58: Funky Pickell

0:01Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:03Justin: Second in the OHL power rankings. Now that we're up at top, I'm excited about them again,

0:09Andrew: not quite the top.

0:12Justin: I think we should be at the top.

0:13Andrew: I know.

0:14Justin: Yeah, that's how I feel.

0:15Andrew: Yeah.

0:16Justin: I think the OHL admin also believes that we should be at the top, but they have for political reasons, hymen money, all that business they have to keep Brantford at the top.

0:27Andrew: I think that Branford has probably earned the top spot. Benefit of the doubt a little bit, but I think that gap is closing.

0:34Justin: That gap is closing. Yeah, we're so we're sitting today. We're recording on Tuesday, February 2nd. 3rd. 3rd.

0:42Andrew: 3rd. Yes. Yesterday was Groundhog Day.

0:44Justin: Yeah.

0:44Andrew: Yesterday better not be Groundhog Day again today.

0:47Justin: Isn't that what Groundhog Day is? Is that it just keeps happening over and over and over again?

0:50Andrew: Exactly.

0:50Justin: That's why February is so long.

0:52Andrew: Yeah.

0:53Justin: It's all Groundhog Day as well.

0:54Andrew: It's perfect square this month.

0:57Justin: Yes, I heard. Yeah. For the first time in like 20

0:59Andrew: years, people are one excited about it. And then there's a whole sect of people who are angry and confused that Sunday is the first day of the month. I'm like, like the first day of the week. I'm like, yeah, it is. Well, that's how it works on the calendar.

1:12Justin: Yeah.

1:13Andrew: Yeah.

1:13Justin: We didn't choose it.

1:14Andrew: I don't know if you've ever looked at a calendar before, but that's how it works on the calendar.

1:17Justin: Yeah. Welcome to the AudPod where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the Aud themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. Okay, so back to Rangers. We're doing really well. We're solidly top of the division. London's nine points back from us. We're what, six points away from Brantford, who's sitting still top of the league. Yeah. So we're sort of sitting in fifth.

1:47Andrew: If you compare that to where they were like a month ago. A month and a half ago.

1:51Justin: Yeah.

1:51Andrew: You know, it was double digit points.

1:53Justin: Yeah.

1:53Andrew: Brantford.

1:54Justin: January was an unbelievable month for the Kitchener Rangers and

2:00Andrew: Jack Pridham of course, the OHL Player of the Month for January with 11 games played, eight goals, 12 assists, 20 points and he was plus 14. He had at least one point in 10 of 11 games and he had six multi point performances as of course, the Rangers were surging to the top of the conference standings.

2:24Justin: Yeah.

2:26Andrew: He also had a hat trick and an assist on January 15, of course against Saginaw Spirit, which was the most he had in any single game in the month. And he leads Kitchener in scoring as of right now with 62 points. 31. 31. There's nice symmetry. Speaking of a perfect month. Speaking of February, a perfect month symmetry. 31. 31. 31 goals, 31 assists, 62 points.

2:49Justin: 31 days in January.

2:51Andrew: There you go.

2:52Justin: 2 points per day. Per.

2:53Andrew: 2 points per day. He's on a 2 points per day spree.

2:57Justin: So we got, we got. So Today we have 20 games left after the London game. Tomorrow we'll have 19 games left this season. Yeah. So I don't know. Rangers are doing great. Like.

3:06Andrew: Yeah, well, they're doing rolling what we felt like they were capable of. Of course they've brought in all this extra, extra help.

3:13Justin: These.

3:13Andrew: They've got the reinforcements.

3:15Justin: Championship. Championship. Championship. Championship. Okay, other Rangers news we got to talk about. Committed.

3:26Andrew: Dear Golo, the commitment issue to be found.

3:30Justin: No commitments with Diracolo.

3:32Andrew: Many commitments. Not only one commitment.

3:35Justin: Major commitment.

3:36Andrew: St. Lawrence University. So he is going to the Canadian youth sports route. I'm pretty excited.

3:41Justin: That's cool.

3:42Andrew: Yeah, that's, that's great for him. He hasn't played a ton this year.

3:47Justin: Yeah.

3:47Andrew: But he has played enough, I think, to warrant, you know, playing hockey again moving forward. So I, you know, I would be very excited if I was parents, you know, because I would prefer my child state in this country, but that's just me being selfish.

4:08Justin: Yeah.

4:08Andrew: I'm sure there's going to be a bevy of commitments coming up. I just have a feeling if you

4:12Justin: go back, we haven't really talked about it again because of course we're in championship, championship mode. But we talked about this in our first episode back in January, is that there's like a way too many overagers on our team. So trades and commits and all that sort of stuff is coming. I don't want to think about it. I love this team. I just want it. I just want them to stay together forever. I wanted last year's team to stay again together forever. And you know what? We moved into this year. And again, I'm ready to just. I have no commitment issues because I'm ready to be heard again.

4:41Andrew: You know what it's.

4:43Justin: It's.

4:43Andrew: What's great about it is it. It can only be in the here and now.

4:46Justin: Yeah.

4:46Andrew: And if you're not paying attention, you're gonna miss it. So it's one of those things that like, there's only, like we were saying, what Is there only 19 games left?

4:54Justin: Yeah.

4:55Andrew: You know, at the time of recording, there's only 19 games left. You just have to enjoy these games and the playoff run and whatever comes from it.

5:03Justin: Yeah.

5:03Andrew: Because this is it. This is how it goes.

5:06Justin: This is how it goes. There's always an. There's always a next year.

5:09Andrew: Yeah.

5:09Justin: Okay. But we had. We had. We have three games to talk about. We do. So last week we recorded on Tuesday and then there was a game against Sarnia, which was an awesome game. I mean, I. I almost thought we should hop on and record a little about it because it was so good. Like, I feel bad that it's a week later, but I thought you would all want to relive it a week later.

