47: No Goals for You

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Want to talk about the world series? Nope.

0:09Andrew: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin.

0:19Justin: Take it away, fellas. All right. We didn't want to talk about that anyways. Can you believe we're at the quarter mark? The OHL season already? This is insane.

0:29Andrew: It seems like it's going really fast, but at the same time, I think that we've got to get all the way into, like, late March before playoffs start. So it's. Yeah, it's gone quick, but it's also. It feels like it's been a while since August training camp started. So I don't know, it's about to go really fast because there's that Christmas break, and then all of a sudden, it's just like.

0:52Justin: Like the unofficial midway point. Exactly. Or something.

0:56Andrew: There was a few trades, big trades.

0:58Justin: Week 9 draft picks and multiple players. Holy cow.

1:02Andrew: Only in the ohl. The OHL puts the NBA to shame when it comes to trading draft picks. I see people complain all the time about the NBA and the crazy amount of draft picks, and I'm like, you're not an OHL fan.

1:14Justin: You do not watch the ohl.

1:16Andrew: Yeah, because we just had a casual nine picks go for a couple players,

1:20Justin: and it was, like, barely news. Like, it was news for those markets, but for everyone else, it was like, whatever.

1:25Andrew: Branford looks stacked now.

1:27Justin: Yeah. I mean, but they also keep the COVID all in.

1:31Andrew: Good for them.

1:32Justin: That's some rich daddy money there. Exactly.

1:37Andrew: Zach Hyman's dad.

1:39Justin: I did want to highlight some Kitchener Rangers I was just looking through the stats page, and I was like, oh, let's see where the boys are at. So we're. Yeah. Halfway through. So obviously the games played thing is a little bit tricky because we've talked about this in an earlier episode. There was a couple. We started. The OHL started a week early, and there was a weird overlap with the NHL training camp. If we all remember the Brantford game from the first game of the season, we were only playing nine forwards on both teams, so it was like, right, yeah, here we are. But. So, anyways, let's take a look at where the boys are. Definitely one we're all aware of. Christian Humphreys has 21 points in 14 games. Just blowing it out of the water. Pridham right behind him, he's got nine goals in 14 games. So he's just. He's putting them in the net. One that I definitely hadn't tracked was Haeden Ellis. Is +11 is like. Nobody scores when Haeden Ellis is on the ice. That's. Yeah, that's cool.

2:31Andrew: The Rangers have the puck when Haeden

2:33Justin: Ellis is on the ice, which is a huge compliment.

2:36Andrew: He also has three power play goals.

2:38Justin: Yeah. Yeah. He's doing unbelievable. Dear Colo, I think we have a bet on him on his PIMs. So just as an update, 41 PIMs. Already.

2:48Andrew: 41 PIMs.

2:49Justin: I think I might get the O. I think I took the over on him and I think I'm gonna get it. Chris and Kirsch sub 2 goals against

2:57Andrew: average percentage, 928 percentage, and a 1.99 goals against average. Yeah. People do not understand, like, the level of difference between that's a crazy stat in the NHL and the scoring is higher in the ohl and the safe percentages and the goals against average are worse than the ohl. We're watching a crazy season. This is starting to get into our guy territory with Jackson Parsons. I'd love to go back and see what his stats looked like after the same amount of games played last year. I'm telling you, Kirsch might be winning.

3:34Justin: Like, I know Mark, like 10 at this. He's. He's played 10 games. If we looked at.

3:39Andrew: I would say because of the poop game against Windsor last year, Kirsch has better stats this year after this many games now. Again, again, the. The. You know, the flu game was what it was.

3:52Justin: Yeah.

3:52Andrew: But, yeah, this is crazy. We're watching. These are two goalies right now playing very well.

3:59Justin: I mean it. Not to spoil anything, but it helps when on this weekend, we had zero goals against.

4:06Andrew: My favorite weekend so far.

4:08Justin: Yeah, it's awesome. Ten games played for Kirsch. He's eight and two, so it's like. Yeah, he's also winning everything. So the team is 11, 3, 2, and 0. And they have points in their last six games. The most important stat. They are the second in the OHL power rankings.

4:26Andrew: Yeah. The most important. The arbitrary power rankings. Yeah. No, I think this team has played well to this point. I'm very happy with the way they've played. They still don't have three, potentially four of their regular players in the lineup.

4:46Justin: Maybe Friday.

4:47Andrew: So while Brantford's out there sending out nine draft picks and three players for two very good players. Don't get me wrong, they got two very good players, but we're not a Branford podcast. These acquisitions, these guys coming back from injury, and perhaps something else. These three or possibly four players coming back.

5:11Justin: Cryptic.

5:12Andrew: Is it's just. It's gonna be like a trade. It's gonna be like bringing in guys to bolster your team.

5:20Justin: Yep. And you get them for what, 40 games before playoff.

5:24Andrew: And I'm trying. Which is.

5:25Justin: Which is actually the amazing part about the Branford trade too is like they made their big trade, but they didn't make it the trade deadline. They have so much more time to work into the team.

5:33Andrew: It's very savvy because I was listening to the OHL podcast. We're going to reference them a ton

5:38Justin: of times on this podcast.

5:40Andrew: But Mike and Dan made great points in the sense of the fact that it made sense for both organizations.

