61: Brad Boys II

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Wanna talk the Olympics?

0:04Andrew: Actually I do.

0:04Justin: I have a lot to say about the Olympics. We're gonna get pretty political Olympics.

0:08Andrew: Nope.

0:09Justin: Welcome to the AudPod where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. What you just heard.

0:24Andrew: A very special person. The birthday girl.

0:27Justin: The birthday girl.

0:27Andrew: Jj.

0:28Justin: Happy birthday.

0:29Andrew: Happy birthday.

0:30Justin: We're not go. That would be bad.

0:32Andrew: Yeah, that'd be less of a birthday present curse, I think.

0:37Justin: Yeah. But big, big happy birthday to our dear friend jj who of course does our voiceover at the beginning. Yes, absolutely. Long time listeners will know that there was a mysterious man who may or may not have been Andrew that did the voice. The voice pitch down voice who did our intro for. For the first 30 or so episodes. Yeah. And then JJ sent us a video of her doing it and then we asked if use it once. And the Aud stayed. It stayed because it was better. It was so much better.

1:08Andrew: It is better.

1:08Justin: I love it.

1:09Andrew: Yeah.

1:09Justin: And then we got a new theme song. It was great. Like it was all just like a

1:12Andrew: whole all come together.

1:14Justin: Yeah.

1:14Andrew: We're big time now.

1:15Justin: We are.

1:16Andrew: Y.

1:16Justin: This is episode 61, Andrew. This is like. We've done a lot of these.

1:20Andrew: Yeah.

1:20Justin: Yeah.

1:22Andrew: Which is fitting because it's a. It's a rough and tumble episode.

1:25Justin: It is.

1:26Andrew: We've got lots of themes of, of suspensions and, and all that sort of thing.

1:32Justin: But before we get there, maybe we should talk about. So Friday night was. I don't even know what this is called. Do you know what it's called? The jersey competition. The like kids jersey competition.

1:41Andrew: I don't know officially what it's called, but it's a. Like to design the jersey. Yeah. So you design a jersey if you're a kid in the community. You can, you can submit your mock up of the Rangers jersey and somebody gets selected and then they actually, they make actually play with it all.

1:58Justin: Yeah. And Friday night we got it and it was the. Aud was a white jersey with the soldier image of. In blue. I think it was like so sick. It was like a great combo. Really reminiscent of the Remembrance Day.

2:12Andrew: Yeah.

2:12Justin: And the Aud was like splatter painted in red and blue which was.

2:16Andrew: Yeah. Like a Jackson Pollock or something.

2:18Justin: Yeah.

2:19Andrew: Right. Yeah, it was, it was pretty sick.

2:20Justin: I really liked it.

2:21Andrew: I loved it. I. I actually, I actually said to a few people like, you know, obviously they're probably not going to do the splatter paint for more than just like an event, an exciting, fun Cool thing. But I was like, I really dig the Aud the Aud soldier look. Yeah, white. The, like the. Aud I know it's not necessarily away jersey in the ohl because it kind of switches at. At Christmas Tommy Kut let's just call it away, like the, like white away look with the soldier be awesome. And the red and blue. I was like, I really like that.

2:53Justin: And the Aud then you know what that leads into. We could have a whole new third jersey because we get. We get the soldier regularly. We get the classic New York Rangers. Rangers design. Yeah. And then, you know, there's. I think there's some great artists in this community who could come up with a pretty sick third jersey.

3:13Andrew: That would be cool. Now that'd be a really cool competition. I think, just to open up to the community.

3:17Justin: I mean, shout out to civilian too, because we know that M over there could probably whip up a pretty awesome jersey. Yeah.

3:25Andrew: If you're listening, could you just. Could you just make us one in your spare time?

3:29Justin: Yeah. For exposure. I'm still. We're making that up. Don't do that. No, but I'm paid for all your art. I really still want one of the warm up jerseys that I don't. I don't. I. I'm. I'm probably gonna bid on one.

3:40Andrew: Yeah, I know, but I just want the Remembrance Day one. I bid on them.

3:45Justin: Yeah.

3:45Andrew: And the Aud then I logged back in and I was like, they're sort.

3:47Justin: They're.

3:47Andrew: How much?

3:48Justin: Yeah, the Soo good. Sorry. That's.

3:51Andrew: That's too much for me.

3:52Justin: Rangers. Give me a jersey. Just give me one. All right.

3:57Andrew: I. I will pay at cost.

4:00Justin: I'll take. I'll take the Evan Headrick one. Okay. I'll take the Oscar Hemming There you go. Okay. Give it to us. Give it to us.

4:08Andrew: I know it's somewhere.

4:10Justin: We know it exists.

4:11Andrew: It's somewhere in there.

