32

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:03Justin: So we're back where we were two weeks ago on this day. We were in a series and we were down three to nothing. We are currently down three to nothing because it is 6:21pm Eastern Daylight Time on April 30 Wednesday, which is game four in our series against London.

0:26Andrew: Sure is.

0:27Justin: In 39 minutes, we are going to go watch game four and then in three hours and 29 minutes we're going to come back and record our unfiltered reactions to that game.

0:39Andrew: Unfiltered? Unchecked.

0:41Justin: It could be really bad.

0:43Andrew: Or we could be back to LeBron James meme with the sunglasses and the headphones.

0:49Justin: Exactly. So that's where we're at again. Another series that's not going our way. I mean, we obviously came back from one historically came back with a reverse Soupy So let's just see if we can do it again. Did it once. Why not? Like we. This is the shtick that we've been doing now for three weeks, so hope you like it. But we're in playoffs. There's game. There's consequential games happening every other night. So our podcast comes out on Fridays. It's very hard to pre plan for any of this.

1:16Andrew: Yeah, it's very difficult to stay relevant. So we're gonna break down the games that have already happened and get the Aud to you on the Friday. And hopefully we've got another game going.

1:26Justin: Hopefully Friday will be game five. Well, exactly. We'll talk about that more after the game tonight.

1:34Andrew: Welcome to the AudPod where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin.

1:45Justin: Take it away, fellas. Andrew, things aren't going our way. Tell me, what's the bright spot for this series so far?

1:56Andrew: Well, I think the bright spot for me was game three. They had a lot more jump. They looked like they could hang with the Knights in the second period of game two as well. I think the bright spot was that they weren't playing poorly the way I felt like they were playing flat in Windsor. I feel like they're undermanned, they're a little outgunned. They are a younger team, much, much younger team than London and they are playing their best. I don't think that the Aud there playing poorly per se. They're getting beaten by speed, basically. And it's hard when you've got young guys and you've got guys coming into the lineup. But I think the bright spot is there were times in game two and there were Basically the entirety of game three, they played really well. So I'm just grateful that it hasn't been just like a runaway situation and that a team that's missing two of their best forwards and one of their best defensemen look like they can hang for 60 minutes and they certainly did in game three. So that's my bright spot so far in this series.

3:13Justin: Yeah. Just to add to that is essentially I felt every game they've gotten a bit stronger. Against London, we're down three nothing. Game three, they were definitely hanging with London. Game two, they started to hang with London. Game one, they were pretty outmatched. Like you said. The bright spot I'm going to go with is Luca Romano, who has just looked phenomenal in this series and has most of our goals in this series because he. He's looked great.

3:36Andrew: Yeah. Between Romano and Elenis, that's pretty much been the major offensive contributors for the Rangers so far. The bottom line is there's not a lot of space out there. It's hard to get things going, especially in game one, London plays the trap. London goes up three nothing early in the first period and then they just trap, trap, trap. And then when they get an opportunity, the Soo high skilled, they score. So it's hard to play from behind with London. Unfortunately, Kitchener has never had the lead.

4:05Justin: Every team that has played London this playoffs has been playing from behind. London has not chased at all in the playoffs. That is just the reality we are in right now.

4:14Andrew: The record is 140 for unbeaten to start the playoffs and the Aud 10 0. So I really just want to see the Rangers take a game tonight and then we'll figure out from there.

4:25Justin: Yeah, yeah. One at a time, as we're all saying.

4:28Andrew: So, yeah.

4:29Justin: Games to recaps. Game one was on Friday night. It was in London. We lost five to two.

4:38Andrew: It was five to nothing. So the bright spot was they did crack Justin Elliott eventually and they got a couple goals. Yeah. But this one was over early. It was four to nothing in the first period.

4:49Justin: It was three to nothing after six minutes.

4:51Andrew: I think the big thing that happened in this one was the immediate check which I'm calling to the head. I guess some people would disagree with me. The check to the head of Christian Humphreys behind the net.

5:02Justin: Yeah.

5:03Andrew: Biased London fans. Exactly. And the OHL apparently as well. But yeah. So several seconds into the game we lost Christian Humphreys for what seems to be the remainder of the series.

5:15Justin: Yeah.

5:15Andrew: And depending on how long this goes, he doesn't look like he's coming back anytime soon. However, it was a brutal check where I'm. I don't think it was necessarily a headhunting situation, but it was a guy flying in from around the net. He was going to make contact with the shoulder, Shoulder first and then another defenseman behind the net. This was a forward making this play. Halton cross checked Humphreys in the back and at the exact same time he was moving forward, Halton and shoulder was connecting with his head and his head then bounced off the boards. His helmet came off. Which Dale Hunter, who knows a thing or two about being a dirt bag and dirty hits. He said that it wasn't a dirty hit and the head injury came from bouncing off the boards. If your head bounces off the boards and the shoulder is up there and it's iffy, I'm calling it a dirty hit. So I don't expect Mr. Hunter to tell the truth about anything. So. So that's basically where we're at right away. No Christian Humphreys gone.

6:21Justin: Done. Yeah. Pretty significant blow to the team at that moment.

