[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: The following program is brought to you in living color on elliot gazette.com or wherever you get your podcast.
The Gazette News Group presents the Parting Shots Podcast. Now here's your host and shot. Thank you, Scott Geezy, and welcome to the Parting Shots Podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me for the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Schenectady, New York for the 499th episode of the podcast. And it's Wednesday and that's our weekly visit with Union men's head hockey coach Josh Howsey. Josh, welcome back. How's it going?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: It's going well. Yourself?
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Hanging in? Can't complain. Getting excited about the 500 episode on Thursday. It'll be a big one and have some fun with that. But let's talk about the Union men's hockey team. They returned to ECAC hockey play last weekend with games at Quinnipiac on Friday and at Princeton on Saturday.
And what has been the theme of Ecacchi play so far for Union? The Garner Chargers split the weekend, losing to Quinnipiac 72 and then beating ECAC Hockey, leading Princeton 42 on Saturday.
Just your general thoughts on the weekend?
[00:01:08] Speaker A: You know, obviously disappointed with Friday. I thought, you know, just some attention to detail and got a little flustered when things didn't go our way early in the game. But, you know, has kind of been, you know, par for the course right now is when our back's against the wall and we really need a win.
The guys have responded and they did that on Saturday.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Well, let's begin with the Quinnipiac game. The big decision heading into the contest was who was going to start in goal. Braden Gillespie had made three straight starts, including a 31 save shutout and a 4 nothing win over Quinnipiac on December 6th at M& T Bank Center. But Cameron Korpi, who was pulled in the third period of his Dec. 5 start against Princeton after allowing five goals, got the start against Quinnipiac. What led to the decision to start Korpi?
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah, we kind of came with the determination that we wanted to get, you know, one guy a game on Friday and one on Saturday.
You know, just the way it went, you know, felt like we were going to give Cam that opportunity and you know, obviously we it the game didn't go our way. A lot of that I think was on us and, and Cam was, you know, hurt by the way we performed.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Even though Gillespie had the 31 state performance, it was, you know, you wanted, didn't want to go with him and then just Went with Korpi.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Well, yeah, at the end of the day, you know, there's a. It was, that was a month ago. There was, you know, Cam was kind of sick during that time. He came back and was healthy and had a good week.
You know, I think Braden has definitely earned his opportunity to, to split time there. But yeah, I just felt like the matchup, that was kind of how we wanted to go with it.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Well, Union does get off to a good start as Carter Corp scored 426 into the game to give the Garner Chargers a one nothing lead. But 18 seconds later, Braden Blaisz ties it for the Bobcats. I mean, how frustrating was that?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't have that response and you know, we get kind of caught outside the dots and then our defenseman comes back and loses his feet and falls into Cameron and you know, next thing you know, we don't, we aren't there to pick up the back check.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Well, with 1101 left in the first period, the tie turns against Eugen and that's when Garner charges. Defenseman Tyler Dunbar's knee connected with Bobcat's forward Mason Marcellus knee. As the two were going after the puck in the neutral zone, Marcellus fell to the ice in pain. Neither referee Ryan Sweeney nor John Lupineck raised their arm to call a penalty on the play. While Marcellus was being intended to, Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknell asked for a video review to determine if it was a major for neeng. And after watching the video, the refs ruled a five minute major and game misconducted Dunbar. I watched the play a few times and it was, I don't think it was worthy of a five in the game misconduct. And it looked like two players going after the puck. Neither player stuck out their legs. It was just an unfortunate play. I mean, I don't think it was even worth a two minute penalty. And you lose one of your top players. I mean, how angry were you?
[00:03:53] Speaker A: It was frustrating. I mean, anytime, you know, you get a five minute major, it's something that is tough. And you know, to lose Tyler for the game as well was extremely disappointing. And you know, he's been for us as as valuable of a player as there is. So.
And we want to get him on the ice as much as possible, especially in such a big game.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Well, there was a similar situation in the Princeton game that we'll talk about in a few minutes.
Five seconds into the major power play, Antoine Verrall scores to give Quinnipiac a 2:1 lead. Not long after that, after that DJ Hart takes a slashing penalty. So Quinnipiac has a two man advantage. For two minutes. You were able to kill the Hart Miner and then the Bobcats take a penalty to end the power play. I mean, did you feel fortunate to only allow one power play goal during that situation?
