19: The Man, The Myth, The Misaljevic

0:00Justin: Another banger of a weekend. Two wins put us at three wins in a row. 80s night happened at the Aud on Friday when we faced Owen Sound. We handed Erie another loss, winning our season series five to one. Another slate of games coming up this weekend with a road trip to London to see the number two team in the ohl. Because the Rangers are number one in the OHL power rankings. And I take back everything I say about how important those power rankings are. Welcome to the AudPod. Welcome to the AudPod. Where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, Fe. Hey, Andrew.

0:52Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:54Justin: It was 80s night on Friday.

0:55Andrew: It was.

0:56Justin: Oh, we always have to say this.

0:59Andrew: We are playing.

1:00Justin: The Kitchener Rangers are playing tonight. They are as we are speaking.

1:04Andrew: Yes.

1:05Justin: So we don't know what's happening with the Soo Gray Hounds. Maybe they lose this one horribly and that three game win streak is gone. Stop it. But I don't think it's gonna happen.

1:14Andrew: Even joke about that.

1:15Justin: I'm not.

1:15Andrew: I'm not. Because this is gonna come out on Friday.

1:18Justin: Yeah.

1:18Andrew: And people will know how off base you were.

1:21Justin: Yes. So we won't say anything about the Soo Greyhounds game, but Friday night was 80s night. And the boys on the broadcast who were looking sharp, they asked a question.

1:33Andrew: They did.

1:34Justin: What 80s movie best describes the Rangers this season? Andrew.

1:39Andrew: It's not frozen. I'm just thinking.

1:41Justin: I did tell him I was going to ask him this question.

1:44Andrew: You know what? It was such a throwaway text message. I don't take notes from you.

1:52Justin: Cool. You go first. Okay. So I picked Ferris Bueller's Day off.

1:56Andrew: Oh, nice.

1:57Justin: So it's at the beginning of the season, the Kitchener Rangers set up this elaborate ruse that they were a rebuilding team.

2:04Andrew: True.

2:05Justin: And so the league thought they were rebuilding, thought they could take advantage of the Rangers, but they could not. The Erie Otters are the principal.

2:14Andrew: Oh.

2:15Justin: Because they're trying to prove that principal Rooney.

2:17Andrew: Rooney.

2:19Justin: Yes, Rooney. the Aud to prove that we're faking it. But as they just Sam O'Reilly are not faking it.

2:25Andrew: When Cameron was in Egypt's land. Who's Cameron? You really didn't think through this analogy?

2:31Justin: The only other thing is that we got a bunch of guys who are just friends and the Aud having a blast. Mr. Peterson and stealing the Ferrari. Peterson and stealing the Ferrari is the NCAA agreement.

2:41Andrew: That's true.

2:42Justin: That's Jack Pridham. Jack Pridham is the Ferrari. Yes.

2:48Andrew: I love it.

2:49Justin: Yeah.

2:50Andrew: I love it.

2:50Justin: Yeah. Okay. Did you come up with one.

2:53Andrew: You're. The way that you told that story reminded me of the movie Big.

2:57Justin: Oh, yes.

2:58Andrew: Right. Because it was kind of. We started this podcast and we. We had a traumatic event. The first couple games of the season, you know, wasn't big enough to ride the roller coaster.

3:09Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

3:10Andrew: So we made a wish, and now we have people who listen to us.

3:16Justin: That's true.

3:16Andrew: Which is awesome. And we have a wagon of a team. And before you know it, we are going to be living in a loft in New York City.

3:29Justin: That's the dream.

3:30Andrew: Playing with toys, which I feel like is a job I could do.

3:34Justin: Yeah.

3:34Andrew: Actually having a small child now, having a eight month old this week coming. He'll be eight months. I'm playing with his toys and I'm like, these are cool.

3:44Justin: Yeah. I like this. I don't know what that says about

3:46Andrew: me, considering they're for six to 36 months, but I think it's fun.

3:52Justin: Yeah. I think it's.

3:52Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

3:54Justin: All right, so we got. We're gonna recap just the two games.

3:57Andrew: Yes.

3:57Justin: And the first one we're gonna recap is our 51 win against Owen. Sound Attack.

4:03Andrew: Oh, yeah. Yes. The Adrian Misaljevic hat trick game.

4:08Justin: Yes. Natural hatter.

4:09Andrew: The natural hat trick. Just off to the raises.

4:12Justin: Amazing Two right away.

4:13Andrew: And then another in the second period.

4:16Justin: So many players on the team could have scored, but hit the post and just missed wide by a little bit just so he could get that natural hat trick.

4:23Andrew: And hats off to Jason Schaubel who stopped 30, 31. And of course, you cursed him. As you said, Landon Hookey was good at hockey.

4:31Justin: Yeah. And he was.

4:32Andrew: And he is good at hockey. And he scored his 19th, unfortunately, in the. Oh, no.

4:37Justin: Right at the beginning of the second and the third.

4:40Andrew: But the third.

4:41Justin: The third. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Yeah.

4:43Andrew: Which, whatever. Yeah. But it was a great. It was a great effort by Shawl. And you called that him getting the game Friday night.

