20: Across the Pond Scum

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:01Justin: I learned something this week and I don't really know what to do with this. Windsor is London's main rival. I thought it was us. I thought it was the AudPod. We were London's main rival. I mean, about this.

0:15Andrew: Here's the deal. They can say whatever they want. I'm in their heads online.

0:20Justin: Yes, you are.

0:20Andrew: London fans know about the AudPod because I'm in there with my thumbs every week.

0:27Justin: Even when we lose, I'm in their heads. Even when we lose, I'm in their heads.

0:32Andrew: So I'm loving it because they're driving engagement for us. They probably appreciate it because I'm assuming there's not a lot to do in London and interact with a Kitchener Rangers podcast because, you know, that's.

0:44Justin: Yeah, I mean, you're like the lechar of Internet trolling.

0:48Andrew: I get in there. If I'm not there. No, if I'm in there. I have been trolling on the Internet for almost 20 years now.

0:55Justin: So you probably got your 10,000 hours of trolling. Oh, yeah.

0:59Andrew: I am a master of trolling for sure. Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas.

1:19Justin: All right, so we got a bunch of games to recap this week, so we should probably get into that because

1:23Andrew: we gotta do four. We have to do four whole games. Y.

1:27Justin: So yeah, and they were all away games. All of them.

1:31Andrew: Very strange.

1:31Justin: Strange.

1:32Andrew: Tough road trip.

1:33Justin: Yeah, I don't like the road trips. I want home games.

1:37Andrew: And there was no Friday night at the Aud prime against humanity.

1:42Justin: The first game we're gonna talk about. So this was the game that we were recording during last week with Soo Greyhounds So we're just gonna quickly go over that. Even though this was not a quick game.

1:51Andrew: Not at all. It was the longest game, I think, ever, really. Not in Tommy Kut to get deep into rounds of shootouts, per se.

2:01Justin: Yes, 15 rounds of shootouts, to be perfectly clear. Yeah, it.

2:07Andrew: I'm looking at the box score here right now, and it's absolutely insane how many of them missed in and didn't score. So we had shabble and net, and not only did he stand tall, but he stopped. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 out of 15 shots in the shootout, Nolan L. Stopped only one less and had to lose and had to go away with a loss. Jason Schaubel had a bit of a shaky first period, but then bounced back. And quite literally, you Know, stole the game there in the sense of the, you know, to stop 13 out of 15 in the shootout, that's. I don't know too many goalies who can do that.

2:57Justin: Well, we, we've talked about this a few times. The Rangers have the most shootout experience in the OHL right now because they went nine straight in the preseason with shootouts and played a bunch of those games. It was six. It was crazy. And we've had quite a few shootouts in the season.

3:13Andrew: I know. And now it's coming back.

3:15Justin: Yeah, it was good. I'm glad that we can do that. Thank you to the Rangers for getting that practice in. When do you ever have time to practice shootouts?

3:23Andrew: I know it's every day shootouts, you know.

3:25Justin: This was another game where the Rangers, it felt like they came out strong in this game at the beginning and the Soo just capitalized early. Like the Rangers weren't able to get one in early and the Soo did. Reed had one of the craziest tips of the year off a swig pass for a goal and Lechar got a sneaky one. Pridham and Humphreys, like they were all tip as well.

3:49Andrew: Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was a exciting game, which it seems like it's always kind of exciting with the Soo The talent level of the high end Rangers, I think kind of overwhelmed them in that third period and towards the end of the second period because they actually scored with 29 seconds left in the, in the second. So yeah, towards the end of the game I felt like the, the talent level of the Rangers started to outshine. They took a lot more shots throughout the game. They dominated overtime. They had an opportunity, a couple opportunities in overtime.

4:19Justin: Yeah, it was pretty nuts. I mean, I Sam O'Reilly think I was reading on the stats sheet that Critten and Humphreys together had 12 shots and nine high danger scoring chances. And I think a number of those came in the third and ot. I think Britom got probably the most opportunities in OT to end it.

