50: Segues & Breakaways (with Special Guest Brandon Caputo)

0:00Justin: Hey Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey Justin.

0:02Justin: So last week we were speculating about the Memorial Cup but now we know we did not get the Memorial Cup. It went to Guelph.

0:12Andrew: I mean congrats to Guelph.

0:13Justin: Yes, congrats to Guelph. That's, it's gonna be fun.

0:17Andrew: It's cool that we can drive to it.

0:19Justin: Yeah.

0:21Andrew: And it's really cool that you can stop and get a Cinnabon on your way at the mall as you enter to go into the Sleeman Center. And when you enter through the mall, make sure you enter through the mall.

0:33Justin: Yeah. Because that's the downtown connection.

0:37Andrew: Exactly. Yeah. So we went, we went low key. Viral.

0:41Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

0:42Andrew: For our, for our joke clip about parking and parking problems and that, that it's in a mall. Like people took it very seriously. Yeah, I, I was very confused why the 135th person on TikTok felt the need to tell us that there was park. There was 134 comments prior to that that there were parking. I, I, I think, I think maybe the joke went over their head a little bit.

1:08Justin: Yeah, the, the best part is is that we recorded that not knowing who won. So it, there it was, it was purely a joke.

1:16Andrew: But purely a joke. And it's so funny that that's what our, our highest performing clip to all three social medias combined. By far over 50,000 views on TikTok people in Guelph Sleeman Center. I honestly I've been there once. I had a great time, thought it

1:34Justin: was a great building.

1:35Andrew: I thought it was funky that it, that you, that we went in through the mall. Like I thought that was cool. I think it'll be a great, I think it'll be a great venue for the Memorial Cup. Obviously. We're salty.

1:45Justin: Yeah, we're salty. We wanted it to be in Kitchener at the Aud course. We are the AudPod.

1:50Andrew: We're the AudPod. Yes, exactly. We are not an unbiased, we're allowed to be biased media source. We are a biased media source. So that was fun. I did, I did enjoy getting into it with people in a market that like I'm like I don't have, I don't have any beef with Guelph at all the city or the team or anything. So that was fun. Was, it was the lone bright spot in what was a very disappointing thing and I, I, I, I think the difference was personally maybe, maybe some whispers from people close to the Tommy Kut the 200th year celebration, it was going to be hard to beat that. Because that, like, I mean, the culmination of. Of, you know, those two things hitting at the exact same time. What are the o. So I think it was hard to beat that in the committee's eyes, unfortunately. Obviously, I think the Aud is more well equipped, but again, I'm biased, so we don't have to argue too much because we're gonna agree. Right.

2:47Justin: And it will only be the 76th anniversary of the Aud The year the Memorial Cup happens. Not the 75th.

2:54Andrew: But Kitchener is 218 years old.

3:00Justin: Also. Doesn't really.

3:03Andrew: No. I mean, it's. It's an older number.

3:06Justin: Yeah.

3:06Andrew: It's longer.

3:07Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

3:08Andrew: I mean, it just is what it is. We can still drive there. And like I said. I said we're not going to drive there in most of those responses that I had because we're going to be ubering or taking public transit, because we are going to be popping bottles and drinking beers because we'll be celebrating a Memorial Cup victory in their building.

3:28Justin: Because, yes, there is. You know, hosting the Memorial Cup is the easy way to the Memorial Cup. Oh, yeah, that's the cheat easy. It's the cheat code. But you know how you. You can also get there by winning the CHL championship. So you can.

3:43Andrew: They can't stop you from getting in if you win the whole thing.

3:46Justin: Yeah.

3:46Andrew: So.

3:46Justin: So there you go. See you.

3:49Andrew: See you in 2027.

3:50Justin: See you there.

3:51Andrew: Save us a spot. A parking spot. I'm just kidding, by the way. I know that there's no Cinnabon in your. With 10 stores in it. I totally get a Cinnabon. Okay.

4:02Justin: The mushroom shop is pretty good. It's not magic mushrooms. It's literally like shiitakes.

4:09Andrew: Cue the intro.

4:15Clip: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're

4:18Justin: talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin.

4:24Andrew: Take it away, fellas.

4:28Justin: Andrew, so wel is celebr. In two years, they're celebrating their 200th year of being a city in an equally impressive number, the AudPod. Today is celebrating our 50th episode, which is also Andrew birthday episode. Everyone. Everyone sing with me. No, we're not going to sing on a podcast.

4:48Andrew: I am also turning 200.

4:50Justin: You are?

4:50Andrew: Yeah, We. I should have. I should have put. I should have been on the. On the bid committee, is what I'm saying.

4:56Justin: Well, then they would have been like, Andrew gonna be 202, which, again, is not an impressive number, so.

5:01Andrew: Oh, okay. Well, that's unfortunate.

5:06Justin: Yeah. Because it will happen before your birthday. Well, happy birthday, Andrew.

5:09Andrew: Thank you.

5:09Justin: I do not promise to not post a creepy photo of you again this year on the Instagram.

5:16Andrew: Oh, yeah, like I did today. We're recording on Tuesday. I. I post that diabolical I said it sticker in the Instagram story, so. Yeah, exactly.

5:26Justin: Yeah, it's a little preemptive warfare there. Good.

5:29Andrew: Yeah, totally.

5:30Justin: And for our 50th annivers. 50th episode anniversary.

5:36Andrew: That's a mouthful.

5:36Justin: 50th episode. We're doing a giveaway. We. We announced it last week.

5:40Andrew: We are.

5:40Justin: And. But we're giving away on Monday, December 1st. That's our giveaway. So we have two pairs of tickets to give away. All the information is on Instagram. That's where we are giving away the tickets is on Instagram. You can easily find it by looking at our post. It's the one that says ticket giveaway. And there's pictures of these tickets. These two ticket jackets, if you're watching online, they're Ranger ticket jackets. And I realize for the Aud people that me turning my head away from my microphone is probably a terrible way to do this. So Tim's going to have a lot of work to do this week and.

6:18Andrew: Thanks, Tim.

6:18Justin: Thanks, Tim.

6:20Andrew: And then.

6:20Justin: Yeah, so enter. Enter on Instagram to. To win. And then there is also. Okay. On Instagram, you know, it's the normal. You have to follow us. You have to, like the post. You have to tag a friend. Every time you take a friend, you get one entry for the tickets. Last week's episode has a secret 10 bonus entries if you DM us the information from last episode. So episode 49, Braving the Storm. You have to go in listen to that one. Send us the thing. I. I don't want to be too crazy about it, but there is a way to get an 11th free entry in that episode.

7:03Andrew: So, you know, crazy.

7:05Justin: Also on this episode today, we are going to have a special guest join us later on to do some previews. So the armchair GM himself, Mr. Brandon Caputo, will be joining us later in the episode to preview our game against Niagara on Friday. Host of the Dog the Dog Pound, the official Niagara Ice Dogs podcast. So official.

7:26Andrew: So we're almost. We're official adjacent.

7:28Justin: No, we're unofficial, I think is what Official adjacent.

7:32Andrew: If we're talking to somebody official, we're official adjacent. Yeah, it sounds better than unofficial.

