35: Smoke & Mirrors with Mike Farwell

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Hey, Mike.

0:03Mike Farwell: Hey, Justin. Hey, Andrew.

0:04Andrew: Hey, Mike.

0:06Mike Farwell: This is cool.

0:06Justin: We did it.

0:07Andrew: We did.

0:08Mike Farwell: Now what? Now there's more.

0:11Justin: Now I must introduce you.

0:13Andrew: That's true.

0:14Justin: Because you're just Mike. Now to the listeners who are you. This is a very special off season bonus episode of the AudPod. The voice, you know, the passion you love. From calling unforgettable Rangers moments to being the heartbeat of Rangers radio. Mike's got stories, insights, and probably an opinion. Hopefully we'll find out. Buckle up, Rangers fans. Mike Farwell joins the AudPod as an odd guest.

0:44Andrew: Truly an odd guest.

0:46Mike Farwell: Could be the oddest you've had. By the way, did Andrew write that for you?

0:50Justin: No.

0:51Mike Farwell: That was really impressive.

0:52Andrew: He wrote that himself, believe it or not. Although, you know what I sensed some chat GPT.

0:57Mike Farwell: I was going to say, Come on a little bit.

0:59Justin: For cleanliness.

1:02Mike Farwell: I get it, I get it.

1:05Justin: Hey,

1:07Andrew: everything Justin sends me, I'm like, that's chat GPT. That's chat GPT. I'm like, I'm editing his chat GPT out.

1:15Mike Farwell: We literally just did this at the radio station with a blurb somebody on our team wrote.

1:20Justin: And.

1:20Mike Farwell: And the manager's like, that was awesome. Who wrote the blurb? Oh, so. And so with a little help from. Is it Microsoft Assist?

1:26Andrew: I don't know.

1:27Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the whatevers.

1:29Andrew: Exactly. Right.

1:30Mike Farwell: But impressive. Impressive.

1:33Justin: I'll take it.

1:35Mike Farwell: Co pilot. That's what it was.

1:36Justin: Yellow co pilot. Right? Yeah, yeah.

1:39Mike Farwell: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls

1:46Andrew: themselves, Andrew and Justin.

1:49Justin: Take it away, fellas. Okay, I. I have to tell you. Yeah.

1:57Andrew: You texted me today. Something.

1:59Justin: I texted Andrew today. This is not chat GPT. This is real life. I had a dream about you last

2:03Mike Farwell: night, you know, and this is where

2:06Andrew: he gets up and leaves.

2:08Mike Farwell: Gonna go one of two ways, like we met 20 years ago or something. And that. No, I did not see this one

2:13Justin: coming, I think because right before I went to bed, I was like thinking about questions and things like that. And then I had a dream that. That a guy that looked like you, that was very clean shaven in all directions walked in and he didn't say anything and he just like walked in and it looked enough like you because we had not met you. It looked enough like you that we. We didn't know if it was you or not, but it didn't feel like it was you and you didn't say anything or this guy didn't say anything. And so we kept Saying setting up, as if we were gonna record this with this guy just kind of standing in the corner, and we're like, is that Mike? I don't. I don't know. And then we just sat down, and that's when I woke up, and I was like, was it real or not? I don't know.

2:56Andrew: And that's when I got the text.

2:57Justin: Did he send his AI Avatar? I don't know.

2:59Mike Farwell: So, true story that could actually have happened if Bill Rogers from Kitchener minor hockey had sat down in this chair. Because Bill I had heard about for years before meeting him. Obviously, when you're in hockey circles, you travel, but Bill and I were never in the same place at the same time for a long time. And people Sam O'Reilly got to meet Bill. You're his twin. So finally, I meet the guy and a pretty strong resemblance. So fast forward over all of these years, and there have been times, I kid you not, I have been mistaken for Bill Rogers.

3:31Justin: Right.

3:32Mike Farwell: I remember one time in particular. We're downtown at Kitchener city hall, Something going on at the ice out front in Carlsair Square, and somebody starts talking to me, and I don't like being a jerk, so I'm not gonna Sam O'Reilly sorry. I can't place you. I just go with the flow.

3:45Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

3:45Mike Farwell: And about two minutes, three minutes into the conversation, I realized that he thought I was Bill. Now it's too late. Yeah, you missed your window 100%. So he wants this fixed with kitchen miner hockey. He wants this tweaked. I'm like, oh, yeah, we'll take it back to the board. I got you. So, Bill, apologies for that, but that's what you get for being my doppelganger cosplayed as Bill.

4:06Andrew: You had to.

4:07Justin: You had to.

4:07Mike Farwell: Bill is a great, great guy. Me, I'm not so sure of, but Bill is fantastic.

4:11Justin: You could get some stuff done if you ever needed it.

4:13Andrew: That's true.

4:13Mike Farwell: Right? Hey, Bill, I got this gig I really don't want to go to. Go fill in for me tonight.

4:19Justin: How do you feel about appearing on

4:21Mike Farwell: the Aud it all? How did you know it almost happened? So you dreamed my reality?

4:27Justin: Reality, yeah.

4:28Andrew: That's good.

4:29Justin: Well, that it almost happened because we Sam O'Reilly walk by the window, and then both of us went, was that him? And then I was like, oh, no, it's happening.

4:39Mike Farwell: Sadly, I'm not standing quietly in the corner. You're stuck with me now, boys.

4:43Justin: Yeah, I think this is better. No.

4:45Andrew: We heard the voice, and we knew that couldn't have been copied.

4:47Justin: Yeah, that's.

4:48Andrew: That's where we got you.

4:49Justin: We heard a lot of hours of your voice. That's true.

4:51Andrew: That's true.

4:52Mike Farwell: My condolences.

4:55Andrew: All right, so let's just get it started off on what you just completed, which was the Farewell for Hire campaign. Throughout the month of May, you raised money for cystic fibrosis. Please tell our AudPodience a little about this campaign and how important the cause is for you.

5:11Mike Farwell: It is one of the most important causes in my life. Cystic fibrosis is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Canadian children, young adults. It being genetic, you are born with it. So without getting into all of the details, it's a disease that primarily affects the lungs and the digestive system. Eventually, there's a mucus buildup within the body. Your body doesn't process food very well because of the digestive part of it. And then a mucus builds up in your lungs, and it kind of suffocates you. So. Two of my sisters were born with cystic fibrosis, something obviously I know intimately because of that. We lost them back in the Soo My older sister Luann, passed away at the age of 24. My younger sister Sherry at 18. And I always told myself, if I had the chance, I would get involved and try to do something for cystic fibrosis research. And I have been incredibly fortunate to find myself with that chance. So every year in the month of May, which is cystic fibrosis awareness month, I go out and I hire myself out for odd jobs. Hey, in exchange. There you go. I might borrow that for future campaigns. And I do that in exchange for donations to cystic fibrosis research. And it's the way this community has kind of gotten behind it, this community and beyond. I mean, I've gone to Guelph and Stratford and, you know, a lot of areas within driving distance to. To wash somebody's windows, clean their gutters, whatever the case may be. And we just finished up year number 12 on the campaign and have raised more than $1.6 million now to date, which is just beyond my wildest imagination.

6:48Andrew: Right. Yeah. Well, congratulations.

6:50Mike Farwell: Thank you. And thank you for. For. For mentioning it, because it really does mean a lot to me outside of, you know, the fun work that I get to do, it's something that I'm very passionate about.

6:58Andrew: Well, that. That kind of leads us into our next question.

7:00Justin: Yeah.

7:00Andrew: Speaking of. Of the work, have there been any, like, totally unhinged jobs that you've been offered or Hired for, or is there any job that you've had to turn down?

7:09Mike Farwell: Virtually none.

7:10Andrew: Okay, I will.

7:12Mike Farwell: I have said I will do anything. The only problem that I ran into as the campaign evolved, I had no real plan going into this. It's like, hey, I just want to do something instead of asking for money every year, so let me offer a service. And I. I have very little in the way of transferable skills. Okay, I can give you some manual labor.

7:32Justin: We understand.

7:33Mike Farwell: And that's.

7:34Justin: Yeah.

