The Drive with Jack
*The Hockey Roundtable of Neil Koepke & Rico Cooney
(upbeat music) - Jack, I believe you're my good friend, Matt Sloatt, grab a Volcomist, lots of excitement at the two dealerships. What's new with Chevy and Nissan? - Well, Jack, great question. At Nissan, everybody seems to be talking about interest rates. We're offering 0% financing on new vehicles, and we have the all new completely redesigned 2025 kicks on the lot and ready for delivery. It is fantastic. At Chevy, same thing. People are talking about interest rates. Guess what? We have 0% financing on new, and as low as 1.99 used. You gotta come check it out. - Great time to get a car and great place to do it. Grab a Volcomist. (upbeat music) - Welcome back. It is the drive with Jack, Spotlight Radio Network. Jack, I've been here with my producer, Boston Rob. Rob, you know, Jeff Heward always says Michigan State can score 80 points in the game. It is very tough to beat. And he's right. Michigan State didn't look like they were gonna get there. And then with a late flurry, now with 13 seconds to go, it's Michigan State 80, Western Michigan 62. I had a 20-point lead just a few seconds ago, and I'm sure that Michigan State will dribble out the clock here. So it'll be an 18-point win. That's not the 27-and-a-half-point win that they were predicted to have in Vegas, but time is it will take it. And I think Michigan State was gonna play a bad game this week, or have a disappointing effort. Pick the right day to do it. Because if it plays this way, Friday night in Columbus, it will not be undefeated in the Big Ten anymore. Looking at the leading scores in this game, I think you're gonna find Jay Dakins with 16, excuse me, 18 leading the way for Michigan State and Carson Cooper, 13 points. 13 points, six rebounds, five for six from the field. Amazing performance for Cooper. Michigan State also had some recruits there, including Steven Reynolds III from South Bend, and he's a guy that time has been watching for a long time. SR3, they call him. And he was just messaging that he was there and having a great time watching the game. Okay, a lot going on today. Rob, I don't remember a Monday where you had Michigan State basketball in the afternoon, Michigan State hockey for a championship at night and the Detroit Lions on Monday night football. I don't think we have seen that before, but we do now and we wanna welcome in Ricardo Cooney and Neil Kepke. They are a hockey panel and much, much more. Gentlemen, I wanna start with women's basketball, Rico. And what happened yesterday, Michigan State going into a Hornets' nest at Maryland. Maryland might be the best team and the big 10, not in Southern California. Seems like USC and UCLA could almost be in a different division, but there are some other teams. Ohio State is undefeated, Maryland. You look at some others, Michigan State, Michigan very impressive. Even Iowa, a team that lost to Michigan State in Breslin. So what did you make of the game yesterday? And what did Michigan State learn with that big comeback? Tied it after being down 17 and then couldn't quite finish. Well, here's the problem with that, Jack. They were playing chase. And you explained all your energy playing chase. Yeah. And you get down to the point where it's closing time and you're kind of out of gas at that point 'cause they spent a lot of effort chasing Maryland. And that's not a good recipe for victory, but I think going into a game coming up here, they gotta jump on the opponent and look to deliver a knockout blow. And the other thing too, Jack, is that Fluton didn't have a good game. Right, right. And I mean, if you look at that, well, they lost by six, right? Yes. So let's add 10 points to Vance Fluton's total. And I think they win the game. But yes, she didn't have a good game. And again, playing chase against Maryland and College Park was not a good recipe. Yeah. And even at the end of the game, Rico, it was a two-point deficit. Michigan State had two chances, had a missed layup by Theron Hallack, who had a terrific game. She had 20 points. Yeah. And then Jocelyn Tate was going in for what looked like a tying layup and traveled. Yeah. Yeah. You can't make those kinds of mistakes at crunch time against a team like Maryland on the road. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you go into that environment, that atmosphere and a Brenda Freeze team mistakes can not be part of your recipe. So what does Michigan State learn from this? And, you know, the schedule doesn't get a whole lot easier. You've got the teams in California. You've got a road trip out there. We don't get to see Juju Watkins in Brussels Center this year. Michigan State has to head out to the Galen Center and the Poly Pavilion. You could be a really good team in the Big Ten, whether it's Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, whatever. Really good. And finished fifth or sixth? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it's the best conference right now in Williams College basketball. Because at one point, I think there were eight teams from the Big Ten that were ranked in the top 25. And even though I think they've lost one or two teams, doesn't matter. I mean, Illinois is playing at a high pace. I mean, so you got like maybe five teams in the Big Ten that aren't playing well, but... And don't cut out Nebraska 'cause they were at one point right there in the top 25. So yeah, I think what Michigan State learned and I don't think it's a big learning curve, but they understand that every night in this conference this season is gonna be a load. Point. Would you be surprised, Rico, if I told you the Big Ten women's basketball champion was not gonna come from the State of California? Yeah, yeah, I would be. 