7:37Justin: I think it's still unofficial. I think we might. It is still. We should probably say that in our. In our show notes is unofficial podcast unofficial.

7:46Andrew: Well, you know, we haven't been served the cease and desist yet.

7:49Justin: Yeah, not yet.

7:50Andrew: And they know how. They know where to find us.

7:52Justin: They. They, they hear us. Yeah, some of them have our numbers, so. Last week we had two games. I'm. I'm jumping right into it, Andrew. I'm. I'm plowing us through.

8:01Andrew: Okay, Jump right into it.

8:02Justin: Friday. Let's go. Ottawa 67's We lost five to three. Started great.

8:08Andrew: That's how I feel about this game.

8:09Justin: Yeah, sorry. Great. And we scored on a power play.

8:12Andrew: Right? There were good things about this game. It just wasn't the third period.

8:17Justin: Yeah.

8:17Andrew: Correct.

8:18Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. What, what are the good things about this game, Andrew?

8:22Andrew: Okay, the good things about this game are the power play scored. They looked very competitive with a really strong Ottawa 67's team through 40 minutes there. There. It was not. I mean, it was. It was five to three. Final. It was at one point, five to two. I didn't think that that was super indicative of the overall game. I felt like the wheels fell off a little bit in the third. I thought that they took advantage of some very uncharacteristic goalie play from, from our friend Christian Kirsch.

8:54Justin: He.

8:54Andrew: He. Listen, in a. In a long season, you're going to have goals that you're going to want back. And that's, it's just, that's just the nature of being a goalie. It's not a big deal. It's how you respond to it. And, and I. Christian Kirsch is going to respond positively and play really well, and I'm not worried about it all. There's, like, there's, you know, there was times where Jackson, Parsons and, and, you know, you look at goalies right across the league, they have, they have goals that they want back. This was one of those moments. There was one. It went off his glove in the third period. It shouldn't have went in. He knows it shouldn't have went in. We don't have to harp on it and he'll be fine. I thought, I thought Jakob Kak getting a power play goal to start to open. This was a huge positive, for sure. Five minutes in. It was a great tone setter. It was great to get the, the power play. He made a great read to drop down low on a puck that was being cycled around and a rebound and then a pass. And I thought it was a, A, a great play by him because I think that he has a little bit more offensive skills to his game than he probably is. Given Credit for?

9:58Justin: Yeah, I think so.

9:59Andrew: I think it's, you know, the good comes with the bad. Fifty seconds later, they tied it up. It's one of those things that we've seen this before from this team. Sometimes they can let the other team respond very quickly. And that's something that I think that the Rangers can improve upon. I think all teams can improve upon this, literally across all levels of hockey. That was pretty much the first period. It was one one going into the second, moving into the second period. The second period wasn't bad either. Like, honestly, Ryan White scores, they score early, but it didn't feel like a deflating I, I goal. I thought that the Rangers kept pushing in this second period and, and this is where I wanted to get to. It was probably the biggest positive was our boy Evan Headrick got into the points column, got an assist. It's. Listen, it's, it, it's.

10:54Justin: I get it.

10:54Andrew: I've seen it at the pro level when, when the points aren't coming, it seems like it's never going to happen. And it's like, it's like you're cursed because there's been a few times where that line is scored. He's been on the ice and he's been the third to last person to touch the puck and you're like, oh, my goodness, like, he was an important part of that play, but he's not going to get a point for it. So Le Char scores his third. I mean, you know, Le Char just keeps Plattenham, which is, you know, hilarious in the sense of we were, we were talking about him scoring nothing but beauties. Well, this one was actually just him using his physicality and using his size and being kind of in front of the net, which is great, so. Because that's going to be more his bread and butter at the pro level. Carson Campbell also got an assist on this one. A guy that's not, you know, known for his offense. But I can, you know, take me back to that Flint series where he scored a huge goal last year. He can contribute offensively. But most importantly, Evan Headrick getting into the points column, I was worried about him in the sense of like, just mentally how hard that's got to be.

12:02Justin: Yeah, last year it was relieved for him too. Like the whole. Yeah, the whole team, they made him go first down the fist bump line and like. Yeah, just everybody was so relieved and happy for him. Yeah.

12:16Andrew: And, and I like seeing him out there playing with Le Char and Anstice. I think it's a nice combination because I think. I think there's a little bit of safety there with Leuchar, because I felt like earlier in the year, Hendrick was. There was some liberties being taken with him. Hendrick because he's. Because he's a small, smaller player. And I just think, like, coming off the major injury last year, he had no problem recording points. And so I think maybe mentally it's. It's good to have him out there playing on the fourth line that he's not being relied upon to score points at this moment, but that. That line's producing. Like I said, it's so funny because I. I just think Leuchar is just a consistent. Which I never. You know, I didn't think that when we first started watching Matthew Hlacar play hockey, but he. He. He just puts himself in good positions. Like I said, I'd like to see him be a little bit more disciplined, but I'm.

13:07Clip: I'm.

13:08Andrew: I'm happy with what he brings to the team, to be honest. So that was all the good? Yeah, that was pretty much all the good.

13:15Justin: Yeah. Yep. Now we get.

13:17Andrew: And then the third period was not so good. We don't have to dwell on it.

13:21Justin: We don't have to dwell on it. I would. I would just Sam O'Reilly would add to the first two periods Cameron Reid I. I specifically was watching Cam Reed play in this game. Like, we were. We were. You and I were at the game. And at one point during the first period, I kind of stopped watching the play, and I just watched Reed skate around and do reedy things all over the ice. Like, there were just some amazing moments of. It's just so many little things, right? Like. Like he lifts the stick at the perfect time to break up a pass. And it's like. It's all these things. Like, the Aud could have developed into something, but we'll never know because there was no opportunity for anything to happen. He takes out the guy at the right time. He broke somebody's ankles just turning. Like, he's just that guy, right? Like, he's just an unbelievable player. And I think sometimes we get. We. We forget about him and his impact because it is subtle at times, but this game in particular, Cameron Reid had himself a game. Oh, yeah. And.

14:23Andrew: And I'll say this about Cameron Reid is that we've talked about, like, does this. Does this team need a little bit more identity? Does it need a little bit more leadership? I think we have to think about last year as well. Cameron Reid I felt like Cam Reed was maybe slept on a little bit at the beginning of last year. And, and it might not necessarily been slept on because I think he just got better as the year went on. And I think the same thing is happening this year. I think the more hockey that Cameron Reid Reed plays, the better he gets. And I think that, like, that is just like, I mean, Nashville's got to be salivating over this because he, he. If you're watching, like the ISO Cam of Cam Reed, you like everything he's doing.

15:07Justin: Yes. You like everything. Yeah. There's no, there's no faults to his game. It is. It is unbelievable. We also. I, I didn't really see what happened. I didn't really go back and watch the replay. Luke and Ellen has left this game in the second period. He did not play.

15:23Clip: Yeah.