7:35Mike Farwell: So, you know, manual labor was the easy part, but as the campaign grew, without any plan to, you know, make it into something, and the more businesses that got involved. One of those businesses that got involved was Malual Blamey, which is a big development construction company. And they gave me a truck which was logoed, which was awesome, because then I could haul more crap and do more manual labor, except people started seeing a logo and seeing me hopping out of a truck with the same logo on my shirt, and they thought I was like, a real dude that could do real stuff, But I can't actually, like, I. I really can't. So the occasional, you know, build my deck, tear down my deck, fix my plumbing. I'm like, ah, that's not the kind of for hire you're getting with this schmuck. So. But other than that, no. And unhinged. I should really go back because everything has been documented online, and it would be a lot of fun because every once in a while, my memories pop up, or I will scroll back a little bit and Sam O'Reilly I remember doing that. I remember doing that. And the one year, I think it was second or third year of the campaign. So this is back like 20, 2015, 2016. And when you get to my age, like, remembering breakfast is a big deal. So I don't remember exactly what year, but it seemed to be the year of let's make Farwell do ridiculous things. Like, the more ridiculous, the better. So I cleaned the sheath of a horse. Wow. Right? So I'll let you. If you want to Google that, go right ahead. My initial reaction when I Googled it myself, because somebody asked me to do it, I'm like, what does this even mean? And then I went back to the Aud said, I mean, it requires lubrication. Latex glove.

9:07Justin: Okay.

9:07Mike Farwell: Inserting hand into animal.

9:10Justin: Okay.

9:10Mike Farwell: All of. And I'm like, I think you need to be a veterinarian to do this. And the owner of the horse. No, no, no. It's. It's fine. Horse. People do this all the time. Well, I ain't horse people. I did it nonetheless. Another. Another friend who has a farm had me.

9:23Andrew: How did the horse feel about it?

9:25Mike Farwell: Bailey and I still talk weekly, so it's great.

9:28Justin: It was a bonding moment.

9:29Mike Farwell: It was for the both of us. So anyway, there were. There was some. Some weirdness that way, but all in. In fun and fundraising. So, yeah, it's been great. But I would love to go back and. Because there have literally, over the 12 years of this, been 1,000 plus different places I've gone, things I've done some really easy. Come and join me for a beer because you've been working really hard. I'll make a donation to give you a break. But I would just love to look back at all of the Aud document the most outlandish. But yeah, yeah, the farm animals probably up there with the. The weirdest I've had to do. Yeah.

10:01Justin: Yeah, Hopefully.

10:02Andrew: Hopefully.

10:02Mike Farwell: Hopefully.

10:03Justin: Yeah.

10:03Mike Farwell: For now, the only ones. The only ones I'm sharing with the AudPodience today.

10:08Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, Right. Undocumented jobs now. Pretty unhinged truth here.

10:15Mike Farwell: It's all in the name of charity, fellas. That's true charity.

10:18Andrew: No judgment.

10:20Justin: All right, so Andrew and I are pretty new to this community, like the Rangers community. Also the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge community we don't really know much about. Like, you. Where did you come from? How did you get into this broadcasting? Like, you. It feels like we. You were like one of the first things that we learned about in a part of the Rangers, like, oh, Mike Farwell does the play by play on the radio and everybody talks about that and we're like, okay, yeah.

10:47Andrew: And you're also, like, you. You also host a weekday show, and even though you do all of that, people seem to like you.

10:54Mike Farwell: So I say this all the time. I'm like, do that all of these years, and yet some people still think I'm okay. Yeah. Smoke and mirrors. I pay well, I'm not sure what the case is, but.

11:08Andrew: But take us back because, like, you went to Conestoga College.

11:11Mike Farwell: I did.

11:12Andrew: And so, like, how do you go from Kitchener Kid, Conestoga College to. To now? You're the voice of the Rangers. Yeah.

11:20Mike Farwell: Oh, boy. Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna be honest with the two of you and the AudPodience today. Okay? I. I 100% scammed my way.

11:30Justin: Perfect. Excellent.

11:31Andrew: Awesome. Now, okay, this is.

11:32Justin: It's getting good now. We're taking some notes. Yeah.

11:38Mike Farwell: So where I came from is almost literally right here where we're sitting as a. As A Kitchener kid who grew up in this neighborhood. I actually came into this building where you record like constantly as a kid. And believe it or not, I was actually a part of the library board for the KPL when this renovation and expansion was approved by Kitchener Council.

12:02Andrew: Well, thank you.

12:03Justin: There you go.

12:04Mike Farwell: So we're indebted. Yeah, I'm trying to make you feel that way. Fast forward to the, the career stuff. I was actually supposed to be a teacher. My father was a teacher. And I just thought that's what a job looked like, right? You put on your suit and tie, you pick up your briefcase, you go out every day and that's that. But I always had this fascination with an interest in radio. I listened all the time. I played the contests all the time. I watched WKRP in Cincinnati all the time. I mean, I wanted this radio thing, but it didn't look like a real job. So I actually started by getting my undergrad at Waterloo in arts and became a teacher.

12:45Andrew: Oh, wow.

12:45Mike Farwell: And one year into that, I realized this was a big mistake. I don't belong here. You don't need me here. And I switched gears and went back to school to Conestoga College to study broadcasting and. And from there, really the rest is kind of history. I followed work wherever I could get it, which took me out west to British Columbia to start in radio. Bounced around a little bit to Thunder Bay, Toronto. But my goal was always to get back to my hometown. Okay. For whatever reason, I just thought, well, it's my hometown and I like it here and whatever. So extremely fortunate in that regard to not only have gotten back because some people leave and never come back or they just keep bouncing around, but not only did I get to come back, but I found something that feels pretty stable, feels pretty good, and I, I haven't pissed too many people off yet, as you noted earlier. So to. To this part of it and the hockey part of it, this is, this is where I have to be honest, I was. I was working part time weekends, reading the news on the radio station. Five Seventy and Rogers TV put out an open casting call for a new daytime TV show that they were going to launch. It was the old. It was called Daytime with Mark Payne and Susan Cook Shear ran for like 20 years, but they were just launching this. And I'm like, I want to. I want to do this. I'm going to go to the open audition at Stone Road Mall in Guelph. So I did. And I got in line with like a hundred people and I waited my turn to go through the line and do my screen test right there in the mall. I get to the front of the line, I hand my resume to the lady on the other side of the table, and she takes one look at it and says, you've got sports experience. Like, oh, I got sports experience. Let me tell you my sports experience, fellas. When I was working at that radio station out in British Columbia, it was in the. We. The. The league there was the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Sicamous Eagles. I don't. What is the league now called anyway? I don't think it's the KIJHL anymore. The Salmon arm silverbacks now have a team. I was in Salmon Arm. That's where I worked. Salmon arm didn't have a team then, but nearby Sicamous, they have a team. I'm a young broadcaster. I'm interested in sports. I'm like, I'll go out and. I'll go out and watch the game. Like, quote, unquote, cover the game for you. Bring some reports back to the radio station. Oh, yeah, we'll take that free content from somebody that's offering to work for free. And I thought, well, I get to see a hockey game. So I did that like twice. I covered two games. I put it on my resume, though. Sports experience. This lady looks at it. You've got sports experience? Yes, I have sports experience. She says, we need a sports guy at rogerstv. I'm like, cool. She said. She hands me a card. So this is my sports producer's card and phone number. If he doesn't call you tomorrow, call him. I'm like, okay. And that was it. I never went to the next step and did a screen test in the mall, right? I've never been on TV in my life before this. And sure as the day is long, the sports producer calls me the next day and says, great, you got sports experience. Come on out to now Seagram stadium, or no, now University stadium was Seagram Stadium back in the day. And. And do a broadcast of. Of. I think it was football was my. Yeah, it was Laurier football and whatever on the weekend. So I did. I just showed up and I had the whole deer in the headlights, right? So there's like a lot of big people and equipment here. And anyway, and that. That was the beginning of it. And I told him Chris Schooley was his name. One of the best, honestly. I've worked with community, cable tv, sportsnet, you name it. This guy was unreal at what he did. And he knew I had the interest in hockey. And when an opening came up on our on Rogers OHL overager in Guelph, he bumped me over there and I started doing hockey on a regular basis. But it was a couple to a few years of varsity sports, you name it, football, basketball, volleyball, whatever they needed me for, I'd get out. I'd be sideline reporting. I'd be play by play, I did whatever. And then they got me into OHL overager in Guelph and the rest, as the Soo is history. But if that's not a Sam O'Reilly don't know what is because I had zero experience technically and I got the chance to earn or learn on the job. Earn that experience on the job. Yeah.

