Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain.
Speaker 2: Where it snowed hard on the first day of spring
Speaker 2: here in Chicago, but we all know March Madness is
Speaker 2: the real sign that spring is here. Let the games begin.
Speaker 2: It's Friday, March twenty first Happy Friday slices.
Speaker 1: On today's show, We'll be kicking it with women's.
Speaker 2: Hockey writer and co host of the Podcas podcast Nicole Hasey,
Speaker 2: talking about the women's NCUBLEA Hockey Tournament and tonight's Frozen
Speaker 2: four matchups, the current landscape of college hockey, her favorites
Speaker 2: for the Patty Kasmier Memorial Award and the unique and
Speaker 2: cute way that she was introduced to the game. Plus
Speaker 2: the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Round of sixty four tips
Speaker 2: off today. A new era for rugby in America starts
Speaker 2: this weekend.
Speaker 1: The IOC has a new head honcho, and a women's
Speaker 1: hockey what.
Speaker 2: The fact that'll have you shaking your head. It's all
Speaker 2: coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's what
Speaker 2: you need to know today in college basketball. March Madness
Speaker 2: is officially upon us. The NCAA Tournament first round begins today.
Speaker 2: Games tip at eleven thirty am Eastern, first up number
Speaker 2: six Michigan and number eleven Iowa State. There are sixteen
Speaker 2: total contests throughout the day, wrapping up late tonight with
Speaker 2: number one UCLA playing number sixteen Southern University at ten
Speaker 2: pm Eastern.
Speaker 1: We'll link to the full schedule of games in our.
Speaker 2: Show notes and to our Good Game ESPN tournament Challenge
Speaker 2: group picks lock when that first contest tips at eleven
Speaker 2: thirty am Eastern, So if you're listening to this early
Speaker 2: on Friday, there's still time to fill out your bracket.
Speaker 2: To college hockey, the Frozen Four begins tonight with my
Speaker 2: number three Cornell Big Red facing number two Ohio State
Speaker 2: at five pm Eastern, followed by number four Minnesota and
Speaker 2: number one Wisconsin at eight thirty pm Eastern. We'll have
Speaker 2: plenty more on those games later in the show, and
Speaker 2: we'll put the schedule in our show notes. To rugby,
Speaker 2: the women's Elite rugby season starts tomorrow. The first game
Speaker 2: of the league's inaugural campaign features the New York Exiles
Speaker 2: against the Boston ban Cheese on Saturday at three pm Eastern,
Speaker 2: and on Sunday at two pm Eastern. The Chicago Tempest
Speaker 2: hosts the Tcgemini of the Twin Cities.
Speaker 1: Wondering where to watch well, good news.
Speaker 2: The WER announced a partnership with de Zone yesterday, making
Speaker 2: it the sole home for every match this season. Through
Speaker 2: the partnership, we'll also get an exclusive midweek highlights show
Speaker 2: on the network, and the best part, all matches will
Speaker 2: be available live and on demand for free. Big shout
Speaker 2: out to friends of the show, WER president Jessica Hammond
Speaker 2: Graff and Chicago Tempest player Betty Wynn, who we had
Speaker 2: on back in January during our New Year.
Speaker 1: New League's Week. We're excited for you both slices.
Speaker 2: Go back and check out that episode to jog your
Speaker 2: memory about the WER.
Speaker 1: We'll link to it in our show notes.
Speaker 2: In Olympic news, Kirsty Coventry, former swimmer and winner of
Speaker 2: seven of Zimbabwe's eight Olympic medals, was elected the tenth
Speaker 2: President of the International Olympic Committee yesterday. She's the first
Speaker 2: woman and the first African to ever hold the position
Speaker 2: at the IOC. The forty one year old beat out
Speaker 2: seven other people for the job, earning forty nine of
Speaker 2: the committee's ninety seven votes, and will officially begin her
Speaker 2: tenure on June twenty, third Olympic Day. She'll fill the
Speaker 2: seat held by Thomas Bach for the last twelve years.
Speaker 2: First major event under her leadership will be the Milan
Speaker 2: Courtina Winner Olympics next year in Italy, less than eleven
Speaker 2: months away. She'll hold office for eight years through twenty
Speaker 2: thirty three. Now it's worth noting that Coventry has previously
Speaker 2: indicated that she would like to see a blanket ban
Speaker 2: on transgender women competing in Olympic sports, which would be
Speaker 2: a change from current IOC policy, updated several years ago
Speaker 2: to give each individual sport federation the ability to establish
Speaker 2: their own policy. To pro hockey, the PWHL is celebrating
Speaker 2: all things LGBTQ plus with the Pride Unity Games presented
Speaker 2: by Elf Beauty on select dates for the rest of
Speaker 2: the month and in April. At each contest, they'll be
Speaker 2: special guests, activations, in game, tributes, and partnerships with local
Speaker 2: and national LGBTQ plus organizations. The celebrations will also include
Speaker 2: a sick special edition Pride Unity Game logo designed by
Speaker 2: the artist Eli, a Hamilton, Ontario based queer and transgender creative.
Speaker 2: The details in the logo are incredible. You've got to
Speaker 2: check it out. We'll link to the PWHL site where
Speaker 2: you can get more info and tickets for the Pride
Speaker 2: Unity Games.
Speaker 1: In our show notes, we're.
Speaker 2: Going to take a quick break. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we hit the ice with Nicole Hasey.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned.
Speaker 3: Joining us now.
Speaker 2: She's a hockey writer for us CCHO, co host of
Speaker 2: the aptly named college hockey podcast The podcas an editor
Speaker 2: in chief at the Victory Press, and independent publication that
Speaker 2: covers women's hockey, among other sports. She's mom to Bassett
Speaker 2: Hound Ripley, and she shares my love of Merrimeco Prince
Speaker 2: and Alex loves them too.
Speaker 1: It's Nicole Hasey.
Speaker 3: Hei, Nikole, Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: I was very jealous of your Merrimaco shopping trip that
Speaker 2: I spotted on your Instagram. I used to have my
Speaker 2: whole bathroom in La all Merrimaco flowers.
Speaker 3: Yes, that was like the first thing I did in Finland.
Speaker 2: I have not yet been to Finland, but I imagine
Speaker 2: if I go, it will be the first thing I
Speaker 2: did too. Let's talk about how you got into covering
Speaker 2: hockey in the first place.
Speaker 3: So I grew up playing soccer. I was eighteen when
Speaker 3: the ninety nine ers happened and felt a little like, now,
Speaker 3: where have you all been? And so I didn't grow
Speaker 3: up with hockey. But when my now husband and I
Speaker 3: started dating, he took me to a Wisconsin men's hockey
Speaker 3: game and I immediately clocked that the women's team was
Speaker 3: really good, and that was like, why haven't I heard
Speaker 3: anything about this? And so mostly it's I just sheer
Speaker 3: stubbornness and the fact that I basically saw in hockey
Speaker 3: what I had grown up with in soccer. It felt
Speaker 3: like it was on a similar trajectory but hadn't gotten
Speaker 3: as far down the path. And so yeah, I just
Speaker 3: I started. I love the college game. I love college
Speaker 3: sports more than pro in general. And so yeah, it
Speaker 3: was mostly just there are Olympians over here on the
Speaker 3: U or on the Wisconsin women's team, and nobody's paying
Speaker 3: attention to get through like five dollars. And I just
Speaker 3: was lucky enough to start watching hockey in two thousand
Speaker 3: and six when both the Badger men and women won
Speaker 3: the national championship at the same year, which has never
Speaker 3: happened before. Yeah, sheer stubborn, mad feminist energy and just
Speaker 3: really seeing myselfs and wanting these players to grow up
Speaker 3: differently than I did. They were covered. They want them
Speaker 3: to have the coverage that wasn't there when I was younger.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: So what were you doing at the time professionally when
Speaker 2: you went to that first hockey game and started to
Speaker 2: think about it?
