Hello  and  welcome  back  to the  weekly  rundown  presented  by  the  Minnesota  Daily. I'm  your  host,  Paul  Hodowanick, and  this  week  we  are  going  to  be  talking  some  hockey. The  men's  hockey  team  is  coming  off maybe  its  best  weekend  of  the  season. It  swept  Ohio  State, who  at  the  time  was  ranked  number  six  in  the  country, and  gave  them  life  in  the  Big  Ten  conference  race. So  to  take  a  peek  into  how  the  season  is  gone, we  bring  in  our  men's  hockey  beat  reporter, Anna  Lands,  Hanna. Hey  Paul,  Make  sure  to  check out  Anna's  hockey  coverage  on  Men daily.com  or  pick  up a  copy  of  the  paper  in  any  university  building. Let's  jump  right  in.  The  team  is  1,010.4  on  the  season, 554.3  in  the  conference. It's  a  little  weird  now  with the  extra  overtime  rules  that  still  confuse  all  of  us. But  despite  them  being  500  both in  conference  and  on the  season,  they've  won  three  in  a  row. So  they're  trending  upward  a  little  bit. In  terms  of  stats,  Sampo,  Ranta, and  Scott  Ready  are  tied  for  the  goal  lead  with  ten. Ranta  had  a  really  nice  weekend this  past  weekend,  had  three  goals. Dy  was  out,  which  we'll  get  to  much  about  that  later. Then  Brandon  Mcmanus  and Ben  Meyers  lead  the  team  in  points  with  17. I  believe  they  both  have  11  assists.  So  they're  creating. My  question  to  you  is  at 1,010.4  now  that  they've kind  of  bumped  up  their  conference  record  a  little  bit, how  would  you  assess  where they  are  overall  in  the  season? Based  on  where  we  were  thinking this  team  could  be  before  the  season  started. I  think  where  they've  sort  of ended  up  is  sort  of  where  I  guess  you would  expect  a  young  team  like  that  to be  in  this  point  in  this  season. They've  sort  of  worked  out  their  issues. You  know,  earlier  in  the  season  they  sort  of had  a  lot  of  trouble  with  turnovers  and  things  like  that, and  now  they've,  they've  gotten  better  at  that, they've  kind  of  tightened  up  a  little  bit. And  then  over  the  Christmas  break, they've  come  off  that  break  and  come  back  really strongly  and  there's  a good  feeling  on  the  team  and  they're  like, the  mood  is  like,  okay,  we're  ready, we're  going  to  be  better  than  we  were  in the  first  half  and  so  they're moving  in  the  right  direction. Sure.  I  think  besides the  loss  they  had  to  the  exhibition  team, the  USA  under  18  team, didn't  count  for  the  conference  standings. I  think  they're  only  loss  since  about  December  4 was  a  game  to  Michigan  State. And  Michigan  State's  higher than  them  in  the  conference  ranking. So  they've  been  putting  together  some  good  weekends. What  held  them  back  earlier  in the  season  that  maybe  they're starting  to  do  better  with  now. Is  it  just  those  those  young  guys  starting  to  mature? Is  that  the  main  reason  we  think  Yeah. I  mean,  they  do.  I  think sophomores  and  freshmen  combined. They  have  something  like  19  underclassmen and  those  players, they've  sort  of  gotten  that  experience  now. Because  even  if,  you  know, like  you  were  in  a  junior  league  or a  high  school  league  and  you  know  you  tore  it  up, you  were  leading  that  transition from  junior  or  high  school  hockey to  college  hockey  is  really  difficult. But  now  I  think  those  players, they've  adjusted,  they've  gotten  their  ice  time, they  figured  it  out, and  now  they're  moving  forward. There  are  times  when  a  bad  turnover happens  and  things  like  that. In  the  exhibition  game, there  was  a  bad  turnover  that  led  to  a  goal, and  it  was  a  21  loss. But  they  are  