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The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shots. Thank you, Scott Geezy, and welcome to Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York, we have another great show for you. It's NCAA tournament talk, both with women's basketball and men's hockey. The women's basketball regionals are coming to Albany MVP arena this weekend. Two regionals, Albany Regional one and Albany Regional two. And some great teams coming, of course. Caitlin Clark in Iowa, the big story there. And they're going to be here on this weekend along with defending champion LSU and Kim Mulkey, the controversial coach of LSU. She has some interesting things to say about the Washington Post, a potential story about LSU threatening to sue the post, but we'll see what happens with that. And of course, Don Staley, the head coach of South Carolina, perfect on the season. They're going to be here as well. So it's going to be a great weekend of basketball down at MVP arena. And we'll talk with general manager Bob Beller about that and how much he was sweating it out Monday night when Iowa and West Virginia were tied late in the fourth quarter. So that was a interesting game Monday night, but Iowa pulled it out, and they'll be here with the best player in college basketball, Caitlin Clark. So that'll be a lot of fun. And then after that, Mike McMahon of College hockey News and college hockey insider will join me. We'll take a look at the 16 team NCAA hockey tournament. Some controversial things going on there, including a regional that is being played in the 2500 seat arena. And three of the teams that are in that regional, North Dakota, Michigan and Michigan State, travel well. So it's going to be some angry hockey fans out in suburban St. Louis this week wanting to see their teams in person, but they may not be able to. So we'll talk about that as well as the entire tournament. So coming up, Bob Belber will join me. We'll talk NCAA women's basketball tournaments. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: In school sports, it's easy to see the wins, the moments that make headlines, but there's so much work that goes unseen for any of it to happen. My name is Phil Risen, and I'm the executive director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators association throughout the country athletic administrators dedicate countless hours to making life changing opportunities possible for student athletes through sports. Their sacrifice is fueled by the belief that every student can grow and deserves their time to shine.
On behalf of the NIAA, we want to thank every athletic administrator for your tireless dedication to providing 7.8 million students across the country a path to a better future.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: This message presented by the NIAA, the national Interscholastic Athletic Administrators association, want to get all the latest news from the Daily Gazette on your phone or tablet? We have an app for that. The Daily Gazette app allows you to read all the newspaper stories and columns from our dedicated team of journalists. The app is free. You can download the app from the Apple or Google App Stores. Hi, this is John McGraw, the voice of Colgate hockey, on ESPN. Plus, you're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shaw.
Welcome back to the podcast. And it's a big weekend in Albany as the NCAA women's tournament comes to town. Some great matchups and just an incredible lineup with South Carolina and Dawn Staley, defending champion LSU, and then, of course, Katen Clark in Iowa. And to talk about that is the general manager of MVP Arena, Bob Belber. Bob, welcome to the podcast. How are things going?
[00:04:14] Speaker D: Things are going great. We're very excited. We're working hard to get everything ready for this weekend. And as you said, we've got some of the best teams in the country in women's basketball coming right here to Albany, New York. Yeah.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Well, let me ask you about Monday night games tied late in the fourth quarter between Iowa and West Virginia. Were you sweating?
[00:04:35] Speaker D: Well, I will tell you that I was sitting in my home with my wife watching the game, and I think there was four minutes left and it was tight score. And I looked at her and I said, this is not going to be.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Good.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Because I was watching the game. It's like, oh, my God, this can't happen. This can't. No way. Come on.
It's amazing. Well, just, let's go back to selection Sunday. And when the field was announced and you saw that you had Iowa, you had South Carolina, you had LSU, what was going through your this? You've had some great tournaments, basketball and hockey in the past, but to get three teams of national caliber excellence, what did you think? How excited were you that you're going to have one hell of a matchup here?
[00:05:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I was super excited about it. I really felt as though we had the better of the two lineups. When you looked at the teams going to Portland versus those who were coming to Albany. We really felt good about those teams that were announced. Obviously, I was greedy for about a second and thought how much nicer it would have been if we had Yukon. As you know, we got to be thankful for what we got. And I think what we have is first of all, not just female basketball player, but the college basketball player of all time that has broken all the records, male or female, that's coming to Albany, New York. And while she's had a little bit of a bumpy road in one or two of the games, getting to the point where she's at and where I was at know coming into Albany, when she's on, she's she when she steps back and takes that jump shot from close to the half court line and effortlessly makes that shot when you or I have to throw like a baseball. Lucky if we hit the know. She's just so talented and to see her live and here in Albany is going to be really a wonderful thing for those that can get in. Obviously, we wish we had more seats and we had more available tickets.
