12: Carson Campbell: Puck Magnet

0:12Justin: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. Hey, Andrew.

0:30Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:31Justin: Our guy.

0:33Andrew: Our guy. The original AudPod guy.

0:37Justin: I love when we can just talk about him all the time, every episode, so much.

0:41Andrew: And if you've been listening, we don't even have to Sam O'Reilly he is.

0:43Justin: No. Because he's the second. For the second time this season.

0:47Andrew: Yes.

0:48Justin: He is the goaltender of the week.

0:50Andrew: Arguably it should have been the third time this season. And this is three weeks in a row. Exactly.

0:55Justin: Yeah.

0:56Andrew: Yes. Yes. I guess they have to give props to some of these other kids.

1:00Justin: I guess some guys are okay.

1:01Andrew: Yes, sure. But yeah, Jackson Parsons is on a heater.

1:07Justin: I'm glad that the OHL is listening to the pod, though, because they get it and, like, they're starting to buy in.

1:12Andrew: Yes. I'm starting to believe that. I'm starting to believe that someone's listening to the pod. So we appreciate you if you're out there and you're listening to the pod, because I'm hearing things and I'm like, we said that first. Yeah, we. We didn't predict it. It sounds more just like we're being parroted. I think we're giving ourselves a little

1:29Justin: bit too much credit, but most certainly

1:30Andrew: it is exciting interacting with people on social media.

1:33Justin: I like it too. So it's been fun.

1:35Andrew: Keep it coming.

1:36Justin: Yeah. Say hi. Okay, we got. We got lots of news to talk about this week. So let's start with the guy that got signed like three minutes before this podcast was released last week.

1:47Andrew: Unfortunately for us. Yeah, we don't. We don't have a quick. We have a quick turnaround for people who have also full time jobs and

1:53Justin: families and don't know anything about podcasting.

1:55Andrew: Honestly, I just think the Rangers need to give us. Slip us information, let us break it.

2:01Justin: We just need a little bit of leeway here.

2:02Andrew: We need. We need to be OHL insiders.

2:04Justin: Yeah. Uh, so Rangers send us the news because Haeden Ellis joined the team. The NCAA keeps on giving.

2:12Andrew: Exactly.

2:13Justin: It's in a giving mood this season.

2:15Andrew: Yes. So Haeden Ellis come from the Buffalo Junior team, the ushl. And obviously he was staying there because he had the NCAA commitment. And so he is the Soo of Matt Ellis, longtime journeyman in the NHL, played with Buffalo, played with the Red Wings, played with la. And yeah, he is a small guy at this level right now, but he's 17, so there's room to grow for sure. But.

2:47Justin: And we've seen the impact already.

2:49Andrew: Yes, he is. He's. He's a smooth skater. He, he, he digs. He works hard. Played 43 games with the Junior Sabres and he had 40 points with 18 goals. So he can produce. Yes, I'm. He's 591-75. So like I said, he's a bit undersized, but I think his game isn't if that makes sense.

3:13Justin: He. He gives off a little bit of that Tanner Lam vibe to him. Like he's got the smooth skating he seems to got. He has some like puck moving skills. He's got some shooting skills. Like, I'm excited to see how he's going to fit into this team. And like we saw him on Friday night and I felt like actually the game on in Erie on Saturday, he was more impactful. Like he was already up the roster.

3:37Andrew: Agreed. And I, I mean he, I think he probably got to Kitchener and they gave him his sweater and he went out on the ice.

3:44Justin: Yeah, I don't think he talked to anybody. Game Friday, it was Saturday. He got to meet everyone on the bus on the way. Oh, I played with you last night.

3:52Andrew: On the way to Erie. He actually started to learn some names.

3:55Justin: Yeah. Okay. So then we got other news.

3:58Andrew: We do.

3:59Justin: Expansion question.

4:02Andrew: Pretty exciting. Yeah, it's. The rumblings have begun. USHL teams looking to come into the ohl. It might be kind of a last gasp. I think if that starts to happen, the USHL will go under or become something else.

4:17Justin: Well, and I think it makes sense because we're all of a sudden going to have an influx of players in the chl. So these, all these kids got to go somewhere and there's too many good players to not be playing hockey.

4:29Andrew: Yeah. I mean if they're. They were good enough to play hockey on the fourth line like at the beginning of the season. It's a shame if now there. It's just going to be a smaller talent pool to draw from in Canada now that if there's going to be more and more Americans and just even Canadians who are committed to going to the NCAA route, it's a good thing. We should expand. If, if, if that league needs is hurting and there's well attended interested hockey fans in those markets, why not bring them in?

4:59Justin: I was listening to the. The OHL podcast about this. They were talking about how right work with the ohl. The chl where if they. If they have a team in like the state in the US that like then will give them rights to all players who are born in that area. So.

5:18Andrew: Okay, that's interesting.

5:19Justin: So this will all of a sudden expand quite a bit into what I would imagine is a US pool of players that are coming then to the CHL that we haven't experienced before, even though we already have three. Three states with the ohl.

5:31Andrew: That's true.

5:32Justin: So, yeah, it could be great.

5:33Andrew: That could be really great.

5:35Justin: And as we're seeing the Canadians are so good, the US Guys need help.