16:58Justin: That's amazing.

16:59Mike Farwell: Yeah.

17:00Justin: Cool story.

17:02Mike Farwell: That's probably myth shattering, right? Like that's just that the guy faked his way.

17:06Justin: I kind of feel like that's like, like those are the. The best people in sort of the media world is like. It's like it just happens. It's more coincidental and happenstance that you sort of like work your way into these positions and I mean, obviously you're talented. We've. We've all heard that, so.

17:21Mike Farwell: Well, that's very. I'm not sure Chris Schooley would have believed that those first few sideline shows, but hey, we're here today.

17:27Andrew: He stuck with you.

17:27Justin: He did. He did.

17:29Mike Farwell: Sucker.

17:30Justin: He saw the potential. Yeah, absolutely.

17:33Andrew: Well, we talked about you. Basically you grew up in Kitchener and you came back. We're not from here. And just wanted to make note that we both basically ended up here by way of chance or scamming or mostly scamming our beautiful wives who ended up here as well. But we love the community here and we're just kind of. We're kind of taken back by how accepting the. The community has been of us as this. These two idiots in a room who talk about this team that we don't really know much about. When we started it, that's for sure. We didn't know about the overager rule. Like so that'll take you. We were die hard NHL fans, but junior hockey. Absolutely. So we started this as like an opportunity to get involved ourselves. Not thinking anybody would, you know, ever listen to us. So that was a shift. But to have now to have hear your story. Maybe we're on to something.

18:36Mike Farwell: You're 100% on to something.

18:38Justin: Absolutely.

18:38Mike Farwell: You have a pawdience already, so there you go.

18:41Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. That was a. You talked a little bit about this. You did tv. You, you had no idea. Kind of like what you were doing, you just kind of like faked it and you went into it. You're now, you know, fully invested in radio. You also have podcasts. I understand that. However, that might give you a good insight onto this full disclosure. I'm a tap dance instructor by night and a mailman by day. So I'm like a telephone operator gig away from like 1952's Dream Jobs. But I mean, realistically, people tend to think of radio as well as like everything that I do as something from like a bygone era. Obviously we don't feel that way. However, what do you think is radio's place? Where does radio live in 2025 and beyond?

19:30Mike Farwell: Oh, that is a whale of a question. If I Sam O'Reilly not sure, is that too much of a cop out? Because it's in such an interesting place now and, and so I've been in it, full disclosure, since 1995. That was my first job doing the overnight shift, which is a shift that doesn't exist at a radio station anymore because automation, right. And believe it or not, it's at a radio station that no longer exists. Two summers ago they shut it down. Thanks for nothing, CKPC Brantford. There go the memories. They're on West Avenue anyway. But I remember coming into it when, when I that was a part time job and started in the summer of 95. I moved out west a year later for my first full time job. So this is summer 96 and the Internet was kind of just a thing. And so we in radio thought, oh my gosh, like this is going to be the end of us because why would anybody listen to me in Salmon Arm, British Columbia when they can just go on this whole World Wide web thing and listen to a station in Los Angeles or New York? And anyway, so we were having a bit of an existential crisis at the Tommy Kut radio survived. In fact, I would say it thrived. It added online streaming to what it was already doing. And prior to that, of course, TV was supposed to be the death of radio. Video killed the radio star, right? That. So TV didn't get us, Internet didn't get us. Now we're in this really interesting space. And this is why I Sam O'Reilly don't know. And I'm not sure without trying to cop out on it, but I think what I'm encouraged by is that people are still craving content and they're craving content in audio form. This medium that we're talking on today, I know You've got your YouTube audience as well but there's something about the Aud form. It's still intimate, it's personal. You can get to know people through it, and people enjoy it. the Aud walking their dogs if they've got those earbuds, and they might be listening to their favorite jams, or they might be listening to a true crime podcast, or they might be listening to the AudPod, who knows? But there is still something about the connection that is created through the Aud medium. So how traditional radio fits into that, I'm just not entirely sure. I would have been. I would not have believed you 30 years ago if you told me and Covid taught us this, that I could do my show from anywhere with a laptop and a good quality microphone.

22:07Justin: Right.

22:08Mike Farwell: Which I've done, because that's all you really need. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles in front of you, but you can do it. Sure. So we're in a really interesting space, but I'm still encouraged that people want to consume audio content.

22:22Justin: For sure. I mean, I'm one of those dog walkers with the earbuds. And. Yeah, I love. I. I mean, I love you, YouTube.

22:31Andrew: Yeah.

22:31Justin: But like, this. This type of thing, like, I do enjoy, like, I listen to lots of podcasts of different styles, and I love listening to.

22:39Andrew: Yeah.

22:39Justin: Even radio shows like that are in podcast form now, but radio shows. But it's like hearing the Aud hearing that style is still, like, it still engages me, and I. I enjoy it a lot.

22:49Mike Farwell: The On Demand piece, that's what it's about. So you can listen to a radio show that you might like, but when you want to listen to.

22:54Justin: Yeah, yeah.

22:55Mike Farwell: And that's tough for an old fart like me to really wrap his head around. It's like, no, damn it, I'm on the air nine till one, and you will listen between nine and one. It doesn't work that way, but there's

23:04Andrew: something to that as well. Just in the sense of like, like, like, like being a letter carrier and being out walking. I have no idea how I. If I didn't have, like, an earbud in, I have no idea how I would be able to do that job. Because what keeps me engaged, because you go on autopilot and then you just. You're just hitting houses and you're just dropping things off. Keeps me engaged. Sometimes I have to break away from recorded content and, and, and audio and listen to live radio and listen to, like, live sports talk radio. And I want to hear. I want to hear callers. I want to hear People call in with bad takes. So I can feel smarter.

23:36Mike Farwell: Absolutely. That's why we have callers on the air. Everybody feels smarter all of a sudden.

23:42Justin: Absolutely.

23:43Mike Farwell: I love you, my callers. I love Call. Call every day, nine to one.

23:46Justin: Keep calling. Yeah. Okay. We have a Kitchener Rangers podcast, and I think we have to hit you up for some Kitchener Rangers business. Is that. Are you okay to talk hockey?

23:57Mike Farwell: Absolutely. I am an open book.

24:00Justin: I'm like, it's summer. Can we ask him? Yeah, yeah, we want to talk. Okay. So. So we got some, like, how long have you been calling Kitchener Rangers games?

24:12Mike Farwell: That's a. That's a great question. I started the year after Guelph went to the Memorial Cup. That was my last year there, so that was 04.0304. So I started Kitchener 0405.

24:24Justin: Okay. How long did you do Guelph games?

24:27Mike Farwell: Since. Oh, one.

24:31Justin: Okay.

24:31Andrew: Okay.

24:32Mike Farwell: Four. Three. Four years. Yeah.

24:33Andrew: Okay.

24:34Mike Farwell: I. I'm really bad at record.

24:35Andrew: No, that's okay.

24:36Justin: But in that.

24:37Andrew: In that amount of time around then,

24:39Justin: in that era, it's hard to imagine Guelph being good. But that's just because I'm a more recent fan. Yeah.

24:45Andrew: The one thing I do remember about Guelph is, like, when they have, like, really great players come through. And so you would have seen some of those guys back in those three years. Four years.

24:55Mike Farwell: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we can talk about Marty St. Pierre, Daniel Paillet, Ryan Callahan, Adam. Dennis Klein, Kevin Klein. I mean, there's a bunch of guys that. That came through there, and they. Listen, I. I get where you're coming from, Justin. Where. You know, it's. When was Guelph good? If you want to be. If you want to be honest, like, I'm almost the curse of the Kitchener Rangers. Okay. Because they won in 03, not long after Pete DeBoer got here.