6:25Andrew: Yep, definitely. And so then things started to fall off pretty quickly. Two minutes into the game they score. Another minute and seven seconds later they score again. And then basically three minutes later they get the third which was on the power play. They're a very talented team. They don't really need help. So I would have liked to see what would happen if that five minute major that was called on the ice stood. Of course the referees reviewed it and said it wasn't a penalty of any sort. Not even like a two minute charge or anything like that, which sounds. Or a boarding penalty or anything like that. Seems pretty extreme to go from one thing to the other.

7:05Justin: Big blow to the team. Big blow to Christian Humphreys It immediately affects line combinations and things like that. I. I've been thinking a lot about coaching in like the two facets that you deal with on a day to day or game to game instance where it's like you're dealing with coaching between games when you're in the playoffs, knowing the opponent that's coming up. I think the Juice and the staff, the coaching staff are pretty phenomenal at getting the boys ready from game to game. They usually come out and they usually

7:34Andrew: have a plan and they're usually really

7:36Justin: engaged in what that plan is and what they're going to do. And then there's the in game adjustments and things like that. I feel like the Juice is very good at in game adjustments. We've seen this all season where they've come back in the third period and they've been able to adjust to a team style of play and come back and win. When you're dealing with those in game adjustments 12 seconds into the game, you shouldn't have to be doing that immediately. And that causes so much strain on the system of the team.

8:01Andrew: Yeah, I'm not entirely sure if they were playing 11, 7 or 12, 6 in this game. Regardless, your top center going down seconds into the game causes a massive headache for matchups, for game plans. And look, it's part of the game. It happens. However, it's just one of those things where you're already, like I said, props to London's talent. Like the skill and the talent is undeniable. The antics and stuff that they get on with between the whistles and that sort of thing, that's a whole nother thing. And I wasn't just throwing around slanderous stuff. If you're listening to this and you think, why is he coming out so aggressive and so hot with Dale Hunter? Just look up Dale Hunter, Pierre Turjon, and you can see that's how Dale Hunter played the game. He was suspended 21 games for that. So I don't expect his team to play the game really any other way. But that sort of edge to their game, I would prefer if nobody gets hurt. So realistically, I want to see the league intervene there. And if there's something where it seems like a predatory hit, if you've got a guy cross checking you in the back at the same time as you're getting leveled, there has to be some sort of discipline there. That just seems what I would expect from a league. But I just think sometimes organized leagues, organized things, especially with young hockey players, they just get it wrong. And I just fully just think that they got that wrong. I think they reviewed that and I just think they got it wrong. And the Aud sucks that they doubled down and said that there's no suspension. I don't know if it's because perhaps I don't know what goes into that. Is Halton and not that type of player. Does he have no track record of that?

9:41Justin: Maybe.

9:42Andrew: I have no idea.

9:43Justin: Yeah, it's hard to Sam O'Reilly we're

9:45Andrew: not in those meetings. We're not on those phone calls. We're not a part of that world. So we don't know. But you got to just play the hand you're dealt. And unfortunately, they were down a very important piece very early. I guess the bright spot of this game was Luca Romano. As you mentioned earlier, he had both goals. Tanner Lam and Jacob Zhu got his first. First point.

10:07Justin: Point.

10:08Andrew: First ohl point. Who he has to be the other bright spot. If we're just pointing out individual players. Jacob Xu has played himself into this lineup. Right. Like it just has to stay in there because he's so effective.

10:23Justin: Oh man. Monday night we were at the game for game three and there were multiple times when guys went in to hit him. The guy just does not move.

10:32Andrew: No, he's like the reverse hit champion. If somebody tries to hit him, chances are you're going to end up on your butt because Jacob Xu is just a big freight train. And you turned and looked at me and you said that's a Harvard man.

10:48Justin: Can always tell. Harvard man.

10:50Andrew: Yeah, that's a Harvard man, all right. That's a big strong fellow. So I'm excited to see Jacob Zhu as an everyday player next year because obviously if you play yourself into a lineup in a playoff run like this one.

11:03Justin: Yeah.

11:03Andrew: You're definitely going to be a minute muncher next year at 16. At 16. Yes. At 16. Unbelievable.

11:10Justin: Yeah. Yeah. So that was game one. It's hard to take a lot of others stuff out of this game. It just wasn't a good game. Injustice did not. They got annihilated by London early. Yeah, yeah. The score didn't look like it is not the most egregious score you've ever seen. But when you imagine they were down for nothing at the end of the first period. Yeah.

11:30Andrew: And that fourth goal right at the end of the first period was the end of things, I think for me, like maybe you go in three nothing, maybe you get one in the second and you don't give one up. And the Aud only that, the worst lead in hockey, the two goal lead going into the third, who knows? But yeah, once they went down for nothing, London was happy to trap and that's what they do.

11:49Justin: Speaking of two gold leads going into the third, game two was on Sunday afternoon, which was nice to have a 4pm game. I just liked it. It's nice. It's just a nice change of pace. And the Aud 7pm I could start watching the NHL playoffs and then watch those straight to 2am So I did

12:08Andrew: that last night with the Oilers Kings game and boy did I pay for it today.

12:12Justin: Oh yeah, I bet. Yeah. Okay, so this game six two, very different feel to this game.

12:17Andrew: Yes.