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Yes. You give one up five seconds in and.
And then you're down five on three, like most of the time, like you're going to give up more. So I thought we did a nice job battling, but what that also does is, you know, you have two defensemen that are out there like working really hard on the five on three, and, you know, we're already down. You know, Will Felicio's out and now Tyler Dunbar's out. So we're overplaying, guys, because of a lack of discipline. And I think that was kind of the start of the downhill spiral.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It should have. I think killing that. Gillen only allowed that one power play should have given Union some momentum instead. Goals of a minute 14 apart by Andon Serbone and Ethan Wittenbach late in the period gave Quinnipiac a 41 lead. I think on that last one, a Quinnipiac player stopped right at the net and sprayed some snow in the Cameron Corby's face. I don't think he saw that, that last goal, but what was the mood like in the locker room at the end of the period?
[00:05:37] Speaker A: I wasn't in there much. It was not good. When I was probably in there. There was, you know, I was disappointed with our response. I was disappointed, you know, just it. I was frustrated as well. So you look at the situation, it's. It's 4:1. We had some opportunities we didn't finish and, you know. Yeah, so that's just. It was.
I. I thought that they responded well. We thought we came out at least and competed there in the second, but, you know, it didn't go our way.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Well, then when the second period begins, you make the goalie change, inserting Gillespie. What led to that decision? Was it performance based with Korpi or was it a change to make the. Made to wake the team up?
[00:06:17] Speaker A: I think it was a little bit of. Of both in the sense that I don't blame any of the goals there on Cameron. Like, it wasn't like, hey, that's a really bad goal. Like, you can see how any one of them happened, you know, would you like to see him make a save? Yeah, you would. But I just thought, like, we needed a jump start and, you know, Braden's been that guy. For us, they've been a good one to punch as far as, you know, picking each other up, and we made the call.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Well, Union had two great opportunities to score early in the second. Ben Muthesbaugh hit the post on a right circle shot, and then the park Parker Lindauer lost control of the puck coming in on a breakaway. If they score there, it's a 4:3 game and union is back in it. Quinnipiac, in effect, puts the game away with two goals in the second. Tyler Borgula scored on a 3 on 0 at 13:44. What happened there?
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Well, again, when you lose two defensemen that we did, you know, guys are playing more minutes than they should or playing in different situations, then, you know, we try to give guys opportunity and practice to play in different spots, but it's not like live bullets. And I think that's what you saw there. I think a couple mistakes just. We didn't catch a pass, two guys run into each other, and then it's a nightmare of 3, 0.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Getting back to the missed opportunities. I mean, how much did that really hurt the team? Because, like I said, scores there, Lindau scores there, you're back in the game.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Well, and those are guys for us. Those are the guys we want with the puck on their stick, and they got those opportunities.
You know, they're extremely talented, and, you know, if they're not scoring, we're. That's when we get into a little bit of trouble. So I think it just kind of compounded everything. And now all of a sudden, a 41 game where it maybe is a little closer, feels like it's even that much out of reach.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Yeah. With 18.8 seconds left, Matthew Lansing skated out of the left wing circle unchecked in the Union zone. He went to the front of the net and lifted a backhand over Gillespie's glove to make it 6 1.
What's the message in the locker room at that point as you get set.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: For the third period, that the third period's, you know, it's just practice at this point. We're trying to get back to our detail, get back to the way we know we can play. And you want to try to just, you know, win that period and show a little bit more semblance of structure. Because I thought at times there in that second, there was just not a lot of detail to our game, and, you know, we just had to wash it. You know, we. We believe in the group, we believe in, you know, who they are, and, you know, just, let's respond.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Quinnipiac gets an early third period goal from William Gilson and Etienne Lassard scores a power play goal for Union, which lost for the sixth straight time at M and T Bank Arena. You and I talked after the game and I sensed some frustration in your voice. I mean, how frustrated were you?
[00:09:02] Speaker A: I was just again disappointed. Like you can, you can deal with a little bit of what happened. You know, guys might have an off night, but just our commitment to execution and executing as a connected group was down. And you know, that for us, like it can't happen. There's only at this point, you know, now we have 13 games left and we're right in the hunt to, you know, be in the spot for a lot of different things, whether it's home ice, whether it's a first round buy or, you know, putting yourself in the position to be in a large team in the NCAA tournament.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Especially with Union hosting the NCAAs this year at MVP Arena. So. Well, let's move on to Saturday's game at Princeton. The Tigers entered the game on a six game winning streak overall and they were 900 at historically frigid Hobey Baker Rink. The best start to a home campaign in the facility's 108 year history.