5:40Andrew: Well, that's a good segue because we have even more news. The Canadian CHL prospects boat raced the US National Development Program team, which, I mean, remember the World Juniors last year was one by the U.S. it was. They are a good player. They didn't even bring Hunter, Bruce David on that team last year. And I think that had to do with politics of him not going the US National Development Team route. I honestly do think that has something to do with it because they seem to really push that. It looks like the World Juniors might be a Canadian event. I'm excited. I'm not making that full prediction because it's different.

6:22Justin: You're not breaking that news for us.

6:24Andrew: It's different.

6:24Justin: You didn't get that from the CHL insiders.

6:27Andrew: It's different under the lights of the World Juniors. Yeah. I will say that then.

6:31Justin: A.

6:32Andrew: Than a kind of nothing prospect game. I don't think it was a nothing game, but it's not a gold medal game. It's not a round robin game. It's a spectacle.

6:42Justin: Yeah. So.

6:43Andrew: But boy, was it.

6:45Justin: Yes.

6:45Andrew: Yeah.

6:46Justin: I wasn't able to watch it because

6:47Andrew: of blackouts, but Schaefer and Misa and the usual suspects were all over the Americans. It was really nice to see our boy Cameron Reid out there.

6:58Justin: Yeah. How do you do? Tell me more.

7:00Andrew: How did he do? Yeah, he played well. He looked right at home. He didn't. He didn't register on the score sheet, but he was.

7:08Justin: That's not everything, especially when you're a defenseman.

7:10Andrew: I mean, as far as I can tell, because I found that it was very hard to access the score sheet. I found the goal scorers. That was about it.

7:18Justin: Oh, really?

7:18Andrew: Yeah. So he might have had an apple. Who knows? Yeah. He just looked silky smooth out there.

7:23Justin: Chl, now we know you're listening. This is a very cool event. Please make it more accessible.

7:29Andrew: Yeah, it would be great for it to just be on YouTube.

7:32Justin: Sure.

7:32Andrew: I don't.

7:33Justin: It's so cool.

7:34Andrew: I don't know why you wouldn't want that. I think that has to be more the way that the game needs to go for younger fans.

7:43Justin: Then we got two games to recap. We do. What an exhausting weekend of games. 2.

7:48Andrew: We were at one of them.

7:49Justin: We were at one of them. The first one, even against Windsor where we lost 3 to 1.

7:54Andrew: It wasn't 12 to 2, it wasn't

7:57Justin: 12 to 2, nor did it ever look like it would become 12 to 2, because it was a well matched game.

8:02Andrew: It really was.

8:03Justin: Yeah. It felt. It actually felt a lot like the London game. There was a lot of chances that went both ways that it could have been a different score very easily.

8:12Andrew: There were parallels. It was similar, but it was almost the opposite. I think we'll. We can talk more about that.

8:17Justin: Oh, should I just stop talking?

8:19Andrew: No, I'm saying that. I'm saying that in the London game, things got better as it went along.

8:25Justin: So you got insider information and now you're just the big shot who knows everything.

8:29Andrew: No, that was always me.

8:30Justin: Oh, okay, Great. Okay. All right. So we lost three to one. So good and the bad and the ugly. Andrew, what's your good?

8:42Andrew: Well, as I was saying, the good was the first period. It featured the Balecki goal, which was his first goal. Yeah, you're right. So you kind of know where I'm going with this. Yeah, yeah. The good was the first period. The first period, they came out, they dominated, they outshot them. They had Windsor scrambling around. I was thinking, wow. So that was really. Just because they were really sick in that first Windsor game.

9:07Justin: I think they were.

9:07Andrew: Which it was. It was why they lost so badly.

9:10Justin: Has to be.

9:10Andrew: Yeah. What was your good the first period?

9:15Justin: Balecki getting his first goal.

9:17Andrew: We did the same thing, the mind meld pod. And we also now have these wonderful hats to really finish the mind meld off there. Thanks to Papa Born Mr. Ken Born

9:30Justin: branding and now merchandise.

9:32Andrew: Yes. Director of branding and merchandise.

9:36Justin: The only thing that I have to add as the good is that we outshot Windsor 16 to 3 in the first. In the first, which was amazing. It was believable. Dominant. Okay, what's your bad?

9:47Andrew: Say it on three. One, two.

9:51Justin: I don't know what I'm saying.

9:52Andrew: Oh, I thought. I thought you were on board with me. The second period. The second period was the bad.

9:57Justin: Okay.

9:58Andrew: It featured some good things like Parsons making a huge save on protests and the boys kind of hanging in there and only giving up one goal. Yep. But ultimately it was quite literally almost exactly the opposite in shots in the second period.

10:14Justin: It was. Yeah, they. They came back completely. We were watching the shot clock to our right and it was like, wait, what. How did they catch up? How are they ahead? How did they get. Yeah, how are they ahead? Oh, my God.

10:25Andrew: Yeah. What was your. What was your bad?

10:27Justin: I. I tried to. I tried to really feather this in earlier.

10:30Andrew: Okay.

10:30Justin: But it was the same problems we saw against London. They just couldn't get. They just couldn't get things passed through sticks, through feet, like, they just couldn't get anything going after the first period. It was. It was a lot of missed opportunities. And I felt like it wasn't that they weren't playing, it's just that they just couldn't quite connect with each other.

10:51Andrew: So you might say that your bad

10:53Justin: was at least the second and the third.

10:57Andrew: Yeah, well, believe it or not.

10:59Justin: Oh, what's the ugly. The third period just.