4:50Justin: Yeah. I'm happy he did. Me, too. And you know what? He gave me a lot of confidence because this Rangers team doesn't matter what we do, what they do, all the. All the systems that are in place, there's going to be shorthanded breakaways against us. Mm. And, man, did he shut down this one. It was amazing. I was like, oh, perfect.

5:10Andrew: Speaking of shorthanded, they had two shorthanded goals in this one. Yeah. It was everything. It was. There were power play goals there as shorthanded goals. There's penalty shot Goal. That was also shorthanded. It was just like. I don't want to say it because I don't want. I don't disrespect any opponent in that thing, but it was exactly the type of game that you had to have against Owen Sound.

5:30Justin: Yeah, you have to play.

5:31Andrew: You had to just go into Owen Sound and kind of beat them five to one. Yeah, exactly. Not going, oh, and Sound host Owen Sound even more. Yeah.

5:39Justin: Because. Well, okay, the. Going back to the first period in this one, the first 15 minutes, I thought this might be a goalie battle game.

5:45Andrew: Like. Yeah, he looked good.

5:46Justin: Carter George looked really strong. He made some great. He is. He is a good goalie.

5:50Andrew: Yeah.

5:50Justin: Shabble also had to make some pretty timely saves in that first 15 minutes. It was not outright. We weren't dominant immediately.

5:57Andrew: Every game against Owen Sound this year, year has gone like that.

6:00Justin: Yes. They've been pretty tight games somehow this one wasn't.

6:03Andrew: Yeah, but it's competitive. Like, it's not. It's not. They're not having a great year, but it's not like they're pushovers.

6:10Justin: No. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, then obviously Missile Javic opened up the. Aud was bad. It was a. It was a two man advantage. So you're like, you gotta score on that one.

6:19Andrew: Yes.

6:20Justin: And he got a beautiful goal on that.

6:22Andrew: But they. Listen, Justin.

6:24Justin: Yeah.

6:24Andrew: They were not scoring on two man advantages.

6:28Justin: I know.

6:28Andrew: A month ago.

6:29Justin: That's why I Sam O'Reilly got a score on.

6:31Andrew: And that was scary. I was thinking, is this the Achilles heel? You have to convert your power play chances. Yeah. People who are very casual hockey fans who think they're smart like to say like power play Merchants and whatever. I've been watching hockey since I was probably 6 years old, 7 years old, that I can actually remember watching hockey. Power plays.

6:54Justin: That's the game.

6:55Andrew: The game is convert on power plays and kill penalties. That's the game. Of course you want to score five on five, but when you start playing the really good teams, it's harder and harder to score five on five.

7:06Justin: You need the advantage when you have it.

7:07Andrew: Exactly.

7:09Justin: But you do cheer for a power play Merchants.

7:11Andrew: Oh, yeah. The best power play of all time.

7:15Justin: So the, the second period of this game against Owen Sound. Back to them, back to this game. That the attack came out pretty strong at the top of the second period. And this is a common theme for the two games that we're going to talk about this week from this weekend is that the two goal league going into the second almost didn't feel like enough. I agree. And that it got a little dodgy. And honestly, Shable shut them down like crazy. He was on fire in this game. It was great.

7:40Andrew: And it was great to see that Kitchener never let off the gas pedal.

7:44Justin: Yeah.

7:44Andrew: They had literally 14 shots in each period.

7:46Justin: Yes.

7:47Andrew: And that's what you got to do.

7:50Justin: Yep. If you.

7:50Andrew: If you take 42 shots in the OHL, you're probably going to score at least four. They scored five. One was a penalty shot.

7:59Justin: Yeah.

7:59Andrew: Whatever. But that's going to set you up for a win most of the time.

8:04Justin: Yep.

8:04Andrew: Honestly. And I'm not talking about just throwing the puck at the net, but there is some games where we've seen them not do that.

8:10Justin: Yeah.

8:10Andrew: And they need to do that.

8:11Justin: And they just need to throw.

8:12Andrew: But that's. Honestly, it's just like all this is exactly the type of game you had to see at home on a Friday night versus Owen.

8:17Justin: Sound a little shout out to Grizz Golia in this game. He had. In the second period. He had a video game dangle.

8:24Andrew: Yeah.

8:25Justin: Where he just popped it through the guy's legs and just went the other way.

8:28Andrew: Yeah.

8:28Justin: And then just had the puck again. That one didn't go in the net, but it was a great job.

8:31Andrew: He did get a shorthanded goal in this one.

8:32Justin: And then he got a shorthanded goal. Yeah.

8:35Andrew: This is the thing is he has been such a great pickup.

8:38Justin: Yes.

8:38Andrew: It was so early in the season and we literally had no idea who most of these guys were.

8:44Justin: Yeah.

8:45Andrew: I could not imagine this team without Grizzolia this year.

8:50Justin: I know what he's brought. Yeah.

8:52Andrew: You look at it. And it's eight goals. Sure. But that's not. Is not his role. The fact that a guy that has been brought in to be a role player and work hard and push hard has eight goals tells you how well the season has gone.

9:05Justin: Yes. Yeah. Totally.

9:06Andrew: And Christian Humphreys of course. We just have to mention he's PP1. He's Center 1. He's.

9:13Justin: I don't know, man.