improving, especially  with  moving  some  of  the  lines  around. They've  been  able  to  find  some  good  chemistry. Yeah,  it's  interesting  because you  know  they're  around  500, and  so  you  wouldn't  expect  them  to  be  super high  up  in  any  statistical  categories, but  they're  starting  to  do  a  little  bit  better  now. And  they  aren't  ranked  in  the  top  ten  or  even  in  the  top 20  and  really  any  major  categories  as  a  team. And  no  individuals  are  having  like  outstanding  seasons, at  least  statistically  that  seem  to  be  carrying  them. So  where  has  that  success  been to  where  they've  even  gotten  to  500? I  think  in  part it's  in  terms  of  the  big  ten  standings  and  the  points. What  really  sort  of  kept  them afloat  in  the  beginning  of  the  season  was  when, with  those  sort  of  funky  overtime  big  ten  rules, they  were  able  to  stay  pretty  middling  in  the  standings. Even  with,  I  think, you  know,  earlier  in  the  season, it  was  something  like  three  wins  compared  to  other  teams. And  they  were  still  doing  pretty  well  in the  standings  because  in  the  beginning  of  the  season, they  had  some  problems  where,  you  know, they  would  go  out  and  they  would  have a  really  good  Saturday  or  a  really  good  weekend, and  then  they  would  come  back on  that  next  Friday,  and  then  they  would  lose. And  now  coming  back  into  the  second  half, it  seems  like  they've  had  a  lot  of  discussions  as  a  team, watched  a  lot  of  film,  had  a  lot  of meetings  with  coach  as  a  group  and  individually, and  they've  been  saying  one  of  their  main  goals. Um,  they  want  to  go  out and  they  want  to  have  a  really  solid  Friday  night. And  I  think  Ohio  State is  a  really  strong  example  of  that. Yeah.  And  I  think  that  you  thing  is  something  that all  teams  kind  of  struggle  with, just  the  ups  and  downs. They've  got  talent,  Moscow  is, it's  not  like  he's  not  bringing in  talent,  they've  got  talent. But  just  like  PJ. Fleck  had  last  year  where  the  team  was  very  up  and  down, looked  really  good  in  some  games  and  was getting  beat  by  Illinois  and  letting  up  55. So  I  think  that  you  can kind  of  make  some  comparing  contrast. And  I  believe  Moscow  even  did  make  a  comparing  contrast to  flecks  team  from a  year  ago  at  the  beginning  of  the  season  saying, hey,  we've  got  a  lot  of  young  guys, it's  just  going  to  take  them  some  time. And  so  having  that  first  couple  months, having  that  break  to  recuperate,  get  their  bodies  ready, and  now  coming  back, maybe  we're  starting  to  see  that  talent  start to  mature  and  just  get  used  to  playing  college  hockey. And  I  think  the  epitome of  that  was  this  Ohio  State  series. I  don't  think  anyone  expected  them  to come  in  and  sweep  Ohio  State. Ohio  State  was  ranked  sixth,  as  I  said  earlier. A  really  good  club,  and  a  really  good  defensive  team  too, that  they  were  able  to  put  some  goals  on  the  board. And  you  wrote  about it  on  the  website  which  you  guys  can  go  and  check  out. Most  of  that  success  came from  the  second  line  mats,  Goo,  push  back. Maybe  it's  not  the  second  line, but  on  the  line  sheet  it's  the  second  line. And  it  consists  of  Ranta  Mcmanus  and  it  used  to  be  Reedy. And  Reedy  went  out  and  Ben  Meyer  stepped  in. So  can  you  kind  of  take  us  through  that  whole  situation, What  happened  with  Reedy  and  then what  happened  in  the  games  with  that  line? Yeah.  