48: Three’s Company (with Special Guest Babs)

0:00Justin: Andrew.

0:00Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Hey, Babs. Hey, Babs.

0:05Babs: Hey, Justin. I didn't mess it up.

0:08Tim: You didn't.

0:09Justin: You didn't.

0:10Andrew: He didn't mess it up.

0:11Justin: Points for Babs. As promised, I said that I would try and get Kieran Culkin, but he wouldn't return my phone call. So I got. I got Babs. We got.

0:20Andrew: We got Babs. It's no offense to Babs. A little step down, but yeah, it's a step up for us still.

0:26Justin: Yeah, it's still a step up for the AudPod. We've had guests come co host for segments, but we've never had a guest co host for an Andrew episode.

0:34Andrew: That's true. Nothing like introducing a guest by talking about a more famous guest that we don't have. By the way, great work.

0:42Justin: Oh, okay.

0:42Andrew: So really make him feel at home.

0:44Babs: I'll act like he does and pretend to like you guys.

0:49Justin: Kieran Culkin has never pretended to like me. Okay. Babs formerly known as Robert Babiak.

0:56Babs: Yeah, I'm just Babs now. Unfortunately, the other Babs isn't allowed to work in hockey anymore.

1:00Andrew: That's right. You're not the other Babs. You're the only Babs.

1:02Justin: The Babs.

1:03Andrew: The only Babs.

1:04Justin: But if you are interested in Babs, he does create content on the Internet under the other Babs. On TikTok, Instagram. And then you're ripping PAC on YouTube. I. I thought I'd put all that in early so people then could just check. Just.

1:18Andrew: Just move over.

1:20Justin: That's right.

1:20Andrew: Just go over. Yeah. These guys forget.

1:22Justin: Forget us. Babs is a retired hockey player. Retired coach. Your current scout. Are you retired coach?

1:29Babs: No, not retired player. Ignore the one game. We'll talk about that one.

1:32Justin: No.

1:32Andrew: Okay.

1:33Justin: Retired player. One game counts is more than I got.

1:35Andrew: That's true.

1:36Justin: You're part owner.

1:37Andrew: See this guy shoot the puck?

1:39Babs: Yeah.

1:39Justin: Yeah.

1:39Babs: I'll show you footage of my one game and explain the story. Okay, I want to hear it, but it's insane. I want to hear insane story from the Fed.

1:46Justin: You're part owner of a Slovenian soccer club. Inca Tabor said Zana.

1:52Babs: Pretty close. Yep.

1:54Andrew: Pretty close. That's closer than just a Normally.

1:56Babs: Yeah.

1:56Justin: So, well, chat. GPT helped.

1:58Andrew: Yeah.

1:59Justin: And you're a content creator at owner's box, among many other things. You're from Babsville.

2:04Babs: Yeah, Babsville.

2:06Andrew: The Babsville Bulls.

2:07Justin: The Babsville Bulls. There we go.

2:09Babs: God, I'm going back there this weekend. I might. I don't know if there's AHL hockey there this weekend, but I might watch some if there is.

2:13Andrew: Jackson Parsons. Gotta start. Gotta win.

2:16Tim: Yeah. Yeah.

2:18Andrew: Congrats to Jackson Parsons. Our guy.

2:20Justin: Yeah, it's our. Our guy.

2:21Andrew: Yeah.

2:21Babs: Alumni update.

2:22Justin: Exactly.

2:23Andrew: Yeah, we started that and we never went back to that segment. So thanks, Babs, for taking us all the way back to the alumni update.

2:29Justin: Yeah, we're here to help. Welcome to the AudPod.

2:35Babs: But we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away. Fell.

2:48Andrew: Thank you so much to jj, who provided the voiceover for today's intro. That was spectacularly done. Sounded just like that strange voice that we have. That's definitely not me. Pitched down. Pitched down a bunch. No, definitely not me. JJ is on today because JJ is currently battling in hospital. Something that's very relevant to our game on Friday, which is the Hockey Fights cancer game with the Kitchener Rangers at the Aud on Friday versus Sault Ste.

3:18Tim: Mar.

3:19Andrew: So we want to send out all our support to everybody and anybody affected by that, especially JJ and JJ's family.

3:26Justin: Yeah, I think we all have family members affected by that and yeah, sending out all the love to everybody battling

3:34Andrew: and on Friday as well at the Aud which will be awesome tonight. If you're listening, the day we release

3:39Justin: as you should be. As you should be on the way as a good range Friday, you're driving

3:44Andrew: to the Aud You're. You're watching your phone, the vehicles on cruise control. I'm just kidding. You're in the passenger seat.

3:52Tim: Hey, it's Andrew. Just jumping in here from the past or the future or the present. Because you're listening in the present. With a little bit more information about Friday's game, the main focus of the evening is highlighting the Clarky's Kids program. This program was introduced in 2008 with alumni David Clarkson. From 2002 to 2005, Clarkson spent countless hours supporting local community programs. His goodwill and commitment to both the team and the region have inspired numerous people of all ages and Rangers players to continue on the program. In his stead, Clarkson was honored with the Ted Scharf Award in 2002 and 2003 for being the Kitchener Rangers Humanitarian of the Year. Dave's parents as well as kids and family members of the Clarky's Kids program will be present for the ceremonial puck drop on November 14th as well as take in a game from the Rangers suite. Nurses from the Grand River Hospital will also be in an additional suite to watch the game. Much love to nurses, especially the Kitchener Rangers. Clarky's Kids provides children from Grand River Hospitals pogo, or Pediatric Oncology Group of Andrew very important and also a fun acronym Satellite center and Sick Kids at Grand River Hospital the opportunity to experience the excitement of a Kitchener Rangers game and visit with players and coaches in and out of the hospital as well. This program continues to raise funds that aid in the support of local families and siblings dealing with a child that is ill. The clinic, located at Grand River Hospital, is one of six POGO satellite oncology clinics in the province of Andrew set up to deliver cancer care closer to home. The Kitchener Rangers accept donations to Clarkey's Kids this season in the following way. Video Board Announcements Anytime fans wish to have a video board announcement play on the board for a specific birthdays or anniversaries, they can fill out a form that will put a link in the description of our episode and you can

5:49Andrew: click that and you can fill that

5:50Tim: out and make a donation through the office to Clarky's kids. Rangers reach 50 50. The Rangers will also be giving out signs with iFight 4 to be filled out by fans and players and shown on the video board during the game. So you can help raise awareness at the game. Maybe buy a 5050 ticket, maybe make a video board announcement. I don't know.

6:11Andrew: Maybe the AudPod will be on

6:12Tim: the video board someday.

6:14Andrew: Someday.

6:14Tim: Who knows? Not everything's about the AudPod. Okay, Andrew, very important cause Clarky's Kids Very important initiative. David Clarkson, great hockey player and thank you so much for doing this. I'll see you at the game on Friday. Now back to the episode.

6:29Justin: Okay, I there. There's something I wanted to talk about today. I got a bone to pick.

6:35Babs: Also with me, I got a bone to pick.

6:37Justin: I mean my specific bone to pick is with Eric Francis, reporter, Sportsnet reporter for the Calgary Flames. But Eric Francis is just one of what I'm assuming are 32 people who are this person for the Mark Spector of for Edmonton.

6:53Andrew: 32 in the NHL.

6:55Justin: Yeah, 32.

6:55Andrew: Countless others on the Internet for sure.

6:57Justin: Yes. I'm sure Toronto has one as well.

6:59Babs: Every Toronto son in play.

7:03Justin: So more than 32. Yeah, at least 36. Yeah. And it's it's really around the Soo specifically what I'm talking about is Zane Parek. So Zane Prek, obviously we know he played for Saginaw last year. Crazy player. Many 120 points and 60 games. Yeah.

7:20Andrew: First round draft pick.

7:21Justin: First round draft pick for the Flames a couple of years ago. Very talented young man. He's 19 and the flames are in a rebuild right now, so they're bringing up more young talent than the average person.

7:37Andrew: Yeah, assuming he's not the reason they're in a rebuild.

7:40Justin: No, he's not. He's the future. There's a lot of conversation created by Eric Francis around is this guy too young to be in the NHL? You know, there is that bit of a. We're in a nebulous area where they, they have put in a rule for the AHL for next year where a 19 year old they can put one person in the AHL that isn't in effect this year. So he would probably be a prime candidate for that, I'm assuming. But you know, I think the Flames assumed he's probably too good to come back to the OHL or something along those lines. I'm just kind of curious, Babs, especially with you here. I'd love to hear like your take on these types of players.

