43: Chromiak-Attack

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Okay, I know we're a Kitchener Rangers podcast, but we are both NHL fans

0:08Andrew: and the whole shtick was that the two of us were gonna bond over the Kitchener Rangers because.

0:16Justin: Because we're rival NHL fans.

0:19Andrew: That's right.

0:20Justin: And Andrew being an Edmonton Oilers fan and thus me being a Calgary Flames fan. It's been a big week for our teams and tonight we are recording on Wednesday is the first game for both of our teams this season. And also it's a battle of Alberta. And your captain signed a crazy, like, literally crazy contract.

0:46Andrew: Literally the most team friendly deal, I think, in the history of sports in the salary cap era.

0:51Justin: You're welcome, billionaires.

0:52Andrew: Three more years. Three more years.

0:56Justin: least.

0:57Andrew: It basically says to me that he stayed, he's staying. And the cap is going up in three years.

1:02Justin: Yeah.

1:02Andrew: That's when he can get paid. He'll get a. Or he can leave and nobody can say anything because he literally did everything he could to get the city of Edmonton a Stanley Cup. So no one can say anything. I'm proclaiming it here right now. If he leaves, he can leave. We won't be burning jerseys, we won't be soiling his name, we won't be burning anything. We won't be booing him. He. He can leave, but he won't.

1:24Justin: So get the John Tavares.

1:26Andrew: Bottom line is where is he going to. Where is he going to find the Cactus Clubs? All right, The Cactus Clubs are only in Western Canada. So he's a big Cactus Club guy.

1:36Justin: Yeah, he looks it too. Yeah, it's definitely a team friendly deal. They went and signed Jake Walman to $7 million.

1:44Andrew: Seven years.

1:44Justin: I'm like, okay.

1:45Andrew: And then they just got eholm on a team friendly deal.

1:48Justin: Yeah, that's a team friendly deal.

1:49Andrew: That was great. And it's going to. It doesn't have a terrible term for an older guy.

1:53Justin: And they just picked up Connor Ingr off like the sweetest of deals.

1:56Andrew: Yeah. They got full retention for literally nothing from Utah.

2:01Justin: I know. And it's just take them off our hands. Essentially. I was like, okay.

2:04Andrew: Uncle Gary said maybe they're allowed you

2:07Justin: do drugs in Utah. And they're like, get out. Yeah, pretty much.

2:11Andrew: Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

2:13Justin: So there you go. Andrew happy, Justin. Sad. By the time you're listening to this, you'll know.

2:19Andrew: Yeah.

2:20Justin: Who is happy and sad after the game tonight?

2:22Andrew: The last two years they've lost but six or more goals. The Vancouver Canucks to start the season. So I'm not Expecting a great start. That's just what happens.

2:31Justin: There's no one to score goals for the Flames right now.

2:33Andrew: Okay. So we could just be looking at a long.

2:35Justin: Maybe the best. The best future goaltender.

2:38Andrew: So maybe we gotta. We can't put some respect on Mika Kippers off his name. Okay. All right, let's.

2:43Justin: The best.

2:44Andrew: I'm doing drugs.

2:47Justin: Cue the intro music. Welcome to the AudPod, where we're

2:57Andrew: talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls

3:00Justin: themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. All right. Back to Kitchener Rangers land.

3:13Andrew: I'm back. I'm getting focused.

3:14Justin: We're in. Okay, so, yeah, like we said, it's Wednesday, so they are playing flint. What time is it? It is 6:45. They play Flint in 15 minutes.

3:21Andrew: Yeah. So they're probably out. They've already been out warming up.

3:24Clip: Yeah.

3:25Justin: They're back in the Hlacar room. The Juice is giving them.

3:29Andrew: Juicing them up.

3:30Justin: Juicing them up. Whatever happens in there, I don't know. I don't. I don't know what happens on the road because he can't throw them all in the sauna for 10 minutes before. That's true.

3:39Andrew: He would never do that before. He wants them hydrated. But after, I don't know.

3:44Justin: We don't know.

3:45Andrew: He looked really mad after the last game. And they won.

3:47Justin: And they won. There were some tricky things that happened. Happened in that game, but we'll get to that. But before we get into that, our dear friend of the pod, Sean Furfaro, dear friend, he pulled us aside on Friday night. So this is. We released the episode in the morning. Sean already listened to the episode, had notes, pulled us aside.

4:07Andrew: Very helpful notes, though, not critical notes that made us feel bad. Notes that were like, here's the information you're looking for. Essentially, we talked about players not being allowed to return to the ohl, but that is not the case at all. The only thing. No, yeah, we didn't know. The only thing that there is that kind of affects players returning is that after 10 games in the NHL, their entry level contract kicks in. And so a year of that gets burned. So realistically, nobody ever comes back. It does happen sometimes, but realistically, you don't want to be paying a player to be playing junior hockey. So they don't really ever come back after that. Although it has happened. Sean actually said it does very rarely happen that Ahlers and NHLers would come back. But it's mostly a contract thing. It's not a rules thing. Yeah. It's not a legal thing. It's not. Once you're professional, you can never. Whatever. It's just literally the 10 games is when the contract kicks in.

5:05Justin: So we were talking about this in regards specifically to Ando. So Ando, of course is up with the. Not the Belleville Bulls. The Belleville sends.

5:14Andrew: Yeah, we know it.

5:16Justin: We know. And he's up with that team. What that means is he has signed his entry level contract. We don't know when that starts. It is that 10 game limit in the Sam O'Reilly that the NHL is. So presumably if he makes 10 games in Belleville, he will stay in Belleville.

5:31Andrew: But he could come back.

5:32Justin: But he also could come back. We're not. We're not crossing the Aud of the lineup.

5:35Andrew: It's not off the table.

5:37Justin: Yeah.

5:37Andrew: It wouldn't be unheard of because we

5:39Justin: still have an overager spot available.

5:41Andrew: Exact.

5:42Justin: There's essentially. He's got 10 games. Their first regular season game is on Saturday. So we are going into week four of this season for us in OHL land. But he has not even started those 10 games yet. We got a little bit of time. They do go faster in the AHL than they do in the ohl, Right. Yeah.