15:23Justin: On Sunday in Oshawa. We have not heard anything. I don't want to speculate on what's wrong, but obviously he got injured in that game and. Yeah, just wishing all the best and

15:34Andrew: I mean, that's, That's a good thing. We were educated very early on that there's a reason why, like, junior teams don't release injuries, and it's to keep players safe when they come back from injuries. So if you're a Rangers fan and you're online and you're. You're in the comments or you're even talking about it, it's best not to speculate. Speculate on injuries because, you know, people are reading and, and it's being shared and whatever. So if you're a Rangers fan, don't speculate on Rangers injuries. Online especially.

16:01Justin: That's the best way to be a Rangers fan.

16:04Andrew: Exactly. At the rink, we can all talk, but, like, at the same time, like, it's like, we don't want, you know, the opposing team to know what's wrong with our guys when they get back. And maybe they're a little sore. You know, you don't want guys having a sore ankle being slashed at or whatever.

16:20Justin: Right.

16:20Andrew: I mean, obviously we know Elenis wasn't lower body. That's just what it is.

16:24Justin: The only, the only thing I want to say about the third period of Ottawa.

16:28Andrew: Oh, sorry, yeah. You want, you want to talk about the third period? No, I don't want to talk about.

16:32Justin: I don't want.

16:32Andrew: I don't want to remember the third.

16:33Justin: I don't want to talk about the third period. Except for.

16:35Andrew: I want to flush.

16:36Justin: Except for. Christian Humphreys came out the. His body language completely different in that third period. He was so mad and I don't know why? But that breakaway goal that he got to put it up to five, three, that was an anger driven breakaway goal. That was. It was flawless. Unbelievable. And you could just see in his body language, it wasn't really about that game. It was about some other stuff. And he carried that into Sunday's game against Oshawa where we won 6 to 2.

17:08Andrew: He had another. He had another break in that one segue.

17:13Justin: He's just going to continue working on my segues breakaways.

17:15Andrew: I'm working on my segues and breakaways. There's your title.

17:18Justin: There you go.

17:19Andrew: Right? This was. Well, they had to have this one. Let's just put it this way, right? Oshawa is a bad team this year. They. They look like a very inexperienced team. They look like they're a team that you, you know, you can get reeling and, and that's exactly what the Rangers did, was they came out really strong and they took control early.

17:40Justin: Yeah.

17:41Andrew: Can we go into the recap now?

17:42Justin: Yes.

17:44Andrew: Five minutes in. Jacob Zhu, our boy, gets a goal from another guy that we talked about being a highly touted prospect this year, Alexander Bilecki who had a whale of a game.

17:58Justin: This is a whale of. This is Balecki's world. And we're all just living in it. In this game.

18:03Andrew: It certainly was. He was feeling it. I love the way this kid skates.

18:07Justin: Me too.

18:07Andrew: This kid turns it on sometimes and it's. He makes. He makes the smart read and jumps up. I just, I just love that. I, I just think there's just so much more to be unlocked in his game. And that's not a knock on him because we're just seeing like he's just like he's just fulfilling exactly what I thought he would do this year, which is awesome. And it was great for Jacob Xu to get that kind of that, that, you know, breakthrough. The Sam O'Reilly Hedrick broke through and got out of that. That slump. Zoo finally gets a goal, which is awesome.

18:41Justin: Yeah, for him it was. It was notable in this game how it started a little bit in Ottawa with, with Chromiak's goal. But we, we saw some. What probably looked like a little bit of a defensive shift and we saw defensemen deep in the zone in both of these games. Like, I think there is a little bit of. We were going through a bit of a losing streak, so it was nice to see Balecki and Zhu sort of get up in the action. But it also, to me, spoke out a little bit about some tactic changes that are happening within the Rangers Right now.

19:12Andrew: Oh, for sure. Because they weren't scoring.

19:14Justin: Yes.

19:14Andrew: There was no scoring. Right. Like, so you need to be more aggressive, especially with our defensemen who, who can, you know, are offensively gifted.

19:23Justin: Yes. Yeah.

19:23Andrew: So like, like we saw with Chromiak, like he, he's better offensive player than he probably plays because he plays very like, stay at home, steady Eddie kind of game. And Carson Campbell had a point. You know, Balecki had three points in this game. And Zoo gets on the, you know, and Cameron Reid been on the score sheet more as of late, which is, you know, I think people are probably thinking like, you know, shouldn't he have more? Like he was a first rounder or whatever. But I think it's, it's been so focused on shutting down opposing teams that the Rangers haven't been taking too many chances. And I, I loved seeing that from the coaching staff. You're right. There's obviously a tactic change. Power play is the next goal. 11 minutes into this one, they. They score again. The power play is clicking.

20:08Justin: Yep.

20:08Andrew: Jack Pridham from Tanner Lam and Cameron Reid It was a beauty snipe from, from Jack. We love to see this because Jack is, I think is really starting to get going here now. And I think like we're going to see more and more. Honestly, I just think that sometimes I think Jack needs to be a little bit more greedy and selfish and because he has a shot like this and I think he's a little bit further out sometimes and he doesn't take that shot and he tries to like make a nice play and there's might not be a finish. I think when you have a shot like Jack Pridham, I just want to see him shoot more, especially from this far out because he can score from this far.

20:46Justin: Well, I, I think he, I think actually what you just said is what happened for this goal, like, it was interesting because I felt like that puck that Jack ended up shooting was actually being passed to Romano on the other wing. And because Jack was higher than he normally is, he would, if he often got that puck in that spot, he would pass it to Romano or, or Humphreys or whoever, sort of the, the other winger. But yeah, he, he took that shot, which was uncharacteristic. Might have helped because that might have been the scouting is that he, that he, he passes a little bit more frequently when he's there. But yeah, he does have that shot and obviously he can, he can place it exactly where he wants it to go. So it was, it was amazing.

21:28Andrew: Yeah. And I mean, they. They outshot them 13 to 8 in the first period. They. They scored on the power play. It was. It was. You know, it probably could have been been. They probably had a couple more chances that could have. Could have went in, but it was, you know, two nothing. And you felt good going into the second period when ley on the power play again, eight minutes into the period, scores from Pram and Humphreys.

21:52Justin: It was, you know, it was just beautiful.

21:55Andrew: It was beautiful. Absolutely.

21:56Justin: Is he a winner now? Like, what. What is this?

21:59Andrew: It wasn't as beautiful. It wasn't as. Yes. And I mean, what's crazy was the pass from Pridham was bonkers.

22:05Justin: Yes.

22:05Andrew: Like, that's a bonkers pass. And it's right like tape to tape and. And Balecki is diving like dive bombing the net and just like. And it's just like a bump in. It's perfect. I loved this goal. I love this pass from Pridham as much as I just said. I know I'm gonna. I'm gonna completely contradict myself. He can shoot and score from further out, but like, like un underrated is his vision. Passing the puck.

22:31Justin: I mean.

22:31Andrew: And I mean it's just. It's, you know, anytime Humphreys is generating offense as well, you know that, like, things are rolling. I mean this, this guy is just on fire. He's been on fire the whole year. What can you say about Christian Humphreys that hasn't been set now? It got a little weird here now in the sense of they're going to score the next two goals, Oshawa. Yep. And the first goal was a power play goal. Well, whatever. Yeah, that's power.

23:01Justin: It happened.

23:02Andrew: It's a power play goal. It happens. You know, shovel played.

23:05Justin: Our PK's been amazing.