8:13Babs: Yeah, I think it's kind of part of the reason why Easton Cowan's development isn't at a higher state than it is currently. Because when you're playing against guys that you can dominate against with ease over a long period of time, you start to develop bad habits. And I think that's something that you can see with some guys. Easton Cowan was able to do stuff and get away with things that he would not at at a higher level and he was stuck there. He probably 19 would have been that guy that would have been in the AHL and maybe he would be a more comfortable NHL player right now if he had have had that time. So you look at the same thing in Calgary. They have all of the opportunity in the world for guys to play. You can Luke shen a guy and push too quick and then I know Ron did a bad job with him as a coach in Toronto, but on the flip side with this kid, he's a very smart young man. I think he can probably handle it differently than others guys can. Like I said, he's exceptional when it came to his schooling. You look at his hockey sensit's high and that's part of the reason why he was able to rack up so many junior points was because he is a very smart player. But when you're playing against guys much bigger than you after dominating for a while, I don't want to call it a hangover, but it basically is from there's a transition and he seems like a guy. Like there's some of these guys right now that I look and be like 18 OHL, 19, NCAA, 20 Rahl, NHL right. So I think that stuff's going to kind of break it up a little bit, generally speaking. A lot of the reporters, though, that are negative about players just kind of need something to talk about. So you just picked a victim. But that's my long rant on that specific subject.

9:40Justin: And then that's sort of how I feel. It, too, is like, he's sort of victim. Victimizing Zane Pratt because the Flames win three games without scoring a goal. So, like, there isn't that much to talk about.

9:50Andrew: It's also. There's also a level of like, he's the hyped prospect. He's the young guy. I'll say this, after being through, like, the eternal rebuild before they got Connor McDavid, it was the same thing in Edmonton. It was. They would pick on a guy that was, like, young and had potential in the sense of, like, why isn't he doing more? And you're like, because no disrespect to some of these, like, journeyman players, but they were like, bonafide ahlers who were, like, littered through the lineup. And then you're picking on, like, the kid who's maybe might not even be a first rounder, but in some cases he was a first rounder. I like. I think of, like, Sam Gagne or, or.

10:28Tim: Or.

10:28Andrew: Or there was just other players. Rob Schram is a perfect example. And you. You can actually pause this right now and jump over and watch the. The media that you've posted on ripping puck with Rob Shrimp. Rob Shrimp was a cult hero, I'll say, among teenage Oilers fans in that era, and which. I was one of the Aud like, we used to dream about Robbie Shrimp playing for the Oilers, and we got. I think we got like a game of him and he had like, two assists or something and then got immediately sent down. And all of us is like, this was the future, this stick handling phenom. We were like, what? What video is good?

11:09Justin: Yeah.

11:09Andrew: And obviously you can hear directly from the horse's mouth on your channel. Like, just as a fan and dealing with that kind of media attention, I. I can't imagine what it was like for him, but as a fan, it was extremely frustrating. So I know what you're talking about.

11:24Justin: Yeah, I think give these kids a break.

11:26Babs: Yeah.

11:27Justin: Let them. Let them adjust. Like, you know, we Sam O'Reilly saw some success. We're seeing success with Leo Carlson right now in Anaheim. And they did that thing where they basically played him every other game. Like, he only played, like, I'm sure, because I know there's a thing that comes into play when you play 40 games in the NHL. So I'm sure he played 39 games that first season. And obviously it's paying dividends now because Leo Carlson is like the fifth highest scoring player in the league right now.

11:52Andrew: So Ducks are a wagon. I don't know how long it's going to last. Maybe it'll last all year. But the Ducks are like crazy good.

11:59Babs: They're firing. They're firing at all, all cylinders. Just. I'm mind blown by their loss. Level of success. Kreider looks like a new man, minus the hand, foot and mouth disease, which is. People thought I was stupid for taking him in fantasy. Clearly not.

12:15Andrew: Clearly not.

12:16Babs: Not for a left winger. Second round pick maybe a bad idea, but still, still he's performing well enough so I don't feel so internally embarrassed. Not to drag us completely off course, but generally like report there's a lot of reporters whom I will not listen to at all. Like a guy like Jeff Merrick I'll listen to and he'll do his. His talk. Some of the daily Face off guys will just talk about prospects and young players and what they're up to. Like this Prec's a very smart guy. I'm pretty sure he's one of those. He used to do Rubik's Cubes tournaments.

12:41Justin: Yes, right. He did. Yeah. Yeah.

12:43Babs: Clearly this is a player who is very, very smart. You just give him his time to sort it out.

12:47Justin: Yes.

12:47Babs: Clearly has a hockey mind. He has a mind period. And he can figure it out. It just takes time. And he was dominating these kids. Really. That he probably shouldn't have been. And he wouldn't. If this was two years later, he would have all the options in the world.

13:00Andrew: Yeah.

13:00Babs: So.

13:01Justin: And he's not surrounded by like the strongest team.

13:03Babs: Yes. I mean, like, look at the first line. I think it's Kadri Farabee and Frost

13:09Justin: on a good day.

13:10Babs: Frost is. Yeah, right. The second line, I think tonight or whenever it's like Frost and Hubert are on the second line.

13:16Justin: There you go. Yeah.

13:17Babs: So they're just like doing.

13:18Justin: They move. They move guys around all the time.

13:19Babs: Yeah. It's not going well.

13:20Andrew: You know, stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

13:22Justin: Pretty much.

13:23Andrew: But I mean that's. That is part of being a junior player and going into the NHL is that the press is going to be. It's just part of it.

13:30Justin: Yeah.

13:30Babs: But within reason.

13:31Andrew: Well, it should be. But like you said, the Toronto sun exists, so.

13:35Babs: Yeah. Yeah. Brian Burke was. And Them did not get along ever in Toronto. Imagine that. In a different market.

13:41Justin: Yeah. But we should probably get back to some regular schedule.

13:45Andrew: We should.

13:45Justin: Absolutely. Maybe recap some games.

13:47Andrew: We should recap the weekend.

13:49Justin: We had two games on the weekend. Friday night we saw Saginaw for Pete DeBoer Night at the Aud classic.

13:56Andrew: That was an amazing moment to be in the building for.

13:59Justin: Yeah.

14:00Andrew: Especially not having been here and been a Rangers fan during those years. You could. But you could feel the energy. People came out for Pete DeBoer.

14:07Justin: Yeah. I was. I was amazed. Like, the Aud is usually pretty full on a Friday night, but it was like back to the rafters.

14:12Andrew: It really was.

14:13Justin: Yeah, it was great. Nice to see Pete DeBore. Nice to see how. I don't know, he's not that emotional of a guy, but, like, it seemed to feel some emotion about Kitchener.

14:23Babs: That's good.

14:24Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah.

14:25Justin: Yeah.

14:26Andrew: You could see that it meant something to him. I think it was like. Like he said, like, he hasn't been back in the building since he was the coach. That's a long time. He's had his ups and downs in the NHL. I'd argue more ups than downs. Even though his NHL career has. Has come to a pause on a bit of a down, I think that it's realistic that he will be back as a head coach at some point.

14:48Babs: I might coach Toronto.

14:50Justin: Yeah.

14:50Andrew: Honestly, I think that they would be in a good place.

14:52Babs: Not going well.

14:54Tim: No.

14:54Andrew: No.

14:54Babs: I love the guy there, but maybe some Andrew experience would bode well.

15:00Andrew: Yeah.

15:00Babs: Some Andrew Hockey League success would bode well in Toronto.

15:04Andrew: Absolutely.

15:05Tim: Yep.

15:05Andrew: Yeah. I said last week on the pod that there's definitely worse coaches in the NHL right now than.

15:11Babs: I like Barube. I just don't know if, like, he seems like he doesn't want to be there. That's how stupid the guys are playing.

15:16Andrew: Yeah, I like. I like Berubay, too. I liked him as a player. He's tough.

15:19Babs: Yeah.

15:19Justin: Yeah.

15:20Babs: A good NHL player, but the team doesn't seem to want to jive. But the Rangers jived for sure.

15:25Andrew: They did on Friday. They had.

15:27Tim: The energy was palpable.

15:28Andrew: Thank you for bringing us back around.

15:31Justin: Somebody can get us back.

15:32Andrew: A true professional content creator. Yeah.

15:35Justin: Yeah. We did win. Five to two.

15:37Andrew: We did. Yeah. And the scoring opened with our Western Canadian boy right there. The Alberta boy. Kaden Schneider with his second. He's on fire.

15:46Justin: I mean, exact same shot. Like, it's a bomb from the.