6:00Andrew: Here we are. It'll be interesting. Honestly, it's one of those things that the defense has not looked bad at all. The defense is very deep this year.

6:08Justin: Yeah.

6:09Andrew: I'm excited for Ando. We saw pictures of him.

6:12Clip: Yes.

6:12Andrew: In Belleville Sen's uniform today. Very.

6:15Justin: He got an assist in one of the preseason games.

6:17Andrew: He looks right at home. Yeah. Realistically, if the best thing for him is to go off and be eventually an Ottawa senator, that's what I'm for.

6:25Justin: I noticed he has a little extra chin fuzz.

6:28Andrew: There you go.

6:28Justin: Going.

6:29Andrew: So you go. So he's. He's becoming a man.

6:34Justin: Yep.

6:35Andrew: That's what happens.

6:36Justin: That's what happens in the ahl. Yes.

6:39Andrew: You'd be lucky. The longer you stay there, you start to lose hair, I think up here.

6:44Justin: So get to the NHL as soon as possible. So thank you, Sean, for schooling us in some rules and not rules that we were putting on rules.

6:53Andrew: Rules that weren't ever a thing.

6:55Justin: We were creating rules that didn't exist. Okay. Game one, the only game we're recapping this week because as we mentioned, they're playing Flint tonight. So next week we got a four. We got four games to talk about.

7:07Andrew: Yeah. Because the one tonight will also be recapped.

7:09Justin: Yeah.

7:09Andrew: Remember Justin, because remember last year?

7:11Justin: I know I would always forgot to recap. Recap a game I always forget the. When we have the recording issue.

7:18Andrew: Yeah. The timing issue.

7:19Justin: The timing issue.

7:19Andrew: The turnaround problem. Correct, as it were.

7:22Justin: Okay. So game one, only game. Owen Sound Friday night at the Aud What a game. 4, 3 win. And the juice was pissed after.

7:30Andrew: Yeah. Or so he looked like it. He might have been happy. I don't know. Because realistically, who can tell? Who can really Sam O'Reilly exactly.

7:39Justin: Rangers came out like a thing that we've talked about so many times. Slow starts already. Is that didn't happen.

7:44Andrew: No.

7:44Justin: In this game.

7:45Andrew: No. They looked very focused. They took exception to what happened in Owen Sound and they were like, that's not going to happen tonight.

7:53Justin: Yeah. As a reminder, they had lost five to three only five days previous to this to Owensound in Owen Sound. 525353. Okay, but I could be wrong. Tell us in the the comments. I love how we always bring up. Tell us in the comments. Normal content creators are like, here's an opinion. Yeah. Tell me what you think about it. We always say look up in the comments. Factual things that we could easily look up right now in this moment.

8:20Andrew: Could Google it right now.

8:22Justin: You could Google it because you have a computer right in front of you. But we're not going to.

8:25Andrew: Pretty sure I could click this twice. It was five to two. Yep.

8:32Justin: Isn't that what I said? No.

8:35Andrew: Anyway, tell us in the comments enough about that game. Yeah.

8:39Justin: Yeah. They came out right away. Oh, and sound. They're a little bit of the power play merchants of the ohl right now.

8:45Andrew: Like Merchants, they got.

8:47Justin: Of their eight goals they have against Kitchener in two games, seven of them are power play goals.

8:54Andrew: Oh, four in the first game, three in the second game.

8:56Justin: Yeah.

8:56Andrew: It's okay. So that's what they're about.

9:00Justin: That's what they're about.

9:01Andrew: Which you know what? That's part of it. Right. We've talked about it on this podcast before. Special teams is usually the difference when you have two really good teams playing against each other. So we're not going to be sour grapes here. It's just that some of the calls,

9:14Justin: some of the reasons they had power plays. Curious.

9:18Andrew: In this game especially. Yes, I'll say they were undisciplined in the first game against no one's own. Yeah. In this game. I don't know what some of those calls were. And we're already here and it's already. It's only October and we're already water. Some of these calls.

9:31Justin: We heard someone call them ghost calls.

9:34Andrew: Yeah.

9:34Justin: And I like that.

9:35Andrew: Yep.

9:36Justin: It was like. Yeah. Some. Something happened and we're not really sure what or why or how.

9:41Andrew: Yeah. There was a Tanner Lam high sticking call.

9:44Justin: Yeah. We're not even sure he was on the ice.

9:49Andrew: I don't know. 37.

9:50Justin: I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So there was that going back to the penalty kill, which would be the thing that is giving these up right now.

9:59Andrew: Yeah.

10:00Justin: It's so vastly different because of course we saw in the Windsor series we went oh for 27.

10:05Andrew: Yeah.

10:05Justin: Penalty kill.

10:06Andrew: They couldn't do anything.

10:07Justin: No. And it's. But Owen sounds a kind of a thing right now.

10:11Andrew: Yeah.

10:11Justin: We're talking about players on that team.

10:12Andrew: They're having a moment.

10:13Justin: They're having a moment. They started out strong. They did. Kitchener did give them their first loss of the season. They did go to lose their second game of the season the next night.

10:23Andrew: I haven't been an OHL fan for very long, but I can tell you it seems like Owen Sound plays hard every game.

10:28Justin: Every game. And they got some skill. Like I was looking up Buoy.

10:32Andrew: Yeah.

10:33Justin: You really don't see the. You don't say the m. I know, but I really want to get into that.

10:38Andrew: Yeah. No, it's just Buoy.

10:39Justin: It's just Buoy. Great player by the way. He's so good. Like he's already being talked about as a first round draft pick in 2026 for the NHL. If he keeps playing like this. Yeah. Like that's like he could be a top 10 pick.

10:54Andrew: Oh, for sure. I think there's undoubtedly there's like a player there that like could make a jump because we've seen. He was a true 16 year old last year. Yeah. So that was incredible. On its own. I'm excited to see what he does. I just didn't like that he was as efficient as he was and effective as he was against the Rangers.

11:13Justin: Yeah.

11:13Andrew: But they still lost. So the Rangers still got what we needed. Yeah.

