49: Braving the Storm

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Andrew. We're doing a giveaway, are we? Yeah, we are. We have two sets of Ranger tickets.

0:13Andrew: Oh, if you're watching, they look beautiful. And if you're not watching, they're in really cool little sleeves that look like Rangers jerseys. So I would want to win the tickets just for that. That little commemorative sleeve. Sleeve for your tickets right there. Also the game.

0:28Justin: Of course, that was the game. So we're doing a giveaway with. We're going to be doing a social media giveaway. It's already live on our Instagram. Go. Go there and go to Instagram. It's going to be like a normal Instagram giveaway where it's like, yeah, tag

0:43Andrew: a friend that you'd want to take like.

0:44Justin: And follow. You must be following to get it. But then usual. But then also we're going to have a separate secret clue in this episode that will be revealed to you at some moment. Yeah. It might be a hockey card that Andrew is going to reveal mid episode somewhere that you're going to. If you DM us on Instagram, it's going to give you 10 entries and entries. So unlimited tagging of friends at one per entry per tag. And then there's going to be 10 additional entries for knowing what AY card Andrew had behind his hand moments.

1:33Andrew: You have to DM us.

1:35Justin: DM us. Do not put it in the comments.

1:37Andrew: If you post the hockey card in the comments, you are disqualified.

1:40Justin: But delete it. We're just going to delete it. You're not going to be disqualified. The game, I think it'll be very

1:45Andrew: unlikely that you'll win.

1:48Justin: It's going to be random. Going to be random.

1:52Andrew: Unless you. The person who comments the hockey card.

1:55Justin: I'm just kidding. So there's going to be two winners for two tickets each. The game is December 28th. The first game back after the holiday break. It's a 2:00pm afternoon game, so good for families. And it's against the Erie Otters.

2:10Andrew: It's true.

2:10Justin: Yeah. Two little tickets.

2:14Andrew: Yes. Maybe you'll take your little brother or maybe you are the little brother that will be taken to.

2:20Justin: Or you're going to be the little brother that takes the big brother. Oh, wow. And guess what? We're giving it away before Christmas so you can give it as a Christmas gift or Festivus or whatever. Whatever you celebrate.

2:34Andrew: Whatever you celebrate. Or if you don't celebrate, you could surprise someone who does.

2:42Justin: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls Themselves. Andrew and Justin. Take it away fellas.

2:56Andrew: Thanks jj. That was awesome. And Tim, who composed that piece of music, we just wanted to give a special shout out. Jj, we made our intro announcer for for the Hockey Fights cancer game. But she did such a good job that we were like, you know what, can we just use it the whole time? And with her blessing we absolutely can. And so J.J. will be the voice of the intro for the foreseeable future. We're so excited.

3:24Justin: Yeah. That's awesome. Thank you jj. And thank you Tim for the rad new song. You may have noticed at one point the Texan. You see our Halloween episode disappeared off the podverse for a while. We're having some copyright issues with our song. So Tim wrote us a new one. Because Tim's awesome. Exactly. So thank you, Tim. Andrew. We had a full slate of games this weekend.

3:48Andrew: We did. And guess what we have to do. Good, bad and ugly for the first time this season. In fact, if you're a new AudPod listener, if you have. If you only started listening this this

4:01Justin: season or even in the last half

4:04Andrew: of last season, you have never experienced a week where we don't have a three stars. And we have the good, the bad and the ugly.

4:17Justin: Close.

4:19Andrew: Pretty close.

4:20Justin: The good, the bad and the ugly happens when we are below 500 on the weekend of games. So we are this week we lost two and we won one and that's how it goes. The first game we lost was against the Soo Greyhounds and oh boy, was it a doozy. We lost four to nothing at home.

4:42Andrew: Did we lose?

4:43Justin: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Some might Sam O'Reilly were the best at losing this game.

4:49Andrew: What is there to say about this game? I believe we sat there next to a OHL employee that was very nice. And we met and, and we sat there and looked at him and we

5:01Justin: were like well, I don't know what

5:03Andrew: we're going to say about this one. And he laughed and you know, he was very nice and cordial and knew us, which was nice. I don't know what to say about this game.

5:12Justin: Yeah, this game it was, it was a 4 nothing loss. This was the most flat footed game I've seen by the Rangers. I don't. The previous game that I thought was the worst Rangers game of the season also against the Soo But they in that game they did score four times. I know. I don't know. There's not much to say about this one.

5:29Andrew: Look like they had a bad game against London but the next day they came out and played well. Against London and got a win. So that game didn't feel as bad as this game, in my opinion. And the game against Sioux where they blew the lead, that was a terrible collapse. But this was just. Look, we love the guys. We root for the guys. Like, we're biased, Openly biased. This was a terrible effort. Yeah.

5:59Justin: Like, they had opportunities. They just, like, didn't like. It kind of continued into the next game where it was like, the next game. At least they had some energy. As we're just rolling into it the next day. Saturday we were in Guelph and we lost three to two. But they came out a little bit hotter and they had some opportunities. Like in both games, they had a lot of opportunities.