108 if I could talk properly. But Braden Gillespie starts in goal for Union and Princeton strikes first as Julian Fancinelli scores 8:48 into the game to give the Tigers a one nothing lead. But Ben Muthesbach gets that one back 250 later off of a turnover. So it's one one after one. Did you like the way the team played in the opening period?
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought there was, you know, much more consistency from us. I thought it was funny. I thought that there were going to be no penalties called all game because the refs were letting a lot of stuff go and you know, it didn't turn out to be that way, but that's how it started.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Well, you lead in that because in the second period we have another kneeing situation.
Princeton's David Ma collides with Union's Colby MacArthur. Referees Cameron lynch and Tom Steinl Jr. Called a five minute major on Ma for Nieng. Unlike the incident on Friday, this was cut and dry. Ma stuck his knee out and made contact with MacArthur's knee.
Colby Coral back to the bench and had to be helped to the locker room. Unfortunately, MacArthur wasn't seriously hurt and he returned to the game.
Meanwhile, lynch and Steinl reviewed the video and determined, much to my surprise and probably yours as well, that it was not worthy of a game misconduct. And this really infuriates me, the inconsistency. We saw this earlier with the stick infraction, the contact today where Ben loses in the Clarkson game, gets tossed in a one game suspension for which was really I thought inadvertent high stick. And then in the Colgate game where Carter corporate gets cross checked in the face mask and the referees really reviews that the stick rode up. So um, where is can you. Were you giving an explanation as to why either referee didn't call game misconduct?
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, they just said that they didn't view it as, as intent. So that's where they, they went. And I, I think maybe we've been talking about it a lot as a staff is like what's the solution to, to the inconsistencies of this? And it's like can you have a, you know, a center where all of college hockey, all the clips go in and they make those decisions in real time.
I don't know if that's just completely.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Like a war room like they have in NHL and Toronto. I don't know if they can ever do that with Kyle Chocky. I probably have something on the, I guess an NCAA tour they'll have upstairs. But yeah, I mean there's got to be, I mean just. I didn't, I thought there was more intent in that one than there was in Tyler's situation on first on Friday.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean definitely Tyler's was, you know, he, he, he's, he's not trying to knee anyone. He's not like sticking his knee out. So again, it's frustrating and you know, like there's, you talk to, you know, the people in the league and you know, they, they understand where you're coming from. But again, it's, it's a tough job, the referees and they got to make the calls based on what they think and how they view it. I just, you know, I just wish there was a way that you'd have just a couple people making the call. So they're always together and always getting a consistent.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Have you talked to head of officials Peter Fiola about that?
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean we talk on a pretty regular basis and he's very open to, you know, anything and everything to make the league better and college hockey better. So you know, he's, he, he's always in the ear when you need it.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: He's one of the, he's one of the best referees when he was on the ice there. But unfortunately union does not score on that major. Princeton gets a power play Late in the period when Alex Lorenzo is called for holding with 405 left in the second. And Jackson Esmond scores with 3:34 left to give the Tigers a 21 lead. And Princeton takes that lead into the locker room. What are you telling the team in the second intermission?
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Well, I thought we were doing a lot of good things and just, you know, sort of for us, just sticking with our process and.
But it, you know, it was talk about that we needed it and we gotta, you know, we gotta respond because if you don't get that game, you know, there's definitely a lot of points left on the table, so.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Well, Union is determined not to lose this game. The Garner Chargers tie it at 2434 into the third. Tyler Dunbar right point shot went wide, but the puck carried perfectly off the backboards and came to Brandon Burr on the left side of the net and he stuffed the puck in. Could you feel the momentum shifting at that point?
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Definitely. I thought that, you know, we came out, you know, strong in the third and, you know, it just kind of kept leaning on him and eventually we were able to, you know, breakthrough.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Yeah. 129 later, Yuyun grabs the lead. Nate Hanley wins a face off in the Princeton right circle and draws it back to Dunbar. He skates to the left circle, then fires a wrist shot over goalie Arthur Smith's glove. I mean, how great of a sequence was that?