5:47Justin: Right.

5:47Andrew: To make these trades at this time to capitalize on the directions the teams are going. You don't have to wait till the trade deadline. It makes sense to me. Whereas to me with the Rangers, I see a lot of Rangers fans on certain fan accounts asking for a trade and I'm like, what are you trading for? What are you trying to shake it up? The team doesn't have arguably one of their best offensive players in Luke Ellinas right now. They don't have one of their steadiest defensemen, their best shot blocker by far, Carson Campbell. Right.

6:24Justin: They don't have dented soup can himself.

6:27Andrew: Yeah, exactly. They don't have Andrew Vermeulen, who maybe some people would want. This is funny. This is where it gets funny in the NHL. Some people might say that Andrew Vermeulen isn't potentially a game changer in this lineup because he's going to play bottom six. But people also don't understand that Andrew Vermeulen is built like a man and plays men's hockey. And that in the OHL is a game changing aspect for a player. He is. He like when I was down last year at the Downtown Showdown, he actually like jokingly fought another player and it on the Rangers like as a joke. And it was like there that this adult man is attacking this boy that's just like he's grown and some players are 16 years old and so. So I think for a guy who needs to be physical, he's an important player. He's an important piece. I hope they get him back soon. Now that brings us. It feels like a natural time to talk about the dented Soup can himself, which is a loving nickname.

7:39Justin: Yeah. We are not calling him Botulism.

7:44Andrew: He is back tonight. Carson Campbell returns to the lineup tonight, which is crazy because the deepest part of this team, which I mean is saying something because we Just had two goalies go back to back shutouts and we have all these players with double digit points. But the deepest part of this team is the defense.

8:04Justin: Yeah.

8:04Andrew: By far. If all these guys are, you know where they are. Max Dirracolo might not get into the lineup. If these guys are all healthy right now, course of a 60 game season and playoffs, it's. You're going to have injuries, right? Like it's going to happen, right?

8:21Justin: 60 suspensions.

8:24Andrew: Yeah. 68 games. And it is what it is. You're gonna have suspensions, you're gonna have injuries. Guys are gonna get lots of minutes and it's gonna be good because sometimes they run 11, 7. So I'm not worried about guys getting playing time because the one thing this coaching staff loves to do is cycle through the team, the team, through the players. Yep.

8:43Justin: Everybody always gets time on ice. Like there's no, that's not a, that's not a problem. Everybody's developing and everybody, like we, we've talked to a number of the players. Like everybody buys into the system. Like the system works and they're all on board with it. So it's, they're not. Maybe you're not getting all the ice time tonight, but there, there's ways to get ice time later. And the system is working and everybody seems at least outwardly happy, which is great. That's what you need. Good culture in the locker room. Everybody buys into the coaching. What more could you want?

9:13Andrew: You can't ask for anything more than that. And I think that's set from the very top. And everybody falls in line and you've got star players, but they're not disgruntled because the bottom line is, yeah, they probably. I would love to know the time on ice for some of these guys. Like that's not a stat that's readily available to us. But like some of these high end guys could play more hockey.

9:35Justin: Yeah.

9:35Andrew: But what's the point if you're winning? You're 11, three and two.

9:38Justin: Yeah.

9:39Andrew: You're 11, three and two without like veteran players.

9:43Justin: Yeah. Ain't broke, don't fix it.

9:46Andrew: Exactly. So I'm excited for these returns, let's put it that way.

9:50Justin: Yes. Possibly for returns Rigby.

9:55Andrew: Possibly for.

9:59Justin: We got rid of you last week.

10:00Andrew: Yeah. No returning for Rigby. We've exorcised that demon.

10:05Justin: Well, till next year. Okay. Speaking of the OHL podcast, they were having a great conversation that they included you in on the OHL podcast, Andrew. They were talking about games on Halloween. So of course the first game that we're going to recap this week was last Friday against the Sudbury Wolves. It was Halloween night. the Aud look a little empty. Not as empty as Branford the next day, but pretty empty. Our game on Friday, it's true. Dan and Mike were having a great conversation about should the OHL even plan any games. Because the point of the OHL is to be more family inclusive and that's a big mandate of theirs. Making people choose between hockey and Halloween, maybe not the best idea. Andrew, you and Mike had been chatting not during the podcast, but before their podcast obviously, and you had a great idea. So just share it so that we all know what it is.

10:58Andrew: Yeah, I think I ultimately I agree with their take that like we can just avoid Halloween, like it can just be easily avoided and it doesn't. You don't need to go head to head with Halloween. I totally especially it was also there was a baseball game happening which, yeah, the whole team was watching. But my idea, which they referenced with a great little shout out to the pod and the AudBalls was that back home in Edmonton, like honestly October 31st, there can be snow, there can be wind, there can be like sub zero temperatures. In fact, I was talking to my mom today and she told me that today, which is the 5th of November, is minus 5 out there. Contrast that to here. It's plus 9. It wasn't warm out today. It was wet, it was cold.

11:45Justin: But was it.