11:17Justin: However.

11:17Andrew: Yeah. Pierce Mbuyi on the power play is a problem.

11:19Justin: He's a deal man.

11:21Andrew: Yeah.

11:21Justin: And Harry Nansi too. Like the two of them together.

11:24Andrew: Another good player.

11:25Justin: Yeah. Just.

11:25Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.

11:26Justin: They're lighting it up. He also.

11:27Andrew: He threw a hit. Harry Nansi threw a hit in this game and.

11:30Justin: Yes. Against our dear beloved captain.

11:32Andrew: Yes. And it was a dangerous hit.

11:35Justin: It was.

11:36Andrew: I don't know how much of it was like mean spirited. Like I'm trying with intent to injure. It's a play you don't make because it's dangerous. It's dangerous. So we don't need to really discuss it. Beyond that, I felt like he. There. There wasn't really retribution. There was a lot of talking in this game from Owen Sound. Specifically one player in particular. I'm not going to name names, but he's the smallest player on their team and a lot of talking at him. Individual, really good player. It's like small dogs, Right. A lot of yapping, right? Yeah, a lot of yapping. So wasn't. Wasn't a fan of that because it was. They dogged the Rangers a little bit into some of that. It didn't end up bothering the Rangers in the result of the game.

12:24Justin: Yeah.

12:24Andrew: But there was a little bit of this tension that I was like, you know what? Like, I think as the season goes on and Owen Sound again, just try and stay away from that and try and just start filling the back of the net with pucks. Which is easier said than done with Carter George. Yeah. But enough about these Owen Sound guys.

12:42Justin: Saw last game, we saw the. We saw the Rangers like Owen Sound got into the Rangers head a little bit.

12:48Andrew: It sure did.

12:48Justin: And the Rangers came out prepared for what happened in the last game. Yeah. And Owen Sound pivoted to a new way to try and get in the Rangers head. And that seems to be like Owen Sound's game right now is that they are winning because they are encouraging the opposing team to take penalties and they score a lot on the power play.

13:12Andrew: So it's like the. Aud like the. The Corey Perry school of hockey kind of thing. You pester and pester and hope that you draw penalties.

13:20Justin: Yeah.

13:20Andrew: On undisciplined plays. It's. What's more, it's. It predates Corey Perry. Don't get me wrong. He just was one of the guys who did it very well in the NHL. The worm. Yeah. The good thing was the offense was clicking even though the power play wasn't necessarily clicking for the Rangers. And they did have six power play opportunities. So I'm not complaining too much about the refereeing. It's just that there was some weird choices made with giving the Rangers an extra two. And it was. There was just weird.

13:48Justin: There was a lot of offsetting penalties that had no reason to be offsetting penalties, especially in the third period.

13:54Andrew: Exactly. But the good stuff was that Luca Romano came out and got it started pretty early on. Right.

14:01Justin: Did he.

14:01Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

14:02Justin: Did. Did Luca Romano put that puck in the net?

14:05Andrew: Well, that's right.

14:07Justin: That's right.

14:08Andrew: No one really knows how that puck got in the net. Sheer will gravitational force put that Buck in the net.

14:15Justin: Dance you through this one here, Andrew, for our audio listener. Yeah.

14:19Andrew: Please describe whatever this was.

14:21Justin: First of all, this goal. I accredit 98% of it to Tannerland.

14:26Andrew: For sure.

14:26Justin: For sure. He knocked down the puck at the Rangers blue line and then completely just evaded all defensive pressure, crashed the zone, got deep, had an amazing pass to Luca Romano who shot it at Carter George who stopped that puck. But then he bobbled it a little bit.

14:47Andrew: Yeah.

14:47Justin: And then, dear friend of the pod, Noah Roberts,

14:54Andrew: we made him realize it was him.

14:55Justin: We may remember him from last year. Oh, Noah, as our dear Teddy bear Toss.

15:01Andrew: Fran, the joy you've brought us from Branford to Owen Sound just couldn't be happier for you.

15:07Justin: He tried to help and deflected it into the net.

15:11Andrew: It was a weird one, too. It looked like it happened like in slow motion when it was happening.

15:15Justin: For sure. Yes.

15:16Clip: Carter.

15:16Justin: It just. We know Carter George is a very good goalie. Like, it just caught him in such a way that he thought he had it in his glove and it just shot out of his glove. It was weird. And then.

15:25Andrew: But that as a testament to Luca Romano release.

15:28Justin: For sure. It was a great shot. I don't want to. I don't want to take that away from him.

15:31Clip: Yeah.

15:32Justin: But Luca Romano did not immediately put that.

15:36Andrew: No, no. He got some help.

15:39Justin: He got.

15:39Andrew: So they all count the same. They all.

15:41Justin: Yeah. One on the. One on the board for Luca Romano.

15:44Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. And the Soo it's one. Nothing. Pretty early. They're buzzing. It looks good. It probably could have been a wider lead for the Rangers for sure. Absolutely. Of course, this is when the power play stuff starts clicking for Owen Sound. They get one back. But only a few minutes later, Christian Humphreys has an absolutely beautiful goal.

16:04Justin: He.

16:05Andrew: What a game he played.

16:06Justin: Yeah, he had a killer game.

16:07Andrew: He's looked good since he's been back.

16:09Justin: Yeah, he is.

16:10Andrew: And you know what? I feel like there's hype around Pridham. There's hype around Lamb. There's hype around Ellen is coming back. There's lots of hype. Christian Humphreys is one of the best players, most skilled players on the Rangers. And it's not even to be argued.

16:24Justin: No.

16:25Andrew: And he is out there giving it his all. He chose to be here and he chose to stay. So we stan Christian Humphreys Yes. And everything that he's doing, always. He had two goals in this game and both of them were just like.

16:39Justin: I actually couldn't. In my brain, couldn't separate them apart because they were both so beautiful and similar.

16:46Andrew: Yeah.

16:46Justin: And it's. You get one of those, and you're like, whoa, Highlight. Real goal. And then you have two in the same game where you have to really think about which one was which one was which.

16:54Andrew: It was funny because I think the OHL posted a highlight of, like, his goal.