12:18Justin: London in the first period, got two goals in the first, got one goal in the first four minutes and then got a Second goal before the end of the. Aud started to feel like the runaway game, but it didn't quite get to the four goals against. And then second period, Trenwick comes out, scores immediately.

12:35Andrew: Yeah. One minute and ten seconds into the period. He puts one on the board and it looks like, all right, here we go. Yeah, this is a series now because we're on the board and it's not a runaway Y. Luca Romano follows that up about five minutes later with another one. And we're tied and were controlling play. Kitchener really dominated most of the second period. It was very much a Kitchener period. They looked like themselves.

13:01Justin: Yeah.

13:02Andrew: Having strange line combinations now because of course we still don't have Misojevic. Now we're down Humphreys. But however, it was like, all right, things are clicking. As long as we can get Swick and Pridham going and Romano continues to score. Then you're like, okay, we feel this. It's good. It's going well. However, towards the end of the second period, the Knights capitalize. They get a couple of quick ones in succession and basically that was curtains for the Rangers in this one. They added a couple more in the third, but it was really the end of the second that I felt like that's where it dropped and kind of gave it away.

13:42Justin: It felt like a game where a couple things might have broke a little bit differently and the Rangers would have been in control of this game. Like it was at that point where it felt like the Rangers were about to take control. And then London scored one and then they won very shortly after.

13:57Andrew: I agree. The penalties and the officiating outside of that hit hasn't really been a narrative. It's been called fairly evenly. So outside of losing your number one center on a hit, that seems to be three out of four people responding to our clip on social media. In agreement. And then the 1/4 of the London fans. That's a clean hit.

14:18Justin: Keep your head up, bud.

14:19Andrew: Like that mentality that I don't agree with, but you're entitled to it. It's been nice to see that the officials haven't really been missing too many calls. I haven't been too angry. Yes, there's been some moments. There was a moment where Cameron Arquette seemed to take some contact and it wasn't called a game changing moment in the second period while it was still tied because the Rangers were pressing. But that's normal. Normal games all the time. There's like a missed call here and there. It doesn't usually cause like a four goal loss. So I'm not going to go crazy here.

14:51Justin: And I don't think we need to really complain about the officiating because. Yeah, other than the one missed and the. Or the Aud was called but the Aud was taken back, it's been fine.

15:00Andrew: I'll tell you what I will complain about, though. Oh, the commentating. Oh. Oh, my goodness.

15:06Justin: All right, we're going to get down here. Jessie, Dorby, Scarlet over in the right corner. We don't know what they're doing.

15:13Andrew: Look, regardless of what you think about the London commentators, one of which seems like a nice man who's doing a good job and the other's the play by play guy.

15:25Justin: Also, I like their in game host. She does a great job. She's pretty good, too.

15:29Andrew: She does a great job. Yes. I'm sure most people in London are nice people. I don't want to make this like, I like to troll London, but this is just junior hockey, so it doesn't

15:39Justin: go that far down.

15:40Andrew: Yeah. However, when you're watching Andrew MacNiel get a decision win over the toughest heavyweight in the league and you go call that a draw, I honestly. Okay, all right. Okay. It wasn't a dominant victory in a fight, but I don't think you could score it for anybody except McNeil. It was unbelievably tough.

16:03Justin: Pretty clear win.

16:04Andrew: Yeah, it was a pretty clear win. Right when McNeil is hammering the guy bent over with those big lefts that he just feeds people. The Hulkbuster armor, the Hulkbuster suit in Marvel's Avengers. Go to sleep.

16:19Justin: Go to sleep.

16:19Andrew: Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. That's. That's Andrew MacNiel And it cracks me up because he's a good student and he's a smart guy, academic player of November. A great side of his game because it doesn't seem like he takes very much punishment in these fights.

16:33Justin: Love the fact that he did win that fight, but the Aud was Bolton who got the instigator and the misconduct.

16:38Andrew: Well, that's why to me, he won that fight was Bolton threw the gloves off first and started punching before. Before McNeil even had the gloves off.

16:46Justin: I know.

16:47Andrew: And it was still not a great result for Ryder. Bolton, he really, like I said, he ended up literally, his head is down, he's bent at the waist, and he's just getting uppercuts. So that happened. And then that was a draw. And then we had another fight, which, dare I say, it was just as dominant. Le Char fought Van Bommel. I said Van Pummeled. They had a fight as well, and that was also a draw. Greg Sloan, the London commentator. I hope you never judge in the UFC or in boxing.

17:20Justin: All right.

17:21Andrew: That's all I gotta say.

17:22Justin: Maybe. Maybe get some Jason Ham advice. Cause exactly. He. He does both things, and he does them very well.

17:28Andrew: He seems to know fighting.

17:30Justin: So let's.

17:31Andrew: Yeah, we'll go head over to Ham. As far as commentators who know fights or just.

17:35Justin: Or how to call games.

17:37Andrew: Yeah, just in general. Yeah.

17:39Justin: Yeah.

17:40Andrew: I just feel like I'm being sold a car at all times during the intermission. I'm like, I just buy a lemon off this guy.

17:47Justin: Okay. Anyway, let's go into game three. We were at this game in real life. We were there at the Aud We lost this one three to two. This game very much felt like we could have won this game.

