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Hello. Welcome to The Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy. David Dworke is right there. He happens to work for the Hockey News. This is going to be a college-themed episode. We have John Budgeagras, who, as some of you may know, is an aficionado of college hockey. We also have the Division 3 National champion, Miami Huracan. We have three members from that team on with us today. But before we do that, we're going to talk about the week that was for Florida Panthers Hockey. It was not a good week. We're going to start on a Saturday. They lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. They had a very slow first period. They gave up a goal in the first 20 seconds. They mounted a comeback but fell one goal short and just was not the best first period for the Florida Panthers. We saw that a couple of times over the past month. They had a very dominant second and third period, but it just wasn't enough because they got goalied.

No, they did. Well, first of all, if you can't fall behind for nothing. First and foremost. But yeah, they ran into Vesina Vasilevski, and he's been maybe not as consistently on that level as he had been for a while. But oh, my God, he was amazing against the Panthers.

That was ridiculous. It was absolutely ridiculous. The shots on goal between the second and third periods were, what, 38 to five? It just happened to be that-They finished with 50 shots.

It was unreal.

It just happened to be that the five shots that the Lightning had, three of those went in the net. It just wasn't great. It was one of those nights. Yeah, and then last night, it was even worse. Now, granted, the Panthers were injured, and it came in with five days rest, so they had Rick Rust on them, but it was just an embarrassing effort.

It was rough. They ran into a red hot Nashville team that's now had points in, what, 15 or 16 straight. Kevin Lankinen picked up where Vassil Fee left off, and the Panthers have some questions to answer.

All right, joining us now is John Butcher-Gross. It's the NHL on ESPN. We are not starting with the professional ranks. We are starting with college hockey because the college tournament right now is going to start March 28th. The frozen four is going to be in Saint Paul, Minnesota. And if there's one person I'm going to go to for college hockey is John Butcher-Gross. Damn right. I'm not doing that right now. So as far as selections of the tournament, that's going to be on Sunday, by the way. The selections for the tournament. Who do you think the tournament is going to stack up as? What teams do you believe are going to go where?

Well, right now, of course, the NCAA Hockey uses a pair-wise system. It's strictly computers. So once everyone plays their games and all the conference championships, which are this weekend, and you get an automatic bid if you win your tournament conference championship. So that can always obviously skew things. So there's 16 teams who make the tournament. There's a pair-wise system in the computer, one through 16. Obviously, a team in the Atlantic Conference isn't usually rated in the top six teams. So one of those people are going to win their conference, either AIC or RIT. And so now there'll be 15 teams. The top 15 teams will make the tournament. The CCHA winner, that's going to be a team, again, that's not in the top 16. So they're going to get an automatic bid. So now you're down to 14 teams. The top 14 teams in the computer rankings will make the tournament. So that's how it's decided. So there's no committing, no really too much debate in terms like we see in basketball. Right now, Boston College, number one overall seed, they're in their conference semifinals. Even if they were to lose tonight in their conference semifinals, they have such a big point system.

They're going to be the number one overall seed no matter what. I'm doing the Providence region. There's four regions of four that make up the 16 teams. I'll be in Providence, and looks like Boston College is going to be there. They try to get teams. Attendance is a bit of a factor. It's not a true what is the most fair thing in the tournament. It's pretty fair, for the most part, fair, but they do want fans in these arenas. They're not campus sites. Some people think we should go to campus sites to make the atmosphere better. But for now, we're on these neutral sites. So I'll be in Providence. That's where BC will be. Springfield, Massachusetts, has another regional Boston University, which is currently number two in the country, will likely be there, whether they fall to a two-seed or stay a one-seed. And so that's how it works. Some East teams do have to go West, some West teams do have to come East, but they do try to make it somewhat population and attendance. They do factor that in. So the big old school Bluebloods are all right there this year. Bu, BC, North Dakota, Michigan State is back.

That was a powerhouse back in the day. Now they're back. They're playing Michigan for the Big Ten Championship tonight. They could be one seed. So it's cool to see that. You're still some cinderellas, Quinnipiac Bobcats last year of Hamding, Connecticut, won the National Championship. They'll be back to defend their title there. They have enough points, they're going to get in. So that's That's the situation right now as we stand. But again, conference championships this weekend, and there could be some adjusting in terms of one, two, three, four, then two seeds, three seeds, four seeds, and how they match up.

So looking ahead, John, we're about three weeks away from when we get to the frozen fort. Excuse me, the frozen fort. Get it right, Dave. At the Excell Energy Center in Saint Paul. Avi, you mentioned Boston College in the great season they're having. Denver's having a great season, Quinipiac. We'll see if they can defend their title. But at this early stage, if you had to pick your frozen fort, can Can you say who they'd be?

