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Behind the Mask is the only podcast devoted entirely to MSU men’s hockey. Impact 89FM hockey beat reporters talk about the latest in Spartan hockey and give their weekly game picks.
Two. Welcome back, everyone, to behind the mask, our third episode of the season. Funny we have a lot of threes going on today. Facing the number three team in the country this week. Third episode of the season.
Speaker 1:They had a huge weekend of college hockey. Very frightful one with MSU being on the bi week along with it being Halloween. I'm I'm Oscar Henderson alongside my cohost, Jack Von Winkle and Gabe Sousa. Guys, how are we doing? How did we celebrate this fine bi week?
Speaker 1:I know we already talked about what we were for Halloween. So how did the Halloween festivities go for you guys?
Speaker 2:I mean, it was great. You know, Halloween is probably a top three or four holiday for a guy like me. So, you know, always fun to hang out with friends, especially when you're dressed up, of course.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, I was gonna be the man in the yellow hat, and my girlfriend was gonna be Curious George. But Yeah. I went to Spirit Halloween the day before Halloween, and I was like, you know what? She can still be my monkey or Curious George, but I'm gonna be a banana instead.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:So I
Speaker 3:was like, this is gonna work perfect. So instead of being the man in yellow hat, I couldn't find the yellow hat because it was delayed. We got it on Amazon. It was delayed till Monday. And so I was like, I gotta improvise here, work with something.
Speaker 3:So I just wore a banana costume and choose a monkey. Was funny.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 3:It worked out good, man.
Speaker 1:That's a great costume. I mean, pretty comfortable too. It was kinda cold.
Speaker 3:What was that? I was in a yellow, like, jumpsuit that was very warm, and I was like, this is just I was embracing the banana, and it was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The piglet costume was like
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:A saving grace.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm was it was
Speaker 1:a cold weekend up here in East Lansing.
Speaker 2:I was the same way. Had that Perry the Platypus costume. I was just, like, nice and cozy even though it's kinda cold out.
Speaker 3:Costume costume that are comfortable are the way to go, especially if you're celebrating in the North.
Speaker 1:It's the strategy, I'd say. Definitely the strategy. But we had no games, of course, to speak of for MSU. They had the bye week. They were out celebrating Halloween as well.
Speaker 1:Good weekend to get off, have no games, but they obviously have the huge series this weekend as they start off conference play in the loaded big 10 versus number three in the country, Penn State. Obviously, not the first time they have been in a top three matchup this season. They already had one against BU and swept them at Boston University, which was obviously a great way for them to start the season. But this one being a little bit more weighted now that it's in conference play, you know, conference standings actually matter a little bit now. And, of course, you have to face one of, if not, the favorites to win the national championship right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I said last week that, Penn State I well, first of all, I put Penn State on fraud watch last week, and unfortunately, because I'm a Penn State hater that they they did a pretty good job. I mean, they you know, Ohio State is a quality opponent, of course, and they were able to go to Columbus and both games, I believe, for one goal games, if I'm not wrong.
Speaker 3:12 games. And the one was an overtime.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yes. But those were those were two quality wins. Ohio State fell back to 19 and then, Western Michigan ended up losing their spot rate because they lost to Saint Cloud State. We'll talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:But, Penn State impressed me. Obviously, it's unfortunate. Ian Fink with the upper body injury, he's out for the, quote, foreseeable future. So that just gives the Penn State loyals, an excuse if Michigan States were to sweep this week. But, I'm excited for this matchup, and Penn State looks scarier than I thought.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I agree. I, when you put them on fraud watch, I was a little leery to agree with you last week just because of how loaded their offense is.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And, you know, Spartan defense has to step it up. I went to practice today and talked to some of the guys and just kinda watched the practice, and it was intense. You know? It was it was I could tell it was like a day before the game sort of practice. Like, we are playing the biggest game of the season.
Speaker 3:So that was like, you know, it was like balls to the wall, like, 100% effort, and, they're gonna have to bring that and more on the defensive side because Penn State's offense is just top notch.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And they know they're gonna have to see this team a lot going down the season, and they're going to be neck and neck with these guys going down into the big 10, possibly trying to get that big 10 regular season championship as well. You guys mentioned the series they had last weekend against Ohio State. It was, like you guys said, a really impressive one to go down there in Columbus to win. They went down really early in that first game too.
Speaker 1:Two nothing in the first period. It looked like it was just gonna unravel for Penn State, but then raveled off three unanswered goals in that next in the next, two periods and then ended up winning the next game as well. So very impressive, I thought, effort for Penn State, and it looks like, again, I think Guy Gudowski's got this team rolling now, and I think this was, again, a big pickup series for them after a couple, interesting series against, you know, lesser quality opponents where it didn't really look like they were matching up to that, you know, national championship favorite that they were touted to be.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Everybody was also kinda doubting Gavin McKenna too. Sort of off to a slow start saying he wasn't, oh, all the hype was around him, and he's not living up to the expectations. Well, he had two multi point games in Columbus. And so he really, really backed that up and just proved like, hey.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the big 10. You know, I'm here. And he's got, he's got three goals and seven assists in his last eight games. So, you know, he's he's really stepped it up after people started talking, and so, you that combined with, like I said, the rest of the offense is gonna be really, really, really tough to stop.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I was just gonna say, like, for Ohio State from their standpoint, there's no need to overreact for them. Those are two very quality losses, but, I mean, you talk about this Penn State, their capabilities. JJ Weebush, one co forward of the month by the HCA, and then, of course, Gavin McKenna, rookie of the month. So I think they're just fine without Andrew Fink for now.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm we're gonna touch on those guys in a second. I wanna talk about here. I was looking again at the odds for the national championship, seeing how much changed this weekend. It wasn't much.
Speaker 1:A lot of odd makers still have Penn State at the top, but Michigan State's still creeping up there. It looks like they're tied on DraftKings right now. The farthest I saw was MGM has Penn State at around 500, and then they have MSU at around seven sun 700. So was only a plus 200 difference I've seen as the farthest being, from these two teams. But even after that weekend at Ohio State, what we thought it was an impressive weekend, a lot of odds makers, you know, kinda saw it as MSU possibly having another chance, and I think, like you said, a lot of that had to do with the Aiden Fink injury that he suffered in that first game.