23:07Andrew: Yeah, shovel's got some 10 bell saves for sure. 10 bell saves in this.

23:11Justin: He had some weird wonky pinball pucks that he. He was all over. He never lost his focus. You know, power plays, not once. You know, RPK has been pretty unbelievable. Can't stop everyone.

23:23Andrew: He also hasn't been playing a ton. Yeah. And I. I Andrew I Andrew if I know that they have long breaks in between sometimes like because they play like Friday and then they don't, you know, they didn't play on since Sunday or whatever. But they practice all the time. I am curious if Kirsch wasn't a little fatigued in that last game. Just like as he's just been in the net a lot.

23:45Justin: I think he played probably more frequently than he's used to. This is his first year in the ohl, so it's like. Yeah, you know, he's probably, it's probably. He, he looked a little tired. I like, I don't want to take anything from him, but yeah, Ottawa, you looked a little tired.

23:57Andrew: He's having an. He's having an incredible season. I don't want to take anything away from, from our boy Kirsch, but I, I'm just saying, just from a development perspective, I like seeing Shauble in the net. I think Shabble is a great goalie and I think that he. Sometimes it's harder to be a great goalie when you have to watch a lot of hockey and you don't get in the net. So I was glad he got this start and I hope he gets a little bit more of a, a share of the pie. And not to talk out at turn because I am just a fan and not a, not a coach. But I would like to see Shabble maybe get, you know, like when there's two games. I understand sometimes, like if it's not a back to back, you're going to play, you're going to play Kirsch. But I, I don't know, I just, I think the boys play really well in front of Shabble as well. And I thought that this second goal that opened the third period on Shabble was not a goal. So I thought it was a, I

24:54Justin: mean even, even the broadcast didn't show it.

24:57Andrew: So yeah, I thought it was a kicking motion for sure. But what do I know? It's three to two. And you know what? This could be one of those, like Sault Ste. Marie collapses.

25:09Justin: But it wasn't at all like literally

25:12Andrew: down four and a half minutes later. Christian Humphreys, of course, gets his breakaway goal, his ninth goal of the year. And I mean, this is a, this is a playmaker through and through. This is a playmaker through and through. And he has nine goals and two breakaway goals in the last two games, so.

25:28Justin: And he still looked mad from the last game.

25:31Andrew: Yeah, yeah, I like, I like Motivated humps.

25:34Justin: Yeah, me too.

25:34Andrew: That way. And then Cameron Arquette scored on what might be the apple of the year from Alexander Bilecki Yes. I don't know. We might have to have a face off towards the end of the year between the Spinorama. No look from Christian Humphreys and the, the dive bomb. No look from Balecki to Arquette. Like it's pick your poison here. I'm leaning towards Balecki because the kid is A defenseman and was flying when

26:06Justin: he did was a, it was a phenomenal goal. Phenomenal pass.

26:11Andrew: Phenomenal pass.

26:13Justin: Yeah.

26:13Andrew: Phenomenal goal. Arky again, you know, also unstoppable.

26:18Justin: Yep.

26:19Andrew: Eight goals. He puts himself where he needs to be. He's got great finish. I just, I'm, I just, I get so excited when, like, Bi and Arquette specifically are going because I'm like the AudPod. We're, we're right about these guys.

26:35Justin: It's almost like we know something.

26:37Clip: Yeah, I know.

26:37Andrew: I'm like, I'm like, I don't claim to know anything.

26:40Justin: No.

26:40Andrew: But every now and then, you know, a broken clock is right twice a day.

26:43Justin: Yep.

26:44Andrew: And then shorthanded empty netter from Cameron Reid which was actually a very impressive

26:49Justin: goal because he was that, like, not

26:50Andrew: down below his red circle was not that.

26:53Justin: Not the most, like, Nashville Predator goal. Like, remember PK Suban when he would practice from his own end, shoot Lobbin pucks into the net during warmups? Like, I'm like, oh, man, the Nashville Predators must be just, like, salivating. Yeah, he's coming. He's a great player. Yeah.

27:13Andrew: I, I, I love watching Cam Reed play hockey.

27:15Justin: The only thing I wanted to note from this game that we didn't talk about was lan was moved to the third line with Stark and Lechar in this game. And I, I, I actually, like, I was a little concerned. I was like, oh, why is Lamb on the third line? But it really made this team feel like it has a top nine all of a sudden. And I think that's the waves that came throughout this Oshawa game was that it just was relentless because they have these three, and I mean, keep going.

27:44Andrew: Lamb was, was still on the first power play. So I, I, I don't like the line combos. I, I Andrew on a game against Oshawa on the second game of a weekend, I'm wondering if it's not a little load management, like, where it's like maybe, you know, like where we don' guys together all the time.

28:06Justin: I, I felt like, I felt like they were specifically for the same reason that you liked Lar being teamed up with, with Hedrick in the last game. I, I wondered a little bit if Lar being teamed up with Lamb to sort of have that brute force and finesse skill sort of together on a line with Stark being like, literally the middleman for that.

28:28Andrew: Like, and, and Stark, we've seen is a very, very talented player skate really well. So, so there is something there. I, I, I Love a good, balanced lineup. I've never been somebody who thinks you should load up, like, your top two lines and then have two lines of guys who, you know, you're kind of like, you know, what are these guys?

28:47Justin: They can make it there, you know,

28:48Andrew: hope they can play neutral hockey, you know, So I just don't think the game is suited to that anymore. It used to be, it used to be like, you had two scoring lines and two checking lines. I don't think that's hockey anymore. So, So I, I think you do have, like, a shutdown line like we saw against Windsor when, when there's like a one line, like, brute force, kind of unstoppable line, you want to have a shutdown line against that line. But I think mostly you just want to roll three or four lines of talented players. Right? So I, I agree with you. That's, that's a nice thing. I just think, like, they had to do stuff to get this team going.

29:25Justin: Offense. And this is, I was, I was trying to highlight that as a positive. I thought it was a, I thought it was a good move. Okay. Three stars from the weekend. Andrew, who is your, or what is your third star?

29:37Andrew: My third star is Jason Shaw. I thought Jason Schaubel played really well. I just, I, I, I love the, the effort in front of him, and I think that he makes some huge saves when he needs to. Who's your third star?

29:49Justin: I went with the power play. They went three for five on this weekend. And although I thought they deserved a few more power plays in specifically the game against Ottawa, it was really nice to see just the boys putting it together. And I, I felt like all the things that Bab said a couple weeks ago about the power play started to happen this weekend.

30:11Andrew: Well, that's funny, because my second star is the power.

30:13Justin: There you go.

30:13Andrew: So there you go.

30:14Justin: There you go.

30:15Andrew: What's your second?

30:16Justin: My second star is Mad Humps. Two goals, two assists. I, I like Mad Humps. Who's your, who's your first star?

30:24Andrew: My first star is the guys who needed to score, which was Jacob Zhu and Evan Headrick Hedrick gets a point, Zhu gets a goal. I just wanted to say, like, I unders. I just know when you're, like, not when you, it's not working out in any, in any part of your life when it feels like you're in a cold streak and you're in a slump, it's so hard to get out of that. And I just want to recognize that. It's awesome when you break through to A new level, you know, and it's, you know, you're. Now you're like, okay, everything's reset. I feel good.