9:14Andrew: D1. D1 hockey players are really good.

9:16Justin: So Mislejavic wouldn't have had a hat trick in this game without Humphries.

9:20Andrew: Absolutely.

9:20Justin: So.

9:21Andrew: And Swick, of course. Swick is just a monster.

9:24Justin: And although we did not need it at all at this point in the game, Pridham had such a beautiful. Oh, yeah, Penalty shot goal.

9:31Andrew: But he was sniffing all game.

9:32Justin: Yeah.

9:33Andrew: He's one of these guys that I'm like, he's eventually going to get it?

9:35Justin: Yes.

9:36Andrew: If you get. If you had to guess, like, beginning of any game, who's going to score, he would have the highest odds, I think of just having. And him and missiles, obviously. But if you're just thinking, like, who's going to convert on a chance.

9:47Justin: Yeah.

9:48Andrew: Jack Pridham is going to get one. If he gets enough opportunities, it's for sure happening. Because he's too fast.

9:53Justin: Yeah.

9:53Andrew: He just out skates everyone.

9:55Justin: Speaking of a lot of opportunities before he got a goal. Jack Pridham. The second game we played was against Lil Bro.

10:02Andrew: Yes. The Erie Otters, affectionately known eerie Frodders. The Frodders, the Frauders, Lil Bro, the

10:10Justin: little brothers, where we won our fifth straight game against them, four to three.

10:15Andrew: Remember when they won the first game? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:18Justin: That was really.

10:19Andrew: We're just. That was like the pool hall ringer where you're like, yeah, let's play a game. And then you let them win. Then you Sam O'Reilly don't we. Why don't we play for a bit of money this time?

10:28Justin: Yeah.

10:29Andrew: Yeah.

10:29Justin: That's what my grandpa did to me. It's a different life to a child. Yeah.

10:36Andrew: But.

10:37Justin: Okay, so the. This game was not so cut and dry that we were gonna win this one.

10:41Andrew: Not at all.

10:41Justin: The first period, it looked like we probably could have turned it off after the first period. And when they're probably gonna win 37

10:47Andrew: to nothing, I thought they were gonna destroy them.

10:49Justin: Yeah.

10:50Andrew: After the first period, there was a little bit of humble pie going on in the second. Yeah, a little bit. Because I was. These guys aren't even in our class.

10:58Justin: No, but they did. They got a little help from their zebra friends. Let's get there. Let's build up. Let's build up to it.

11:05Andrew: We'll build up to it.

11:06Justin: Okay. First period, we outshot Erie 22 to 11.

11:09Andrew: Yeah.

11:09Justin: And it could have got ugly because there was like, Blackie basically saved a goal at one point. Again, for. Against Erie.

11:16Andrew: Yeah.

11:17Justin: And the Aud took 15. 15 minutes for missile Jevik to get the first goal.

11:21Andrew: It did.

11:21Justin: It was like dominance, but we didn't get anything.

11:24Andrew: Yeah.

11:25Justin: For 15 minutes.

11:26Andrew: Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. Look, it was dominant, but the pucks weren't going in.

11:32Justin: Yep.

11:32Andrew: And it was 0, 0. And then finally, of course, the man, the myth, the legend, the missile, the

11:39Justin: mythal, the myth, the mythal.

11:43Andrew: The man, the myth of the legend, Adrian Mizzlejevic scores, of course, for Tanner Lam on a. It was. He gets a chance like that, he's going to convert. This is what we're seeing, this guy is on the hot streak of all hot streaks. Now, he was talking about how he hadn't scored in, like, 10 games. So he's making up for lost time, which is great because this happened last year. He had a lot of points at the beginning of the season, and then I guess his point production just dropped off, funnily enough. At the same time that the Rangers went on a skid. Yeah. So he is an integral piece to this team and continues to be. And then Chromiak gets a goal in the first period, and now it's starting. Okay. The levies have opened because that was literally 29 seconds later.

12:26Justin: Yes.

12:26Andrew: So.

12:27Justin: And that was one of the hardest working goals. Romano worked that puck in. That was not an easy goal. They earned it. They earned it.

12:34Andrew: Good. And they were, like, heavily out shooting. It was 20, 2212 or 2211. And it was. It looked like, okay, the levies have broken. We're gonna come out in the second period and we're gonna see the Rangers put in two or three more.

12:49Justin: Yeah.

12:49Andrew: And it's just going to get ugly. But that's not what happened.

12:53Justin: It did look like we were gonna get two or three more because for the first two or three minutes, we had the puck the whole time. And then the tides turned, and then

13:01Andrew: I don't know if the boys packed it in a little. I have no idea. The calls started to get.

13:06Justin: Yeah. Wacky calls.

13:07Andrew: Wacky calls.

13:09Justin: All right.

13:09Andrew: There weren't a lot of them, but they were wacky.

13:12Justin: Yep.

13:13Andrew: That's all I'll say.

13:14Justin: Yep.

13:14Andrew: All right. And I also just believe that there was so many missed calls.

13:19Justin: Yes.

13:20Andrew: Anyway, I don't want to talk about it too much because to me, you just. Why are you complaining about the refs in a Andrew.

13:26Justin: Yep. Yeah. The.