6:20Andrew: They did. And what I will say is there was an obvious turning point in the Soo game. And we love this guy. We're not going to drag this guy. But there was an obvious point where it went south, and that was in the second period, which it was still 00. The Rangers were going to go on the power play. Yep. There was a delayed penalty. And then as the Soo touched the puck, actually moments after they touched the puck and the whistle had clearly gone, Matthew Lechar. Lechar Zard, the dude that we have been gassing up for two weeks straight here. Y hit a guy after the whistle. It was late. It was boneheaded. He will do this from time, time to time because he's such a physical guy. He's an intense guy. We've seen him commit to hits that were super late. This one wasn't even that bad of a hit. It was just too late. And it. And it was just one of those things where, like, all right, you screwed up. Let's. Let's not do that again. All right. Like, we've got, like, still more than half the season. Thank you. That was.

7:19Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

7:20Andrew: And so. So that power plant opportunity turns into a four on four. Yeah.

7:26Justin: And Chase Reed scores twice in 49 seconds. Yeah.

7:31Andrew: And Chase Reed is a very talented hockey player. There's all these guys that I'm rooting against at this level right now because I want the Rangers to win 68 games out of 68. But it's funny how quickly when they go to the next level and become NHLers, I'll be supportive of these players.

7:49Justin: Yeah.

7:50Andrew: Like, I watched him play in the ohl and he was great.

7:52Justin: Right.

7:52Andrew: Like, so I'm excited about the prospects of Chase Reed. I just like him to stop scoring against my favorite.

7:59Justin: I mean, even. Even when we were previewing this game, we Were talking up Chase Reed last week. So it was like, yeah, it's not like I know we can even contain ourselves at this level.

8:09Andrew: No, he's a great player. Another great player scored to finish off the second, which kind of felt a bit like the Dagger. Even though they have come back from three nothing before. In the first game of the year, Jordan Sharon scored his 17th goal, his 17th goal of the season. What is in this guy's water? Because I need some of it. I. I guarantee I will get up out of bed every day and be ready to go. This guy. Yeah. On a tear. Unfortunately, against the Rangers, it felt kind of like the deflating dagger goal because it came four minutes after the Chase Re double feature. And you're like, great, now it's three nothing. So, like, we gotta get a goal here before the end of the second. They don't. There's no other goals scored until the empty netter with four minutes left. That's right, four minutes left. Because you gotta pull when you're down three nothing. You gotta pull early.

9:04Justin: Yeah.

9:04Andrew: And unfortunately they pulled early and immediately it went in the net.

9:08Justin: You know, it wasn't even like a high shooting game. It was a lot of neutral zone time. Like, there was a lot of defensive play happening in this game by both teams, which was fine. But, you know, the Soo only got 21 shots and they got four goals. Yes, one was an empty netter, but the Rangers only got 18 shots. They just couldn't get anything through. They didn't really feel like they were trying too hard to get anything through.

9:28Andrew: If there's a lone bright spot, it's that the Soo were 0 for 5 on the power play. Yep, that's the lone bright spot.

9:34Justin: I'd say. It keeps on ticking.

9:36Andrew: Yeah, let's flush that one. Yeah. Next game. We've already talked about a little bit.

9:41Justin: Three to two loss in Guelph. You know, this was a goalie game, like.

9:46Andrew: Yeah, this was a different loss. Right. Than the last. The last game, the previous game. Again, at one point, it is three to nothing in the second period, you know, for the opposing team. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, are they ever going to score again?

10:01Justin: Are they ever. I was worried we were going 120 minutes without a goal, like. Yeah.

10:06Andrew: And thankfully, I think getting the two goals in the third, even though they lost this game, restored the confidence because I think they're a resilient team. And I think that you don't necessarily need to win a game to Sam O'Reilly okay. We're going to be okay. And that's kind of probably. I would, you know, I can't speak for the coaches, but I think that would be the message is like, you guys played a good game. You guys probably deserved a bit better tonight. One of the things that is not working at all again still is the power play. They had five chances to score on the power play and they went 0 for 5 again. Lone Bright spot. Oh, I shouldn't say lone bright spot, but the third period was a bright spot. The goalie play by Christian Kirsch was great in this game. He was, he was solid. He gave you a chance to win.

10:55Justin: He.

10:56Andrew: You don't need a shutout or a one goal, you know, effort every single game. Bottom line is if you have five power plays and you score on none of the Aud you lose by one goal, it's not the goalie's fault. So let's get through this because I want to talk about the third period a little bit more.