Speaker 3: So I have a degree while I'm old enough that
Speaker 3: I have a degree in print journalism. You know, all
Speaker 3: of the other stuff were individual.
Speaker 2: Different So kids, there used to be something called paper
Speaker 2: and then you put writing on it and you'd read it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the stuff that you don't get paid a
Speaker 3: lot to do. Those were all different majors instead of
Speaker 3: one thing that a journalist does. So I've always wanted
Speaker 3: to get into sports writing. Long story short, I lived
Speaker 3: in New Orleans. I went to college there when King
Speaker 3: Katrina hit so, I at the time had never come
Speaker 3: planned to come back to Milwaukee, which is where I live,
Speaker 3: and then did. And at the time, again you had
Speaker 3: to work your way up on smaller papers. You kind
Speaker 3: of had to pay your dues in Milwaukee. I was
Speaker 3: too small a fish and too big of a pond
Speaker 3: in Milwaukee, and so I was doing a lot of
Speaker 3: odd jobs, and so when I started covering women's sports,
Speaker 3: it was just I found someone that had a hockey
Speaker 3: block and I'm like, hey, Pope, Pope, can I cover
Speaker 3: the women's side, and just kind of kept with it,
Speaker 3: and uh, I went full time freelance right before the pandemic, which, hilariously,
Speaker 3: I thought I was diversified. I cover food, I have
Speaker 3: a pastry degree, and I cover travel and I cover sports,
Speaker 3: and all of those things didn't happen. So it's been
Speaker 3: an interesting journey. But I'm really lucky that my husband
Speaker 3: is really supportive and I get to full time freelance
Speaker 3: covering women's sports.
Speaker 2: Okay, wait, so is it a print journal as a
Speaker 2: major with a pastry miner or did the pastry degree
Speaker 2: come at a different times?
Speaker 3: There are separate things. Yeah, pastry. While I thought I
Speaker 3: wasn't going to be a journalist, it wasn't happening, and
Speaker 3: I was like, man, I am too young to like
Speaker 3: be tempting and doing something I hate. So I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to do something else. So I went on
Speaker 3: a pastry direction and then we're my way back.
Speaker 1: Well it sounds like a super fun combo.
Speaker 2: Congrats on being able to freelance full time and get
Speaker 2: to cover this thing that you love and add to
Speaker 2: it in a way.
Speaker 1: That's really necessary.
Speaker 2: Producer Alex is a huge hockey person and often talks
Speaker 2: to us about the media desert around women's college hockey
Speaker 2: in particular. Of course, I'm aware when I go looking
Speaker 2: for stories about the p WHL that there's not a
Speaker 2: lot of hockey coverage. I don't often, to be honest,
Speaker 2: dig into the college hockey scene. So tell me more
Speaker 2: about just how few people are really doing this for
Speaker 2: a living.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm the only national women's college hockey writer in
Speaker 3: the country.
Speaker 1: One, so one would be the answer.
Speaker 3: It's one individual cities where they're you know, there are
Speaker 3: people in Madison that cover Wisconsin. There are people in
Speaker 3: Ithaca that cover Cornell. There are people in Boston that
Speaker 3: cover the Boston schools. But generally, yeah, there aren't a lot.
Speaker 3: And that's not a career, that's not the thing paying
Speaker 3: my salary being a national women's college hockey writer. But
Speaker 3: for me, again, like I said, I love the college team.
Speaker 3: But everybody that's in the EWHL, seriously, all but ten
Speaker 3: of them went to North American colleges. A few went
Speaker 3: to U Sports in Canada. But like ninety percent of
Speaker 3: the women that were on PWHL rosters to start the season,
Speaker 3: the preseason camps, I did not redo it once rosters
Speaker 3: came out, but went into camp played NCAA hockey. Everybody
Speaker 3: that plays for the US and Canada internationally, that what
Speaker 3: goes to the Olympics, that plays at Worlds, those are
Speaker 3: all NCAA products. So like there is a very clear
Speaker 3: through line where those players are coming from. Sometimes I
Speaker 3: like to joke like people think they come from the
Speaker 3: cabbage patch, Like, no, no, they were playing. They're playing
Speaker 3: in your backyard. You can watch them on ESPN Plus
Speaker 3: or BTN plus or for a five dollars ticket you
Speaker 3: could go watch these. So like the University of Wisconsin
Speaker 3: that's in the Frozen four, there are five players on
Speaker 3: that roster that'll be at Women's Worlds in a.
Speaker 1: Month, unbelievable.
Speaker 3: So for me, that's where that connection came from, and
Speaker 3: that's why the college game for me, it's about getting
Speaker 3: to see that development. And then like that's why I
Speaker 3: was in Finland. I was covering what is essentially World
Speaker 3: Juniors for women in the U eighteen World Championships. So again,
Speaker 3: all of those players then play in the NCAA and
Speaker 3: then move on, and increasingly more players in European countries
Speaker 3: are also coming to the NCAAA, so there's a very
Speaker 3: clear through line between all of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the PWHL does allow for us to not
Speaker 2: only watch them at the college level, but if we
Speaker 2: really get attached to a great player, hopefully then follow
Speaker 2: them at Worlds, at Olympics and in a professional league
Speaker 2: where we can really get to watch them on a
Speaker 2: regular basis. So it makes it even more important to
Speaker 2: cover the college game and get to know some of
Speaker 2: these players earlier, which brings us to this weekend, the
Speaker 2: Frozen Four at Rutder Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You're about
Speaker 2: to hit the road and drive to Minnesota. I'm wondering
Speaker 2: how many Frozen Fours you've covered. Have you counted them?
Speaker 3: I believe this will be my tenth. That is, accepting
Speaker 3: that there wasn't one in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: When Cornell would have won just both the men's and
Speaker 2: women's I'm just putting it out there. If the season
Speaker 2: gets ended right in the middle and you're both the
Speaker 2: number one team in the country, you are both considered champions. Forever,
Speaker 2: and that's what we're putting in the books as far
Speaker 2: as I'm concerned.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it would have been you know, as I said,
Speaker 3: Wisconsin did, because it would have been the second time
Speaker 3: they were both number one teams in the country. That's
Speaker 3: why it's exciting that Cornell's there again this year. It's
Speaker 3: taken a little bit of time, but that was such
Speaker 3: a heartbreaking season for them and sort of such a
Speaker 3: lost opportunity.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, so ten probably Frozen fours, which is incredible. I
Speaker 2: want to get to those matchups, but I want to
Speaker 2: start with something else that happens during the Frozen four weekend,
Speaker 2: which is the Patty Kasmier Award handed out your podcast,
Speaker 2: the Podcaz obviously a nod to that award. It's presented
Speaker 2: annually to the top player in NCAA Division One women's
Speaker 2: ice hockey, and it does take consideration for character, sportsmanship,
Speaker 2: some other qualities too.