18:00Andrew: This was a great game. It was exciting. Didn't get the result that we wanted. Obviously, we're Rangers fans. We want to get that win. We want that pivotal game three win where it's two to one going into night. It just wasn't meant to be. They had a puck that sat on the line what felt like an eternity. It was only a second, but it felt like an eternity as it moved through the snow slowly behind Justin Elliott and then just came to stop directly on the goal line. Yeah. And then they had another one that went post to post. It just sometimes it feels like, all right, we're just. I guess we're not winning this one.

18:34Justin: This all the things we talked about in the Windsor series when we did this episode two weeks ago, it was like, the puck luck. We don't need the officiating. It's been fine. The puck luck. We need the puck luck for game four to have a game five. Like, we just need that puck that slid in the snow. When they did it on the slow mo on the big screen in the Aud it was hard to tell that the video was running because they had put it on slow mo and the puck was moving so slow. You're like, is the video right?

19:02Andrew: It was literally excruciating. That was an excruciating play to watch.

19:07Justin: Yeah.

19:07Andrew: And even more excruciating replay to watch. That would have turned things at that point in the game.

19:13Justin: Yeah.

19:13Andrew: That would have put the Rangers up.

19:15Justin: Yeah, Exactly. It was 2:2 at that point. It was 2:2 when the puck went post to post. And then London scored their third goal, the final goal of the game, halfway through the second. It wasn't like London had control of the third period, it was back and forth. Par started to look a bit better. Parsons had a similar start to the series like he did against Windsor. Positionally a little bit out of position at times. Goals he'd want back.

19:41Andrew: Going through London does things so fast. It's hard to put things on Parsons. Just in the sense that when defense is breaking down in front of you and London is making two, three passes on the rush and it's just all collapsing in on you, it's really easy to get pulled out of position. As we saw on the second goal in this game by London by Jacob Julian. The other goals in this one also were. One was a tip in the first one in the slot, which happened so fast that he couldn't really get over. And then the third goal was a deflection. So they're not easy goals to stop. I thought he played really well in this one, considering. London continues to outshoot the Kitchener Rangers heavily. They had 37 in this one and Kitchener only had 23. However, Kitchener at long periods dominated possession in this game. Long periods of play where Kitchener had all the pressure and they just really couldn't get clean looks on net. And then when they did, for example, when Luke Ellen has found himself all alone in close with the puck in his skates and went through the legs and then passed it basically around to himself and deposited into a yawning cage. There we are. There's the boys. There's the boys. We're going now. And of course, Cameron Arquette, who has just been a dog in the Andrew playoff run. And we would not be through the Windsor series without Arquette and his line in that series. He's been all over the place in this series. He's been up on line one. He's been playing on the power play. He got a power play goal. He's being asked to do things that rookies generally don't get asked to do in the third round of the playoffs in any league.

21:33Justin: Yeah, he looked like he's just fit in the whole time. Like every assignment he's been given, he's been there. He got a goal and an assist in this game, which was awesome. In all the right places at all the right times. It's. When the Rangers put on pressure, it's like. It's very challenging for them to pass. It's very challenging for them to get past the sticks, past the bodies. London. London has. They do the opposite. It's like they get the lanes clogged in the right way, which gives them clean shooting lanes but lots of traffic in front of Parsons and things like that. So it's a. It's. I don't want to say that we're being outclassed, but there is definitely like another level to London that we haven't really experienced so far, especially in the playoffs. Yeah.

22:14Andrew: And I think that what we're seeing is that one team can operate at, like, an elite level speed, like, pace of passing and reading play. And then you've got another team that is missing two of their top six forwards who would be asked to create that kind of pace and that kind of chaos in the offensive zone. Those guys are gone. So you've got a bit of a patchwork attack going.

22:41Justin: Yeah.

22:41Andrew: On the Ranger side. And they can't get things going often enough. I would say it's not moving often enough, that it's really wearing down. The nights they've had some really good opportunities, but you need to have sustained pressure and it needs to come at a certain speed that draws these really great, talented hockey players that are really sound, positionally out of position. Like we saw on the illness goal, he found himself in behind by himself, and that's how it happens. But they're not even getting, like, deflection opportunities because. No, by the time they've cycled the puck back to the point and they're taking a shot, the lanes are clogged. And really, there hasn't been a lot of that anyway because the passes haven't really been all that crisp in the offensive zone anyway. But this is the thing. The Rangers looking like a young team that was not supposed to contend. We're seeing this for the first time. We saw them play flat against Windsor, but when they turned it on, they beat Windsor four straight. The vibe here is we're seeing finally, for the first time all season in a rebuilding year against the best team in the league, the only team who had more wins and points than Kitchener. This is the first time we're seeing them look like a younger team, a less experienced team, that they're only going to get better and they're only going to gain from. This is unbelievable. What kind of team is this going to be next year? Like, I have a lot of faith that Jason Schaubel will come in and continue to carry the load the way he had. He had only smaller workload, but he looked very consistent. He looked very comfortable. A lot of defensemen are coming back, and I'm not saying that this one's over, man. Regardless of how this goes tonight, I'm so excited for next season. As far as this team gaining this kind of experience. And the gap isn't that crazy here between these two teams. And London is a powerhouse that literally went all the way last year. That's what we're seeing. We're seeing a powerhouse that went all the way last year and won the ohl. What else can you ask for from this team?