13:28Andrew: Anyway, Sam Alfano, Malcolm Spence, Kerry Terrance, they're good players. They scored. One of them should have never been a goal. The penalty shot.

13:37Justin: Goal.

13:38Andrew: That tarant scored one. He was offside two. I didn't think it was worthy of a penalty shot.

13:43Justin: Well, he was. He didn't have a clear breakaway.

13:44Andrew: He didn't have a clear breakaway. And I thought that he got the puck off enough that usually they don't call that because the puck was directed towards net, but it's okay. Whatever. Let's do this. And of course he scores. And I'm livid. Yes, I am livid, because I'm.

14:00Justin: I've.

14:00Andrew: It's gone from on this goal. This was the third goal. So now it's three to two, Erie. I'm sitting on the couch, just, oh, like, I'm texting you. Like, mad, angry texting you.

14:10Justin: You know who is more livid than you? The Juice.

14:14Andrew: The Juice was.

14:15Justin: Yes, that's true.

14:16Andrew: I was not as mad as the Juice. The Juice was.

14:20Justin: At one point, I knew I was afraid of him.

14:23Andrew: Okay. I knew why I was afraid of him. And, yeah, I would listen. I would follow him into battle.

14:28Justin: Yeah.

14:28Andrew: Consummate leader, whatever. But listen, if you messed up.

14:32Justin: Oh, man. At one point, one of the commentators went, oh, Yuzio Hoka's just spiked his notes into the crowd, which I wish

14:40Andrew: we had seen that. He just like. Yeah. Gronk spiked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a very composed individual.

14:47Justin: He is.

14:48Andrew: And so for him, that angry. Yeah, I. Yeah, I think that speaks volumes.

14:55Justin: I think that. Yeah, that's all we need to know.

14:57Andrew: However, third period.

14:58Justin: Yeah. We got back on track.

14:59Andrew: Got back on track. Another amazing pickup this year. Andrew Vermeulen.

15:04Justin: Yes. Right.

15:05Andrew: Like, there you go. Another guy, another depth guy that was brought in eight goals this year.

15:10Justin: Yeah.

15:10Andrew: If you have that from your bottom six, you have multiple guys going to score double digits because these two guys are probably going to get to 10.

15:17Justin: Yeah.

15:19Andrew: Like, this is the mark of a team that. What are they, 33 and 9 and, like.

15:24Justin: And an important goal.

15:25Andrew: Yes, a very important goal. An extremely important goal. Not only that. Almost 10 minutes into the period.

15:30Justin: Yeah.

15:31Andrew: So it's starting to look like. Oh, yeah, they might be running out

15:34Justin: of Runway early in. Was playing well early in.

15:36Andrew: Always plays well against Kitchener.

15:38Justin: He does.

15:38Andrew: Even though we've beat them five out of six times. It's not because of him. Yeah, no, he's good. But Cameron Reid set Vermeulen up. We posted on our social media. It was like an Allen Iverson crossover at the blue line. It was like the ankles just shattered on the defender. He just. He decided that he was no longer going to go right. He was going to go left. And unfortunately, the guy who was covering him was still going the way that he thought he was going. And Reed turned on the jets so quick and the Soo Vermeulen in the high slot. And Vermeulen just received it and threw it on net, and it was perfect. It was a great little finish, really. I'm not taking away from Vermulin's finish, but the Reed setup was one of my favorite highlights of the year.

16:30Justin: Yes.

16:30Andrew: Because that was like. To say silky smooth is an understatement.

16:34Justin: Yeah, for sure. For sure. And then Pridham got a goal. And then Pridham didn't get a goal. And then Pram got a goal, which

16:41Andrew: again, when he scored and they took it off, I was again, I was

16:44Justin: like, I don't understand what camera angle they had to tell them. They don't have the slow mo like the NHL. They don't like.

16:53Andrew: I don't know, man.

16:54Justin: It didn't look like it to me. But I'm biased again.

16:57Andrew: I wanted it to be a goal. So it's hard to. At the same time, I don't know what you would have seen to say it wasn't a goal.

17:05Justin: Yeah, I know. That's so what I.

17:07Andrew: It's hard when we don't have the information. You don't want to, you don't want to say that refs are intentionally doing things wrong or anything like that. But sometimes I just, we just saw it in the, in the NFL game this weekend. Sometimes you're just thinking, what is it that you're seeing that I'm not seeing? Yeah, I'm not, I'm not saying that I'm like a savant of the game. I'm just saying that I have eyes and I can see what's going on.

17:30Justin: Yes.

17:31Andrew: What is it that I'm missing here?

17:32Justin: Yeah.

17:33Andrew: Anyway, it didn't matter because Jack Pridham is inevitable.

17:36Justin: Yes. All right. At the beginning of the game they called him Dr. Doom and I was like, no, he should be Bane.

17:42Andrew: He is. He. Listen, he came over from the bchl. We had no idea what to expect. He was drafted in the third round by Chicago. I read on his elite prospects page that he was. Had elite. He was an elite two way player with world class speed. That's who he is.

18:00Justin: Correct.

18:00Andrew: That's who he is.

18:01Justin: Accurate.

18:01Andrew: They nailed it.

18:02Justin: Yeah. Good, good scouting.