16:59Justin: Yeah.

16:59Andrew: And I was like, I think I like the other one more. But that's just the one that, like, someone saw and clipped and was like, this is a beautiful goal.

17:06Justin: Yeah. They were both just so beautiful.

17:08Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. An abundance of beauty. Yes. Our dear friend Cameron Arquette basically finishes off the first period in the last 35 seconds with another goal. That's his third of the year.

17:22Justin: Can't. Archie breaking out five games. We called it.

17:27Clip: Yeah.

17:27Andrew: We said last year, you can go back. And we said that he was going to be a breakout candidate. I didn't think it was going to happen this fast.

17:34Justin: No, this is. Yeah, he showed he took that seriously.

17:37Andrew: And the boys we interviewed after the game told us he's just a workhorse.

17:41Justin: Yeah.

17:41Andrew: He just works so hard, and you can see it out there, and it's coming for him.

17:44Justin: Yep.

17:44Andrew: Yep.

17:45Justin: So right before that goal was when Cameron Reid got hit. We talked about that already. So he left the ice. He was not on the bench. It did not look ideal.

17:53Andrew: No, it looked bad.

17:54Justin: It looks bad.

17:55Andrew: He was favoring that one leg, and we didn't know if he was going to be able to walk down the tunnel. He could.

18:00Justin: He did. He did so. And the Aud then he didn't come out to start the second period, but he did show up about five minutes in. Yeah. That was a real stressful five minutes.

18:09Andrew: It was. I really was. What I was actually worried about was that they were going to get really undisciplined again.

18:15Justin: Yes.

18:16Andrew: And the wheels were going to fall off.

18:17Justin: Go out against Harry Nansi.

18:19Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Which I get it. You want. You want to, for lack of a better term, collect the pound of flesh or whatever, but at the same time, win the game. We talked about this with Erie last year, right? Is they love to yap. They love to try and get under the ranger skin. Just win the game. Just win the game. Yeah. Yeah. It's three to one after one. The captain's not back. He comes back. And shortly after that, they get a little boost with a goal. The second goal from Christian Humphreys which we talked about. Beautiful. From Jack Pridham. Pridham had two assists in this one. Yeah. He's all over the place.

18:52Justin: He.

18:54Andrew: He couldn't buy one. But he had so many good scoring chances. He could have easily had another goal. Yeah. He was one of those where I was like, oh, Pridham's doesn't have a goal yet. And then I checked the score sheet and I was like, but he has two assists.

19:05Justin: And also I feel like that's been every game. It's.

19:07Andrew: Yeah.

19:07Justin: Pridham could have had two or three goals every game. Yeah. And it's okay. We've also played some very good goaltenders so far.

19:14Andrew: That's true. No slouches. Yeah.

19:16Justin: And I don't want to say anything bad about any goaltenders were gonna play, but it's. I think the quality. There is a drop in quality of goaltenders over the next few games. For sure. It's okay. Maybe Pridham's. Some of the, some of those, some of those hard working shots that he took that. That got stopped. Yeah. May not get stopped against some of these features.

19:34Andrew: Absolutely. And Carter George are good goalies.

19:36Justin: They're. The OHL podcast mentioned them as probably the two best goaltenders for the season.

19:42Andrew: Right.

19:42Justin: So going in. So this was before they had even played a game.

19:46Andrew: Yeah.

19:47Justin: And we've experienced that.

19:48Andrew: Yep.

19:50Justin: Owensound did push back at this point. They did. And Christian Kirsch showed up. Sure did. Yeah. There was some. There's some pretty epic stops. I think it was after we. We got the four wine goal.

20:02Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. In that second period. Yeah. It wasn't so much that the Rangers lifted their foot a little bit. It was just that Owen Sound is a scrappy team and they had some power plays and they're going to get their chances and they're going to push and they're going to push and you're. Yeah. I made the joke about a yappy dog, but they were definitely dogs. And you. If you back them into the corner, they get. They get aggressive and they go for it. Which I appreciate as a hockey fan watching it. Owen Sound does not roll over. No. So it was a interesting second period because they did they get a goal in that second period. So it's a two goal game going into the third y and then in the third period they get halfway through they get another power play because there was some weird calls.

20:46Justin: Yeah.

20:47Andrew: Now before we get into this because they don't get another one it the time expires. Rangers win four three. Yeah.

20:53Justin: It felt like the Rangers should have won four two. And then there was some weird penalty calls that allowed them to get a third like a third goal.

21:01Andrew: I wasn't, like, sweating that they were going to blow it. So there's a feel, like there's a vibe in. In a hockey game that you can. If you watch enough hockey, you can pick up on just this vibe of momentum.

21:11Justin: Yeah.

21:12Andrew: It didn't feel like they were clutching and holding on. Maybe they got a little conservative, but I think that was by design.

21:17Justin: Yeah. I think the third period they did come out and they did intend to play a defensive game that was not really about getting any more goals. It was just about stopping any more goals from going in the net.

21:28Andrew: Absolutely. And I think somebody who was majorly responsible for that was our friend Jakub Chromiak.

21:35Justin: Yes.

21:35Andrew: He played lights out. He's the. Now the sole overager defenseman on the team. Yep. With a departure rando and he looks like. I know that Cameron Reid is the leader, but I think Chromiak brings this, like, steady stay at home. Like, he can settle things down. He just settles things down. Cameron Reid is electric. Right. Like, he's just. He's out there and, like, you see him skate and you're like, this is incredible. Right. Chromiak. It's like, if you don't notice him, that's because he's been doing his job. And then when you do notice him, it's because he's taking the puck away and it's real understated. It's good plays and, like, the way he takes the puck away and the way he breaks up chances. If you're really watching him, like, I. If you're down at a game, just watch Chromiak on a shift. He's doing a lot of stuff positionally to take away chances from the other team.