It's tough because this reminds me the Oakland, Kentucky College basketball game last night. And I saw Jay Wright give some analysis. He said it's hard for 18-year-olds to beat 24-year-olds. And that's been the issue in college hockey, where some of these teams from the ECAC really can't match up, recruit for recruit with Boston College, Minnesota. And those programs, they started us to become an older team. We don't want you till you're 20 years old to go play junior hockey till you're 20 in the USHL, then you can come play college. If you go play Canadian junior, you can't play NCAA hockey. But the USHL is a junior program that you can play until you're 20, show up on campus when you're 20, and play through your 24. So we started to see Union win a national championship for the first time ever in school history. In 2014, Shane Gossespare was on that team. We mentioned Quinnipiac. They won their first national championship. Again, they have older players, and that's what happened with Kentucky. You play a team with 23, 24-year-olds, especially with the fifth-year thing and the transfer portal. It's tough. Calipari has got to recruit differently.

He's got to have a few older guys to supplement with his high-end first-round draft pick talent. That was BU's issue. That was BC's issue. They got too young, and they would lose to these older teams. So that's why it's tough to figure out. Now, BC this year, they have three freshmen, three first-round NHL draft picks: Will Smith of the Sharks, Ryan Leonard of the Capitals, and Perreault, the New York Rangers. And Smith leads the nation in scoring. Kader Goche, the sophomore who got traded to Anaheim from Philadelphia, and that interesting story during the NHL regular season. He's a sophomore. He's a leading goal scorer up there. So maybe BC is going to buck that trend of a younger, predominant team who can go all the way. But we'll see, older teams generally went out, and they can beat these multiple number one draft pick teams who play one year and done or two and done.

Maclin Celabrini of the Boston University. He won Hockey East player of the Year and Rookey of the Year. Is he aligned to win the Hoby Baker Award?

Yeah, it's a good question, Roy. He's only 17 He's going to be 17 the entire college hockey season. That's rare. That's crazy. Yeah, he accelerated so he could get to college earlier. Noah Hanifin did that. We don't often see guys be a freshman in college before they're drafted. They'll get drafted and then play like Will Smith and Ryan Leonard and Perot. They were all drafted last summer in Nashville, and now they're 18 years old playing college hockey in BC. My guess is Will Smith could come back, and they all could come back. But I think they're proving that we can dominate college hockey. We should probably go to the next level. But I always say, come back for one more year, college hockey. It's really only seven months. You're not coming back for another year. You're coming back for seven months. You turn pro this time next year. And then you can play in the NHL or the AHL, and then get your first training camp the following fall. So Celebrini is going to be the first pick of the draft in Las Vegas at the Sphere in the end of June, where the draft is going to be, again, just 17 years old.

Dad is a performance coach with the Golden State Warriors, so he grew up around sports, around Steph Curry, around athletes, around Draymond Green. His dad was big performance-based, not only the dry land drills, different things you can do, but also just the mental aspect. He's composed, he's intense, he's fast, he's exciting to watch. And so, yeah, he's got a pretty good chance to win the Hoby Baker.

One more Hoby Baker finalist I want to ask you about, and it's a Florida Panthers connection. Jack Devine with the University of Denver is having a standout year. He's been putting up a ton of power play goals. It was a seventh-round pitch of the Panthers in 2022, and look what he's doing now, John.

Absolutely. Again, you never know because you play multiple years in college, and have you reached your ceiling? And can you take it to another level? There's a reason why he was a seventh-round pick. He probably didn't have the physical skills, whether it was explosive, skating, or something like that, to be the difference, or a smaller size, or maybe slight frame. That's something to look at as well. But the same reason why Braden Point wasn't a first-round pick, and Nikita Kutcheroff and Brad Marshan. But those guys all turned out to be really good players. Kutcheroff is a Hall of Famer. Marshan might be, Point might be. You can get guys late for sure, and they can be those late bloomers, especially if they have good hands and know how to score like Jack does. So yeah, Denver can score. Denver's problem is keeping the pocket out of the net. So they're a very high explosive offense, and they're fun to watch. And Jack is certainly a big part of that.

On to the NHL. The Panthers have not been playing well lately. They've been dealing with injuries, and you were here Saturday for Lightning and Panthers. You saw how that first period went. It was not great. The second and third period, you saw what happened. It was a little bit better, but, you know, Vazileski. But last night, they played National, and it was not a good game at all. They pretty much was embarrassed. Alexander Balkoff was not in the lineup. He was injured. But I don't believe that it will change How does that change the prospects of the Panthers, possibly winning the Stanley Cup this season. What say you?