11:46Andrew: But like it's -5 there so we can have full on snowstorms. It can be awful on Halloween in Edmonton. And a lot of times you go to the shopping mall for your trick or treating and you walk through the mall and the stores do it right. It's not an unheard of thing. And I thought, you know what, if you do want to go head to head with Halloween, we only had 17 kids come to our door. Now I think that was one because of the baseball game. Sure. But also because like it was kind of really windy on Halloween and it was just kind of like one of those nights that like it was, it wasn't nice to be outside. It's that cold where like you put on a jacket but it's still cold because the wind is blowing at you. Why not have local businesses set up through the Aud that could apply to handout candy to kids. You could have little stations set up. You could have kids walking through the Aud is this great big cavernous, wonderful space. The concourse has lots of nooks and crannies. You could have all types of Stuff, especially with that emphasis on, like, the local business being able to participate. I just think it'd be a good idea. And then that way you could open the Aud early. Sam O'Reilly could open the Aud 5 o', clock, 5:30, and let people walk around with their kids in their costumes. And then they can stay for the game. And they get to get all jacked up on candy during the game. And it's a bit more fun for them. You have maybe events through the concourse, like a costume contest or that kind of thing. They could do a parade on the ice after the. They did do a good thing with, like, trick or treating in the dressing room. But ultimately it was like choose between Halloween and the Rangers game. And I understand why. It was pretty empty. But maybe this could get to some years that if you do have to have a game on Halloween, it comes around on Friday, once every six, seven years or whatever. Five years, six years. Just. Maybe just make it more fun. I don't know. Because it's like, just wear your costume to the game, you know? I don't know. I'd rather go door to door and get free Candy if I'm 8 years old.

13:52Justin: I think that's a great point. Yeah. Make it. Include it. Acknowledge that it's happening and make it a part of the night. Do stuff to make it more enticing for people to come. And maybe an alternative to trick or treating. But the kids still get the same benefits, so I thought it was a great idea. Thank you for sharing.

14:09Andrew: And I. Honestly, as a parent, I'd rather follow my kid around inside than outside.

14:14Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was kind of a gross one this. This year, so it was all right. But that game still happened on Friday night. It was against the Sudbury Wolves. It was at home at the odds. The Wolves and the Rangers won three to nothing.

14:31Andrew: Thirty years since the Sudbury Wolves have won a regulation game at the Aud Yeah, I'm not making that up, people. That is a crazy statistic.

14:45Justin: They only play at the Aud once.

14:46Andrew: Yeah, I understand that Sudbury is in the Eastern Conference and they only play once a year at the Aud but it's still crazy because I just think that eventually, like, they have to win one. There has to be a trap game for Kitchener at the Aud Yeah. Wasn't this one, though. Let's get to the recap. Tanner Lam Yeah, Tanner has a highlight. Real goal. The revenge Tour continues.

15:12Justin: Yes.

15:14Andrew: the Aud it was a beautiful toe drag. Once again, there was a fender through the air. The defender just blew off the screen. He's Sliding. And there he goes. There he's gone.

15:27Justin: He manages to still stick handle in the air. Just whatever. He doesn't need gravity. That's so below him.

15:34Andrew: It's all below him. He's Tanner Lam The slickest hands. Yeah. And they were on display on this goal. I don't know what else to say about this guy, man. Like, he's. He probably has the best hands on the team. And we have guys who have incredibly. Like Jack Pram did a Michigan last year.

15:53Justin: Yeah.

15:53Andrew: But Tanner Lam it's electric this year. He is a man on fire. He is driven with a purpose. And he has six goals and they're all beautiful.

16:03Justin: Yeah.

16:04Andrew: And he has that many more assists and those plays are crazy that he has. So he's just a human highlight reel right now. I'm calling it right now. Tanner Lam the human highlight reel in 2025, 2026. It was set up by Cameron Arquette and Cameron Reid We had the Cameron combo going. Cameron Arquette having a whale of a year again. We're going to victory lap this every week. That Cameron Arquette had two assists in this game. He's all over the score sheet. He's breaking out. We said it was going to happen and it is.

16:35Justin: The OHL did something different this week, and I think it's because of this goal. They did their play of the week by division and I think they gave it to Lechar for a goal in the Brampton game that we'll talk about next. But I think there was a Jack LaBrash goal and there was a Le Char goal that were all so good that I think that the OHL was like, we can't do the five best plays of the week because they're all just going to be Rangers. Divide them up into the divisions.

17:00Andrew: So Jack Lesh scores the next goal in the second period. Very late.

17:04Justin: Crazy hand. Eye coordination. Yeah.

17:07Andrew: How.

17:08Justin: Even knew where that puck was too.

17:10Andrew: Had a great celebration, too. So he basically follows the puck to the net and bats it out of the air like a baseball player.

17:17Justin: Chromiak takes a bombshot from the slot. It goes high like. Like. I think some players thought it went out like. I think it. It hit the glass high. And I think some players thought it bounced out because everyone lost track of it. Lebrash did not. He was standing right in front of the net. The puck lands. It just goes like right beside the net. And he just goes bloop. Pops it right with his stick. Perfect midair right in the net. Goalie had no idea I'm calling it.