24:51Justin: The one thing we have not talked about in this game was that Luca Romano is Wolverine.

24:57Andrew: Yes. His joints, his at least his lower body because we've seen this man take a couple knees now, including a brutal one in this game.

25:05Justin: Horrible suspension, horrible kneeing in this one.

25:09Andrew: Horrible by Jeholy somehow just. Yeah, he's down at the Tommy Kut he just comes back.

25:14Justin: He played the rest of the game look good, had some good moments.

25:19Andrew: The toughness rating. His toughness rating on EA Sports, on Chell. They need to go in and just crank that. His durability. Crank it. Yeah, right. Yeah. EA Sports putting you on notice. Luca Romano is durable and tough and poised and just 99 everything for those three categories.

25:38Justin: So I was happy to see that today, Wednesday, Woolly got one game suspension. So he won't be around tonight. So we won't be talking about him after the game.

25:47Andrew: Yeah, it was a real greasy play. There's no other way to put it.

25:49Justin: London fans standing up for him.

25:52Andrew: Now, before we go and watch this game, we have to talk about the best thing that happened to the Kitchener Rangers this week, which was Jackson Parsons being named goaltender of the year.

26:04Justin: He was the best goaltender in the OHL this year. I do not care about all the London fans being like Justin Elliott only lost one game. He only played half the games. So he went back to back and also he played behind a super team powerhouse.

26:18Andrew: Parsons is the best. It was voted on by the ohlgms. And guess what?

26:23Justin: He's the best.

26:23Andrew: They picked Parsons because he's the best because he's number one. And we've been telling you that on

26:28Justin: the AudPod since before the season started.

26:32Andrew: Day one. Go back and listen to episode one of the AudPod. And we have been saying Jackson Parsons is our guy.

26:40Justin: Preseason games.

26:42Andrew: Yeah, because you and I sat last year. Listen, we don't pretend to know everything about hockey. We don't even pretend to know much about hockey. We're just two fans who love hockey and we love watching the Rangers. And you and I last season went to a couple games and every time we were like, Jackson Parsons, man, this goaltender is good.

26:58Justin: He's so good.

26:59Andrew: And I Remember, you were even in your dynasty fantasy league looking if Jackson Parsons was available to add to your roster. That's how much we were like, this guy's good.

27:08Justin: I was. And it's still baffling to me that he does not have an NHL Tommy Kut goalies. Oh, he will.

27:14Andrew: Oh, he's.

27:16Justin: Yeah.

27:16Andrew: I'm excited. I want him to go and have a crease with Clarkson University next year. But he's overager of the year. He's got a rebuilding team to the third round, and by and large, when he wasn't playing all that well at the beginning of the Windsor series, they looked hopeless. And then as soon as he started to lock in, everybody locked in. So if that's not the sign of a leader, I don't know what is. The bottom line is he's been the backbone, the heartbeat of the team. There's a saying in hockey. Show you a good coach, I'll show you a good goaltender. It's basically those two things are tied in to that hocus. The juice, amazing coaching staff. All the boys respond to it. But bottom line is Jackson Parsons has been out of this world this year. And I don't know if we're sitting here today doing the AudPod if it's not for Jackson Parsons.

28:11Justin: It's true. And you know what? There's one more trophy he could win.

28:15Andrew: Definitely. It feels like if there's three finalists, it has to be Misa Lardis and Parsons, right?

28:22Justin: It has to be. Yeah. 130 points for Misa. Nick Lardis got 72 goals and Parsons played like 80% of the games. 52 games and 9. 26 a percentage or something insane like that.

28:36Andrew: Yeah, it's hard to quantify. I'm glad that obviously he got goals Enter of the year. It's hard to quantify like forward contributions versus goaltender contributions. Because the bottom line is you can, like we've seen win games with your top scorer being in like the mid to late 30s of the top scorers. The rankings.

28:57Justin: Yep.

28:58Andrew: But you cannot win games unless you have good goaltending.

29:02Justin: Niagara.

29:03Andrew: Niagara, yeah. Saginaw. Who lost their starter.

29:07Justin: Yeah.

29:07Andrew: Goaltenders are generally. Even if they're not the best player on the team, they are in the running for mvp. I think every year, if things are going well, they.

29:14Justin: 60 minutes every game always out there. Yeah.

29:16Andrew: And they have the best shootout. Scouting. If you're also Jackson Parsons.

29:21Justin: Jackson Parsons. That's why you should win. Scouting. We have two minutes until this game starts. Andrew, let's leave it here. So let's go, Rangers. Be back in a bit.

29:30Andrew: Rangers. Hey, Andrew. Hey, Justin.

29:35Justin: We are back.

29:37Andrew: We are done.

29:39Justin: We're done. End of the season, it was a fun ride.

29:45Andrew: It was. It was one of the best seasons I think I've ever followed as a fan of hockey. Yeah. Didn't end how we wanted it to, but they rarely do.

29:56Justin: No.

29:57Andrew: So true.