Speaker 1: My first question, and you might not have an answer
Speaker 1: to this, but have.
Speaker 2: You heard ever of a player that was by far
Speaker 2: the best player and didn't win because of character, sportsmanship
Speaker 2: and other considerations.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say by far, but I do think that
Speaker 3: it comes into the conversation. I've served on the committee
Speaker 3: for the Patty Kaz twice their two year service however
Speaker 3: you want to call it. But I so last year
Speaker 3: was the second of two that I did, so I
Speaker 3: am not on the committee this year. But yeah, it
Speaker 3: does come up, the number of penalties, the way that
Speaker 3: people act on the ice, it does come up. It
Speaker 3: is part of the conversation. Particularly if you're talking about
Speaker 3: players that are close to each other in stats and
Speaker 3: things like that, then you might start talking more about
Speaker 3: great point averages and character and what they do in
Speaker 3: the community and things like that.
Speaker 2: It's interesting we've had conversations in other sports about whether
Speaker 2: that should be a part of what you're deciding.
Speaker 1: I am of the opinion, and maybe.
Speaker 2: This is because I got a yellow card every single
Speaker 2: game of my senior year in field hockey, and I
Speaker 2: just think that doesn't mean you're a bad person, you're
Speaker 2: just aggressive.
Speaker 1: But I feel like there should be a.
Speaker 2: Separate award for best player, and then a separate award
Speaker 2: for best person, great for the game, good sportsmanship. You know,
Speaker 2: in the NHL there's an MVP and then there's award
Speaker 2: for like the good guy. It feels sort of weird
Speaker 2: to combine the two. It feels very like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: women's sports like everybody should have fun.
Speaker 3: It does feel that way. And you know, women's hockey
Speaker 3: became an nc sport in the two thousand and two
Speaker 3: thousand one season, and I do feel like that's very
Speaker 3: women's sports in two thousand coded right.
Speaker 1: Yes, she believes cup esque in its approach.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there is there's a Hockey Humanitarian Award that
Speaker 3: crosses over men's and women's college hockey and that is
Speaker 3: given out and so, yeah, it does. It does feel
Speaker 3: like that could use an update. I will say that
Speaker 3: this is an award that was started by USA Hockey,
Speaker 3: which otherwise is not particularly involved in NCAA hockey trading.
Speaker 3: They started this, and so it is their set of
Speaker 3: rules that you're supposed.
Speaker 2: To and yet it's the biggest, most known one. And
Speaker 2: I get the impression that probably most of the time
Speaker 2: it goes to the one that's the best player, and
Speaker 2: it takes a lot for that to be knocked out
Speaker 2: by the other qualities for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and generally it's when you're narrowing it down, like
Speaker 3: generally there's one player that sort of stands out ahead
Speaker 3: but when you're narrowing it down to like, should this
Speaker 3: be a person that we're even talking about, because when
Speaker 3: we get down to ten, and that's when the committee meets,
Speaker 3: we go through it alphabetically. You mentioned, you know, like
Speaker 3: I've seen them play in here, what you know, opposing coaches,
Speaker 3: whoever's on the committee, we will talk about it and that's
Speaker 3: when it comes up. And so I almost wonder if
Speaker 3: it's like that person even gets taken out of the
Speaker 3: discussion when that's there interesting, so they might not even
Speaker 3: make it to the next part.
Speaker 2: Right, So we've got three finalists all from the University
Speaker 2: of Wisconsin this year, Laila Edwards, Casey O'Brien, and Caroline
Speaker 2: aka KK Harvey.
Speaker 3: Is it rare to have three finalists from one squad? Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's only happened one other time. There is a University
Speaker 3: of Minnesota squad that had an undefeated season and that
Speaker 3: season three of their players were Petticas Top three finalists.
Speaker 3: But yes, it's pretty rare.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what do each of these candidates bring to
Speaker 2: the table. How is this decision going to be made?
Speaker 1: You think?
Speaker 3: I think that it's going to be interesting, particularly going
Speaker 3: back to what you asked me, I'm the only national
Speaker 3: person that covers this, and coaches are, you know, kind
Speaker 3: of busy coaching their own things. So when you're talking about,
Speaker 3: you know, some what someone's done for a whole season,
Speaker 3: there aren't a ton of people that watch all of
Speaker 3: those games, and so stats are a really high part
Speaker 3: of sort of deciding who this is and who wins it,
Speaker 3: and who are the people like it, I think even nominated.
Speaker 3: But Casey O'Brien leads the country in points. She's had
Speaker 3: not just a really good season, but a historic season.
Speaker 3: She broke Hillary Nights all time scoring record at Wisconsin
Speaker 3: for a career.
Speaker 1: Pretty good.
Speaker 3: Casey does have is in her fifth year, but at
Speaker 3: this point she had I think like ten points her
Speaker 3: freshman year. It was the adjusted twenty one two twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one season, So at this point the fifth year
Speaker 3: is definitely gonna be an asterisk. But I to me,
Speaker 3: it's a little bit of a mood point. She just
Speaker 3: she was one of the best players in the country
Speaker 3: last year, arguably could have won the Patty last year,
Speaker 3: and went out and did a better job this year.
Speaker 3: She's really good on face offs, which Wisconsin is a
Speaker 3: puck possession team, so face offs are just super crucial.
Speaker 3: She's got great hockey IQ and vision, and she's just
Speaker 3: as good on defense as she is on offense. She's
Speaker 3: not gonna like chase the player down, but she's gonna
Speaker 3: go back there in block shots and be a part
Speaker 3: of that part of the game. So in hockey a
Speaker 3: two hundred foot player, KK Harvey's probably, if not the
Speaker 3: best defender in the world, one of the best. At
Speaker 3: twenty one, she's already been to an Olympics, she's about
Speaker 3: to get her fifth World championship team. She has gaudy
Speaker 3: offensive numbers, but that's not the only reason she's good.
Speaker 3: She's actually a really great defender and that's what leads
Speaker 3: to her being able to be a great offensive threat.
Speaker 3: So she's just she can recover, She angles players out
Speaker 3: so they can't come in at the net. She if
Speaker 3: she makes mistakes, she's going to make up for it.
Speaker 3: She's this really great hybrid player where she doesn't lose
Speaker 3: on either part of her game at either end of
Speaker 3: the ice. And she's just again, she's twenty one, she's
Speaker 3: technically a junior. It's amazing to think of what her
Speaker 3: ceiling can be. She's a player that at the twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two Olympics didn't get a lot of playing time.