30:59Justin: Yeah, I, I had them as an honorable mention because. Exactly all those reasons. You gotta. Hedrick also in the game against osha, you could feel his confidence. There was some dirty dangles happening. There was some new moves. He didn't, he didn't get on the score sheet, but it felt like he was cooking a bit. So I hope Hedrick keeps that up. My first star is bi. How could you not? He had such a phenomenal Oshawa game like this. This kid is unreal. I'm so excited to watch more. He's a triple threat, offense, defense, personality. I can't wait to see him more.

31:30Andrew: I love the creativity of, of Alexander Bilecki and I will Sam O'Reilly specifically did not make him my first star because I knew he was the slam dunk star for you. So I figured, I figured now we would have had a problem if you hadn't have picked.

31:44Justin: Yeah.

31:44Andrew: Because I would have had to pivot and say, hang on, wait, wait, wait. Alexander Bilecki was the first star of the overall AudPod for sure this week.

31:52Justin: Yeah. But.

31:53Andrew: Yeah, I mean, what can you say that hasn't been said?

31:55Justin: Okay, next. Next week we got four games. We have never previewed four games for an AudPod week, which is. I, I don't know.

32:03Andrew: It's not really the week, whatever that is. There's been 50 of them.

32:07Justin: Yeah, there's been. Yeah, exactly 50 of the Aud this is our first four game week. So Friday we are at home against the Niagara Ice Dogs. Saturday we are in Brantford against the Brantford Bulldogs. Tuesday we are at home for the teddy bear toss game against the Erie Otters. And then Wednesday we are in London facing the London Knights. I, you know, at least I'm. I'm sure we're going to see Jason Schaubel I'm hoping for two games of these. It's basically that's where we're at. Like just talking about the goaltending, it feels like we need, I mean like both guys this week.

32:42Andrew: You kind of feel like maybe Friday, Tuesday, Shovel Niagara and Erie and then, you know, the Brantford and London games. It would like you'd think would go to Kirsch. That's kind of how I would think in my mind they'd break it down because they're both doubleheaders.

32:59Justin: Yeah, I, I agree. Niagara, we are going to now jump to our chat with Brandon Caputo from the Armchair GM's welcome Brandon Caputo, founder of the Armchair GM's network and the host of the Dog Pound podcast, official podcast of the Niagara I Dogs. You also host Saber Semantics. About the Buffalo Sabers. You're a busy man. We invited Brandon on today to change things up a bit with our game previews. We have our first meeting with Niagara this Friday at the Aud Brandon, welcome. Welcome to the AudPod.

33:32Clip: Yeah, appreciate it, guys. Thanks for. For allowing me in. Enemy territory. And again, apologies. You guys didn't get awarded the Memorial Cup, but the auditorium is still my favorite away rink to go to. I believe I'm going to be at the game on Friday. Fingers crossed I'm able to come up for it. But always great to see the people up in Kitchener. Great, rank, great, you know, great place to watch a game. And. And with the Rangers, you know, a good team right now, they're always fun to watch. So appreciate you guys having me on, and we'll see if you have me back on again or not. It depends on how. How good or bad I do.

34:01Justin: Yeah, I'm not committing to anything yet.

34:03Andrew: I was gonna say, when you brought up the Memorial Cup, I was like, all right, you're picking out a wound. But then you buttered us up with that last bit. You tied it all in like a true professional.

34:11Clip: So, yeah, even the Aud the fake odd, because the real ODD was in Buffalo and now it's torn down, but.

34:17Justin: Oh, okay. I did not know about this.

34:21Andrew: Yeah, the. I saw. the Aud club still exists in Buffalo, though. There's. There's a club called the Aud Yeah.

34:27Justin: Yeah.

34:28Clip: But now where the. Where the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium stood is now the Harbor Center. So the big, big place across the street. But anyways, I just. When I think of the Aud it. It brings back, you know, great memories of the Buffalo Odd, but the one in Kitchener is iconic itself.

34:41Justin: We agree.

34:42Andrew: You're on the AudPod.

34:43Justin: Let's be honest. You're on the odds.

34:44Andrew: You don't need to convince us.

34:46Justin: So, Brandon. Yeah, we'd love to have you. First of all, I was listening to your episode today. I think Today, yesterday, the 24th, I wanted to just say one thing. You were talking about Calgary, and you pronounced it correctly, and I just wanted to say thank you. As the Calgary native on this podcast, basically everyone in this side of the world says it wrong, so thank you for pronouncing it correctly. Had to get that out of the way. Okay. But we're actually here to talk about the Ice Dogs, so Kitchener Ice Dogs. First meeting of the season. How, how are the Ice Dogs doing this season? What's, what's going on?

35:19Clip: Well, it's been a tale of two quarters of this first quarter of the season, I guess you could say. The Ice Dogs are on a seven game losing streak right now. They were second in the Eastern Conference, first in the Central Division and things have sort of went the other way as of late again under first year head coach Chris Birchie It's been a completely new system from what they were last season. They were more of a run and gun type team last year. This season has been more of a dump and chase team, a more of defensively responsible team that creates offense and you know, plays a, just a little bit of a different style the way that they forecheck and things like that. Not a lot of carrying the puck in down the wing. It's a lot of, you know, retrieve the puck, get the puck and play a hard offensive game. That's why you've seen some of the trades they've made so far. You bring in a guy like Noah Reed, he plays a very solid two way game. You bring in Liam Spencer, both from the London Knights as well, and Frank Evola, the first year general manager as well. So there's a lot of firsts going on in Niagara right now with the front office and the coaching staff coming off of what was a few tumultuous seasons to say the least. But again, you know, this, they, they want to kind of, you know, wipe the slate clean and bring in their own identity and that's what they've sort of done so far. And a lot of top end elite players, but still trying to figure out exactly how they need to play as a unit in the system. You know, the power play has been something that they've tried to work on all year long. It's currently last in the Andrew Hockey League even though they got one last game. But it's, it's still a work in progress there. And, and the defensive structure as well, playing better in their end zone and, and just needing more from the team cohesion as far as all the forwards and defensemen, not necessarily the goaltending. The goaltending has actually been quite good. So that would be a quick synopsis of, of how the Ice Dogs have looked, you know, through the first 22 games of the year. Currently sitting seventh in the conference. But if they have a good week this week, if Kitchener works out well and they play Peterborough on Sunday, they'd be right back up to fourth or fifth. So Again, they don't, they haven't given up as many goals as maybe you'd expect in a seven game losing streak. But playing Brantford and Barry last week, that was running through the gauntlet.

37:18Justin: We're also playing Branford this week. So if you have any tips for us against Branford, we'd love to hear those, but that's a whole other juggernaut that, that's is just a scary thing that's happening out east there. So. Yeah.

37:29Andrew: So speaking of juggernauts, I am curious because last year we saw kind of a little bit of a tale of two seasons with Kevin.

37:36Clip: He.