18:04Andrew: And it seems like at the beginning of games and at the end of games, he is absolutely lethal with the speed because either they're not ready for his speed early in the games or they're tired and they can't handle his speed at the end of the games.

18:20Justin: Yeah.

18:20Andrew: Because he walks around, dudes like just walks around and goes like wide. He'll go way out wide and you can see defenders just poop their pants.

18:30Justin: Yeah. Because he's.

18:31Andrew: He's already past you.

18:32Justin: Yeah. All right. Even without knowing what happens in the Soo Greyhounds game tonight, we can do three stars because no matter what, we won two or three.

18:38Andrew: Absolutely.

18:39Justin: So I'm going to go first. I bet we have the first. Same first Star missile Javic has to be. Has to be four goals into the game. The Mythal. The Mythal. The Span.

18:48Andrew: The Spaniard.

18:48Justin: The Mythle. The Mythle from Barcelona. Barcelona. That's your first star. Of course. Yeah. Okay. Who's your second star?

18:55Andrew: Jack Pridham.

18:56Justin: Oh, yeah. My second star too.

18:57Andrew: Yes. the AudPod Brain meld. Yes.

19:01Justin: Killer penalty shot against Owen Sound. Nine shots against Erie.

19:06Andrew: Yes.

19:06Justin: Three shorthanded breakaways against Erie.

19:09Andrew: Yes.

19:09Justin: It was amazing.

19:10Andrew: Absolutely.

19:11Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

19:13Andrew: And what's your third star double? No.

19:15Justin: Is it the Sam O'Reilly Like I said in Owen Sound filled me with confidence.

19:20Andrew: Yes.

19:20Justin: That. I just feel like we're in good hands going forward next year.

19:24Andrew: Next year he is the bona fide number one goaltender. Next year we are in good hands. And I was. I'm a little scared that he doesn't get more games. I understand why. Because Jackson Parsons is having one of the better years an OHL goaltender has had. Yes. But sometimes I get a little. If he plays. Is he. Is he going to be rusty?

19:43Justin: Yeah, he's not. He's always prepared. He looks always ready. Obviously. He always starts ready.

19:48Andrew: Yeah.

19:48Justin: Even after having five games off. He'll he. He showed up in against Owen Sound and he was like ready to go right away because they got a good shot right away at the start of the game and he was on it.

19:58Andrew: He's six and one.

19:59Justin: Yeah, I know.

20:00Andrew: You know what I mean? Or six one and one. But he's.

20:02Justin: He's.

20:03Andrew: He has six wins.

20:04Justin: Yeah.

20:04Andrew: Like when he plays, he wins.

20:06Justin: Yes.

20:06Andrew: It's. Yeah, it's good.

20:09Justin: That's a clean sweep of the three stars this week.

20:11Andrew: Yeah, that was great.

20:12Justin: Let's preview some games coming up.

20:14Andrew: Oh, I'd love to.

20:15Justin: Friday night we play the Flint Firebirds.

20:19Andrew: Oh, yes.

20:20Justin: And you know what's weird? It's not at home. It's away. It's in Flint. We are on a five game road trip.

20:25Andrew: Oh, that's true. A Friday night hockey game. Not at the Aud Is it allowed?

20:30Justin: I don't know.

20:30Andrew: Is it allowed?

20:31Justin: I don't know.

20:32Andrew: I don't think it should be.

20:33Justin: I don't think it should be either. And then Saturday we play the Saginaw Spirit. We're spending a lot of time in America.

20:40Andrew: That's true.

20:40Justin: A couple days in a row in America. And then on Tuesday we go into

20:46Andrew: the belly, across the pond to London.

20:49Justin: Beads on toast. Imagine they had to play in like London, England.

20:53Andrew: Yeah. The way like the NFL, it's always

20:55Justin: like a Tuesday night.

20:55Andrew: The way the NFL plays like a random game in London just to globalize the league.

21:00Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Try and get football like the word football.

21:03Andrew: Let's try and get the ohl big in Europe.

21:05Justin: Just one London game.

21:06Andrew: Yeah.

21:07Justin: Yeah. So that's our games. Flint. This is our last meeting of the season. We're 21 and. Oh. Against them.

21:13Andrew: I don't know.

21:13Justin: We just faced them last week. I feel like we're. We beat them.

21:16Andrew: Yeah.

21:17Justin: Did we win? Yeah, we won.

21:18Andrew: Yeah. It was in a shootout.

21:19Justin: Yeah. Yeah. But it was. It was a tight game. It was a game. It was good. Yeah.

21:23Andrew: You didn't like the game too much?

21:24Justin: Yeah, it was kind of.

21:24Andrew: I only saw the first period.

21:25Justin: That's right. It was a sleeper one.

21:27Andrew: Sleepy one. But they won.

21:28Justin: They won. Then we play. When we play Saginaw. This is 201 in the season series. Again. Our last meeting. We're really starting to get the. Aud interesting. We have a lot of eastern teams that we play in the last half of the season, so it's starting to see some of our conference rivals for the last time now.

21:45Andrew: Yes. We're running out of. We're running out of western conference games.

21:48Justin: Yeah. And we just have to. Just before we. We sign off with Saginaw, we got to thank them because of course without Saginaw, we wouldn't have got the Andalorian.