11:03Andrew: They had the five minute major penalty. Yeah, that was hard. The. They gave up two breakaways, which one was scored on. Yeah. And they had a Romano injury in that. So.

11:13Justin: And. And the, the ugliest of ugly of that third period was the 47 minutes that they took to decide the penalty.

11:21Andrew: Oh, my goodness. Okay, we have to break off for a second and talk about reviews because the NHL reviews get flack all the time.

11:30Justin: Yeah.

11:30Andrew: For.

11:31Justin: And they should.

11:32Andrew: And they should. I gotta be honest, I have seen now so many OHL reviews where I get it. There's no command center. They're not talking to some sort of, you know, space age guy who's in there who's looking at everything and helping guide. They're looking at a tablet. They're talking to somebody.

11:48Justin: They got low HD cameras.

11:51Andrew: Yeah. I mean, if it's anything like the app.

11:53Justin: If they're trying to scrabble the app, you guys. Yeah. We're. Nobody's getting anything.

11:57Andrew: Nobody's getting anything.

11:59Justin: Right.

12:00Andrew: But there has to be a limit. I've been at games that have ended like almost at 10 o' clock in the OHL, which is ridiculous, that have gone long and like, you can see kids are leaving and families are going

12:12Justin: home and they started at 2pm because,

12:17Andrew: you know, you're not that far off. It just, I don't know, just put in a clock. Just. If you can't make the decision in. Let's Sam O'Reilly know, even in the ohl, let's give him five minutes. I think in the NHL it should be two minutes.

12:30Justin: Absolutely.

12:31Andrew: But in, in the Ohl, let's say five minutes. If you can't get it right, then the call on the ice is what it is. And you Move on. This isn't the end of the world.

12:39Justin: Yes. So, yeah, that was pretty brutal to get that. To get that penalty after waiting forever to get that penalty.

12:46Andrew: And the worst part is, like, no explanation.

12:48Justin: No. Because they couldn't get the mic to work.

12:50Andrew: The mic never works, Justin. The mic never works.

12:54Justin: Tim.

12:54Andrew: Tim. It's true, though. Like, even. Even in the NHL, it works, like, half the time.

12:59Justin: I know. It's brutal.

13:01Andrew: So there's no explanation. And you're like, what? He's gone for the game.

13:04Justin: And.

13:05Andrew: And the other guy only got two minutes. I don't understand.

13:08Justin: Okay, so my. My ugly. Okay, fine. The third period, but not actually the break. The breakaways against.

13:14Andrew: Yeah, it.

13:15Justin: I mean, we. We had this against Windsor in the first time we played them wasn't as bad, but, like, at one point, Parsons saved not one, but two shots on a breakaway by. What's his name? Chris. Chris Topher. Christopher.

13:30Andrew: Chris.

13:31Justin: Chris. Chris Christofferson. Chris. On a shorthanded breakaway.

13:36Andrew: Great music. Even better on a breakaway.

13:39Justin: On a shorthanded breakaway. But there was a. There was a lot of breakaways, so my. My ugly is the breakaways.

13:45Andrew: Yeah. You got to do a bit better than that because, you know, just a little. Parsons was one for. One for three. Or it was. Well, he was two for three on stops.

13:53Justin: Yeah.

13:54Andrew: On breakaways. And it was, you know, kind of the difference in the game.

13:57Justin: It was.

13:58Andrew: We had a whole other game where we went to Erie and we played the Otters.

14:01Justin: Yeah. And we won four to nothing.

14:03Andrew: The Frauders.

14:04Justin: The Frauders. Oh, I didn't even check the Erie Otters tracker before this game because I don't have.

14:11Andrew: I don't care what he.

14:11Justin: Actually. No, I don't either.

14:14Andrew: But it is funny that we were fraudulent. And now it's. Now we're what, three and one against.

14:20Justin: We are indeed.

14:22Andrew: And it's getting more and more dominant.

14:24Justin: Yes. Every time we play the Soo we get to do three stars on this one.

14:28Andrew: So what's your first star?

14:29Justin: Oh, my first star. Pridham Parsons, period. Number one, paddlestar palactica. Exactly.

14:40Andrew: Yes.

14:40Justin: 13 minutes before Erie got a shot on goal.

14:43Andrew: Yes.

14:43Justin: In the first period.

14:44Andrew: No.

14:45Justin: And the Aud then Parsons stood on his head. Yeah. Like that. To me, that I always worry about those long breaks without. Without a shot on goal because goaltenders can let in a softy.

14:55Andrew: Oh, totally.

14:56Justin: Super easy.

14:57Andrew: Sometimes I think you get stiff. Sometimes you get kind of like you're out of the game mentally. You get stiff either physically or mentally, just because you haven't Been doing anything and now all of a sudden you're being expected to perform.

15:09Justin: The best part about going 13 minutes without a shot against is that we were also up 3 to nothing at that point.

15:16Andrew: Yeah.

15:17Justin: Because it helps because of Pridm.

15:20Andrew: I think it's a lot easier to make some stops when you're.

15:23Justin: Yeah.

15:23Andrew: Up three nothing immediately.

15:24Justin: Yeah. So it was that, that first period.

15:27Andrew: Yes.

15:27Justin: Killer.

15:28Andrew: Yes. And alliteration. Yeah.

15:30Justin: What's your first?

15:31Andrew: My first. My first star is. Is the guy that opened the episode. I had to. I went back and forth between this and my second star, which we'll talk in a second.