29:59Justin: I think we lost 4 to 2. The CHL stream tonight was a little iffy, so it was hard to tell where we actually ended the game, but that's true. Fairly confident. It was fortitude.

30:13Andrew: Yeah.

30:13Justin: Yeah.

30:14Andrew: I kept cutting in and out, and there was handshake lines. I only saw some of them.

30:18Justin: Yeah.

30:18Andrew: There was one image of Jackson Parsons crouching in his crease one last time. That was. That was a moment that he gave us one last ten bell save in this game. One last. Unbelievable. One of the best saves he's ever made. Every time you think you've seen the best save Jackson Parsons has ever made, he makes another. Yeah. And so it was great. That was right on Brand. I like Dan Paulus. Chuck was saying all throughout the game, the color commentator. If there's no pro contract, it's because the scouts haven't been watching, and they've definitely been watching.

30:54Justin: So, yeah, there will be a pro contract for Jackson Parsons. He will play somewhere for somebody.

31:00Andrew: So I expect that he'll go and play Clarkson for a year, but he'll be under contract somewhere during that season.

31:07Justin: I mean, there seems like huge need for goaltending right now in the higher leagues. No one better. I can write if you need a recommendation, Jackson, just reach out. I'll write you a letter of recommendation.

31:19Andrew: You know what, we'll just link them to the podcast because honestly, it's been, you know, what, 32 episodes. 30. 31 episodes of just nothing but praise.

31:29Justin: Yeah, we probably like 20 hours audio praise. So just reach out. Yeah.

31:38Andrew: I'm looking forward to doing the season recap with you. I did enjoy on the broadcast in between when Sean Faro and Jason and Dan all talked about, is this one of the greatest goaltending seasons? Is he one of the greatest goaltenders? And they were all in agreement that it absolutely was. And I'm excited to break it down with you because we did so much research on teams, and one of the things that the Rangers don't have necessarily is a plethora of crazy goaltending years. So they've had some really solid goaltenders over the years.

32:15Justin: Yeah, I agree. I think when we were doing the growth. I can't even remember off the top of my head now, but there was a goaltender who had some similar stats to Jackson Parsons. By the end of this season, Jackson Parsons is pretty much alone in the Rangers annals of amazing goaltenders, especially with the hardware and awards that he has received over the last couple weeks.

32:38Andrew: Absolutely. I guess we should just dive right in. Just recap this game as quick word of the series.

32:44Justin: But we lost. We got swept it.

32:46Andrew: Yep.

32:46Justin: It happened. So yeah, we're going to be quick because it sucks.

32:51Andrew: It sucks.

32:51Justin: We all felt like Trent Swick did at the end of this game who was just an emotional wreck. Yeah.

32:58Andrew: I'm glad. I'm glad that the stream was cutting in and out because it was keeping my feelings inside.

33:05Justin: My tears. Yeah. Save me from embarrassment in my household. Yeah. Did not that showing your emotions is embarrassing.

33:14Andrew: No. But it's probably a choice, I guess if my wife wakes up next to me on the couch and I'm crying over. Over a season where we started a podcast and 10 months ago it wasn't. Wouldn't have been a big deal to me. So keep it in perspective.

33:29Justin: Yeah.

33:30Andrew: I didn't need to have that happen. But there are feelings.

33:32Justin: Yeah.

33:33Andrew: And Trent Swick is a part of those feelings in that it's just an absolute beauty. Yeah. I'm already dreading seeing Trent Swick play hockey now.

33:43Justin: I know. Now we have to watch him play in the Pacific Division. Yeah. Eventually. On the Vegas Golden Knights.

33:50Andrew: Yeah. I'm sure he'll be a menace in the AHL first and then we'll see him graduate on as he should.

33:57Justin: So this game, this was the best start to the game in this series by the Rangers. Maybe one of the best starts in the playoffs.

34:04Andrew: It really was. They look just like last game in the sense of cut came out and were giving it their all and playing really well. And of course, two minutes into the game, Luke Ellinas Who else?

34:16Justin: Who else?

34:17Andrew: Luke Elus, the playoff performer, the most valuable forward of these playoffs, Luke Ellinas There was a few who were so integral. Pridham and Swick being two of them. But Elenis, in this series, in the end of the Windsor series, stands alone. Pulled ahead as definitely my most important forward. He scores right away. Set up by Pridham and Romano, another guy who had an awesome playoffs. They had one of the best goals of the year on a power play. I think it was like a tic tac goal.

34:54Justin: Yeah.

34:54Andrew: And I thought, okay, that's not unfortunate. But what was unfortunate was they had the lead for less than a minute.

35:01Justin: Yeah.

35:01Andrew: 56 seconds.

35:03Justin: And we have to make something. We have to clarify something. Yeah, we did in the earlier part of this episode. The 1. The single episode that if you're listening to this, you're just listening to the same episode. But for us, we had a giant break in between. We said that the London Knights have not trailed at all in the playoffs, which is a statistic that I took from our dear friend Mohawk Construction Glasses. Yeah, they hadn't trailed, but apparently they have because now, to be fair, I

35:35Andrew: think it's only been like a minute of time collectively in each series. I believe it was said it was

35:42Justin: over an intermission, that they were behind,

35:46Andrew: talking about it as if it had never happened. And we took it as gospel. Yeah, lesson learned. Yeah, lesson learned.