Speaker 2:Well, the other thing too is, Michigan State deserves to be tied with them up there because they had obviously a very impressive win. You can't overlook what they went to Boston and did. And then Penn State so they're tied at plus five fifty on DraftKings right now. We were talking preshow, actually, and I don't wanna get off topic here, but Michigan in the past ten days has been the most bet team to win the national championship.
Speaker 1:That's very interesting too because I didn't see they're not even in the top three right now for a lot of places.
Speaker 2:On DraftKings, they are right now.
Speaker 1:They are there, and I know a lot some have BU style on the
Speaker 2:Really? They do?
Speaker 1:Boston? Yeah. Let's places still have BU, still sneaking around.
Speaker 3:I mean, you know, I don't blame people for betting Michigan. Right? Mean, like, you know you know, if if the odds are gonna be worse than the other two teams, Michigan's playing lights out. So, you know, that that that's a smart bet. So it's an interesting thing to know.
Speaker 3:That's what
Speaker 2:we really But sorry. Sorry to get you guys off topic there. But but, no, what I what I had written down here was, like, basically, no matter what happens, unless if Michigan State somehow gets dominated, which would be very surprise surprising to see, I still think Michigan State's the favorite. I'm not gonna overreact even if there's it's a sloppy two win or they split the series and it's a great series. I'm not gonna overreact.
Speaker 2:I still like Michigan fave Michigan State is my favorite this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. So, we are gonna talk a little bit about this Penn State team right now. Obviously, going into the year, all the talk was about how they were getting the number one draft prospect for this upcoming NHL draft in Gavin McKenna. And, obviously, after that first series he had against Arizona State, it looked like he was absolutely delivering on that package then.
Speaker 1:Got to a little bit of a slow start again after that series. And, you know, the team has been very interesting in the way in which they've been finding scoring. A lot of people thought it was really gonna be that Fink and McKenna line who are really gonna dominate and, you know, carry this team to a lot of wins, but it's really been that second line of, Damasico, Webush, and Serrato who have really been carrying the offensive load. And especially, like you mentioned, JJ Weebush has been a phenomenal goal scorer for this, Penn State Naylor Lions team, leading the nation in goals, tied for second in points with his, teammate right there, Charlie Serrato. And they've just been an absolute goal scoring unit has been that, second line so far this season.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, it's been very impressive to see. I don't I keep jumping ahead here, and I apologize, fellas. But we're gonna talk about keys to the game later, and Michigan State is gonna have to match than we saw against Northern Michigan. Obviously, that fourth line depth, none you know, like, not even the second line, but the fourth line depth scoring on offense.
Speaker 2:So that's gonna be a key for Michigan State is to match that, you know, not just relying on their first guys to generate their offense.
Speaker 3:Serrato's so good. I mean, just just hey. Just plain and simple, man. I like you know, I was watching the highlights against I actually watched the second Ohio State game that they played, and then the highlights of the first and just throughout those highlights all year this year. And his puck vision, his vision out on the ice is just top notch.
Speaker 3:I mean, like, you know, Michigan State's gonna have to again, I'm, you know, skipping to my keys to the game as well. But the Spartans are gonna have to watch that because, you know, not only can he score goals like the rest of his line, but man, oh, man, can he find people to score goals.
Speaker 1:It's so it's gonna be very interesting to see how they decide to deal with that, second line because it really is, you know, the the line of death, it feels like, for Penn State. And like you said, without having Aiden Fink, they lose a lot of that depth. I feel like and that first line that they have is not really getting the production as much as they had hoped to this season. So it is gonna be interesting to see how, MSU deals with it. But
Speaker 3:And it'll also be interesting sorry to interrupt you. It'll interesting to see who replaces Fink in the first line. I'm very intrigued to see who's gonna do that, so to to start the game too. Yeah. Because it's you know, do you wanna break up that it goes to the back to the fact, like, okay.
Speaker 3:The second line's playing so well together, but do wanna break that up and put one of them in the first line and switch the second line around, or do you put somebody completely new in the first line and keep the second line the way that it is?
Speaker 1:Yeah. I believe they had I know they had Scone who ended up
Speaker 3:Oh, they did. Okay.
Speaker 1:Switching to center, I believe. Interesting. Going up to the third line.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And then I think they had Misa join up there as well. Mhmm. The brother Luke Misa, the brother of the third overall pick of last year. My second overall pick. Excuse me.
Speaker 1:Michael Misa. But, yeah, he they had a lot of adjustments that they made in that lineup after that second Ohio State game. They were very interesting adjustments, and, obviously, it worked pretty well. They ended up coming out
Speaker 3:Of course.
Speaker 1:Of there with a victory. So it'll be interesting to see if they keep up with that or if they've figured something else out as well. Going on to the MSU side, I mean, obviously, no game to talk about. But one thing I do wanna point out, MSU so far this year is top 10, both goals against and goals for Penn State only top 10 in goals for a little bit in the average sort of for goals against. I feel like that is the key thing right there is that I think the defense is going to be a big part of MSU, obviously, not only shutting down this offense, but taking advantage of sort of maybe the lack of Penn State defense too that we haven't really seen so far throughout the season.
Speaker 2:Well, the note I have written down here is that this stat that you gave us is it's a good recipe to win it all. I mean, it's, last year, Western Michigan was, like, one of the most balanced teams in college hockey history.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And look at them. They won it all. Right? So now, obviously, that's getting my hopes up a little bit. We're just trying to beat Penn State here, but, being top 10 on both sides of the rink is obviously very good, and, it's promising against a good opponent like, Penn State.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. I agree. It's gonna be very interesting to see. Again, I I I think MSU is, you know, obviously very favorite.
Speaker 1:Having it at home is a big advantage. Yep. Getting you know, having that bye week, I think, having that extra week of rest with Penn State going, playing a big series too. It felt like going off Columbus is gonna be a huge advantage. I think that's something to look out to when you look at this series.
Speaker 1:But, also for MSU, it really comes down to, I think, penalties as well. I mean, Penn State has really, Penn State has also had their fair share of penalty minutes so far this season. But, I mean, MSU, far and away, one of the leading teams in the country. Both of these teams are actually leading the country in penalties, second and third, only to Holy Cross at first. Are are we going to expect maybe either of these teams to clean it up at some point, or are we just in for an all out brawl?