15:40Justin: But Haeden Ellis.

15:43Andrew: No, no, no, no, no. Jackson Parsons.

15:45Justin: Yeah.

15:46Andrew: I don't know. He is just taking his game to another level. I think you and I saw glimpses of it at the end of last year when we were watching.

15:55Justin: Yes.

15:55Andrew: We're like, who is this Jackson Parsons kid? This kid is good. And yeah, he's just unabashedly one of the best players in the league. I'm really excited to continue, you know, following his career. He goes to the ncaa. It's great that he has a net.

16:14Justin: I think. I think it was last week I called it. I'm like 20, 30. His name's going to be around the pros, like.

16:20Andrew: Yeah, for sure.

16:21Justin: The AHL, the NHL. He's going to be somewhere. He'll be 23. That's like a great time for a goalie to start to emerge.

16:28Andrew: He's solid positionally.

16:29Justin: Yes.

16:29Andrew: He makes great reaction saves. He's been hung out to dry on breakaways. He's. He's great in one on one situations. Kind of has shown what I think you'd want in a professional goalie already. At least in a prospect.

16:43Justin: Yes.

16:44Andrew: Yep.

16:45Justin: And he likes McDonald's, but he never eats it. That's what I learned from YouTube. That's true. That's true. What's your second start?

16:52Andrew: So my second star is the new first line picking up the slack for Romano, which is a huge loss. Your number one center is out with an injury that could. You could very easily not have any flow to your game, especially early. And they had the opposite. They went out and they torched the Aud was like they were skating circles around Erie. Yep.

17:13Justin: I think actually the sh. The shift up was probably good because we had those two games where we were playing obviously really good opponents. You worry a little bit about the mental game of the lines and stuff like that. So it was like. I'm not saying that Romano getting hurt is good, but I think Maybe the shake up of the lines was maybe a good thing.

17:31Andrew: Well, I think it's funny because we call. We call the coach the Juice. I kind of feel like the Juice gave him a little extra juice. Like that. They needed that. They needed that, like that little extra push to get out there and do something different. And it was nice to see Pridham skating with Swick because I think Swick and Pridham's games really play off each other well because Swick is like this big, strong. He's not necessarily, like super fast, but he's a strong, powerful skater and he owns the ice that he's. He's on. Yeah. And Pridham is like. Is just buzzing.

18:07Justin: Yes.

18:07Andrew: You know, so. And of course, Ellen has just played out of his mind.

18:10Justin: He looked. He looked great in this game.

18:12Andrew: Yeah.

18:12Justin: I have a nickname for the Juice, Andrew. You do?

18:15Andrew: Finally.

18:16Justin: I know it's been a. It's been a few episodes.

18:18Andrew: It's been a couple episodes I got a little burnt out on. Honestly, just brands of juice. I was like, no, I'm reaching Golden Circle. What is that? So tell me, what is the Juice's nickname this week?

18:29Justin: Snapple. Cuz you got to shake them up a little before you open them up.

18:33Andrew: There you go. That's a good one. You don't want all that sediment at the bottom. No, that was weird. By the way. Not the Juice's nickname. That's a good one. That's a good.

18:43Justin: I have a pretty bad stretch of nicknames on this pod so far, so.

18:46Andrew: No, it's a good one. Good one. I was saying it was weird about the sediment.

18:49Justin: Oh, yeah, just filter it. Your kids filter it. Yeah, kids just do not get that. Yeah, exactly. They don't get anything.

18:57Andrew: They don't get pulp. They don't get sediments.

18:59Justin: I love pulp, personally, but yeah, my second star is Mr. Justin Bottineau.

19:05Andrew: Oh, yeah, there you go. The Namesake.

19:07Justin: He had it. Yeah, the namesake. Another JB to add to the. The great list of JB's. He got his. He got the fourth goal of the game, which, you know, lower stakes, but man, lately he's been killing it on the PK and I. I feel like he's been on the verge of being. Getting a shout out in one of the last episodes. Yes. And I just felt like he got that goal and I was like, we got to bring up Justin Botineau because he's been killing it. Yeah, he's a great fourth liner.

19:32Andrew: He's a great role player on this team.

19:33Justin: Or third liner or whatever. Yeah.

19:35Andrew: Well, bottom sixer.

19:35Justin: Bottom sixer, yeah. What's your third star?

19:38Andrew: I'm going to call it Carson Campbell and the prevent defense. That's what I call the third star, so I know you're not a football guy. However, when a team goes up big, often they'll start playing prevent defense, which means most of the guys back in this defensive secondary, they'll give up everything underneath. So all the high percentage stuff, they'll give up and they'll just prevent scores. So essentially, I feel like that's a little bit of what the Rangers started playing. And part and parcel it was to Carson Campbell incredible shot blocking.

20:13Justin: He was blocking shots, so many shots.

20:16Andrew: And unfortunately, they don't track ohl in your. In your box score. We gotta start tracking block shots because it's a basic stat. This is a. This is a call out because there's so many guys. Yes.

20:28Justin: Okay.

20:28Andrew: You want to talk advanced analytics. Like, you know, block shots mean you don't have the puck. Sure, whatever. But if you know a guy is blocking shots at such an incredibly high rate, like, that is a skill.

20:42Justin: That's an NHL draftable skill. That's a. Chris Tanev is the greatest shot blocker of all time skill.