We have 14,000 people coming for each of four days.
I'm sure there's some seats still available on the NCA.com website, probably on the resale platform, which more than likely, quite frankly, are probably Yukon fans that were thinking that their team would have come to Albany, probably bought the tickets early and are likely reselling them since they're probably going to be traveling out to Portland.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it was announced. How quickly did the tickets go?
[00:07:21] Speaker D: Well before the announcement of the teams even took place, we had over 8000 all session tickets that were sold. So we were already in really good shape. The NCAA women's basketball committee was extremely happy with the ticket sales that we had thus that far.
And then as soon as the teams were announced, we sold, I think 2300 tickets in the first hour after the teams were announced. And the next morning we sold out the rest of them that were available on face value, meaning the primary market.
And there are some seats that are held for all the teams, which is a small number. I think it's a couple of hundred tickets per school that's going to be participating, but those are all going to go. Those are going to be sold. So I'm sure that there's going to be some tickets sold on the resale platform, which is a Ticketmaster resale platform through the NCAA.com website.
So if people want to go and they're able to afford the prices because they are going to be pricey, they're going to see probably one of the most memorable experiences in their lives.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah, we could have a potential in the Monday night, possibly LSU and Iowa facing each other in that Albany two regional semifinal that was a national championship game last year.
I don't know. You don't want to look ahead, but how great would that be come.
[00:08:54] Speaker D: You know, we wish all the teams that are participating here the best of luck in their competition. We don't want to say that we hope one team wins over others before the games happen.
If that were to happen, and LSU and Iowa won their games and they did get to that point for a rematch that would take place here, obviously there would be a whole lot of attention and national, if not international news and media. And know, certainly women's basketball has never been so popular as it is.
And if that was to happen with Caitlin Clark playing against Reese and LSU and the other players that are on LSU, I'm sure that that would have a lot of attention. But at the same know, I also feel for those girls that are on, you know, Oregon State and some of the others. They all worked hard to get where they're going to be playing in Albany, too. So we're going to be meeting with the sids and folks from each school, and I certainly don't want to be sitting there having just said that we hope one of the teams over somebody else wins.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: The Albany regional two semifinals will take place on Saturday. UCLA will play LSU at one and then Iowa and Colorado at 330 on Saturday. LSU, as I said, the defending national champions and also a controversial coach in Kim Mulkey.
There's a possible story coming in for the Washington Post about her and the LSU athletic program.
She has really come out and said she's going to threaten to sue the Washington Post over this story. I mean, there's a lot of controversy about mean. How are you going to handle things with her? Because there's going to be a lot of media asking her about this potential big story coming out.
[00:10:50] Speaker D: Well, this is not her first rodeo in working with media and answering tough questions, and I've looked into a little bit of what you're talking about and I'm aware of it. But from a security standpoint, there won't be any issue at all. We've got that fully covered. There's so many plans in place and measures to take care of any issues. But from a media asking questions about it, she's one of the most savvy coaches that I've seen.
I'm sure that she will answer it straight up and probably not hold anything back.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah.
She's never one to be shy about what's on her mind. I know that just from watching her press conferences over the years. We should talk about the Friday semifinals, the region one semifinals. They'll be taking place Friday afternoon. The first game, Notre Dame against Arkansas at 230, followed by South Carolina against Indiana. As we mentioned, Don Staley, the head coach of South Carolina, of course, my connection to her, we're both Philadelphia natives. That's about all our connection is, but just her impact on college basketball and the teams undefeated this year. What do you like about Dawn Staley?
[00:12:07] Speaker D: Well, first of all, what a great team, what great coaches. And let's not forget that South Carolina has won a regional here in Albany in the past.
They know our building. They've been here before. Their fans travel really well. I'm sure you're going to see a very loud arena with their fans here.