Speaker 3: And with the Chiane Jigo coaches really got confidence put
Speaker 3: in her from the new coaching team and told her
Speaker 3: not to worry about making mistakes, and it's just really
Speaker 3: opened up her game. And then Leyla Edwards was the
Speaker 3: first black woman to ever play in the senior US
Speaker 3: national team. She's the reigning US National Player of the
Speaker 3: Year from USA Hockey. She's nearly six foot, She's got
Speaker 3: this massive long reach and what she can do. She
Speaker 3: grew up as a figure skater. Considering her size, she's
Speaker 3: just got a lot of finesse, and she's really deft
Speaker 3: and has an eye for the net and also just
Speaker 3: has a massive shot. And so she and Casey play
Speaker 3: on the first line together with Kirsten Sis scary yeah,
Speaker 3: who was one of the top three last year. And
Speaker 3: so they're all really good together. And Wisconsin's got this massive,
Speaker 3: deep squad and even if you take away like some
Speaker 3: of their blowout games and things like that, they're still
Speaker 3: leading the country with these massively good numbers. Casey is
Speaker 3: you know, she's breaking She's in the record books. And
Speaker 3: because of the early years in hockey we've had like
Speaker 3: much more disparity where women were putting up one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty point seasons. Some of those are never going
Speaker 3: to be broken. But Casey's in the top five or
Speaker 3: ten for like ever in women's hockey. She's were the
Speaker 3: first eighty point season since alex Hertwiner did it.
Speaker 2: So starting to understand why Wisconsin was thirty six one
Speaker 2: and two on the season and comes into this tournament.
Speaker 1: Number one is it?
Speaker 2: You know we sometimes talk about in certain sports how
Speaker 2: one position dominates the MVP award, the quarterback, for instance
Speaker 2: in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Is that the case for the CAZ Do you call
Speaker 1: it the CAZ?
Speaker 3: Yes, it is, in that it's almost all forwards. There's
Speaker 3: only two defenders that have won it. Sophie Jakes, who
Speaker 3: is you know, doing it a big in the PWHL,
Speaker 3: and then Angelo Rouguieriro way back in the.
Speaker 1: Day, decent player, angela decent player.
Speaker 3: And Casey has put up I'm sorry, KK has put
Speaker 3: up better numbers than both of those two in the
Speaker 3: years that they won. So historically it's just she's she's
Speaker 3: having a heck of a season and yeah, so it
Speaker 3: tends to be forward. It's not necessarily a wing versus
Speaker 3: a center. But yeah, and I think only two or
Speaker 3: three goalies have also won it. We now have a
Speaker 3: Goalie of the Year award. It's only two or three
Speaker 3: years old. We didn't before, so now goalies tend to
Speaker 3: not be.
Speaker 1: A place for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, okay, So you're not on the board to
Speaker 2: choose this and you didn't research it, but just out
Speaker 2: of curiosity, if you had a vote, where would it go?
Speaker 3: I think my vote is for Casey O'Brien.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 3: When I wrote up for Victory Press, like who I
Speaker 3: thought the case for each player, and man, I was
Speaker 3: ready to go for a wall for KK Harvey once
Speaker 3: I finished, Right, yeah, that was like, come on, and
Speaker 3: she's great. Yeah, but Casey just has really gotten better
Speaker 3: throughout her career. She's really proven that, like she's a
Speaker 3: master of the craft, right, Like whatever she's not as
Speaker 3: good at, she's put in time in and up and
Speaker 3: down the board, and as a captain, she's just she's
Speaker 3: really led that team in the eighty some point season.
Speaker 3: It's hard to argue with It's.
Speaker 2: Like you don't want to hold it against her, But
Speaker 2: then at the same time. It's like when it's so
Speaker 2: rare for a defender to get to that level, they're
Speaker 2: even close, you almost want to give it the nudge. Okay,
Speaker 2: let's get to the games. A little history first though,
Speaker 2: for those who might not be aware, Ohio State beat
Speaker 2: Wisconsin last year. So Ohio State's the reigning champs and
Speaker 2: those two teams have won the last five titles that
Speaker 2: were contested.
Speaker 1: Can you explain the.
Speaker 2: Stranglehold that Ohio State and Wisconsin have on this championship?
Speaker 3: Sure? And I'll go back a little further because Ohio
Speaker 3: State made their first Frozen four in twenty eighteen, so
Speaker 3: you hear big ten school, but they did not put
Speaker 3: any effort into their women's hockey program until the last
Speaker 3: seven or eight years. So when you talk about that
Speaker 3: and having a stringlehold, they do. But that is a
Speaker 3: fully new situation, which is crazy. And also the last
Speaker 3: two games were like one nothing games, and so those
Speaker 3: two teams are just really loaded. Last year, Ohio State
Speaker 3: had used the transfer portal really well and brought in
Speaker 3: a lot of older talent players that had been wanting
Speaker 3: to win national championships and weren't looking to do that
Speaker 3: at their The CURRK schools and they moved to Ohio State.
Speaker 3: But yeah, those two two very different styles of coaching.
Speaker 3: Nadie Musral at Ohio State is fiery, she's she's divisive,
Speaker 3: but she gets the best out of her players, and
Speaker 3: the players respect the heck out of her. And she's
Speaker 3: a tough cookie, but there her teams deliver. And so
Speaker 3: she's the one that really led the turnaround and forced
Speaker 3: Ohio State to start paying attention to their program and
Speaker 3: put money into its work and it's working. So they
Speaker 3: are Wisconsin's one loss this year, and you know, for them,
Speaker 3: they're having Ohio State is having a down ish year, right,
Speaker 3: Like it's all relative, uh, in terms of like more
Speaker 3: loss than they had in the past. It's a somewhat
Speaker 3: younger team this year. But you know, Wisconsin's coach is
Speaker 3: Mark Johnson. They are historically good programed, they get top recruits,
Speaker 3: they get people that want to stay, and you know,
Speaker 3: it's just been those two teams sort of playing chess
Speaker 3: for the last few seasons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, let's get to these matchups this weekend. We'll
Speaker 2: start with Wisconsin and Minnesota. What's the biggest thing to
Speaker 2: watch for in terms of either styles or strengths or
Speaker 2: what will probably decide this game.
Speaker 3: Oh goodness. When those two tapes play, they call it
Speaker 3: a border battle. They've already played five times this year.
Speaker 3: It's the first time ever Wisconsin has swept Minnesota. That
Speaker 3: being said, Minnesota has had a massive postseason and they're
Speaker 3: playing at home. They get to play at their home
Speaker 3: rank as the number four seed. Those sites are planned
Speaker 3: way in advance, just like every other you know, postseason,
Speaker 3: and so they merely made a push to get there.
Speaker 3: What you will see it is not necessarily pretty hockey,
Speaker 3: and that is because they are so well matched and
Speaker 3: know each other so well that they're going to force
Speaker 3: each other out of their game plan. So it's about
Speaker 3: who adapts the best. Una Minnesota has Abbie Murphy, who
Speaker 3: is on the US national team. She's someone that a
Speaker 3: lot of people like. She's the type of player that
Speaker 3: if she's on your team, you love her, and if
Speaker 3: she's on the other team, you hate her. She's scrappy,
Speaker 3: she is mouthy, she's pushy. She uh, she's Southside of Chicago, Sarah.
Speaker 3: She's all there you go. Her brothers were wrestlers, so yeah,
Speaker 3: she's just she's a past and also just one of
Speaker 3: the best players in the game. She scored to wrap
Speaker 3: her own goal last week in the quarterfinals. That was
Speaker 3: stupid good.