20:49Andrew: Yes. There's guys who bring that to the table in the pros. So Carson Campbell was. He was working overtime. I believe that he was sore after this game.

20:59Justin: I bet he was.

20:59Andrew: Yeah.

21:00Justin: My third star is probably the same thing.

21:03Andrew: Okay.

21:04Justin: Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's really like they let up the gas in the second period. They didn't need to push because they were already up three nothing.

21:10Andrew: No, they weren't losing this game. That felt pretty obvious.

21:13Justin: But Erie did have a dominant second period. They were pretty strong. Carson Campbell helped. Yeah. And. And the defense did a great job. But Erie didn't. Didn't sleep in the second period. It wasn't. This game could have easily been tied up in the second period, had a few other things gone the other way. And sometimes I worry about that. Maybe get the puck a little more. That could be helpful.

21:34Andrew: Absolutely. I mean, that's why my first star was Jackson Parsons, because he did stand on his head.

21:39Justin: He did have a really good game. He's. For his shout out.

21:41Andrew: Yeah, exactly. And it was on his birthday.

21:43Justin: And it was that the eerie commentators kept calling the shutout and they were trying to jinx them. You could call it.

21:49Andrew: You could. Yeah. You could say it once. Like, not if you're a home commentator. No, but you can say it once as an opposing commentator. Or like a neutral commentator. And it's. And it's not intentional, but the dude in the booth kept saying it.

22:02Justin: He said it, like, at least five times.

22:04Andrew: Like, relax.

22:06Justin: Come on.

22:06Andrew: This is a. This is a young man who deserves this.

22:09Justin: This.

22:10Andrew: You can. You can believe in this superstition or not. It's just like. It's just like. As a hockey fan. As a fan of the game, I was annoyed.

22:18Justin: Yeah. I don't. Just don't say it even. Don't say.

22:21Andrew: Listen. Even if the shoe was on the other foot.

22:22Justin: Yeah. It's like.

22:23Andrew: Come on, man.

22:24Justin: Don't say.

22:24Andrew: Stop saying it. Yeah. Yeah.

22:26Justin: All right. So those are our two games. It's weird only having two games to talk about.

22:29Andrew: It was. It was. I mean, they were. They were. They were good games. They didn't. One didn't go the way that we wanted to, but it was. It felt good because I. I remember as we were walking out, I looked at you, and I said, remember, this is a rebuilding team.

22:42Justin: Yes.

22:43Andrew: So this is. They're not supposed to be competing with Windsor. The thing about all the draft picks that the Rangers have this year.

22:49Justin: I know.

22:50Andrew: The fact that they improved this much, and they were in it right down to the last seven minutes against Windsor. Unbelievable season.

22:56Justin: Okay, so we got. We got three games to talk about this week. So we got Friday against Owen Sound. We're at home. Always Friday at the Odds. Exciting Sunday. No back to backs this week either. Good. So Sunday we're. We're in Guelph for the battle of Highway 7.

23:11Andrew: Oh, nice.

23:12Justin: And then Tuesday, we get to play a team we haven't played yet in Brantford, which is always confusing to me, because Brantford. The arena in Brantford is the same distance from my house as the Aud Is.

23:23Andrew: Ooh.

23:24Justin: But it's. They're in the Eastern Conference.

23:27Andrew: Why is Brantford in the Eastern Conference?

23:29Justin: I have no idea. Because they're. They're kind of south of Kitchener.

23:33Andrew: They are.

23:33Justin: Yeah.

23:34Andrew: No, I know exactly where Branford is because I was. Funny.

23:37Justin: Yeah.

23:37Andrew: I was looking at the Gretzky house. You can go see the house that he grew up in. What's crazy is, I guess Walter Gretzky, up until he passed away, or at least a little ways. I'm assuming up until close to his passing, he lived there. And you could just go visit him, and he would talk to you.

23:55Justin: I bet he would.

23:55Andrew: I can't believe I missed that opportunity.

23:57Justin: Yeah.

23:58Andrew: Anyway. Yeah, it's not far, so that's weird.

24:01Justin: It is weird. Obviously, they had to draw the line somewhere. But it's weird that they're in the East.

24:07Andrew: Obviously, they did have to draw the line, so expansion might help with that.

24:10Justin: Yeah. Brantford might be a western team next

24:12Andrew: year, which would probably be really good for Brantford's travel schedule.

24:16Justin: Yeah, I bet.

24:16Andrew: Oh, that would suck.

24:18Justin: Oh, yeah. Poor Brantford. So, Owen Sound. Just a little recap. They're fourth in the Midwest division. They're ninth in the conference.

24:25Andrew: Yes.

24:26Justin: Not. Not been a great season for Owen Sound. One thing about Owen Sound, though, on this, whatever crazy win streak that London is on, blah.

24:36Andrew: They have.

24:36Justin: Owen sound has taken them to overtime twice. And I'm like, tip my hat to you, Owen Sound.

24:42Andrew: We went to overtime with Owen Sound as well. Yeah, yeah.

24:45Justin: They're an overtime team.

24:46Andrew: They're an overtime team. So they're a team that loses more than they win. But they are competitive.

24:52Justin: They are competitive. The season. Our ser. Season series with them with the Rangers is one one. Tight games. We won the first one. Three, two. And then the second one. Yeah. We went to overtime. Five, four.

25:01Andrew: Hopefully the officiating is better in this one.