35:52Justin: We do not trust Greg Sloan. No, we can say that now, Greg. He's lied to us too many times.

35:58Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Back to the recap. Yeah, the Knights tied it up. It didn't necessarily. It was a. I thought was making another unbelievable save. Unfortunately, when he reached behind him and caught the puck squirted out and Noah Reed was able to put it in the back of the net. So it was almost and like all world save again. And then things got weird after.

36:22Justin: Yeah, a couple very undisciplined penalties were taken.

36:27Andrew: Unfortunately, our captain and fearless leader took a bit of a stupid penalty. There are lots of times where a quick little Soupy to the side of a guy's head at the whistle in the crease that doesn't get called. This one was just a bit too much that you're going to get called.

36:45Justin: Too much and too late.

36:46Andrew: Too, too much and too late. And to be fair, Halton, and who is just a absolutely physical dynamo out there as far as just crushing people and looking to light people up, he did leave his feet.

37:02Justin: Yeah.

37:03Andrew: By letter of the law.

37:04Justin: By letter of the law, yes. And he did. There was no call. So this was later. So this was. Ando was in the box. London was on the power play. Haltman had a hit.

37:14Andrew: I can't remember who he hit. Chromiak.

37:16Justin: Chromiak charged Chromiak. Elena's did not waste any time and was all over Haltonin.

37:27Andrew: And Haltanen became the president of the Turtle Club.

37:31Justin: Turtle.

37:32Andrew: Am I not turtley enough for the turtle? Which I didn't love in the context of it being a penalty kill and a 1:1 game, but I understand Elena said enough is enough.

37:46Justin: Yeah. But the Aud ended up in Elena's being sent to the box. Halton did not get sent to the box. So the Aud was a five on three and of course London does not pass up on a five on three.

37:58Andrew: Yeah, it was immediate.

38:00Justin: Yeah, they managed to kill off the rest of the. Aud was a four minute penalty against Elena's and they managed to kill off that four minute. So that was good.

38:08Andrew: That was a positive. Yes, the power. The penalty kill was still fairly competent throughout this game. Oh, London is like they said it during this handshake line. This is basically. This is as close as you'd get to an AHL team in the chl.

38:23Justin: Yes. This team is. Half their team is NHL drafted.

38:27Andrew: Yeah. And I would think a good portion of them that are eligible will play in the AHL next year. So this is. They're all in.

38:34Justin: Yeah. And then London, they continued to get their opportunities. They got another power play goal in the second period. We tried not to complain about the officiating too much. This was probably the worst officiated game of the series. We saw some weird calls go against the Rangers. Yeah, that and some non calls. Again, it was similar, but not to the degree that we saw against Windsor. It just wasn't great. If this was the outlier, it wouldn't be a huge talking point. It's just the fact that it's like we've had some really off officiated games. It just feels like a continuation of that.

39:07Andrew: It just feels like I really enjoy the OHL product and I've really. I feel like I've pumped the tires of the CHL and I've. I can't speak for the WHL and the Q, but I'm sure it's similar. I didn't like what happened with the officiating come playoff time.

39:24Justin: Yeah.

39:24Andrew: Once. Once again. And it's not just, oh, we let more go. No, it just felt fairly unbalanced.

39:29Justin: They didn't let things go. It was very confusing. Yeah.

39:32Andrew: And that's just, that's where you get into trouble, I think with. I don't want to call us like an educated fan, but an experienced fan who've watched a lot of hockey. You get in trouble because you just like. I know deep down I don't want to blame the officials. I ever want to come away from a game just finger pointing at the officials. But yeah, there was some weird stuff in this game. It continued to trend throughout the Andrew play.

39:55Justin: My, my, my biggest complaint is really it's the continuously getting called, but then the uncalled stuff that doesn't go. If you're not going to call anything, don't call anything. Like we saw that last game in Windsor, against Windsor. There was no penalties in that game. And it was like they just didn't call anything. There was lots of penalties that happened.

40:13Andrew: There were infractions. There were infractions.

40:15Justin: But it was super equal in that game in the way that they called it. So it's. I don't know if that's the right. I don't think that's the right answer. But I also go there's got to be some balance to the calling. And I get it. The refs can't see everything. That's. That is a larger hockey issue. That the game is very fast and the refs can't see everything and there's no.

40:35Andrew: Sometimes you're just not going to have the angle. I totally understand. And that's when things get a bit wacky as well.

40:40Justin: Right.

40:41Andrew: Is when you're trying to keep count of like how many you've missed. That's not what we're looking.

40:45Justin: Nobody wants that either. There's some things that need to happen in officiating world, in all of hockey. Like we're seeing this in the NHL as well. Things that should be addressed. And the OHL could take advantage or be a sponsor of potential new rules going forward. Do some testing out in the ohl. That I would be fine with that.

41:05Andrew: I would be interested in that. I was actually thinking about that at work today, believe it or not. I was thinking maybe you could test some of the three points for a win, two points for an overtime win in the chl. Because they usually do that with the ahl. Yeah. But it would. It would be fun. Maybe.

41:23Justin: I feel like the PWHL is trying some new things and I like that too.