5:31Andrew: Well, it's true. I think when the things that happened in this game happened and I quickly cut together a couple clips and threw them up on social media, I knew it was an exciting game, but I didn't realize it was like. I mean, we're almost at like 300,000 views on that. On that one clip. On one platform.

5:49Justin: On one platform.

5:50Andrew: So it was. It was definitely exciting. Yes, definitely. There was a story that unfolded in this one.

5:55Justin: Yes.

5:55Andrew: Which is all you want.

5:57Justin: That's. I love a good story.

5:58Andrew: Right.

5:58Justin: That's what we're here for. Oh, yeah.

6:00Andrew: What we're here for is the drama.

6:03Justin: So this was against Sarnia at the Aud At home. The Rangers won 4 to 1.

6:09Andrew: Sure did.

6:10Justin: the end of the first period, there was only one shot on goal by Sarnia Sam O'Reilly they had a rough.

6:15Andrew: Had a rough night in more ways than one. They were out shot 15 to 1 in the first. Let's go to the first period scoring summary. Matthew Laar gets the scoring started with his fifth goal of the season from Weston Cameron and Jack Rham. Little foreshadowing there. Weston Cameron, who's been playing a lot and has been on the score sheet quite a bit.

6:37Justin: I know.

6:37Andrew: I'm pretty excited about it.

6:39Justin: I just love seeing Weston Car.

6:41Andrew: Yeah, he's great. He's awesome. And then Sam O'Reilly about 12 minutes into the period, scored his 16th. He's just been scoring very consistently. Very consistently.

6:53Justin: That was a power play goal, was it?

6:54Andrew: Power play from Christian Humphreys and Cameron Reid and would turn out to be the game winner in the first period.

7:00Justin: Sure.

7:01Andrew: Right.

7:01Justin: Yeah.

7:02Andrew: The second period. Yeah. Not so much. Not so much scoring. No, but not so much scoring involved in this.

7:10Justin: But it wasn't a boring period.

7:11Andrew: It was not a boring period.

7:14Justin: Yeah.

7:15Andrew: 17 minutes into the second period, Mr. Ben Pickle of Sarnia he kind of skated into goaltender Jason Schaubel He got

7:26Justin: himself into a bit of a pickle.

7:27Andrew: Yes. She gave him a bit of a cross check. Unwarranted.

7:31Justin: Uhhuh.

7:31Andrew: There was a little bit of kind back and forth there. You know, Jason Shaw, he took exception. He gave him a shove, and then he gave him another little shove that sent Pickle down to the ice. And Pickle didn't like that. He got up. He. He basically. I mean, it was. It was close to. Basically two hands to the face. It was close to a cross check, but the hands were together, so I guess we're not calling that. It knocked Shabble down and his helmet came off.

7:57Justin: Yeah.

7:58Andrew: Right. And then Shovel was ready to go. Oh, yeah. And what I will say what it looked like to me was Shovel got up and was trying to. Pickles, helmet off. That's what it looked like to me was going down.

8:08Justin: Yeah.

8:09Andrew: And he kind of had him in a bit of a hold. Yeah. And of course, everybody was then on the ice. Everybody on the ice was involved then.

8:18Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Your goaltender gets touched when a goaltender

8:22Andrew: and a player from the opposing team start going at it. Then everybody's going at it.

8:26Justin: I love that Shovel was ready to go, man. Of course.

8:29Andrew: I love everything. Everything about this.

8:31Justin: We've. We've talked to Shabble a few times, and I would have never expected that. And I loved every moment.

8:39Andrew: Here's what I will say is he does come across as a gamer.

8:42Justin: Yeah.

8:42Andrew: Like, I'm not surprised. He's very like, game. He's game. He wants to play. He wants to, like, play a lot of games. He wants to be in there. He's got a certain, like, you know, he's. He's not like the loudest guy. He's not the biggest guy, but he does seem like he's got a bit of that. That little bit of that crazy goalie intensity to him. Like, I think back to, like, being an Oilers fan, I think of, like, players like Dwayne Rolison, who, like, you didn't dare, like, upset that guy because

9:10Justin: there was a bit of a wild

9:12Andrew: streak there where you're like, I don't know, he might just. He might just snap. Like. Yeah, he's a goalie. But so I. I loved the intensity. I loved when. When they broke everybody up and Shovel had some choice words that were definitely

9:26Justin: caught on the broadcast. You know, we don't have the highest quality game stream coming off these games, but we didn't need it to read those lips.

9:34Andrew: No. Yeah. It was pretty obvious what he was.

9:37Justin: And then there was a nice. There was a nice little comment by Sean Favaro on the air saying, I can't tell you what they're saying to each other between the benches.

9:47Andrew: And for the record, we did ask, and all we got back was it was a scene.

9:54Justin: Yeah.

9:54Andrew: So obviously we're gonna ask. And obviously there's some things that are sacrosanct and it's not passed on to the Aud bottom.

10:02Justin: Yeah. But. Yeah.

10:04Andrew: All right.

10:04Justin: Spicy, spicy pickles. So that.

10:06Andrew: That's basically towards the end of the period. So that period ends. Its tensions are high. I can remember texting my buddy and saying, like, I think something really bad is gonna happen between these two teams in the third period. I just had this feeling that there was something gonna happen. I couldn't have imagined what was actually gonna happen and really wasn't that bad.

10:27Justin: No. Marina was pretty tame in the grand scheme.

10:29Andrew: In the grand scheme, everyone.

10:31Justin: Everyone left the ice uninjured.

10:33Andrew: I was exactly. I was a little worried that somebody was going to do something stupid in the third period.

10:38Justin: Yeah.

10:38Andrew: And not necessarily our boys, just in general.

10:41Justin: Yeah.

10:42Andrew: Six minutes into the third, it was time to pay the piper for touching the goalie. Pickle pays the piper.

10:51Justin: Yeah.

10:52Andrew: Pickle picks the pepper to pay the piper.

10:54Justin: Yeah.

10:54Andrew: And he picked the wrong pepper.

10:57Justin: The. The hedgehog himself.