So  on  Friday  night  against  the  Ohio  State  or against  the  Ohio  State  game  before  it  started, I  heard  up  in  the  press  box  that  Reedy was  out  week  to  week  with  an  upper  body  injury. Which  when  you  hear  that, it's  sort  of,  you  know, it's  worrisome  on  one  level that  at  the  time  ready  was  doing  really  well  and  he was  sort  of  able  to  get  those  goals in  moments  where  maybe the  team  was  down  or  they  needed  a  boost. And  he  was  really  contributing  a  lot  to  the  team. And  then  I  heard like  the  injury  happened  against  the  under  18  team, which  was  sort  of  surprising  in  that, not  to  take  away  from  their  skill or  anything  but  that  game, you  know,  after  it  Matzko  was  like,  well, half  of  our  bench  played  like  it  was  an  exhibition  game. There  wasn't  a  ton  of  effort  there, but  it  was  worrying. And  so  but  then  to  see  that  new  line  come  together, like  ready  was  out. And  then  they  slotted  Ben  Meyers up  to  center.  They  just  bumped  him  up. One  they  worked  really  well  together. It  was  really  cool  to  watch,  to  be  honest, because  Ben  Meyers, everyone  really  describes  him  as  sort  of  a  hard  nosed, really  hardworking  guy,  Sampoanta. He's  a  big  body  but  he's  got  a  ton  of  skill. Him  and  Brandon  Mcmanus  sort  of  know  each other  pretty  well.  They're  pretty  good  friends. In  last  year,  Mcmanus  talks  about  how he  used  to  call  rant  shampoo  as  a  nickname. They  get  along  really  well. And  first  of  all, leading  into  that  Ohio  State  series, they  were  expecting  like,  okay, Ohio  State's  really  strong  defensively, it's  going  to  be  a  hard  fought  one  goal  game. And  then  they  went  out  and  scored  six  goals  on  one  of the  best  goalies  in  college  hockey,  Tommy  Napier, who  before  that  he  had  a  goals  against  average of  1.8  That  chemistry  was  just  really  strong, and  it  was  interesting  to  talk  to  them  about  it because  all  of  them  were  saying  things  like, oh,  the  other  two  guys  are  so  good, it  makes  it  easier  for  me  to  play  with  them  and  like, they're  so  strong  and  to keep  that  line  together,  you  know, in  the  Saturday  game  and  then  against  Wisconsin, you  know,  it  should  be  good  to  watch. Well,  I  mean,  when  you  just  look  at the  stats,  it's  Brian  Mcmanus. We  just  said  points  leader  tied  with  Ben  Meyers. Sampo  Anton  now  has  tied  for  the  most  goals  with  Dy. So  that's  a  pretty  powerful  line  up. I  can  see  why  Moscow said  well  that's  not  really  a  two  line up  because  that  production  is  higher  than  that. I  mean  they're  the  top  point  getters pretty  much  other  than  Sammy  Walker, they  are  the  top  three. And  when  Dy  was  in  there,  they  were  producing  two. So  it  was  kind  of,  you never  expect  to  see  that  just  with  chemistry  wise, with  the  linemates,  you  develop  that. But  it  sure  worked  And  it  worked  against  Ohio  State, against  a  really  good  defensive  club. So  I  think  it'd  be a  mistake  not  to  keep  that going  even  if  ready  does  return, which  just  sounds  like  he  has  a  chance  to  correct. Right.  So  on  Tuesday  when  we  had  media  availability, the  word  was  that  they  were hoping  he  would  be  able  to  get  back  in, but  they  would  have  a better  picture  of  it  at  the  end  of  the  week, you  know,  like  Thursday  today. So,  I  haven't  heard  any  update but  and  if  he  were  to  be  ready, there  wasn't  any  prediction on  where  he  might  fit  back  in. So  that's  just  sort  of  a  wait  and  see. It'll  be  interesting  to  see. What  happens  there?  I  want  to ask  one  more  general  question  about the  team  which  is  around the  goaltender  situation  coming  into  the  year. We  didn't  totally  know  who  is  going  to  be  the  starter. We  had  an  idea  it  was  going  to  be  La  Fontaine. And  it  has  been  him, it  has  been  Moe.  