22:30Justin: There were a couple of moments in this game where I was watching him specifically because I had started to get this feeling that every time he was on the ice, good things were happening. But it wasn't because I noticed Chromiak doing anything. It was like the absence of Chromiak was like, what highlighted me watching him. And there was a moment in the second period where there was a shot on Kirsch and. And Kirsch got. I think it was a pad save. And Kirsch couldn't lean over and grab the puck. He was trying to smother it and he couldn't do it. Owen Sound was like, collapsing in on the net. And Chromiak, he just got his stick in. He poked the puck to the corner, and I don't. That could have been a goal. That could have not been a goal. Kirsch could have got over there and got it or whatever, but he just neutralized that immediate threat, and he's just so aware of what's going on around him. There was another moment, I think it was in the third period where there was a rush chance developing and. And Harry Nansi was in. Mbuyi was in. Like, the top guys on that team were. Were crashing in and. And Chromiak just. He saw Nansi going for the puck. It wasn't a dirty hit or anything like that. Nansi was reaching for the puck. Like, very reasonable to throw a hit. And he just. He didn't hit him hard. He just pinned him against the board for an extra second.

23:46Andrew: Yeah.

23:46Justin: And it just totally took Harry Nansi out of that play, and nothing ended up developing because they're Justin. The rest of the Rangers were able to regroup, grab the puck. Like there was no support for Buoy. It was just neutralized through just an extra second. It was great.

24:04Andrew: Absolutely. Most of what Jakub Chromiak brings is not going to make a highlight reel. Yep. Because Chromiak makes the easy play. Yeah, he makes the easy play. Poke it into the corner. Is it. Is it. Is it hard? Is it harder to pick up the puck from the crease next to the goalie and skate it out and make an outlet pass and possibly set up a scoring chance of your own? Yeah, it is. And there's a lot that can go wrong there. He doesn't do that. He says, you know what, let's just get this away from the net, and then now we can deal with it over here. Yeah, it's the smart play. It's the easy play. It's the high percentage play, like you said, literally taking Harry Nansi out of the rush. Literally. Just. Just not holding him, not getting an infraction, but just getting him up against the boards and slowing him down just enough that now this play has. Is not developed. Right.

24:54Justin: Could have hit him hard.

24:55Andrew: Oh, sure.

24:55Justin: And Nansi could have bounced off that and been back in.

24:58Andrew: It's one of those things, too. If you commit to the big hit, you can miss. Yeah. It's like things can go wrong and take. And then you've taken yourself out of the play. Whereas if you just do an. Make an easy play and it. And it results, especially when you're leading the game, making easy plays is the smart play.

25:14Justin: Yeah. Yeah. We cannot talk higher about Chromiak in the. In this game specifically, but in the last season, too, like, we've seen him be this guy the whole time.

25:25Andrew: Absolutely. Andrew MacNiel had a great little play as well. He had a pass breakup that I thought was pretty important in the second period. And like you said, it's leading by example of somebody like Chromiak. These guys watch on the bench. They're in practice. With these guys, you start to realize that you don't necessarily need to be a hero on every shift. It's. And not only that, like, realistically, a lot of them don't have the ability to be a hero on every shift. Right. You have these unbelievable, electric players like Cameron Reid who can just turn it on. And suddenly I called him, like the Allen Iverson on the ice, where it's just like, you make a play out of anything. Right. But that's not realistic for most players. Even though in your mind, I'm sure you're thinking I was the best player in my AAA under 15 league, and I could do that there. This is the ohl. Is. Might be different now. Like, your time will come. Just make the easy play. Yeah.

26:17Justin: All right. Now that we've touted out. Touted.

26:21Andrew: Touted all these guys, and the Flint is making its way into us.

26:26Justin: Flint. It's because we know they're there.

26:28Andrew: They're there, they're playing.

26:29Justin: They probably just dropped the pack, I

26:31Andrew: was gonna Sam O'Reilly right.

26:32Justin: Like 708.

26:33Andrew: Yeah.

26:33Justin: Okay. Three stars of the weekend, Andrew. Now it's only three stars of the game. Three stars?

26:39Andrew: Yeah. There's really only three stars the game. Yeah.

26:42Justin: But, Andrew, who's your third star?

26:43Andrew: My third star. I am going with Mr. Jack Pridham himself. He didn't get a star in the game, but I just thought that he was buzzing. He was creating chances. Basically, anytime Jack Riddham was on the ice, the puck, the play was going the other way. So I got to just give our boy Jack a little shout out there as the third star. Who's your third star?

27:05Justin: Mine is Tanner Lam Perfect. And it's really about that first goal. Just like the. We've talked about the revenge tour of Tanner Lam He had two assists, and he had two assists. And this moment is just. He can be everything on the ice now.

27:18Andrew: Yep.

27:19Justin: He's defensively responsible because that's exactly how this play developed. Was he was defensively responsible, took the puck. He was able to drive it. We never saw him do this in this degree last year.

27:30Andrew: No.

27:31Justin: And this is like a massive leap forward for Tanner Lam so I'm loving it for sure. Who's your second star? Okay.

27:37Andrew: We just talked about him. Jakub Chromiak. Is my second star for everything that he didn't do, which was he didn't let chances go in the net. Basically, he broke up chances. He played really well. We talked about him at length.

27:49Justin: Yeah.

27:50Andrew: I'll throw it over to you.

27:50Justin: Yeah. My second star is also Jakub Chromiak, so no argument for me. Who's your first star?

27:55Andrew: Has to be our boy friend of the pod. Christian Humphreys Right? Yeah, Christian Humphreys We also talked about him. Had a phenomenal game. I'm super excited because last year he had the most points per game out of, like, the games played that he was present for. So I'm excited that he's just picked right back up and he's such a good dude. And we had a chance to talk to him after the game and it was great to see him and he was excited to see us.

28:17Justin: I know. Way happier to see us than I expected.

28:20Andrew: Yeah. And I want to give a special honorable mention. We don't normally do this to Cameron Arquette because I did notice in the game log he had five dangerous scoring chances. All five of his scoring chances he had a goal.

28:33Justin: Yeah.

28:33Andrew: But all five of his scoring chances were considered dangerous by the official OHL scorer.

28:38Justin: He is a menace.

28:40Andrew: That's crazy.

28:40Justin: Yeah.