10:58Andrew: He picked.

10:59Justin: Yeah, he picked. He picked.

11:00Andrew: There's a wrong dance partner.

11:02Justin: There was a hedgehog in the pickle patch.

11:04Andrew: Yeah.

11:04Justin: He.

11:04Andrew: He picked the wrong dance partner. I don't know if he thought, well, this guy's only 17, so. Or he's 18 now as of January 1st.

11:11Justin: There you go. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Weston.

11:13Andrew: Ben pickle is 5, 9, £175. Yeah. So I. I don't think there was a dance partner to be picked, but

11:21Justin: he should question a lot of his choices. Yeah.

11:23Andrew: And here's all I'm saying is people. A lot of people on that clip that we posted were like. Or whatever. It's like, no, no, no. This is the bare minimum. Yeah. If you run the goalie or you put hands on a goalie, there's no respect. I'm not giving you respect. I'll give you.

11:39Justin: You.

11:39Andrew: You're back to zero. You're back to neutral because you've paid the price. Anyway, what we're talking about is that he dropped the gloves with Weston Cameron, who comes in at like, six, four. You know, he's. He's not the biggest guy as far as fight, but. But, yeah, he. He.

11:55Justin: He's a rangy guy. Yeah.

11:57Andrew: So he doesn't need much room to.

12:00Justin: Yeah. And do what he does. The ref tried to stop west and Cameron and he just sort of.

12:09Andrew: He waved off the linesman.

12:11Justin: He does. Yes, he does.

12:12Andrew: There is. There is like.

12:13Justin: There is.

12:13Andrew: Don't worry about this. I have to.

12:16Justin: Yeah. I'm doing this. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, he's mine.

12:18Andrew: Yeah. And the Aud took place was exactly what you'd expect if, you know, I would imagine if, if Western Cameron was. Was sent out there to do it. I don't think it was. I think it just all happened.

12:35Justin: I think he chose this.

12:36Andrew: I think it all happened. I think it was. It's the unwritten rules that you knew that you had to pay the piper here.

12:42Justin: Yep. You know, and if, if you're watching on YouTube or on Spotify video, it's probably happening right here and.

12:50Andrew: Yeah. It's just. Let's just Sam

12:56Justin: O'Reilly know.

12:56Andrew: Well, he didn't see a lot of it.

12:57Justin: No.

12:58Andrew: Because he ended up Jerseyed.

13:00Justin: Yeah. When does that happen? No.

13:03Andrew: Yeah.

13:04Justin: And so didn't have that fight strap on Titan. Worse.

13:07Andrew: Is it worse if you can't see them coming or is it just like, I'm just holding on for dear life? Because I think he just, he just. It just at some point it was like, I've accepted this. Someone will save me. At some point, I will be saved. And. And you know, eventually they let it go. They let it go a little bit. And. And then, you know, Weston had a classic Rangers odd moment. That was a great moment in odd history. And I loved the point. The point at. At Jason Schaubel like, I got your back for. You got your back. So what a team building moment. I can't believe how many guys, every single guy was over that box and congratulating Weston and, you know, dab him

13:52Justin: up, taps for a moment, tabs for minutes.

13:54Andrew: That was a. That was a moment for this team.

13:57Justin: And you know, that, that almost felt a little bit like future captain material.

14:03Andrew: Yeah, for sure. That's that, that's those types of moments in. In the Rangers kind of lore that lead to that, I think.

14:09Justin: I think so too.

14:10Andrew: I think that you could see that, you know, hopefully Weston's around, you know, for a couple more years. Yes. You could definitely see a. At least an A on the jersey very soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

14:23Justin: It was a. It was a good moment. Yeah.

14:25Andrew: Good. Good for a character guy like Weston and great for a team building moment for, you know, a team that was. We've said it before on the pod. Kind of got pushed around by some teams earlier in the year. Yeah. And this is definitely not the DNA of this team anymore. It's like night and day. Yeah, it's night and day now. The skill has increased, but so has the grit. So it's this really nice. You'll take it.

14:47Justin: Championship. Championship.

14:48Andrew: And there was hockey to be played in the third period. 14 minutes.

14:52Justin: 14 more minutes.

14:52Andrew: Christian Priest scores his 16th, assisted by Jack Pridham and Sam O'Reilly on the power play, the patented insurance goal. Insurance goal. And then with less than a minute left, cheekily, Cameron Arquette adds one for his 12th of the year. Into the empty net from Sam O'Reilly So Sam O'Reilly also had a whale of game. A goal and two assists.

15:17Justin: Sorry, that was a Western Cameron goal.

15:19Andrew: Sorry. Cameron Arquette.

15:20Justin: Oh, Cameron Arquette.

15:21Andrew: Cameron Arquette.

15:22Justin: The Camerons always the cameras. They can throw you.

15:24Andrew: They will throw you. They will throw you down. They will throw you down. At least one of them will throw you down.

15:30Justin: Yeah.

15:31Andrew: And feed you rights and lefts, as we Sam O'Reilly So this was a dominant win. This was a huge team building win. And ultimately, you know, it's what you wanted to see against a team like Sarnia. Yeah, the power play went 2 for 6. It probably could have scored more. They probably could have scored more the second period. They probably could have scored some. There was some shenanigans going on. Yeah, it got. It got. It was one of those things where I got worried about the foot on the neck thing. Not, not that they were going to ever lose it or, or even give up a goal. I just, I was a little concerned that it was going to end 2 to 1, because it could.

16:07Justin: Yeah, it could have. Yeah. I was also. I was also worried because Sarnia, they, they acted like a team who had nothing to lose.

16:14Andrew: They absolutely have nothing to lose.

16:16Justin: And I was really worried that they especially. Yeah, exactly what you said at the end of the second when, when pickle and shovel started get into it, it was like, this is, this is what causes, like bad decisions to happen where somebody gets suspended. Somebody gets suspended. Well, Weston, Cameron did get suspended because.

16:35Andrew: But that was a scenario.