17:41Andrew: It was a slap blooper to the center right field. He would have had a stand up double. So it was a great little hand eye play. It's something that you like to see out of a great big player like Jack LaBrash We're talking, he's 6 5, he's a big kid. We want to see Jack LaBrash in front of the net with great hand eye because there's going to be deflections, there's going to be plays like this where there's bouncing pucks, there's going to be rebounds. This is what you want to see out of your power forward. You want to put your power forward in front of the net where his big body can block the goalie's vision. And then you want him to be able to clean up the garbage. And that's exactly what he did. And he did it in style this time. Like you said, Jakub Chromiak, Cameron Reid on the assists. And we're going into the third period up two to nothing. We haven't talked about Christian Kirsch at this point in the game, but the bottom line is he only faced five shots in the first and eight shots in the second. But what I will say about this is this for a goalie in my experience, watching as a fan can be very tricky to get to the finish line with a shutout when you don't see a lot of work, that's when stuff can get by you later in the game and never mind. Sudbury had five power plays in this

19:13Justin: game, including one five minute power play, which we also need to talk about why that happened. Yeah, but Kirsch. Yeah, I, I looked that Sudbury had seven high danger chances in this game and four of them came in the third period. So like. Yes, he also. Not only is it hard when you don't face a lot of shots going into the third period with a shutout on the line, he also then faced the hardest shots of the game.

19:39Andrew: But including this five minute power play?

19:41Justin: Including this five minutes.

19:42Andrew: Yes, right now. So this was a weird sequence, which is not to diminish that it was a dangerous sequence and that it was a bad play and it was a mistake made. But it was a weird sequence from a player that doesn't have a history of doing this.

20:04Justin: From our perspective, he's really a guy with a good head on his shoulder. So we're talking about Jacob Jew and

20:10Andrew: who is a Harvard commit. So he's not smart guy. It. Yeah, he's a smart guy.

20:16Justin: This Was not a smart guy move.

20:18Andrew: No. And he's very composed out there and he plays a physical game. But I have not seen him take liberties and I have not seen him lose his temper. Make reckless plays. Yeah, I haven't seen him make reckless plays. This was a very reckless play. Borderline. It was a violent play.

20:33Justin: It was. It was dangerous.

20:34Andrew: There was some sort of. Of tie up between him and a Sudbury Wolves player. It seemed like there was some sort of, and I'm just saying like incidental contact. It was. It just seemed like a nothing. There was body on body behind the play as the puck was going up the other way. And then Jacob Xu flipped around kind of quick, kind of moved his body around quick. And quite literally slashed with what looked like intention to the back of the Sudbury Wolves player's neck. Yeah.

21:07Justin: Two handed. Yep.

21:09Andrew: I will say, judging from his reaction when he was in the box, he seemed to be pleading his case of something.

21:16Justin: It was behind the play. There was like not a great camera angle of what was happening prior to it. We just saw the result and it

21:24Andrew: doesn't really matter what the context. But I am curious about what was said in the disciplinary hearing because Jacob Xu only received four games suspension.

21:36Justin: Yeah. And it seems like that kind of an action typically gets even for first time offenders. Can be that 6 to 10 game range.

21:44Andrew: I was thinking about it in the context of the Marty McSorley on Donald Brashear slash to the head where he's chasing him down the ice and he just comes up from behind and hit some with the stick in the head. I think that ended McSorley's career. McSorley was at the end and towards the end of being a relevant player in the NHL. He was always a tough guy. But I think he was suspended for the rest of the season. And don't get me wrong, he was. He was a rough and tumble guy who probably had a track record of suspensions and stuff at that point. But that was like, you're done, you're off the books. And that was. I think that was it for him. I don't think his career is defined by that by any means. But that was a defining moment for sure. Now this is the OHL and we're talking about teenagers and we're talking about a young player in Jacob Xu I am very curious what was said in that disciplinary hearing and I don't think we'll ever know, obviously. But for him to only get four games, the reactions online were pretty, pretty like this is going to be like a 10 game minimum suspension. Some people wanted him gone for the rest of the year. Which I'm going to say if I hate to be this guy because I don't want to be a hypocrite. But the player, although it was an extremely dangerous play, the player wasn't injured. That does have to come into consideration when you're talking about a teenager making a mistake on the ice. We've said this before, teenagers making mistakes off the ice that endanger the lives of people being allowed to come back. I don't want their lives ruined. I do want them to have a second chance. If there's no history of this, if there's a plan in place for somebody to learn from this, I want it. I want so to not be a hypocrite. I also feel like this is an extremely dangerous play. This is Marty McSorley on Donald Brashear. This is shades of Todd Bertuzzi on. On Steve Moore. Like in the sense of one reckless thing that could have caused a major, serious catastrophic injury is he gets. If he gets him on a vertebrae or something in his neck, we don't

23:54Justin: need to speculate about how it could go bad. We all can imagine how it could go bad.

23:58Andrew: So that's what I'm saying is so four games seems like a very easy punishment for somebody to take who did this. So I am hoping that there is some sort of supplementary discipline within the Rangers organization in the sense of what are you doing?

24:18Justin: Yeah, you can't do that. Be a teachable learning moment.

24:21Andrew: All I can say is if there is ever any sort of violent play from Jacob Zhu in the future, he is not going to have a single leg to stand on. And that's being a fan of Jacob

24:32Justin: Xu Yeah, for sure.