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Yeah, really nice play. You know, starts again with Nate's draw, wins it back. And then nice fake shot by Tyler to get around. And then that opened up everything with our forwards kind of giving little subtle picks and giving him a little extra time. And when Tyler has time, like you usually expect him to finish.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Yeah, well, Union protects that lead. Smith is pulled for an extra attacker. Then with 54.6 seconds left, the Hanley gets the puck in the Union left circle and fires it toward the empty net. The shot appears to be going wide, but at center ice, Princeton's Tyler Rubin raised his stick and tried to knock the puck down, which would have led to a high stick violation had one of his teammates touched the puck. And instead the puck changed direction and went into the empty net to seal the deal. Union wins and has a happy drive back to Schenectady. How pleased were you with the way the team bounced back from that Friday loss?
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Really happy. And again, that's kind of what we expect from them, and we expect it on any day of the week.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Well, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll Talk about Union's upcoming schedule, which features three games in four days this weekend.
And we'll talk about that in just a moment. Here on the 4096th episode of the Parting Shots podcast.
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[00:17:08] Speaker B: Welcome Back to the 499th episode of the Parting Shots podcast. I'm Gazette Union hockey beat writer Ken Shot and I'm joined by Union hockey coach Josh Haley. Union has an interesting schedule of games this coming week. The Garner Chargers will play a pro style schedule with three games in four days. It starts Friday with when the Gardner Chargers host Brown at 7pm at MNC Bank center followed by a 5pm game at home against Yale. After a day off Sunday, Union visits Harvard at 4pm Monday. That game would have been played on January 31, but Harvard is off that day because the Bean Pot Tournament semifinals are on February 2nd. How is the team preparing for this stretch?
[00:17:47] Speaker A: You know, just trying to manage our workload. I think that, you know, yesterday we were a little lighter than we normally go and then, you know, today was we shortened it up just to try to make sure we have fresh legs. Sunday will skate briefly. So for the most part it's been, you know, business as usual. We want to compete hard when we're practicing, but want to make sure our duration is a little bit lower.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Well, let's talk about Friday's game. First of all, we need to discuss the pattern. Union has gotten itself into with the eecach hockey games. Union has played five Friday ecach games and lost them all in five Saturday conference games. Union is four.
Is that pattern frustrating?
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah, it's definitely something that, you know, we don't want to continue and we want to correct, you know, this Friday.
I think you look at it, it's weird that, you know, you can win out a conference on Friday nights, but we've struggled that for whatever reason.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're 5 and O non conference Friday games.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Yes. So one of those things that it's just got to be gotta be better and we. Everybody knows the stats, everybody's kind of talked about it and you know, it's really come to light this week. So I think hopefully the guys are aware about it. And the one thing with this group is when their back's against the wall, they've always responded and I think they're trying to use this as a little bit of a challenge for us to say, hey, like our backs against the wall right away here on Friday.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: What do you have to do to snap the pack? I mean, you're in seventh place right now, four points out of that last first round by slot which is occupied by Cornell. Cornell has two games in hand on you. So how important will it be to snap that little pattern?
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah, there's definitely some games this year we've left on the table and that's frustrating, but you can't go back in time and change it. So for us, it's just about our preparation and again, we've talked about our backs against the wall. We got to have that urgency right away and I truly believe we'll be ready to go here on Friday.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Well, let's talk about Brown. The Bears are 3, 7 for 10 points and 413 overall. They snapped an eight game losing streak on Saturday when they beat St. Lawrence 4 1. No matter what Brown's record is, Josh, it always gives union fits. Why is that?
[00:19:51] Speaker A: Well, they have, you know, some very talented players and I think that, you know, for them, they defend really hard and want to protect the middle of the ice. And in the past they've had really strong goaltending. You know, this year they've been playing two different guys, so we're going to have to make sure that we're getting to them. I believe we'll probably see Shai, but I just think you got to take away space from St. Louis and Nichols and you know, they have a couple other guys that can, you know, really make plays up front.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: How important will it be to start strong.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: I think that's, that's kind of been for us when our detail is really good and we're physical at the start of games.
You know, I think that's, that's where we're at our best.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Well, Yale as an interim head coach and Joe Howe after Keith Elaine surprisingly resigned in August. The Bulldogs are 4, 6 for 12 points and 5 and 11 overall. The record may be so. So. But how do you think Howe has done under the circumstances?