'Cause I just think both those teams, USC and UCLA are top notch. Now listen, let's not count out Maryland. I think Maryland will have a shot at it too. But yeah, I would say one of those two teams will win the Big Ten. Rico is Michigan State women's basketball entertaining enough to get Neil Kepke up off his couch to shut off the hockey replays and get him over to President Center to watch a game. He went to the game at Wisconsin last year. So we should be able to get him over there for our MSU women's game, right? Right, because I mean, you know, that's almost blast when that's the fact that he doesn't go to a Michigan State women's basketball game until he's out of the state. Yeah, Neil, what are we gonna see over at Breslin? Probably sometime in the calendar year 2025, probably mid February after a Saturday, party Saturday hockey series, I'll get up and go and see the women play on, they don't play my Buckeye, but at home, but there's a couple of games I've got my eye on right now, Rico. So we're gonna, we're gonna have some fun over there. Are you in Grand Rapids? Are you on the way as we speak, Neil? I am in Clarksville, Michigan. You talk about the last train to Clarksville? Well, I arrived here in Clarksville. I'm sitting in front of a church, parked in a spot that says senior adult parking only. So I think I fit the mode here. But I'm about like 45 miles away from Grand Rapids. Rico, does Neil need to be in front of a church? He needs all the prayers and healing to get, right? I was gonna make a reference there, Jack, but this is a family show. And, but I don't know about Neil being in front of a church. I don't know if that's a good crowd. It hasn't fallen down yet, so we're safe. (laughing) Neil, yesterday, last night, Michigan State, with a 2-0 win over Northern Michigan. Again, not a lot of offense. I guess I'm expecting more from this Michigan State hockey team. They're having a little bit of a tough time scoring goals, but defense is bent terrific. This is the four shutout, two from each goaltender. And a lot of people who said, well, Michigan State will lose the Great Lakes Invitational because Trey Augustine is at the World Juniors. They're forgetting that Luca de Pasco is pretty good, too? Or will he be exposed to that against the Brown Coast? Well, we'll see, 'cause obviously, Western's a much better team. Although, when you look at Western's roster, Jack, compared to last year, I highly recognize anybody. And I really looked at it, and I thought, these guys must be doing something right because they're number six in the country, maybe even higher now after today's poll. But the Spartans just had a lot of chances, but aren't bearing the chances. They're not finishing as well as they should. And they should have probably scored about five or six goals. I think Daniel Russell missed about three. He could add a hat trick. And Dore were missed a breakaway. And yet they played good defense. And Pasco, when he had to, made a couple big saves that could have turned the game and given Northern some life, but a couple of breakaways and point blank shots, he was there. So we'll see how he does today. He's got two shutouts in a row. And now he's placing a different team that is like one of the top teams in the NCHC and obviously the country. So we'll see. This is a good test. And probably a better test that they would have had at Michigan Tech would have won. So I'm sort of happy to see that because they're going to be in games like this the rest of the season when they play Michigan four times by Minnesota, two more. And a lot of improving teams in the Big Ten. So this should be fun tonight to see just where they stand among the national teams when playing them on a neutralized. Neil, when you think about Michigan State's-- I don't know, call them droughts. But it seems like there are games where they get a billion shots and the puck doesn't get into that. They get an awful lot of shots blocked, too. Is this something that just goes and stretches? And once it changes, Michigan State's going to have some five or six goal games? Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure that the six are five. But if you can get four, and it used to be in the last 10 years, the first one to three goals in college, hockey one, because of the way play defense and goal training was very good. Now, sometimes you don't have to get four because there's some good offensive players out there, especially among the top teams. So in order to win the NCAA title, yeah, you have to have defense, but you have to be able to finish. And that's what Michigan State is having trouble a little bit now doing, but we'll see what happens tonight. And obviously, Thursday, when they play Wisconsin for the first of two games on the weekend. But I'm excited about the tonight's game, just to see how a team like Western responds, because Western got knocked off by Michigan State in the regional last year. They had a three to one lead, end up getting tied, or four to two lead, end up