Speaker 1:And, honestly, are we going how are we going to expect Michigan State to try to really continue to, I guess, assert their dominance over at, in the big 10 over a Penn State team that's kind of the, you know, underdog trying to look to take that crown away from them right now.
Speaker 2:Well, I promise you that both head coaches have talked to their teams this week, and they said, hey, guys. We need to, you know, penalties lose us the game. It won't matter. They're gonna be they're gonna be fighting on the ice. I have here Penn State has eight ten minute penalties, this year so far.
Speaker 2:That's that's not very good. That's not a winning recipe. Of course, they're still winning because they're so talented. But, yeah, Oscar, it's it's not gonna matter. I would expect, I don't know, over under five minutes into the game until there's a penalty.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't think that's ridiculous to say on both sides. I would take the under on that.
Speaker 3:It was interesting to listen to coach Nightingale in his press conference on Tuesday. One of the quotes that stuck out to me was he said, playing with emotion is different than playing emotional. And and that's gonna be important against Penn State because you wanna play with emotion, you wanna play with heart with grit, but playing emotional and letting your emotions get the best of you is where it's gonna come back to bite you, and that can really do so because Penn State's power play is next level.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, it it is, like you said, next level, and it's really because of that second line too. They are, again, the first unit usually on the power play, and they are just absolutely dominating everybody like you said, one of the top in the nation in power play. I think that is a very great point too. You know?
Speaker 1:I think this game is going to be heavy with emotion. Obviously, a huge matchup, a top three matchup. MSU opening up conference play, and both of these teams know these they're going to be in the top with each other in the big 10. And, you know, whoever wins this series can, you know, get themselves in a great situation, it feels like, going forward. So it it it is going it means a lot for both of these teams, and it's going to be very intriguing to, like you say, say who plays with emotion and who plays emotional.
Speaker 1:And I I feel like in in that case, MSU's youth, I feel like, is going to be an interesting factor in this. Obviously, not the first time, as we mentioned, that Nightingale has had a really young team, but you you kinda see that that it it's hard with the not as much maturation and not as much experience in these big time games. Obviously, the BU, you know, series helped a lot, but, you know, this this is a little bit of a bigger atmosphere This is this is this this
Speaker 3:team's biggest game of the year.
Speaker 1:A lot
Speaker 3:of these players' biggest games of their lives. Mhmm. You know, in terms of, like, setting up the success and giving yourself the inside track on the big 10. I mean, obviously, like you said, Boston College is or excuse me, Boston University. Getting the win on the road there is huge, just for just for confidence and for rankings and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:But, like, in terms of the conference, this is it. And this is and this is the game, and and go figure that it's the first, conference series of the season too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I just wanna quickly touch on Boston University as a confidence booster. Beating Boston College is not necessarily a confidence booster.
Speaker 3:Fair enough. Fair enough.
Speaker 2:But, no, after after the New Hampshire series, Puerto Martin said that, you know, they play for you know, this is why these guys are coming over to play college hockey is to play in big games like this. Again, I keep going to my keys to the game, but one of them is, like, don't get rage baited by Penn State. Right? A lot of
Speaker 3:Fair enough. A lot
Speaker 2:of guys no. Seriously. A lot of guys are young. A lot of guys are gonna get emotional. They had to control those emotions, limit the penalties, and make good decisions.
Speaker 1:No. I agree. It's going to be it's going to be that's gonna be a very key part of MSU if they wanna try to win this game. Again, it it feels like all of these games coming up soon are going to be the biggest games these guys are going to play in in their life. So they gotta get used to it real quick, and so it's going to be interesting to see if that punches them in the face and how they react to that.
Speaker 1:And, again, not gonna be the first time we see them in that situate in this situation, so it's gonna be very interesting to see how they react in their first time in this situation. So I'm gonna ask you guys now what will be the key factors? Anything that you guys have not mentioned yet. What will be the key factors for MSU to come away with a solid weekend versus Penn State? Obviously, standings mean a lot for this game.
Speaker 1:Not too much because it's still very early on, and a lot of things can happen. But this is going to be very, you know, very important when it comes to, you know, end of the year having to deal with tiebreakers possibly if you're neck and neck with these guys in the standings.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah. Sorry. I already kinda went over my whole list here, but, but the Penn State is so good. And, of course, there's the argument that could be made that they haven't played so many quality opponents, but we still saw this against Ohio State is their ability to pressure and keep the puck in the offensive zone. And I need I need if Michigan State wants to win this game for them to limit that.
Speaker 2:They need to not you know, they need handle Penn State's shot volume, which is easy to do when you have a guy like Trae Augustine in that, of course. But, I'm curious to see how they're gonna be able to handle that pressure. And then like I mentioned before, the depth, you know, the depth needs to score whether it's to match Penn State's depth or because their starting guys are gonna be in the box, whatever that way is. And then obviously, don't let Penn State get in your head. Don't do tacky penalties.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think my biggest key for Michigan State is is offensive pressure and tenacity. The Spartans lead the big 10, in shots per game with 74. Penn State's got sixty six sixty six point one to be exact shots per game. And so, you know, already statistically, the Spartans are out shooting the Lions by eight, but they just gotta keep it up and prove that they are the best offensive team in terms of, like, taking care of the puck and getting shots on that, getting penetration, because that's gonna be important and because, you know, Penn State's going to take advantage of every opportunity that they get. So it's important that Michigan State not only creates those opportunities, but takes advantage of them in the end too.
Speaker 1:I agree with that, especially looking at the goalie situation for Penn State too. I mean, it's been, you know, very alternating so far between the two. You have Joshua Fleming, a freshman from the queue, from the Quebec, junior league. He's been playing very phenomenal so far, but they really started this season out with a different goalie instead. I'm trying to find I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I do not have
Speaker 2:guys Ridler?
Speaker 1:Yes. Kevin Ridler. But they've been switching off a little bit here and there, and it's gonna be interesting to see if they continue to do that or if they're going to throw Fleming in there as the freshman who doesn't have the same amount of experience as Riedler does in this moment. And I feel like getting a lot of shots on net and this opportunity is going to be very key, and you don't really have to worry about that if you're MSU because you already have the junior goalie with experience in these situations. I I think my key for the game, I mean, we've already talked about staying out of the box.