Yeah, for sure. Three losses in a row. They still got two games in hand on the Bruins. So if they win those two games in hand, they got more points in the Bruins, 98. So they're going to be right go down to the wire for number one overall seed in the East, Boston, Florida, New York, and Carolina, who's coming on really strong. They've won five in a row. They look like what a team that improved themselves at the deadline with Kuznetzow and Gensel. Wow, they made the biggest jump from what they were and what they are. And what they are, to my mind, is there's only three teams that are going to reach the Cup finals in the East. That's either Florida, Carolina, or New York. Those are the only three teams in my mind that have a chance to reach the Stanley Cup finals. And I think it really comes down to Carolina Florida in the conference final, which would be an epic Stanley Cup final. Barkoff is so important. We know what he does in the face off thought. They couldn't get the Puck last night, so you don't have possession. You don't start with the Puck.

You don't have the Puck more. Ekblad, just that big body on the right side that they need. Just slot everybody where they should be slotted. That's the big thing for the Panthers defense is slotting guys where they are. But Barcoff is key, and that's why health is so important. Bob seems like he's on top of his game. It seems like he has that aura of a guy that can win a cup in net. But yeah, just get Barcoff back. These have been the dog days. You know the Panthers are bored. They want to start playing playoff games, games that matter. There's only 11 games left for some teams. They have 13 games left. So they just want to get going. Don't get hurt. Let's get into the playoffs, healthy. We don't care about home ice. We know it didn't matter last year. History shows home ice is 50-50 either way until game seven, then it ticks up a little bit. But they bucked that trend as well in Boston last year. So they know the most important thing for them is health, not where they're seated. But it would be nice to finish first because then you're playing one of those teams in the wild card, someone like Detroit or the Capitals.

But also, if you win your division, you might play the Lightning. And that would be, like you just mentioned, Vasilesky, he stole that game in for it. But I still think as the Panthers came on, they were the better team the last couple of periods. Over seven games, the Lightning will not beat the Panthers four out of seven times, I don't think.

But you mentioned another powerhouse team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers, that I wanted to ask you about, just because A, Matt Rempe, so So much fun. Awesome. Fun to watch. A little old-school hockey. And B, when this team gets healthy on the blue line, I think they're going to be scary for Carolina and for whoever gets them in the first maybe round or two. What do you think?

Yeah, Truba and Lingerin both hurt. They got to have them. Keanu Andre Miller plays an interesting game. I'm not sure if he matches that well up against the Panthers in your face confrontational hockey. That's not his game. He'd probably prefer a free wheeling Toronto Mapleeeff series. That's where Miller would be better. And then you're right, Truba and Lingerin are more valuable in Panthers series. So it's funny how... But they are. That shows how diverse they are. Adam Fox is obviously an elite defenseman, so they got him as well. Schneider is coming along. So, yeah, they got a pretty good D, but sometimes five on five, they give up a lot of goals. And so that's a team some people still don't believe in. They still think they're a bit of a mirage. And maybe it's just that New York-centric and some of the stars they have. Panarin is having a great year. My goodness, the guy is having a career year. We mentioned Fox is phenomenal. It's been a jazz up and down. So I still think there's some hole in the Rangers. I would like the Panthers in the best of seven there, too.

I don't see the Rangers beating them four out of seven unless Igor steals a couple of games, which he can do.

The second Wild call spying the East is up for grabs, and the Red Rings just got back. Dylan Larkin, Patrick Waal We brought the Islanders into contention. The Sabers are playing themselves out. And since the Devils fired Lindy Ruff, it's been a charge forward. What do you think is going to happen at the end of the regular season here?

The aisles are toast. They've lost six straight. They had a soft schedule there. So I think they had been a bit of a mirage, which they were. The Capitals, again, they're an interesting team. They have a couple of games in hand on Detroit. If they win those two games, they're in front of Detroit. So you have to be like a golfer. When you watch Augusta, a guy's played three fewer holes on Sunday, and those equal holes are coming up. He might be a couple behind or one up. The guy who's trailing him knows I need to get in front of him by a couple of shots because he got those easy holes coming up. And that's like we have to keep in mind, games remaining. But again, you got to win those games. And the Capitals are a minus goal differential team. So you have to assume they're not going to win those games. They might go one and one. But what makes things more difficult for the Capitals, it looks like Tom Wilson is going to be suspended today, and it might be five, six, seven games. And when they lose him for that...