getting tied by the Spartans and the third and lost it over time. So I assume Michigan or Western Michigan players remember that game more than the Spartans do, and they're probably looking for some payback tonight. Yeah, my memory of that game against Western Michigan is this fanatic pounding on the glass. And then he looked over and it's Tom Izzo. That's right, you can take it in the first row. Yeah, yeah. Rico, when you think about Western, and obviously ranked where they are, the ranked ahead of Michigan, you think, okay, well, this is gonna be Michigan State and Western for the championship, it's all set up that way. But the Broncos a little bit fortunate to be playing in the championship game. What happened last night and how did Michigan Tech, a team that I don't think anyone thought would beat Western, take him into overtime? Well, me and Neil talked about this a little bit before the matchups, Michigan Tech always plays well in the GLI. They can have like one of the worst teams in the country, but when they get to the GLI, for whatever reason, they embrace it and they play well. And it may have been a little bit too of Western going, well, it's only Michigan Tech. And Michigan Tech going, hey, I don't care, we want this, let's go try to get it. And Western almost got caught, they almost got caught. Neil, going back through the history of this event, no one better to talk college hockey history within you. This has kind of been Michigan Tech's event, but going back through the years where Michigan State dominated and then Michigan had some good runs there. Where does this tournament rank among the best in college hockey? Well, it used to be the premier hockey tournament at Christmas time, besides the Beanpot, which is still, but the Beanpot's a separate thing. It's two Mondays in February and four Boston schools are in it. And so it's not a holiday theme. And yet this tournament here was always at Christmas, always in Detroit until a couple of years ago. And obviously it's been at Olympia, it's been at Jolou Serena, it's been a American part. And it really is one of the top and they're trying to keep the legend and the history going in Grand Rapids. And I think last night's crowd was amazing, Jack. The first game it was jammed and then obviously when Spartan people pulled in, it was a sellout. And hopefully tonight will be the same because you've got two great teams in the state of Michigan battling, probably the two best teams. So yeah, it isn't important. And I'm glad to see that Michigan State, Michigan Tech, as co-runners of the tournament are focused and admitted to make this happen, make this work. And so it's Michigan State and all the time and they bring in two other teams on a varying basis, trying to keep it with local with state teams so you draw some fans. Next year it's Miami and Ferris State in the tournament. And I really thought Michigan State would play Miami but now I'm thinking maybe it's gonna be Ferris State again, even though they seem to keep playing them in the first round over the last like five years or so. How does Miami get into this tournament if the idea is to keep it all in Michigan? - Well I think Notre Dame was supposed to come and Notre Dame turned it down. I'm not sure it was last or next year or the year after but I know I asked the question in the presser about his Notre Dame coming soon 'cause I had heard that they weren't but they have like changed their minds and they're gonna go someplace else. And so I think they needed a team and they didn't wanna bring Northern back again. And so Western likes to be in it like every other year and play some other things to give their players a different experience. And so I think Miami was close and Miami's been it before. So it was like natural that maybe some of the alumni from the state of Michigan and Chicago would maybe come and all that. But the way Czech fans are in it for the Christmas holidays and mob the place really and the bands there and this is a big deal for Czech. This is their like Super Bowl in a way. And then Michigan State now saying that our fans on the West side, their fans let's come and see because you can't come to Mundow and we're not in Detroit so this is an opportunity for Michigan State fans to see a team not in Monorina. - Talking with Ricardo Coney and Neil Kepke before tonight's GLI final. Neil, do you remember the first Great Lakes Invitational you saw? - Yeah, I do. I believe it was, I missed the first seven but I saw the next one. I think that was 1972 when I was covering Michigan and Michigan went very good that year and they got beat but it basically exposed me to like, "Well, this is something big." I knew John McGinnis, I knew who Tech was. At that time Michigan Tech was the team to beat in the state of Michigan. They were the premier, everybody that had a program like Michigan State, new coaches and stuff. They basically said, "We gotta live up to Michigan Tech standards." And now Michigan Tech is obviously trying to live up to Michigan and Michigan State standards in a way but yeah, I remember it very well. And for me this is number 49 for me out of like 58. So I think the streak is at like 32 in a row since I missed it in 1984 when I spent that Christmas in Arizona with some in-laws and out-laws. - More in-laws or out-laws? - I think more out-laws, yeah. - Well, I didn't think I'd be saying this Rico. I