15:49Andrew: He goes from. He goes from, like, kind of struggling to get into the lineup because there's tons of defensemen on this roster who can play at this level to now it's kind of like they can't get him out of the lineup. Not that they want to, but that's. It's their force. He's forcing their hand.

16:02Justin: Before we really get into it though, we. On Friday night we had Elena's Vermeulen and Campbell back. Right. The surprise which adds the strain to the lineup right now. That's true.

16:12Babs: Who.

16:13Justin: How they decide who's not the positive

16:15Andrew: strain, the good strain.

16:16Justin: Yeah. Oh, for sure.

16:17Andrew: Yeah. The positive strain that you've got guys in the press box who could potentially play bottom six on any OHL team. Really?

16:24Justin: Yeah.

16:24Andrew: But yeah, Kaden Schneider got it started from Luca Romano and Tanner Lam of course, he's all over the score sheet in this one. And then later in the first period, only a couple minutes. Christian Humphreys gets his seventh of the season from Chromiak and Pridm. Yeah, I mean, it was a great start for. From the Rangers.

16:42Babs: They.

16:42Andrew: They felt the energy. I will say that the first period was the highest energy out of. From both of the two teams. I think we kind of at the game felt like there was an energy level drop. We'll talk a little bit about that as this game recap goes on. Barabanov, who is literally. I mean, he's the second highest scorer on Saginaw only because Klepov has like a crazy amount of points. But Barabanov is lighting it up. He had a nice goal, his eighth of the year on the power play. Unfortunately, that. That penalty killing streak is over for. For the Rangers and then the first period rounded out with a close. We'll talk about that penalty, actually. And that power play.

17:23Justin: I do want to talk about that.

17:24Andrew: But we'll get through the scoring summary in the first period. Cameron Reid rounds out the scoring with his second of the year from. Who else? Tanner Lam That ended up being the eventual game winner. So it's three to one going into the first or going into the second. Sorry, that power play sequence. Yeah, we want to talk about. I mean, we want to talk about the good things too, but the power play sequence in particular.

17:47Justin: Yeah, for Saginaw, it was a hot mess. Yeah, it was. Okay. So from my perspective, I know when it comes to officiating, this is more of a subjective than an objective.

17:57Andrew: And we're, we're. We're openly biased, outwardly biased Rangers fans.

18:01Justin: For the Rangers, there was a blindside hit by Birchie on anstice dericolo comes over. I don't wanna mess with deer Colo. No. He drops the gloves and then he tries to get Bar to drop the gloves, who Reluctantly. Reluctantly.

18:19Andrew: Yeah. And I mean, I'll argue too that I don't like it when. And Babs, you can jump in on this. I don't like it when players have to atone for clean hits. I think we can all agree that it's a stupid thing that happens. But I also understand that people are emotional and when you see your teammate get laid out, sometimes you're like, okay, I have to stand up for him.

18:40Justin: And you don't always know if it's a clean.

18:41Andrew: However. I don't. I didn't think that that like, granted, I'm up in the blues, like press row.

18:47Justin: Yeah.

18:47Andrew: And I'm looking down at it, but it didn't look like a hit that needed to be made, if that makes sense.

18:53Justin: Yeah.

18:53Babs: No, I think sometimes, like, it depends on. You don't know if how dirty it was as a player because you don't have perfect eyes on every situation. And the Aud depends on how hard the guy got hit. Like if your teammate got flatlined by a guy, regardless of how clean it is.

19:08Justin: Right.

19:10Babs: Theoretically you want to step up so they know, hey, even though that was clean, don't hit us that hard.

19:16Andrew: True.

19:16Justin: Right.

19:17Babs: Like, we're gonna. You hit us, we'll hit you.

19:18Andrew: That makes sense.

19:19Babs: Type of. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

19:22Andrew: I get that.

19:22Babs: But you have to evaluate also in those situations sometimes where, like, it's just a prime opportunity. Like, yeah, the hit was clean, but like, we need to get the energy going or we need to do this. So there's a. There's always a few things, but a lot of times players will just like see their teammate like flat there. And then you go, oh, crap, I gotta do this.

19:37Justin: Yeah.

19:38Babs: Regardless.

19:38Andrew: Yeah. And Derrick Colo is no stranger to taking a fight or having an instigator in this case.

19:43Justin: Yes. So there was no call on the initial hit because it did kind of happen sort of to the side of the play, not necessarily behind the play.

19:51Andrew: Yeah, I can see that if it was. Yeah. I can see if the refs missed it. Like it wasn't in a conspicuous place on the ice.

19:59Justin: No. And then. Yeah. So dear Colo gets tossed.

20:02Andrew: Yeah.

20:02Justin: And gets the instigator. So then Saginaw is on a two minute power play from what we felt was a hit that the Ranger should have got a power play.

20:12Tim: Agreed.

20:12Andrew: Yeah.

20:13Justin: And then there was a lovely sequence like one minute into this power play of Cameron Reid getting just trip. Yeah. Tripped upon.

20:21Andrew: It was full on trip.

20:22Justin: It was a trip down. Yeah. Like clear cut dictionary clear as tank. And then probably an interference.

20:29Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It felt like at least you got to take one of them when the power play is committing the. Is committing the penalty.

20:37Justin: Right. Like, and the Aud led to Saginaw scoring because immediately no players left.

20:41Andrew: Immediately.

20:42Justin: Yeah.

20:43Andrew: There was two guys taken out of the play for the Rangers and they were already down on a five on four. And we do try and watch it as unbiased as we can, considering we want the Rangers to win 68 games.

20:53Justin: Yeah.

20:54Andrew: But there was a level of like, I'm kind of like, what's. Why aren't they case they didn't call the initial hit. They're not calling that. They're not calling that. It's like usually you breathe on a guy when you're on the power play and they're like you're going.

21:05Justin: Yeah.

21:05Andrew: You know, especially if they think that they may have missed something. Yeah. So that was strange. But it didn't matter.

21:11Justin: No, in the end it didn't matter. But it felt. It was like. It was a weirdest. Yeah. Like one minute of you turned and

21:17Andrew: looked at me and said, okay to nothing. We're already game managing.

21:21Justin: And I'm like, I guess the first period.

21:25Andrew: Yeah, I guess it to get out of hand. Moving into the second period. This old pesky. This. I don't know how to describe him. He's like his hands, they do two things.

21:37Justin: Yeah.

21:38Andrew: They punch and they score filthy goals. Matthew Hlacar scores a second. We just talked about him last episode.

21:46Justin: Yeah.

21:46Andrew: I don't know. Like, it's like I said, he gets himself into trouble and penalty trouble and suspension trouble and. And all these things, but when he scores, they're like top tier.

21:56Justin: La Charizard himself. He's a Leafs prospect.

21:59Babs: Yeah. I remember looking at when the Leafs drafted him and I was sitting there, I'm like, okay. Like, obviously there is film you can watch really quick and a lot of prospects. And I go, okay. I watch some assistance, a goal or maybe two. And I'm like, okay. Clearly there's a bunch of stuff this guy does when he doesn't have the puck. That's going to be valuable for Toronto as they try and get rougher and tougher and play defensive sound game. And it's funny to see what he does because it reminds me of Robertson in some sense where I'm like watching the guy I'm Okay. Yeah. Like, he's grinding. He's grinding. And I go like, where. What the. That was insane. Where'd that come from?

22:32Andrew: Where did that come from?

22:33Babs: All of a sudden it like sparks. Yeah. And then he has an unbelievable play. So hopefully as a players develop in junior, you can, like, chain those more together. And then you start to see like, okay, this is what everyone was looking at. And this is why he's probably maybe a risky draft pick by some senses. But the upside.

22:50Tim: True.

22:51Andrew: I mean, this is an undrafted player in the O. Yeah. Like, he was. There was a risk taken bringing him in to Kitchener.

22:57Justin: Yep.

22:58Andrew: And now it's like, who could have imagined that he has been drafted and went to camp? And I'll get. I'll. I'll ask you a question here, Babs. He got into a fight during the rookie camp. Do you have any experience with that, being a coach and having teammates fight in the Fed?

23:16Babs: Yes. Guys would try and like, for agent camp or even like main camp. Not as much, but they would go. If a guy's trying to, like, earn a spot or like, throw a big hit that you would never throw in, like a practice or like a. Whatever other type of situation other than a game, you'll see some guys trying to like, I'm going to earn my spot or take you out. So you don't have said spot. But NHL rookie camp, it's a little different because they don't want you to necessarily be a moron. So you have to pick your spots very well. It's not like what I was dealing with in the Fed.

23:45Justin: True.