Right. And first time with a stick, but again, it's like a sixth time that he's met these people. So he's probably going to get five or six. So that's half the rest of their games. And so that could make it really difficult. Larkin's back, as you mentioned. I think Detroit is going to sneak in as they are. I think they'll be the eight seed, which means the one seed will get them. And I think there is incentive to be that number one overall seed to play the Panthers instead of the Lightning. I think teams would rather to play the Red Wings instead of the lightening. I think people, again, I don't think the lightening are that dangerous. They're a terrible 5 on 5 team this year. But when they got Vasilevski, and Anthony Duclair has been a great addition for them. Two more goals last night. He's given them some dynamic speed. If I'm him, if I'm them, I definitely try to resign him. But if I'm him, that's a good spot for him. Back in Florida, obviously, he's got ties to South Florida, not too far away, still tax-free. So Duclair, I think, has really helped that team.

Him and Dumba have given them a little bit of mojo that makes them, in my eyes, just a little bit dangerous for that two seed in the East. Again, it looks like the two seed is going to get the lightning.

I just want this regular season in. Let's just start playing play. I know.

Now, 70 games is enough. Let's go.

Yeah, let's go. Amen. John Budgegross of ESPN. Thank you for joining us to talk about college and professional hockey.

Anytime, boys. You're my favorite hockey show on the web.

No, man, that's so sweet. I appreciate that.

Don Levatard. How do people always go missing in the mountains? Don't go to the mountains. And by the way, I don't want to bring racism. This is the most white people thing ever, going missing in the middle of the mountains. It's the strangest thing. You go by yourself, you don't take a radio, you don't take a phone, you're missing for four days, and they find you 10 years later covered in snow.

And it's like, Don't go by yourself. If you're When you're going to go on a trail, don't go by yourself.

Stugatz. Put it on the poll. Is it the whitest person thing ever? I believe is what you called it, going into the woods by yourself. Is going into the woods by yourself?

I can't disagree with that. So Black people don't camp? Yeah, Black people don't hike. They don't camp. They don't go out into the woods. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats. The Miami Huracanes Club Hockey Team won the D3 national Championship this season, and it was quite a turnaround. Last season, they only won one game. But since this year, since November second, the Miami Huracans have only lost once.

That's crazy.

It went perfect in the postseason, and it was just an amazing situation. Now, they're going to go back into D2. So today, we have the coach, Tommy Mello. We have the goal tender, Ethan Ganey, and we have the captain, Chris Gaelis. It's just been an amazing season for the Miami Huracan. Coach, give us your feeling. You're going back into D2 now. You're going to face the Florida Gators, your hated arrivals. What is it like going from such a low from last season to such a high now, and now you're going to go back into D2?

Well, the turnaround is fantastic. We keep talking about it. In the beginning of the year, we didn't have the buy-in last year. And this year, all of the new freshmen coming in, we had to sit down with them, and they all brought in and were held accountable for everything. And the team got really tight. They weren't only teammates, they were friends. And it really showed on the ice. They worked hard for each other. The turnaround was fantastic. We got some quality players that came to the U, and it's just fantastic to watch.

So I want to talk to Chris about what Coach just said, being that you had, coming from one year to the Last year, the buy-in that needed to be there and the dedication from the team as the captain, how big of a role was that for you and how much did you have to go to your teammates, trying to get everybody in line before everything started to fall into place?

Before the year, I went to the seniors and some of the older guys on the team that have been around the team the last three years. I just wanted to push the fact that this year we really needed to change the culture of the team and being our last year here. Winning one game. Last year, I didn't want to go out doing that again. No one enjoys showing up to the rink every weekend just to get hit. Our butt's kicked every week. Our biggest thing was just changing the culture and making everyone come to the rink, and our main focus was to win, not just to be there and mess around. That was the biggest part.

Chris, you and Ethan are both seniors, so this is your final year. You're going out as champions. So what does that feel like, going out as champions and getting your degree? Let's start with Chris.

It's a little bit of a love-hate relationship to work this hard, to turn the program around and Leave it when it's finally good. It's a tough situation. But I mean, where else would you want to go out but on top? So it can't be that mad.

What about you, Ethan?

Yeah, I mean, definitely bittersweet as as Chris said, but you can't ask for a better way to go out, especially going off of the season before, as you said, with one win. And even the season before that, I was just going back through some old messages. Actually, back in 2021, '22, we had made playoffs, I believe, with six wins or something like that. And then we didn't end up going because we didn't have enough players to come to playoffs. And so I think just that change alone and then getting us to this point was just such an incredible thing to see, especially going out, as Chris said. It's bittersweet, but we'll take it.