4:40Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. And I don't normally want to highlight the scraps or anything like that, but there was a fight in this game and there was an instigator awarded to a Sue player. And let me tell you, he won't forget the lesson he learned. Andrew MacNiel I mean, he's an overager, but whatever. And Andrew MacNiel is not an overager, but Andrew MacNiel is not a 19 year old and basically fed him his lunch. Just straight left.

5:12Justin: I couldn't believe it, man.

5:14Andrew: I'm sitting there watching It. Then they give the.

5:16Justin: They give the kid an instigator and I'm like, oh, no, you can't do that. You can't do that, man. That's not insult injury. And.

5:25Andrew: And the Rangers were benefiting from that. And I was still like, maybe. Maybe you don't need to give them the extra two minutes this time.

5:33Justin: Yeah, you can just forget that one.

5:35Andrew: I'm glad they don't show highlights and stuff like that. I understand why they don't. The crowd. The crowd did not love this one. That's all.

5:43Justin: I know.

5:44Andrew: Very politely. I just haven't seen one like that

5:47Justin: in a long time.

5:48Andrew: Andrew won a academic player of the.

5:52Justin: Yeah, he's very smart.

5:53Andrew: Very smart guy. And. And I gotta say that Katie fought it smarts, let's put it that way.

5:59Justin: So he's both mightier with the pan and the sword. Yes.

6:04Andrew: Not to be trifled with, Andrew McGill.

6:07Justin: All right, so then after the Soo game, we headed to Flint.

6:12Andrew: Flint.

6:12Justin: Oh, flint. Oh, yeah. I just got. I just got to say the Fighter Birds. I got to say the Flint camera angles crack me up because the Soo low. And like literally every time somebody on the side that the cameras are on has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the period, it like blocks the Andrew play.

6:33Andrew: It's unbelievably funny. It's definitely a charm of junior hockey is some of the broadcast quality not necessarily in the personnel. I appreciate a lot of people are volunteering their time. However, the technical aspects of trying to stream a certain quality of hockey in these older arenas that weren't ever designed with the Aud that this was going to be filmed to this degree. So it is kind of funny. And I mean, you can't say too much because there are awful, awful angles in the NHL as well.

7:06Justin: Oh, for sure. This one is just particularly funny because it's obviously not that big of a building and the angle is just so low that they can't. You know, you got to go get some popcorn. Everyone. Everyone on the podcast knows, which is a good segue.

7:21Andrew: I hope you brought your popcorn because this was a goalie battle. This was a duel. This is two very skilled goalies. Nathan Day for Flint. And of course, our guy, the AudPod guy, Jackson Parsons dueled each other. It was. The shots were 34. 34. And it was obviously another shootout. This one didn't go. This one went the minimum.

7:47Justin: Yes.

7:48Andrew: This one was only a three rounder

7:50Justin: by the time they got. The Rangers scored what? They scored two goals in the first five minutes of this game and then didn't score until the shootout. They were just ready to score again.

7:59Andrew: It wasn't for lack of trying. They did get outplayed in the third, I felt. And they struggled to get the puck on the net in overtime. But they outplayed Flint for the majority of the game, at least the first two periods pretty handily. That said, Flint did score in the second, so it wasn't so much deflating because they obviously won the game. But there was a little bit of a lull in the third for sure. Yeah.

8:26Justin: Except for Cameron Reid That was what I noticed in the. Soo it was like the first period was the Rangers. They got their two goals quick. I was like this game done and dusted. We'll see you tomorrow then. That wasn't the case at all. And the Soo yeah, second period was like, okay, they are due for a goal. Specifically Cameron Reid was due for a goal. That man, he put on so many good shots on, on the net or, and, and just missed by a little bit. Or Nathan Day was playing out of his mind. Yeah, it's like, dude, you just need one.

8:55Andrew: Yeah. Cameron Reid is playing at an incredibly high level. He scored obviously in that sue game. He could have had two in the Flint game. We're going to talk about him again in the next game because he scores there as well. He's a very different player than Hunter Brustevich. The impact that Cameron Reid is having on the game is definitely the same echelon. He is just an elite player. It feels like he's being slept on a little bit. Draft ranking wise. I think he's high on some guys boards and on some boards he's not even really being talked about. I think if you, you know, it's the eye test for me. Right. Because we don't really have any advanced analytics for the OHL and at least that we're available to us. Honestly. There's an argument to be made that we don't have great defensive analytics period in hockey. They're, they're, they're, they're perfunctory. We can, you know, we can draw conclusions from the data. And he's playing big minutes. I see him probably as one of the most talented offensive players on the team in the league.