Speaker 1:You know? No penalties. I think that is so key. But I think for me, it's going to be taking advantage of, I think, the depth that you have on this team. I I look at Penn State, and, obviously, you know, they are very talented, but I just don't think they have really the depth that MSU has
Speaker 3:I agree. Looking I agree.
Speaker 1:You know, line to line. I feel like, obviously, you have that second line that is absolutely deadly. The first line has not been as great for them this season. Now you lose Aiden Fink on that third line with McKenna too, and you don't really know how that's gonna quite look as it develops throughout the year. And can McKenna really, you know, carry that line on his own?
Speaker 1:I'm not quite sure he's there yet. So I think, you know, looking at the depth of both of these teams, I think MSU really can outmatch them on all four lines. And I think that's gonna be very important is that they're getting contribution from all of those lines and, you know, getting scoring from them. And that really has not been a problem so far this season. Obviously, the last game we saw two fourthliners score four points Mhmm.
Speaker 1:To lead them to victory. So I think that's what's going to be the real advantage for them in this game is for them to, you know, really take advantage of that depth and, you know, just I think you can tire out Penn State in that way. If you have all four lines moving and all four lines just going as, you know, hard as they possibly can, and obviously, they will. But, you know, playing as well as you know that they can, I think it's gonna be a rough time for Penn State to compete, honestly?
Speaker 2:Well, I think if you want a Penn State key to the game, they might have to outscore their problems here, fellas, because Joshua Fleming has played okay. He's allowed seven goals through four games, but but Kevin Breethler, I didn't realize he's allowed 18 goals through six games. So that's not very good, of course, and I don't know how they're gonna if they've been struggling this much defensively, how they're gonna contain this number one offense in the nation through the Spartans. So if Penn State wants to win this game, they're gonna have to try and limit the damage. I don't think they're gonna be able to do that, and they're gonna have to score a lot of goals to, outscore their problems.
Speaker 3:I think something interesting to note about Fleming here. Excuse me. I'm trying to find my organize my notes here on the fly. Fleming, you know, he's he you're right. He's played okay, but something interesting about Fleming is in five games for Trae Augustine, he's had faced a 108 shots or made sorry.
Speaker 3:He made a 108 saves, and Fleming's made the exact same amount in two last games. So that's an interesting stat to note. As well, just the amount of that Fleming's had to face versus Augustine this year, but he's played good. His save percentage is super, super high. It's top five in the conference, and he's he his his goals allowed a game is also top five in the conference.
Speaker 3:He's got a a shout out to his name this year. So the goalie battle is gonna be interesting to watch too. Just because it's, you it's Augustine, the guy coming into the season. Everybody thought it just gonna be the man, the man, the man. And he still is and still has a chance to be for the Spartan squad, but hasn't really been like the, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:He's like the greatest goaltender we've ever seen this year. You know, definitely a big series like this gives him a chance to step it up. But Fleming comes in as this freshman who was inserted into the lineup just, you know, a week and a half ago to play these last four games. Mhmm. And he's he's held his own, and so it'll be interesting to see how he faces his comparison between
Speaker 2:him hasn't lost yet.
Speaker 1:He hasn't lost.
Speaker 3:That's correct. He's four out too. So yes.
Speaker 1:It it really feels like they're easing him in right now into this role. Obviously, he's like he he has you know, Ryler, this felt like it was his net to start. But, obviously, like you said, with his struggles early on in the year, he's kind of, you know, lost the trust and the faith of the staff, it feels like. So, again, going into such a huge game, this is their, you know, first big game of the season, it felt like, outside of, you know, having to go to Arizona State, which, you know, they've been okay so far this year. It's not it's obviously not as big as having to come here to MUN to face Michigan State.
Speaker 1:So it's gonna be interesting who they give the reins to. And, you know, if MSU can take advantage of maybe not having full trust of either goaltender right now from Guy Gudowski, it's gonna be I I think that you I think the real key here, the main point number one is gonna be yours and just continuing to get shots on net because you have either a shaky goaltender who doesn't quite have the faith of the coach, it feels like, and could get pulled any moment, or you have the young kid who hasn't seen a lot of experience and has not been in a high stress situation like this.
Speaker 2:Well, he's getting eased in. Right? And he's getting eased into a buzzsaw right now. So Right. So I honestly I could see both these guys playing.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's gonna be one on one for the games or maybe with some guys gonna struggle and the other one's gonna come in, but I could definitely see both these guys playing against Michigan State.
Speaker 1:I could 100 too. It's gonna be interesting to see what Guy does, with this goalie situation. So going in, I kinda wanna hear your guys' predictions for this weekend. We have the Friday game at 07:00. Me and Jack will be on the call for that game tomorrow night.
Speaker 1:Gay will be writing for that one as well. How do we think this game is gonna go tomorrow night? What do we think the final score is going to be? And who do we think is you know what? Who do you think is gonna score a goal as well?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm not going see, the problem is I'm not gonna disclose at this current hour who my hot stick pick is gonna be because I'm currently still in the lead.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:So I'm not gonna say he's gonna score. I'm not gonna say my pick to perform tomorrow night, but I
Speaker 1:will give predictions. We'll give predictions. We'll give score predictions.
Speaker 3:Final score predictions. You know, I think this one's going to be, funny enough, low scoring. I think everybody's expecting this to be super high scoring. That's all Penn State's offense. Right.
Speaker 3:And Penn State's offense is just gonna come in here and dominate and whatever whatever, but I think Augustine's gonna step it up. He knows how to perform big moments. He knows how to make the right saves at the right time for this team. He's proved it the last two years. So I can see this being like a two one, you know, or like or even like maybe like a three two in overtime.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, like I said, I'm not gonna disclose my player because I have one in mind, but I'll say it tomorrow on the broadcast. So tune in. 06:30PM. We'll be live on the air to hear the hot stick pick and see if I can continue my lead of the season.
Speaker 2:That's great, dude. I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3:Thanks, man. I appreciate it. No. It's a slim margin, though, because if you guys get one goal score, boom, you're right tied.
Speaker 2:So So yeah. So I kinda agree. I was thinking about it. I think that Michigan State will win this first game, maybe one or two goals, maybe like on an empty net or it might be two. But then we know how good Nightingale is from night one to night two.