25:03Justin: Yes. Yes. I hope so, too. Carter George has cooled down a bit. His stat line's a little chilled since we last saw him. He's facing the most rubber in the OHL with 657 shots against him. For comparison, Parsons has faced 130 less than Carter George in the same amount of games.

25:23Andrew: That's.

25:24Justin: We're talking, like, significant. Six or seven shots a game. More. More.

25:28Andrew: Yeah.

25:29Justin: That he's facing.

25:30Andrew: And you know what else he has this year? A goal.

25:34Justin: Yeah, that's true.

25:35Andrew: Yeah.

25:36Justin: The coolest thing a goalie can do.

25:37Andrew: Definitely score a goal.

25:39Justin: Landon Hookey, Sam McHugh have stayed hot with, you know, point per game production.

25:44Andrew: McHugh and Hooky, they're good.

25:45Justin: So. So, you know, guys, we're gonna get well acquainted with division rivals, so it

25:50Andrew: seems like maybe they just don't. They just lack the depth.

25:52Justin: Yeah, I think that's. I think you're right. Maybe a little bit on the defense, too. Is. Is a struggle true based on those shots.

25:59Andrew: Yeah.

25:59Justin: Then we face Guelph on Sunday. I think it's an afternoon game. They're sitting fifth in the Midwest. They're sitting 10th in the conference. They've really struggled to put anything together. You know, we faced them three times. We beat them three times. We faced them five more times this season.

26:14Andrew: Yeah.

26:15Justin: We have eight games against Guelph this year, so.

26:18Andrew: Makes sense.

26:19Justin: They're.

26:19Andrew: They're pretty Close.

26:20Justin: They're pretty close. It's a good travel schedule, definitely. It's pretty easy.

26:23Andrew: It's a great barn, too. So we'll have to.

26:25Justin: We have to go. I haven't. Have to.

26:26Andrew: Yes.

26:27Justin: The only new thing on this team that we haven't faced is Luchenko. Last time we faced, he was still up with Philly. True. So he's been. He's been hot. You know, he's scored point per game since he came down. So he's like. He's heating up their stat sheets a little.

26:40Andrew: I remember a long time ago, you talked about the hot guys and Guelph.

26:44Justin: What you want.

26:46Andrew: If you've been listening from the beginning

26:47Justin: or following us on social media, you

26:49Andrew: might remember the outtake of Justin talking about the young hot guys in Guelph. And now maybe the hottest of them all is back.

26:57Justin: So finally, yeah, we face Brantford. They are sitting third in the East Division. They're behind Kingston and Oshawa. I mean, Kingston and Oshawa have both been lighting it up. So it's a pretty hot division.

27:11Andrew: Yes.

27:11Justin: I'm not going to say hot guys. I'm going to say hot division.

27:14Andrew: Hot, sweaty division.

27:17Justin: They're sitting six in the Eastern Conference. Yeah. So we haven't faced the Aud but they do have some guys. They got some guys.

27:25Andrew: What kind of guys?

27:27Justin: They got Nick Lauridis.

27:30Andrew: We've got Justin doing names again.

27:32Justin: Here we go. Nick. Lardis.

27:34Andrew: Lardis.

27:36Justin: Lourdes. Yeah. He's over a goal per game.

27:39Andrew: Okay, that's a lot.

27:40Justin: Over a goal per game. If you're talking hot, that's hot.

27:46Andrew: Stop saying it.

27:47Justin: I can't. I can't stop. And then we have Patrick Thomas, who's sitting at about 1.5 points per game. So.

27:55Andrew: Okay, so they have, like, some guys who are doing some stuff.

27:58Justin: That's what I said. You did, interestingly. So we played Brantford several times in preseason and Leaneders was a thing. Like, we saw Lenders, their goalie. Yes, he was. He was pretty crazy good.

28:12Andrew: Lenders? Yeah. Leanders was drafted, wasn't he? I think he is, because that's. That's a name that I feel like

28:18Justin: I've heard drafted, but he's, like, completely dropped off. Actually, both of their goalies are sitting kind of low in the league in safe percentage, and they're sitting in a true tandem. Like, they're literally going back and forth between the two goalies. So I think that's an interesting development because like I said, Lenders killed us.

28:35Andrew: Yes. Ryerson Lenders.

28:37Justin: Yeah.

28:37Andrew: Was drafted in the seventh round by the Buffalo Sabres.

28:41Justin: So he's just getting ready for being a Buffalo Sabre.

28:43Andrew: Well, I think they have, like. They have like, 45 young goalies.

28:46Justin: I know. They really collect them.

28:48Andrew: Yeah, they collect the Aud then they just don't use them. I don't know what it is. So hopefully Lenders gets a shot playing hockey somewhere.

28:55Justin: He could back up Ukapeka Lukonen.

28:57Andrew: Want to talk about names? Good thing you've heard that one.

29:00Justin: I know that one well. Yeah. All right, Andrew, it is time for the greatest Ranger of all time. The Groat. The Groat. Now, we know there's been a lot of episodes since we described this last, so we're going to recap what the Groat is.

29:18Andrew: Absolutely.

29:19Justin: The Groat, like I said, is the greatest Ranger of all Tommy Kut that doesn't preclude anyone. What we're talking about is a deep, rich history of the Kitchener Rangers, and they're a mass player collection that sounds a little creepy. So the Gro can mean a lot more. So we want to talk about players who were great as Rangers. Of course, the Rangers have had a lot of players who were great. Way beyond being a Ranger.