saw a GLI before Neil did. - Wow. - Yes, it was the first college hockey game that I ever saw and it was the only college hockey game that I saw until I got to Michigan State. But it was, I wanna say, 1967. Because Michigan State was the national champion, the defending champion, right? - Yeah, they were, they wanted to use the chess. - And I saw the first round matchup and I don't remember whether Michigan State played tech, seems like they might have played North Dakota, not sure. - Yeah, anyway, I saw that game. My dad got tickets and we went down there. We didn't really know what we were watching. We'd been down there a bunch for the Red Wings, but we said, well, you know, this is, see what these college kids can do. And Michigan State had had Doug Volmar who had been an important player and went on to the Red Wings and they'd had some players, Doug Roberts, another one. So we went down there to Olympia Stadium and so I guess I can say that I've got more GLI history than Keptke does. - However, Jack, I have more history with Doug Volmer than you do. You watched him play, I played against him in Cleveland when he was a scourge of the Cleveland Uni Hockey League. - You're the one who shut him out, right? - No, I shut out Kenny Volkak in 1964, but Volmer used to shoot from center ice and he had such a great cannon. It wasn't one of the hardest shots in college hockey ever and in the end it jumped a while. And he, I'd say a couple of times shot the puck from center ice, blue line and at night, the Woodland Hills Park and it went right over my shoulder and I said, where did that puck go? No one I heard the back bar, I thought, oh, it went in the net. Oh, I guess I missed that shot. Love Doug Volkak. - I think we had done some predictions on this the last time you guys were on. And Neil, you said that you thought Western would win this tournament. You also said Michigan State would win the Big Ten regular season, but Minnesota would win the Big Ten tournament and then Michigan State would win the national title. So you give Michigan State a better chance to win the national title than you do to win tonight? - Yeah, I think it's due for Western to make their case. Although they won it, I think two times, it's not a shot for them. But I just think that the way Michigan State could play offensively, whatever, I just thought that Western's gonna come in there with a lot of ammunition, a lot of retribution in their minds and I think they'll do it. But then again, whoever wins this thing means nothing what happens in March when the NCAA tournament starts 'cause both teams are headed for a regional somewhere. - Neil, how does Western Michigan get a sixth ranked hockey team? I mean, I know there are a lot of teams that have won NCAA hockey titles that the names wouldn't seem familiar to non hockey fans, but how is Western Michigan better than some of these Big Ten teams? - Well, good coaching number one, good recruiting and developing. And they've, you know, since their coach has been that first wilder who's got NHL experience with Nightingale as an assistant and flying around the country with those two, they've become close. But yeah, he's done a great job there and Andy Murray did a great job before that and Joe Boschill had won a great year there too. So it is a sort of a sleeping giant. They can't really get to the frozen four, but they certainly have a good regular season and very few dips. Maybe they'll be like in the middle of the pack, but Jack, this year, for whatever reason, I think because they lost several players from last year's team, which, you know, what to the regional, they were picked sixth in the NCAA, which is really crazy looking now because they're probably in the NCAA team, they're the top team, I believe, because they're better than, well, they're behind Denver. So it's Denver and Western right now. And North Dakota's coming on, but still Western has been a big surprise to a lot of people. - All right, Rico, do you agree with Neil that Michigan State will not win another GLI tonight? - Yeah, I still, I'm gonna go back with what I said earlier when we talked. I'm still gonna take Western and I said the only reason was because Michigan State didn't have Terriaga's team, but the Pasco is trying to make us all look like fools. - Yeah, he certainly played well enough last night. I'm gonna be something if he got back-to-back shutouts and was the GLI MVP? - Yeah, and I think if he does that, then he may need to go to nine-year-old office and talk about getting a few more games. - Yeah, or think about if Trey Augustine's coming back for another year, you know, maybe I should look at somewhere else. I can play a pretty good backup goaltender. All right, gentlemen, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Neil, have fun tonight. Rico, we'll talk to you soon. - All right, guys. - Yeah. - Hey, Spartan fans. When you want the largest and best selection of Spartan gear, Alumni Hall is your ultimate shopping destination. Come get your officially licensed gear. Nike, Champion, Columbia, Yeti, new era hats, tailgating gear, and more. MSU students, faculty and military receive 10% off in-store every day, and you can earn cash back with their hall pass rewards. Alumni Hall, located at Eastwood Town Center near the Apple Store, or shop anytime at alumnihall.com. 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