The Rink Live

MINNEAPOLIS — Snowy road conditions did not keep The Rink Live reporters Mick Hatten and Jess Myers from this week's podcast.

The pair discuss how the University of Minnesota men's hockey team rebounded from a tough loss Friday to end its first half on a positive note, St. Cloud State's big series sweep at Miami, some key numbers and notes on both teams, Minnesota Duluth's bounce-back weekend, North Dakota's powerful finish to its first half, a look at some of this weekend's top series and more.

MINNEAPOLIS — A podcast that typically devoted to University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State men's hockey had a good guest to talk about both teams on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Gophers assistant coach Garrett Raboin not only played for the Huskies (2006-10) and was a two-year captain, but he also was an assistant coach for St. Cloud State from 2012-18.

Raboin talks about the development of some of the young Gophers, some recent signings for Minnesota and also talks about some of the key Huskies on this season's team that he helped recruit and coach. Raboin joins reporters Mick Hatten and Jess Myers for this week's episode of The Rink Live podcast.

ROGERS, Minn. — Where is this week's episode of The Rink Live video podcast coming from?

Jess Myers and Mick Hatten were at Rogers Activity Center, near Rogers High School. The high school is across the parking lot. The Royals boys hockey team opened its season with an 8-1 home win over Anoka on Nov. 21. The Rogers girls hockey team is off to a 3-1-1 start.

The reporters discuss a good weekend for the University of Minnesota (5-6-3) men's hockey team, a couple of close losses for the St. Cloud State men's hockey team, the challenge for the Gophers as they host North Dakota (10-1-2) this week and some historical perspective on the Huskies' 2-6-4 start.

Oh and Hatten's brain flickers at a couple points. The Nebraska Omaha forward whose name eludes me is Austin Ortega, who had an NCAA Division I record 11 game-winning goals in 2014-15 and 23 career game-winners for the Mavericks.

Ortega, who helped Nebraska Omaha to the Frozen Four in 2015, was an All-NCHC First Team selection as a senior in 2016-17 when he had 20 goals and 47 points. In his career, Ortega had 70 goals (second in program history) and 139 points (fourth) in 147 career games. He is playing this season for Eisbaren Berlin in the German league.

All this, a look at some of this week's top matchups in college hockey and more.

MINNEAPOLIS — It was a rough weekend for both the Huskies and Gophers men's hockey teams, and things aren't getting any easier for either of them anytime soon.

On Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 3M Arena at Mariucci, Mick Hatten and Jess Myers chatted about the challenges being faced on the west (SCSU) and east (U of M) sides of the Mississippi, the pleasant surprises for each and then took a trip down memory lane, to the days when seemingly every town in northern Minnesota had a senior hockey team.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — With Jess Myers returning from deer hunting camp, The Rink Live video podcast changed locations to the Municipal Athletic Complex, home of the St. Cloud Blizzard junior hockey team that plays in the North American Hockey League.

Hatten discusses St. Cloud State's tie and overtime win over the weekend at Northern Michigan. Myers talks about the University of Minnesota's 3-on-3 overtime win and win over the weekend at Michigan.

Then the two reporters are joined by Blizzard head coach and general manager Moe Mantha. Mantha talks about his team's move to St. Cloud, how things are going for the team, gives an update on Blizzard forward Alex Kupka, who is recovering form a broken C2 vertebrae, and talks about his NHL career. Mantha was teammates with players like Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Christian, Phil Housley, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and played for coaches Glen Sather and Herb Brooks.

PLYMOUTH, Minn. — It was not the weekend that the St. Cloud State or University of Minnesota men's hockey teams were looking for in their home series. The Rink Live's Mick Hatten and Jess Myers break down some of the issues that the teams faced in their respective series on Nov. 1-2, including some lineup changes for both teams, the goaltending and some of the startling stats from the Gophers/Notre Dame series and SCSU/Princeton series.

The Gophers (0-1-1-1 Big Ten, 3-4-1 overall) travel to Michigan (0-2-0-0, 3-4-1) for a Big Ten series, while the Huskies (1-2-3) play Northern Michigan (4-0-0-0 WCHA, 6-1-1 overall) in a nonconference series this weekend. Hatten and Myers take a look ahead at those two series and also discuss some other key series, including top-ranked Denver (8-0-0) playing at No. 7-ranked Minnesota Duluth (3-3-0) in the NCHC opener for both teams.

MINNEAPOLIS — We join this video podcast already in progress ...

Due to some technical issues, the first few minutes of this week's episode The Rink Live video podcast are not available. So we begin with the end of reporters Jess Myers and Mick Hatten talking about Minnesota Duluth All-American defenseman Scott Perunovich and the Bulldogs sweeping the University of Minnesota in men's hockey.

The pair also discuss this weekend's series for the Gophers against Notre Dame, last weekend's series split for St. Cloud State with Northeastern, the Huskies' series this weekend against Princeton and they dive into some college hockey history. All this and more ...

MINNEAPOLIS — After a week in the suburbs, The Rink Live video podcast returns to 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Jess Myers and Mick Hatten review Minnesota's nonconference sweep of Niagara. Myers gives an injury update on defenseman Tyler Nanne, we discuss this weekend's home-and-home series between UMD and the Gophers.

Hatten talks about St. Cloud State returning to action against Hockey East's Northeastern, a team that is off to a 3-0-1 start some early observations on the SCSU lineup.

The pair also takes a look at some of the other key series this weekend before being chased by pucks off the Plexiglas.

Coming out of the first weekend of the regular season, The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten discuss what they saw in the opening series for the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State men's hockey teams, some players that caught their attention, which special teams were important for both teams and a look at the goaltending situations for both.

The reporters also discuss some interesting nonconference series this weekend in North Dakota at Minnesota State-Mankato, Minnesota Duluth at Wisconsin and Boston College at Denver.

A rough day at the "office."

Jess Myers and Mick Hatten of The Rink Live were at the Taste of the Wild event on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Xcel Energy Center. The event is a showcase of the new foods offered at the arena during Minnesota Wild games. Kyle Bowles, executive chef for Xcel Energy Center, discusses some of the top new offerings and Myers and Hatten chime in with their favorite things they tasted.

Myers and Hatten also discuss the first weekend of exhibition games for the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State men's hockey teams, try to talk some Minnesota Duluth fans off the ledge after the Bulldogs' exhibition loss, why Mark Osiecki has been in charge recently for the Wisconsin men's team and more in this video podcast.