29:47Andrew: Yes.

29:48Justin: But really what we are focusing on is the Kitchener Rangers team. And not even players, people who have been associated with the organization. So when we're talking about the greatest Ranger of all time, we're talking about people who have gone on to do great things, who did great things with the Rangers.

30:03Andrew: It's all encompassing.

30:04Justin: If you're.

30:04Andrew: If you're affiliated with the Rangers in any way, you can be one of our Groats.

30:09Justin: What we're talking about is nominations. We're talking about nominations from Andrew and I every week on the pod, where at the end of this nominating period, we are going to build a bracket and we are going to do a bracket challenge where we want all of you to be involved. Yes.

30:26Andrew: And so far we have had some involvement from our listeners and also just Rangers fans in general because we did go to a game and. And do some interviews.

30:37Justin: My groat is from those interviews.

30:39Andrew: Oh, that's exciting. What a great segue.

30:41Justin: Yeah.

30:42Andrew: So hopefully we can get out and do a few more interviews like that before we finish the nominations. Or if you're listening to this, please just write down a groat in the. In the comments because. Or send us a voice note or send us an email. We'll have social media and email at the end of the episode. You can do all that and we just Want to hear from people who have interesting groats because like you said, we found Sam O'Reilly Through you guys.

31:08Justin: I would have never expected to find. I have found through your nominations. So that's why today I'm bringing one to the pod. Let's recap our groats so far.

31:18Andrew: Great idea. All right, so my first groat back in episode four, I think it was. I think so, was one of my favorite players growing up, Mike Richards.

31:28Justin: And my nomination that episode was Mr. Al McInnis.

31:32Andrew: All time great St. Louis blue.

31:36Justin: You get out of.

31:37Andrew: Get out of here. All right. And then in the next episode, I found probably the guy that if I had a vote, I would give it to because his resume blew my mind. Get this man in the Hockey hall of fame yesterday, Mr. Brian Bellows.

31:55Justin: And my, my second nomination was arguably for stats alone, one of the greatest Rangers. Rangers of all time.

32:04Andrew: Absolutely.

32:05Justin: Mr. Derrick Roy.

32:06Andrew: He was also an Oiler. Then I went way back. I went with a retro groat, really important guy all around good guy who didn't go to the Summit series because he had hockey camp scheduled here, which is just incredible. He still had a great career, Walt Tkachuk.

32:27Justin: And that episode I brought in one of my favorite goaltenders who is actively still playing in the NHL, Mr. John Gibson.

32:34Andrew: And then I went back on defense for the first time. I went with the middle linebacker on ice, Scott Stevens.

32:41Justin: And then I went with The Everywhere Man, Mr. Andre Benoit.

32:46Andrew: And then I went with another hockey hall of Fame inductee in the rain in the Flyers all time goals leader, Bill Barber.

32:55Justin: And I went with probably a future hall of Famer but still active and hopefully coming back to play hockey sometime soon, Mr. Gabriel Landiscott.

33:03Andrew: Then I went off the board with a guy who had an incredible season for the Rangers and otherwise might have been forgotten. He's still actively playing professional hockey in the German league. He's short king, Mr. Justin Azevedo.

33:17Justin: And then I went with a nomination for my dad with one of the craziest backstory like hockey stories that was all off the ice, Mr. Paul Reinhardt.

33:28Andrew: Yeah, the guy who just decided to be an elite center one year from a defenseman.

33:32Justin: I will not play anywhere but Kitchener.

33:34Andrew: Yes, very, very interesting. And then I had my first and possibly only non player arranger. I went with the coach that won two OHL championships in a Memorial Cup, Mr. Pete DeBoer.

33:46Justin: And I went with one of the most legendary NHLers of all time, Mr. Larry Robinson.

33:52Andrew: It's been a crazy start to the Grove Tournament.

33:56Justin: Yeah. And now we should nominate.

33:58Andrew: Boy, oh, boy. I feel like this one was written in the stars, Justin.

34:04Justin: Oh, so is an oiler.

34:05Andrew: When we started doing the grotesque Groot, we were ignorant to this fact about this man that I am going to profile here today. My Groot was born December 22, 1944, in Paisley, Scotland.

34:28Justin: What?

34:29Andrew: He began his junior career with the Guelph Royals in 1961 and played with them until Eugene George, another, I think, honorary growth, honorary Groat, moved them to Kitchener. In 1963, he was chosen as the first captain of the Kitchener Rangers. So the first captain in the Kitchener Rangers is Scottish. And we've been doing this Scottish thing since the beginning, and we had no idea.

34:57Justin: We knew in our.

34:58Andrew: We knew in our hearts, in our little Scottish hearts. He then played two seasons with the Rangers, scoring 23 goals and 51 points in 56 games. And then in his second year, he exploded for 51 goals, 55 assists and 106 points in 56 games. Both years, he won the Jim Riley trophy as the scoring champion of the Rangers, which there's amazing names on that. You can go visit it in Rangers Authentics at the odds. This player would go on to play only 22 NHL games with the New York Rangers and the Minnesota North Stars, whom he was claimed in the expansion draft. However, he did play six minor league seasons. He also played with some incredible pioneers of hockey during this period. He played with Bill Masterton in Minnesota.

35:45Justin: There's a trophy named after him. Yeah.

35:47Andrew: He played with the future first Oilers captain Al Hamilton in Omaha and another Groat in Omaha, Walt Tkachuk. And then probably the most important pioneer of them all, he played with Willie o'. Ray.