That team is undefeated and they've got players that are just incredible and their talent and ability is going to be really hard for almost any team to measure up to. So I give South Carolina every chance to get to the championship and potentially win this thing.
They're that good. I mean, there are other teams that are good, too, but they are that good. And I think that they're going to be the ones to beat.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah. The women's tournament differs from the men in that you have two regionals going on in Albany. We mentioned the Albany one regional Friday on Sunday and the Albany two regional Saturday and Monday. How good of a setup is this to have four straight days of basketball?
[00:13:18] Speaker D: Well, I think it's terrific. It's good for the NCAA, too, because it used to be where you would have four regional sites. Albany has hosted the regional in the past, I think, four times, but at that time it was four sites in the country. And so we only had half the number of teams that we have coming this.
So having the two regionals in one site and the same thing in Portland where they've got two regionals, you've got two teams that are going to know each, are going to win the championship in their bracket, and then those two teams are going to go directly into the final four. First of all, how cool is that that Albany is going to have two teams that go right to the Final four? That hasn't happened since ready for this last year with the men.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: We only had one team, though, last year with the.
No, of course, it was a team everybody rooted for Yukon because, of course, Andre Jackson, there last year.
[00:14:17] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that's true.
But I think that the regional gives the market an extra shot in the arm. You've got four days where 14,000 people are going to be here. Probably many of those people are going to come in the day before. So you could really say it's four and a half to five days. And so the spending in the market, the hotel rooms, restaurants, bars, shops, attractions, the economic impact to the market from this event, in my opinion, is probably going to be the biggest economic impact as compared to any NCAA event that we've hosted. And that says a lot because you know what we've hosted? We've had the frozen four in 2001. We had the national wrestling championship in two, regional men's basketball in three, and a litany of other championships with hockey and so forth, and regionals throughout the 32 year, 34 years that we've been in existence. But this one, because you're going to have so many days and so many people, I think you're going to see this is going to be the biggest economic impact.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Let's talk away from the court as far as parking and any activities outside the arena, especially the parking. I think that's going to be an issue for people. What should people do about parking?
[00:15:37] Speaker D: Well, I don't think you're going to see as big of a problem with parking as you may think. First of all, this Friday is Good Friday. It's Easter weekend.
Most of the government agencies are recommending to their employees and to their staffs that they may want to work at home on Friday as compared to coming downtown.
And many people take that Good Friday off anyway. So we don't think there's going to be near as many people that normally would be working on Friday. And for that reason, you're going to have a lot more parking spaces that are going to be open for the people coming in.
The Empire State Plaza is going to have space up underneath.
There's surface lots all over. So I don't think we're going to have a big problem on Friday. Albany Police department is going to be in all the intersections around the arena so that traffic will flow nice.
The local organizing committee in downtown Albany that's been involved with this, including the airport and state police and Albany police and Albany sheriffs, everybody has worked hard to make sure that the plans are in place. There's escorts for every team when they get to the airport and all while they're here, so everyone stays safe. But at the end of the day, I think we'll have plenty of parking. And obviously on the weekend, Saturday, Sunday won't be an issue as well. Monday might be a little bit of a bigger challenge as compared to the Friday with maybe some of the people coming back to work. So I think Monday is going to be the rougher day from a parking standpoint.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: Yeah, but of course Monday, just one game. So maybe it won't be as bad people getting down there. We'll see what happens. But Bob, appreciate a few minutes. It's going to be a fun weekend down there. I'm hoping to maybe swing down there, maybe catch a game or two, depending on my schedule. And this is really a lot of fun, man.
I've seen young guys host hockey tournaments there over the years. Obviously in basketball this is going to be, to me just really the cherry on top of the cake there. Just have this situation and this national attention coming to Albany. It's going to be a lot of fun.
[00:17:54] Speaker D: Yeah, it really know every time you see a game that the ladies play, no matter what team, they're always talking about either going to Portland or, you know, that's times x number of games, x number of broadcasts. And obviously when it's actually here and the games are taking place in know the networks are going to be taking beauty shots of the egg in our area, in our region. And I just think it gives us an opportunity to showcase our market. And obviously we want to drive more business and have more companies come in and open up establishments and offices in our region. So this doesn't hurt to go towards that end.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Well, Bob, appreciate a few minutes and good luck this weekend.