28:41Andrew: Yeah. You never see that considering last year he was like a shutdown guy.

28:45Justin: Yeah.

28:45Andrew: And now he's just blossomed into this, like, guy who, like, with the puck on his stick. That might be going top corner.

28:51Clip: Yeah.

28:52Justin: Where papa hides the Cheetos.

28:54Andrew: Yeah.

28:54Justin: Yeah. Good. Good honorable mention.

28:57Andrew: Yeah.

28:57Justin: It was really nice to see the Christian after the game. And we saw Prim, too.

29:02Andrew: We saw Sean. We saw the whole gang. And we saw it. We saw the Juice. We saw the Jews see us and we just frunk into the corner.

29:10Justin: I'm not a tall man, but I'm shorter now.

29:16Andrew: That's a good one. I'm not a tall man, but I'm shorter now.

29:21Justin: Yep.

29:22Andrew: Yep. Somebody from the Rangers was just like, who do you want to talk to? And we're like, maybe not him. No, we do long term to mentally prepare.

29:32Justin: Yeah.

29:32Andrew: Listen, maybe around championship time. Maybe.

29:36Justin: Yes. Yeah, I think that's the only way. Yeah. Okay. Andrew, we got three games to talk about for next week, so we have not had a three game week yet. And like we said, we have to recap four games next week. So.

29:49Andrew: Yeah, we're.

29:49Justin: We're going to be on fast mode next week.

29:51Andrew: We are.

29:52Justin: Okay. Friday night, we're away. We're not at the Aud Oh, we're in Sioux.

29:57Andrew: We will miss you. All of our friends we see at the Aud Yes.

30:01Justin: Yes. And then Saturday we're also away.

30:03Andrew: By the way, that Friday game is free on YouTube. So if you don't have flow.

30:07Justin: Okay.

30:08Andrew: And you don't have Rogers TV, you can watch it on YouTube. Watch the Soo on YouTube.

30:14Justin: the Soo tube. Yeah. Rebrand YouTube down there. Google get on it.

30:21Andrew: I don't know. I feel like they can use that.

30:23Justin: Yeah, they should use that.

30:24Andrew: Yeah.

30:25Justin: Saturday we're also away. We're in Saginaw. Feel like that's a long ways to go. the Soo to Saginaw.

30:32Andrew: I think the Soo to anywhere. Long ways to go.

30:36Justin: True. Yeah.

30:37Andrew: Yeah.

30:38Justin: And then Tuesday next week we are home in Guelph.

30:43Andrew: Interesting.

30:44Justin: Or against Guelph.

30:45Andrew: We normally record on Tuesday. I know we might have to.

30:48Justin: Maybe we'll do an in the Aud record.

30:51Andrew: Do you want that? Say it in the comments. Tell us in the comments.

30:54Justin: An opinion based comment. What do you want us to do?

30:59Andrew: What do you want us to do? You want us record from the Aud We'll do it.

31:02Justin: We'll do it. They might not let us, but we'll do it. I'll go out of handcuffs doing it. No video.

31:07Andrew: I think is what I understand. Oh yeah. I don't think they. Don't think they'd know if we're. I don't know.

31:13Justin: We'll talk.

31:13Andrew: Yeah.

31:14Justin: Okay. Sue five three zero and oh is their current record. They're seventh in the OHL power range.

31:21Andrew: They played so many games.

31:22Justin: I know. So the Rangers as of right now they've only played five. They are playing their sixth game tonight. Yeah. Flint also had only played five. Is a weird schedule. the Aud games. They're gonna be. They're gonna be at 10 games before the Rangers hit eight games. Like it's really weird. I'm not really sure.

31:37Andrew: But it all evens out.

31:40Justin: Jordan Sharon. I'm boldly saying his name. Sure.

31:44Andrew: From air.

31:44Justin: Great. Pizza in air.

31:46Andrew: Oh yeah.

31:46Justin: Jordan Sharon is a Pittsburgh Penguins Prospect taking the fifth round this summer at the NHL Draft. Eight goals and 12 points in eight games already. Already.

31:58Andrew: Wow. Well, that'll be exciting to see him play some hockey.

32:01Justin: And they're mostly five on five points. He only has one or two power play points. Like that's great. It'd be very.

32:07Andrew: I'd be really open to some 5 on 5 pressure because the power play stuff was killing me. With his own sound.

32:13Justin: Yeah. It would be nice to play five on five.

32:15Andrew: Yeah.

32:15Justin: It sounds like they like playing five on five. Sure. At least. Jordan Sharon. Anyways, that's all I have to say about the Soo I was like, looking at this guy, I'm like, what the. I don't remember. I don't. His name does not sound. I feel. To me at all.

32:29Andrew: I feel like if it's spelled the way that I think it's spelled. Yeah, I do remember him, but not as, like a key piece.

32:37Justin: Yeah.

32:37Andrew: But again, he would have been younger last year.

32:38Justin: He would have been young last year would have been his draft year.

32:41Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah.

32:41Justin: You know, so. Yeah.

32:42Andrew: I mean, he did. He had 21 points in 48 games last year, so.

32:46Justin: Yeah. And he has 12 points in eight games. Yeah. So it's. Yeah.

32:50Andrew: I think a lot happens developmentally between the draft year and then the first year after that. It seems like even if you say, don't get drafted, it still happens.

33:01Justin: Yeah.

33:02Andrew: Yeah. Tanner Lam revenge tour.

33:04Justin: Yes.

33:05Andrew: Reference there.

33:07Justin: I don't know why I have a soft spot for the Soo so I'm just, like, happy they have a really good player. Well, it was like, oh, this is great.

33:13Andrew: It'll be interesting to see if Brady Martin is back. I don't know if he's been reassigned.

33:17Justin: He's been. He's playing opening night for the Preds.

33:20Andrew: That's awesome. I'm rooting for him.

33:22Justin: Yeah.

33:22Andrew: Being that he's from Elora. Alora, Andrew if you're listening, in another part of the country, which I know some of you are.

33:30Justin: Tell us in the comments.

33:32Andrew: Tell us in the comments where you're listening from.

33:34Justin: Yeah, I don't want to steal the OHL podcast thing, but.

