MEGAN DAVIS: Hello Gopher fans. It’s Megan Davis.

SAMANTHA ROERING: And Samantha Roering. 

DAVIS: With the Minnesota Daily and you’re listening to the Gold Standard, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota sports. OK, so today I think we’ll go over briefly what’s happening in Gopher sports, but the priority of the episode is just to kind of talk about the Winter Olympics. Because obviously we’re in the middle of them. 

And opinions desk editor Wren Warne-Jacobson will be in shortly to talk about figure skating because she has a history of figure skating and still skates to this day. And so obviously gotta bring in our expert for figure skating. Because I know that’s a hot topic every Winter Olympics.

I think we could just do a quick wrap up of what’s kind of been happening, Gopher sports wise. Men’s basketball, they lost to the University of Maryland. It was definitely not their best game, but this was definitely a trend this weekend where many Gopher teams had a fantastic game against a ranked opponent or a rival, and then played their next game and just couldn’t keep up with what they used to do. 

So that’s what happens with men with men’s basketball. They played number 10, Michigan State. Fantastic game. They won and then they played Maryland. And it’s kind of like, who is this team that I’m looking at, this is not, this is not the same team that played Michigan State. 

But, they’ll be on their West Coast road trip. They’re gonna go play Washington and Oregon and they’ll, they, they’re, I mean, they’re not competing for really anything. They will be in the Big Ten tournament. And so, like, you wanna finish out these games, especially because Washington is a game you can win. 

Oregon, yes. And then they have a difficult stretch to end the season where I believe. They play Indiana again. They play Michigan and they play, they might play Michigan State again, but I know they definitely play Michigan and they play Indiana to finish out their season. 

And they play Michigan in Ann Arbor. And if you didn’t know, Michigan is currently ranked number one in men’s basketball. So, you are gonna have to go in that game with a lot of grit to pull out a win. But I mean, if they can knock Michigan off, that’d be, that’d be crazy. Yeah, so that was their kind of two games. 

And then, men’s hockey dropped both games to Ohio State after sweeping Wisconsin. So kind of similar story. Played great against a rival, and then, Ohio State spent having a decent season, but, you know, they, they did get swept and it was, I think we had a piece go out today by Morgan, who’s not on the sports desk, but did it for her own enjoyment. 

She talked to Bob Motzko and he was like, this is not the team that played last time, this is like, we didn’t wanna see this at all. We could do so much better than this. But I know women’s hockey, they played St. Thomas and they tied, they won one, but then they tied the other. So did you watch?

ROERING: Yeah, I mean, I went to Friday’s game my first time at the new rink there.

DAVIS: Oh, how is that?

ROERING: Oh, it’s really nice. I, I loved it. It’s just a very high quality rink. The old rink they used to play in was like freezing cold. It was like they’d play like high school type games in there.

DAVIS: Oh.

ROERING: It was not a rinky play college hockey in. And so it’s a very nice upgrade for them. But the game itself, I will say Gophers won the first game on Friday, but it’s very notable that they’re missing their Olympians. Obviously Abbey Murphy, like it’s tough to like that goal scoring production.

DAVIS: Yeah. 

ROERING: It’s, it’s hard to make up for. But also notably the other players, they have gone—Laitinen and Bouveng and Plosova. I mean, Laitinen and Bouveng, like they are really good puck movers. And so when you take away some of the, like, driving force on your team, at times they didn’t know how to pass the puck. 

And it’s, it’s just a learning curve for the players that are getting more minutes and building better chemistry with the lines because a lot of them are playing elevated minutes and it’s not what they’re used to. But there were some positive takeaways. 

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: They won the first game, but yeah, going to game two, they tied, they won the shootout. So they technically.

DAVIS: Oh okay.

ROERING: They got the extra conference point, which is like good. But they still lost one.

DAVIS: Yeah. OK.

ROERING: They get two points for a win in shootout or overtime and the other team gets one. So they still like, even though they won, they lost one point. And that’s like, that’s a big deal when the conference race is so tight.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: It’s still anybody’s game between, I mean, it’s mostly between Wisconsin and Ohio at this point. They’re separated by two points, but Minnesota goes to Ohio this weekend. So there’s a chance where if you have a really good weekend, you can take six points over them.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: So it’s, it’s still not decided yet. 

DAVIS: That’s great. Women’s basketball, they took down number 10, Iowa. Love both basketball teams taking down the number 10 team. That’s so much fun. And then they played, they had a really big win over Rutgers. But obviously I think their schedule’s gonna get more complicated too to finish up the season.