[00:18:36] Speaker D: All right, thanks. I appreciate it, Ken.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: All right, that's Bob Belber. Coming up, we're going to talk NCAA hockey tournament with Mike McMahon of College Hockey News and college hockey Insider. Got some interesting developments going on there with the 16 team tournament. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
Hi, I'm Daily Gazette news columnist Andrew Waite and host of the weighing in podcast, which takes you inside my award winning featured news column by offering the backstory, thought process and interviews that inform my work. Plus, readers have their chance to respond. The weighing in podcast is
[email protected] or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everybody? This is Freddie Coleman from ESPN Radio's Freddie and Harry Show. 03:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday. You're listening to the party shots podcast with my man Ken shot, the Daily Gazette sports editor. Welcome back to the podcast. Now let's turn our attention to the NCAA men's hockey tournament that gets underway Thursday and a lot of controversy with the selection that were announced on Sunday. And to talk about that is Mike McMahon of College Hockey news and College hockey Insider, the excellent newsletter that Mike produces. And Mike, welcome to the podcast. And how are things going? Get excited about the tournament?
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the best time of year, right? I mean, it's the busiest time of year. There's no question about that. But it's also the best time of year. I mean, this is what we all look forward to. So it should be good. It should be good. You look at the field, it's pretty wide open. I think with some really ton of NHL picks and high end talent. It should be a really good tournament.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah, of course, a lot of contours. As I said at the top of here, let's start with what happened with the Maryland Heights, Missouri bracket. For some reason, the NCAA approved the facility that has 2500 seats in the building. And you're going to have probably three of the best traveling teams in the country in Michigan State, North Dakota and Michigan. Of course, western Michigan is the other team that will be playing in Missouri.
What happened here?
I thought there was a minimum capacity for a city or a site to host this tournament.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I did too. It was supposed to be 5000 seats. It still is. I don't know. So a couple of things. It's possible that they just had no other western bidders. We don't know the answer to that question, but that is one possibility. That's how you're also not supposed to be able to host on campus. But Notre Dame hosted at Compton family Ice arena two or three years ago because there was no other western bidders that year. They just didn't have anybody to bid on the regional in the west. So it's possible that that's what happened here. I don't know for sure, but that's one theory. The other theory, of course, is that St. Louis sports commission is hosting this regional. They're also hosting the frozen four next year. So this kind of gives them a dry run, I guess, at hosting the frozen four. That being said though, it'd be nice if they found a building that could accommodate the regional. 2500 seats is just not anywhere nearly big enough. And there were some other options. There's the family arena, which is in St. Charles, which isn't that far away. Someone pointed out yesterday that they did take their ice out of that building. That's about a 9000 seat building. Apparently they took the ice capabilities out of that building. A few years ago. So maybe that wasn't an option unless they brought in some sort of temporary set up like they do for outdoor games or something like that, which I think is what they've done in other instances in the past. I can't remember if like Atlantic City maybe there was a building at one point that was hosting it into a building that had to bring in a temporary ice set up because their ice making capabilities had been taken out of the actual building itself. So that was an option. There's a building in Kansas City which is a little bit further away but has about 5000 seats in it.
It's limited with home arena and basically it's 2500 seats. I think we can out to about 3000 with standing room. But you've got some blue blood programs that are going there and you look at the secondary market and that's why tickets are up over $1,000 as of this morning, the last time I checked.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah. How crazy is it going to be? How angry are these fan bases?
[00:22:58] Speaker A: I would think they're pretty upset.
And that's the thing. I know some of the seats get held for the schools, but it's not a ton. You're talking about a couple of hundred, which in this case with four teams and a couple of hundred tickets, you're approaching almost half the building at that point.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, another. I don't know if it's controversial, but I think it's understood.
The NCAA has a rule that if you're hosting a site, you play there. And that's what benefits UMass they're hosting at the mass mutual center in Springfield. They'll be taking on the number three overall seed Denver on Thursday at two.
Mean, could this been avoided? Maybe have Denver play somewhere else? Or is this just the luck of the draw?