Speaker 2:So the second night we could see Michigan State win by three or four, maybe even. Steph, how fired up would you say they were today? Were they pretty fired up?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, I was able to I was setting up cameras for, a a different, I was setting up cameras for the Big Ten Plus broadcast. And, I was there, and I got the chance to talk to Austin Overman, the SID, and we were just kinda talking about the team because I got there kinda fifteen minutes after practice started. And I was just watching coach Nightingale, and his end of practice speech was phenomenal.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, it was like I was ready to I was setting up cameras and, like, a t shirt, and I was ready to run through a brick wall, put some pads on. I can't even ice skate for goodness sake, and I was just ready to go out there and just perform. So, no. They were fired up.
Speaker 3:And and Nightingale said, you guys were the number one team in the country, so prove yourself. And that's a good point. You know? Like, they they are the number one team in the country, so go out there and make a name for yourself and get after them, and I was really fired up.
Speaker 2:Alright. You talked me into it. I'll take a Michigan I'll take a Michigan state sweep. They'll win by they'll win by, I'll say, two opening night, maybe on an empty night, and then they'll win by three plus on
Speaker 3:the second night, I'm hoping. Wow. I'm hoping. Dominating the afternoon star. They
Speaker 2:love that. Unfortunately, for my stick pick, I am trapped in the Danny Russell cage right now because I've picked him every single time this
Speaker 1:year's and
Speaker 2:he hasn't scored yet for me. He has he did score against Northern Michigan, but he has not scored
Speaker 1:He's while you picked him. So you gotta now you feel like you gotta you gotta keep this straight.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I'm so basically, Danny Russell, please score. I'm trapped. Right?
Speaker 1:Danny Russell, if
Speaker 3:you wanna hear me. Hey. The consistency I can respect. The consistency I can I
Speaker 2:just I I don't know how I don't know? I feel like I've just gotten unlucky because he's been Puerto Martone's been posting up in front of the net and getting tip ins and know, trying. And then Danny Russell comes in, and he's just wide. Wide. Wide.
Speaker 2:Wide. It's like, dude, come on. Just get oh my god. So sorry. I don't mean to get fired up.
Speaker 2:I love you, Danny Russell, but he's he's my pick, and he's gonna get it done.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, he's due. Hopefully, he's due. I mean, Jack, you also, I mean, talked me into it. I had I think I had PSU winning this first game this series. I had Michigan State coming back, obviously, and winning the second one because of how good Nightingale is from that one to two games and especially after losses.
Speaker 1:But after hearing that, I don't think this team, especially coming off of a buy, I don't think they're gonna wanna let this one down. They're gonna wanna set the tone early. They know this is the premium of the big ten they're facing right now to start off their Big Ten conference play. And I think this couldn't be a better opportunity or a better game for them to start Big Ten play because it I think it really sets the tone early. And, you know, being back to back Big Ten regular season champions, I feel like can give you a little bit of that, you know, like, anxiety or, I guess, championship, you know, drunk you sort of get, like
Speaker 2:It puts a target on your back.
Speaker 1:It puts a target on your back, and obviously, PS
Speaker 3:You you become every single team's biggest opponent.
Speaker 1:You Yes.
Speaker 3:You do that's it. And biggest
Speaker 2:road
Speaker 3:trip.
Speaker 2:So There's always sorry to cut you off. There's, you know, there's already, like you know, Michigan State has beef with Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State as it is. But since Michigan State is playing well, there's even more, you know, kinda tension in the air. So, if I will say if Michigan State drops his first night, I can't wait see to that press conference with Nightingale. I wanna see him fire it up.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's gonna I mean, that that second game, I feel like I would oh my god. They're gonna score, like, five goals in that second game
Speaker 2:if they
Speaker 1:lose. If they lose, I'm knock on wood.
Speaker 3:This is the most confident I've been in this team coming into a series all year long. You know, New Hampshire, I had some questions, and then they would split. And then they went on the road and beat Boston. I was like, there's know, I I was not confident at all. It shocked the world, so congrats.
Speaker 2:Will say, I thought New Hampshire's gonna be a quality loss. They haven't been playing as well.
Speaker 3:They have not. I checked it's interesting to note that I checked this. I think they're what are they now? Four and four or three in
Speaker 1:the Around 500.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Which is a little bit disappointing to me. And it's not like they're losing the top teams in their conference either. I think they lost to
Speaker 1:Vermont.
Speaker 3:Vermont. Yeah. Which is not the biggest. So
Speaker 1:Not the best.
Speaker 3:That was disappointing too. Like, ugh. You know, I thought it was gonna be like one of those, you know, James Madison. Oh, heck. Yeah.
Speaker 3:They go on, like, this undefeated run and become one of the best, you know, small teams in the country, but now they really haven't played and goaltending's been a problem if you're like, come on. You know, Chauvet played, like, his best two games of his entire life against us the first two games of the season, and then all of a sudden, it's just back to mediocrity, which is interesting too.
Speaker 1:What happens when you are every team's,
Speaker 3:you know,
Speaker 1:biggest biggest opponent as you guys just said? But, yeah, I think, like I said, this could not be a better game for them to start the regular to start Big Ten regular season play, and I think they're gonna come with the right attitude. And Nightingale's gonna have these guys ready. Like you said, you already heard them getting ready. He's gonna, you know, keep on telling them that all throughout the night and all throughout the day tomorrow leading up to the game, and they're gonna be ready to run through a brick wall, I feel like.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to see the energy they come out with, and I just can't wait to watch this game tomorrow. We are in for just some amazing hockey tomorrow with just an incredible bevy of talent that's going to be at Munn Ice Arena. I was talking about this with some friends. I can't remember the last time there's been this amount of talent, it feels like, on in in East Lansing in one weekend, not only with the hockey going on, but also the basketball game in our with Arkansas coming along too. It it feels like a very, you know, very good time in East Lansing right now, especially with how the football team's been doing.