ROERING: Yeah, they’re on a six game win streak right now. Nebraska’s next.

DAVIS: OK.

ROERING: Then Wisconsin, then Ohio State, which is ranked eight, and then Michigan State ranked 13.

DAVIS: OK. Yeah, so, you know, a tough stretch. It’s good to get those easy wins over like Rutgers and stuff while you still have the chance. Because unlike the men’s team, they are competing and I think, you know, the Big Ten is obviously super competitive this year, but they have a chance to make a decent run.

And then obviously if you’re talking about women’s basketball, the March Madness aspirations for this team are like so high. And last year they kind of fell apart at the end. They had, they lost, I think two games to Washington or something, and it just kind of killed the momentum at the end.

I think that, I think their team looks a little stronger. I think the addition of McKinney just like being a sophomore now is super helpful and. They have more of a bench. 

Olympic time! So obviously the Olympics are happening, Wren’s here to talk figure skating. Sam, you’re obviously here to talk women’s hockey. I do wanna just get it out of the way. There is a woman on the mixed doubles curling team, Cory Thiesse, and they’ll be competing for gold. 

They’re doing great. Minnesotan. She’s from Duluth, which is cool. Minnesota has the most alumni, I believe of any college I know for sure of the Big Ten, which is thanks in part, to the hockey teams. Because it’s, it’s women’s hockey, it’s men’s hockey and it’s curling, which seems to have a lot of Minnesota players. 

The only other thing I’ve been keeping up with is the Lindsey Vonn injury, which also, Minnesota native. And the stuff around the controversy of her wanting to compete and people saying, no, she can’t take that spot. It should go to a younger player. Which is kind of absurd because you have to earn your spot.

But yeah, and then obviously the injury thing, which kind of was upsetting, but I think once you completely snap your ACL the hopes that you are going to medal are very low. So it, it sucks that she broke her leg, but I mean, to even try and go down again with on an ACL, it’s insane. 

Wren, so if you had like a favorite, like if people were like, I’m gonna tune into one figure skating event because there’s a ton, would you be like, you have to watch this event of figure skating, or what’s your personal favorite too?

WREN WARNE-JACOBSEN: I would say I’m most excited for the women’s individual event. We just wrapped up the team event. And the U.S. won. So that was very exciting. Everybody really did their job. It was a bit of a nailbiter.

DAVIS: Oh really?

WARNE-JACOBSEN: Yeah. The U.S. won by one point over team Japan and, uh, we were a little messy at times, so hopefully everybody got their nerves out for the individual event. But yeah, the women will be competing next week. 

And our three women, Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, and Isabeu Levito, they’re all fantastic. I’m really hoping everybody delivers. And I really don’t know what’s gonna happen. There are a lot of women in this event who could win the title. It just really is gonna come down to who delivers.

DAVIS: Yeah. What does the like competition look like out of, outside of like team USA?

WARNE-JACOBSEN: Yeah, Japan has a very strong team, especially in, well in women’s, men’s and pairs. Their ice dance team wasn’t quite as strong at this event, but yeah, they, they have a, they have a very, very strong team in those other three disciplines.

So, for the women’s individual event, like I mentioned, I think Japan could be a very strong contender for the gold. So, yeah, it’s, it’s really gonna be interesting because I think, not just within the U.S. team, but there are a lot of skaters who could win that medal. Yeah.

DAVIS: Yeah. Do you have a, because have you seen, like the practicing, because obviously they run through their routines. Is there a routine that you like, are really, you’re like, “Oh, I can’t wait to see the, like, final product of this?”

WARNE-JACOBSEN: I’m really excited for Amber Glenn’s short program. But I mean, they’re, they’re all so amazing. 

DAVIS: Yeah. 

WARNE-JACOBSEN: I dunno that I would be able to like pick one over the other because they’re all so entertaining to watch.

DAVIS: Mm-hmm.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: So yeah. It’s just the anticipation is really gonna build and I know I’m probably gonna be nervous watching every skate. But yeah, they’re all also fun to watch, so it’s gonna be really exciting. 

DAVIS: I was reading, there’s a piece in the Atlantic about Ilia Malinin and his quad axle that he, it might be, he plans to attempt. I don’t know what, if he’s actually done it in practice yet, and how he has about like seven quad jumps in his routine. And people are like, what? Like what are you doing? 

Yeah, but they did a really good piece in the Atlantic about like both his parents were figure skaters who immigrated to the U.S. and basically just trained him and he was just throwing crazy jumps. And then like, basically the piece was like, yeah, he was supposed to like jumping around like crazy. 