23:45Babs: But guys fight in rookie camp all the time.

23:48Justin: Yeah.

23:48Babs: And they do it. They're not. They know they're not making the roster. They know they're not getting a contract this year or maybe the year after. They're like, I'm putting in, so they remember me. Now you're investing in something for two years down the line when they're like, having the option of like, hey, we're going to bring you to the Marlies. And they're like, sure, yeah, you know what? Yeah, maybe he will be the guy that can throw. We've seen him do that. Like, the player you are in Junior doesn't always equate to the player that you will be at the NHL level. You have to do different things. There's so many top six forwards in the ohl, they're going to end up being bottom six guys in the NHL.

24:19Justin: Right.

24:19Babs: So what more do you have for us? So you see guys that don't really fight that much. Do fight in rookie camps.

24:24Andrew: Right, right. And we'll come back around on that a little bit, too. Hlacar goal was from Avry Anstis and Max Dirracolo so. But it was good to see Avry Anstis back on the score sheet. Like I said, you know, there's. There was two forwards came into the lineup and an is still in the lineup. And there was some concern. We had some DMS from people saying that, like, Anstas is good. I don't want to see Anstice in the press box because these big dogs are in. Like, just because you'd want maybe a more physical player in your bottom six. And I said, I don't think you can take Anstas out. I don't think you can take Answers out. I think he's fine playing on the third line, and that's where he's been. I'm excited to see more of him and hopefully he stays in the lineup. That's all for the second period. This is where the energy dips a little bit.

25:12Justin: Yeah, for sure.

25:13Tim: In this.

25:13Justin: It was a bit of a sleepy second. Like the. The Char moment. The goal was obviously a highlight. Yeah. But the rest of the period was

25:20Andrew: sort of like they were ragging the puck a little bit. It was a little bit like, let's,

25:25Justin: you know, a little bit playing with food sort of stuff.

25:27Andrew: Yeah, yeah. It was game management, you could say.

25:30Justin: Also game management.

25:32Andrew: Then we get into the third period. Carson Harmer scores for Saginaw and eventually the empty netter for Kitchener. Who, other than Tanner Lam with a seventh from Cameron Arquette and Luca Romano.

25:44Justin: It was a display by Arquette to get Lamb the pocket.

25:46Andrew: It sure was. Yeah. But I think Tanner Lam or I should say Cameron Arquette, has benefited from playing with Tanner Lam a few times to get him back there, get him

25:56Justin: a goal here and there for sure for the stat line, which might be

25:59Andrew: a natural transition to talking about Tanner Lam season so far. A little bit with Babs, because you do scout and you have coached and we have talked at length about maybe somebody like, you know, Matthew Hlacar who is a big guy, plays a physical game, getting drafted and a guy like Tanner Lam not getting drafted. Now, we've seen Tanner Lam has taken it personally. Tanner Lam has taken it upon himself to play to a new standard. Even though if you look at the statistics from last year, he had an incredible year for, like, a young player who was small, relatively small for professional hockey, but also young. It wasn't like he was like, you know, a year's past his draft. That was his first draft eligible year and he had 44 assists. Like, this is not like a bad season by any means. This was a really good season. And you have to keep in mind that UC and his crew run a. Everybody plays. Right. Like, I think if Tanner Lam was just getting the benefit of, you know, double shifting and getting thrown out there and playing first line power play, he'd have even more points last year. But if you're actually watching the tape, I thought he was incredibly skilled now. I think his skating has improved a lot this year. But for your perspective, how important is it now for a guy who has missed his year of draft eligibility and he's, I mean, he's still eligible to have a season like this and take it personal. Do scouts look at that and say, holy crap, this guy is just flying off the page?

27:27Babs: Yeah, I think we saw in the NHL draft this year they were more size obsessed than I think ever before. And you saw them also then be more obsessed with taking European players out of leagues that were more of the skill guys. We saw some of these Russian players pop up and stuff that were riskier prospects because you don't know if you're going to actually get them here. And then you saw trickle down throughout the draft where people are going, like, how the hell is this guy getting drafted? Like, he was not on my board, but he's 6, 7. That is just a factor. And you look at Mason west was a first round draft pick a lot based on his athleticism and size by Chicago. He's playing football right now. He has not played a hockey game this year. So you have to evaluate that his teams were going, no, this is what we want. You look at the upcoming draft this year, there's guys that are playing junior B right now. Karmanov, who there's a chance he's gonna get drafted. He was ranked by central scouting.

28:11Tim: Yeah.

28:12Andrew: Because he's like obscenely huge.

28:13Babs: Yeah. So that's just a thing that the NHL is obsessed with now. I've addressed it as a problem even at the goaltending level, which is more understanding that they want guys that are big because they cover more than that. But if you're 5 11, you stop all the pucks. You stop all the pucks. Yeah, me. But for the, like, guys get drafted in their second year of eligibility all the time as a later round pick. So yeah, maybe it's not the most ideal and you have to like earn that other season, improve it. Maybe you Have a growth spurt, which can be beneficial to a lot of guys, or you put more weight on and then go, okay, well, this guy's very sturdy, those type of things. But they don't ever like, once you have your draft year goes by, they don't stop looking, period. And if you're an overager, you're doing stocking, they're going to go, okay, well, this kid's doing stuff. Right? So Jackson Parsons.

28:52Andrew: Yeah, right, exactly. Good point.

28:54Babs: Hl.

28:55Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

28:56Babs: Boom. A lot of times before people were like, oh, I, I'm done. I'm gonna go play U sports. But he immediately earned his opportunity by the fact that he just played outside of his mind.

29:04Justin: Goaltender of the year. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

29:07Babs: He just said, okay, fine. Yeah. I mean, you got a guy in Windsor that's doing that exact, exact thing right now.

29:13Andrew: It's true. It's true. It's awesome to see too. I mean, this is the funny thing though is because I feel like, I feel like when I was watching the Robbie Shrimp content talking about how like that type of player was not being valued in that era of hockey. And then we have this size obsession in this again. And you're looking at. And I'm looking at a guy and again, biased, but I'm looking at a guy like Tanner Lam where I'm like, not all these guys can do what he does. Like, I know that. Right. Like, just. Because then why else aren't they doing it? He's doing it in a game speed. And he's 17 now. He's 18 and he's doing it. He's doing it three times a game. So I hope that we go back to the skill gets a little bit more of a look because I'm always just going to prefer to see the faster, more skilled guys succeed.

29:59Justin: I mean, we have seen. There's lots of little things that we've seen in Tanner Lam game this year that, that have. Have improved. And it. And there is things like he is much more sturdy on the puck. Like, he is. It is much harder to get the puck away from him this season than it was last season. And it's those little things that I can imagine scouts would be looking for is just like the improvement. Because if you're small in the OHL and you can easily be taken off the puck, like, you have no chance in the NHL.

30:25Babs: Yeah, Easton cows getting taken off the puck this year. You need to put size on.

30:28Andrew: Yeah.

30:29Babs: So it's a, it's the same problem. But you can go play College hockey next year. He can go earn his way throughout the minor. He's got a lot of options that can extend his shelf life. And that's the other thing is for prospects it will change. With the NCAA option being open. This guy shelf life will increase and you'll see guys who would have been used, sports merchants would have gone there and just been like, all right, yeah, this is great. I'm going to dominate here and then go play somewhere else after I'm done. My youth sports, they don't have to do that anymore.

30:53Andrew: Right.

30:53Babs: You don't have to be a 60 year sport. 60 point. You sports guy.

30:56Andrew: Right.

30:57Babs: You can go D1 and maybe extend yourself a little.

31:00Andrew: Yeah, well, maybe make a little bit of money too.

31:01Babs: Yeah, exactly.

31:02Andrew: Awesome. That's positive as well.

31:04Justin: Okay, we should get into the next game, which is Sunday, our Remembrance Day game against the Kingston front nec. We lost three to two despite the fact that I said that we won in my notes, but we lost three to two.

31:16Andrew: The tricky front necks. I said that. I said that in the previews.

31:20Babs: They couldn't see them because of the jerseys.

31:21Andrew: Yeah, exactly. That's not fair. It was an unfair advantage. You can't wear, you cannot wear camouflage.

31:27Babs: That's that game. I'll tell you right now why you guys lost. You had a lot of opportunities you didn't capitalize on. It's that simple. Yeah, I watched so many chances, like scoring opportunities. Scoring opportunity. Over the last three games, I've just pulled up the stat. 57 chances for versus 33 against. So just one of those games where you have chances for and they just don't get buried.