11:11Justin: I think the. Still talking broadly about this game. It was nice to see the offense going. We'll talk about the third period, but it was nice to see the offense get going a little bit in the third. And it felt like they were going the whole game. There was a bunch of posts. There were a bunch of Tim Bellers by Jovanovsky. There was a. I think it was a minute 28 into the second period. Jovanovsky had just an insane rebound that he let out and just. I have no idea where he came from. It was like time stopped and he moved over and saved the rebound shot like, like unbelievable saves by Jovanovsky and the Guelph, the Guelph announcing team, I think said it best. It. The defense was just letting guys sit in the slot like, yeah, Miyama and who's the other good scorer on Guelph that McFadden just like. Yeah, wide open at every given moment in the first two periods. The third period, they tightened up quite a bit. But in the first two periods, like a lot of those goals, it was just like the best score was by themselves, right? Oh, yeah.

12:10Andrew: And the second period, it was literally like a seven minute span where they lost this game.

12:15Justin: Yes.

12:16Andrew: And it was 30 seconds. How many times have we said this on this pod. Last minute of a period. Giving up a goal kills you. Getting a goal just energizes you. Giving it up just kills you for whatever reason. 34 seconds left in the period. Will McFadden. Scores set up by Rylan Singh and Jet Lenko. I was a bit Worried about Lenko in these games versus Guelph. I was a bit worried that he was going to be a game breaker. I felt like the Rangers did a decent, decent job containing him, but he does factor in on this first goal. The guy that they had trouble with was Ethan Medima. I mean, this guy was all. In both games, he was all over the place. He gets a goal a minute 29 into the second and you're thinking, oh, man, this is not looking good. And then he scores again. It was like the Chase Reid thing against the suit. He scores again. He gets the double feature right away. Five minutes into the second, he's got two goals, they're up three nothing, and that's the game winner. But you're like, okay, well, there's still 15 minutes left in the second and there's a whole third period, so can these boys just get some life? Can we just do something to not just roll over the way that the things went against the Soo And I will make a note that we didn't mention they hit three posts against the Soo It was. It was excruciating because they didn't have very many, like, great chances against the Soo and they were just not going in. And this is what I felt like the offense just could not finish in these games. It was like a struggle.

13:54Justin: Okay. Breaking momentum.

13:55Andrew: Must we?

13:56Justin: We must because. Andrew. Good. Show us your card. So this is for the ticket giveaway we have. Andrew is holding up a CHL Grad memorabilia jersey card of Mike Richards. DM us Mike Richards. And you'll. We'll give you one bonus entry if you say jersey card. 11.

14:18Andrew: Exactly.

14:19Justin: 11 entries if you say Mike Richards jersey card. Because then we'll know. We'll know who the true fans are. We know you didn't scrub through.

14:27Andrew: Exactly. Yes, exactly. Justin knows what's up. All right. Third period, the way that the Rangers broke momentum against the Storm and generated their own momentum. Cameron Reid the captain, says, you know what? This slump is over. We're getting out of this. Cameron Reid scores his third of the year from Pridham and Ellis, a super important goal, even in a loss, like we said. And then, unfortunately, it was a.

14:54Justin: It came moments after sort of a penalty that maybe didn't need to happen. They killed it off. They killed off the penalty. And then Cameron Reid scored. As soon as they were five on five, it was like, okay, we got this. It was.

15:06Andrew: And then they pressed for the rest of the period. They had some really good looks and they ended up capitalizing on a rush. Luke Ellen is basically got the puck at the side of the net where Luke Ellen is, does not miss from. And he has a second of the season, which is huge. Let's just keep building the momentum. Tanner Lam just, you know, Tanner Lam doing things. Revenge. Revenge tour. Look, they don't get the win here. They did press, they did try, but it was as close as they got. But there was something to be said about we're not going to. We're not going to get shut out again. We're going to build some momentum. I think there was a world where they could have won that game. I thought Jovanoski for the Storm played really well and much, much better than like it was. They made him work a lot more is what I will say, than they made Landon Miller work in the game before against the Soo So that was.

16:03Justin: Put up 29 shots instead of 18.

16:05Andrew: They made them work.

16:06Justin: Yeah. I was uninspired by the game against the Soo but I was like this game gave me hope. I know it was a three game at that point. the Aud was a three game losing streak. But it was like I had hope that the Ga. The. The next game against Guelph, there was going to be a little juice.

16:20Andrew: Yeah, I honestly, you know, I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I would have said, you know what, Rangers are going to win this next game against Guelph. I can feel it.

16:28Justin: And they did. So. So the next game, we were back home at the Aud Tuesday night. They won three to one. But you know what? This game started in a way that I was like, we are. We're never going to win a game again. Because they had a minute 45, five on three with nine shots and they could not beat. It wasn't even Jovanovsky again. It was.

16:49Andrew: It was Colin Ellsworth who played extremely well.

16:53Justin: Holy cow. Yeah.

16:55Andrew: Yeah.

16:56Justin: Nine shots on a minute 45 power

16:58Andrew: plan and they had 17 shots in the first period. They had no goals. This. This kid stood on his head. I mean, he ends up stopping 38 of 40. He's a second star in a loss.

17:09Justin: Yes. He deserves it. Rangers put him through his paces. Guelph thought they were showing up to play the same team they played on Saturday and they were wrong.