21:55Andrew: That's true. We do owe that much to them.

21:58Justin: They.

21:58Andrew: They upset Andanovsky so much so that

22:01Justin: he became a vigilante bounty hunter.

22:03Andrew: The Andalorian.

22:04Justin: Yes. Yes.

22:05Andrew: He gave us that moment.

22:07Justin: Yeah. Yeah. And then. Yeah. London were one and two against them. They're one of the only teams that we have a losing record against so far this year.

22:14Andrew: That's true. So we can change that.

22:16Justin: We can tie them up in this game.

22:17Andrew: Yeah.

22:18Justin: And we have three more. Three more meetings with them. This.

22:21Andrew: That's great because I feel like we are.

22:23Justin: We're trended up.

22:24Andrew: Yeah. I think there's confidence there.

22:26Justin: We got the monkey off our back. We beat them.

22:28Andrew: Exactly. Christian Humphreys is starting to really gel with the boys. Yeah. There's just so much depth. There's so much depth, man. Just to see some of these guys who can't get into the lineup and you're at the beginning of the year. We thought they were going to be guys that were going to be in the lineup all the time.

22:44Justin: Yeah.

22:45Andrew: It sucks. But it's. We haven't even talked about the absence of Ellenness.

22:48Justin: No.

22:49Andrew: And that's not to take away from Luke Ellinas game.

22:52Justin: No.

22:53Andrew: Who is one of the leaders on the team.

22:55Justin: Yeah.

22:55Andrew: But he's injured and we're still rolling. We're still rolling because that's always going to happen with teams is you're going to have an integral piece, get injured and what do you do? Yep. Hopefully we get to see Ellen is back soon. Hopefully. At least for the playoffs. As long as you can get back for the playoffs. Because we're in. Yeah. And I think we're going to be a home team.

23:18Justin: Hopefully.

23:19Andrew: So we're going to be hosting the first round no matter what. No matter where they. They finish. Right. They're not dropping beyond the wall. The wheels falling off. Knock on wood.

23:29Justin: I think this is plastic there. There you go.

23:33Andrew: Beyond the wheels falling off. They're going to host first round.

23:35Justin: Yeah.

23:36Andrew: Get Ellen is healthy and come back. That would be amazing. Come back for that and that'll be such a shot in the arm and he's going to be hungry.

23:43Justin: Yep.

23:44Andrew: And hopefully it's not that bad. Hopefully he's back before that. But you never know.

23:48Justin: You don't know.

23:48Andrew: There you go.

23:49Justin: Yeah. All right. News around the Ohl.

23:52Andrew: Yeah.

23:52Justin: We didn't pre talk about this.

23:54Andrew: Oh, we didn't.

23:54Justin: But the only thing I got on the list is Erie relieving their head coach Stamp butler after an 11 day suspension and an internal review. So I don't think Kitchener caused the. No, no, we didn't.

24:07Andrew: I saw it and I was like, we. We didn't do that.

24:09Justin: We didn't do it. Don't blame us. It's a little bit. It's a little bit concerning. That's the road that. That just to me that screams that something probably is bad has happened.

24:19Andrew: Yeah. Because Eerie has been this like, you know, it seems like they're in this joyous season there. Yeah, they're. They. They retired 97. They like. It seems like every. The vibes are good in Eerie as far as the fans and all this kind of stuff.

24:34Justin: Super happy on when they were winning. Briefly.

24:36Andrew: Yeah. There's people in that building, you know, and there's support there and it's just.

24:40Justin: Oh, that's not great.

24:41Andrew: Oh, yep. Yep. Culture probably needs to change.

24:45Justin: Yeah.

24:45Andrew: Yep.

24:46Justin: Okay. NHL moment of the week.

24:49Andrew: NHL moment of the week.

24:50Justin: So we wanted to just briefly talk about the rant in trade. The multi piece rant and trade that included former Windsor Spitfires Taylor hall, former

24:59Andrew: first overall pick, former Edmonds and Oiler.

25:01Justin: Yeah. Taylor hall going from Chicago to Carolina. But yeah. So Rantnen and Jack Jury Yeah. Go from Colorado to Carolina.

25:10Andrew: Yes.

25:10Justin: And then Martin Nikas. And who's the other person?

25:15Andrew: Taylor hall goes from Chicago. Because the Aud salary somewhere.

25:20Justin: Chicago.

25:21Andrew: I didn't get how much or whose salary the Aud But Chicago is involved for picks, for eating salary.

25:27Justin: Yes.

25:27Andrew: And then they traded, but they also

25:29Justin: got Taylor hall and they.

25:30Andrew: Chicago traded Taylor hall to Carolina.

25:32Justin: Right.

25:33Andrew: So Carolina came away, got rid of nature and picked up Rantman and Hall.

25:39Justin: Yes.

25:40Andrew: And Drury.

25:40Justin: No, no, Drury went to Colorado with.

25:43Andrew: See, it's confusing.

25:44Justin: This is a very confusing three team trade.

25:46Andrew: Nature. Drury to Colorado and then hall and Ranton to Carolina and then money off the books to Chicago and picks.

25:56Justin: Yes. It sounds like Colorado has another half million in savings.