Speaker 1:You're sort of coming up now on that winter sports season, and it it feels like, you know, it's not quite in the, you know, middle of it, but it's really getting there, and it's really amping up right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, it
Speaker 2:feels like there's a bit of a culture shift as well because, you know, this football game at the beginning of the year, we all had circles on our calendars. We know we thought we thought Ayn Childs, oh, you know, here we go. And then it turns out that, the Michigan State versus Penn State hockey matchup, not football matchup, but hockey matchup is gonna be far more important. And that that could have been assumed going into the year as well, but I'm saying for football fans, there's there's a little bit of shift going on right now with basketball. They're like, oh, hey.
Speaker 2:This team's good. It's like, oh, hey. This hockey team's good. I don't know if I care so much about the football team. Right?
Speaker 3:I I predicted at the beginning of the season that we would be six and two in this game. Penn State would be undefeated, and we'd host game day. And that is obviously not the case at all, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:I thought we'd get against Michigan honestly.
Speaker 3:Fair enough. I we really it's been a
Speaker 1:Just like
Speaker 3:unfortunate Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a straight miss on both of
Speaker 3:those two. It really warrants it. Yeah. And I was just like the biggest over two in my life. Right?
Speaker 3:You know, I I I try not to miss much, but, that was just a disdain.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, Michigan isn't I mean, they're not Right. Too hot either. So
Speaker 1:I mean, they went out, man. They're they're in the playoffs.
Speaker 3:Hey. But guess what? That's why we cover hockey boys. That's why we cover hockey boys. But,
Speaker 1:yeah, I'm I'm so excited for this series. You guys can catch us tomorrow on the Impact Radio Waves here on eighty eight point nine FM, WDBM East Lansing. Me and Jack Volwinkle will be on the call. Gabe Suso will be at our pregame show with us, but he will be writing as well. He'll be recapping both games that have been throughout the weekend, so make sure you check out his articles on the Impact website at impact89fm.com.
Speaker 1:We are now gonna move on from this series. We're gonna look at some other happenings that happened around college hockey. Over the weekend, we had a lot of we had a couple big games go on and a couple seasons that might already be over, unfortunately. We looked at the big ten, and we thought we had, you know, about five, six, or seven, you know, guaranteed tournament teams. It felt like it felt like we were the SEC of the hockey of the hockey land.
Speaker 1:Just all domination. All conferences just had to look below us, but there is one team currently sagging the boat, and it's the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Who would have thought that coming into November, they would be two seven and one last in the big ten, already zero points in conference play after an embarrassing weekend against the Wisconsin badgers. Former Minnesota state former Minnesota rival, actually, Mike Hastings, really, you know, really unlocked his inner Minnesota state. It felt like his former coaching and just put b to a to Minnesota all weekend in their house too, I believe.
Speaker 1:It was at Minnesota. This has been a disaster season to start so far for Minnesota.
Speaker 2:I think, I mean, I think disaster is too generous of a word there. I mean, hey. They still got four votes to be ranked. I don't know if those people voting. I don't know if they have eyes.
Speaker 1:Is this is brand name. This is like hey. We have another team that we're gonna talk about that is just if you thought, you know, football brand name was bad, you should see some college hockey brand name ranking.
Speaker 3:Teams in the top 25 was bad. Check out the top 20 in college. Oh, boy. Gets going for you. But it's, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Wisconsin looked good. I don't wanna take any way anything away from Wisconsin. They look good. Fitzgerald played great. Tassie played great.
Speaker 3:They're both kind of making their way up the ranks in the conference in terms of points and goals. But, you you know, it was interesting coming into the season. You know, the only unranked team in the Big Ten was Notre Dame. Yeah. And everybody thought Notre Dame was gonna be the worst team in the league, you know, sort of inexperienced first year head coach, yada yada yada.
Speaker 3:Well, the Irish took Michigan in overtime, And Michigan beat him two to one, but, you know, the Notre Dame played great at home against Michigan.
Speaker 2:They're still in ranked,
Speaker 3:Tommy. And they're still in ranked. That's correct. But, you know, that not to shift our focus too far forward, but next weekend, the Spartans travel as we do too to South Bend and to play Notre Dame team that took Michigan to overtime and then lost the other game by, you know, a goal or two. So, you know, the Minnesota series was something that we can we kinda had circled like, okay.
Speaker 3:Here we go. You know, back at it again. But that one looks to be sort of a dud, and and and now Notre Dame is sort of coming out of nowhere saying, hey. You know, all these new players, new head coach kinda putting the pieces together, and they're really playing good. But it has been really tough to see for Minnesota because, you know, they did lose a lot of talent.
Speaker 3:And then that that is, you know, that is no secret to anybody around college hockey. But Mhmm. As a team like Minnesota is expected to reload, and they tried, but, unfortunately, this hasn't panned out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, this is a this is a hotbed for hockey. Like, this should be
Speaker 3:Minnesota you think of Minnesota, it's like, oh, hockey. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's literally know?
Speaker 1:Hockey like, five star hockey recruits, it feels like, falls from trees in Minnesota. Like, they should just be able to reload consistently. It it it feels like it is the Louisiana of, like, hockey or, like Yeah.
Speaker 3:For
Speaker 1:for for football. Like, it it they just have a bevy of talent in there. And to see it, like, such a, you know, not very talented team for them fielding right now is just it's it's crazy to watch. And this has been a team that has had a lot of success recently, and so it is again, this was a final this was a team in the national championship two years ago. And now
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I know I they might even they'll probably miss the tournament, it's looking like. I mean Woah. Woah. Woah.
Speaker 2:Woah. Woah. Easy there.
Speaker 1:Easy there. I'm not gonna hey. I'm not gonna they have a long way to go. They have a long way to go.
Speaker 2:Alright. Let me reason why they're gonna somehow make the tournament here.
Speaker 3:Alright. Here we go. Here we go. Go. My friend.
Speaker 2:Okay. As long as they sweep Notre Dame Okay. And Long Island, who they have back to back, they'll move to six, seven, and one. Okay?
Speaker 3:Okay. Okay.
Speaker 2:Then all they have to do is beat Penn State, Michigan, and MSU sometime during this year, and they'll be in. Mean,
Speaker 1:they're beating be those three once is going to
Speaker 2:Dude, at this point, like, how they're still getting ranked votes by playing poorly.
Speaker 1:If they
Speaker 3:Who who is sorry. Who's Minnesota beaten? Listen.
Speaker 1:They beat BC one time.
Speaker 3:Okay. BC.