And  so  Jared  Mo. So  take  us  kind  of  through,  is  this  just  kind  of  like  a, whoever's  playing  well  is  going  to  play  and we're  just  going  to  kind  of ride  with  it  till  it  doesn't  work. Yeah,  I  mean,  you  know, when  you  talk  to  Matzko  about  goaltending, he's  pretty  brief  about it  not  to  brush  them  off  in  any  way. But  like  sort  of  like  you  said, it's  like  well  he  was  doing  good  so  you  know, he's  going  to  play  and  things  like  that. And  Mo  has  been getting  more  chances  throughout  the  season. But  it's  been  interesting  to  watch La  Fontaine  in  particular, because  I  remember  during  football  season  and  PJ. Fleck  came  in,  La  Fontaine  is  a  transfer. So  he  was,  he  went  to Michigan  and  then  he  was  out  of  college  playing  junior. And  then  he  came  back  in  and  he  is  someone  who's really  bought  into  J  Flex's  whole  like  ideology. And  when  you  talk  to  him  he's  someone  who's, he's  well  spoken,  he's  a  little  bit  older, he  understands  what  the  team  has  to do  to  have  him  in  net, I  think  is  something  positive  for  the  team. Yeah,  just  take  a  look  at their  stats  Is  pretty  much  as  close  as  you  can  get. I  mean,  Mo  has  played  in  12  games, La  Fontaine's  played  in  15, so  La  Fontaine's  been  on  the  ice  a  little  bit  longer. But  Mo,  99  say  percentage. La  Fontaine  is  at  a  95. Mo's,  44.1  La  Fontaine  is 66.3  so  it  doesn't  seem  to  be  much  separation. Moskin  beaten  him  on  goals  average  per  game. That's  at  2.62  where  La  Fontaine  is  2.88  But they  seem  like  they  have  at  least  two  guys that  are  competent  that  they  can  go  to, which  is  a  plus  considering  at  the  beginning  of  the  year, they  didn't  really  have  anyone  that had  played  as  a  gopher  on  the  team. So  I  think  all  in  all, it's  been  a  plus  for  them. At  that  spot,  with  that  Ohio  State  win, they  kind  of  bumped  themselves  up. They  were  in  the  basement  of  the  standings. They're  up  to  fifth  out  of  seven  teams. So  nothing  remarkable,  but  they're  in striking  distance  of  third  and  not  too  far  from  first. I  believe  they're  one  point  away  from  third, from  44  points  away  from  third, and  like  seven  points  away  from  first  place. I  believe  they  played  two less  games  than  everyone  else  as  well. Yeah,  there  are  some  chances  to  move  up. Wisconsin's  not  great. They're  at  last  in  the  Big  ten,  in  the  standing. So  what  are  the  chances  that  we  can see  this  go  team  continue  to  rise  up? Right.  I  think,  you  know, especially  the  sort  of new  attitude  they  have  coming  back  from  the  break, I  think  the  potential  for  them  to  hit some  sort  of  stride  and  just  really  get  going. It's  there.  The  thing  with  the  big  ten  is  the  big  ten  is always  really  competitive  for Wisconsin  to  be  in  the  basement. Something  Moscow  said  was they're  also  a  young  team  and  they're  going  to  be  playing really  desperate  this  weekend because  I  think  last  year  I'm  pretty sure  the  standings  were  almost  flipped  with Wisconsin  ending  either  first  or  near  the  top. And  then  Michigan  State  was  at  the  bottom. So  it's  really,  and  now  it's  completely  the  opposite. So  it's,  it's  a  tight  league, but  I  think,  you  know, coming  off  that  Ohio  State  series, the  golfers  have  put  themselves  in a  really  good  position  going  into  the  border  battle. Yeah.  