26:00Andrew: Yeah.

26:01Justin: And then everything else.

26:02Andrew: Well, the weird thing is that it came in late at night.

26:05Justin: Yep.

26:05Andrew: The captain of the team, Nate McKinnon, the lifeblood.

26:08Justin: Not the captain. The.

26:10Andrew: Not the captain captain.

26:11Justin: The former. The acting captain. He's trying to steal the captaincy.

26:15Andrew: Let's be honest. He's the leader on the team.

26:17Justin: Yeah.

26:17Andrew: Yeah, he's. At this point, I'm surprised they haven't actually passed on the captaincy. Not like in. It's like it should be stripped from Landiscog.

26:24Justin: Yeah.

26:24Andrew: But like in. We don't know if you're ever actually going to play competitive hockey.

26:28Justin: I. I bet if he doesn't play this season, somebody else will get it next season.

26:32Andrew: Somebody else? I don't know.

26:34Justin: I don't think. I don't think Nate Dogg wants it.

26:36Andrew: I think Nate Dogg has to get it, though.

26:38Justin: He's.

26:38Andrew: He's the best player on the team.

26:39Justin: Yeah.

26:40Andrew: Yeah.

26:40Justin: But I don't think he wants it. I don't know. He's gonna make them all eat his high pr.

26:45Andrew: Yeah, he is a freak. I will say that. He is an absolute freak of a human being.

26:50Justin: My favorite.

26:50Andrew: He's never had any sort of sugar or anything. That's bizarre.

26:54Justin: Yeah. You're a weird guy.

26:55Andrew: Maybe he's a weird guy.

26:57Justin: I don't know. My favorite description of Nathan McKinnon is that he skates like he hates the ice.

27:02Andrew: Yes, absolutely.

27:03Justin: That is super accurate.

27:05Andrew: Yes, he is. His quads are much like Crosby's quads. I don't know. They're making them different out East. But anyway, back to the trade.

27:12Justin: Yes.

27:12Andrew: It came in late at night. You didn't tell your leader on your team that you were doing it. It's his line, mate.

27:18Justin: Yeah.

27:18Andrew: Super weird. Martin Neches, I think, is honestly having career year. So, like, he slides right in. There, I don't think it'll be a big deal, but like, it was contract based. They couldn't extend ranting.

27:31Justin: And the weird part about not extending renting is because we don't know what the. We're obviously not at the trade deadline. We've been told that we're going to find out during Four nations what the salary cap is going to be over the next three years.

27:45Andrew: Yeah, it's obviously going up quite a bit.

27:47Justin: There's. There's already been hints that it's going to be $100 million in. In three years.

27:52Andrew: Yeah, it's going up a lot.

27:54Justin: And I know it sounded like they offered him artemi Panera money, so 11.5 or something. Million. And he wanted more than that. And it goes okay.

28:05Andrew: Which is not crazy because he has something like the third or fourth most points since he's been in the league.

28:12Justin: Yeah. Okay, now we are on to the greatest Ranger of all time.

28:20Andrew: The Groot.

28:21Justin: The Groot. I didn't get the high register. It was a little. It was a little sticky for me.

28:27Andrew: It was rough.

28:27Justin: Yeah.

28:28Andrew: Yep.

28:28Justin: Andrew, who is your groat this week?

28:32Andrew: Oh, I'm excited about this one. All right. Remember we talked about the fantasy draft?

28:38Justin: Yes.

28:38Andrew: What do we need more of? Goaltenders standing 5 foot 9, weighing 181 pounds, hailing from Justin. Is that your.

28:48Justin: That's not far off from my stats. Okay.

28:50Andrew: You?

28:51Justin: Yeah. Okay.

28:52Andrew: Are you a better goalie than you are a shooter?

28:54Justin: I can't skate, so probably not. All right.

28:56Andrew: I can't really skate either, but I can move my feet back and forth.

29:00Justin: Good.

29:01Andrew: And then I can drag my feet to stop.

29:02Justin: I also am not bendy in any

29:05Andrew: way, shape or form. No, that I agree with.

29:07Justin: I'm.

29:07Andrew: I'm also very unflexible.

29:09Justin: Okay. Anyways.

29:10Andrew: Hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia and a member of the Nova Scotia Sport hall of Fame, he is the only player in hockey history to win the four Cups, the Memorial Cup, the Calder cup, the Stanley cup and the now defunct Turner cup of the IHL. IHL was a minor pro league like the AHL. Eventually six teams from the IHL was absorbed into the AHL.

29:39Justin: Oh, cool.

29:40Andrew: In 2000. He played three seasons with the Kitchener Rangers from 1980 to 1983, leading them to to a J. Ross Robertson cup in his rookie season and both the J. Ross Robertson and the Memorial Cup in his second season. He finished his Kitchener Rangers career with a career regular season record of 98, 51 and 3 and a playoff record of 27, 7. He was drafted in the fourth round, number 73 overall by the Vancouver Canucks and then again first by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1992 expansion draft. He was a career NHL backup playing 100100 and 87 games for Vancouver, Philly, Tampa and Pittsburgh where he won the two cups as the backup. Oh, he spent the rest of his playing career in the AHL and IHL primarily with the Chicago Wolves of the ihl, where he became their all time leader in games played with 322 wins with 169 saves with 8467. He. He led minutes, playoff wins, single season saves and shutouts with 16. He has the most consecutive playoff wins in AHL history, the most consecutive wins and longest unbeaten streak in IHL history. He was named IHL man of the year in 2001 for Chicago in their last IHL season. For his community service, Chicago was absorbed into the ahl. As I was saying, in that following year, his number one jersey has been retired by the Wolves. It was the first jersey ever retired by the Chicago Wolves. He went on to become the Calgary Flames goaltending coach from 2001 to 2003.