16:36Justin: That was a fight. Yeah, that was a fight.

16:38Andrew: Exactly.

16:38Justin: Three fight rule. But yeah, but yeah, somebody gets suspended. Somebody does something very stupid with their stick and like, yeah, irrevocably hurt somebody.

16:47Andrew: Somebody slew with somebody or somebody. You know what I mean? Just something stupid. I thought it could happen. It didn't. Thankfully.

16:53Justin: Thankfully.

16:53Andrew: And we made it out With a big team building moment and a win.

16:57Justin: So the next game was the next night for our fourth game in six days against Owen Sound. In Owen Sound. Lots of road trip on this one. It sounded like a hairy bus ride. Even Moose was like, I didn't like that. Yeah. So it was a 3, 2 overtime loss. Kind of felt like a schedule loss. I don't love to blame it on that, but it's also. No, I remember the night before was pretty high energy.

17:25Andrew: When we were talking on the last episode, we talked about how going to Owen Sound is. You can lose this game. Yeah. Like it can happen. Yeah. And I said like as long as, if they, if they can, you know, if they can win the difficult game, then those other games that you need to win, they need to just like they need to split one of the Aud win the other two.

17:49Justin: Yeah.

17:49Andrew: And that's pretty much what happened. That, that's exactly, exactly what happened.

17:52Justin: And they got a point.

17:53Andrew: But they got a point. So the point streak continues. So that, that's good. But yeah, this was exactly the type of like, like you call it a schedule loss. Sam O'Reilly opens the scoring. He gets his 17th of the year. His scoring has gone way up since he's gotten to kitchen.

18:11Justin: Yeah. Which is crazy.

18:12Andrew: So awesome. From Jack Pridham and Christian Humphreys when

18:16Justin: you're playing with those. What a line.

18:19Andrew: Yeah. So that was with nine seconds left in the period. In the first period.

18:22Justin: Yeah. It was a pretty sleepy first.

18:25Andrew: It was pretty sleepy. And it was a sleepy second.

18:28Justin: It was a sleepy sick.

18:29Andrew: Which paled in comparison to how sleepy the third was in a different way.

18:33Justin: Yeah.

18:33Andrew: Cameron Reid got his 11th of the year in the second period from Gabriel Sherrat and Luca Romano, who is, you know, still producing, which is great.

18:42Justin: And got over that slump. He got that goal a couple games ago. Yes, we talked about it last week. He got, he got that goal that he just needed and I think it was a breakaway. And ever since then he's looked at just. He got over the whatever, whatever was ailing him.

18:58Andrew: Yeah. And now he's just on the score sheet.

18:59Justin: He's just there all the time.

19:00Andrew: Yeah. And so it's, it's that patented two goals lead going into the third.

19:05Justin: On the road lead in hockey.

19:08Andrew: Yeah. On the road on, you know, the second of, you know, the back to backs. Yeah. And exactly what happens in this game is what happens. They give up three, two in the third. And then of course, you know, in that wacky overtime, three on three, anything can happen. It was a little bit back and forth.

19:30Justin: There was a couple good goalie moments. Like there were two breakaways going both ways that got, that got stopped.

19:35Andrew: Exactly. They could have won it in overtime.

19:37Justin: Yep.

19:38Andrew: I think three on three, eventually somebody's gonna win it. Yeah. And I, and I kind of felt when the Rangers didn't score on their best opportunity in overtime, I was like, okay. I think it's like, it just feels like they have to lose this game, whatever, get a point, get out of here. That's exactly what happens. There wasn't a lot in this game to talk about, in my opinion. There wasn't a lot of shots, unfortunately from Owen Sound. There was a ton from Kitchener and Trenton Bennett for Owen Sound was the first star of the game.

20:10Justin: Yeah.

20:11Andrew: And we deserved it. I was going to say now we've seen two, two goalies for, for Owen Sound. Matthew Koprowski was the last one. He had two periods where he played really well against the Rangers in the last game.

20:22Justin: I kind of feel like goalies and Owen Sound just have Kitchener's number sometimes. Like we've seen it like not just these two, but also like Carter George had our number and we've, you know, we've seen other goalies over the years that have been this way.

20:34Andrew: I just think that, I just think that like anytime you're kind of, you know, you, you're going into their barn and you're on the back to back, whatever. This is just, it's an easy game to lose. Yeah, it sucks. But they got a point. So it's really not that big of a loss.

20:45Justin: No, not at all.

20:47Andrew: Especially because Owen Sound is not somebody they're dealing with in the standings.

20:50Justin: No, not at all.

20:51Andrew: So I think we just move past this one.

20:52Justin: I think we do too. And then we go to Friday. They finally had two day break. I know Friday they came home and they played Windsor at the Aud And last week in the game recap, I think it was me saying last week. So obviously we just saw Windsor. Like I expect that we will see another tight checking, intense game of two evenly matched teams. I, I, yeah, I can't imagine that it's going to be like a blowout either way. This is, these two teams are too evenly matched for that. But the Aud was a blowout because we won seven to two.

21:28Andrew: Yes. So we, we know nothing.

21:30Justin: Yeah, we know nothing.

21:31Andrew: Which is good.

21:32Justin: I don't know how we beat Windsor 7 to 2. Because Windsor is good. We saw them only last week.

21:36Andrew: Yeah, they're very good. They're very good. However, it does feel like the Rangers might be that team for Windsor. Might be that like, team where it's just kind of this lingering mental block. Like the Sam O'Reilly that we saw that with the Team that Shall Not Be Named. With the Rangers being that kind of mental block team. I think it's starting to feel like maybe the Rangers have Windsor's number and I think that bodes very well because you could see Windsor as early as the second round.

22:06Justin: Yeah.

22:06Andrew: Right. So depending on how things shake out, all the standings finish. Hopefully it's more of a third round thing.

22:14Justin: Yeah.

22:14Andrew: But, you know, or you just gotta, you know, get him out of the way.