25:23Andrew: Right.

25:24Mike Farwell: I was here in eight when Kitchener hosted and went right to the final. Okay, okay. And. And.

25:35Justin: Okay.

25:36Mike Farwell: Okay. And since that time.

25:37Andrew: Yeah, we don't speak of that.

25:40Mike Farwell: Guelph won The O and 14.

25:42Justin: Yeah.

25:43Mike Farwell: 19.

25:44Andrew: Yeah.

25:44Mike Farwell: So I. Anyway, just putting it out. I'm not trying to listen. I love my Kitchener Rangers like, with every fiber of my being. I am.

25:52Andrew: Yeah.

25:52Mike Farwell: I am unapologetically a fan. I grew up here. I went and watched Scott Stevens and Brian Bellows play hockey here and Wendell Young and all of them.

26:00Andrew: Okay, I have to interject, please. Brian Bellows not being in the hall of Fame is an absolute travesty.

26:05Mike Farwell: I'll tell you. I will bet You a million dollars that Brian Bellows cares. Not at all that he's not. But I'm with you. Yeah, I'm absolutely with.

26:15Justin: I feel like he shouldn't.

26:16Andrew: He doesn't need to. But as a fan who researched him, we did something called the Groat Greatest Ranger of all Time. We did this like, tournament through. Throughout the. Throughout the season.

26:26Mike Farwell: You say this like I don't know this.

26:27Andrew: Ah, well, come on.

26:28Mike Farwell: We don't know how. We don't know.

26:31Andrew: We don't know how invested or how it went.

26:33Mike Farwell: By the way, loved the growth.

26:35Andrew: It totally went off the rails. So. So we kind of got our, you know, what fed to us.

26:41Justin: So it was.

26:41Andrew: It was. It was a great learning experience. But yeah, we. That was one of the names that we're kind of like is if the. They're, you know, not to take away from anybody's accomplishments, but I would argue there's lesser players in the hall, so that's.

26:53Mike Farwell: Could not agree more.

26:54Justin: Yeah.

26:54Mike Farwell: Yeah. And I'll let you in on a little something here and now. Hopefully this puts pressure on the league because I know they listen to the AudPod.

27:01Andrew: Yeah.

27:01Mike Farwell: The talk is. Is strongly Andrew to get finally an OHL hall of Fame. Like, let's go. And if Brian Bellows is not an inaugural member, well, then come on.

27:14Justin: Yeah. Oh, totally. I'll.

27:15Andrew: I'll go right down to headquarters

27:19Justin: down there.

27:19Andrew: I never even saw him play.

27:23Justin: Okay, you've.

27:24Andrew: You've.

27:24Justin: So you've covered the team for about 20 years.

27:27Mike Farwell: Yeah.

27:28Justin: Yeah.

27:29Mike Farwell: Okay.

27:29Justin: You've got to have Sam O'Reilly got to have some highlights in your. In your years of calling.

27:34Mike Farwell: Oh, oh, yeah.

27:36Andrew: Like if you had to pick a goal or a highlight.

27:38Mike Farwell: Yeah, well, the goal would be Skinner's 50th. I mean, the kid. All he did that year as a sophomore in this league is score goals. 50 in the regular season, 20 more in the. Like, the guy had 70 goals over the course of the season and of course goes in the first round, never comes back. Not that the Rangers organization, their fans or their broadcasters are bitter about getting robbed of watching them more, but Skinner's 50th absolutely stands out to me. Yeah, Jonathan Yances is the Aud was interesting about Yances is 50 is here's a guy that just had a little bit of progression year over year, and I'm going off the top of my head here, but he might have been like, was he as low as eight or in and around 12 goals the year before, and then all of a sudden he explodes for 50. Just. It worked. He figured it all out. But the wild thing about him. So skinner gets his 50th 66, 67 games. Because I know he didn't. He didn't have to play the last game. He got a little break, but he scored it against Owen Sound. We're coming into the final weekend of the season and yances is on 46 goals. Two games left against Owen Sound. And the question is, can he score two per game and get 50? Well, doesn't he go out and score four in the home game on the Friday night to get to 50?

28:59Justin: Then you don't have to worry about that.

29:00Andrew: You don't even have to dress in the next game if you don't want to.

29:03Mike Farwell: But again, hey, Yance, think about the broadcasters. Do you think I prepared my 50th goal call when he needed four. I was going to score four anyway. I actually don't prepare calls, but I would have liked to have, you know, something about 50. The funny part was they had to review. So the crowd goes bananas. Of course, the bench goes. Everybody goes bananas. And they're like, wait, the play is under review for. It stood. So it made it a little anticlimactic, but that one stands out. And then Logan Stanley in the Western conference final. Game 7 on the road in Sault Ste. Marie. With just under a minute to go, a Stanley blue line bomb sends us to overtime in the west final. Oh, my word. Fantastic stuff. I mean, that's just three that jump right out.

29:49Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

29:50Mike Farwell: It's been countless. It's. It's a. Yeah, it's a great level of hockey and we've had some, some real exciting years for sure.

29:57Justin: Okay. I'm going to make you. I'm going to make you think more recently.

29:59Mike Farwell: Yeah.

30:00Justin: Was there one this year that, that jumps out at you?

30:04Mike Farwell: I mean, besides Elenis in overtime to knock off.

30:09Justin: That's the one. I was. Want to talk about it?

30:11Andrew: I just want to talk about the reverse sweep.

30:13Mike Farwell: Exactly. And I mean, Pridham's, Michigan, I don't think. I'm almost positive. I've. I've never called one. I hadn't, you know, except on the highlight reels. You probably would remember something like that, right?

30:25Justin: That was pretty epic.

30:26Mike Farwell: Yeah, that one. That one stood out for me too.

30:28Andrew: Yeah. The penalty shot Pridham had too, in the, in the Windsor series was just electric down at the Aud That was. That was. I felt like the moment where I think it was like 7,000 people and plus the team and anybody who was Watching at home had that like, they're gonna do this. They're gonna, they're gonna complete this comeback. Like, it was just like, this is gonna happen. This is like fate.

30:50Mike Farwell: You talk about Pridham's penalty shot, I can't help but thinking, and it's like on the, the Mount Rushmore of Rangers goals this season, it probably wouldn't make it because it came in a shootout, but Matthew Hillachar in the 15 rounder up in Seusse, I'm like, wait a minute, where did those hands come from? It was, I mean, I was sick and tired of call. Like, I don't like shootouts. I'm like, can we just. The bar closes at 11 across the street, guys. Like, can we just wrap this up so I can make last call, somebody.

31:20Andrew: That was a great goal.

31:21Justin: It was. Yeah. I actually totally forgot about it.

31:23Andrew: I. Yeah, I forgot about that. I remember my wife getting up, leaving, coming back and being like, they're still doing the shootout.

31:32Mike Farwell: Next time, please. Yes. And Farwell is still calling. You think about the little people here.

31:39Andrew: That's great. Okay, so let's keep it current here and let's talk about something maybe not so great. Maybe, maybe I don't know about the CHL and the ncaa. Are you worried about the NCAA sniping talent and put yourself in the shoes of the OHL per se, or an ownership, you know, position. What would you be bringing to the table? How do we not make this a, you know, 15 to 18 year old league and lose 19 year olds and 20 year olds and like the best talent?

32:13Mike Farwell: That's the million dollar question. The short answer to am I worried? Is no. And that could be because I've got the blinders on. I've been in this league way too long and I like it way too much. So I will acknowledge that's a possibility. But what I see here as the big difference maker in the Chlo is the schedule that you play. And I'm sorry, but you're not going to get the same development, in my opinion, in the ncaa that you're going to get in the CHL when you play something that so closely mirrors what you're getting at the next level and no matter what. So the best preparation, I'm not saying you won't be prepared, but if you're graduating college at 20, 21, where you've played 40ish games a season, you're probably two or three years away from cracking an NHL roster.

33:08Andrew: Probably.