[00:20:45] Speaker A: I think he's done a great job. You know, I know Joe very well. He's, he's a good person and he works really hard and you know, he's, he's made good decisions, I think since he took over.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Well, Yale has a familiar name on its coaching staff. Matt Bodde, the captain of Union's 2014 national championship team. He's an assistant coach for the Bulldogs. Unfortunately, he won't be here on Saturday.
Bode spent several years playing in Europe and retired at the end of last season. Would have been cool to have him in the new building. I know he was here for the 10 year anniversary. Had a chance to tour when it was under construction.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's disappointing. I think we are all kind of looking forward to saying hello.
He's a great person and I think he's going to really make a mark in his coaching career.
Joe called and just kind of asked what I knew about him before he hired him.
Obviously I don't know Matt as well as other people, but just the amount of good things you hear about him and just what type of person he was and my interactions with him really are exactly the same as what I hear about him.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: What do you know about Harvard?
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Extremely talented as always.
You know, if you give them time and space, they can really hurt you. And yeah, they're a really good hockey team.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Two big questions. First, is defensive will Felicio ready to return to the lineup?
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I don't see any reason he won't be unless something happens from now until Friday. He's been practicing all week. He looks good.
So, yeah.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Second question, who starts in goal Friday?
[00:22:13] Speaker A: But I let the guys know on that. But I think, you know, at this point, I think everybody kind of probably knows what we'll, we'll do.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Well, we always like to take questions from our listeners and Jim Cajon would add a follow up question to my question.
Are there any plans to go? The split goaltender starts again this weekend.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: You know, I think at this point we're going to go Friday and then reevaluate I don't think last weekend we had, you know, the mindset that we were going to split, you know, with playing three games in four days. You definitely got to be careful and we got to make sure that we, you know, monitor them. But yeah, we'll see what happens after Friday.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Well, Andrew Jarrett, a 1980 Union graduate, had some observation and a few questions.
He writes, it seems to me that teams have been taking shots at our talented but undersized 19 year old defenseman, Will Felicio. They finally landed a blow a couple weeks ago.
I am interested in your thoughts regarding defenseman. Should defenseman effectiveness be measured more by plus minus while on the ice or pure defense skills? To what degree does no better defense than a defenseman scoring a goal enter your mind when recruiting offensive minded defensemen?
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Well, we believe in a few things when we're recruiting defensemen. One, we want people that are athletic that are going to be able to get up and skate and play in the rush, but just the way they think the game and the way they move the puck is really important.
With that being said, they picked the position for a reason and that's to defend. So I think if you can't defend, you can't play. We're really fortunate that our offensive defenseman like Will, like Tyler, like Etienne, like, they're extremely good defenders and they compete really hard. So that's another underlying factor for us is just how hard they compete.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: What typically are the challenges of being an undersized defenseman?
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Well, I think that you're always judged by how offensive you are when you're undersized defenseman.
You know, I think people, you know, sometimes let undersized D get away with defensive, you know, making some defensive mistakes.
So. But I think just your ability to defend net front is a challenge. You know, when you got, you know, somebody who's 65 standing in front of the net, like how you can either keep them there or move them out.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: He has a fun question here. He says, I do not see any change in the position of players from defense to offense or vice versa at this level. Has coach ever seen it? What would be, what would be difficult is in doing that, would Felicio make a good forward? Would he be less targeted playing there? Would players generally be open to such a switch?
[00:24:48] Speaker A: I think that it's easier for a defenseman to move to forward than it would be from a forward to move back to D. Will actually was a forward growing up. So funny story about Will is he was a goaltender actually when he started, then went to forward, then they moved him back to defense, so he's been all over.
I don't think Will would want to move up front. I've never even thought about that. I think he's a really good defenseman. We love the way he moves pucks, we love the way he gets up in the rush and you know, he can contribute to our offense, but he's really an underrated defender as well.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Well, Union professor Brian Cohen writes, now that they've had a chance to settle into their new home, is there anything you would like to tweak? Are there any home improvement projects that are at the top of the list or maybe items that you did not anticipate needing that would be at the top of the wish list?