22:17Justin: Sean Favaro, I did notice that he was. He spent all of his commercial breaks coming back with. With Ranger scoring overtime goals against Windsor.

22:29Andrew: Yeah, I know this guy.

22:32Justin: Yeah, this, this is the benefit of watching. Like, I, I obviously prefer going to the games. Same in at the Aud But if I have, if I have to watch at home, this is the stuff that makes it okay to watch.

22:43Andrew: I'll never complain about missing a home game because I love the broadcast.

22:48Justin: Yeah, the broadcast is so good.

22:50Andrew: I think we have the best television broadcast in the league and they're definitely the most likable group, for sure. And Sean, if you're really paying attention, Sean always has some sort of little wink and a nod going on and I love it.

23:07Justin: He's really good. He talked to the Windsor, I think the Windsor captain. Now I'm blanking at the first intermission was a great interview. It was very much like there was no trying to goad him into saying anything. He's such a great. He's so professional. Yeah, I can, I can see how if you're watching, it's like. And you are a Windsor fan. Like, generally the broadcast I feel is pretty unbiased. But also Sean was also trolling you.

23:36Andrew: Yes, he has been known to do that.

23:39Justin: So thank you.

23:41Andrew: Follow him on Twitter. You may know that.

23:43Justin: You may know that for sure.

23:44Andrew: Yeah. So let's get into the game summary. Yeah, this was a crazy game, truly. It was shocking, actually, how this one went. Haeden Ellis, five minutes into the first period, basically a bad turnover behind the net. And Haeden Ellis From Cameron Arquette, 10th of the year, goes in. What do we say? Def scoring.

24:09Justin: Yeah.

24:09Andrew: This is exactly what they need against, especially against Windsor. So you get off on the right foot, you're up one nothing on. Kind of a bad goal early.

24:15Justin: Yeah.

24:16Andrew: And that's the other thing too, is like you get those chances and you Bury them. You know it's going to be a good night.

24:20Justin: Yeah.

24:21Andrew: Because sometimes you get those chances and they don't go in.

24:23Justin: You make them. You punish. Jamie's championship punishment.

24:27Andrew: That was not the only goal in the first period. 8 minute, 18 minutes in. Dylan Edwards gets his 26th of the year from Christian Humphreys and Jack Pridham on the power play. That is just a lethal combo. On the power play.

24:39Justin: Oh, yeah.

24:40Andrew: Really truly adding Dylan Edwards to an already like Sam Aureli getting the face off and the Aud then, you know, Dylan Edwards is that extra forward on that power play. That's tough. Yeah, that's tough. And that, that's the crazy thing is. Is it. It was all downhill from here for, for Windsor.

24:58Justin: Yeah.

24:58Andrew: Speaking of Dylan Edwards, he got into a scrap, which was kind of bizarre

25:03Justin: because I don't, I, I want to know how many fights Dylan Edwards has been in. Yeah, yeah.

25:08Andrew: Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he can hold his own, but I just. You. He's. He's a smaller guy for the league. He's a normal size human being.

25:16Justin: Yeah.

25:18Andrew: And he's just got such, you know, good hands and he's an overager. I just, I would be curious to see how many fights he has in his career.

25:26Justin: Yeah, yeah, me too.

25:26Andrew: So he fought with Nathan Villeneuve, who also is. Not necessarily.

25:31Justin: No, it was, it was ticky tacky at that moment. Like they were just, they were just getting under, you know, this is what happens when two top teams see each other two weeks in a row. Just don't. Those two guys were just getting under each other's skin. Maybe there's history that we don't know about, but for sure, in these two games something came to a head in this moment.

25:49Andrew: Both very skilled players and suddenly they were fighting and I was kind of confused.

25:54Justin: I think, actually, I think Jason called the wrong name because he was so in shock that he's like, it must be somebody else.

26:01Andrew: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. All right, so then into the second, very early into the second. A minute and a half into the second, Cameron Reid scores his the Soo he's, you know, he's getting up there. He's, he's, he's been kind of consistently putting up, finding the back of the net as of late from Carson Campbell, which was great and is very.

26:23Justin: Campbell.

26:25Andrew: Carson Campbell from Campbellford. And Christian Humphreys who continues. Maybe something from Humphreysford. What's that?

26:32Justin: Not from Humphreysford.

26:34Andrew: Not from Humphreysford.

26:35Justin: Carson Campbell from Campbellford, but not Christian Humphreys.

26:38Andrew: Humphreyford it was so stupid. I, my brain glitched.

26:42Justin: Yeah. So I had to say it three times.

26:43Andrew: That was the game winner.

26:44Justin: Yeah. Believe it or not. Well, it was. Yeah.

26:47Andrew: Yeah. Because they're up three nothing now.

26:49Justin: But the Rangers aren't done.

26:50Andrew: The Rangers are definitely not done and they're not done scrapping. So 10 minutes into the second period, Carson Campbell gets into a scrap with Jonathan Brown. Carson Campbell actually got a instigator for this, but Jonathan Brown got game misconduct for a cross check. So it was a retaliation to a bad play. Yeah, that and we can probably all avoid. And that's why I don't like the instigator because like, what is he, he's not gonna.

27:19Justin: Yeah, he was right there. He was right there when it happened. He goes in to defend his guy.

27:23Andrew: Like, that's all. It's just, you're never getting that play out of hockey. I, I, I can't imagine.

27:29Justin: Yeah.

27:29Andrew: Unless you ban fighting altogether.

27:31Justin: Yeah.

27:31Andrew: You're not getting that play.

27:32Justin: Yeah. Out.

27:33Andrew: So whatever, you're up three nothing. You take it there. Yeah. Which is fine because the Rangers actually end up on a power play through all of that rough stuff.

27:41Justin: The, the power plays in this game were nuts because there were the, the weird, the weird thing that always happens. I only in ohl. I never remember this happening in NHL where there's two five minute penalties and another penalty. So you play four on four for like two minutes and then they have a three minute power play two minutes after the penalty was called.