37:36Andrew: A little bit, I think he's a great player. I mean untrained eye here but as a fan I love what he brings when he's on the ice. They also have a draft eligible player in Ryan Robrick that like you said right now as we're recording is playing in the CHL tournament there, the tournament game. The question that I have for you is these guys that are your kind of your higher level offense, are they, are they struggling a little bit in this new system or is it just now that they're just like buying in and, and it's, it's, you know, it's growing pains now with this like seven game losing streak. Are they better than what they've been lately or were they overperforming a little bit? I know this is kind of a, a two sided question, but if you can talk a little bit about Kevin, he and, and Ryan Robrick and the offensive leaders on the team and then this new system and how it's affecting the Aud how they can get out of this slump.

38:31Clip: Yeah, I would say that the numbers are definitely down offensively just because of the adjustment in the system. I would say that there, there are definitely strengths that these players have taken in their games this season as opposed to last season. They gave up the most goals in the Andrew Hockey League last year, guys and they definitely didn't want to do that again. So again when you have those top end elite players like the Kevin, he's the Ryan Roebricks, the Riley Patterson who they acquired from the Barrie Colts, Ethan Zada, these are all, you know, NHL drafted players other than Robert, as you mentioned, away at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge and going to be potentially a top 10 pick ish in 2026 NHL Draft. So when you look at, when you look at their numbers, I mean yeah, they definitely tailed off in the second half last year but now that Kevin, he is back once again, when he's in the lineup, he just gives them such a different dynamic. As I mentioned on our Dog Pound podcast this week, with his game breaking speed, this team is susceptible for giving up shorthanded goals, but they also score Sam O'Reilly lot of shorthanded goals as well. And Kevin, he's speed has a lot to do with that. The way that he's able to just, you know, really drive the net, really, you know, have that, that he has NHL speed like already that, that's one thing that I will say about Kevin. He playing up with the Winnipeg jets, gotten a couple preseason games and you can tell he doesn't look at a place in as far as, you know, his mobility as you can see. So sometimes you see guys come up from junior and they might not be quite at that level yet. So that's one thing that I think that Chris Barch talked about this weekend in the post game was that, you know, when Kevin buys into the little details and when he does all the, all the right things on the defensive end, it leads to those offensive opportunities. And that's really what Chris Birchie preaches with all of his top end players, is that if they play the right way in the details and the system of how they need to play in their own end, it'll transition to the neutral zone and the way they need to play offense. So to answer your question, Andrew, like I just, it's a completely different look right now and again the numbers might be down. Roebrick, an 87 point season last year, 41 goals. Right now he's at a quiet point per game, just came off of an eight game point streak. So you know, for a guy that people expect to be drafted possibly in the top 10, 12 goals and 22 points in 22 games. Again, that's a point per game. But we know that Roebrick, what he did last year, people were expecting maybe 100, 110 point season out of him with possibly 50 or 60 goals. So I just think that they've really had to buy into a different type of play style. And, and Roebrick even praised Chris Barch, his head coach, for teaching him, you know, maybe a little bit more of the spine details, especially in a draft year. That's what's are going to look at to, to make him more valuable because everybody knows he's a shooter. But what, what else is he going to transition to the National Hockey League?

41:11Andrew: So you mentioned the goaltending. You mentioned the goaltending being a point of strength with the Niagara Ice Dogs this year, which is A huge improvement on last year. If you would talk about a little bit about the goaltending prospects in your system as well as the guys in the crease right now. Does it, Is it one of the strengths moving forward? Because I'm not super familiar. Like I said, we only see each other twice, twice a year. Is it, is it something that they can build on or these. Are these guys going to be like trade pieces?

41:43Clip: Well, I'll say this, and last year was tough because again, the team defensively just gave up too many goals. Owen Flores was an ironman for this team the last three years going through some really tough times. He was able to get finally one playoff series in the books with the team. And he started three, three solid years and went through some really big trials and tribulations. And now, you know, he earned himself an American Hockey League contract with Rockford, so really well earned for him. But moving on from a guy that, you know, started almost every game until he was hurt late later into the season. So you're going to have to replace a guy like that. And necessary, not necessarily one guy, but it's been sort of a platoon so far between Charlie Robertson, who's now an overager himself, who was back up for Flores last season but was in another lineup due to injury, and then Vladislav Yermolenko, who was an X factor, sort of. We didn't really know what was going to happen. He wasn't there in training camp. He arrived the opening week of the regular season, guys from Belarus as an import player. So again, there was some issues with trying to get him over here with, you know, the all, all the, you know, political stuff which we're not going to get into on, on this, this show, I'm sure, but visa issues is what I'll say definitely to try to get him over here. And now that, now that he's here, he's been able to get acquainted. I'm sure it's not easy for an 18 year old to come over to a completely different continent, not knowing the complete English dictionary, ends up in Niagara and says, what the heck am I doing here other than playing hockey? So I can tell that he's start to felt more comfortable. The guys have really, you know, brought him along, made him feel part of the group, not really trying to isolate him in any way. Seems like him and Charlie Robertson have a good relationship already. Robertson, very good feel good story for him, had a double hip surgery this offseason. So it was really, we were wondering if he was even going to be Able to make a full recovery to be ready to go. So the Ice Dogs goaltending after Owen Flores, you know, graduated, was really up in the air. So right now you're Malenko as the import and Charlie Robertson as the overager. They've been, you know, splitting the starts there year. Malenko's got 15, Robertson's got 11. And for the games in Erie, your Malenko hasn't been traveling to the United States games just, you know, out of precaution. So their third goalie at the time, who was Matthew Humphries, was the guy that was backing up Charlie Robertson when they did the Flint and Saginaw trip. And the two games they've played in Erie already being a geographical. But now Matthew Humphries has been traded to the Oshawa Generals a few weeks ago. So they're, they're riding with Irma Lanko and Charlie Robertson now because Humphreys was a guy they took in the third round last year. They had a lot of high hopes for him, but it just seems like, you know, with what Robertson and Yer Malenko were giving them, he wasn't going to earn the opportunity here. So they moved him to a young Oshawa team where he could possibly at least battle for the backup spot there. And Frank Evila picks up a fourth round pick for Matthew Humphrey. So yeah, I mean Yer Malenko and Robertson, you look at the stats, they, they don't necessarily pop off, but both have a.900 save percentage on a team that, you know, really struggles in their end zone right now. But I'd say no complaints with what Yer Malenko and Robertson have given. And Bar has pulled both of these guys at different times this year and he said not necessarily just as a feeling, sometimes trying to spark the team, not necessarily a goalie performance type thing.

44:55Justin: I think having.900 in the OHL is a, is a pretty solid, like, you know, yeah, it might not be burning the wheels off, but it's a pretty good way to be going about it. If you're, if you're lower than that, you might have other issues. Also foreign players, we, we know a lot about the challenges of trying to get them over. So. Yeah, yeah, a little bit of experience with that lately in terms of, in terms of other up and coming players, rookie players like who are you, who are you excited about coming up in Niagara these days?