Speaker 1: I saw that. That was sick.
Speaker 3: How she goes is how Minnesota goes. They aren't as
Speaker 3: deep as Wisconsin, and so if Wisconsin can sort of
Speaker 3: shut her down, it really requires Minnesota the rest of
Speaker 3: their forwards to step up, which they definitely have done
Speaker 3: at times, but it's not necessarily a given. So these
Speaker 3: two played for their conference title two weeks ago, and
Speaker 3: Wisconsin scored in the final twenty four seconds to win
Speaker 3: that game one nothing, no, four to three four four three.
Speaker 2: Okay, So it was a back forth but still came
Speaker 2: down to the last thirty seconds.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you've given us a couple Wisconsin players and
Speaker 2: a great Minnesota player. Is there a story from either
Speaker 2: one of these teams that will have in the back
Speaker 2: of our minds when we're watching, either a player's personal
Speaker 2: story or something about the team that's interesting.
Speaker 3: Minnesota is a historically really strong program in Lean Talcke,
Speaker 3: but has not been over the last seven ish years.
Speaker 3: It's just they had a really great run and they
Speaker 3: haven't been there yet. So for them, This is all
Speaker 3: about sort of that return to glory and getting to
Speaker 3: do it at home, being on home ice. They are
Speaker 3: obviously still a really good team. They were number four
Speaker 3: in the country coming in, but the standard there is different.
Speaker 3: They have a freshman goalie who was not their starter
Speaker 3: to start the year and she's come in and just
Speaker 3: played really strong. So for them, I think it's about
Speaker 3: that sort of replacing Minnesota at the top of the heap.
Speaker 3: Wisconsin is a one lost team, has all these superstars
Speaker 3: like for them, it is a championship or bust, and
Speaker 3: I think if they don't win, it will just be
Speaker 3: all about sort of that missed opportunity. So there is
Speaker 3: just a ton of pressure with that. Yeah, and their
Speaker 3: goalies only a sophomore. She is, however, that was named
Speaker 3: her first US national team for the upcoming worlds Avian McNaughton.
Speaker 3: She's very good. Wisconsin. It's about their depth and just
Speaker 3: what they all bring and it's just like they could
Speaker 3: have this amazing season and if they won't, they don't
Speaker 3: win the title. I don't know that anybody. Don't talk
Speaker 3: about it again.
Speaker 2: Right right, Yeah, quick question for you about goalies, And
Speaker 2: I started like early in my career covering the Chicago Blackhawks.
Speaker 2: So I was doing hockey from the start, and I've
Speaker 2: asked us throughout the years, never really truly getting the
Speaker 2: best answer or an answer that satisfies me about how
Speaker 2: the goalie position can be the most in flux. You
Speaker 2: can have a goalie for most of the season and
Speaker 2: then another steps in and they quote unquote stand on
Speaker 2: their head, which is what we love to say about
Speaker 2: goalies playing well and they could take over, or midway
Speaker 2: through a postseason, a goalie that hasn't played most of
Speaker 2: the season can step in and end up running the
Speaker 2: table for the rest of the games. How does that
Speaker 2: happen and why does that happen? Been at the goalie
Speaker 2: position in hockey?
Speaker 3: I think I honestly, it's part of just like that
Speaker 3: they're that different breed. They prepared differently. They are because
Speaker 3: they know that they could go in at any time,
Speaker 3: Like the third string goalie is preparing like they're going
Speaker 3: to start heading into a game, and they're doing that
Speaker 3: the whole season long. And when you're on the bench,
Speaker 3: it's a bit like being at the back of the
Speaker 3: ice where you can see everything happening in front of you,
Speaker 3: and so they are, they're students of the game in
Speaker 3: that way, So I do think that's some of it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think there's something to be said about
Speaker 3: kind of always feeling like you need to be prepared
Speaker 3: and being prepared to play that game even though the
Speaker 3: chance of you actually stepping on the ice is one
Speaker 3: per second.
Speaker 2: And I wonder if it's also like, not specifically the yips,
Speaker 2: but like if there's a goalie that has a bad
Speaker 2: game or is struggling, it hits different than a forward
Speaker 2: or a different position that struggles.
Speaker 1: It feels like there's this like.
Speaker 2: Shift in momentum to the other goalie in a way
Speaker 2: that we don't see with like you're not going to
Speaker 2: just pull a superstar forward that played the entire season
Speaker 2: and then not.
Speaker 1: Let them back.
Speaker 2: Partly also because of obviously line changes, like if they're
Speaker 2: still struggling, they're going to be in and out as
Speaker 2: opposed to you're not going to change your your goalie
Speaker 2: mid game really unless there's a serious issue, so you
Speaker 2: can't go back and forth and see if they're getting
Speaker 2: better and you know, knocking the rust off or whatever
Speaker 2: the yips were are gone.
Speaker 1: I've just always found that so fascinating.
Speaker 2: Those stories you hear about someone coming in late and
Speaker 2: just you know, leading a team to a Stanley Cup
Speaker 2: or something after not playing all year.
Speaker 1: It's pretty wild. Okay, let's get to the other matchup.
Speaker 2: My corn Ow Big Red taking on the evil and
Speaker 2: hated and dastardly Ohio State, which happens to be where
Speaker 2: one of my best friends went, Okay, what are we
Speaker 2: watching for styles and what will decide this one?
Speaker 3: So Ohio State Nadine Mazarral describes her team as relentless.
Speaker 3: They are a team, particularly this year, that might get
Speaker 3: scored upon early, but they are they kind of it
Speaker 3: will start to skap down heill, and it's like if
Speaker 3: they get one that it's going to come in bunches
Speaker 3: once they sort of, you know, break the sealing that
Speaker 3: they are, like I said, a little young. They have
Speaker 3: joy done upfront again another US national team player, big player,
Speaker 3: great at finding space in front of the net and
Speaker 3: sort of planting herself. But they just they come with speed.
Speaker 3: They really love to be in transition. They come through
Speaker 3: the neutral zone fast. They will just sort of turn
Speaker 3: that game around, you know, go from defense to office
Speaker 3: really quickly, and you have to be prepared for it.
Speaker 3: I think it's a very different style than Cornell plays. Again,
Speaker 3: they're not traditional conferences in hockey, but so Cornell plays
Speaker 3: in the ECAC and the other three teams are all
Speaker 3: in the w CCHA, and so stylistically that's just going
Speaker 3: to be a different matchup. Cornell's coach is Doug Dara
Speaker 3: is a Canadian national team coach, and he focuses on
Speaker 3: their defense, so unsurprising that team is very good on defense.
Speaker 3: They also have a top three goalie for the Goalie
Speaker 3: of the Award and annalis Bergmann. She's a goalie that
Speaker 3: is played with some men's teams semi professionally. She's just
Speaker 3: she's a big, strong player, tall, yes, sees the ice
Speaker 3: really well, covers her crease really well, and so that
Speaker 3: is going to be an interesting matchup. I'm not sure
Speaker 3: there are a ton of other goalies that Ohio State
Speaker 3: is seen like that, But interestingly, we normally don't get
Speaker 3: a ton of intra conference. These two plans played back
Speaker 3: in October and Ohio State one seven three, but they're
Speaker 3: very different teams now and so I'm not sure how
Speaker 3: much I would take away from that. And that was
Speaker 3: a close game. Well into the third period, and then
Speaker 3: Ohio State did what I said before and sort of
Speaker 3: scores bunches. So I think Cornell has to find that
Speaker 3: balance between very being very good defensively but not giving
Speaker 3: up the ability to be offensive and try and score.