And then like once we figured out like, oh my gosh, he could like just do a triple axle at like, I think it was like 15 or something, or 14. He was, he was young. Yeah, he was traditionally young. They’re like, okay, now we can work on like your form and everything. Oh, and he did the back flip.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: Yes.

DAVIS: That’s, that’s what’s everything’s been about, is that he did the back flip, which someone said it was for zero points. Like how does the scoring work with, like, was he just doing a back flip for funzies or?

WARNE-JACOBSEN: Yeah, essentially it used to be banned.

DAVIS: OK.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: So it is not banned anymore. You can do it, but it’s not a listed element. It just improves your component score because it’s exciting to watch.

DAVIS: Oh, okay.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: And it’s a crowd pleaser.

DAVIS: So with like something like finger skating, like what is the, do you like scoring wise? So like you get points for an exciting routine? Or is it like, just like skill-based?

WARNE-JACOBSEN: Yeah, so it’s broken down into a technical score and then a component score. So the technical score is determined by the jumps, spins, step sequence, uh, all the listed elements that you do and which levels you perform them at, how many rotations you have in your jumps, which levels your spins are, and then how well you execute those elements.

The component score comes down to like the total package, your presentation, performance, how well you’ve skated the entire program. So some skaters are much stronger in that than others. Ideally you wanna be really strong in, in both. 

But having a very strong technical performance is also automatically gonna increase your component score because the cleaner you skate, the higher your technical score is gonna be, but then it’s just gonna be nicer to watch too. You’re gonna have a stronger performance.

DAVIS: Yeah.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: So those two end up impacting each other quite a bit.

DAVIS: Oh OK. How many, how many events have we done here?

WARNE-JACOBSEN: So for the, we just had the team event.

DAVIS: Mm-hmm.

WARNE-JACOBSEN: And for, for everything there’s a short program and a free skate. Or for dance, it’s the rhythm dance and the free dance. Yeah, so everybody has four. Not everyone skated both in the team event. But yeah, everyone’s going to skate two performances in the individual, and then the combined score from those two will be what determines the medalists.

I think it’s really exciting that they added the team event. That’s still pretty new. I believe this is the fourth time having the team event. And, so, that yeah, that gives another opportunity for giving out medals. Just more excitement. I really like that we have a team component because that’s pretty rare in figure skating. 

DAVIS: Yeah. I wanna transition. With women’s hockey I feel like it has been USA Canada for a long time now. What does the USA Canada matchup kind of look like this year?

ROERING: Well, yeah. So it has historically been USA and Canada every Olympics except one that has been the gold medal matchup.

The only time it wasn’t, it was Sweden who upset U.S. to go to the final. So, the situation this year is actually really interesting because Canada won the last Olympics.

DAVIS: Mm-hmm.

ROERING: And since then, it’s been pretty back and forth for the World Championships, U.S. is coming off the win this year. They do these, these games, the rivalry series, which they both national teams kind of use them for evaluation and that’s how it was treated this year. And normally it’s pretty close.

It’s usually an even split. This year the U.S. swept, they went 4-0 in the rivalry series and it’s, I mean, you look at that and Canada, they were actually without Sarah Nurse, who’s one of their, their really big players. Mm-hmm. But it’s definitely interesting. To look at that and see, okay, the momentum the U.S. had going in, they’re coming off of The World Championship win.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: And then leading the rivalry series. They definitely have in recent games the momentum. But, the other thing is Canada’s roster is very old. They do not have a single NCAA player on team Canada.

DAVIS: Really? 

ROERING: There’s so many NCAA players on team USA. They have, I think, five from Wisconsin, Abbey Murphy here, Joy Dunne from Ohio. Tessa Janecke from Penn State. So pretty much half of their lineup is college kids. 

DAVIS: Yeah. 

ROERING: Where Canada has none. And it actually was kind of a controversial thing because Chloe Primerano, she didn’t make it. And everyone was kind of like thinking that she could make it this year. 

DAVIS: Yeah. 

ROERING: She didn’t make it. Eve Gascon from UMD, really phenomenal goaltender. People were thinking they’d bring her with as like their third string goaltender to give her the experience because she’s their like future. They didn’t bring her. 

They didn’t bring Caitlin Kraemer, who’s also from UMD. And they like had all of these players going through these like Olympic camps all year. While doing stuff at the college level, and these players were looking tired out, only to then cut them all from the Olympics.

DAVIS: That’s crazy. 

ROERING: And yeah.

DAVIS: Who are the coaches this year for each side?