31:44Justin: Yeah, there were a lot of pucks that went high over the bar. A little bit wide or a block

31:49Andrew: I was going to say, or you know, it was just like a 10 bell save. There were a couple of those that I was like. You know when you get that, like that pass to the slot and it's like a one touch shot and you're like, you're like, oh, it went right to his pad. You know what I mean? Like, it's like you're like, okay, well,

32:03Justin: I don't really feel like the Rangers lost this game as much as Minchuk won this game.

32:07Andrew: Yeah, he played really well.

32:09Justin: Pretty insane.

32:09Andrew: I, I, I will say that it felt like there were a couple, like you said, missed opportunities. Where I said this last year about Luke Ellen is they're going to start going in more frequently. I feel like that's where we're at with Jack Pridham. Right now he's getting some, like, A plus plus opportunities, and it. I don't know if it's because there's. It's almost like he's too much time sometimes. I don't know. I'm not in the mind of a hockey player. I know that when I'm on the sticks and I'm playing, sometimes when I'm going on a breakaway, I have way too much time to think about what I'm going to do. So that's as far as I can relate. But I will say that, like, he had an opportunity and he. It was just like it was saved and it wasn't a great shot and. But he had. He has kind of that range where he's creating those opportunities, so I think they're going to go in. But I agree it was a. It was a little bit of a frustrating game. I watched. I rewatched the highlights just before I got here on the pod, and, yeah, there was way more opportunities for Kitchener just in the highlight package.

33:06Justin: Yeah.

33:06Andrew: Like, way more. Yeah. So in the first period, the front necks got off to a quick start. Five minutes in, Tyler Hopkins scores his seventh of the season. Kieran Durvin, who is all over this

33:18Justin: game, he's definitely another Kieran Force Culkin. Yeah.

33:22Andrew: A force to be reckoned with for this Tommy Kut news, though, for the Rangers. And we're going to victory lap. This Alexander Bilecki. Yeah, he already has three. Last year he had three. We said, this guy's going to have way more than three this year. He already has three. It was a really amazing play by Stark, though, that. That caused this. Balecki has great sense to jump up into the play, but Stark picked the pocket of the defenseman, went in and made a wonderful little dipsy doodle pass over to Balecki, who just put it into, like, a yawning cage. Yeah, it was.

33:57Justin: It was a Stark effort. Yeah.

34:00Andrew: And Anstice was in on that, too. Was. Yeah. So it's great to see Stark and Anstis still producing. Balecki. There was one more goal in the first. A little bit of a backbreaker because it was 25 seconds after that. They just lost Jacob Battaglia. Yeah, like, they just lost Jacob Battaglia. Kieran Durvin again, like the vision, just the wherewithal to know that Battaglia is in. Yeah, he's a great player.

34:24Justin: So is Battaglia. He's a.

34:25Andrew: He's a good. He's got a good nose to score like that. Like, I've seen Him now, since I arrived in Kitchener, my very first. My very first Rangers game was a game versus Kingston, and he was, I think, a rookie that year or.

34:39Justin: Or.

34:39Andrew: Or maybe in his second year. And I at first had to Google because I was like, is he related to Base? Yeah. I was like, is he related to Bass?

34:47Justin: No.

34:47Andrew: The answer is no. I was like, oh, that's got to be his kid. That's got to be. Because if you see a name like that, you're like, it's got to be his kid.

34:54Babs: I shouldn't say, that's too bad. He probably has a great dad. That was a weird thing.

34:57Andrew: I'm sure he has a wonderful.

34:59Babs: Yeah. Too bad your dad is in bed.

35:01Andrew: Am I talking about Bates isn't even his real name, so. Talk about shady. I don't know that guy.

35:06Justin: I don't know. I don't know.

35:07Andrew: But yeah. Jacob Taglia knows for the net. Kieran Durvin, incredible vision to get it to him. Jason Shaw left out to dry. Can't do that to your goal.

35:17Babs: Someone watching more than one person. You got to call a spade a spade.

35:21Justin: Yeah.

35:21Andrew: It was not good on one side. Yeah. I was like, oh, that guy who scored. Oh, the guy by himself.

35:29Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

35:30Tim: Not great.

35:31Andrew: Not a teachable moment.

35:34Justin: Yeah.

35:34Andrew: Yeah, exactly. So a bit of a backbreaker because I felt like 25 seconds after. You hate that as a fan, I'm sure you hate it as a coach even more. You're just kind of like, we just. What are we doing?

35:48Babs: Yep.

35:49Andrew: Especially when you're out chancing the Soo in the second period, Matthew Frost gets one, which ends up being the game winner pretty quick into the period, which, again, to me, the worst times to get scored on. I don't even know if this is the analytics, but as. As a watcher of hockey, I always feel like last minute or first minute, but it's like this one was two and a half minutes into the period, which, you know when you're down two to one and you just kind of gave up a bit of a kind of goal.

36:18Justin: Yeah.

36:19Andrew: I was like, okay, I don't. I don't know if this is our game.

36:22Justin: It didn't. That second period didn't feel like we had that.

36:26Andrew: The juice, but a different kind of juice.

36:28Justin: Yeah.

36:28Andrew: The actual juice. Yeah.

36:30Justin: It didn't marry Jason, which is too

36:31Andrew: bad because I thought Shovel played really well, you know, and he had some good saves and he's getting less opportunities because Kirsch, who played in the last game, is playing out of his mind. Right. Like, he's playing so well and I really don't want, you know, like a flat effort to affect maybe Shovel starts. So hopefully they continue to rotate them.

36:52Justin: I have faith in our coaching staff that they can see beyond.

36:54Andrew: I do too.

36:55Justin: That the numbers of the week.

36:56Tim: I do too.

36:57Andrew: I guess I'm just saying this because Rangers fans has a. Have a tendency to go after the goalies.

37:02Justin: Yes, they do.

37:03Andrew: So I guess I'm just saying, like, is Shovel played well, baby?

37:07Justin: Shovel?

37:07Andrew: Yeah, Shovel played well. You know.

37:10Babs: How long are you guys going to have your coach for?

37:12Justin: One more year.

37:13Andrew: One more year.

37:14Babs: Yeah, I. I feel like he's. Someone's gonna have to take him, right?

37:16Andrew: Yeah, I think, I think like, not, not that we have an insider, but

37:22Justin: he has a contract until after 27, which is the Memorial.

37:26Andrew: And I guarantee that someone will come a calling even in this off season. But I think he's going to see it through. Like, I think there's a. I think there's a plan in place to Memorial Cup essentially.

37:37Justin: Right.

37:37Andrew: And the team is kind of built for 20, 27, so I feel like there's a certain level of, of like, let's get to the finish line and then sayonara.

37:46Justin: Whole staff, they're all in until the end of next.

37:49Andrew: So the clock is running for us to win him over to be on the pod. That's the real thing.

37:54Babs: So we add me.

37:55Andrew: That's what I'm saying. See, this is the thing is we've got. We have professional coach now. We need to just keep moving now.

38:02Justin: We need the scale comparison. The other one in comparison.

38:05Andrew: Yeah.

38:06Babs: More tenured and more knowledgeable. A lot more handsome guy.

38:11Justin: Yeah.

38:12Andrew: Well, I mean, that goes for everybody on the panel, let's be honest.

38:14Tim: All right.

38:15Andrew: Okay.

38:15Justin: All right.

38:16Andrew: Okay. I'm just trying to butter him up. Hoping. I'm hoping like, you know, one of these Finnish fans are like, you see, they said you were good looking.

38:25Justin: All right.

38:25Andrew: Anyway, in the third period, late, little too late. Luke Ellinas scores his first, which was great because it was nice. You know, it. Forget the result. At least Luke Ellinas put one in the net. And so now, you know, the Avalanche can come. Now, Carson Campbell, not the, not the

38:41Justin: Colorado Avalanche, but the Humphreys had a pretty good game.

38:45Andrew: Yes.

38:45Justin: Even though he didn't end up on the score sheet. Okay, Babs. The Rangers power play. We went over five or over six this weekend. It's been pretty stark on the power play the last few weeks.

38:58Andrew: And not Mateus.

38:59Justin: Not Mateus. Stark. Yeah.

39:01Babs: Or Tony.

39:02Andrew: Or Tony.

39:03Justin: Tony.

39:04Andrew: Rest in peace. Like spoilers.

39:06Justin: What are you seeing out of this power play?

39:08Babs: It's fine. They're just gonna.

39:10Tim: It'll work.

39:10Justin: Oh, okay.

39:11Babs: Yeah. Seriously.

39:11Justin: It's just. It's luck.

