one BC on Thursday and
two to two on Friday and a tie. Good for
(19:32):
the Eagles after they got kind of beat up a
little bit by Quinnipiac and their home opener. Meanwhile, Minnesota,
after splitting last weekend with Michigan Tech, they're now one
two and one to start, So let's start with them.
Is this a cause for concern or are Bob Motsko's
guys just kind of getting going I was a.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Little bit concerned going into this weekend, you know, coming
off of the loss to Michigan Tech. So I guess
I didn't lose any of that concern, you know, seeing
them get beat by Boston College on Thursday and then
not finding a way to put away a game on
Friday and ended up going to a tie. The shootout
(20:14):
didn't matter, even though Minnesota wins it. It's a you know,
a non It doesn't matter. I have no better way
to say it, but I think that Minnesota they'd like
to see some more consistency. Bob Motskow knows what he
has for a team, but it needs to get a
little bit more consistency. It's early, but I'm not a
(20:36):
panic button presser in week two, but I certainly get
a little nervous.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I don't know how you don't think that that was
a big shootout win for Minnesota. They hadn't won a
shootout in basically since twenty twenty. They hadn't scored a
shootout goal since February fourteenth, twenty twenty eight straight attempts
(21:01):
without a goal. They think of the talent that Minnesota's
had there.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
We talked about this.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I think last year or maybe even the year before,
they hadn't sport a shootout goal in twenty eight straight attempts,
I mean, eleven volume shootouts. They hadn't added won eleven
shootouts they had. I mean, so this is this was
a big deal for them to win. That's they celebrated
like they won the Stanley Cup. And there was actually
(21:27):
a joke online that's why they celebrated. It wasn't downgrade
Boston College. It's just it's been so long so that
that was the humor of that game. But still at
the end of the day, you're still talking Minnesota, You're
still talking Boston College.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
This is the this is a These.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Are two big time teams to have early season matchups,
and it seemed kind of lost a little bit in
my opinion. It went on late after the Penn State
game on Thursday night.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
I thought it it was sold out.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
I mean, it just seemed like a little lost game
on a Thursday night when it's two top ranked teams
and they're going to be playing a lot of hockey.
They're both going to probably play, potentially play again in
the NCAA tournament, and they're going to be much different, and.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I think at the end of the day, we are looking.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
At a team that you talk about it, You've talked
about it Minnesota. I don't think they've got any CHL players.
If they do, not many, and you're going to see
if where are the traditional methods and how many did
Boston College have. I don't think they have many either
compare against the new recruiting methods of CHL players.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Well, one more for us to look at. Sunday night
at Excel Energy Center, number ten, North Dakota downing number
nineteen Saint Thomas five to two. I guess it's going
to be a while before North Dakota makes it back
to that building. With the NHC frozen face off going away,
What do we see out of that? Anything? Anything big
(23:07):
out of that Big.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Thomas outshot him.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, that's a really good weekend for North Dakota when
you think about, you know, the ability to play a
good Saint Thomas team and get two wins. That's a
really good weekend for the fighting Hawks. And you know,
new coach, there's a lot of newness there. I think
this these are all positive steps.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Yeah, I mean I think there was really you got
eleven thousand and grand forks on On in game one
and you had seven thousand at days Energies are looking
to be the lower Bowl fairly filled with a lot
of greed, and they're not going to be playing there again.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Obviously St.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Thomas's building will be up and running, but that's a
challenging weekend.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
St.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Thomas is going to be around at the end as well,
and the shots on goal fairly.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Even both games.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Saint Thomas did outshoot him the second night and North.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Dakota outshot him by a little.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Bit the first night, but resounding weekend for the fighting.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So we'll wrap it up there. Don't forget midweek on Wednesday,
we'll have upon further review where we bat around a
single topic. Look forward to that, but right now we'll
wrap it up. For Jim Connolly, for Derek Schooley. I'm
Ed Trevsker and this has been usc CHO weekend review.
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