Speaker 3: If they're just only playing defense, that that's just not
Speaker 3: gonna work for them. But they're gonn they need to
Speaker 3: try and slow Ohio State down. Cornell is different offensively,
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be that overwhelming. They're gonna pass, They're
Speaker 3: gonna have some good shots from the blue line. Some
Speaker 3: of their forwards are younger as well, Abby Lindsay Avar
Speaker 3: Abby Adams. So those are the players that I'll be
Speaker 3: watching for. But it might be Amilely's Bergman versus the
Speaker 3: Ohio State offense. Now on uh yeah.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the difference between the e C A C
Speaker 2: and the n C HC styles. Can you sort of
Speaker 2: sum up why they're different. It's w C h A Sorry, sorry.
Speaker 1: Sorries.
Speaker 3: W C H A is a very physical, much more
Speaker 3: sort of fights along the board, shoulders or shoulder. There's
Speaker 3: no right the PWJA has that little bit of contact.
Speaker 3: There is technically no hitting in the NCAA. That does
Speaker 3: not mean anything. Anybody who watches it will tell you
Speaker 3: there's there's a lot of physicality to it, and then
Speaker 3: it's about possession and really cris passing and just really
Speaker 3: using that wid of the ice you. Mark Johnson at
Speaker 3: Wisconsin is sort of one of the wizards of the game, right,
Speaker 3: and so you're gonna see that in general because of that.
Speaker 3: No hitting, the women's game to me is more about finesse.
Speaker 3: You're not running through somebody, you have to get around them,
Speaker 3: and so you're seeing those tape to tape passes and
Speaker 3: things like that. E c C has gotten more physical.
Speaker 3: But one of the problems in all of this is
Speaker 3: the officials from different common versus officiating difference and so what.
Speaker 1: And who will be calling the Frozen four.
Speaker 3: It should be somebody that doesn't officiate either of the teams,
Speaker 3: so it should be a completely different conference. But that
Speaker 3: means that you have no idea what they're gonna do,
Speaker 3: So special teams could come into it, just as play
Speaker 3: the players figure out how the game is going to
Speaker 3: be called. And I wish that that wasn't such a
Speaker 3: big thing like that should not play into how any
Speaker 3: of these games are called, but particularly in the Frozen
Speaker 3: four in the National Championship, but here we are. Yeah,
Speaker 3: ECAC tends to be a lot more defensive. First, you're
Speaker 3: gonna have really strong building out of the back and
Speaker 3: and sort of having that that core, and then the
Speaker 3: offense kind of builds from that secondarily, and that's that's
Speaker 3: true all hockey, but it feels like very defense first
Speaker 3: in the ECAC.
Speaker 1: You gave us a couple of names to watch for
Speaker 1: on each team.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if there's a great story personal or team
Speaker 2: wise from either of these or both.
Speaker 3: For me, I think Ohio State is one of those teams,
Speaker 3: Like they got beat in the w CHA semifinal game
Speaker 3: and maybe Maserel was mad in that postseason and she
Speaker 3: wasn't mad that they lost, she was mad that they quit.
Speaker 3: And so that is a team that just even when
Speaker 3: they're the top team in the country, they play with
Speaker 3: a chip on their shoulder, and so that is something
Speaker 3: that's just kind of always going to be the driving
Speaker 3: like they're always going to be I think they're the
Speaker 3: underdogs and they have something to prove.
Speaker 1: Number four I guess they are now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes me wonder if they like if there's
Speaker 3: a point where if they win so many titles or what, like,
Speaker 3: what's the point. I get it because we're still in
Speaker 3: view of them having never played in a frozen four.
Speaker 3: You know, we're not that far removed from it. But
Speaker 3: and for Cornell, it's that the WCCHA has won nearly
Speaker 3: all of the national championships. Clarkson's the only non WCCHA
Speaker 3: team to have ever won a national championship, and there's
Speaker 3: that twenty twenty you know, Cornell's sort of lost opportunity,
Speaker 3: and so for them, it's about you know, breaking up
Speaker 3: they're in. They're here with three WCCHA teams. To walk
Speaker 3: out of it with the title would be you know,
Speaker 3: a huge thing. Wisconsin's been the toppering team for most
Speaker 3: the season. You know, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio State are
Speaker 3: three of the top four. There's just that like, we
Speaker 3: deserve respect, we should be here for their conference and
Speaker 3: then personally for them to sort of make up for
Speaker 3: that twenty twenty season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I never knew that.
Speaker 2: I thought for sure, like Harvard back in the day
Speaker 2: had won it all. So there's never even been an
Speaker 2: ivy of any kind to win.
Speaker 3: No, it's wow, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minnesota, Duloof, Ohio State, and
Speaker 3: Clarkson that have won all of the titles. Yeah, Minnesota
Speaker 3: Duluth was the powerhouse early on.
Speaker 2: That's wild. Okay, the more you know, my great story.
Speaker 2: And I mentioned this on the show the other day,
Speaker 2: was watching the Cornell Elite eight game or is that
Speaker 2: what we call it in hockey?
Speaker 1: I think quarter final quarterfinal. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Rory Gilday who had a brain tumor and lost vision
Speaker 2: in one eye, had to sit out contact sports for
Speaker 2: a whole year before coming back and is still playing
Speaker 2: at this super high level, which as someone obsessed with
Speaker 2: the cutting edge, I was like, oh my god, it's
Speaker 2: like Douglas Dorsey.
Speaker 1: But she's still playing.
Speaker 2: Just a great story and what a what a badass.
Speaker 2: So I'm keeping an eye out for her on Cornell
Speaker 2: as well. I'm curious as we're watching these games if
Speaker 2: there are players that you think for sure we'll be
Speaker 2: seeing in the p WHL in coming years that we
Speaker 2: should just jot down and say, Okay, which team are
Speaker 2: they going to end up on and we'll be rooting
Speaker 2: for them at the pros.
Speaker 3: Pretty Much anybody that I've mentioned so far, so all
Speaker 3: three of those Patty Has finalists. Casey O'Brien is a
Speaker 3: fifth year. She'll be graduating. Abby Murphy will be graduating.
Speaker 3: The roster is a little bit younger and so not
Speaker 3: not necessarily immediately for some of them. Rory's a senior
Speaker 3: and obviously just depends with with her. What's you know
Speaker 3: what the future looks like? But yeah, it's it's Lily
Speaker 3: Delian Das is probably the underrated person or for people
Speaker 3: who don't pay a ton of attention to women's college hockey.
Speaker 3: She has scored a ton of clutch goals for them.
Speaker 3: I can see her making a difference heading into the
Speaker 3: p WHL. Yeah, I think those are probably my top ones. Yeah.