[00:23:44] Speaker A: It's kind of just the luck of the, you know, I think they've got to do something with this rule and I don't know that there is a perfect answer yet, but it doesn't seem right that UMass, who's a four seed and barely squeaks into the tournament, they lose in the hockey semifinal and needed some help on Saturday night to get in that they get a home game just because they're hosts.
I know a lot of work goes into with two. You've got to staff the regional. Their staff is going to be running, I think tickets and media and everything else that goes along with it. So there is a lot of work that goes into hosting these events, but they've got to figure out a way, I think to avoid this type of situation where you're putting a one seed in a road game. I don't think it matters as much in a two versus three game. Like, Omaha is the host in St. Paul's and there are three seeds. So now, essentially, they get a home game as technically the lower seed, but there's less of a separation there with the twos and the threes. I think that the easiest thing to do would be to say you get the automatic home game if you're a one, two or a three seed, not if you're a four seed.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Yeah. If I recall, in 2015, wasn't providence a four seed then they were hosting at then the Dunkin Donuts center? Were they four?
[00:25:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So that was the controversial one, is because it happened to them twice. They were not technically the host. Brown was in both of those years, but they ended up getting placed there as the four seed anyway. And I think if it kind of naturally falls that way by the numbers, fine.
I think in that case, I could be wrong. I think in one of those years, they made a flip. I think in 19, they made a flip to get Providence into Providence, which is what was really controversial. I think in 15, my years reversed that. It just naturally kind of fell that way. I don't know if it was the four versus 13 or the three versus 14 or whatever it was, but it just kind of fell in order. Where, I think it was Miami that had to go to Providence. There was no other place they could go because of some of these other restrictions, and Providence was the four c they matched up with. I think that's why the committee has tried to stick to, quote unquote, bracket integrity as much as possible, because it gives them a basis for their decision making that isn't just, well, we decided to make a flip for no reason or to maximize attendance and give a team a home game. If a team ends up with a home game out of it, and it's the way the numbers fell, well, then that's just the way that it goes. And they can say, look, what do you want us to do? This. The seven versus ten game. And, yeah, the ten seed has a home game out of it, but this is where the 710 game was supposed to go, and there's nothing. We kind of had our structure. But, yeah, I do think they got to come up with something because a four seed backing into a home game and the one seed having to go on the road, there's something about that that doesn't seem right. And I don't have a perfect answer. But I think it's something they got.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: To because you look at Boston University, the number two overall seed, they're playing rit, they have to go to.
I mean, if Bu is in mean, I think with May and Cornell also there, I think you're guaranteed sellouts for the three games that will be played there. But it just seems weird that bu, with the season they've had, they have to end up going out west instead of.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's the know. And they didn't really have a choice with UMass needing to go there. They had to put, I think, you know, at that point, whether they put them in Maryland Heights or Sioux Falls, it really doesn't matter. A flight to flight, that's how it's always been explained to.
Yeah. You know, as the number two overall seed, they should have been at home. They should have been one seed in Springfield. So for mean, look, Denver was traveling no matter what. It's not like falls or Maryland Heights was a drive for Denver. They were getting on a flight no matter what. But now, you know, they are playing a relative road game now against UMass instead of kind of being in a more neutral environment. And then you get bu, who as the number two overall seed would have had plenty of home fans in that Springfield building had they been placed here. Instead, they're going to Sioux Falls and there'll be some atmosphere there. I'm sure there's going to be people at those games, but it's not going to be as heavy a BU crowd as it would have been in Springfield.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the defending national champion Quinnipiac, who once again stumbled in the ECAC hockey tournament championship round, they'll be playing Wisconsin. I don't know if you had a chance to see some highlights of that Quinnipiac St. Lawrence semifinal game from Friday. To me, that was the worst I've seen Quinnipiac play in a long time. They look disinterested. They only had 21 shots on goal against the Saints. And for all the success they've had winning regular season titles, they've only won one ECAC hockey tournament title.
With them stumbling going into the NCAAs, what do you think their chances are defending?