33:37Andrew: No, we're not doing a check in. Just comment.

33:39Justin: Yeah.

33:39Andrew: We're just trying to drive Engagement

33:43Justin: Saginaw away game Saturday night.

33:46Andrew: Yeah.

33:46Justin: Their record is 2, 1, 3 and 1. They got all the numbers in all the places. They're 14th in the OHL power rankings. And. Okay, so we talked about Jordan Sharon.

33:57Andrew: Yeah.

33:57Justin: There's the. There's two players.

34:01Andrew: Yeah.

34:01Justin: Who have more points than Jordan Sharon. It's also these three players collectively are the three top scorers in the OHL right now. So that's fun things of things. So we got.

34:12Andrew: We've gone from elite goalies.

34:14Justin: Yes.

34:14Andrew: To now.

34:14Justin: Elite scores, elite forwards. Yeah. So we have Nikita klepnov, who has 13 points, seven goals in seven games, and then Igor Barabanov, who has 12 points, six goals in seven games. And they play together.

34:29Andrew: Clip off in better Benov. I love it.

34:37Justin: Yeah.

34:37Andrew: That's a thing that's exciting.

34:39Justin: So that will be. That'll be a fun game. It's crazy that they have that many points and they still have a negative gold differential.

34:44Andrew: Here's my thing, though, is I feel like I'm prepared for some shootouts.

34:49Justin: Oh, yeah.

34:49Andrew: I'm excited. I think the Rangers have the depth to go toe to toe with anyone.

34:53Justin: Yeah.

34:53Andrew: I don't think the Rangers this early on because so many guys were gone.

34:57Justin: Yeah.

34:57Andrew: Are going to have point totals like this yet, but they have horses like this. Like, we know the stable is full of guys who could have 12 and 13 points already.

35:07Justin: Yeah, for sure. We have guys that might get there by seven games. Absolutely. Because we. I've only played five.

35:12Andrew: We have guys who are scoring two points a game.

35:14Justin: Yeah.

35:14Andrew: So let's go. Yeah.

35:16Justin: The points per game is on par with these guys. Being able to do that consistently, even for two more games is, like, impressive.

35:22Andrew: Yeah.

35:23Justin: And then we see Guelph at home. Their record is 3, 2, 1, 0, which is a fun thing to write down.

35:28Andrew: Yeah.

35:31Justin: They are 12th in the power rankings. They were not on the power rankings last year, so. Good for you, Guelph.

35:36Andrew: Yeah.

35:36Justin: They're here now. There's a couple things to say about Guelph, and neither of them are maybe that positive. Not much about this team pops off the page, but also they're getting contributing stats from like the whole team, which is like remembering the beginning of the season last year for the Rangers. Yeah, it was the same thing. It was like, yeah, there's nobody like coming out of the woodwork being this elite scorer, but it's everybody's contributing and that's why they have a positive record right now.

36:04Andrew: Yeah. And they have three or four guys who've been drafted.

36:07Justin: Yeah.

36:07Andrew: NHL for sure. Probably most. I apologize if I'm missing somebody, but probably most notably Ethan Medima from Coburg, Andrew was Buffalo, fourth round, but also Quinn Beauchane, round five with Pittsburgh. I just remember every time I remember Quinn Beauchane because he makes an impression. He's a good skater, good defenseman, Great. Yeah.

36:30Justin: Yeah. Guelph, we got a Highway 7.

36:32Andrew: We got to pummel the Soo that they don't give them the Memorial Cup. And by the time, of course, this will be released, it's like they'll tell you tomorrow who gets the Memorial Cup. And then this will be all dribble, as obsolete as is usual. As is is 24 hours after we've released.

36:49Justin: Every time.

36:50Andrew: Yeah, every time.

36:51Justin: Without fail.

36:51Andrew: Yeah.

36:52Justin: Oh, and the only thing I other thing I wanted to mention in this is. I know Flint. We're playing tonight.

36:56Andrew: Flint.

36:57Justin: Flint. Fighter birds. Nathan Aspinall was named the captain today.

37:00Andrew: There you go. Absence of Connor Clattenberg who has gone to the ahl.

37:04Justin: He's playing so good for them. Andrew, New segment alert.

37:09Andrew: New segment.

37:10Justin: We talked about this already. We are going to do ODD history this year.

37:14Andrew: ODD history. I'm actually so excited for this segment.

37:17Justin: Yeah.

37:17Andrew: Because I'm gonna learn stuff that isn't really available on the Internet. Yes. Like it's. We're actually bringing stuff. Not us particularly, definitely other more well respected members of this wonderful fan base and community are bringing it. We're just the vessel.

37:34Justin: Correct.

37:34Andrew: I'm excited.

37:36Justin: So we have our first ODD history entrant today. It's from friend of the pod. Mike Farwell has been around the Aud basically his Andrew life.

37:46Andrew: Yep.

37:46Justin: So, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna hear from him now.

37:50Andrew: We are, I think. So.

37:51Justin: Cut to.