33:09Mike Farwell: Whereas if you come out and you guys have seen it, if you come out of this league after playing 68 games plus playoffs, etc. For year after year after year, your, your trajectory to the next level is probably a lot quicker. Right. Maybe two years for some players. Right. So I think in many ways that's the big difference maker here in the Andrew Hockey League. One of the other things that I think people are getting a little bit carried away with and we're going to see it, it's the wild wild west right now. But all of these big dollar figures we hear being thrown around, believe me, they exist for some guys.

33:49Andrew: Right.

33:49Mike Farwell: For the Porter Martone's of the world. But the, the guy that is looking at his OHL team saying there's not really a spot for me as a 20 year old, he ain't getting a quarter schmill to go to the US college route. Right. So that's gonna have to kind of work itself out. I, I'm happy that players have options. They can choose the best place for them to play, for them to develop. Maybe they will make some money. And, and if you want to go after the, the big prize, the big bucks when you're 18, do it. But I still think the long term play is here in this league where you'll likely have a better chance of cracking an NHL roster and staying there for a longer time. And then the 250k they're going to give you now at 18, 19 is, is a drop in the proverbial bucket of the tens of millions you'll make at the next level.

34:45Andrew: Yeah. I mean even if you get like, you know, like your, your entry level contract and that plays out and you actually get a chance to live that dream, that's, I mean it's, it's. That pales in comparison to that. So.

34:57Mike Farwell: Absolutely. So I think the biggest concern I have is what you alluded to, Andrew. And that is what keeps the OHL/CHL from becoming a 15 to 18 year old sort of super league. And I, I think this will sort itself out. After all. Just look at the last two weeks. One week it seems like oh my gosh, the NCAA is winning all of the, the, the recruitment battles and then a week later you're like, wow, the CHL is having a hell of a week. Look at these players decommitting. Right? So.

35:24Andrew: Right.

35:25Mike Farwell: Yeah, it's. Or not so much decommissioning but coming over. So it's just, it's, it's a really interesting time. I think the, the best approach to this is try to take a breath and just wait for things to settle out. Because it will. The leagues are going to figure it out.

35:39Justin: Yeah. Yeah, that's, We've, we've talked about this too. It's like, yeah, there's probably, there's, we're probably less talking about the super high end talent and the, Aud the, Aud the super young guys because they're, they might commit later. But you know, the guys who are going to go to the NHL right after the draft, like, they're not going to go to NCAA for a year and then go to the NHL, like they're, they're probably, yeah, like you say, better off playing the game schedule in the. Games in the ohl. So yeah, the balancing that's going to come, I think. Yeah, we're going to see Sam O'Reilly going to see some, probably some odd years is how I sort of see it. It's like it's probably going to be a couple of years where there's like a lot of overager talent and then maybe there's going to be no overager talent and we're not going to quite know how that's going to all come out, but it will be, be interesting to see how it plays out. And thank God we have Mike McKenzie who seems to be right in the ship. He's, he's been on, on track with this NCAA thing. So.

36:29Andrew: That's true. He gambled, I feel like this past season and it paid off.

36:32Mike Farwell: Calculated gamble, I think.

36:34Justin: Right.

36:34Mike Farwell: Especially with the Valentini piece.

36:36Andrew: So, yes, speaking of, that's a good, that's a good segue into. We haven't, we haven't had a podcast since Valentini signed. So, you know, if you don't mind giving us some insight on how you feel about the Rangers having an acquisition that big and kind of like the dog days of summer where it's kind of going to fly under the radar. Except for the die hard, you know,

36:57Justin: the AudPodience type Rangers fans.

36:59Mike Farwell: Well, you mentioned Mike McKenzie and this, this is his calling card. Right. He loves making his off season moves. Jacob Ingham, when he essentially stole him from Mississauga a few years ago back in the summer of 2017. And Ingham was the guy that. No, sorry, that was 19 and then 20. We got shortened by Covet and everybody wondered what if. But anyway, he's always loves his off season moves. I think this is just the way the timing worked out on this one. But I, I think it speaks to something that we'll see with this rule change and that is how organizations in the Andrew Hockey League are going to try to step up their game to make them more attractive places for players to come. Kitchener obviously has advantages in that regard.

37:40Justin: And.

37:41Mike Farwell: And the Aud itself is undergoing a pretty extensive renovation, which is, you know, only 13 or so years after the last renovation. So the Rangers are in a good, good spot that way. As for Valentini himself, what excites me the most is the fact that, you know, I kind of alluded to this before, not to be hypercritical, but it's been. It's been a bit of a dry spell for a franchise as proud as the Kitchener Rangers Since 2008, they haven't even been to an OHL championship.

38:11Andrew: And who's to blame for that?

38:12Mike Farwell: Mike, you're right. Direct all of your. I'll take it.

38:15Justin: I don't.

38:16Mike Farwell: I like the cooler. I don't know what I did. I. Guelph wins. I leave Kitchener. I haven't happened since, but I think that we're in a period right now since UC a hocus brought some hocus pocus into this organization. And it's just been incredible. Is his first year here above expectations? He made the joke this past season. Not bad for a rebuilding team. Well, guess what, Kitchener, that target is squarely on your back now. But how exciting as a couple of guys like you too, that cover this team, that are invested in it. How exciting a period of Kitchener Rangers hockey is this.

38:50Justin: Yeah, well, I mean, we couldn't have asked for anything better. We. We came in expecting a rebuilding team.

38:55Andrew: Yeah. That all our early episodes is kind of like, you know, like us kind of finding our navigating our way through, like, what is it going to be? And I mean, the. The season started the first AudPod of the actual season. We had to deal with a 12 to 2 loss.

39:09Mike Farwell: So we were like, maybe we chose

39:12Andrew: the wrong thing to make a podcast

39:14Mike Farwell: of the little people people. Somebody had to be there and drive home from Windsor afterwards.

39:20Justin: Oh, yeah, that's true, that's true.

39:23Mike Farwell: But no, you know what. What I think back on and I. I've shared this a lot over the past season because what did kitchener finish with? 47 wins, tied for third or fourth most of all time.

39:34Justin: Yep.

39:34Mike Farwell: I. I had the privilege of covering that 20078 team under Pete DeBoer, the team that hosted the Memorial Cup and went all the way to the final 53 games that that team won against. Just 11 regulation losses. You'd go to the rink every day and you're just like, who are we going to beat tonight, like, that's the feeling that was there. And I feel like that's kind of coming back. It was almost there last season because you'd go to work and you'd think, well, you know, there's, there's a good chance at minimum that the Rangers will win this game. And so I think now I'm really interested to see how this team plays with those expectations. It's going to be a lot of fun.

40:10Andrew: That's. That, that's a great segue because I think our next question is kind of. Exactly. That is, what would you do if you're Mike McKenzie at this stage? It's an interesting year, right? I mean, we've had some like, listener questions about, you know, the goaltending situation. We'll get onto that a little bit later. But you know, like Jason Schaubel obviously a very promising young goalie, but he is young and goalies generally need seasoning and need time to be like the guy. So like 20, 27 Memorial Cup seems like the year that they're going for it, all that kind of thing. But it's, it's. They're also over the overager limit. So, like, there's obviously some pieces that need to move or things that need to happen. You know, if you were Mike McKenzie, like, what would your, what would your ammo. I mean, I'm not asking you to like, give me, you know, deals or whatever, put them on the table. But like, what. How would you approach this year? Because it feels like almost like an in between year now with the Jackson Parsons departure.

41:10Mike Farwell: Yes, but I would also say that getting to the conference final this past season when nobody expected that kind of sets the table. Look, because the players that did that this past season are the same players that will be maturing into their 19 year old or 20 year old season in 27. So you want them to now learn what it takes. So I don't know that this is so much an in between year as it is a year to take that next step. You're in the middle of a really nice cycle with the Kitchener Rangers, where quite frankly, not to pile on the expectations, but it should be conference final or bust coming into this season, quite frankly. So do you get to an OHL championship this time? I don't know. But this group has enough experience now from what it just did to do that. So If I'm Mike McKenzie, priority number one is something you already alluded to and that's goaltending. You. You don't just go out and replace A Jackson Parsons, but with no disrespect intended to Jason Schaubel who is a terrific young man and goaltender. He's not going to carry the mail for you this year, so you're going to need to do something there. But other than that, I don't know that Mike McKenzie has to go gangbusters on anything. The draft picks are in place, you have what you need and you'll, you'll ride this one out and see what it looks like come January.