17:19Andrew: Yeah, the Rangers jumped all over them. Unfortunately, they couldn't solve this kid. They couldn't get one in. And they go into the 00, which was kind of like I was like, oh, no. Yeah. Like, is this gonna be another loss? Yeah, like, how did we lose that game? Not to Be because the guy with all the momentum right now, Luke Ellinas scores his third of the year.

17:44Justin: Before that happened, Andrew, we had our minds broken because they. We thought Lechar had broken through and got the first goal.

17:56Andrew: Oh, of course. And we had a really need to start including that on the score sheets.

18:00Justin: Called back.

18:00Andrew: Called back goals.

18:01Justin: There was a called back goal in the last game, too. There was for the other two.

18:05Andrew: This one. This one was more significant, though, because we thought that this puck actually scored the end and this puck went in. Unfortunately, Lachar was offside by ever so slightly.

18:16Justin: Also, it took them 47 minutes to. To determine, which to me just says that it probably didn't change the outcome.

18:24Andrew: I just think that whether it's for us or against us, there should be a. Like, honestly, I'm willing to say two minutes. If you can't. If you can't determine in two minutes on super slow mo. Looking at the obvious angle, which is like probably the overhead angle of the

18:41Justin: blue line, which we know that the Rangers put in a new overhead camera this year, I just think that if

18:48Andrew: you can't decide at game speed and then you can't decide it, you know, in super slow motion, looking at the angles within 120 seconds, which gives you lots of time to look at an angle. Yeah, I just think it's inconclusive. Just move on.

19:02Justin: Yeah, exactly.

19:04Andrew: Right. Because there's an argument to be made that we just have to make a call.

19:07Justin: They missed it on the ice. It happened too fast. Like, that's just hockey.

19:11Andrew: I mean, I grew up. That's the hockey I grew up with was you didn't think, you know, like. And we benefited from it as fans sometimes. Sometimes you didn't. But like, you, you know, it was always a close play at the blue line. There wasn't like an obvious offsides that were missed. You know, it just. It just happens sometimes. And that's the thing is like, it's not like somebody was cherry picking in the zone and they passed it across the whole ice surface and he was already in there and the ref and the linesman missed it. That never happens.

19:37Justin: That's not a thing. No, it's always the skate blade width going over the. Yeah.

19:43Andrew: Or a guy on the other side of the ice.

19:45Justin: Yeah, right.

19:46Andrew: Like completely on the other side of the ice. That's not involved in the play. Yeah, let's not dwell on that too much. Back to the second period. Then Elus, the guy with all the momentum right now scores. I mean, he just literally, if he's just going to score every game. He can still be like a 50 goal scorer.

20:02Justin: Like this is like, this is crazy. Was a hard work goal by Romano to get it to Elinaz.

20:09Andrew: Yeah, I mean, yeah, Romano and Lamb and Ellenus, I mean there's, there's obviously chemistry there from last year but they jumbled the lines a bit in this game. They hadn't been playing together. Elenis had been with Pridham and, and Humphreys and I actually like this a bit with this, this Romano, Lamb and Elena, I think they are, I think they're a little bit more comfortable playing together. Of course, you know, Humphreys and, and Swick and Pridham played together last year and I think inserting Cameron Arquette onto that line because Arky has just been this. He's a very different build than Trent Swick, obviously very different player, but he has that same kind of like, he kind of gets himself open and has like a sweet finishing ability, especially this year. I mean Arky has just been like an unbelievable finisher this year. But Luke Ellinas from Romano and Lamb, this, the. Everything that is old is new again and that was such an important goal. To have the first goal of the game after having a goal called back was so important, but especially just to jump out going into the third, I still felt a little bit nervous based on the fact of how well Colin Ellsworth was playing.

21:33Justin: Yeah, we had after the second period

21:35Andrew: and yeah, and it's only one nothing. You're like, oh, like, you know, I believe in the boys so I'm not going to get to, you know, like, oh, they only got one. Plenty of low scoring, you know, tight games. They won last year and they've won this year. And so I'm like, come on. One minute, 39 seconds into the period, the guy we were just talking about, Arky, Cameron Arette, scores his seventh of the year. I mean even when we said this guy is going to have a breakout year, I don't think I thought that before like, you know, December he'd have seven goals. Right. Like it, it's, it's. He's just doing exactly what the Rangers need him to do because he wasn't even thought of as like a primary scorer. But he is on this team.

22:20Justin: Beautiful setup by Humphreys.

22:21Andrew: Yes.

22:22Justin: V via well, but it was, it was a lot of Humphreys doing just like smart plays.

22:27Andrew: Doing the puck carry. Yeah, doing the puck carrying which is what Humphreys excels at. Right. Brittum can do both, can pass the puck, can carry the puck and can shoot the puck. And then you've got Cameron Arquette, who has a fantastic shot. I mean, I don't think we even realized this last year that he had this great of a shot. If he shoots from that spot on the ice, he's going to score. Like we've seen that enough. He's a smart player. He gets to the open areas. It's two to nothing. And that's all they needed. That's all they needed. Now the old nemesis here, Ethan Miedima, he scores his 11th.