10:02Justin: Yeah, for sure. Maybe second to the defenseman in the Saginaw game. Well, he's playing pretty high up.

10:09Andrew: He's a bit younger too. So one's already been drafted ones in the draft year. So you know that that's a big step that one year, right?

10:16Justin: Yeah, for sure.

10:17Andrew: Back to the game, 3 to 2. The Rangers won, back to back. Shootout wins. Things are going good, we're feeling good about it. Parson's got a shootout win and then we're going to Saginaw.

10:30Justin: Yeah, Saginaw. I was looking up what had happened with Saginaw lately. They lost the night before, nine to five.

10:37Andrew: Always bad. Anytime. As an Oilers fan, and I'm sure you as a Flames fan, what I always hope for if we're hosting a team on the second half of back to backs is that they won the night before. You always hope that your opponent is coming off a win.

10:54Justin: Yep. And that's what Saginaw got.

10:57Andrew: Yeah. Unfortunately it was a. A 5 to 4 win for Saginaw was an absurd game as far as scoring is concerned.

11:05Justin: Totally.

11:06Andrew: Because in the first period, literally less than 12 minutes into the game, it was three nothing Saginaw. And then the Rangers got one 30 seconds later keep themselves in it. Trent Swick, who we haven't talked about and we're going to have to talk about later because Trent Swick had a absolute killer week. He factored in all the games, he was a major contributor in all the games he scored. He kept them in it. And he actually scored twice in this game. So he didn't get the second goal,

11:36Justin: but he had the third goal.

11:36Andrew: Vermeulin from Grolia and Bi, which is the depth scoring that we talked about last episode, got them on the board early. Second period, which was that Vermeulen goal

11:47Justin: is the craziest goal I've ever seen.

11:49Andrew: Unbelievable.

11:51Justin: Bounced off two defensemen into the net.

11:54Andrew: Unbelievable. What that's the crazy thing is when you see a goal like that and you're down three to nothing early and now it's three to one and now it's three to two on a goal like that, you start to think, okay, we're going to win this game because that's the puck luck you need to overcome a 3 nothing deficit in the first period.

12:12Justin: Right.

12:12Andrew: They didn't get that kind of puck luck and. And they outplayed Brampton in that game where they were down 4 to nothing. But they had no puck luck later on in the game. And bottom lines is you can't overcome that kind of deficit unless you get a bounce here or there.

12:27Justin: Yeah, it kind of felt like Swick got. He got a bit of puck luck on his goal. The first goal too, because it oak kind of overextended and lost his footing on his bar. And just sort of like swept in into the net with the puck and not that it wasn't deserved. Swick has been playing like crazy. Yeah, it was like those runs where it was like, thank God we got one just to sort of like swing the momentum. And it really did, starting in the second, definitely.

12:49Andrew: And then obviously before the second was over, swores again. And then Cameron Reid gets a goal that we talked about in the last game. He finally gets that goal that was overdue. He scored on the power play. Now the significant thing about this is Christian Humphreys set up three of the four goals.

13:04Justin: Yes.

13:05Andrew: You know, he had two primary assists and a secondary assist. And on the power play, that secondary assist was a nice pass to Pridham. So it's not necessarily look down your nose at a secondary assist on a power play, but Christian Humphreys hasn't missed a beat. I mean, so now they're up four to three in this game. I'm thinking, oh man, this is like that game back that I was at when the Andalorian was born. And basically it was. All of a sudden it was like four to one and the wheels fell off saginaw. So I figured, okay, we got these guys. We're in their heads. They're, they're. They've fallen behind now. We just got to keep the pressure up.

13:42Justin: We had lots of opportunities in the third. Oak was good. He played well. Parsons played well. I actually never felt like either team fell off. I just felt like, you know, saginaw just got. I was surprised that they got two goals, but they got two goals. And to me it was like nobody lost this game really. Like they both fought to the end, like.