42:35Justin: Interesting. You can carry the mail for the team, though.

42:38Andrew: That's true.

42:39Justin: Yeah.

42:39Andrew: Actually, I have delivered not. Not Tommy Kut perhaps broadcast staff. I have delivered their mail to their house. No, not, not someone else. Someone who's listening, I'm sure.

42:58Justin: Okay, we're, we did get Sam O'Reilly got. I don't want to assume, but if you listen to the last episode of the Aud Pot of the Season, we had Sam O'Reilly had some Instagram questions from our. From the AudPodience come in and we had a few that we wanted to lob over to you for some rapid fire answers. See what. To see what you thought.

43:17Mike Farwell: Absolutely.

43:18Justin: So the first one's from Ben. So which, which player is going to have a breakout season next year?

43:24Mike Farwell: A breakout season for the Kitchener Rangers next year? I'm going to go. Can we, can we say Luca Romano? Would that count as breakout after he just had a 20 goal season?

43:36Justin: I mean, okay, what, what is a breakout after a 20 goal?

43:39Mike Farwell: Yeah, yeah. So I think Luca Romano will establish himself as one of the elite players in this league coming into his third year. Oh, love to hear that.

43:51Justin: Sounds great.

43:51Mike Farwell: Yeah. So we're talking, you know, probably in the neighborhood of 30 goals and. Yeah, love it. Yeah.

43:57Justin: Yeah. High, high, high points. I'm assuming if.

44:00Andrew: Because he's absolutely.

44:01Justin: He does it all.

44:02Andrew: He does.

44:02Justin: He does it all. All right. From Chris, completely different tone. Should Ando keep the Soo this year?

44:09Mike Farwell: Oh, absolutely.

44:10Andrew: Yeah.

44:10Mike Farwell: No, without. Zero question about that. Zero question.

44:13Justin: That was pretty much our answer.

44:14Andrew: Yeah, we said that even if he

44:16Justin: doesn't have the C, he's unquestionably the leader of the team.

44:19Mike Farwell: If Matt Andonofsky doesn't come back to Kitchener and Ottawa keeps him, he's still the captain of this game. Exactly, exactly.

44:25Justin: There you go. That's a different take. Yeah. Okay. James asks, which three OAs will we keep next year? And you might have answered this a little bit, but which three OAs will we keep next year? And why is Jack Pridham gonna bail from Bull?

44:43Mike Farwell: I like that. James, did you say it was.

44:45Justin: Yeah.

44:45Mike Farwell: Good job, James. I was actually going to start with, gosh, I hope Jack Pridham comes back. I really hope Jack Pridham comes back. And then that would be. Andonofsky would be another one. And who else do we have as potential OAs? Is Chromiak a potential

45:03Andrew: Mercer?

45:03Mike Farwell: Yeah, I'm. Am I missing somebody else?

45:06Justin: There is one more.

45:06Andrew: There is one more.

45:07Justin: Now I'm blanking on.

45:08Mike Farwell: I know. I should have it off the top of my head. We should have.

45:11Andrew: We should have prepped our question.

45:12Justin: Yeah. Research.

45:14Mike Farwell: I. I had it in. I. I'm going with Andonofsky and I'm. I'm really hoping for Pridham to do this, to come back. All right.

45:22Andrew: Because I had already accepted that he wasn't coming back. And now the voice of the Rangers is sitting down with me saying, I really want him to come back.

45:30Justin: And now I'm like, yeah, me too.

45:32Andrew: I know.

45:33Justin: Actually what we'll take from this, we'll make a little clip for social media and we'll just be like, Jack Pridham please come back.

45:39Mike Farwell: Please.

45:41Justin: Yeah.

45:42Andrew: Take a page out of Mike Farwell's book and we'll do odd jobs for you.

45:46Mike Farwell: There you go. That's right. Whatever it takes, Jack. Put him back. Okay. Yeah.

45:52Justin: Okay. Curtis asked two questions. Curtis asks which. Which ranger is going to be drafted the highest in the NHL? And we're not talking about this summer going forward.

46:02Mike Farwell: Right. And. And now with the arrival, could very well be Adam Valentini. That would be my. I mean, and that.

46:09Justin: That's.

46:09Mike Farwell: Curtis would have asked that question before Valentini's arrival. But at this point now reading those tea leaves, likely Valentini, because what an opportunity he has.

46:18Justin: For sure.

46:18Mike Farwell: Yeah.

46:19Justin: Do you have a pre Valentini, pre Valentini Andrew. I'm trying to get him to validate us.

46:31Mike Farwell: Boy, oh, boy. I'm interested in watching Weston Cameron for a full season.

46:35Andrew: Yeah.

46:35Mike Farwell: You know, and I. I think that's. I don't know how high he goes and what it looks like for him or were you. Who. Who were you thinking?

46:41Justin: Oh, we both picked you.

46:42Andrew: Yeah.

46:43Mike Farwell: Oh, yeah. Very good.

46:44Justin: Yeah, we got. We got Noah Hannifan vibes off him. Yeah, he. He's a. He's a dude. He's a force to be.

46:51Mike Farwell: He is absolutely a dude. And look at the way he stepped up in the playoffs.

46:55Andrew: That's exactly why we're so high as a rookie.

46:57Justin: Yeah, we love. We loved watching him play when someone going to hit him and the guy that goes in to hit him. Bounces off of the reverse hit king. Imagine hitting a 16 year old and you're just down on the ice like,

47:09Andrew: I don't know what happened.

47:10Justin: Yeah, it's like he got hit by an X man. Yeah, exactly.

47:14Mike Farwell: Zoo is an excellent example.

47:15Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Weston, Cameron, that was also. That's a good poll. That's great. I mean, we like that guy.

47:20Andrew: Yeah, we do.

47:21Justin: Okay, the final. The final Instagram question. Curtis, again, if you could rebrand the Kitchener Rangers What's the name, the logo and the goal song?

47:32Mike Farwell: Oh, my word. Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna cop out a little bit here because I'm not changing the Rangers. I almost wore. I wore my Kitchener Memorial Auditorium shirt.

47:44Andrew: If you push your mic stand just a little bit forward. Yeah, we'll fix it if we have to.

47:48Mike Farwell: Okay, just.

47:48Andrew: Just go ahead and swing it.

47:49Justin: Yeah.

47:50Andrew: Out of the way. Look at that.

47:52Justin: That's a beautiful sight.

47:53Andrew: Look at that.

47:54Mike Farwell: She looks pretty good for 70, eh? 70 plus now.

47:57Justin: Yeah.

47:57Andrew: Yeah, sure does.

47:59Justin: She's almost on the verge of 75.

48:00Mike Farwell: I think she's getting there.

48:01Andrew: Yeah.

48:03Mike Farwell: So I don't want to change. I almost wore the old cartoon cowboy shirt here, which was the worst thing. I'm very much a traditionalist, so I want the Rangers to stay. I want to stay exactly the Sam O'Reilly I don't want any rebranding around that. I'm getting a little bit political here, but in the current climate in this region, Kitchener is a little bit exclusive. Poor Cambridge. What about Elmira? Do they have any connection to the Kitchener Rangers? So maybe is there a way to make the Andrew region. I don't know, but that's just trying to satisfy some people, especially from Cambridge. I like to complain to me. So I don't know. And. And the gold song. What am I gonna change? The goal song. Okay, what's the goal song now? Like, the only way. The only reason I.

48:55Justin: Let's go, Rangers.

48:56Mike Farwell: The only reason I know it is because we play when I have on my radio show on Fridays during the season, we have the coaches show. So UC comes on once a week and we use that song as the intro to the segment on the radio. I get asked so many times about, oh, did you see this at the rink? Did you see this on the video board? I'm like, no, because I've got a job. I do. So I don't even. I don't even really notice. It's all white noise to me.