23:06Justin: Yeah, he's a free.

23:06Andrew: This kid is so good. And that was on the power play, which I will say that's the only power play goal they gave up in these three games. Maybe a little foreshadowing there. And then Jack Pridham gets the hardest working empty netter of the year award.

23:24Justin: That was so much work.

23:25Andrew: And he has 10. And it was set up by Tanner Lam but Pridham really. Lamb missed the net a couple times.

23:31Justin: Yeah, Lamb tried really hard to get that in the net.

23:34Andrew: Yeah. And Pridham had to work really hard to get it as well. So, yeah, it was not your average empty netter, let's put it that way.

23:42Justin: Not the. Not the deflating one. Because there were some opportunities for Guelph after that empty net goal.

23:47Andrew: Yeah.

23:48Justin: They didn't make it easy on the Rangers.

23:49Andrew: No, they're a good team. They are good team. They are not that team that lost 6 to 1 to the Rangers. They are not that team.

23:56Justin: That was the only. Only thing that we really got right last week. Yeah. A new. There's a whole new team here. And this is not the team we saw last year, too. Like they were like last year. Guelph was bad. Tail spinning. Really?

24:09Andrew: Yeah.

24:11Justin: But I mean, but the storm doesn't have a.

24:13Andrew: Surprised. I think that, you know, it doesn't. I mean, kind of though you could make an argument.

24:18Justin: I think it kind of.

24:20Andrew: Yeah. If you don't know what we're talking about. We're talking about trivia with our friend Babs where we had to name things that ohl logos that had tails. And the storm was not included. But, you know, think about it. It's a tornado.

24:31Justin: I think it kind of has a tail. Yep.

24:33Andrew: Sam O'Reilly I think that a Spitfire has a tail. Yeah. Yeah. Even has a tail wing. Believe it or not. That's what that's called. Okay. Cory Stillman is the Gulfstorm head coach and he is a. He was a great NHL journeyman. And I just want to say he's obviously got this Team playing really well.

24:49Justin: Is he a new hire this season?

24:52Andrew: No. Cory Stillman was hired last year.

24:54Justin: Okay.

24:55Andrew: So they stuck with him. It's working out for them. The Sam O'Reilly that, you know, they're, They're. He's obviously their guy. The Sam O'Reilly that UC and UC's crew, the Juice's crew, the Juice box boys, are sticking around. We're chopping that. Not a chance. Are they going anywhere?

25:12Justin: No.

25:12Andrew: Until at least after 2027.

25:15Justin: I did want to point out there was some back checking magic in this game for sure. Like. Like, because we're not doing three stars. I would have given them the three star, probably the third star for this, but Carson Campbell and Jack Pridham both had phenomenal back checks in the third period to stop really good Guelph chances.

25:37Andrew: What I will say about the back checking is that I think Jack Pridham has like one of those every game. Yeah. I hope it doesn't go unnoticed because it doesn't make highlight reels.

25:46Justin: There's. This team is like elite back checkers.

25:49Andrew: No. They work really hard. And I, I, you know, the Juice and the assistants, I think, Birchie that. When we were in the locker room. There are things in that locker room that emphasize back checking and working hard. So not surprised there. And I think even outside of the Soo game, you like everything you saw in those two games, right. Against Guelph, even though they lost one and they won one, you still like the effort?

26:16Justin: Yep. All right. The good, the bad and the ugly. What's your good?

26:20Andrew: The bad. My good, of course, was the penalty killing.

26:26Justin: Okay.

26:26Andrew: Yeah. So I thought that it was the bright spot. If you want to look at the three games as a whole. Even though I'd love to flush the Soo game, the only thing that was any good in the Soo game for me was the over five that the Soo went against this penalty killing unit. Guelph went 0 for 5 on Saturday against this penalty killing unit, and then they went 1 for 3. So if your penalty kill is going, you know, 12 for 13, that's positive. So that's my good. What's your good?

26:59Justin: My good is that Pram Humphrey's in ouret goal. The specifically the aret goal, there was an important moment that needed to happen where there was a little bit of maybe some of these guys were on the schneide and there was a lightness that came after that goal. So I think, yeah, for whatever reason, that specific goal felt like things are coming back to me.

27:20Andrew: A lightness. A lightness. As opposed to the Heaviness that Cameron Arquette doled out when he shoved away the Guelph player after he scored.

27:30Justin: Get out of here. Get out of here. So funny.

27:35Andrew: Get out of here, man.

27:37Justin: You are not supposed to be celebrating. Get out of my way. Okay, what's your bad?