39:12Babs: No, no, it's just there's. There's the Aud thing that coach that to adjust, but it's just the, like, mathematics of. Sometimes the power play is like, saying it's teetering at a lower rate, and you're like, what the hell? This isn't really working. But it's totally is. It's just this point in the season, and then three weeks later, you're not saying anything and they didn't change anything.

39:29Andrew: This is.

39:30Justin: Okay.

39:30Andrew: So this is what we experienced last year following this team was there was these stretch. Well, especially early in the season, there was actually more shorties against the power play. That was a different issue.

39:39Babs: I knew a lot about that when

39:40Andrew: I was coaching, but then later on it was. Yeah, it was insane. At one point, later on in the season, it would just do this. And I know that they always do that, but there's a certain level of, like, you know, you're like, when was the last time we had a power play goal?

39:56Babs: Yeah. I'm like, as a Leaf fan, I'm so incredibly used to that because it. It es and flows, but the Aud was up to the point where you wanted to pull your hair out. But with this Kitchener Rangers team, it's different demographic, different mentality. So I would. I don't have any cause to be. They'll do the exact same thing, and

40:12Andrew: the Aud work and it'll just happen.

40:14Babs: It'll just work. Nothing will change.

40:16Andrew: What would you improve about this Kitchener Rangers team? That you've probably had limited time watching them because you're busy, but. But just generally without making acquisitions because I don't think that's going to happen. I'm putting that out there. I do not think there's a trade in the works. I think this is the roster, barring some sort of, like, catastrophic injury where they have replace someone important. I don't think that there's a trade on the table just because they're built for next year.

40:42Tim: Right.

40:42Andrew: Like, they're ahead of schedule.

40:43Babs: There's no one to steal from the BCHL this year and there's no ushl. Matt Truth. Migration over. So, like, the market's different than it. The market was crazy last year.

40:50Tim: Yeah.

40:50Babs: This year it's just a lot more calm.

40:52Andrew: Yeah.

40:52Babs: What's up? Unless you're a Finnish player whose club is being.

40:56Justin: But they were able to retain those. The two guys that they got from. That they poached from other.

41:01Babs: Yeah, yeah, they did keep them.

41:03Andrew: They did.

41:05Babs: Hopefully that finish situation ends up, you know, working its way out, as I hope it would, given that people usually tend to do the right thing. You just.

41:11Andrew: You just reverse jinxed us, I think because every time that we record early in the week and then on Friday it drops. I'm going to call it now that maybe Hemming is on the team and

41:21Justin: it's like released like.

41:22Andrew: Like right now. Like it's.

41:23Justin: It's happening. We should record that clip.

41:25Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

41:26Justin: Yeah.

41:27Babs: I would change is the hit differential just needs to be more in Kitchener's favor. Over the last couple games it was like 13 to 16. Just even that out a little bit, throw body a little bit more and then face offs on the air sitting at 50% according to Instat. But over the weekend they were not that. So just a little bit better on the draw. I would allow for a lot more opportunities, I think, but the Soo deadly. Like the counterattack we're seeing out of this team is so good in transition that it can lead to a lot, a lot of goals. So you add winning a couple more draws to that, I think you see more goals. Maybe that Kingston game goes a little different, but your big guy's got to win more draws and that's really the cusp of it. But in junior hockey, that's a task and a skill that guys are just constantly drilling and trying to improve at. Because it's a repetition game in that sense. Right. Being good at face offs, learning things situationally and getting the experience to be able to win a draw effectively. Like John. Like John Tavares does calm as a day going in because he's done it.

42:24Andrew: Yeah.

42:25Babs: Just. Yeah.

42:25Justin: Yeah.

42:26Babs: So that. I don't know. I guess those are two pretty. Throw a couple more hits when a couple more face offs like crazy in depth analysis out of me. No, the thing is there's some shots at the blue that I that have been blocked that just need to get through, but that's every team's problem.

42:38Andrew: Yeah.

42:39Babs: So I didn't notice that on the shot chart.

42:41Andrew: Yeah, I mean, I think that's. That makes us feel really good though, as Rangers fans because like, you're not saying like, you know, they've got, you know, they're based on this, they're in big trouble and they're. They're outperforming what they should be doing. I think, like, being a little bit more physical. This team can be a bit more physical. We've seen it.

42:58Justin: You know, we Sam O'Reilly We saw especially the beginning of the season, there was a huge step back in the physicality, and I think it's been ramping up over the weeks. And I think it's that missing of Ando. That's really.

43:07Andrew: That I was going to say is like, there's still this, like, kind of like, wild card on the table that Matthew Anonofsky is reassigned. And I think that I don't think this team is by any means missing an identity. I just think that the team almost was not completely prepared to not have Matthew and Anofsky back. And I think. I just mean, like, in the Hlacar room, there's just kind of like, this vibe that like. Like he's still attached a little bit. And. And I. And yeah, and I think. I think real.

43:36Justin: I think real.

43:37Babs: Causing problems.

43:38Andrew: Yeah, we are causing problems.

43:39Justin: We are the Eric Francis of the guitar.

43:41Andrew: Revoke. Revoke our media credentials. But I do think that as the year goes on, we're going to see more of, like, this is Cameron Reid team, and we're seeing this. Like, he was a little bit slow to get going in the goal department, but he's been playing really responsibly defensively. So. So, you know, we're going to see more of that as it goes on. I think. Luke Ellinas has only played two goal. Two games, and he has a goal already. Vermeulen brings a. A presence as a veteran player in the bottom six. Carson Campbell blocks more shots than he probably should. It's.

44:13Justin: I mean, dented suit.

44:14Andrew: I mean, keep doing it, man. But like I'm saying.

44:18Justin: Yeah, Kingston game, too.

44:20Andrew: Keep doing it, man, but I. At the same time, I'm like, I don't know, man.

44:24Justin: That's. Yeah.

44:26Andrew: Black and blue forever.

44:27Justin: I think of the.

44:28Andrew: Yeah, exactly. And look how much. Yeah, look how much they're missing him.

44:32Babs: We need him back. I keep saying we. Like, I'm part of the team.

44:35Tim: Yep.

44:36Andrew: Well, I mean, if you're still a Leafs fan and you're in your third decade of life, I think you are part of the team.

44:41Babs: No one believes that.

44:42Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

44:45Justin: Okay. Three stars of the weekend.

44:47Andrew: Yeah.

44:47Justin: I'm not going to throw Babs in on the first one here. So, Andrew, who's your third star of the weekend?

44:52Andrew: My third star of. Of the weekend is Christian Humphreys He had a couple assists and he had a couple of amazing defensive plays. I don't think he gets enough respect as a defensive center. I think that when you look at all the, like scouting and all the talk about him, you go on like his elite prospects page, it just talks about his vision and it just talks about his playmaking ability. But he had like a couple of like hustle back plays, especially in the first game where he picked the puck off like, like, like a passing lane and the play went the other way. And you were talking about how deadly they are in transition.

45:27Tim: Right.

45:27Andrew: So like he's just. To me, I just want to give him some flowers. I'm being a defensive forward.

45:31Justin: He gets a stick lift in there too. Every once in a while it'll just like, he'll just bump a stick so that a play can't happen. And it's so. Yeah, nobody ever talks about it, but it's just like.

45:40Andrew: And he's still on the score sheet. Yeah, he's still, he's still. Yeah, he's still collecting apples.

45:44Justin: Yep. Who's your third star?

45:46Babs: Christian Humphreys I was trying to sit there and memorize everything that you said because I was just gonna try and repeat it. I love it.

45:54Andrew: I love it.

45:55Babs: Great.

45:55Justin: Okay.

45:56Andrew: Babs, did you do your homework?

45:58Babs: I actually came here with notes.

46:00Andrew: Oh, amazing, amazing, amazing.

46:01Justin: Okay. I went. I was inspired by your theme last week, so I went with a theme this week.

46:06Andrew: Oh, good.

46:06Justin: Minor flowers for things that probably should have been brought up as a star in the last few weeks.

46:11Andrew: Perfect.

46:11Justin: So my, my, my third star of this week is the 15 for 16 on the PK over the last four games.

46:20Andrew: Nice. Yep.

46:21Justin: I mean, the PK has been insane. Yeah. You know, we just talked to. We were just down about the power play and Babs reassured us.

46:28Andrew: Yeah.

46:28Justin: It's got us back on track. But the PK is killer.

46:31Andrew: Yeah, it is.

46:31Justin: And we can't forget that.

46:33Andrew: Guys just commit, I think, to whatever

46:35Tim: it is they're doing.