[00:25:38] Speaker A: I think the one area we've talked about is just a designated shooting area. That's been the one thing that we've been trying to work on for the guys that they always have an ability to shoot pucks when they're not on the ice.
Other than that, I mean really it's minor things here and there, just trying to figure out the doors in the arena because everything is a key code or you know, how you can get in remembering the codes or different things that way. So it's been, it's been really good though.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: I'm still waiting for the roof covering over the press media room after the post game press conferences. That definitely that's got to be. That's on top of my list.
If I had the money, I'd donate it, but I don't have the money. But Brian also asked, do the coaches use any analytics in the decision making either in game or in deciding who to play in a given week?
[00:26:32] Speaker A: We are very detail driven based on analytics. We have a few different softwares that, you know, it's independent companies that take stats and you know, it's a lot of AI information that we get based on puck touches, based on the way they break pucks out, way they defend, way they possess the puck or hold onto the puck, the decisions they make with it. Everybody's kind of given a value on each game and their performance. So we do look into that. But with that being said, we also rely on our gut and just our what we see our eye test in recruiting.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Do they look for players based on anticipated needs given when guys will graduate, or is it based more on how they see them fitting the system or is it best available?
[00:27:18] Speaker A: So it is my belief at a place like Union College where we really try to value the person and make really good decisions based on every player to really recruit based on what we're going to lose.
I think you've seen a lot of teams in college hockey stockpile players.
I probably could build a better hockey team if we recruited 40 guys and just, you know, were cutthroat and cut guys based on what we thought was the best need for each fit. But like I, I really believe and I hope our players believe when we give our word, we mean it and we want to honor that. So when we make a commitment, we try to stick with it as best we can.
So yeah, it's, it's a little bit of like best available for the need we have.
And we're not going to just, we're not going to run players out if we can get 1% better. Like we're going to try to stick with what we can do.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Ryan Fay asks Union has a pro style schedule later this week with the three games in four days. How might that kind of stretch impact preparations, intensity of practice and any extra challenges it presents for coaches or players?
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Well, I think there's a lot of us managing their workload and making sure that we're not over, you know, not over taxing them here this week. So like I said, yesterday was very, very short.
Today was our duration was and we went 52 minutes and 36 seconds. I don't.
That was not to the second but that's, I know that's how long we went because we started and we stopped. We wanted to be under 60 minutes today.
So yeah, we're trying to be intense when we go, but we want to be very mindful of their time and not waste any of it. And you know, there would have been one or two drills we probably would have liked to do today, but at the end of the day, them being fresh on Monday is more important.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Well, thanks for the questions everybody. And if you have a question for Josh, you can email them to me at Shot. That's S C H O t or you can post them on Facebook on my personal page and the Parting Shots podcast page. You can also send them via bluesky x&threads lapshots the Daily Gazette ECA SE Hockey Face off selections are back for another season. I'll post my picks usually on Wednesdays and then you can send your picks to me. I'll post those on Friday before the first game to play. Send your picks to the
[email protected] well Josh, good luck this weekend and we'll talk after the games.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Sounds great.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: Thanks for coming in as usual. That's Josh Algae. Coming up on Thursday's podcast. It's the historic 500th episode of the Parting Shots Podcast is going to be an expanded show. I'll talk more Union men's hockey interviews with Nick Young, Parker Lindauer and Brayden Gillespie. I'll preview the Union women's hockey weekend with games at St. Lawrence and Clarkson. I have interviews with head coach Tony Macy, defenseman Stephanie Bourque and forwards Jill Willis and Maddie Leaney.
The Union and RPI women's hockey teams will each have a player who are heading to the Winter Olympics next month. Union goalie Mona Wagner will play for her native Switzerland and RPI4 Nina Kristof will play for her native Germany. I'll speak to both of them.
Jake Lahat, former Daily Gazette news reporter and Niskuna native who is currently a freelance reporter covering the person occupying the White House, will join me. Jake had the first Sports Podcast in 2018. Before I return to the paper after an 11 month hiatus, we'll talk about that and we'll talk about the current state of politics in the United States of America. Finally, my good friend Freddie Coleman of ESPN Radio joins me to chat on a variety of sports topics. I hope you tune in to this special episode.
Views expressed on the Parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Gazette News Group.
The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Gazette News Group. I am Daily Gazette Union hockey beat writer Ken Schatz. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time from the Parting Shots Podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day, good hockey.