13:59Andrew: Yeah. And I feel like they ran out of gas in the sense of they didn't stop trying. I just felt like, yeah, if they weren't on a third game of a four game road trip, maybe that four to three when you go up, then the avalanche happens and you just keep popping them in. If it's Friday night at the Aud and you score four straight, oh, I kind of feel like, yeah, it feels like maybe the avalanche happens, but you know, that's, you know, it's hard. You're in their building and they get the next one. And usually when it's halfway through the third and you're up four to three and the trailing team gets the next one, a lot of the times they get the winner as well. So it's. That's kind of the way hockey is. Yep.

14:39Justin: It's true. Prick. He's so good. It's crazy.

14:42Andrew: A goal and this game.

14:44Justin: Very talented in the NHL.

14:47Andrew: Yeah. And it. He feels quite responsible as well. He's not really asked to do a lot of that in Saginaw, so it'll be interesting to see how he plays in a system that preaches responsible defensive play.

15:01Justin: And then we see our old friends. A Tuesday night game against London were

15:06Andrew: their side piece, apparently. I guess, I mean, because they're both over there away from everything good and close to everything bad.

15:15Justin: They got no one else. Well, Saginaw's there too. They're all kind of over there.

15:18Andrew: I mean, read between the lines.

15:20Justin: They were like. They're like, bad. Do you want to be partners with Saginaw, Sarnia or Windsor? Windsor, please.

15:27Andrew: No, they're. They're right along the border there, I guess. You know, so I'm just throwing shade there. I mean, obviously I. I don't want to throw too much shade, but if we.

15:37Justin: We did lose five to three, so there's only so much shade we can throw.

15:41Andrew: Yes, it's true. Unfortunately, uh, they were heavily outshot in the first period. That didn't result in anything more than a one to nothing lead. However, the second period, there was hope. Like, it wasn't necessarily like you were outclassed or you were. You played poorly or anything. It was just that London is a powerhouse team. They're trying to win it all. Going into the season, they were a favorite to win it all. We were a rebuilding team. We're, you know, exceeding all expectation. And London is meeting expectation. Yep. Literally what it is. Do I think they can be London? Yes, they have beat London. Do I think they've played their best games against London? Yes and no. They've played some good games against London. They've played some poor games against London. The bottom line is you can't go over three on the power play against London. But the positive was they were 5 for 5 on the PK against London. They were so.

16:49Justin: And I think that's 14 straight penalty kills against London as well.

16:53Andrew: And honestly, London gets the first goal, then the second period starts and the Rangers get the next two goals. And then London gets the first goal in the first period. Then Kitchener gets the next two goals in the second period. And then before the period's over, London ties it up, the third starts, and Carson Campbell scores one, which was great to see because I love when Soup scores. It's the. The best. And you think, oh, man, we're ahead again. Did it ever really feel like they were really controlling the game? No, no. And the Aud ends up happening in the third is they pour it on late thing because I feel like London does this shutdown thing and they ex, they succeed when they have the lead. When London's chasing, it's not as. It's a much more even game. But when London gets that, that goal five minutes later in the third and then the go ahead goal four minutes later, three and a half minutes after that, which Easton Cowan extended the points. The bottom line is, is I felt like with nine minutes left, yeah, the Rangers were going to throw the kitchen sink Medvedev. But it's. They just do this shutdown thing. It's almost like they trap. I know they're not trapping, but it's almost like they trap. They just don't let anything through.

18:11Justin: Can't get a pass through. Like it sticks. Blocking everything.

18:14Andrew: And then that's it. I mean that's what London does. They just, they pull you down and they choke you out and that's how they play.

18:20Justin: And they're very good. Romano got one goal from the second best pass from the ass of the season.

18:27Andrew: Yes, yes.

18:29Justin: And it was a sneaky short side like that really high shoulder goal. It was great. And absolutely tender. Lamb made that happen. Good on you, man.