27:42Andrew: I love that my bad was the finishing. So I think that there were opportunities. There were opportunities against the Soo with only 18 shots because the shots that they had chances on didn't count on the shots on that because you know when you hit the post it doesn't count as a shot on net. And we've had this discussion, Justin and I, off the pod of like, does that make sense? And it's literally just so that people counting the shots don't get confused with goalie saves and save percentage. Anyway, it's a stupid thing, but those best chances didn't count. And I just thought that even in the second Guelph game, the finishing wasn't great. Granted, Jovanoski played well and granted Ellsworth played extremely well. But that's the thing though is when you have high finishing percentages, when you really capitalize on chances, even the best goalies in the world can't stop it because you've got it to a point where it's like, well, he's helpless. And they weren't really getting there. Yeah, we saw the finishing from Cameron Arquette come back in that moment and Luke Ellinas obviously is ramping up just like we said last week. But overall I thought the finishing was much weaker than it has been all year in these games. What's your second? Your second star? What's your bad?

29:05Justin: Well, it's the flip. I gave the Rangers the benefit of the doubt. On the flip side of this, my bad is they got goal in basically three games. They were only come up. They were only able to overcome it in one game. So it was bad that they weren't able to overcome some pretty exceptional goaltending and sometimes more or less the same thing. Yeah, exactly. More or less the same thing. Right? Exactly. Okay, what's your ugly then?

29:29Andrew: Oh, dude, the power play. Yeah, for me, yeah, yeah, the power play. Like this is not a team that lives and dies with its power play. Obviously because the Rangers have a good winning record and the power play is

29:44Justin: not that sitting bottom of the league, but lower third of the league.

29:49Andrew: But look, if you're going to be a top two team in the conference, top three team in the conference, you have to improve this power play. Now Bab said to us it's Going to improve. It's going to improve because they were doing good things, but it hasn't improved. So now could it be because they got goalied. Slash, their finishing ability wasn't great when they had empty nets like against the Soo They just hit in posts and stuff and missing the net. And there was, you know, you had like breakaways and, and you're, you're, you're missing the net or you're, you're getting, you're shooting it right into the goalies, you know, bread basket. I think that, yeah, the power play will improve, but man, it needs to improve quick here because it's not DEFCON zero because we're having a great year. And I trust that all these guys are going, are, are, have bought in and are going to continue to just play without getting rattled. But the power play absolutely has to improve in if this team wants to have a long run in the playoffs.

30:49Justin: Yeah, for sure.

30:49Andrew: If, you know, this is a situation where a good team can get bounced out of the playoffs because the power play can't score.

30:55Justin: Yep. Well, we saw it against London last year. We couldn't score in the power play. We didn't win a game in that series the way, like, I'm not saying that we would have won had we scored on a power play, but it would helped.

31:05Andrew: It helps. I think back to that puck that sat on the, on the goal line.

31:09Justin: I know. Yeah.

31:10Andrew: In game three on t. Not one. Maybe they still lose in five, but man, it would have been nice to take a game off them.

31:17Justin: Yeah. And that I think the epitome of the power play being the ugly was that five on three to start against Guelph, even in the game that we won. Yeah. You get an interference, make your life easier. Yeah.

31:29Andrew: Like the interference penalty. Sure. If you don't, if you don't capitalize on it, whatever, it's not going to like, set the tone for the rest of the game. But if a guy immediately takes a high sticking penalty, 30 seconds later, this is a gift. Five on three, you got to get one.

31:44Justin: Yes. Yeah.

31:47Andrew: So not to, you know, like I said, I have faith because eventually the power play was able to heat up last year. But I just need to see that because I have a feeling that we're not even seeing some of the stats I expect out of these guys because the power play never scores.

32:01Justin: I know, right?

32:03Andrew: Like, it's like, how can you. All of these stats are like 5 on 5. Yeah.

32:08Justin: Which is amazing in its own right. Yeah.

32:11Andrew: But you kind of need to Be Power Play Merchants, you know.

32:14Justin: Okay, we got two games coming up this week. Friday night we are at home at the Aud as pretty normal. The Ottawa 67's are in town and then on Sunday we head to Oshawa. So these, this is the tale of two very opposite teams. The Ottawa 67's are sitting 16, 5, 1 and 1. They have points in their last 10 games. Their 17 year old Ryder Ferreiroff, signed as a free agent goalie, has played 14 games, has a 1.90 goals against average and a.926 save percentage and two shutouts. Then they have three players over 20 points. They score a lot and don't get scored on. Like that's the Ottawa 67's Yeah.

33:06Andrew: Kim was a team that wasn't even considered to be a wagon going into the season. There are nine. Like you said, nine, zero and one in their last 10 games.

33:17Justin: Yes.

33:18Andrew: And their only loss is a shootout loss. Yep. So it's an uphill battle, but it's at home. As the positive thing is, what I'd say is you're getting them on your home ice. They're very much like the Rangers of last year where nobody. Like maybe you didn't have them as a total rebuild, but I think they're ahead of schedule. I think the Rangers need to come out and set the to.