45:26Clip: Well, Ryerson Edgar, their first round pick from this last priority selection and there was talks of he didn't even sign till July. So I think they were waiting around to see who the new general manager and new head coach were. And obviously Edgar comes in now. He was. He won gold at the World U17 Challenge for Team Red and Team Canada. So he comes back with some confidence there. You know, five goals and 14 points in 18 games as a 16 year old. Kevin, he has kind of taken him under his wing. The, the team captain really likes the way that Edgar approaches the game and sort of being that mentor role. Now Kevin, he played in this league as a 16 year old, now he's in his fourth year. Can really, you know, show a guy like Ryerson Edgar the ropes of the Andrew Hawk Hockey League. So he's a guy that a lot of people are high on here. Especially now that Brady Wasland was moved on to the London Knights. Sorry to mention the London Knights again on the show but it was a pretty significant deal for Noah Reed who comes back as a local St. Catharines boy drafted by the Anaheim Ducks. Plays a really solid two way style that I think Chris Birchie and Frank Evila really, you know, wanted to bring into the group. So I think those are two of the guys that I would say are most intriguing right now. And with Robrick away, obviously we know about him. But Alexander Hage is another guy if you guys are are familiar. Michael Hage, the Montreal Canadiens first rounder, it's his brother. So he was playing in the USHL last year with the Chicago Steel. Again, a little bit of an undersized forward but a guy that can move up and down the lineup as a versatile forward. Sometimes he's scratched, sometimes he's even playing top six. So don't really know where he's going to be in the lineup. In Kitchener on Friday Robrick is expected to be back so he, he will be back from Calgary and Lethbridge later this this week so he won't miss any games. So you will see him in the lineup barring anything that happens in these two games, knock on wood the weekend. But I, I would say those are, are some of the guys to watch for. The back end is com is basically revamped from last season. Only one returning defenseman and Callum Schnowski. The rest of the decor is completely different guys. Completely different. There's some guys that had were NCAA commits that were signed now with the new eligibility. Some of those guys have been able to sign and then they made a couple of trades as I mentioned. Liam Spencer, Grayson Tiller comes over from the Barrie Colts. There's just a, a lot of turnover. They reacquire Artem Frolov from the Flint Firebirds along with, with Hayden Reed. So that was another big trade early in the year. So it's a, it's a really revamped team other than that main core of you know, Kevin He, Ethan Zada, Ryan Rourick and now Brady Watson was moved on now. So it's, it's a, it's very much a completely new, new look Ice Dogs than we just saw last year with such a high roster turnover.

48:01Justin: Yeah, I, I, I'm, yeah, I was

48:03Andrew: just going to say that I think that that's a really positive step forward because I mean without getting into too much of the last few years there obviously some, some stuff off the ice with Niagara that was difficult to get through. I know probably especially someone in your position. You're the official podcast. I mean it's that, what's going on, things looming over whatever that, that kind of all goes away when you bring in I think a, a guy like Chris Birchie which I don't know him as a coach but I do know him as a player and he was a no nonsense guy, hard nosed guy that was not a guy you, you wanted to upset bet on the ice. So I'm curious how much have you seen that sort of no nonsense accountability being preached and, and, and how will that get this Tommy Kut of that slump that they're in right now?

48:51Clip: We saw it day one at training camp. We were there and again there's a lot of rookies and other, other players that maybe you know, won't be at this level, but I believe it was one of the, I don't remember the exact player and I would never call him out on it, but it was a younger player I think maybe in his first training camp, maybe you know, dogging it a little bit in the, in the first scrimmage or first training session and Chris Barch stop middle of the drill. The Andrew group that was out there did a bag skate for five minutes. So that right there showed from day one that they were going to be accountable and they were going to put their best foot forward. As you mentioned, Chris Barch, longtime NHLer, you know, played with the Florida Panthers, the Dallas Stars. He was a hard nose type of player, guys and he knows what it's like to have to scratch and claw for everything that he got shot at the pro game. So I think he's relatable to a lot of guys in that sense. And sometimes we know, we've seen it in the National Hockey League, sometimes the best players don't make the best coaches. It's sometimes those guys that did play in the third or fourth line that, that are the most relatable and that can coach and can teach. Especially when you're teaching young men in 2025. It's a lot different than coaching young men in maybe the year 2000. So it's a. It's a lot different. And, and we see sort of he, he. For somebody that was a grinder type player as him, he's very. The way that he speaks is very intellectual. He gives us very thoughtful and insightful answers in the post game interviews. They're not usually under four minutes with this guy. They're usually between eight, nine minutes between myself and. And another media colleague of mine that are down there asking the questions after every home game. He's very insightful. He. He really has a plan on what. How he wants to play. And they're sort of trying to re. Implement some different things defensively with a box and other sort of things that they're. They're trying to sort of start from square one and, and it'll take them a month or two to get things. Things in the right direction, but they have a plan for how the roster was constructed and with the trades that have been made and now with the, the guys that they have in that locker room now, they really like the mix of it, but it's just continually the process, process, process. He told us at the end of. At the end of the, the post game last week was that is all they're working on right now is trying to get everybody to play the game that they need to play to be successful within this system. And he's really trying to implement that. He's got a full week of practice and then before the Kitchener game. But they, they. There was a lot of positive takeaways from the Berry game. Even the Aud was their seventh straight loss. That was the best game they've played in a month. They haven't scored the first goal in a game since the Brampton Steelheads game back on October 31, which they won that game game. And I believe they're 91 and 1 when they score the first goal. So the last two games they've scored the first goal and both of them have been called back. So. And then things went off the rails there. So yeah, it's a tale of do they get the first goal and the Aud happens there. Starting on time's been. Been a big thing that they're trying to. To fix and not have to come back late in games. But down 4:1 against Barry 4:3, they had a puck in the crease with under 10 seconds left to try to the Aud So again, you don't want to take moral victories when you've lost seven in a row. But a lot of encouraging things, their last game that they're hoping to take

51:55Justin: into this week, weekend, sometimes it just takes that little spark to get the team back on track. But of course, we're hoping that that doesn't happen until the game after Friday. So.

52:03Andrew: Of course, yeah.

52:05Clip: Teddy Berkowskin's Peterborough on Sunday afternoon back in Niagara.

52:08Justin: Yeah, there you go. That. That can be the game.

52:11Andrew: Absolutely.

52:12Justin: Brandon, I think we've, we've taken up enough of your time. If people are interested in finding out more about the Niagara Ice Dogs, the Armchair GM Network, the Buffalo Sabers, How. How can they find you?

52:24Clip: Well, you can go to our YouTube channel, the Armchair GM Sports Network for Dog Pound Podcast. As you mentioned, Saber Semantics, we've also got two OHL shows. The OHL 60 podcast runs every week with Colin Ward or Reese Dumaney. And then I run an OHL overtime episode where I interview correspondents and people from around the Andrew Hockey League on a bi weekly basis as well. You can check that out, as I mentioned on your. On our YouTube channel or on all audio podcast platforms, again by searching the Armchair GM Sports Network. And we're available on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or. And X or Twitter or whatever you want to call it. Now. These days we. We do some short reels and content like you guys do as well, and really appreciate the opportunity to. To plug what we're doing as well and, and keep up the great work, guys. It's great to see you guys continuing to build up there in Kitchener.

53:08Justin: Thanks so much, Brandon. Yeah, and thank you so much for coming on. Appreciate that. We just love to get you in the ear in Niagara to stop trading London, all your good players. So anyways, if you can stop that, that'd be great. And you could.