Speaker 2: What about a really great player from a team that
Speaker 2: isn't in the Frozen four. That would be probably someone
Speaker 2: we'd say in the pros next year.
Speaker 3: Uh, Kulti kelton Kova from Colgate was a.
Speaker 1: Patchy can you say that one more?
Speaker 3: Tosh? Sure? Culti kelton Kova she is from Colgate. From Colgate,
Speaker 3: she's check ah, she is. She is this ECAC player
Speaker 3: that plays a wha style of games. She's real physical,
Speaker 3: really great on the boards, and she's someone that went
Speaker 3: from being sort of recklessly physical and not super focused
Speaker 3: on the finer details of the offense to sort of
Speaker 3: flipping that around and using her physicality, and she earned
Speaker 3: her way onto the Czech national team rosters and things
Speaker 3: like that. She's just a really fun player to watch
Speaker 3: but also just click kind of deadly with her shot.
Speaker 3: She's so what I expect to see make big splashes
Speaker 3: in the future.
Speaker 1: And that is the name we'll remember.
Speaker 3: And Tessa Janicky.
Speaker 2: Oh, Tessa Janicky. Okay, well remember that one as well. Okay,
Speaker 2: last question for you, p WHL ONL. Like, the WNBA
Speaker 2: doesn't have a minimum age limit, so a player could
Speaker 2: in theory declare for the draft without finishing school. Is
Speaker 2: that something we might see in the future seventeen year olds?
Speaker 2: This is the way we see fifteen sixteen year olds
Speaker 2: in the NWSL. Or do you think finishing college and
Speaker 2: going to college to play first will will be still
Speaker 2: an integral part of making it to the pros.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll throw that back to you with a little
Speaker 3: flip in the script, which is that we are no
Speaker 3: longer centralizing prior to the Olympics.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and explain to people what that.
Speaker 3: Is heading into the Olympics, US and Canada would take
Speaker 3: their roster usually somewhere between five and ten more than
Speaker 3: we'll end up on their final roster and have a
Speaker 3: home pod for a whole year leading up to the Olympics.
Speaker 3: So they would train and play like local boys teams
Speaker 3: and whatever they could, but they would all be centralized
Speaker 3: in one locations. Players would all leave their teams collegiate
Speaker 3: or pro, and like the players would red shirt things
Speaker 3: like that, and so we aren't doing that anymore. One
Speaker 3: of the reasons they did that is because the level
Speaker 3: of play elsewhere wasn't enough to prepare the players correctly
Speaker 3: to be ready for the Olympics. Now with the pub
Speaker 3: they're okay with those players mostly staying with their teams,
Speaker 3: but that leads out the collegians, and so the plan
Speaker 3: as far as I understand it heading into twenty twenty six,
Speaker 3: as collegians would stay with their teams but then be
Speaker 3: gone a weekend every month as the national teams hold
Speaker 3: like monthly camps as opposed to doing a full centralization.
Speaker 3: So that means like could a player that would have
Speaker 3: come back for their last year now just go ahead
Speaker 3: and go pro. For instance, Wisconsin's Lacy Eden has another
Speaker 3: year of eligibility, but she will almost certainly be on
Speaker 3: that national team. And for her, what's the better situation?
Speaker 3: Is it to be in college and keep playing there
Speaker 3: or is it to go to the PWHL and develop
Speaker 3: that way. One of the factors in the future for
Speaker 3: that is just going to be if there's enough spaces,
Speaker 3: like can you go pro and know that you're going
Speaker 3: to make a team and play their regularly to make
Speaker 3: it worthwhile? Where is this.
Speaker 2: Similar to the WNBA, which was why they made that
Speaker 2: rule because it was really hard for players to leave
Speaker 2: college and then not find one of the one hundred
Speaker 2: and forty four spots and BSOL and there is nil money.
Speaker 2: Now is that really gotten into the hockey game at
Speaker 2: these schools where it's a big deal to be on
Speaker 2: the women's hockey team.
Speaker 3: I think it is to some extent. And you know,
Speaker 3: and there is a limit to how much peed up
Speaker 3: players are making, so I think we are in an
Speaker 3: interesting sort of gray area with that where those numbers
Speaker 3: are close enough that for some teams that it's not
Speaker 3: the draw of the peed hub isn't enough to maybe
Speaker 3: pull then they can.
Speaker 2: Wait, especially if they get a degree and what that
Speaker 2: might do for them elsewhere.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot Nicole. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: coming on. Of course, thanks for so excited to watch
Speaker 1: these games.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited that Cornell is back in the mix,
Speaker 2: and good luck on the drive.
Speaker 1: We look forward to reading your coverage from the Frozen four.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: We have to take it out the break when we
Speaker 1: come back.
Speaker 2: What the Fact, Jack, Welcome back slices. It's time for
Speaker 2: another What the Fact. Okay, so we've kind of gushed
Speaker 2: about all things women's college hockey on this show, but
Speaker 2: we do have a bone to pick. The women's NCAA
Speaker 2: tournament field is comprised of just eleven teams, but on
Speaker 2: the men's side, sixteen teams make it to the Big Skate.
Speaker 1: Any idea why, Well, here's the gist.
Speaker 2: Up until twenty twenty one, only eight teams competed in
Speaker 2: the top level NCBA Women's Hockey tournament, which combines divisions
Speaker 2: one and two, while the men's tournament has long featured
Speaker 2: sixteen Division one teams. Got that, so eight teams for
Speaker 2: the women and sixteen teams for the men, a huge disparity.
Speaker 1: For years, those.
Speaker 2: Involved with the women's game had been calling on decision
Speaker 2: makers to expand the women's tournament size, and in the
Speaker 2: fall of twenty twenty one, that call was finally answered,
Speaker 2: kind of. In response to the March Madness gender equality
Speaker 2: debates sparked by Sedona Prince and others that year around basketball,
Speaker 2: the law firm Kaplan, Hecker and Fink, LLP published a
Speaker 2: report commissioned by the NCAA to review gender inequality within
Speaker 2: all NCAA tournaments. The report detailed just how unequal the
Speaker 2: women's and men's hockey tournaments were, with the main stat
Speaker 2: focusing on disparate participation opportunities. At the time, forty one
Speaker 2: institutions sponsored women's hockey at the D one or D
Speaker 2: two level, meaning just nineteen point five percent of teams
Speaker 2: qualified for the eight team NCAA tournament. In comparison, sixty
Speaker 2: schools sponsored D one men's hockey with sixteen teams qualifying,
Speaker 2: So that's twenty six point seven percent of men's teams
Speaker 2: earning a spot nineteen point five twenty.
Speaker 1: Six point seven.
Speaker 2: So with that participation stat top of mind, the argument
Speaker 2: for a larger women's hockey tournament seemed to write itself,
Speaker 2: but the NCAA responded with a weird ass tournament bracket.
Speaker 2: That's the definition of malicious compliance. The NCAA essentially said, okay,
Speaker 2: if about twenty seven percent of men's teams qualify for
Speaker 2: the tournament, then we'll have twenty seven percent of women's
Speaker 2: teams qualify too.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem.