Speaker 2:But yeah. You guys you guys are obviously forgetting about North Dakota. Sorry about that. We're obviously we're obviously forgetting about North Dakota.
Speaker 3:Just beat the yeah. Okay. Fair enough. So so their two wins are one against BC and one against North Dakota.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you guys.
Speaker 1:They got clapped in that first game against North Dakota, though. That was pretty bad.
Speaker 2:The fact the fact that they got four ranked votes means that if they can squeak out like, if they can win two of the six games or something like that against these teams because of their name, they
Speaker 1:might be able to play enough for
Speaker 3:their defense.
Speaker 1:My thing is the u I mean, the USCHO, and no disrespect, it's like the A People. You know? Like, it only it only tells so much of the story. Really, the official selecting is, you know, these MPI rankings that they have. That's true.
Speaker 1:Right? So I I mean, it is way too early to look at them right now. I mean, Princeton is first currently in the MPI with a two zero record.
Speaker 3:I know the river gonna probably play them, but, oh, boy, those tigers have a good offense. They are playing good. You know? So I'll I'll take I like I like I like the Princeton team.
Speaker 1:But Yeah.
Speaker 3:I Yeah. That's interesting that they're first. It's just interesting.
Speaker 1:They've only played again, they've only played two games of the season. It's it's very early. You know, a lot of these ECHE coach teams haven't like, they barely started their season to
Speaker 3:so Was is Cornell still ranked?
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 3:Okay. Okay. I mean, they're
Speaker 1:10 in the they're 10 in the NPI right now. One and one currently on the year. So
Speaker 2:Well, I was, to piggyback off of Minnesota, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and say that I think they're the fourth best team in their state because I think Fair. We were talking
Speaker 3:about before.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Minnesota stays better. Obviously, Minnesota Duluth is better. Way better. Saint Cloud State has been phenomenal.
Speaker 2:They have that goalkeeper who is four and four. Three and Yes. He's yeah. Yes. I mean,
Speaker 1:they just I mean, they just beat Washington Michigan this past weekend. Sorry. Sorry.
Speaker 2:Four and no. I meant to say. Yeah. Yeah. They have sorry.
Speaker 2:I'm blanking on his name right now. I can't find his name. I'm sorry about that. Oh, Austin Bernovic. He's third in the nation with goals for game with 1.11.
Speaker 2:So Saint Cloud State, we're moving them ahead of the Golden Gophers right now as well. Minnesota is gonna have a tough road. They obviously have to win a lot of games and a lot of big games as well. But, I hope honestly, I hope that they do well so big ten makes themselves seem like a better
Speaker 3:There you go. Hey. Saint Cloud State's doing it all without Colin Ralph too. He he's gone. He's he's he's with us now.
Speaker 3:So this would be interesting. Yeah. He that was a big loss for them. They had to kinda rebuild on defense too, but I love god. I love myself some Colin Ralph, man.
Speaker 3:You know, he just go out there and shoves some people down to the ice. Like, oh, I just like that a
Speaker 2:lot, man.
Speaker 3:Whenever he gets a big hit, it's like, boom. You know? Like, oh, it's hard to be rough.
Speaker 1:Hate to I would hate to
Speaker 2:be hit by the guy.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm pretty sure Scrammel said that in the episode he was on with Nightingale. He's like, that's the guy I hate getting hit by.
Speaker 3:64220? He knocked me out. Thank Knocked my ass. No. To be fair
Speaker 2:to be fair, I don't think I like to get hit by any college hockey player.
Speaker 3:That's a good point.
Speaker 1:Such quality point. But, yeah, I mean, it it's gonna be interesting to see how they do. Just, you know, looking at how they're playing, they have beaten these quality teams, but I just don't think they're gonna be consistent enough. And and only 16 teams I mean, only, like, 16 teams from the MBI make it, and really only, you know, 11 realistically have out at large bid because, you know, six have an automatic go to six automatically go to the, you know, conference winners. So it's a tough start for them, and it's, you know, not a very good resume start.
Speaker 1:They could win the whole tournament. They could realistically hey. They could realistically, but I just I don't know if they have the talent that Penn State did last year to really do that. You know?
Speaker 2:I'll never forget. I believe this was my sophomore year of high school. Wow. I mean, that's that's already four years ago. That's crazy to
Speaker 3:think man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:But but I was watching the Mac college basketball to get into the tournament, to get a ticket.
Speaker 3:Championship game?
Speaker 2:Central Michigan, I believe, won like eight games all year. They were probably one of the worst teams in division one basketball, and they lost on a three point heave, like game winner. Otherwise, said
Speaker 3:Was it against Toledo?
Speaker 2:You might be right.
Speaker 3:Okay. You might be right. Think I watched this exact same game Yeah. In gym class. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I I think I did the exact same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So they lost they lost on a buzzer beater or something like that or, like, scored with, like, two seconds left, but just goes to show, like, you know, any team with these automatic bids can just make the turn.
Speaker 3:Right. And the good part with that is Central Michigan colors are maroon and gold. Oh. So the same thing as Minnesota. So there we go.
Speaker 1:First my draft pick.
Speaker 2:Let's get it out.
Speaker 1:It's time. Put the money put the money on the Minnesota Golden Gophers to win the Big Ten tournament. But, no, hopefully, they can figure it out. We'll see them obviously down the road a couple times. Hopefully, we'll be able to go see them in Minneapolis potentially this year, see how that schedules out with the basketball crew, but we're gonna move on to one more subject.
Speaker 1:This is a team who also has been very disappointing so far, but we just wanna talk about this conference as a whole, really, which has just been absolutely ridiculous so far. The hockey e we're gonna talk about Boston College so far has been off to a not so great start as well. These two teams obviously played each other early in the year, split the series. We thought this was, like, you know, two highly talented teams, you know, going at it. You know, just two tournament teams who could we possibly see in the frozen four battling it out, and, you know, they tied and had some pretty great hockey games.
Speaker 1:This was a battle of mid turns out throughout two Battle
Speaker 3:of mid.
Speaker 1:Against these two teams, and we just didn't even realize it. It's like the LSU I I'm sorry to throw so many football references here, but it it is like the week one LSU Clemson game where you thought, hey. These are these are maybe two playoff teams, two heavyweights that we're gonna see in the playoff probably this year. Neither of them are making it. Neither of them are, but it's been a tough it's been a tough year for Boston College as well.