ROERING: Yeah. I know for Canada, a lot of their leadership group is from actually the Toronto Scepters PWHL team. 

DAVIS: Oh, okay.

ROERING: So that’s like where most of their leadership comes from. I believe they’re coach, but then U.S., it’s John Wroblewski. And I don’t think he’s like coaching another team other than like U.S.. So like, I think this is his one thing.

DAVIS: He’s locked into this one team. 

ROERING: He is locked in.

DAVIS: What does the goalie situation look like?

ROERING: I mean, for U.S., Aerin Frankel has been lights out in the PWHL season. And she’s been just so good. Last year for the worlds during the gold medal game there. She had started the game, she got taken out, got hurt mid game. So they had to bring in Gwyneth Philips. Like not warmed up at all.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: Midway through the game, like literally the most important game of her life, she gets brought in and she also looked phenomenal.

DAVIS: Oh yeah.

ROERING: And so those are their like A and B goaltenders. They brought Ava McNaughton from Wisconsin, but I don’t anticipate her probably playing at all. Maybe they’ll give her like Japan or Italy just to like give her a game. But, I mean, U.S. does have good goal tending. Canada, I believe Maschmeyer has been the one that they’ve turned to a lot. 

DAVIS: Yeah, so it’s just kind of waiting for the Canada U.S. game, I feel like. Because that’s just kind of like, everyone kind of knows where it’s going, headed toward this.

I know in men’s hockey it seems to be a little bit more like, okay, Finland, Sweden, they could like pull an upset out of here. And it obviously, it would be completely shocking, but it wouldn’t be, I think in women’s hockey it’d be a thousand times more shocking if that were to happen. 

Yeah, so the men’s hockey, a lot of controversy with choosing J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck as like those final two guys to join the roster. Obviously he has a plan for, I’m assuming, line chemistry if that is what he is working towards, because, these players, yes they play in the NHL.

So they’re good players, but they’re not, they didn’t do anything that special. And Canada just looks like they have a very strong roster. Like the U.S. roster looks good, but it’s like we were talking about earlier, the Tkachuk Brothers and Jack Eichel leading that first line. I, I’m so, because it’s, it’s so obviously built on chemistry, like that’s what they’re gonna lead off of here. And I, I’ll believe it when I see it.

ROERING: Right. And it’s also too, you look at like the U.S. and Canada rosters. For the men, yes. They have big names on Team USA, but they’re also guys that have been underperforming a lot this season. Like Auston Matthews is kind of the big one, likee’s gone from like a season where he had like 60 goals.

DAVIS: Oh, yeah.

ROERING: To last season he had like 30, this season again, maybe 30.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: And so like when you look at it, like they have a lot of guys that are regressing. So I’m not really sure how that’s gonna work out on the Olympic stage, because obviously it’s a big moment. 

DAVIS: Mm-hmm.

ROERING: Like, these guys wanna play and like win a medal and they wanna win gold.

DAVIS: And we’re, we’re gonna, we’re gonna get the guy from the Toronto Maple Leafs notoriously known for performing in big moments.

ROERING: Right, yeah.

DAVIS: That’s, that’s gonna work out. Yeah, but a lot of Minnesota adjacent players obviously Brock Faber, former Gopher and now plays for the Wild, Matt Boldy’s on the team who plays for the Wild, Quinn Hughes now on the Wild. So a lot of like local favorites will be there. So there’ll be, people will tune in for that. Yeah, so a lot of Minnesota connections, which is, it’s fun. 

ROERING: Oh, add like the women’s hockey connections. So, I mean, just starting with it like Abbey Murphy plays for the University of Minnesota right now. Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein, Kendall Coyne Schofield plays for the Frost, but the other three of or four of Heise, Zumwinkle, Pannek and Stecklein all played for the Gophers and the Frost.

DAVIS: Yeah. 

ROERING: And of them, like, I think all four of them are also born in Minnesota, so like it’s very Minnesota based.

DAVIS: Yeah.

ROERING: And then, Rory Guilday was born in Minnesota, so she’s Minnesota grown.

DAVIS: No, it’s, and women’s hockey is dominated, dominated by just the state of Minnesota.

ROERING: Oh, for sure.

DAVIS: This episode is by Megan Davis.

ROERING: And Samantha Roering.

DAVIS: And produced by Ceci Heinen. As always, we appreciate you listening in and feel free to send a message to our email inbox at [email protected] with any questions, comments or concerns.

I’m Megan Davis.

ROERING: And I’m Samantha Roering.

DAVIS: And this has been The Gold Standard.