[00:28:40] Speaker A: It's going to be tough. Yeah, I don't know. I was joking with somebody the other day. I don't know if they've got like the lake plastic flu every year or what the deal is, but yeah, something's going on up there where they've had some trouble up there recently. And I agree with you. I actually watched a big chunk of that game. I was at the garden for the hockey schemes but had that game on my computer and they did not look very interested, I think the way to put it. I thought St. Lawrence really took it to him for large stretches of that game. And Rand Pecknell said that after the game. I think his quote was pretty direct in saying that he was embarrassed by the way that they played and look, they're going to have to be better. I think that this is a Quinnipiac team that there's no doubt about it. They're still a good team, but they're not as strong as they were a year ago. So taking a night off and still getting the job done is not going to be a recipe for success. It's probably not going to happen. They still have plenty of firepower offensively. I still love the way they play, generally speaking in all three areas of the ice, but they're going to have to bring their A game and shake off that loss in the ECAC pretty quickly because it's a quick turnaround.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Yeah, Wisconsin hasn't played since losing to Ohio State in the Big ten tournament, so maybe Quinnipiac has a little bit of advantage there with Wisconsin. May have with several, but then whoever wins that game is going to probably have to face Boston College in the regional final. Boston College, the overall number one seed, taking on Michigan Tech. Just talk about the job at I mean, obviously Jerry York was there for a long time and they sort of got back on track after.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: Mean, it's a lot of it's freshman class. I think it helps when you go to the national development program and say, hey, we're going to take your first line. And I know Fowler was not, he was with Youngstown last year in the USHL, but talk about some impactful freshmen. And I think Fowler arguably is the most important one just in terms of the depth of the other positions. So if Will Smith and Gabe Perot or Ryan Leonard, if any of those three came in and had a underperformed as a freshman, there's other guys here to pick up the slack. They're fellow freshmen. And Cutter Gautier, who has my vote anyway for the Hoby Baker award. And then you look at Fowler, his backups, another freshman, all their eggs from a goaltending perspective, were in the Jacob Fowler basket. And if he didn't play his best hockey this year, you're looking at a BC team that I don't think is the number one overall seed there. Probably even with the firepower they had, they were still in the tournament, but probably more around where Quinnipiac is around the nine or ten range. If they don't get the goaltending that they had this year because BC had nowhere else to go, it was pretty much followed. There was no backup plan and he's been exceptional. He's been exceptional all year. We saw it over the weekend. We saw what he did in the Clark cup playoffs last year, winning a USHL championship with Youngstown. He plays his best hockey in the biggest games. That to me is the biggest key for Boston College. It has been all year has been the play of the goaltender.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Well, you mentioned Godier, as someone who's grew up in Philadelphia, is a lifelong Flyers fan. I'm not happy with Mr. Gotier at the moment, but I digress. But another hockey team in Maine, they're going to be playing Cornell on Thursday at 530. Talk about the job Ben Barr has done since he's taken over the former RPI player and union assistant coach.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Fantastic job. Yeah, and another really young team if it weren't for all BC freshmen. We're probably talking about the fact that Maine is being led by the two Nado brothers who are both freshmen this year and have north of 40 points.