49:24Justin: That's fair.

49:25Mike Farwell: Okay, so, yeah, Curtis, I'M sorry, that's really, totally copping out. You know what? I'll tell you what. Limelight by Rush, because Rush is the greatest rock and roll band in the history of rock and roll music.

49:36Andrew: There we.

49:37Mike Farwell: Not just Canadian best rock band ever. Limelight gets the call.

49:41Andrew: We were just trying to get a sneaky insight into like what kind of music.

49:44Justin: Yeah, totally, totally. And I, and I did say at the beginning that we were going to learn if Mike has an opinion. And he does. And he does. He does. Absolutely.

49:54Mike Farwell: Some of them I state more firmly than others.

49:57Justin: Rush. That's Rush. We're not going to debate that.

50:01Mike Farwell: Possible.

50:02Andrew: Okay, so we've got a segment. Now. You are a huge Kitchener Rangers fan. However, you're also a broadcaster, so you have to be a. What am I trying to say? Unbiased observer at times. So we're going to play a little game called no homers. Okay. I'm going to make a claim and Justin going to make another claim. Like who are going to give you each. We're both going to say something at different times. I'm explaining this terribly. I'm going to make a Homerish statement. And if you don't know what a homer statement is, it's something that's very biased because we love the Kitchener Rangers And you are either going to say that. Well, that's not a Homer statement at all. No homers. You could say perhaps that might be the segment name or you translate it so that it might be a thing thought in your head and it comes out in a way that you know is fit for radio.

50:52Mike Farwell: Gotcha. Okay.

50:54Andrew: Okay.

50:55Justin: You want me to throw out the first one? Yeah. the Aud is the best atmosphere in junior hockey.

51:03Mike Farwell: No Homer. That's not, that's.

51:07Justin: That's not.

51:08Mike Farwell: Silly question. Silly statement. That is indisputable. Indisputable. They're indisputable.

51:16Andrew: Look, we know, we know in London they're hate listening to us.

51:20Mike Farwell: Look, the. Aud is it now? Canada life place is. Is lovely. It's modern. It's the. Aud the mini ACC/Scotiabank Arena. No, it's. It's fantastic. And I've said this many times before. The best, like the best broadcast location except for one camera that kind of gets in the way. I don't know why they put the cameras in front of us like that, but anyway. But really it's a perfect view and everything. And I know it's very comfortable and all that, but it's more of a. Of a stadium. It's just too cookie cutter. Right. the Aud has character. Simple as that. So, no, Homer, I can't. No translation necessary.

51:55Andrew: Some of the strangest angles to watch hockey in, in anything I've ever. Any building I've ever been to, and I love it.

52:01Justin: It's the best.

52:01Mike Farwell: Yeah.

52:02Andrew: Like, I love that.

52:02Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

52:04Andrew: All right. Kitchener Rangers fans are the best in the chl.

52:08Mike Farwell: You know what? The Kitchener Rangers have very passionate fans. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. Once a Wolf, Always a wolf. Once a 67. This is the same thing in every market. So maybe you can get away with it because everybody says it, but in case you can't tell, I'm kind of. I'm kind of tired of it. Rangers fans are awesome. Don't get me wrong. You know who else is awesome? Peterborough fans. Sarnia fans. Windsor fans. Like, the Soo St. Marie. God, I love me some.

52:39Justin: This is the clip for Social Media.

52:41Andrew: Engage those markets.

52:44Justin: Totally. Yeah. Okay. The London Knights get all the calls.

52:52Mike Farwell: I know the fifth isn't a thing in Canada, but I'm taking it.

52:56Justin: No, no, you gotta make it unbiased.

53:01Mike Farwell: Okay. Okay. Brace yourself. Okay. And I swear to God, if you so and so's, if you AudBalls share this anywhere else, it's the end of our relationship. The London Knights, and this is the truth, do a very good job of drawing penalties. They do. But if you watch. If you watch with an unbiased eye. I know it's hard because everybody loves to hate the Green machine, but. No, they don't. They don't get all the calls. Nobody's on the take. Look, the Hunters have the money if they want to use it for that, but that's never what it. No, they don't get all the calls. They are very good, the Aud drawing penalties.

53:49Andrew: Media credentials restored.

53:53Mike Farwell: For the record, it was only the team that I still had the credentials. They just wouldn't let me talk.

53:58Justin: Then, buddy, we expect the green carpet out for Mike into the dressing room this season.

54:04Andrew: Yeah. All right. Saginaw were paper Memorial Cup champions.

54:10Mike Farwell: Oh, not a chance. Not how. What am I supposed to Sam O'Reilly want me to translate that for you? Listen, I. I get that. The winning the OHL Championship versus winning the Memorial Cup. There's always the debate which one means more. You win your league, you look the championship, the tournament matters. You have to bring your best for that short tournament each and every night. And no, not paper champions at all. If you make the Final four, you're pretty good in my books. And the Saginaw Spirit did that up against a very good London team when London won the OHL championship. But full mark, that team, that team was a bit of a wagon in Saginaw. Very well built. Give Dave Drinkill credit for the, like, such a sly move getting Josh Bloom back for peanuts the way that he did, etc. Etc. Definitely not a paper champion in my estimation.

54:58Justin: That's good.

54:59Andrew: That was good.

55:00Justin: All right. Jackson Parsons was the best junior goalie in the country.

55:06Mike Farwell: Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna call you Homer on that. But only because. Only because. Who the hell saw the rest of the country? I didn't. Did you? So, but, but that, that statement in and of itself, like, best in the league. Yes. And we started having the conversation this year, guys, was he the best that we've seen? And that's, that's. That's pretty big. Like Wendell Young, dependable Wendell. Okay. This guy is, Was legit. Mike Torquia, good friend, great guy, still in the community. Was unreal. And then. Do I even need to talk about John Gibson, who I had the privilege of watching? And it's, it was ridiculous what, what he did. Jacob Ingham, who had himself a whale of a season before we got cut short by Covet. Anyway, so I think Jackson Parsons legitimately is in the conversation for the best season we saw from any Rangers goaltender ever. But simply because we didn't see the other leagues, I don't know that we can honestly truly call them the best in the country, but best in the O, hands down.

56:08Justin: Nice. Yeah, we'll take it. All right, Cat.

56:13Andrew: The 2425 Rangers were a Carson Rakoff away from a seven game series with London.

56:23Mike Farwell: No, that's. That's homer all the way because the 2425 Rangers, yeah, they got swept by London, but they made it all the way there. Even absent the 52 goals that Carson Rakoff scored. And not that it's all on Carson Rakoff, but where did the Brampton Steelheads finish up? So I don't think that Carson Rakoff, like, I get why you'd say that as a homer, because you're like, oh my God, this guy scores 52 goals and we haven't had a 50 goal scorer in how long and blah, blah, blah. But no, it was, it was a different kind of team. And, and Carson Rakoff would not have fit with that team.

56:57Andrew: For the record, we just came up with outlandish homer statements not necessarily reflective of our opinions.

57:02Justin: We, we, we also agree similarly to that statement of being like this team was its own beast. And didn't.

57:08Andrew: Didn't need any help.

57:09Justin: Didn't even look similar to the team last year. No.

57:11Andrew: And that's true in a lot of ways.

57:13Mike Farwell: You talk about team and that's really what we saw with the Rangers this year.

57:17Andrew: Right.

57:17Mike Farwell: There were roles. Everybody understood it. That was just. Yeah, it was. It was fun. It was special to watch.

57:23Justin: Lots of individual moments, but no individual player like dragging the team along or anything like that. It was just like, yeah, team.

57:29Mike Farwell: Like you said, they might have been a healthy Adrian Missile Javic away from a game six. Hey, you know, like, who knows.

57:36Justin: Yeah.

57:36Andrew: Yeah, that was that. I think that has gone understated in. In at least on the AudPod is because we only had really one episode after the season. Was. It was a. It was a. It was really sad that we didn't get to really have a true goodbye to Adrian Misaljevic just because we didn't know we had already seen his last game. Exactly.

57:58Justin: Yeah.

57:58Andrew: Yep. Yep.