And  if  they  can  continue  to  play  well  against Wisconsin  and  kind  of  keep  themselves  right  up  there, they  play  Penn  State  soon, they  play  Michigan  State  soon. Those  are  the  teams  that are  currently  tied  for  first  place. So  a  couple  of  good  showings. They  can  make  up  a  lot  of  ground.  So  I'll  end  on  this. What  are  realistic  expectations? The  rest  of  the  way,  obviously  they're  playing  well, but  they're  a  young  team,  they've  been  up  and  down. And  how  do  you  expect  them  to  finish? What  should  fans  expect  to  see  from  them  this  last  month? And  what's  a  realistic  hope as  we  kind  of  come  down  to  this  end  of  the  season? Yeah,  I  think  something  La  Fontaine  said  in  media, he  said  something  like  coming  back  from  this  break, he,  you  know,  the team's  really  just  ready  to  sort  of  get  on that  schedule  of  like  going  in  every  weekend and  playing  and  getting back  in  that  schedule,  in  that  routine. And  so  I  think  they're  ready  to  sort of  you  have  to  fight their  way  up  the  top  of the  standings  like  you  were  saying. And  I  think  they  do  have a  pretty  good  potential  to  maybe end  up  somewhere  closer  to  third. I  hesitate  to  say  second  or first  because  they're  in  fifth  right  now. And  it  is  a  little  bit  ambitious, but  if  they  can  lock down  their  goal  of going  out  and  having  a  really  good  Friday  night, and  then  being  able  to  carry that  momentum  into  a  Saturday, and  then  maybe  start,  you  know, not  sweep  everybody  because  that's  not  realistic. But  if  they  can  get  one  or  two, that  would  put  them  in  a  really  good  position heading  into  the  postseason. The  Gophers  play  Wisconsin  on Friday  and  Saturday  in  Madison. And  then  they  return  home  the  next  weekend, February  7  and  eighth, to  play  Michigan  State, a  games  that  will  surely  have  a  lot  on  the  line. So  Anna,  thank  you  for  coming  in. Make  sure  to  check  out  Anna's coverage  the  rest  of  the  way. It's  sure  going  to  be  interesting  whether they  continue  to  rise  or  they  have  another  fall  again. So  we  thank  you  for  taking  the  time  to  come  in. Yeah,  Thanks,  Paul. In  other  news,  the  women's  hockey  team suffered  its  first  sweep  of  the  season as  they  couldn't  find  an  answer  for the  number  one  ranked  Badgers  last  weekend. Despite  the  losses,  the  Gophers  remained  at number  two  in  the  national  polls. They  host  number  nine,  Minnesota  Duluth this  weekend  for  a  two  game  series  on  Friday. The  wrestling  team  lost a  hard  fought  duel  to  Ohio  State  on  Sunday. Gable  Stevenson  remains  undefeated since  return  to  the  Gophers, and  is  currently  ranked  as the  top  Heavyweight  in  the  country. Stevenson  and  the  Gophers  looked  to  rebound  as  a  team as  they  travel  to  Purdue  for  a  duel  on  Friday. Lexi  Ramler  made  history  for  the  women's  gymnastics  team, scoring  her  second  consecutive  perfect ten  on  the  balance  beam  last  weekend. Ramler  is  the  first  gopher  to  do  it  in  back  to  back weeks  and  the  first  to  record a  perfect  ten  amateur  pavilion. After  two  consecutive  wins, the  women  travel  to  Columbus, Ohio  to  take  on  the  Buckeyes  on  Saturday. The  men's  gymnastics  team  also competes  this  upcoming  Saturday  as they  travel  to  Iowa  for  a  try  meet  against  Iowa  and  UIC. The  Gophers  most  recently  topped  Illinois  last  week, in  which  Shane  Whiskeys  continued  to  dominate, and  Senior  Timmy  Util got  his  first  career  win  on  the  High  Bar. That's  all  for  this  week.  We  will  be  back  again  next  week to  give  you  the  weekly  rundown on  all  things  Gopher  sports. Don't  forget  to  share  subscribe  and  review. We'll  see  everyone  next  week.