Also, Alvin Boya is their freshman goaltender who's taken over as the starting goaltender this year. I'm really impressed with what they've done considering how young they are. If you look at their team, this is one of the craziest things I've seen all year and I've been saying this to a couple of people. Now you look at their back usually, you know, when teams talk about wanting to be experienced and being older, it starts usually on defense. If teams are older and more experienced on D, they feel pretty good about their chances over the course of the season. Maine doesn't have a single senior defenseman on their roster. Not only that, they only have one junior. David Brazil is the only junior defenseman on their roster. The rest of their decor, all freshmen and sophomores, and they've still been able to go in and compete nationally in the top ten and at one point for big chunks of the year. Until they kind of stumbled a little bit in February, they were a top five team with all freshmen and sophomore defensemen and none of them first round picks the way that Leshnoff is going to be at Michigan State or any of the Beastie guys have been. So that to me, points to structure. It points to the way that they've played and they've got a lot of guys that drive that even at the forward group, I think Lyndon Breen does that too. Undersized forward but know plays a strong two way game. And I look at that situation now and look at what Ben Barr's done at Maine and say to know how did this guy not get a head coaching job earlier? Well, he was so many jobs that have been open, it's amazing to me that he didn't get a job earlier.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Well, Seth Happer was fired after the 2016 17 season. Ben Barr was a candidate and he was interviewed and didn't get the job. And a lot of RPI alums I heard through the gray fine I can't confirm is that he did not interview well. So it could be one of those things where he maybe was a little intimidated, but he's got some more experience at UMass under now.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: He's.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: And I know some RPI fans are upset that they didn't hire. I mean, I. Because I thought Dave Smith was in trouble with the way their season went. And then maybe he survived by beating Clarkson in that first round game in the ACAC hockey tournament. I don't know, but I know one former player had messaged me and says, thanked me for questioning Dave Smith. But I like Dave, but I think there's some circumstances RPI beyond Dave's control, especially coming out of the pandemic. And I just don't think the school handled things well by not letting fans from outside the campus come to watch games while everybody else was having fans there, albeit a limited number of fans. But they still allow the fans and I think that really upset a lot of the RPI hockey fans and the RPI players because you saw a lot of players going to transfer portal after that 21 22 season.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%.
The school did not handle that very well at all from not playing that that first year, which a lot of schools didn't do. Or at least not a lot. A few didn't do.
[00:35:34] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:35:34] Speaker B: Union was one of them, too.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Yeah. To then limiting things the way that they did, it never really made a ton of sense to me. And the thing that hurts too is RPR was building some momentum in that 1920 season and it felt like they were about to make a little bit of a turn there.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: I thought they were going to win the tournament that year. That was how good they were playing going into the postseason and the pandemic happens and know everything shuts down and they haven't.
[00:36:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it know they're playing better now, obviously. I think it delayed what Reed Cashman was able to do at Dartmouth. A little know, same reason. Not having play that year and taking the year off and guys leave. And I think it affected a number of programs, especially the ones that didn't play. But you really feel for RPI because it did feel like right before everything shut down in March of 2020, it felt like RPI was turning a corner a little bit going into that year's playoff.
[00:36:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I wasn't covering union at the time, but I know Mike McGadam, who was covering the union at the time, just gotten back from the paper a couple of years ago and when they had announced, but they had a press conference to announce that there will not be any fans at the RPI Harvard series in that quarterfinal round. And a lot of RPI fans were upset. Of course, a couple of days later, everything shut down. You mentioned teams affected by the pandemic. I mean, Ron Frodie at Princeton, I thought it was surprising that he got really. I don't understand that one. What are your thoughts about that?
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Yeah, it was surprising to me, too. I mean, there was no rumblings that that was coming. Princeton strikes me as a school where. And we'll see what direction they go in here, but Princeton has always struck me as one of the schools almost like Brown, too, where the expectations athletically are pretty low. It's not like the school is going to fire you if you're not hanging banners in the building. As long as you're moderately competitive, you're not embarrassing the school. The kids are graduating, no one's getting in trouble. You're probably okay. So that one was a little bit surprising just because. Look, I don't know if their stance has changed, but as far as how the school viewed athletics, the last time the job was open. You know what? It's funny. I don't know if it was when Ron was hired or when Bob Pryor was hired. There was one of the times in the last 15 years or so that the job was open. Darren Yopic, who now was scout for the Bruins and Princeton alum, was, I was told, was offered the job and then the ad had to reneg the offer because the school told them that they were not going to process visa canadian. The school was not going to process visas for athletic hires, only for academic.