Do you guys feel like you're passing the torch? Or so, Ethan?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, for a while, listen, I'm not going to beat around the bush. For a while, I was probably the only goalie that would come to some things. And now this season, I was lucky enough. Listen, we have our starting goalie, Harland Jackson, who is the one who got MVP of the finals game. I'm lucky enough to be able to be comfortable taking a role as coming in when needed, as opposed to what Harland was able to do during these playoffs, despite being the only goalie on the team in previous years, because it's about winning and it's about the buy-in. It's not about individuals playing time. And that was the difference this year that people bought into as Tom was talking about it. It wasn't about you, it was about the team.

What about you, Chris? I mean, this question of passing the torch, especially for you as a captain, must be pretty special.

Yeah. I know. There's a good group of older guys that I have all the faith in the world. And Max, who is He was Treasurer last year, Assistant Captain, and he's taking over the role as captain next year. And like I said before, I got all the faith in the world than him, and that he can lead the team and all the younger guys that learned what it's like to be a part of a I feel like it's a successful and well-organized team. I think everyone's headed in the right direction, and all will be good.

Obviously, guys, there's a bit of a New York connection with the team. I see Chris has got his Yankees hat. I see Ethan's got the banners behind him. And awesome not having a Jets one back there. Oh, thank God. Kudos to you. But Tom, apparently, you travel from New York to coach the team, which must be awesome for your frequent flyer account. But I'm just curious, how does that work? Because it sounds incredibly challenging, and obviously, you guys made it work and then some.

Yeah. Well, it's a unique situation, to say the least. But we have a good group of assistant coaches that take care of the skills process with the practices. And I fly down on Thursdays. And if it's a travel day, we meet up on the bus. And Friday, we go away. If it's home, we just am there until Sunday until the games are over. We usually play on Friday and Saturday and travel back. It's a little bit of stress on the family, but now after a national championship, I think they're all behind us.Nice..

It's a little easier. Right. So, Ethan, in addition to being a goal tender, and you alluded to it that you've gone from being the main goal tender to one of a tandem. And I know that you also, when you're not playing goal, helped out with the broadcasting. You did some play-by-play, you did some color. What's it been like from your perspective? Do doing so many different things in a national championship-winning season.

Oh, yeah. It's been awesome. I work with Justin Cohen.

Oh, that guy.

Yeah. And he helped put together, along with his friend James, this broadcast, which has been incredible because we used to stream on a service that would charge anyone who wants to watch 999, I believe, a game. And it made it tough. At that point, only real hard core fans would be paying for a game. And so we felt it was so important to get this free stream on YouTube. And then being a part of that and doing the games, we get compliments all the time about that live stream. We have instant replay on it. We have an actual working score bug, which you'd be surprised how many YouTube streams do not have a working score bug. And so being a part of making that has been incredible. But then also getting both sides of it, it really does help so much for the broadcast, knowing everyone on a personal level, obviously. Most play-by-play wouldn't be fortunate enough to also be a part of the team. But I do truly because they're my friends, too. I'm not biased necessarily on the call, but it's more like I have these anecdotes that I could tell, literally because they're my friends, not just because I heard it through the grapevine.

Tom, you've won the Championship. Now it's on the recruiting. How's that going?

So that's been fantastic. We've had some help from some students who, boy, I tell you, they've been great. They've been helping out with the social media. And as Ethan said, the broadcasting has been great also. So the U is not a hard school to recruit with because a lot of kids want to go there. But we're getting a lot from the northeast region. So hockey is part of their culture. So with the social media, and we have our name out there, I'm getting a lot of contact from kids early on, and I'm just selling the university, and I'm telling them, Come to this school. It's a fantastic school, and then we'll talk hockey. But with that all in play, the recruiting has been pretty easy.

Chris, as the captain, you were able to lift all the trophies first that you won this season. Describe that feeling of lifting the trophy and then handing it off to your teammates as you celebrate.

Yeah, it's awesome. It's obviously something you dream about when you're little. I'm not exactly lifting in the trophies we did when you're a little more like lived in the Stanley Cup. But when you're in the moment and you're working for this all year long in the past few years, it feels great. It's a little selfish, I get to do it first, but it feels even better handing off to the next guy and getting to see their face.

Did you guys party afterwards?

We had some fun.

You had some fun. Yeah, you don't have to give the details, but I bet you guys had some fun. Yeah, we had our fun. The Division 3 champions, the Miami Huracan, Summer Mellon, the head coach, Ethan Ganey is the goal tender. You also broadcast. Chris Gogellis is the captain. We appreciate you guys coming on.Thank.

You for having us.Thank.

You for having us.Thanks, guys.Thank you.