33:40Justin: Yeah, for sure this. They for sure need to take the momentum that they gained getting through that Guelph game, winning the game and take it right into this game and do the exact same thing where they come out just blazing hot and maybe put a few more in than against 12. Yeah, but it might be hard against this crazy goaltender. So. Yeah, rider for fair off 172008 baby. With a 1.90 goals against average in 14 games. Nuts. Oshawa then 6, 16. Oh, and oh, they won their last game against Erie. But then they had lost eight in a row going into the game against Erie and they won one nothing against Erie. So yeah, they've scored the least amount of goals in the OHL this season. And Columbus prospect Owen Griffin looks good. 20 points in 20 games.

34:39Andrew: I mean, this is quite literally the opposite teams. the Soo have 85 goals for and 53 against. The Oshawa Generals have 51 goals for an 86 against.

34:50Justin: Yeah.

34:51Andrew: So we're now Oshawa obviously is going to have the home game. Nobody's an easy out in this league any single night of the week. Anybody can win. But the bottom line is these are the games you have to win. Yeah, this is a team that's really struggling. Their window kind of closed when they lost last year.

35:12Justin: Yep.

35:13Andrew: People aren't super surprised by this, we'll say.

35:17Justin: Or surprised at the severity of the drop off. Yes. But not absolutely not that they have slipped down the standings. Yeah.

35:24Andrew: And things might even out for them a little bit. The Sam O'Reilly that maybe Ottawa's not super dominant as they have been the whole way. Because teams, you know, eventually there's an upswing and a downswing for everybody and it's all how you handle when you are slumping that how long, you know, how deep your run of, you know, like we saw with the Rangers last year, they had such an incredibly long winning streak at the beginning of the year and then that just kind of set the tone for the whole year. They just believed in themselves and played. You know, that could definitely happen for the Soo and it could happen the opposite way for Oshawa. But realistically, the Rangers need to win both of these games. They need to make a statement game against Ottawa. Because right now we're kind of looking at the Rangers as a team. We're like what are their identity? Who are they? We know that they're a good team. We know they're a well coached team. We know that they have good goaltending. But who are they? Do they need to be more physical? Yes. Do they need to have a better power play? Yes. These are things that against the Soo you have to be physical. You have to capitalize on opportunities. And against Oshawa you have to come out and you same thing. You can't get caught flat footed against a quote unquote bad team. Because those are the teams that are, you know, it's November. They're playing for their lives right now.

36:40Justin: Yeah. Thank God we're not in that place. Yeah. Sorry, Ash.

36:44Andrew: At some point I feel like the AudPod will watch a Rangers team that's like that. That is not this year and that is not next year.

36:51Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So those are our games. Looking forward to them. Today is the day. You are listening to this is Friday. Which you'll know, but we do not know because it is Wednesday night for us. Who is going to host the Memorial Cup. We're going to know. You're going to know. We're going to know too. But at this moment we don't know.

37:17Andrew: We were actually on this week in Rangers nation. We were today filming. You'll see that tonight.

37:22Justin: That's tonight. 6:30 tonight. Tonight. Watch it. We weren't.

37:26Andrew: We were Hoping that it would be revealed on this week in Rangers Nation.

37:29Justin: We thought. We thought Sean had the goods. He didn't.

37:32Andrew: John. Sean has the goods, but Sean doesn't have the Memorial Cup goods.

37:36Justin: He tried.

37:38Andrew: He tried.

37:38Justin: Should we record two different feelings? Oh, for sure. Okay.

37:42Andrew: For sure.

37:42Justin: Andrew. The Guelph Storm have been awarded the Memorial Cup.

37:47Andrew: Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I'm sorry. They don't even have free parking as we've seen.

37:54Justin: Do they even have parking? I don't think so.

37:56Andrew: No. No. I've been to one game there. I had to park across the other side of the river across somebody's driveway, essentially. Like I had to sneak in and try and like, just get in like as close as I could without blocking someone's driveway. It was a nightmare. It's all downtown. It's. It's in a mall, man.

38:16Justin: The.

38:17Andrew: The Sleeman center is in them. You think I'm joking? It's in.

38:21Justin: I know where it is.

38:22Andrew: Yeah, it's in a mall.

38:24Justin: It's hard to get parking there to go to the baking store that's around the corner.

38:27Andrew: Here's what I'll Sam O'Reilly like. I. I won't even Sam O'Reilly like. I. I really like the city of Guelph. I think the Sleeman center is a cool place to take in a game. I think they should have gotten it in. Was a three year cycle. The next one they could have it. Which would be great for me because then I can drive down the road and see it.

38:48Justin: Yes. Agreed. All right. Yeah. Okay. Take two, Andrew. The Kitchener Rangers have been awarded the Memorial Cup for 2027.

39:01Andrew: Of course. Of course we got it. Of course we got it. Never doubted it for a second. You know why? Because this is the best fan base in the league. We got the best barn in the league. We got the best staff in the league. We got the best arena staff in the league. And you know what? This is going to be a celebration of junior hockey. And the AudPod is going to be right there taking it in with all of you. It's going to be amazing. Like, regardless of, you know, it's going to be crazy to win the OHL and be the host team. Which means whoever we whooped in the final is going to show up like, you know, a wounded animal and play.