31:21Justin: That's a great organization.

31:22Andrew: That was a pretty good time for goalies for Calgary, don't you think? And then he became an assistant coach with the Wolves for six seasons until transitioning to GM, where he spent the last 15 seasons until being named Vice chairman this year. Wow. He captured the Stanley cup in 9192 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 1990 or the 1988 Calder cup with the Hershey Bears, the 1982 Memorial Cup with our Kitchener Rangers, and the 1998 and 2000 Turner Cups with the Wolves. He was also behind the bench as a coach for the Wolves 2008 Calder cup victory. And he was the GM of the 2022 Calder cup champion Wolves, known as the Ringmaster. Wendell Young.

32:10Justin: Wow. Wendell Young. I remember him behind at the Flames practices and things like that with Mr. Kiprosoft. Yeah.

32:17Andrew: Pretty good goalie. He coached there.

32:19Justin: Yeah. That's awesome. Cool. I had no idea he was. There you go. Such a great kid and such a

32:25Andrew: great professional career in hockey.

32:27Justin: Cool.

32:28Andrew: It doesn't all have to happen in the NHL as we know.

32:30Justin: It doesn't. Absolutely not. All right. Ready for my groat.

32:35Andrew: Oh, I'm so ready.

32:36Justin: His journey started in galt, Andrew in 1957 when he was born, which is also the part of Cambridge that I live in.

32:44Andrew: That's exciting.

32:45Justin: It wasn't Cambridge when he was born, the Aud was just Galt.

32:48Andrew: Dude just doxed himself.

32:49Justin: Yeah. He began his junior hockey career with the Peterborough Petes in 1973. But it was when he arrived in kitchener for the 197576 season season that he truly became a force to be reckoned with. In his first year with the Rangers, he netted 50 goals and 36 assists for 86 points. The following season, despite playing only 35 games, he put up 43 goals and 45 assists for 88 points.

33:17Andrew: That's unreal.

33:18Justin: The numbers were staggering. His clutch performances, his ability to change the game in an instant. This wasn't just another junior star. This was a player destined for something bigger. And the scouts noticed. In 1977, he was drafted 28th overall by the Atlanta Flames. The dream of the NHL became a reality only over two seasons. He laced up for 79 games, scoring 15 goals and 21 assists for 36 points with the Flames and the St. Louis Blues. But something wasn't right. Opportunities were limited, ice time inconsistent. The league saw his potential. But he needed a place where he could shine. So he made a choice. One that extended his career and solidified his legend. He took his talents to the Central Hockey League, where he became a dominant force for the Indianapolis Checkers, racking up back to back 98 point seasons. And when Europe came calling, he answered. Switzerland's National League A became his next stage, where he continued to light the lamp and cement his legacy as one of the best Canadian exports in European hockey. But when we talk about the greatest to ever wear the Rangers jerseys, we aren't talking about his time in the NHL, the CHL or European. He ranks second only to fellow groat Brian Bellows in total points for players who played just two seasons with the Rangers. We're talking about the player who made the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium his personal playground. The player who put up 176 goals and 140 assists in just two seasons. The player who embodied everything it meant to be a Ranger. And that's why when you talk about the greatest Ranger of all time, you can't skip Donald. Red Lawrence.

34:53Andrew: Red Lawrence.

34:55Justin: Yeah, that's right.

34:55Andrew: Yes.

34:56Justin: Pretty like.

34:57Andrew: Oh yeah.

34:57Justin: 35 games to get 88 points. Yeah. Insane.

35:00Andrew: I definitely had Red Lawrence on a short list at one point.

35:04Justin: We want to hear about your groats.

35:05Andrew: Yes, give us your groats.

35:07Justin: Feel free to send them to us on the social medias or the emails.

35:11Andrew: Please do that. Which you can do @theaudpodcast, on Instagram, Twitter and and TikTok as well as on YouTube. Now, I don't know if you can send us anything on YouTube, but we are there.

35:24Justin: You could comment on this video.

35:25Andrew: Exactly. You could comment. Exactly. People love to comment on YouTube. They don't they?

35:30Justin: Yep.

35:31Andrew: You can also email us@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd love to hear from you.

35:37Justin: Yeah. And a couple thank yous for this week. Of course, we want to thank Ken Born director of branding and marketing.

35:42Andrew: If you're watching on YouTube, you can see the wonderful hat that, that he's got us sporting here. Yes.

35:48Justin: Very good. Of course, our prodigal producer, Liam the phenom. And the Kitchener Public Library for hosting us again this week, the home away from home. Speaking of homes, you can find us

35:59Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

36:03Justin: See you at the Aud