24:34Andrew: If there's anything even borderline, he will not get the benefit of the doubt for the next year that he's in the league. That's just what it is. It was dangerous. I don't want to see anybody get hurt because they're wearing a different color jersey. These are kids. They all, most of them all know each other and love each other and are buddies. So I would. I just. Judging from social media interactions that guys on other teams all know each other, played bantam with each other. It's all a brotherhood. I'm just hoping that there's something beyond these four games that goes into the teaching of this was a much more dangerous play than a slew foot like it just was. Yeah.

25:14Justin: All right. And then to end this game, Pridham got an empty netter so that was a nice way to just seal up this game. Yeah. And then Saturday, the next day, we went all the way to Brampton. We saw the Steelheads, and we beat them four to nothing.

25:29Andrew: All 500 people.

25:32Justin: 1700 people at this game, including the arena staff, players. There was a lot of empty seats on that tv.

25:40Andrew: Are we worried about this? Are we, like, we should be?

25:43Justin: I think so. We're worried about expanding the ohl, and we have an Arizona Coyote situation happening, and we have.

25:51Andrew: And they're in, like, the hotbed of hockey. Like, yeah, I get it. They were the Toronto St. Mike Michael Majors. They were the Mississauga Steelheads. They're. They've bounced around a little bit, but maybe it's. I don't know. Is it Brampton? I don't think they had attendance in Mississauga either. So I just. Are we worried about this as OHL fans? Are we saying, like, how do we expand this league if also this. I just want to talk about this for a second because I feel like this is almost more interesting than the game as fellow OHL fans in the market isn't this bad, like, with potentially players being able to go to the ncaa. Look at how many guys jump ship. Jack Ivan Kovich being like, the Porter Martone.

26:36Justin: Their rink doesn't seem that nice. It doesn't seem like they have any facilities. It feels like a problem. I know the league talked to the Pete's about upgrading their facilities to prevent, like, attrition. And I feel like Brampton should be even more in the hot seat than the Pete's. At least the Pete's have a storied history and have fans.

26:55Andrew: Yeah. And I think about Niagara and all the shady dealings and all that weird stuff going on with ownership over there and how they got slapped on the wrist. And I don't mean in a. I don't mean to minimize. They got punished. Like, they got in trouble. And the Pete's are getting, like, a warning. Is there. Is there just money in this organization? Like, what is the deal here with the fact that it just looks like if this was a. If this was a less. If the league wasn't as healthy as it is, this would be a team that would fold. I just don't. I don't believe it's weird. I would love to get in the commissioner's ear and talk to him about, like, why isn't there some sort of discussion on, like, where are we putting Brampton?

27:40Justin: Yeah. Or ways to get people to the Brampton games. Like, I'm sure they're having those conversations as an organization. But it, yeah, it feels like there should be more of a push. Like it feels just dead. I don't know. I haven't watched any other Steelhead games this year. But this game they did not really feel like they got a lot of shots on goal. But it didn't really feel like an inspired game by the Steelheads.

28:02Andrew: No. And how.

28:02Justin: And they had been shut out the night before too. So they're like, obviously, yeah, they were not having a good weekend. They were on the very opposite end of things.

28:10Andrew: And this is what I'm saying though is like with the league, you don't want players to have this experience. Sure. There's always going to be bad teams. There's always going to be a bad team. You're always going to play on a bad team. Yeah. Doesn't mean you can't develop well. But if it's just like a negative atmosphere where it's just nobody cares about us, nobody wants to support us, why do I, why would I go out there and try? And if I. Especially if you've already been drafted. Well, you're just like, I'll just go to the ncaa.

28:36Justin: They all went to the. They had a full roster and now it's not a full roster.

28:39Andrew: Decimated. All right. Speaking of decimation, this was a four to nothing victory and although Brampton took a lot of shots, I felt like this was one of those games where, you know, with Jason Schaubel getting his first shutout, I felt like Kitchener just controlled this game. It could have been a larger margin of victory. That's what I was gonna Sam O'Reilly

29:02Justin: was pretty worried in the first period. So we didn't score in the first period. We had a five on three power play and it's hard to, it's hard to find bones to pick about a no goal against weekend. But we were owing to 70506 something like that for our power play this weekend. And it's almost like I at the end of the power play I'm like, oh thank goodness they have all their players back. We can play our game again. I don't know what it is like the five on three, like we did not get opportunities and I'm like we had a 1 minute and 59 second five on three power play and we never really took a dangerous shot.

29:43Andrew: But that's what I was saying is it could have been a 6 nothing game because power play didn't do anything. Yeah.

29:51Justin: We only had one more opportunity and it looked as uninspired as the others. So.

29:56Andrew: And I. I will say that I felt like. Because the Rangers were up to nothing in the second period, halfway through the game. Yeah, I felt like they're probably going to get less power play opportunities just because, like, game management. I hate to say that's a thing, but it's definitely a thing.

30:15Justin: It is definitely a thing.

30:16Andrew: And ultimately, like, they didn't need them. They really didn't need them. Because the team seems a little bit more comfortable on certain weeks, five on five scoring. I don't know what it is because last time we were talking about special teams, we were raving about it. We were talking about how the Jews said, if you're scoring on power plays and you're killing penalties, you're going to win games. And here we are now on the other end. The penalty kill is working.

30:42Justin: No, no complaints on the penalty kill this weekend. That was like 12 kills or something. Games.