46:35Andrew: It doesn't seem like anybody is, you know, get. Nobody gets rattled, it seems, on the, on the penalty kill.

46:41Justin: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Andrew, second star.

46:44Andrew: It happens to be the guy who got his first goal in a surprise return on Friday night. Luke Ellinas just. I just think he's just such an important player. I mean, he'll forever be on the wall in the, you know, in the players area on the way to the dressing room, in the hallway.

46:58Justin: Yeah.

46:58Andrew: As scoring that, that overtime winner against Windsor. I mean, he's just, he's just like in the lore and so he's important. He's important. He's just like. He's an energy guy. He'll fight, he'll do whatever. Have him out there. Give him the second star.

47:11Justin: Iceman.

47:11Andrew: Yep.

47:12Justin: Babs.

47:13Babs: Tanner Sam O'Reilly was impressed when I was watching film on instead, just going through the highlight package there.

47:18Andrew: The.

47:18Babs: He consistently was doing stuff not with the puck that I liked. And that's a. I think that's usually a gold standard in my book is what are you doing when you don't have the puck or you're not in the middle of a play. I was very impressed with what I saw out of him. Also. He's at the stat sheet like he was there.

47:32Andrew: Yeah.

47:33Babs: Obviously, everyone saw that. So very impressed with the. With Lamb.

47:38Justin: Nice. My second star is Jakub Chromiak He the goal in against Saginaw. He was the assist on. It was a purposeful shot for a rebound that ended up with the goal. And. And like I said, this is flowers for things in the past. He's done this play.

47:55Andrew: Yeah.

47:56Justin: So many times, and they don't always result in goals, but he does do those purposeful shots to get good rebounds to guys in front.

48:04Andrew: So he's a smart player.

48:05Justin: He's a very smart, very smart player.

48:06Andrew: I won't argue with your second star because he was my first star. So, Tanner Lam There you go. Yeah.

48:10Babs: This is my time to give my first start.

48:12Justin: Yeah. You've both cheated off each other.

48:14Andrew: We did.

48:15Babs: We're cheating now. So I'm going to say the troops for my number one because there was a lot of people coming in to support. Support them in the. In the arena this past weekend. And then with both teams having. Yeah. Jerseys, which I thought was a fantastic touch out of both teams between the camo and the Kitchener jersey. Yeah, I thought that was a very nice touch. And I wish that we would see that applied in the NHL. I think it'd be great. And yes, this is the third poppy I am on this week because I have somehow. They just disappear.

48:39Andrew: They run away from you, Dude. I'm on the Sam O'Reilly lost three.

48:43Babs: I'm gonna get one of the ones that like. Like the nice metal ones that I can put on because these ones here, they just keep disappearing on me.

48:48Andrew: Well, I actually. At work, I got one of the pla. The. The sticker ones. And on my work uniform, I just threw the sticker on because I kept losing poppies. And I was like, well, I've got to. You know, I've got to represent.

48:59Justin: So that also, we didn't Talk about that Kitchener jersey.

49:03Andrew: It is. We have to talk about that. That's one of my favorite jerseys.

49:06Justin: I thought it was really good last year, and I think it was good last year.

49:09Babs: Yeah, it was.

49:10Andrew: Was good last year.

49:11Justin: This year was, like, phenomenal.

49:12Andrew: Like, it's like an art piece. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. And. And you can still. I don't know if you can still bid come Friday, but there's bidding right now going on, and people were responding. They are nice jerseys because the. The numbers are.

49:26Justin: They're up there.

49:26Andrew: Very expensive.

49:27Justin: You were talking about maybe sneaking.

49:29Andrew: I was hoping that, like, I could snipe one, you know, for, you know, a few. Few bills. But there. That's gone. That's long gone. Yeah.

49:35Justin: Yeah, I saw that, too. That. I think as soon as they went live, the cheapest one was, like, 500 bucks, and people were big on it.

49:42Andrew: I threw. Yeah, I raised the price of a few of them.

49:45Justin: Good, Good. Okay. My. My first star is Le Charizard. For all the things we talked about. I think I thought he had a great weekend. I thought. I thought he was. Obviously had that amazing goal against Saginaw, but then he also had a pretty phenomenal defensive game on against Kingston. And he's a. He's a good player.

50:05Tim: He is. He is.

50:06Andrew: He's proving to be a good asset, especially when he can kind of stay out of the box.

50:10Justin: Yes.

50:10Andrew: I mean, you like the physicality, but you don't want him to take too many undisciplined, clean. Yeah.

50:16Justin: Next week we got three games. So Friday night, we're at home for hockey fights. Cancer night against the Soo And then Saturday, we are in Guelph. The long road. The battle of Highway 7. And then the battle of Highway 7 comes home on Tuesday to also face Guelph. So double Guelph. Home and home.

50:37Andrew: Double Guelph.

50:38Babs: I watched Guelph play against London. They had a good showing. So I'm interested to see if they continue to keep that momentum going. Very surprised at how they kind of, like, dominated London at points. And we're very. Some of the goals in that game. Like, I was hoping London would win in that matchup. I picked a side off.

50:56Justin: Get out. No, that's not allowed on here.

50:58Babs: That's how I felt. And sitting there clapping for a Guelph goal. And the guy was. Having said, what are you doing? I'm like, that goal. Golf goal was just sick. I remember who's. Which player scored that one. But I think it'll be a close matchup. Between yeah. And Kitchener.

51:11Andrew: They've. They've improved a lot from last year because last year they were basement dwellers. This year obviously like they've got Lucchenko back which was a little bit of a surprise. Y but it's. Yeah, I think they're. They're motivated this year for sure.

51:23Justin: So they're currently sitting 9720. We've played them once already. We played the Aud home. We won 6 to 1. But I think that. I think the Guelph team has changed since we saw them. That was only three weeks ago. Yeah, that we saw the Aud And I think the Guelph team is like a completely new identity based Luchenko and just some systems that they've bought into. Ethan Medima is their overager. He's 16 goals. Sorry. 16.7 goals, 9 assists. Buffalo Prospect and Carter Stevens. 14 points, 7 goals, 7 assists. This is his draft year. Central scouting put him at B rank so a couple guys to watch that are. That are lighting it up over there. And then. Yeah. Luchenko coming back. Obviously he's not going to be on the top of the points list or anything at this point but.

52:09Andrew: But he will be.

52:10Justin: He will be by the end of the season.

52:12Andrew: Yeah.

52:13Justin: Yeah. And the Aud then the Friday night is the Soo They're sitting 12, 8 and 1. We've also seen them. This was Kitchen is probably one of their worst games of the season was the collapse from 4:1. It was to lose 5.

52:28Andrew: I think it was flat out the

52:29Justin: worst or 5, 4.

52:30Andrew: The worst game of the season.

52:31Justin: Yeah.

52:32Andrew: Yeah.

52:32Justin: It was just a. It was a game we've talked a lot about. The either Rangers have a hot start first period and then take the foot off the gas or they have a really slow first and then they ramp up throughout the game. And this was a. This was the. The epitome of we. We scored a lot in the first period and then we stopped playing hockey.

52:52Andrew: Yeah. So I think they'll. Yeah they'll be. They'll. They'll be inspired with the pre game stuff with the hockey fights, cancer and they will. I think they'll come out better and I think they'll learn from their prior

53:04Justin: mistake and they got dudes.

53:06Andrew: But I mean they have to be aware. Yeah. Of the Guelph.

53:09Justin: Sue's got dudes.

53:10Andrew: Yeah, they totally do.

53:11Babs: They got Chase that one sue dude got called Dumbo by Gary Bettman the other night.

53:16Andrew: It's Gary's world. That's his name now. That's his nickname now. Sorry we can't change it. It's on the plaque.

53:22Justin: It's on the.

53:23Andrew: Aud says Dumbo Joe.

53:26Babs: Yeah, he went over and apologized to him after. Apparently I didn't have the heart. I didn't have the heart to watch the video. I saw the headline and I.

53:34Andrew: It's all painful.

53:34Justin: Yeah. I couldn't.

53:35Babs: No, I continued to scroll.

53:36Andrew: Dumbo.

53:37Babs: Dumbo. That makes me laugh. A lot of people, though, were talking about this last night. That ceremony shouldn't happen when there's NHL games on.

53:44Andrew: Absolutely not. Yeah, for sure.

53:46Babs: There's Monday Night Football as well.

53:47Andrew: Think about how many. How many nights we don't have. We only have, like, one game on in the NHL or nothing. And they couldn't have put it on. On them.

53:55Babs: Yeah, they got. That's something that should change.

53:57Andrew: Yeah.