58:00Justin: Okay. Last one. Andrew MacNiel is the heavyweight king of the OHL.

58:06Mike Farwell: No Homer.

58:08Justin: Yes.

58:11Mike Farwell: I love that kid. Yes.

58:14Justin: How can you not.

58:15Mike Farwell: My gosh. This.

58:17Justin: He's.

58:18Mike Farwell: I can't wait to watch him for another three years in this city.

58:22Justin: I.

58:23Mike Farwell: If I. I can sense from the outlandish statement that he's already turning into a bit of an AudPod favorite. I think he's a fan favorite to some degree. Once he earns his stuff stripes and gets into the lineup more regularly, we have got ourselves a beauty.

58:39Andrew: Yeah, that left straight is unstoppable.

58:43Mike Farwell: When other players figure out the left, it might be a slightly different story. That's true.

58:48Justin: Hey, we know he's smart. We know he was the academic player of November, so I bet he can adapt.

58:53Andrew: That's true.

58:53Mike Farwell: I'll tell you a real quick story. So we were on the road. It was Andrew first game last season and we were. I can't remember. Anyway, he. Bus seats. He was right behind me and I heard him ask whoever he was sitting behind, hey, who's. Who's the tough guy on the team? We're. We're going to play. I. Sorry, I can't remember which team we were playing, but he wanted to know like in his. He was coming up for his first OHL game and he wanted to know who the tough guy was. Now he didn't fight or anything, but the fact that that was already in the kid's mind.

59:21Justin: Scouting.

59:22Mike Farwell: Yeah, that's my kind of screws loose player. Put him on my blue line.

59:26Justin: Yeah, that's a Great. That. Yeah, that's. That tracks. That's great.

59:30Andrew: And I think that could feed into, like, our last question. We've already. We've kept you, I think, longer than we even said that.

59:35Justin: We're.

59:35Andrew: But it's just. We've been having a blast here. You travel with the team, right? So you know these guys off the ice, and you get to know their personalities. Who. Who's. Who's, like, the funniest guy on the team bus? Or is there no one funny guy? And it's. It's just like a group. Is there a little clique of funny guys or.

59:51Justin: And.

59:52Andrew: And in. And in saying that, is there, like, a travel story from this past year that. That rings in your mind besides the one you just told us?

59:58Mike Farwell: Oh, my gosh. Travel stories. Most of the travel stories from this year dealt with the awful weather we had. Yeah, it was a brutal Andrew this year. One of the worst I've seen, for sure, in all these years. But really, the funniest guy. You. Oh, boy. I mean, Matthew Lechar is a funny, funny dude. He's just, you know, he's always in the mix of things, and Anofsky likes to get into it. I think, though, if I'm gonna get. If I'm gonna give the. Aud got to be Cameron Arquette. It's gotta be Cameron Arquette. That guy. He. Yeah, I'll just leave it there. Funniest guy, for sure.

60:36Andrew: The.

60:36Mike Farwell: The thing about traveling with the team now, though, is it's so much different because buses are quiet, man. Everybody's got their own thing. They got their earbuds in or their beats on or whatever. Right. And we don't watch movies anymore. And so there's. You lose some of that camaraderie. Yeah. That community experience, which is fine. Like, I. I'm not there to, you know, be anybody's best friend. But the. The trips have changed, so, you know, it's not a what happens on the bus, stays on the bus or thing. It's just that it's generally quiet. One of my favorite things. I'll tell you this. I don't think it's telling tales out of school. One of my favorite things. And it still happens from time to time, which I think is why I like it so much. Will be, like, I don't know, two or three minutes away from the rink after a pretty good game or an important win, and somebody from the back of the bus. I think it's. I think it's usually Ando will yell out, bus Driver, of course, is Mike the Moose Reeves. And you'll just hear from the back of the bus, hey, Mikey, turn the bus around. We forgot the two points. And then everybody just goes crazy and you gotta go, you know. And so it's just a little gag they play. And the first time they did it, Moosey actually thought for a second, what, did we forget something? We forgot the two points. So it was. Yeah, we have some fun with that one from time to time.

61:47Andrew: Nice.

61:47Mike Farwell: Like to hear it.

61:48Justin: Well, we've, we've definitely kept you long enough, so we'll, we'll sign off for the, for this odd bonus episode. AudPod.

61:55Mike Farwell: I think it was the other way around. I mean, I think I kept you guys way too long. And Andrew got to know Eiler's plan. Stanley cup game to watch here, so

62:03Justin: feel free to keep talking.

62:07Mike Farwell: I just, I want to say one thing that I probably should have said earlier, and that is the debt of gratitude that I owe to a man by the name of Don Cameron who is and always will be the voice of the Kitchener Rangers When I was a kid trying to break into sports broadcasting, I wrote him a letter and he responded to me, which is not the sort of thing that you see a whole lot, I don't think. Like, basically it's the guy that's doing the job that I would have one day liked to do and he took the time to give me some advice in my young career, even though some might have looked at me as a threat. Well, this, you know, hotshot thinks he's going to come and take my job someday and I'll never forget him doing that for me. And then the chance that I had to work alongside him and travel with him and hear stories from him and just learn from him by watching him for the number of years that I did. He turned into a real friend through it all and just a terrific guy that this organization in this city, like, was so lucky to have. He's a, he's a one of a kind and also belongs in that OHL hall of fame I mentioned before. So anyway, I'll just leave it there. But I, I would have felt wrong if I didn't say something about Don Cameron when we chatted. And I should have said it earlier.

63:15Justin: No, that's great and thank you for sharing. That's awesome. And, and I mean, it's that you say that it's all smoke and mirrors that you got here, but like, you've told us so many stories that counteract the fact that it was smoke and mirrors to get here. You've. You've earned your way here, and you've. You've made the relationship to make it work.

63:32Andrew: It sounds like you put yourself on a path pretty early.

63:35Justin: Yeah.

63:35Andrew: In your own mind. Very. In a, like, you know, like a manifesting way.

63:39Mike Farwell: Well, I will not tell a lie. It is what I wanted to do, but I mean, it. It was all, like. I BS'd it in the beginning, and I still. Every day, I prepare and try to execute like it might be my last day. Like, don't. Don't fire me after this one. I'm gonna do my best job here, coach. So just keep with that mentality. And it's. It's been a fun run.

63:59Andrew: So before we sign off, I just have to ask, you taking over for dawn, how did you mentally prepare for that? Because that had to be daunting.

64:09Mike Farwell: It was. It was. I. Yeah, I. I don't even know. I think I was lucky that it was a transition from an off season into a season and that we had worked together the way that we had. Right. So it was almost like him making that move on his own. Right. Like, I've been with this guy. I've kind of trained this guy, but it was. Oh, I don't know, still that I've ever really taken over so much as I've tried to continue what this city deserves from its hockey broadcast. And if I can do even a shred of that, then I'm doing. I'm doing proper homage to the great Don Cameron.

64:51Andrew: So cool. I think that's a pretty great note to end on.

64:54Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we.

64:59Mike Farwell: Can we do this again sometime?

64:59Justin: Because this was fun. Absolutely. Good. We would love to have you back.

65:02Mike Farwell: Yeah.

65:02Justin: Yeah. This is a highlight for the. For the AudPod. We were. We were nervous on what we were gonna. What was gonna happen tonight, but this was super fun.

65:09Mike Farwell: We were nervous about the guy that was gonna stand in the corner and not really say much.

65:13Justin: Yeah, we were worried it was gonna be Billy.

65:15Mike Farwell: That's what I see. Bill Rogers, my nemesis.

65:20Justin: Exactly. All right, well, thank you, everyone, for listening. You can find us on the social

65:25Andrew: medias at the AudPod on TikTok and Instagram. You can also Find us on YouTube just search the AudPod. Kitchener Rangers in the search bar will come up.

65:35Justin: And we got to thank all the normal people. Camborn, for the branding and marketing, the prodigal producer, Liam the phenom. And of course, you can find us

65:44Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

65:47Justin: See you at the Aud I like

65:50Mike Farwell: how they're the normal people, which means you guys are definitely the oddball.