18:38Andrew: Bottom line is I feel like we're way ahead of schedule. London is on track. London just got beat by Windsor and I feel like, you know, we've got a good chance to outlast these teams. I mean, Jackson Parsons has been playing really well, but you know, could he go toe to toe with London or Windsor in a seven game series and, and kind of shock the world even though we're, we're right there with these? I think so. Absolutely. So you're going to have to lean on him in a playoff series and hope that you're disciplined and that your power play gets hot. I think if their power play gets hot, they're disciplined. And Jackson Parson continues to play out of his mind. They can beat these teams. They can go to the, they can

19:22Justin: go all the way and in a seven game series they're going to find their breakouts for sure.

19:26Andrew: Absolutely. And it's all going to come down to special teams because special teams in depth and then we know the depth is there and we know the depth scores. But that power play is so streaky. It's so streaky that it's. Some nights it looks great and some nights it's like, okay, huh? What are we doing now? I also will argue that I think they should get a few more opportunities and it seems like from one night to the next, the Soo game, there were 11 power plays and there were four power play goals, two for each team. And then you look at the Flint game and there was two power plays each and nobody scored. So you're telling me really at this stage of the game that it's that disciplined of.

20:10Justin: Of. Of hockey that there's that big of

20:12Andrew: a gap night to night. No, it's how they're calling it.

20:15Justin: All right, so technically had a losing weekend. So we got to do the good, the bad and the ugly. Andrew, what's your good?

20:22Andrew: My good is Trent Swick. I felt like he was kind of the through line. I felt like he had understated but very strong performances in both the wins and the losses. I think that if Trent Swick is starting to score more often, if he's starting to score two points, you know, one and a half points a game, starts to average it out now, and he's scoring one goal here and he's scoring two assists here, whatever. And if he's just consistently on the score sheet with everyone else contributing, then I think the Rangers will win a lot more often than not. It. Not that he doesn't usually. I mean he usually does, but it just. To me, when Trent Swick is having a Trent Swick game, the Rangers win.

21:09Justin: My good is. Is a build on that. It's. The Swick, Pridham and Humphreys line together has been pretty phenomenal. They're like the definition of gel Humphreys. No, look past to Swick against Flint was a thing of beauty. Swick scored, they scored four goals and they had 10 assists between the three of them in the four games, they had three shootout goals. But I know it's individual effort, but I mean they each. That's what they had. They put up 14 points in four games. Those three guys.

21:36Andrew: Yeah. Honorable mention to Jason Schaubel for the shootout.

21:42Justin: Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

21:43Andrew: The 15 rounds. The only reason I didn't want was because he. He wasn't his best game. But the only reason I. I didn't give him my good this week was just that it. It wasn't a great. It. It wasn't a great beginning to that game. However, he finished an honorable mention.

21:58Justin: Yeah. All right. What's your bad?

22:00Andrew: My bad is that I feel like there's a mental block with. With London.

22:09Justin: Right.

22:10Andrew: I don't think that it's necessarily a talent thing or which. Don't get me wrong, they're very talented. They're full of Nepo babies They're whispers that they pay their players. The bottom line is I do feel like London is kind of the big bad wolf in this. And it feels, and this is just, I'm just talking about the, the hockey team and the franchise which has done a really good job of creating this culture around itself and creating this like, you know, like Yankees of, of the New York Yankees of the ohl. So I think it's bad that I feel that way after really only following the team in depth for one season because I'm already feeling this and I'm already kind of like eye rolling. However, I do love trolling the London fans, so I do live for that.

22:58Justin: But good and a bad.

22:59Andrew: It's a good and a bad, but it's mostly bad. I don't like that feeling. I don't like feeling, dare I say, like little brother in any situation. So I feel bad about the London Knights games.

23:12Justin: Yeah, my bad. This week is our first periods. Last week all we talked about was our first periods. We came out super hot and then we basically coasted the rest of the game. This week it was like we didn't show up for the first periods, we showed up for the seconds, but by then we were already behind and that happened in three games. And some of those we could overcome. In some games we didn't. So yes, that's my bad.

23:37Andrew: Yes.

23:38Justin: What's your ugly?

23:40Andrew: Well, it's kind of a double edged sword here with London because ugly is their color scheme.

23:47Justin: They got a little bit of a subway sandwich situation going on. They really do.