28:04Andrew: Yeah. Depends on what it is. Because he had a five minute major four cross check. Yeah.

28:10Justin: For the misconduct.

28:11Andrew: But the Aud that was the thing is then the instigator negates the first two minutes of that.

28:15Justin: Yeah. Oh, I understand why it happens.

28:17Andrew: It's just funny because you never see it in the NHL.

28:19Justin: Yeah. I, I'm like, you never see it,

28:21Andrew: but you easily could.

28:22Justin: It happens all the time in the.

28:24Andrew: Oh, it could happen.

28:25Justin: Yeah.

28:25Andrew: It just doesn't happen.

28:26Justin: No, I understand.

28:27Andrew: It's weird the Aud weird that it doesn't shake down like that in the NHL. I don't know if it's because guys won't get that instigator right away and

28:36Justin: they'll, they're more, they don't call the instigator as frequently.

28:39Andrew: Yeah.

28:40Justin: They almost always call instigator in the ohl.

28:42Andrew: Almost always. Yeah.

28:43Justin: And they, they rare. Like the instigator is rarely called in the NHL.

28:47Andrew: Yeah. It has to be like somebody is like begging for the fight.

28:50Justin: Yeah, exactly.

28:51Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. So then on that power play, Tanner Lam scores his 15th of the year from Luca Romano and Dylan Edwards.

28:58Justin: Yep.

28:59Andrew: So right there, there's your Gordie Howe Hatrick for Dylan Edwards. Gordy Howe Hatrick. Number one.

29:03Justin: Number one. That was. The fact that we're even keeping track is crazy. Yeah.

29:08Andrew: Now before the period's over, they do break the shutout. Anthony Cristoforo, he scores a 16th on the power play. So another power play goal. It was just crazy power plays in this game. But it's 4 to 1 going into the third, so I feel pretty good about this. Yeah. So start of the third period, Haeden Ellis, four minutes into the period gets his second of the game, which is awesome for Haeden Ellis.

29:33Justin: First multi point game of the season I think for.

29:36Andrew: Yeah. From Alexander Bilecki Yeah. Nice to see him on the score sheet. And again Luca Romano on the power play. So this power play, that's the last power play goal that they'd get. They went three for seven. If you go three, four. We were talking about, we were talking about how like 30 is like this lethal, nearly impossible task to get right. And that like 25 is like unreal and you take it any day of the week.

30:00Justin: Yeah.

30:00Andrew: And that like, you know, realistically like 20 is like a, you know, middle decent.

30:05Justin: That's what you want.

30:06Andrew: That's a decent power play. It's totally fine. The fact that they're almost at 50%

30:11Justin: in this game, you're gonna.

30:13Andrew: And. And you had seven.

30:14Justin: Well, they've been, they've been at 30% for the last two weeks.

30:17Andrew: I know, like they've been clicking.

30:20Justin: Yes.

30:21Andrew: So that's five to one. Thirteen minutes into this period, Carson Campbell from Campbellford gets his second of the year which results in the Gordie Howe hat trick from our boy Avry Anstis and Jared Woolley. Good to see Jared Woolley logging points again. And of course Avry Anstis We always celebrate Avry Anstis success. Now they would score another one later on. Both teams would. But before this, Cameron Reid gets a fighting major with Ethan Garden, which you know, Cameron Reid won't drop him often, but when he does, he has a good reason to. So almost a Gordie Howe hat trick because. Because he had a goal earlier in the game.

31:05Justin: He was one assist away.

31:06Andrew: He's one assist away.

31:07Justin: He was on the ice when some goals went in. I. Ohl.

31:12Andrew: Could you yeah.

31:14Justin: We maybe remember, remember when we let Easton Cowan continue his point spree streak. Yeah. Maybe we could have the three Gordie Howe hat tricks in one game.

31:23Andrew: The Gordy Howe hat trick. Hat trick would have been nice.

31:25Justin: Come on.

31:26Andrew: Yeah. So Andrew Robinson scores for the Windsor Spitfires, but then Luca Romano gets his 12th of the year. He's.

31:32Justin: That was a filthy goal.

31:34Andrew: Yeah, it was filthy. And he's off the schneid altogether. He is now, like, he's red hot now again, Avry Anstis and Carson Campbell. So it was great to see all this depth scoring. Like, I just loved it.

31:45Justin: Even Dan when that, when he scored that goal, Dan went, oh, yeah, it

31:50Andrew: was filthy because he is filthy. And that's the crazy thing is that like, like to think, like he's only scored 12 goals this year, but like his year started so phenomenally with that goal, the shootout goal where he was playing with the Islanders in.

32:03Justin: The Islanders. Yeah.

32:03Andrew: And the Aud then, like it's been, like we said, it's been like, you don't want to say disappointing because they're a good team and they're winning and that's really all that matters. Yeah. But he's really turning on and it felt like whatever the funk was, the funk is gone.

32:15Justin: The funk is gone. Yeah, he's fresh. He got some deodorant.

32:19Andrew: Yeah, the funk is gone. All right.

32:21Justin: All right, Andrew, three stars. Who's your third star? Oh, I didn't want to have to go first again.

32:26Andrew: You didn't want to have to go first this time?

32:28Justin: Yeah. So I jumped in there.

32:29Andrew: All right. My third star is the power play.

32:31Justin: Yeah.

32:32Andrew: Because it is just. It's lethal. It could be all three stars because it. It's unstoppable right now.

32:38Justin: Yeah.

32:38Andrew: But I, I wanted to. I wanted to use players for my first and two second star, but I just wanted to say that power play unit. Unreal. All those guys. My third star.

32:47Justin: Yeah.

32:47Andrew: What's your third star?

32:48Justin: My third star, Dylan Edwards. Oh, yeah. So three points in the Windsor game.

32:52Andrew: Yeah.

32:52Justin: No points in the other two games that we talked about. But he had eight shots in three games and six of those eight shots were high danger shots because this guy just drives play all the time. Like he is always creating opportunities. And Dylan Edwards just needed a shutout. Plus he got a Gordy Hatrick. Who's your second star?