30:47Andrew: It helps because if your best penalty killer is your goalie, you're going to have a good penalty kill in the sense of if he's not letting in goals, then statistically speaking, you're going to look like you have a good penalty kill.

30:58Justin: So I'd be interested to see very close. Second best penalty killer was definitely the breakaways by Jack Priddle.

31:05Andrew: Oh, yeah. I wanted to talk about actually in this game, the transition game was crazy. They could have had two or three more breakaway goals, but Zach Bowen for Brampton actually played really well because there was a crazy amount of high danger chances in this. Luca Romano had four chances and all of them were high danger. Christian Humphreys had, I think, six shots and four of them were high danger. Like it was.

31:27Justin: Well, I think two of those were breakaways. Just by himself. Yep.

31:30Andrew: Yeah.

31:31Justin: It was nuts. The team was like electric and on fire. Their goalie played well. He did not get the flowers he deserved because his team didn't show up in front of him. No.

31:40Andrew: And he doesn't even really have great statistics because he's let in 4 on 28. But that's. You look at the tape and you're like, man, he played a great game.

31:48Justin: No. Yeah. That's all star level goaltending that he put up.

31:51Andrew: Yeah. So like you said, nothing happened in the first period. There was no scoring. Jack Pridham gets. It started early, though, in the second period, like you said, on that breakaway, which he just turned on the jets, which we know he can. Yeah, he's probably our. We know for a fact he's our go to Guy, if you've got a penalty shot or a shootout or a breakaway, this is the guy you want. I think he's the breakaway guy on the team. Christian Humphreys sets him up on that. Then another guy that we talked about, and we were like, this guy has the skills to score more than three goals. Guess what? He's already got two.

32:27Justin: Yep.

32:28Andrew: Alexander Bilecki scores his second of the year, assisted by Jakub Chromiak and Christian Humphreys Humphreys all over the place all the time.

32:37Justin: By the way, this was a goal where I was like, oh, I love seeing, like, a young player. Just, like, you could. You could see his thought process because he. Chromiak passed him the puck and he was looking for a pass. Like, he was on the point. Chromiak. It was like a blue line pass. He was looking for a pass and he looked forward and there was just nobody in the slot. Like, the slot was wide open, and you could almost. You could see the light bulb light up above his head. He was just like. And he just rushed forward so much, got in the slot and just bombed it. There was nobody there. He was all by himself. And it was awesome. Like, it was so nice to see him. Like, just see that moment, and we could all experience it with him.

33:16Andrew: And he's a defenseman, but he has a great release on his shot. Snappy release on his shot. Again, like I said, I'm not surprised because we saw him play and we felt like there was potential there. And it's happening.

33:27Justin: Yeah.

33:27Andrew: And that's why Central Scouting listed Bilecki as somebody to look at.

33:31Justin: They should be watching him after that play, hopefully in Brampton. There was nobody watching him in Brampton.

33:36Andrew: No.

33:36Justin: But then we got to the third period, and then we had an effortless goal from Humphreys.

33:41Andrew: Yeah.

33:42Justin: It just looked like a standard play for him.

33:44Andrew: Yeah. That's the thing, though. That's what he does. We talked about the Spinorama. No, look, backhand pass to the slot. It was so routine. It's almost works against him because it's like you're watching. You're like, okay, this is basically poetry emotion here.

33:57Justin: Yeah.

33:57Andrew: But it's like he doesn't express the effort because he's having. I think it's. Honestly, I listen to his mic'd up. You can go on the Rangers Instagram and listen to his mic'd up. I think it's just because he's having so much fun.

34:08Justin: I think he's having a great time.

34:10Andrew: I think he's just having a Great time playing hockey and Kitchener. And I think that's why he came back. I think that's why he talked to us on the pod and he said this is where he wanted to be and he had such a wonderful time and in contrast to what his experience was at Michigan and. And I think it's just. You could just see it. He's so relaxed. He's so smooth out there. He's like the best offensive player by a margin right now. And it's just so good to see because he's such a good dude. And that same relaxed comfort that he brought to the pod when he came on, that's just him. That's just who he is, like on the ice, in the game. He's having a great year. I'm really excited to see how the rest of this year goes for him.

34:55Justin: Yeah, for sure. And then Lechar just had a breakout of overager moment and just. He's silky mitts, man.

35:02Andrew: Beat five guys.

35:03Justin: Beat five guys.

35:03Andrew: It was on the. If you stop, there's a certain part where you can stop on the replay. And there's five Grampton steel heads in the picture, just. And Matthew Hlacar Yeah, it's such a beautiful goal.

35:17Justin: You're like. It was. Guy was just suspended. Like. He's such a brute force when he wants to be. But then he wants to shoot the puck, man. He's just so. It's so easy for him.

35:28Andrew: And I hate to say this, Matthew Laar is such a leaf. He's such a leaf. I think he's going to be a leaf because he obviously was drafted by the Leafs, but he's just like that type of player who's just like. He's like, he. He'll scrap. He's a pest. He's not known to score. And then just out of nowhere, you're

35:48Justin: like, you can score.

35:50Andrew: Yeah. Not only that, like, you can highlight real score.

35:53Justin: Yeah, they'll love them.

35:54Andrew: That's just. That screams bottom six in Toronto.

35:57Justin: He can back during the week.