23:51Andrew: Okay, I. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's not my ugly. However, I think it applies. I think it doesn't basically. And I don't want. It's hard because like I said, it was a four games on the road in a row, but I felt like the shot AudPod compared to like everything the shot AudPod the possession numbers in both the Aud in the first against London, eight in the second period against London, six in the first against saginaw, eight in the third against sa. Yeah, it's very indicative how often you've had the puck, you know, and realistically that's when those games were, were they could have changed the outcome of those games in those periods had they scored one, had they had more pressure, had they literally just not given up goals in those periods where they didn't have the puck a lot. That's my ugly.

24:43Justin: My ugly is that we didn't get a home broadcast this week. I missed our guys. I did too. I missed Our camera angles. I missed. I missed our. Our broadcast theme. Yeah, I missed the Aud Yeah.

24:54Andrew: Yeah.

24:55Justin: I think this is our first. The first episode where we talked about only games on the road. I think every other week we've talked about home games.

25:02Andrew: I think you're right.

25:03Justin: Even if there's only one home game, I just need that Friday night game.

25:07Andrew: I agree. It grounds me.

25:10Justin: Speaking of Friday night games, we have one coming this Friday night.

25:14Andrew: Yes, we do.

25:15Justin: It's got the Aud and we're playing Owen Sound.

25:18Andrew: Oh, yeah.

25:20Justin: I hope so. We. We beat them two weeks ago five to one. We're 3, 0 and 1 against them this season. We got two more games against them. We play a lot of games against Owen Sound in our division and Carter George always shows up for these games, so it's always fun to watch.

25:33Andrew: Great goalie.

25:34Justin: It is.

25:34Andrew: It's a great matchup because, like, they're not in the place that we're in right now. But they bring it.

25:39Justin: So they do bring it. I would say that those four games that we played against them have all been quite memorable. I look forward to Niagara to play the Ice Dogs for the second time. And we're playing against. He is him, but he is not him because Ryan Rock is really the. He is him of the Niagara Ice Dogs these days. So he's taken over all the stat. Stat lines from. From Kevin he. So that.

26:06Andrew: And him now.

26:08Justin: And now him.

26:09Andrew: Yeah, he and Ryan. Ryan is him.

26:12Justin: Ryan is he. Who's on first. Yeah, I'm lost. Yeah. And then we play another Tuesday night game. We're home at the Aud and we're playing the Oshawa Generals.

26:24Andrew: Oh, that's going to be a great game. That is a great timing because I think, you know, you got to try and take both Owen Sound and Niagara on the road. You got to try and get at least. You got to at least get three points. You know, you got to try and beat Owen Sound in there. You know, if you lose a shootout or a close one or whatever to Niagara, Niagara's talented squad. But you want to try and win both of them, obviously. But Oshawa is. That is going to be a test. That is going to be a. A game to watch.

26:54Justin: Yeah. We haven't seen because the Rangers have not played that many Eastern teams yet. We don't really know how the east stacks up to the Rangers.

27:05Andrew: And the east is.

27:05Justin: Is.

27:06Andrew: There's going to be an Eastern road trip coming up after that.

27:08Justin: Yes.

27:09Andrew: When we'll preview that next episode.

27:11Justin: Yeah. So we're going to get. Like we talked about this last week, we play the east for most of our games in the rest of the season, so it'll be interesting to see. Oshawa is going to be great. Beckett Seneca and Colby Barlow, they like to score goals. Hopefully I didn't just curse the team.

27:26Andrew: Very good. I mean, maybe you curse them.

27:29Justin: Yeah.

27:29Andrew: Colby, 35 year old, facial hair.

27:32Justin: He just looks like he owns a cannabis shop in, like downtown Ottawa.

27:36Andrew: Like he could be on the AudPod. Yeah, yeah.

27:39Justin: One of the dods on the Dodd pod. Great hockey player.

27:42Andrew: And now it is time for the

27:46Justin: greatest Ranger of all time.

27:48Andrew: I'd yell, but my baby's sleeping. Oh, yeah, the groat.

27:53Justin: The groat. It was a baby groat.

27:57Andrew: Asmr. Asmr. Groat.

27:59Justin: Because we haven't said it in a long time. The groat is the greatest Ranger of all time. Andrew and I are nominated.

28:07Andrew: You just said it.

28:08Justin: I know, but I haven't.