36:01Justin: Oh.

36:02Andrew: In San Diego for the San Diego Gulls.

36:04Justin: Oh.

36:05Andrew: So he was rubbing elbows with some pretty incredible people. He would be a great person. I would love to talk to him about his career and what he did. He would eventually retire after playing six minor league seasons. He would retire and become a broadcaster with the WHA. San Diego Mariners from 74 to 78. And then he did it with the San Diego Gulls for two years in 99. 2001.

36:30Justin: Cool.

36:31Andrew: So, all in all, he had a very interesting career. And he is absolutely 100% a Grote. He is. Alex. Sandy Fitzpatrick.

36:43Justin: What a great name, too.

36:44Andrew: So good. Sandy Fitzpatrick.

36:46Justin: He was definitely the Sands.

36:48Andrew: The Sandman.

36:49Justin: The Sandman.

36:50Andrew: Yeah. That one excited me. I'm gonna be honest. The fact that I was like, hang on a second here. I'm going through the names and I'm going through elite prospects and I'm going to. I'm looking down, they have the little flag, and I just see the Scottish flag. And I was like, good Lord.

37:06Justin: Say what now?

37:06Andrew: Yeah. And the Aud turns out he's the

37:08Justin: first captain of history. Come on. Come on. Probably invented.

37:12Andrew: Were we not supposed to do this groat thing? We were. All right, Justin, who's your groat?

37:19Justin: So, like I said, this is a fan nomination from Jordan, who we met at the Aud doing some interviews with his son Ben. It's great. Really lovely to meet you both. So here it is. Another hometown boy from Kitchener, Andrew Oh, yeah. 210 regular season games with Kitchener from 87 to 91. 228 points. A forward. More specifically, a right winger. I know I've been doing a lot of defensemen lately, so I thought I'd get a forward and the mix. 31 playoff games with 27 points. He was drafted by the New York Rangers after captivating the world Junior championship by winning it twice with the gold medal. And he was the captain the second year he was there.

38:08Andrew: Impressive.

38:09Justin: Interestingly, his best season with the Kitchener Rangers was cut short after playing 30 games and scoring 30 goals and 30 assists. That's unbelievable. Unbelievable. He was then called up to the next Rangers. Yeah. Yeah. There's no way you, like. You're called up and you're like playing second line like it's. You get called up to the show.

38:31Andrew: Yeah.

38:31Justin: From New York Rangers. He was then traded to the Edmonton Oilers.

38:36Andrew: Oh, yeah.

38:37Justin: But then was offer sheeted by the NHL team with the greatest logo of all time. I will not hear any debates about this. The Hartford Whalers.

38:48Andrew: Okay, well, you know, that's a debate, but I think that's a good.

38:52Justin: I said no debate. I think it is a debate, though. There's no debate. The Hartford Whalers have the best logo of all time in the NHL.

38:58Andrew: Yeah. Really caught on. They really rallied around that logo. Really had a lot of staying power.

39:05Justin: He finished his NHL career with 125 points in 329 games. He was yet another of a long list of. Of fun, high energy, insane scoring players who played for the Rangers over the years. Can you guess who it is?

39:20Andrew: Oh, I know because Jordan told me. Our friend.

39:22Justin: I know.

39:22Andrew: Friend of the pod. Jordan. His name. Steven Rice with a V. Steven with

39:29Justin: a V. Steven with a V. Steven Rice. Yeah. That's my groat.

39:33Andrew: That's great.

39:33Justin: It's a good groat. Thank you. Thank you, Jordan.

39:36Andrew: That's great. Because he. He really said, well, when I was my son's age. I really liked Steven Rice and I love the way he said that. You could see the, the wonderment in his face when he said that. He said he was brought back to who was my favorite player when I was a kid.

39:52Justin: Yeah.

39:53Andrew: And that, honestly, is what the spirit of the Groat tournament is about.

39:56Justin: Yeah, it's. There's, there's vibes. There's vibes. We, we Sam O'Reilly lot of stats, but the vibes, that's what we want.

40:04Andrew: The vibes are. Honestly, it might decide some matchups when we put it to a vote.

40:09Justin: We got some thank yous this week.

40:11Andrew: Yes, we do. We have an extra special thank you to your dad, Mr. Kenborn, for the new hats. He is the head. He is the director of branding and now merchandise, as we said.

40:24Justin: Yes, of course. Prodigal producer Liam, always the phenom. Thank you to Kitchener Public Library, who. That's just home.

40:31Andrew: Our home away from home.

40:32Justin: It is. And please find us on the socials.

40:36Andrew: You can find us on Instagram TikTok and Twitter heddpodcast. If you want to send us interesting facts or history about the Kitchener Rangers, the Aud or Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge, please email us@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd honestly love to hear from you.

40:53Justin: We would. And if you're enjoying this content, please like and subscribe. Give us a rating.

40:58Andrew: Yes.

40:58Justin: Tell your friends.

40:59Andrew: Spotify rate us on whatever streaming platform you use. Tell your friends. Just even share our content on social media. It goes such a long way. We love doing this. We're gonna keep doing this. We love already our audience. But if we could grow that. If you know that there's somebody out there who is interested in the. In the Kitchener Rangers, please share it with them.

41:20Justin: Please. And as always, you can find us

41:24Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

41:26Justin: See it beyond it.