Speaker 2: When you calculate what twenty seven percent of forty one
Speaker 2: women's college hockey programs is, you get eleven teams. So
Speaker 2: instead of expanding from eight teams to a much more
Speaker 2: traditional twelve team bracket, which makes sense and would have
Speaker 2: represented twenty nine percent of women's teams, a whole two
Speaker 2: percentage points more than the men's participation rate, the nc
Speaker 2: DOUABLEA instead introduced an eleven team bracket in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: a format that's been used ever since. You try to
Speaker 2: build an eleven team bracket, see what happens. This is
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Speaker 2: changethboardgame dot com. All Right, Slices, we asked you to
Speaker 2: participate in our good game goat Team Bracket Challenge bracket
Speaker 2: made by Slice Amanda, and you didn't disappoint you filled
Speaker 2: it out.
Speaker 1: You send them in.
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Okie kept it simple when she summed up her bracket, saying,
Speaker 2: quote always has to be the ninety nine ers certified Slice.
Speaker 2: Pamela Mudway kept the ninety nine ers love fest goo
Speaker 2: and picking that squad over the magnificent seven ninety six
Speaker 2: US Olympic Gymnastics team. She also asks for bonus points
Speaker 2: for using orange highlighter to fill out her picks. You know,
Speaker 2: since yell are little orange slices and we like where
Speaker 2: your head's at, Pamela, you do get bonus points. We're
Speaker 2: just not sure where you use them. Since you all participated,
Speaker 2: we figured we should share our picks too, So Alex Mesh,
Speaker 2: who have you guys?
Speaker 4: Dubbed the greatest team of all time. For me, of course,
Speaker 4: it's got to be the Houston comments. I mean, how
Speaker 4: do you compete with four straight championships in the first
Speaker 4: four years of the WNBA. I don't house wait, don't,
Speaker 4: I don't get it, especially when no other team has
Speaker 4: been able to touch that feet. We've seen some great teams,
Speaker 4: but nobody else has done it to this day. It's
Speaker 4: got to be the comments.
Speaker 5: Mm hmm. It's such a good one that I was
Speaker 5: very tempted to go with it myself, but I let
Speaker 5: meshe call Dibbs, and I decided to go with Carrie
Speaker 5: Well Schennings and Misty May, trainer the beach volleyball players.
Speaker 5: And for me, it's not just that they won three
Speaker 5: Olympic gold medals. It is that during those three Olympic runs,
Speaker 5: they only dropped one set, which it's basically like having
Speaker 5: three gold medals in soccer without ever conceding a goal.
Speaker 5: Just absolutely wild. So yep, Misty May and Carrie you're
Speaker 5: my team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty good.
Speaker 2: I've seen them live a handful of times and they
Speaker 2: are at they were absolutely dominant. Both good answers, in fact,
Speaker 2: any answer on the board really would be good, especially
Speaker 2: the trifecta featuring Sarah Span, Jing McMann and Kate Pagan,
Speaker 2: But I kind of took the youth of the WNBA
Speaker 2: into account With the commets, it just felt easier to
Speaker 2: dominate than I'm going with the ninety nine ers. And
Speaker 2: I know a lot of people are going to answer
Speaker 2: that other teams might have been more dominant, other teams
Speaker 2: might have been more consistent across multiple years and competitions,
Speaker 2: But honestly, for me, the ninety nine ers felt like
Speaker 2: they truly broke through on another level, on a national
Speaker 2: or global even scale, and that their impact on the
Speaker 2: country and on future women's teams in soccer and in
Speaker 2: other sports is immeasurable. So since we can't name Billy
Speaker 2: Jean King a goat team, I'm going with the ninety
Speaker 2: nine ers. But thanks for sending us that, Amanda. That
Speaker 2: was fun to do, and thanks to everybody who sent
Speaker 2: their brackets. In speaking of brackets, We've got our starch
Speaker 2: Madness bracket set, so I'm going to post it to
Speaker 2: my Blue sky X and Instagram for you slices to
Speaker 2: check out. You could see the recipes that we selected
Speaker 2: for the eight team competition. So with eight contenders, we've
Speaker 2: got four matchups. It's going to be potato corn chowder
Speaker 2: versus twice baked potatoes tater pigs, which if you don't
Speaker 2: know what those are, we explained them on a previous
Speaker 2: episode involving a power drill, a potato, a veggie dog,
Speaker 2: and some chili. But I'll make sure I make that
Speaker 2: clear in the vote as well. But tater pigs take
Speaker 2: on funeral potatoes, corn keish versus potato lotkeys, and sweet
Speaker 2: potato empanadas versus tacos to pop us.
Speaker 1: So I'll post.
Speaker 2: Those matchups on Instagram over the next couple days and
Speaker 2: you could vote on the four dishes that we'll advance
Speaker 2: to the final four. And then once we've got those
Speaker 2: four recipes decided, I'll be whipping them up and deciding
Speaker 2: which to survive in advance to the final eventually naming
Speaker 2: one superstar Starch the twenty twenty five Starch Madness Champion.
Speaker 2: But I think we all know the real champion is
Speaker 2: me because I will get to eat all of them.
Speaker 2: We love that you're listening, but we want you to
Speaker 2: get in the game every day too. So here's our
Speaker 2: good game play of the day. Keep up with Nichole's work.
Speaker 2: She's regularly published in The Victory Press, where she's editor
Speaker 2: in chief, and in US College Hockey Online USCCHO. We'll
Speaker 2: link to both sites in our show notes and tune
Speaker 2: into the Frozen four tonight if you want extra Brownie points.
Speaker 2: Definitely put some good energy out there for my big Red.
Speaker 2: They're chasing the first NCAA title in program history. Not
Speaker 2: counting of course, they're twenty twenty national championship title that
Speaker 2: lives in my personal record book. We love to hear
Speaker 2: from you, and we have a new email address, Good
Speaker 2: game at acast dot com. That's a good game at
Speaker 2: acast dot com. We'll also link to it in the
Speaker 2: show notes, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review
Speaker 2: like Spence eight eighty one, who left us five stars
Speaker 2: and wrote love having a daily dose of women's sports
Speaker 2: tea led by one of the best to do it,
Speaker 2: and Sespresso, who gave us five stars and said in
Speaker 2: part I've listened to this podcast since before we became slices.
Speaker 2: I'm here to tell you that the quality of the interviews,
Speaker 2: the guests and the subjects discussed are not always the
Speaker 2: stories we think we want to hear. Rather, they're the
Speaker 2: stories we never knew we needed to know about. Big
Speaker 2: ups to Sarah Spain and all the behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: Thank you Spence eight eighty one.
Speaker 1: Thank you s Espresso. Now it's your turn, y'all. If
Speaker 1: you haven't rated and reviewed yet, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Do it? Thanks for listening, See you next week. Enjoy
Speaker 1: the hockey and.
Speaker 2: The basketball and the rugby and the soccer and the
Speaker 2: good Game, Nicole, Good game, Big Red, Go win a chip.
Speaker 1: You not enough eyes to watch all the hockey and
Speaker 1: the basketball and the rugby in the soccer.
Speaker 2: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 2: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 2: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 2: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 2: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 2: Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, and Grace Lynch.
Speaker 2: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones. And I'm your host
Speaker 2: Sarah Spain,