28:11Andrew: Every episode you say the greatest Ranger of all time.

28:15Justin: I know, but we have the YouTube now. People don't know what the groat is.

28:20Andrew: You have to say it every episode.

28:22Justin: But. I know.

28:23Andrew: Say it.

28:23Justin: I'm just trying to explain what we're doing. Let me explain it. Quiet.

28:28Andrew: Your baby's sleeping.

28:30Justin: No, she's not. She never sleeps. Oh, yeah, she's awake and screams at me all the time. So now this is my time to take out my screams. That's.

28:41Andrew: You're already. You're already vindictive with this human being.

28:45Justin: Okay, so the ground is. Andrew and I are nominating different players from the Rangers. Fast history of terrific players that have played for the Rangers over the last 60 years that they have been around. The Rangers have. Have won the Memorial Cup twice. We are picking any and all players even from before the origination. Origination? Is that a word?

29:09Andrew: No, but it could be. You sit with such confidence.

29:12Justin: The origination of the ohl, when it was the oha.

29:16Andrew: Yeah. The Andrew Major junior.

29:18Justin: Yeah. So there's been lots of iterations and the Rangers have been here for all of it. 1963. Yeah. So.

29:25Andrew: And before.

29:27Justin: Yeah, we are picking players. We are nominating the Aud we're going to do with those is there may or may not be a fantasy draft coming. And then we're also going to do a bracket challenge, probably on Instagram and. Or YouTube. I don't know how to do that, but I think you can do polls on YouTube. So we're going to do a bracket challenge. We're going to get all of you involved?

29:45Andrew: Yes.

29:46Justin: Who is your groat nomination this week?

29:48Andrew: Well, let me tell you about this fine young man. And I say that because he's younger than me and he's still playing in the NHL. This guy was born May 16, 1992 in Markham, Andrew He's the second youngest of five children. His brother Ben was also in the Kitchener Rangers system. All right. I thought that was pretty cool. That is pretty cool. He was involved in both ice hockey and figure skating growing up and won a bronze medal in the juvenile division at the 2004 Canadian Junior National Figure Skating Championships. He is known far and wide for having a great attitude, being a powerful skater and having an elite release on his shot. Also interesting was that he actually played midget hockey on the wing of future Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landiscog. Another groat. Another groat, yes. He also, much like Gabriel Landescogne, won the Calder trophy as the NHL's top rookie in his first season. He was drafted 20th overall in the 2008 Andrew Hockey League draft by our Kitchener Rangers. He made his ohl debut on September the Aud he scored right away two goals and assists, four two over the now defunct Plymouth Whaler Whalers. He was selected to compete with Team Canada as part of the under 17 hockey challenge and won the gold medal with the Golden Goal, the game winning goal. He also won Rangers academic Player of the Month award where he went to Eastwood Collegiate Institute. This is a smart guy. Everybody loves this kid. He led the Rangers in scoring through his rookie campaign and participated in the Ivan Pelinka Memorial Tournament playing for Team Canada. Won another gold, scored six goals in in the tournament, came back immediately became assistant Captain as a 17 year old. He scored 50 goals in the regular season and led all CHL draft eligible forwards in scoring. He became the first Ranger in 23 years to reach the 50 goal milestone. Despite this, he actually wasn't ranked very high by Central Scouting. 47th. That was mid season and 34th the final rankings. All right, what's insane about this, this guy's junior career is he scored 97 goals in two seasons, 50 in the in his sophomore year in 64 games and then in the playoffs in 09010 he had 20 goals in 20 games. He had 33 points in that playoff run. So just to say like he's also doing this as one of the youngest draft eligible players in the ohl because he's a May baby, right? So he's right there. Didn't matter. He's drafted seventh overall by Carolina in 2010. All right. Hurricane's director of amateur scouting said there's nobody in the draft that can score goals like this guy. And he was right. He scored 31 goals in his first season with Carolina and won the Calder. He was named to the 2011 All Star Game as an injury replacement for Sidney crosby. He's the first 18 year old all Star since Steve Iserman.

33:40Justin: Whoa.