33:11Andrew: My second star is Carson Campbell from Campbellford. Yeah. Because this guy works hard every single night. Never stops moving his feet. Always works hard on the puck, on defenders or. Sorry, on. On the opposing team. As a defender. He works extremely hard. It was nice to see him get on the score sheet and get this Gordie Howe hat trick, because that is an iconic moment and, and you know, only so many players get him.

33:35Justin: Yeah, yeah, for sure.

33:36Andrew: He's your second star.

33:37Justin: Well, the, the, the other player who should have got the third Gordie Howe hat trick, Cameron Reid You mentioned last week or a couple weeks ago that we're just lucky to watch Cameron Reid play. There were so many moments in these games where he just destroyed the players he was against. Against Windsor, that goal that he got, he just like the defenseman. That guy needed to go sit in the concussion protocol room for a few minutes because he just broke his brain on that play. And man, Cameron Reid he's unbelievable.

34:08Andrew: Yeah, he's. I always say he's like the point guard with, with the way he dances around on the blue line, the way that he does, like, crossovers and like, it's crazy. It's like, it's like, it's like ball handling as, like, as, like, as like Allen Iverson. That's why I called him AI Right. Like crazy handles. He just deeks you out of your socks and, and, and makes you look silly. Yeah. Makes you feel silly.

34:28Justin: We should all be savoring the moment with Cameron Reid Yes.

34:31Andrew: Yeah.

34:31Justin: And who's your, who's your first star?

34:34Andrew: Got to give it to our boy Weston. Cameron.

34:37Justin: Yeah.

34:38Andrew: Because listen, he's been more involved on the score sheet, but that was one of the best moments of the year. Honestly. I know that there's people who will disagree with me because they want fighting to leave the game and all that kind of stuff, but that was an important thing to do for the team.

34:54Justin: Yeah.

34:55Andrew: And it felt like a big physical turning point for this club's identity.

34:59Justin: Absolutely. Yeah.

35:00Andrew: So it just, it's, you know, what for like to be a fourth line rookie, to step up and have that moment with your goalie and with the, you know, the adversary, the, the adversarial pickle, as it were.

35:12Justin: It.

35:13Andrew: Yeah, you know, that's the. As like I can't say it any better than. And then. Then Jason, the, the pickle jar is closed.

35:20Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Weston was my first star as well. I mean, how could he not? Future leader right there. Well, yeah, already a leader. Yeah.

35:28Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

35:30Justin: All right, so that's our. That's the last week, but now we got more games coming up. So as we mentioned, we're recording on Tuesday night. So tomorrow night, Wednesday is the game versus London in London. Should be an exciting one. I'm not going to try and predict Anything. Because I'm going to get it wrong.

35:46Andrew: Yep.

35:47Justin: So there's that. So previewing games coming up. So Friday, February 6th, we are at home at the Aud against the Guelph Storm. And then on Saturday we head down to Niagara to play the Ice Dogs. And then on Tuesday we're back at home again to play London again. So we're going to skip the London preview because there's going to be a game between now and that one. So if you want to hear us talk about London, we didn't really talk about last week. So you can listen to last week's episode again. And there you go. Book wealth. Yeah, we're. We're 4 and 1 in our season series against them. If the playoffs started today, they would be our first round matchup. So these are, these are important games to keep on. Like, you can see Guelph at the bottom of the standings, but you know, they're. As a playoff matchup, you want to be sizing these guys up.

36:36Andrew: They're intense in Guelph, dude. Like, they're, they're not going to roll over. Like, listen, the Rangers have the firepower to blow the Aud if they want, but the bottom line is, is like. Well, the last time we saw them didn't just roll over.

36:47Justin: All right?

36:48Andrew: So like never do. It's, it's when, when, when you have a young team that kind of, you know, like Jet Lachenko was sold off right to the highest bidder. And you know, it just like it's one of those things where they're not, they're not going to win it, but they also know that. And so that's why they're dangerous.

37:05Justin: Yeah, that's why they're most dangerous.

37:07Andrew: They can go on a run and they can beat. You know, we've seen it as the Rangers as an eighth seed team. You know, we've seen them beat the number one seed and, and, and, and you know, upset what people thought could be, you know, the future OHL champion of a season. So you can't take these guys lightly. I know that the Juice and you know, Jeff Kyrzakos and Brad, they're not going to.

37:32Justin: The Pickle Juice boys. The Pickle. You better.

37:36Andrew: You can call them that. Never get wind. Yeah, if they, yeah, if they ever get wind, that's you that are. You're gonna get stuck stuffed into a pickle jar.

37:49Justin: I think.

37:50Andrew: Yeah. You've already taken a contact from one of them.

37:55Justin: Yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's true. I hear you got suspended for that. No, I'm just kidding.

38:02Andrew: Touching a media member.

38:03Justin: Yeah. Mike. Okay, then. Then we head to Niagara, where we get to see our old friend Jakub Chromiak Yes, we do.

38:15Andrew: Who's who recently scored his 100th point as an.

38:18Justin: Oh.

38:19Andrew: Congratulations to him.

38:20Justin: Seems like he's doing quite well down in Niagara. It seems like they needed him.

38:23Andrew: I think. I think he's gonna do well wherever he goes.

38:26Justin: I think he is, too.

38:27Andrew: Yeah.

38:27Justin: So we've. We've. Because we're an Eastern team, we've only played them once. We beat them six to three. That was a great episode, too, if you want to go back and listen to that one we had Brandon Caputo on talking about. That was the state of the Niagara Ice Dog, so that's always a good one to go back and listen to. Yeah. And the Aud then London. So that's. That's the slate of games for. For this coming up week. We got news from alumni.

38:50Andrew: This is a Jackson Parsons fan podcast. This is actually what this is secretly.

38:55Justin: Yeah, it.

38:56Andrew: Yes. We cover the Rangers. No, I know. I know.