35:59Andrew: Yeah, exactly. I'm excited for him because he's got the frame, he's got the hands, and he's got the attitude to carve his way into the NHL one day.

36:07Justin: Okay, Andrew, three stars of the weekend. Who's your third star?

36:12Andrew: I have a theme.

36:13Justin: Oh, great.

36:14Andrew: I have a theme. My theme is dynamic duos for my third stars. Yeah, I have stars. This is how you buck the system.

36:23Justin: I think I know where this is going.

36:26Andrew: My third star is Chromiak and Reed, who I thought had incredible two Games, two way games. They were on the score sheet. They were controlling the play, keeping the puck out of the net, keeping the puck away from high danger areas. Just really took over. They had a great couple games and had to give them their flowers because we didn't really talk too much about Chromiak and Reed. We just mentioned them in the game sheets but yeah, they played awesome.

36:55Justin: Great.

36:56Andrew: Who's your third star?

36:57Justin: I went with Jack LaBrash because that hand eye coordination goal was pretty spectacular.

37:02Andrew: So good. Listen, it was like Jack Pridham doing the mission. You do a Michigan, you get the first star. If you bat the puck out of the air, you get an automatic third star at least. So yes, we've set that precedent now

37:13Justin: and it was a good weekend for Lebrash overall. Like he, he seemed to be really engaged in both of these games. You know, Lebrash has. Has up up games and down games and he had two up games this weekend. So it was great to see. Yeah. Who's your second pair?

37:27Andrew: Yeah, my second dynamic duo is our boys that we loved having on the pod. Humphreys and Britain, you're gonna say Twick

37:36Justin: and Parsons and I was like, oh,

37:38Andrew: we can't take them. No. But we had humps prids on the pod separately. But they are just gelling. They're just clicking Jack Pridham again. I think there's another gear there because I always go back and refresh the highlights after I've watched the game before we record the pod just to refresh the plays in my mind in the highlights. There's three chances in the Sudbury game that Priz doesn't score.

38:03Justin: Yeah.

38:03Andrew: Just like we said with Ellen is last year. They're going to start going in. Yeah, they're going to start going in.

38:08Justin: Yeah.

38:08Andrew: And then they did. And the great thing was is they did all through playoffs for lns. So it's going to happen with Pridz too. Like Jack Pridham is already scoring nine. Nine goals in 14 games is a crazy clip. Yeah, there's. There's still more there.

38:22Justin: Yeah. His shooting percentage isn't like crazy astronomical or anything like. No, he's a dude who can do more. Humps is my second star and I had an honorable mention for Jack Pridham because he got 70, 000 breakaways and three points in seven shots in two games and humps for his skaters in the league. Humphreys, his three points, they were all looked effortless. Like he was just like it was just everything was so exactly how he planned it and it all worked out. Yeah.

38:49Andrew: Yeah. He's just a chill guy having fun.

38:51Justin: Yeah. I'm going to guess your first duo is the same as my first star, which is also two players.

38:59Andrew: Yes. Christian Kirsch and Jason Schaubel Yeah.

39:03Justin: Dream team. Yeah.

39:04Andrew: What can we Sam O'Reilly did? If you do that every game, you win them all, so there's nothing else you can say about it.

39:13Justin: Both looked unbelievable. Both had great games. Both had super crazy shots that they saved and highlight real saves in both games. They deserved it.

39:21Andrew: All the vibes are impeccable, too. Like, it's obviously, if you're a part of a goaltending tandem that, like, deep down there is a level of anything you can do, I can do better. Yeah, But. But the vibe is we're a team and we love each other and we just want to always win. And that is the vibe. But it's great when you have two guys who are just like, he pushes me to be better, and I feel like that's what we have right now.

39:41Justin: I hope that's where it stays.

39:43Andrew: Yeah.

39:43Justin: Yeah.

39:43Andrew: For sure.

39:45Justin: All right. We only have two games coming up this week. We have a game in Kitchener against Saginaw, and then we have a game also in Kitchener against Kingston. A home and home. But we're just. We're just home for both games.

39:59Andrew: We're just home.

40:00Justin: Friday night, we are playing Saginaw, and this is Pete DeBoer night.

40:09Andrew: Groat. A groat. A true groat. Finally getting his flowers in the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, as I knew he always would once we learned about his accomplishments. Just last year, of course, because we're new fans.

40:22Justin: We are new fans, but pretty amazing coach for the Kitchener.

40:25Andrew: Incredible. So two OHL Championships and a Memorial Cup.

40:29Justin: Yes. Remind me what is happening on Friday.

40:31Andrew: The level of Legacy Night, where a banner for Pete DeBoer is being raised into the rafters, as it should be, to honor his contributions as a kitchen arranger, as the coach. The Kitchener Rangers The greatest coach of the Kitchener Rangers, the most winningest coach of the Kitchener Rangers and what I will Sam O'Reilly A dang fine NHL coach as well. There are worse coaches who have jobs in the NHL right now. I will point that out.

41:03Justin: Yeah, for sure.

41:05Andrew: So I'm excited for that. Apparently, Bar down might be there. So.

41:09Justin: Cool.

41:10Andrew: That's something that was announced today. Bar down is going to be there,

41:14Justin: and then we're gonna play a game.

41:15Andrew: Come see us.