33:41Andrew: He beat out Logan Couture for the Calder Memorial and he was the Aud the time the NHL's youngest player. And I think this has held up up until 2024. This year it might change. As the youngest player to win the Calder and he is the first Hurricanes player and I think the only Hurricanes player.

34:00Justin: Think so.

34:01Andrew: To win the Calder. He also was the youngest player in the 2011 World Championships of Hockey. He has scored, not including this year. He scored 357 goals in just over a thousand games. He had a 40 goal season for Buffalo in 2018, 2019. He is small but mighty. He is not getting a fair shot with the Edmonton Oilers. He is being forced to play fourth line minutes. I have a major issue with the person in charge who's making those decisions. Doesn't matter because I think this kid should be on Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl's wing because he can score with the best of the Aud Jeff Skinner.

34:45Justin: Jeff Skinner. Yep. This was, this was a player that we needed to get on this list.

34:50Andrew: Absolutely. Pretty remarkable truly.

34:53Justin: 97 goals in two seasons. Like insane. Insane. Like yeah.

34:58Andrew: And not only that, like he wasn't 18. He wasn't 19. No, he was 16 and 17 doing that.

35:04Justin: It was his first years and then he went away very early.

35:07Andrew: He went away and he immediately won the Calder in Carolina and Al has always been able to score.

35:13Justin: Yeah, that is so true.

35:14Andrew: The crazy thing is he's never played in the playoffs so that'll change this year unless they trade him on to you.

35:21Justin: All right. My groat. Born in Aurora, Andrew He began his junior hockey career with the London Knights in 1980. I almost said 1886, 1986. I told you the Rangers have been around forever and. But okay. But it started in 1986. But it was a mid season trade to the Kitchener Rangers in 87.

35:46Andrew: 88 where he truly found his stride.

35:49Justin: From that moment he was unstoppable. His Kitchener Rangers stats 87. 88. He played 30 games with the Rangers. He scored 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points as a 17 year old. 88. 89. He scored 76 points with 25 goals. And then in 89 90, he scored 90 points with 28 goals and 62 assists. But his regular season stats were stellar. But it was his playoff heroics that cemented his Legacy. In the 1990 playoffs, he set a franchise record that still stands today, amassing 37 points and 16 goals and 21 assists for the most ever points by a Ranger in a single playoff run. It was his ability to rise to the occasion that made him the heartbeat of the team. He was then drafted 17th overall by the Boston Bruins. In 1989, he played 27 NHL games with the Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His NHL stint was short, but his junior hockey impact was unmatched. This week my groat nomination is Shane Stevenson.

37:01Andrew: Nice. Shane Stevenson. Yes. One of the best, the highest scoring playoff run of all.

37:06Justin: So we only have three more groats that we are going to add. This was the 29th groat that we added. So we're going to 32 before we do the bracket challenge.

37:17Andrew: Crazy.

37:18Justin: Yeah.

37:18Andrew: I can't believe it's almost over. Yes, well, the nominations nominations is almost over.

37:24Justin: All right, so we got some thank yous this week. We do Ken Born for all the branding. He's been hooking up our YouTube channel with all the things.

37:32Andrew: It looks so clean. The new graphic is really nice.

37:35Justin: Thank you, Papa Born Yes, thank you. Of course we have to thank our prodigal producer Liam.

37:41Andrew: Oh, the phenom.

37:42Justin: And then you can find us on the social medias. How can you do that, Andrew?

37:47Andrew: You can find us at the AudPod on Instagram, on TikTok, on. On YouTube. We're something different at theaudpodcast. Kitchenerangers I think we are. You should be able to find us through YouTube. Strange search engine. You can also send us an email@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd love to hear from you if you want to try and get a last second groat in there. We're not totally completely decided on the last two out of three. So shoot us a line.

38:23Justin: Yeah. Let us know if it would be greatly beneficial if you could like and subscribe and interact with us on all the places. The London folks love to interact with us. We'd love some more Rangers people interacting.

38:35Andrew: That's true. We attract a lot of London fans who don't have much to do.

38:41Justin: Yes. Or good things to say.

38:44Andrew: That's true. But you know, I have years of experience. I'll drag you down to my level that experience.

38:52Justin: And as always, you can find us

38:55Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. See you at the Aud