Speaker 1:Just had a rough series versus Northeastern who, congratulations, is now ranked as well. They sit at first in the Hockey East. Broadcast Max,
Speaker 3:shout out.
Speaker 1:Having a having a great year so far is Northeastern. And, I mean, what a year to have a great year because the Hockey East is just, excuse me, wide open right now. Obviously, with Boston College struggling and not to mention BU kinda struggling as well to find their footing, it really feels like a lot of teams have some opportunities to knock off the, you know, the knock off the kings of the Hockey East, it feels like, for a long time.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the best comparison I can make because I still think well, the Hockey East isn't like the I still think the Big Ten is the best conference in college hockey. Right? I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Mhmm. The best comparison I can make to football is the Big twelve.
Speaker 2:So the Big twelve obviously is not the powerhouse, but they're just like a bunch of guys that every single week, it feels like it's a shootout, and you have no idea who's gonna win. BYU, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Houston, Utah, Arizona State, TCU, you know, all these teams. Right? And then you look at Hockey East, and it's like Northeastern, you know, UConn, UMass, Maine, Boston. It's like all these teams at any good night could beat each other, and it's just it feels like a coin toss every game, and that's what makes it feel so entertaining.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's really been interesting to see the Boston teams just not like, you know, it it the parody in college hockey, I remember I remember we talked about it right before the season started like, hey. This season is gonna be something different. You're not gonna see your typical, you know you know, Boston, Boston, Michigan, Minnesota at the top. And, you know, it's the same thing for it's interesting, you know, like, there's just parody in college sports as a whole now with all these expansions and different schools, you know, getting all these different resources.
Speaker 3:But, you know, of course, I'm a little biased. It's great to see three of the top four Michigan teams or three of the top teams in the country, excuse me, be Michigan teams.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 3:But, you know, it's it's interesting in that little, you know, five years ago, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State, Western Michigan, and Quinnipiac are not the top five teams even in the remote question of the country. And to see that happen this year has been really, really cool. And it is a wide open race. Thanks to the big the hockey's chaos and just in terms of the parody in college hockey as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. Obviously, BC is just really suffering from losing Jacob Valor last season. They have not found any consistent goaltending, whatsoever. Both have a sub 900, say, percentage right now.
Speaker 1:It's been it's been tough from behind the net, for these guys. And, obviously, you know, they still have so much talent on that team too. They have James Hagans who was drafted last year in the first round. They still have Andre Gaseaux. They have, Hagans' brother, Michael, on there who is not having that great of a season yet.
Speaker 1:But, obviously, there's a lot of talent on this team, and it's just really not coming together. And, obviously, when you have bad goaltending too, there's just not much you can do about it. It sinks your team, you know, so much, and that that's really what they're going through right now. It's just some bad goaltending.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sorry. I was just looking at the hockey east standings. Northeastern, I didn't realize how good these guys are.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, so the Lon Zacker just won goalie of the month for a month of October had a nine five two, two shutouts. I mean, if you beat out Ivankovich, right, that's probably pretty good, you know, sign they're doing pretty well. They're three and o in the conference. So this is gonna be fun to watch this year, guys. I mean
Speaker 1:Northeastern, it it's an interesting place too. I mean, I don't know if you I'm sure you've seen their barn, but it is a it is a, you know, historic landmark almost. It is my it's Matthews Arena. Excuse me. It is almost what?
Speaker 1:A hun a 100 plus years old? A
Speaker 3:100 Crazy.
Speaker 1:10 something years old? It is it is one of the oldest hockey arenas, like, you know, standing in The United States, probably in the world right now, honestly. It has been around for a long time.
Speaker 3:It opened on 04/16/1910. Wow. So it is a 105 years old.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. 115 years old, I'm
Speaker 2:sorry.
Speaker 1:And they have no plan of, you know, moving anywhere anytime soon, it sounds like. So it it is a very fun environment, very cool environment, and, you know, it's a great it is a great hockey spot to be in. Obviously, very nice to see them have a lot of success. And, hopefully, you know, maybe you could see them win the hockey championship
Speaker 3:this year. Sorry to interrupt. It's the oldest it's the world's oldest multipurpose athletic building still in use in the entire world.
Speaker 1:Just athletic building in
Speaker 2:general? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Wow. As well as the oldest arena in use for ice hockey as well. Wow. There are current plans, however, unfortunately, to demolish the historic arena and replace it with new facility, keeping it the new name. But as of right now, Northeastern has no plan to
Speaker 2:enact That doesn't count. You can't just give it the same name. Right. That's what
Speaker 3:I said. I was like I like, don't So there's a
Speaker 1:plan instilled, but not Right. No plan to execute.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It kinda makes sense. And it was it was renovated because obviously, I'm sure it's not the same seat since 1910. Yeah. It was renovated in 1995.
Speaker 3:That's less than that.
Speaker 2:Makes sense because, I guess, an arena is technically a closed roof. Right? Correct. So, like, if you think about, like, like, Europe and, like, Africa, like, the oldest civilizations, those are all open roof for,
Speaker 3:like, soccer. That's that's fair.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's fair.
Speaker 2:So it kinda makes sense that the oldest arena would be an American building. Mhmm. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's a good point.
Speaker 2:Because we play basketball and hockey too. Little history now. This is great. I love it.
Speaker 1:It makes a lot of sense. But, hey, maybe we'll see the Hockey East championship right there in Matthews Arena. Long ways to go, but they're looking like they're in a great spot right now. That will do it for us here on behind the mask. Obviously, tomorrow, we have the huge game against number three Penn State right here in East Lansing in Munn Ice Arena.
Speaker 1:You can catch me and Jack Wohlwinkle on that broadcast on the airwaves eighty eight point nine FM, or you can listen to it on impact89fm.com on our website. You can also catch Gabe's article there before you listen to our broadcast. That'll do it for us here behind the mask. We'll catch you guys next week to recap the MSU versus Penn State series and talk about other happenings around the college hockey world. Thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 1:I'm Oscar Henderson along with my partners, Jack Vonwinkle and Gabe Sousa. We will see you guys next week.
Speaker 3:Go green.