Know that tells you all you need are you're pretty printed. You can't afford to process a visa. Come on. But that kind of told me how seriously they were looking at athletics at the time that, hey, we're not going to process a visa for whatever that cost is, even if it's a couple of $1,000. Princeton University.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: Good.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: To me, that kind of laid the groundwork for how they viewed it. And apparently, I don't know what happened there. I don't know if his contract was up. Was there an issue with players? Somebody had mentioned at one point that the players have so much control now all it takes is one poor player survey by an ad at the end of the year, and your job could be in trouble if you're a coach. I don't know what happened there, but it was surprising. It was surprising to me, too.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: It hasn't been a stable job there since Guy Gadowski left. I've gone through coaches left and right there. And to me also, the facilities. I mean, Hoey Baker, yeah, it's an historic rank, but I can't imagine the amenities are great there. I mean, you look at the benches are right up against each other, there's no separation, and it's cold in there. And you got to wonder if that's also if Princeton really cares that much about hockey to fire hockey coach. Maybe they should improve their facilities and maybe look at putting a new facility up and union is getting one in a couple of years, so maybe Prince has got to do the same thing.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. I think, especially for me, talking about facilities, I think it's always about the player facilities, even, and I don't know what those look like. I'm not going to pretend that I've been in Princeton's locker room or training room or weight room or anything like that. But when you look at the know, I can't imagine that those player facilities, as I call them, are very state of the art. Video room, weight room, training facilities, rehab facilities. That's the stuff that I think the players really look at.
I've always said that the arena means something, but to me, as long as the arena is packed and has an atmosphere, I think players are less inclined to worry about what it looks like if state of the art, because, look, they don't want to be sitting in the stands, right? Yeah, they don't care how comfortable the seats are because they hopefully are on the ice, but they care about the facilities that are going to affect them. And in an older building like that, I think you're right. I think their player facilities are probably behind some of the other teams in the league, especially the teams with newer facilities, and that may be an area where they would want to invest. If I were an athletic director, that's why I'd be putting my money well.
[00:40:49] Speaker B: What teams we playing in the frozen four semifinal in St. Paul on April 11?
[00:40:55] Speaker A: Oh boy, it's really hard. I really think it is wide. Like some of these brackets really are wide open because I think BC is the best team in the tournament. That said, from two through 16, and I mean that, I think everybody's got a shot.
Michigan Tech, they got a real tough task going up against BC, but they're a team that many, myself included, had as a top 15 team at the end of the year. I wouldn't sleep on RIt. They're number 21 of the pairwise. This isn't a number 40 Atlanta hockey automatic qualifier. They're almost a top 20 team. I think. Me personally, I think Denver and BC come out of their brackets.
The other ones could go a number of different ways. That's where it gets interesting. I've got Denver and DC with Michigan and Michigan State coming out of their brackets, and that's how I've got it picked. But again, from a confidence standpoint, there's years where I feel real confident and then years where it's like, here's my pick, but we'll see. Well, here's my picks.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Well, Michigan, Michigan State could be a regional final in Missouri.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: I'm sorry I had Michigan State over Michigan in that regional final.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Got you.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: My bracket in front of me, but I knew I had them flag each other at one point.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: That'll be a lot of fun for the 2500 fans that can get in to see that.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: Yeah, seriously.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: Well, Mike, let me give you a chance to promote your socialization x your newsletter. Where can people get that?
[00:42:30] Speaker A: Yeah, if people want to subscribe to the newsletter, just go to College hockeyinsider.com. Try to publish a few per week, especially this time of year. We're real busy with coach openings and transfer portal and obviously the tournament going on too. And then I'm on Twitter x at mike mcMahonchn.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: I just still can't get used to saying x doesn't make any sense.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: I know, neither can so.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: Hey Mike, appreciate a few minutes. We'll look for your work and your outstanding coverage of the tournament. So thanks again for coming on.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Absolutely. Anytime.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: That's Mike McMahon. We'll wrap up the podcast and have the latest winner in the daily because that's auto racing concest. In just a moment, you're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:43:31] Speaker D: If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle, and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in communities where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Hi, this is Andrew Catalan of CBS Sports and formerly of news Channel 13 WNYT. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shot.
Back to wrap up the podcast. The week six winner in the Daily Gazette's auto racing contest was Jay Ellis of Skylerville with 60 points. Jay wins a $50 gift card. Congratulations, Jay. The vip winner was Jerry Peele of Frankensteons. I'll announce the auto racing contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailyGazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner.
Just because COVID-19 mandates are easing, that does not mean you should relax. Be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends. That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Bob Belber and Mike McMahon for coming on the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's
[email protected]. Follow me on x and threads at slapshots.
The views expressed on the parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Delicazette company. The parting Shots podcast is a production of the Delicazette company. I'm Delegazette sports editor, ten shot. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day. Good sports.