53:20Andrew: If you could stop that, that'd guy. Send them to Kitchener. Send them to Kitchener.

53:26Clip: Hey, you've got my boy, Andrew Vermeulen.

53:29Justin: Yes, yes, yes.

53:29Andrew: And we look, we love.

53:31Justin: He's great, man. Yeah, yeah.

53:33Clip: Great.

53:34Justin: All right. Thank you very much. Okay, well, that was fun. So, okay, the Brantford game.

53:39Andrew: The Branford, the. The OHL All Star game is what it is. Brantford Bulldogs coming into town. They, you know, they've, yeah, they, they picked up, what was it? Zach Sandu. And it escapes me, somebody else from earlier in the season. I don't have it in front of me, but that's okay because they just got Jet.

53:56Justin: That's really the whole point of Guelph Storm, that they got Jet. Lachenko. It's like, yeah, what I think they needed more scoring.

54:05Andrew: So they haven't lost in regulation. This is. This is bonkers. 24 games they haven't lost in regulation.

54:12Justin: Yep.

54:13Andrew: To at the point that we've recorded this, so hopefully we jinx. Yeah. Or Saturday. Or Saturday.

54:19Justin: Yeah, we. They've only lost, what, four times total. One of those was to Kitchener. I mean, nobody had a full team that night, but it happened.

54:30Andrew: Yeah, it happened.

54:30Justin: Yeah. Jake O', Brien, 40 points in 21 games.

54:34Andrew: Okay, sure.

54:35Justin: Banaker, 21 goals in 21 games.

54:38Andrew: Like, I don't even know what to say about this. It's. It's an all star team. Caleb Moholtra has 29 points and he's draft eligible. Yeah, it's. He's draft eligible and he has 29 points.

54:50Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They have. They have about 10 guys that would be leading pretty much any other team in the OHL right now. Like.

54:59Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So now what I will say is they have three overtime losses in their last 10 games.

55:08Justin: Yeah, the Soo can be beat.

55:12Andrew: They can be beat. So perhaps it happens on Saturday. I think the Rangers are going to have to play a perfect game. They're going to have to get out early and they're going to have to not be undisciplined because this team will make you pay. They have 118 goals for and only 58 against. Okay.

55:33Justin: Their power play shooting, that's the same 40%.

55:36Andrew: That's the same amount as the goals against the Kitchener has allowed. So. So if there is a positive here in the sense of like in this matchup, is that the Rangers and the Bulldogs have the same level of defense and goaltending, like goals against. So the Rangers have to step it up offensively, which we know they can.

55:54Justin: They can. We started to see it against Oshawa. So as long as they keep carrying that forward against Niagara into Brantford, I think momentum will help. Also, Branford technically kicked off off the Tanner Lam revenge tour, so who knows what he could be up to that game. Tanner, they have.

56:13Andrew: They have a 60 power play.

56:15Justin: 60 road. On the. On the road.

56:17Andrew: On the road.

56:18Justin: Yeah, because they have a 40 all time, don't they? Like for this.

56:21Andrew: Yeah, they have a 30 at home. 60 on the road.

56:24Justin: Dude, that's. That's crazy. 60. That's like that elite power play from two years ago. Like, it's.

56:32Andrew: Yes.

56:33Justin: That was insanity. It was automatic insanity. Numbers do not take a penalty against Branford.

56:40Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

56:41Justin: Okay, the next game Tuesday, is teddy bear toss night. I love teddy bear toss night. I really only learned about it last year. It's so fun. Yeah, Erie. We've seen them twice already this year. Whatever. Erlotin. He's good. They have a really stacked top line, you know, ear.

56:59Andrew: They made a trade recently, too. They traded Tyler Chandler away for. For a player. So. So there's, you know, less. Less little brother energy, I think. Maybe. I have no idea. I don't know.

57:09Justin: It will. It'll be there.

57:11Andrew: It'll be there.

57:11Justin: I just hope somebody's sitting in the box for the teddy bear toss.

57:14Andrew: And me too.

57:15Justin: And then Wednesday, a weird week, weekday, back to back, we're in London. I. I don't ever want to talk about London. I hate it when we're away because I have to watch the broadcast and I'm going to try and sync up Mike Farwell or I'm going to. I'm going to suffer through the broadcast so that I have content for next week.

57:32Andrew: Are we singing up Mike Farwell? Because. Because as far as I could tell, the London commentator has never thrown subliminal potshots on his podcast at us. He's only been the subject of the Soo maybe. Maybe we have less beef. Maybe we have less beef with Greg

57:49Justin: than Mohawk construction glasses. We got. Yeah, Mike, we thought. We thought he was a friend of the pod too. And, you know, now he's ex friend of the pod, but he doesn't have another title now.

58:00Andrew: We just know that their bar is not as low as the AudPod.

58:04Justin: That's.

58:04Andrew: That's what I can tell. But the good thing is, is I think at some point this season we are gonna go to Guelph and we'll do a little. A little video of the mall and a little review of the mall, I think for. For the OHL podcast. We'll send it directly to the Aud they can. They can post it, they can feature it.

58:22Justin: Well, that was a jam packed episode.

58:25Andrew: Certainly was.

58:26Justin: It was. We got some thank yous. Of course, we have to thank Ken Born our director of branding and market marketing, Papa Born. Marketing, marketing, branding, branding. Our product co producer, Liam the phenom Timothy, for writing, arranging, performing, creating, producing, engineering, and composing our new theme song and making our episode sound better.

58:53Andrew: The best. He's just the best.

58:54Justin: And a special shout out to JJ for our awesome voiceover at the beginning of the episode.

59:00Andrew: Thanks, jj. You're the best as well. Better than Tim, actually. Even better than Tim.

59:03Justin: Oh, hands down. Andrew, how can you find us on the social medias?

59:08Andrew: You can find us at the AudPod on TikTok and Instagram and you can find us on YouTube. Just search Theod, pod or Kitchener Rangers in the search bar and we will come up now. So I'm pretty excited about that. You can Google us, you can go to our website to find our. Our podcast episodes. If you want to do that. Theoddpod.com do it. Make it your homepage. Why not? Why not live on the edge.

59:34Justin: Of course. We. We always appreciate it. If you like all of our videos, subscribe, whatever. All the things that, like, follow.

59:42Andrew: Subscribe. Yeah, if you can comment too.

59:45Justin: We love that commenting is so helpful.

59:48Andrew: I know it's annoying that we ask, but if you. We found out even on on TikTok that comments are like 10 times better for the algorithm than likes. So comment, comment, comment. Right now.

60:02Justin: Do it.

60:03Andrew: Comment.

60:05Justin: It can just be an emoji we love.

60:06Andrew: Yes. Or you can tell us we got something wrong. We don't. It's. It doesn't matter. It helps us.

60:11Justin: Yeah.

60:11Andrew: In more ways than one.

60:13Justin: Tell us if you followed the armchair gms.

60:16Clip: Yeah.

60:16Andrew: Make their day.

60:17Justin: Make their day. All right. And Andrew, as always, you can find

60:21Andrew: us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

60:26Justin: See you at the Aud

60:29Clip: Sam.