37:53Clip: I think any one of us who has grown up in the city of Kitchener could fill an Andrew episode of this podcast with stories. So I'll try to keep it short. But boy, oh boy, do I love the Memorial Auditorium. So, yes, my bias will show through here. First of all, I missed that grand entrance on East Avenue under that beautiful facade. You'd walk in from East Avenue, the ticket windows would be right there in behind those ticket windows. That narrow little hallway you'd go to to buy Rangers booster tickets for your ad at the game. The portrait of the queen that hung on a wall that would have been over the left shoulder of the visiting goaltender. Boy, I missed that portrait. I think she's in storage somewhere in Kitchener. And when we would go to games, we would pop popcorn at home first, put it in a brown paper bag and carry it right into the rink with us. Of course, the popcorn was so hot, it left blotches all over this bag. And when we got to eat it, the popcorn wasn't quite as warm and it was a little bit soggy, but it was still the best popcorn you'd ever want to taste. A couple of my favorite memories. One is when we would drive to the games my dad would take us. We lived in the Mount Hope Cemetery neighborhood, so driving across the city felt to me like we were going on this big adventure to go to this big hockey arena. And we'd get there, and I insist to my dad, we got to sit right down at ice level, right at those seats at the glass. I wasn't the biggest kid. I'm not I'm not the biggest adult, but I wanted to be right there at the glass. And I thought I could see a little bit better if I left my seat in the upright position and just sat on the little edge of it. Well, I was doing that one night and an usher came over to me and said, I can't let you keep sitting like that. If you'll sit in your seat properly, I've got some pucks for you. So I did sit in my seat properly. He brought me a whole bag of pucks. I guess they were practice pucks, I don't know. But all kinds of junior hockey team logos on them. A Boston Bruins puck. I thought it was the coolest thing. And when I started playing pickup hockey with my friends the next day, and for weeks later, I was the provider of pucks, thanks to that usher at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. One of my other favorite memories is the organist. Yes. There used to be an organist at the Aud You could see him sitting in his little room through this opening in the wall. And it turns out my dad knew him. He was a fellow teacher of my father's at St. Jerome's and St. Mary's High School in Kitchener. Bruce Cameron was the organist's name. And because my dad knew him, we could go over to the organist's room during intermissions and visit with Mr. Cameron. Let me tell you, going into that room, I felt like I had the keys to the best part of the city. One of my other favorite memories, I could go on and on, but the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, I hope, goes on and on. What a beautiful arena. What a lifetime of memories it's created for us here in the city. Yeah.

40:37Justin: I just love hearing about Mike's, like, childhood stories of the Aud Like, it is so important to so many people for all exactly the same reasons that Mike brought up.

40:46Andrew: Yeah, it was really cool, just like. But it really showed the human element, like, the community element, like, bringing, like, him getting that puck and the usher and thinking that, like, the organist's room was, like, the secret place I can remember as a kid. You'd build things up like that. But, like, the way he speaks about the Aud you can tell that it's always been this kind of, like, mag place. And I'm really excited to have, like, a kid of my own that is going to be able to go and just feel like this is this big, cavernous, wonderful place where people get together and get really excited about Rangers hockey. Yeah. So thank you, Mike.

41:24Justin: Yeah.

41:24Andrew: That was wonderful stories.

41:26Justin: Yep. And if you have Stories like Mike. Like, we'd love to share those as well.

41:30Andrew: So, like, absolutely.

41:31Justin: We're gonna keep doing segments like this with Mike and with some other members of the community.

41:35Andrew: Yeah.

41:36Justin: But if you have a story that you would like to send us, shoot us an email, Send us on social media. Like, we will happily. Send us a voice memo. We'll put it in. If you want to send a video, we'll also put that in.

41:46Andrew: I mean, it's one of those things that, like, if we get an outpouring, we won't be able to do everybody. But we'd love to have that problem because we could always still just put it on social media. Or if you don't feel comfortable recording something, you could write something and we can read it.

41:59Justin: Read it.

42:00Andrew: So there's many avenues. We just want to experience more odd history.

42:05Justin: Yes, please send us your odd history. Speaking of sending us your odd history, how can you do that, Andrew?

42:11Andrew: Well, you can email us. We never talk about this, but you can email us theaudpodcastmail.com we'll have a cooler, more professional email soon, I promise. But right now we're still rocking with the Gmail address. That's okay. That's where we're at in our infancy. That's where we're at.

42:27Justin: Where else can you find us?

42:28Andrew: On TikTok and Instagram and YouTube. On TikTok and Instagram, @theaudpodcast and on YouTube. Just search the AudPod. We come right up.

42:38Justin: Yeah. We're like legit. Yeah.

42:40Andrew: You can Google us now. It's crazy.

42:42Justin: Yeah.

42:42Andrew: In fact, again, I still am getting results where I like, I googled something to look up like a player and we would talked about the Aud there we are in the Google results and I'm like, this is weird. Yeah, this is weird. This is like now people are looking up prospects. Oh, no, no. They're getting our opinions. Our scouting report. Yeah. Which is great because we only say glowing things about great dudes.

43:06Justin: Of course.

43:07Andrew: Yeah.

43:07Justin: Also just this is not our normal thank yous, but thank you to everybody who comes up to us and says hello at the Aud Like the last few weeks we've had at least one person every week come up and Sam O'Reilly hey, love listening. I listen to it while I'm at work or And I'm getting my husband into it now. Best thank you.

43:24Andrew: Yeah. If you see us. Yeah, yeah.

43:28Justin: Say hi. Say hi.

43:30Andrew: If we said something and you want to correct us, do it. It's great. We had people in the comments do it already. We love it because we're learning. It's. Sean grabbed us and it wasn't. We didn't feel threatened at all because we literally didn't know. And if you Google about that, like, professional ohl rule, it doesn't. Nothing comes up.

43:46Justin: Yeah, we can't find that. That's just not a. Because it's not a rule. So you can't find the rule.

43:51Andrew: You can't find the absence of a rule.

43:53Justin: Yeah, Correct. So we appreciate any and all knowledge we gain from everybody. And just hearing about how you found us or how you started listening and. Yeah, yeah. Or tell us what you want us. What do you want us to do?

44:04Andrew: Yeah, if you have ideas, that's great.

44:05Justin: Yeah, we love all that. Okay. Thank you. To Cam Born, director of branding and marketing.

44:09Andrew: Papa Born. Coming through all the time, making us look good or as. As good as we can look.

44:15Justin: Our accounts look professional, even if we do.

44:18Andrew: From the very beginning, we fooled them all.

44:23Justin: Of course, we got to shout out

44:24Andrew: our prodigal producer, Liam the phenom Tim. I don't know why I went. Phenom Tim. Can you fix that? Make my inflection.

44:34Justin: Make that sound better?

44:35Andrew: Phenom. Phenom Tim is a phenom of a different kind sounding.

44:41Justin: Yeah. Sound things. And of course, the kitchen. Public library.

44:45Andrew: Home away from home.

44:45Justin: Yeah. Thank you for having us this week. And, Andrew, as always, you can't find us this Friday, but maybe next Tuesday

44:53Andrew: you can find us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. See, at the Aud Go J's.