53:57Babs: Womp, womp. I guess, you know, I'll be at the Hockey hall of Fame on Thursday this week, so I'll do some looking around for the Dumbo plaque.

54:08Andrew: Did you know that. That Joe Thornton was a Disney adult? That's why they call him Dumbo. Favorite movie, favorite film.

54:15Justin: Great.

54:15Andrew: Yeah.

54:16Justin: Got married at Disney World.

54:17Andrew: Yes, he did. These are all true facts that we

54:20Justin: were saying anything about the Soo that.

54:23Babs: No, not like. Not that. I mean, they're having a decent season. Start the year. I think you. You should hopefully think that Kitchener has it in their back of their mind that, hey, like, let's not do what we did. Yeah, but, you know, you knew what I was saying when I said that with words.

54:39Tim: They have.

54:40Andrew: They have Brady Martin back, don't they?

54:42Justin: They do.

54:43Andrew: They do. Yeah. Yeah.

54:44Babs: He was hurt, though, right? That's why he ended up coming back from.

54:47Andrew: Yeah.

54:47Babs: Nashville.

54:48Andrew: So I don't know if he's actually playing. I think he.

54:50Justin: I don't know.

54:50Babs: Yeah.

54:51Andrew: Okay, well, that's. We did great homework on that one.

54:54Justin: Yeah.

54:54Andrew: Yeah. Either way, you've got a couple guys who could be playing in the NHL that are back.

54:59Babs: Can I ask you guys some questions?

55:01Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.

55:02Justin: Oh, okay.

55:03Tim: Please do.

55:04Justin: I feel on the hot seat.

55:05Babs: Feel on the hot seat. Now, should I ask you something really in depth or something silly?

55:09Justin: Why?

55:09Andrew: Don't want a bit of both?

55:10Justin: Yeah.

55:12Babs: I was watching hockey the other night and sitting through. Now everyone has a different score bug depending on what you're watching. Like, there's a thousand of them. We all know the Rogers one really well from locally. Watching the Kitchener Rangers game, then you see, like, the Amazon prime score bug. You see the TSN sports, but you see the Sportsnet sport. And then I see, like, the MGM Network or MSG Network 1. And I'm looking at, I'm like, this one sucks. And also the shot. Shot count is not ever up to date. Do you guys actually sit there and watch during the game and do you pay attention if the shot count is right or did sometimes?

55:42Justin: Yeah. Oh yeah.

55:42Babs: The whole game.

55:43Justin: Yeah.

55:43Babs: Watching TV now they've missed three.

55:45Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I actually heard a commentator say, was it, was it at the OHL game this weekend? He said like the shots didn't reflect, like the last shot didn't go on the board or something. Or was that an NHL game? I was watching because I'm just having like literally a flashback to hearing a commentator be like, the shot's not reflected. But there was a great chance. So yes, I have there. And I will tell you why, because I'll tell you who does this ad nauseum. And when I'm watching a game with her, my mother, she'll be like, they didn't count the shot. They didn't count the shot. And I'm like, I don't, I really don't care.

56:21Tim: Right.

56:22Andrew: But it's great that you've brought this up. She's going to feel very validated and I'm sure she'll be in the comments underneath this episode being like, see, I told you. They don't count the shots. Right.

56:32Babs: There's this really fun thing on Insta where they actually track the shots themselves. And my favorite thing to do is look at discrepancies and then you can see long term, what junior hockey team seems to give their goalie more shots and seems to give less to the other goalie. And then you start to do the math as to, oh, that's why he has 44 shots. Not 40 like I thought.

56:51Andrew: Right.

56:52Babs: Because they juice a few extra freebies.

56:55Andrew: Who could it be?

56:56Justin: I had heard that there was a. In the NHL there was a bit of an in house cleanup when they started getting into bed with the betting.

57:03Babs: Yes.

57:03Justin: Companies. Because props. Because there, there was discrepancies where it's literally just like it was some guy who's been doing it for 40 years and he just likes his team so he gives them more. I know that Florida gave Sam Bennett had an inflated hits his first year.

57:20Andrew: Yeah.

57:21Justin: Because that was kind of the transition period and.

57:23Andrew: Right.

57:23Justin: And then his, his hits went way down and I know this because of fantasy hockey, but. Yeah, but his hits went way down and it was because they had audited what a hit is in Florida.

57:34Andrew: Oh, yeah, yeah. What is a hit? Sometimes I see that, and I'm like, is this a hit?

57:39Justin: Yeah.

57:39Andrew: Because that's.

57:39Babs: But it's infuriating for me when I'm watching and I look at the score bug and it doesn't have the shots or they have one that, like, has the stuff pop in and then pop out.

57:46Justin: Oh, that's.

57:47Babs: I want this to stay the same there. Yes. And stay days.

57:51Andrew: Yeah, I agree.

57:52Babs: But if you're watching a junior hockey game in house, the guy you can tell sometimes when he's giving freebies and you can see the shot, you just look at the shot counter and go. Then, you know.

58:02Justin: Yep. Yeah, that's. Yeah.

58:04Babs: Yeah, that's. That's really in deep puck stuff.

58:07Andrew: That is. That might be a little inside baseball for some of the AudPod listeners, Right?

58:11Justin: Maybe.

58:11Babs: But now they have something to complain about when they go on an away trip. And they.

58:15Justin: That's true.

58:15Babs: You can go after the.

58:17Andrew: Aud funny.

58:18Justin: How come our goalie. How come Kirsch doesn't have such a good saves percentage?

58:21Andrew: True. On the road. On the road, it's worse. Yeah.

58:24Justin: All right, thank you very much for coming on the pod. We'll throw your links in the episode description so people can find you and look up your content and.

58:33Babs: Yeah. Watch. You guys do trivia with me.

58:34Justin: And then we're gonna do trivia. Yeah, Babs. So that we are.

58:37Andrew: We're gonna fail it.

58:38Justin: We're gonna look real bad because we don't.

58:41Babs: As a guy that runs a lot of trivia on the stuff I do, I am so bad when you put me on that spot, man.

58:45Andrew: It's hard. Except, like, if I'm just, like, referencing something in a story, I could tell you all about the history or the stats or whatever, but then you put me on the spot with, like, a random question, and I'm like, no, I have no idea. I've never watched hockey.

59:00Justin: Thank you to Ken Born our director of branding and marketing, Papa Born Andrew wearing the hat.

59:04Andrew: That's true. It's right here.

59:05Justin: Thank you to Liam, our prodigal producer, the phenom. Thank you to Tim.

59:09Tim: Tim.

59:10Justin: Because our episodes are sounding better. Tim might sound different today because we have different mics. That's a whole new setup, so who knows what we're gonna do? Good luck, Tim.

59:19Andrew: Yeah.

59:20Justin: And where can you find us on the social medias?

59:22Andrew: You can find us on TikTok and Instagram @theaudpodcast, and you can find us on YouTube. Just type in the theaudpod or Google it or whatever. We just come up now. We are in the ether.

59:32Justin: Now we are the ether.

59:33Andrew: I don't know if that's good or bad.

59:36Babs: Sometimes you just have to, to, you know, be in a place and not feel comfortable with it.

59:39Justin: Yeah.

59:40Babs: Time. Then you start to be fine with it and you accept the fact that, yes, people look at you and they take you as a legitimate source of information. News. I've been looking off camera the Andrew time as I told these guys to look straight ahead. I've been looking at the monitor.

59:51Justin: No, I've been also looking at myself.

59:52Babs: I'm very vain. Very vain.

59:54Tim: I know.

59:54Andrew: Well, it's like any sort of. Any video call I've ever been on in the last five years. I'm just like, looking at myself, being like, do I actually. I look pretty good? I don't think I look like that. I don't think I look like that.

60:04Justin: Yeah. Yep.

60:04Andrew: Yep.

60:05Babs: All right. Like, follow and subscribe.

60:06Justin: Also, this is way late in the podcast to be bringing this up, but on on Friday night, next week, one week from the day that this episode comes out, Andrew and I are going to be on this week in Rangers Nation.

60:17Andrew: We are.

60:18Justin: So check us out there.

60:19Andrew: Yeah, It'll be exciting. On Rogers TV.

60:21Justin: Pregame 6:30.

60:22Andrew: Pregame 6:30. Pregame with Sean Furfaro AudPod correspondent, former friend of the pod, former friend of the pod.

60:29Justin: Now AudPod official correspondent. And we're doing a giveaway, so stay tuned. And Andrew and Babs, as always, you can find us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

60:48Andrew: Now you can leave.

60:49Justin: Now you can leave.