39:47Justin: Yeah. Say, but paper.

39:51Andrew: Bottom line is we're going to be there. Yeah. Yeah.

39:54Justin: The city's going to go crazy. Everybody's amped for this. Let's do it.

39:59Andrew: It's true.

40:00Justin: Okay.

40:00Andrew: Memorial Cup champions 2027.

40:02Justin: Okay, perfect. Just. Just another future insert. Who won the Memorial Cup?

40:08Andrew: Yeah. The funny thing is it's coming out on Friday. And you're putting both of those in.

40:12Justin: Yeah, they're both going in.

40:13Andrew: Yeah.

40:14Justin: News from alumni, Andrew.

40:18Andrew: All right, look, I can't keep track of everyone every week, okay? But there was a major milestone. Yeah, or this segment. But there was a major milestone. And when there's a major milestone, I will be able to jump in here with alumni news.

40:32Justin: Yep.

40:33Andrew: And there was today, on Wednesday when we're filming this, there was a school day game. A sold out school day game in Belleville at the CAA Arena. For 4,109 Belleville Senators fans witnessed the greatness that is the AudPods guy, our guy, the original AudPod guy, Jackson Parsons with his first shutout, a big win. He only had to stop 25, but he stopped all 25. That's all that matters. They don't ask how many, man. They just want you to stop as many as you can. And that is what he did. Jackson Parsons. I watched the postgame availability. Jackson Parsons was beaming, as he should be. Is so exciting. He started in the echl. He didn't miss a beat. He didn't have a great preseason in the ahl. Didn't have a lot of opportunity in the preseason in the ahl. And I think they handled it really well. They sent him to the echl. He played lights out in the echl. They for whatever reason pulled him up. Yep, one and one right away. And here he is now with a shutout.

41:52Justin: Yes.

41:54Andrew: How many kids is the school day game? So it was mostly children bust in to see this game. How many little Jackson Parsons fans were created today?

42:03Justin: Yeah, it's awesome. Could not be happier for him.

42:06Andrew: So can we get this guy a custom mask now? Can someone paint this guy a red, black and white mask? Because he is going to be in this organization and it's red, black and white at both levels.

42:19Justin: Yeah.

42:20Andrew: So let's get him a mask. All right. Because look, you know what if, you know, unless he's. If he's superstitious and the Aud mask is doing it, fine. But have one ready to go. Our boy needs some drip. All right.

42:37Justin: Yes.

42:37Andrew: That's what we need. We need somebody paint him a mask.

42:39Justin: Somebody drip on Jackson Parsons.

42:42Andrew: In fact, we know artists. Somebody design a Jackson Par Parsons mask that the Aud pot can share and tag Jackson. All right. And we will do our best to get him a mask.

42:55Justin: That's our episode this week. Thank you. Of course to Ken Born director of Branding. Of course, thank you to our prodigal producer, Liam Phenom. You may have noticed that in the podcast feeds now it's now called the AudPod Colon Kitchener Rangers Podcast. That's because Liam told us that when he asked Alexa to play the AudPod, it wasn't playing our podcast. So now he can say, alexa, play the AudPod Kitchener Rangers Podcast. So thanks, Liam.

43:32Andrew: Brilliant.

43:33Justin: Thank you to Tim for writing, arranging, performing, creating, producing, engineering and composing our new theme song. And of course, thank you to JJ for doing the voiceover.

43:46Andrew: The best.

43:47Justin: Thank you both. And Tim, also, all the, all the things you do for us.

43:51Andrew: Tim is just.

43:52Justin: Tim, Tim, Tim. Andrew, how do you find us on

43:58Andrew: the social medias at TheAudPodcast on TikTok and Instagram? You can search us on YouTube. TheAudPod. Kitchener Rangers podcast. You just Google us, you'll find us. Like I say, every week we come up, you know, you Google Jackson Parsons and AudPod stuff comes up, which is just hilarious.

44:18Justin: But you know, we're in the ether. He stuck with us forever, that poor guy.

44:21Andrew: Yeah, he stuck with us for life.

44:23Justin: Yes. And of course watch this week in Ranger Station tonight on Rogers TV at 6:30. I believe it's going to be on YouTube after, so we'll probably share a link to that. We will. It is weirdly about us and not really like it's about us and the podcast. So if you want to learn a little bit more about Andrew and I, I feel like this is a good way we, we do talk about ourselves, but not always.

44:46Andrew: Thank you so much to Sean and Jason and Dan for saying really nice things about us on the broadcast. On the Tuesday night broadcast against Guelph.

44:56Justin: I didn't even know we called this week in Rangers Nation. Twere there was a lot of twining happening at the on the broadcast the other night.

45:03Andrew: There might be a lot of twining happening when we end this broadcast.

45:08Justin: You don't know that. I might be turning right now.

45:10Andrew: We're all turning all the Tommy Kut

45:12Justin: your torn on and on Friday night, Andrew, you can find us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. See you at the torn and odd

45:26Andrew: torn baby.