41:26Andrew: For sure.

41:27Justin: Cool. Do we have to? I know that we want to be feeding people to the NHL. So you want the rules to be similar, but I think it's a good place to test things out.

41:36Andrew: Yeah. Anyway, to finish off this recap, we got sidetracked.

41:39Justin: Yeah.

41:40Andrew: The Knights scored four unanswered, obviously. They scored those two that we talked about and then two more and that was pretty much lights out for the Rangers. The Rangers did get one later on. Jack Pridham with about three minutes left from Cameron Reid And of course, the guy of the playoffs, Luke Ellinas he had a. He had an assist. So another two point game for him.

42:05Justin: Yes.

42:06Andrew: This game where Jackson Parsons was the first star, Trent Swick the second star and Jakub Chromiak was the third star. Obviously London doesn't care about the Stars tonight. So I thought that was a classy gesture from the boys in the booth that picked the stars.

42:21Justin: Yep. And we talked about Chromiak last week on the episode and being an understated superstar of these playoffs for sure. Yeah. Also, it was fun to see Dickinson miss a completely empty net without pressure, so we got to see that too.

42:36Andrew: Yeah.

42:36Justin: Well, right before the CHL feed cut out.

42:38Andrew: He's very good. I don't know how many times he's going to do that in his career,

42:42Justin: but it left us with a little smile. Yeah.

42:45Andrew: NHL rookies and overagers who will go straight to the AHL or guys who are going into their overager season on this team littered with it. And yeah, I think these two games were something to build on for these guys who are sticking around. I think you can see how a championship caliber team plays. I think that there's a ton of respect there after the game between the coaching staffs. You could see how much London, despite their fans not respecting Jackson Parsons and what he does, you could see how much that group of guys over there understood what Jackson Parsons was able to do this season. And they had lots of words for him.

43:28Justin: Yeah.

43:28Andrew: Positive words. Yeah, they don't. These two teams don't like each other, but there was a level of respect given to the coaching staff and Jackson Parsons, especially because they're elite at what they do.

43:41Justin: Yeah, it wasn't sweet, but I don't think the Rangers at least last two games were not easy outs.

43:46Andrew: No, I think the Knights had to play well. Yeah, they, the Knights had to trap their butts off the last two games.

43:52Justin: Yes.

43:53Andrew: And to the point that I wanted to pull my beard hairs out because I don't have any on my head. But yeah, they trap. I don't know how you're going to beat a team that is bigger and faster and more skilled. And then immediately when they're up one or two goals, begin trapping to death. Yeah, I don't know how you're going to beat them. I hope Oshawa does.

44:14Justin: Yes, that's who we're cheering for.

44:17Andrew: If I cannot get on the Oshawa bandwagon fast enough, unless Barry reverse sweeps. Hey, then I'm on that bandwagon, too.

44:25Justin: But whoever comes out of the east, we are on your side.

44:29Andrew: We're there.

44:30Justin: We're not starting a podcast specifically about you, though, but we are going to be on your side for this one round.

44:36Andrew: We are bandwagoning.

44:37Justin: Yeah, we're going to bandwagon for sure.

44:39Andrew: And the Aud if the Knights happen to repeat as champions, literally whoever is in the Memorial Cup. Yeah, we are bandwagon. Three teams.

44:48Justin: Three teams.

44:48Andrew: Yeah. True. Yeah.

44:51Justin: Next week we're going to be back with a season recap episode and then we'll talk about summer programming which won't be that as frequent as it has been all season.

45:01Andrew: There may be some stuff.

45:02Justin: We got some.

45:02Andrew: Stay tuned.

45:03Justin: We got a few things in the thought pipeline.

45:05Andrew: Who knows, who knows, who knows? We won't get crazy.

45:07Justin: We only have one of those locked up and it was bartering and bribing. We'll see how that goes. But yeah, we'll be back at least for one more episode on our regular scheduled Friday. And yeah, so some thank yous. Of course we gotta shout out Cam Born, director of branding and marketing for looking at making us look so good this season.

45:24Andrew: Papa Born. Thank you.

45:26Justin: Yeah, of course.

45:28Andrew: A shout out to the prodigal producer, Liam the phenom.

45:32Justin: We got something for you, Liam. Come find us. How do you find us on the

45:35Andrew: social medias at the AudPod on TikTok and Instagram. We're also on YouTube at theaudpodcast dash Kitchener Rangers. It's all one word, but you can just find us if you just search the AudPod. Kitchener Rangers in the search bar. Yeah.

45:53Justin: And on any of your platforms. Now that we're going to start hitting less regular scheduled programming, be sure to hit the follow subscribe whatever button it is on your podcast. Hit the notification bell. We'll pop up a few times probably through the summer. And then of course once we're full steam ahead on continuing next season. Didn't load it. If you can, please follow us so that next season when we get going, you're right there with us. It really actually helps us a lot in the podcast side. So please thank you. For anybody else, we'd love.

46:23Andrew: We'd love for you to hit that follow button. Whatever platform you're using on the podcast that actually. Yeah, we need that just to help us show up more when people search for OHL podcasts and hockey podcasts.

46:37Justin: Exactly. And of course, Andrew, next season you can find us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

46:48Andrew: See you at the Aud