38:58Justin: I just. It's just not right there in the raft.

39:00Andrew: Yeah, exactly. I know. I know. Every pod, we look at it. Yeah.

39:03Justin: We salute it. We give it a moment of silence.

39:06Andrew: Exactly. Exactly.

39:07Justin: We pledge allegiance to the jersey.

39:09Andrew: He had a shutout.

39:10Justin: Yeah.

39:10Andrew: He's back in the echl.

39:12Justin: Yeah.

39:12Andrew: Okay. Because Ottawa has no idea what they're doing with their goalies, which is starting to make me nervous about what's going on. I know, but he was in the ahl. Basically, what I'll say is there was stuff going on with the starter in the NHL. They signed another veteran in the NHL, and then they sent down a guy from the NHL who went to the ahl. Obviously somebody with a lot more experience.

39:33Justin: Yeah.

39:34Andrew: I think there's another goalie. I'm not slandering anybody, but there's another goalie who's like 30 years old in the AHL. I have no idea what he's doing there, rather than Jackson, because Jackson has identical stats. And so I'm. I'm frustrated because I feel like he would just be doing better.

39:49Justin: And did Jackson not have two shutouts in the ahl? Like, did he not have two with the Belleville? He had one for sure.

39:56Andrew: I know he had one for sure in the ahl, and I know he had one in the ECHL as well, so I. But he may have had a second one in the ahl. I'm. I'm old and I'm tired, so. Yeah, I would have to go back and Check. But he's been very good.

40:09Justin: He's been good.

40:10Andrew: And his stats, like, none of the goalie stats on the AHL on that team are like, phenomenal. Yeah, his are right in line with the rest of the team. I think as being a young guy, would much rather see him in the ahl. But whatever he goes down to, the ECHL doesn't skip a beat. Post a shutout right away over the Rapid City rush. He stopped. I saw this. He stopped 34 shots. 34 of 34. And was the first star. And of course, here's a quote from our boy, said, we worked hard tonight to get this win. Rapid City is a team that doesn't quit. But we made the big plays when we had to and got the W. Credit to the boys in front of me that played a solid defensive game. So there you go. Humble as ever.

40:50Justin: Yeah.

40:51Andrew: Yeah. Humble as ever.

40:52Justin: I like that guy. Yep. Apparently.

40:55Andrew: Yep.

40:56Justin: Yeah. All right, well, that's our episode for the week. Of course, we gotta shout out Ken Born director of branding and marketing, Papa

41:04Andrew: Born Thank you very much, Papa Born

41:06Justin: A big shout out to our prodigal producer, Liam, the phenom, who I saw play hockey this weekend.

41:12Andrew: The phenom on and off the ice.

41:13Justin: So if we ever. If we ever. If for whatever reason the AudPod gets called up to play hockey, we will be sending Liam. As in our place.

41:22Andrew: Yeah, in our place.

41:23Justin: Yeah, he is.

41:24Andrew: He has been volunteered.

41:25Justin: Solid, solid two way player. I'm assuming he'll. He'll go in the first round in his draft here.

41:31Andrew: Yeah.

41:31Justin: And I think he's going to win. The selkie. He's.

41:33Andrew: He's okay.

41:34Justin: So very aware.

41:35Andrew: Strong coursey.

41:36Justin: Yeah.

41:36Andrew: Yeah.

41:37Justin: Very Corsi. He was plus two. He had three shots on net. It was only a 30 minute game. 10 minute periods. They don't take any really. Intermission.

41:44Andrew: It's just your hockey player's favorite hockey player.

41:47Justin: Yeah, yeah, for sure.

41:48Andrew: Yeah.

41:48Justin: Yeah. He made his goalie look good that game, so. His goalie was good. But he also helped. So. Good. Good on you, Liam. Great, great game.

41:56Andrew: We expect the highlight tapes, the, the, you know, the. The sizzle reel.

42:01Justin: Yeah.

42:01Andrew: You know, in the next couple of years.

42:02Justin: Yeah, we'll post it. Yeah, we'll post it. When. When we get it, we'll post it.

42:06Andrew: And we'll be taking 15%.

42:10Justin: Poor guy hasn't started making a dime yet. Each. He's still playing. He's still paying to play hockey.

42:17Andrew: Well, so we owe him.

42:19Justin: Yeah, for sure. We owe him money. Yeah. But you know, Liam, just so you know, we got. We helped get Jackson Parson drafted with our.

42:28Andrew: So listen, it was. Speaking of 15%. It was 85%.

42:32Justin: Jackson Parsons.

42:33Andrew: It was 15%.

42:34Justin: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

42:36Andrew: I'm standing by it.

42:37Justin: I am taking that 15% and pretending it's 100%.

42:40Andrew: Okay, listen, we put 100% into the 15%.

42:45Justin: Yes. Oh, math is hard. Thank you to the Kitchener Public Library for hosting us again this week.

42:50Andrew: Our home away from home.

42:52Justin: And Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, fix this. Yeah, make this all better. Tim, thank you for editing our episodes, making us sound good. Writing, producing, creating, producing again. Reproducing, Triple producing, reproducing. Yeah. Well, he's got two kids. He did do that.

43:14Andrew: He did do that a couple times.

43:16Justin: Yeah. Between the three of us, we have four kids. That's true. Yep. And. But thank you for that. And a special thank you to JJ for doing our voiceover at the beginning of the episode.

43:26Andrew: Of course.

43:27Justin: And Andrew, how do you find us on the social medias?

43:30Andrew: You can find us at theaudpodcast, on TikTok and Instagram, and you can Google us or search us in the YouTube search bar, Theod Pod or Kitchener Rangers. We come up.

43:40Justin: Yep. And if your home screen isn't theaudpod.com The AudPod AudPod theaudpod.com if it's not, it should be. So fix that.

43:54Andrew: Yes.

43:54Justin: Yeah. And you can email us and you can hello@theaudpod.com theaudpod theaudpod.com and Andrew, as always, you can find us at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. See you at the R.