41:16Justin: You can come see us, too. And then we're gonna play a game against Segna. We've seen them once they're sitting 14th in the OHL power rankings, they're 6, 6, 3 and 2. We beat them 3 to 1 a few weeks ago. Saginaw scores a lot of goals, but then they also get scored on a lot. It's their thing. Yeah. Flipov, who I saw was ranked by Scott Wheeler today as going like 23rd overall in the NHL Draft this year, has 28 points in 17 games. So he's doing pretty good. And he was the OHL performer of the month of October.

41:49Andrew: So yeah, he's having a crazy year. He's the dude for them. He has 28 points.

41:54Justin: It's in 17 games. Yeah, he's. He's one of those guys.

41:58Andrew: And Barabanov has 23 points. No slouch as well. I just love to see this because Klepov vaunted now in the draft. People are talking about him.

42:08Justin: Yeah.

42:09Andrew: And I'm just like, you know what? The OHL is a great development path. We're not looking at it being like, why isn't this guy in the ncaa?

42:15Justin: Let me talk. Like Saginaw had so many guys last year. We didn't really even talk about Klepov because he was so buried. Like now he's just like free to. To spread his wings. And then second also, it feels a little bit like Saginaw fan pod right now. But they also have a rookie defenseman, Levi Harper, who has 17 points in 17 games. This seems like a guy to keep an eye on it because he is. He's young and bombing. Yeah. I just love seeing like young guys just doing great. Unexpected especially it's fun with The Spirit

42:47Andrew: at 6, 6, 3 and 2 is where they're sitting right now with the record. I'm excited individually. I hope they all keep scoring. Obviously I'm a Rangers fan, so, you know, keep that 500.

42:58Justin: Not on Friday.

42:59Andrew: Yeah, keep that 500 record. You can take a loss against Kitchener and then go back to scoring and lighting it up and.

43:05Justin: Yeah.

43:05Andrew: Doing what you do.

43:06Justin: Yeah. So big weekend for our defense. Talking about Carson Campbell coming back tonight. Friday, defense, very important. Then on Sunday we play against Kingston, who are sitting ninth in the OHL power rankings. They have a 7701 record. They're currently on a four game losing streak. And they have another Kieran who is very good and Jacob Pataguli. We're leading the team with 14 and 12 points respectively. Another Kieran, but he's not a Karen W. No.

43:33Andrew: Kieran Durvin. He is a third round Vancouver draft pick. From 2025. He's a point a game player. He's got 14 and 13. I'm excited to see him play because he's a third round pick. Pridham was the third round pick so you think about that as sounds like an exciting player. Jacob Battaglia, I've seen him play before. He's got skills.

43:56Justin: Stuck around in Calgary for a while. This year he was one of the late coming back to the ohl.

44:01Andrew: Yeah, Kingston is a tricky team. Last year they gave the Rangers trouble. So the last five years at Kingston front necks. The Rangers are winless so they've lost all three games but in the Aud they've won all three. So it's a tricky matchup here. It's obviously very reliant on travel. That's what I'm saying.

44:22Justin: Pretty tricky. Tricky, tricky games.

44:26Andrew: Tricky. Kingston front necks.

44:28Justin: Both these games have potential to be explosive offense games or just like crazy defense games. Both of those are excite me so should be good to talk about next week with a special guest. Maybe. Ooh, depending on. You may notice Andrew and I have slightly lower voices this week because we are both sick which is why we're also recording at home and we were supposed to have a special guest this week. So hopefully we'll have our special guest next week.

44:54Andrew: Fingers crossed.

44:55Justin: Fingers crossed. Yeah. Andrew, we should thank some people. We should. Kim Born, Papa Born Director of branding and marketing and Rigby the Raccoon Scooper.

45:09Andrew: Marketing.

45:11Justin: Of course. We got to thank our prodigal producer Liam who gave us some notes this week.

45:14Andrew: Phenom give us notes.

45:16Justin: Yeah, we got some notes to go through so. Okay. We have to stay on this call after all right.

45:20Andrew: We will.

45:21Justin: We will. Tim. Tim is mastering our episodes now, so if they've sounded better to you, that's because of Tim.

45:31Andrew: Thank you, Tim.

45:33Justin: And Andrew, how can you find us on the social medias?

45:36Andrew: Ooh, well on social media you can find us at the AudPod on TikTok and Instagram and you can find us on the YouTubes at the AudPod dash Kitchener Rangers. Or you just search the AudPod in Google and we actually come up pretty quick there which is exciting. We've got a new email address with our own domain and everything. We're not on the Gmail account anymore. How exciting. We've grown up. Email us. Maybe your odd history. That might be exciting.

46:08Justin: Did you like Dave's last week? Tell us.

46:11Andrew: I loved it.

46:11Justin: Me too.

46:12Andrew: Email us at hello@theaudpod.com you can also

46:19Justin: just go to theaudpod.com and get our episodes there.

46:23Andrew: Make it your homepage.

46:24Justin: Oh, make it your homepage. Make it your homepage.

46:26Andrew: There's no ads on there, so it doesn't actually benefit us at all for you to make it our homepage.

46:31Justin: Thank you for listening, Andrew. You can find us at well, tonight

46:38Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

46:42Justin: See you at the Aud