4:12Justin: You can't auction those.

4:13Andrew: No, you can't. No.

4:14Justin: So auction AudPod.

4:16Andrew: AudPod. That's right.

4:18Justin: Andrew, another thing that we need to talk about. We talked about it two, two or three weeks ago. The goalie controversy.

4:26Andrew: Yeah. I tell you, the only controversy is we have an abundance of good goaltending. Yeah. Yeah. And. And people should be jealous. That's the controversy.

4:35Justin: That's the controversy. All the other teams in the league should want. What we have.

4:39Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Is a tandem that you can throw out there and they can help you win any given night.

4:45Justin: Literally any game. Either of them.

4:47Andrew: Absolutely.

4:48Justin: I have full confidence in this tandem going into the playoffs. I feel great. Kirsch might be a little bit of, like, he likes the bigger games. Yeah. He plays well against hard teams, like.

5:01Andrew: Yeah, I agree.

5:02Justin: Maybe that's kind of his thing.

5:03Andrew: It kind of feels like that middle of the pack team might be a little bit of his kryptonite right now, where it's, like, it's not as big of a game and maybe there's a little less adrenaline, you know, and it seems like when. When it's like the. You. The big, you know, Goliath coming to town. He's on his game and just looks really good and. And shabble. Like, we've just said it over and over. He doesn't get as many starts and he goes longer between starts.

5:29Justin: Yeah.

5:29Andrew: But, like, legitimately, he is a gamer.

5:34Justin: Yeah.

5:34Andrew: He's ready for those starts when he gets them.

5:36Justin: Okay, we got a little bit of a scheduling thing to talk about here. So next week, no AudPod.

5:44Andrew: No AudPod.

5:45Justin: I know. I know it's hard. We. We didn't take a break last year, but I'm going on vacation. Yeah. And, you know, we're kind of in the dog days of the season here, so I just feel like.

5:55Andrew: I just feel like we'll be better for a break.

5:57Justin: Yes.

5:58Andrew: We'll come back refreshed.

5:59Justin: We'll come back.

5:59Andrew: This is our all star break.

6:01Justin: Yes. Yeah. Our Olympic break is now.

6:03Andrew: Yeah.

6:05Justin: Justin gonna go swim somewhere and Andrew gonna probably shovel snow.

6:10Andrew: I'm gonna take care of my pregnant wife.

6:13Justin: She pregnant?

6:13Andrew: Yeah. This is a big reveal here on the AudPod.

6:16Justin: Are we putting this on the.

6:17Andrew: Yeah, why not?

6:18Justin: 18.

6:18Andrew: 18 weeks.

6:19Justin: Oh, nice. Congratulations.

6:21Andrew: July 25th.

6:22Justin: Hey.

6:22Andrew: I was like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna work this in here.

6:24Justin: DAudPod two.

6:25Andrew: Dodd pod two.

6:26Justin: Yeah.

6:27Andrew: Dodd fathering.

6:28Justin: The. Dodd fathering. Yeah. The record. The double doddfather.

6:32Andrew: Yeah.

6:33Justin: It's really good that you managed to schedule that, like, right in the middle of the offseason.

6:38Andrew: Oh, yeah.

6:38Justin: Exactly. So what's the plan? Good work. Exactly. Yeah. We'll be hot and ready for September. This is great.

6:44Andrew: Exactly. Exactly. Won't miss a. Won't miss a game.

6:48Justin: Congratulations, man. Thanks, man. Congratulations, Jess.

6:51Andrew: Yeah. There you go.

6:52Justin: And Quinn revealed on the AudPod. On the AudPod.

6:56Andrew: I was going to do it to my parents, too.

6:58Justin: I was.

6:58Andrew: I was going to, like, this is how I was going to do it, but I couldn't do that.

7:02Justin: Yeah.

7:02Andrew: Yeah.

7:03Justin: That's probably for the best.

7:04Andrew: Yeah.

7:04Justin: Yeah, yeah. Next week we're off. So what. What's happening here is that we're in the. The. Okay. We're recording on Tuesday night. There's a game tomorrow on Wednesday against Guelph. After that game against Guelph, which is Friday, which is the day you're obviously listening to the AudPod. Of course, Friday is when Everybody listens. There's 10 games left in the season. Yeah, we're. We're really at the end of the season. Like, we, you know, March is coming up in three days and that. That's the last month of the regular season. Like, it's not even the whole thing that go. I know this season I feel like

7:42Andrew: just playing Brantford with like no players.

7:44Justin: With no players.

7:45Andrew: Like. Yeah, yeah. There was like. There was like eight players.

7:47Justin: It was like 40 degrees out. We were in the Aud Like, what happened?

7:51Andrew: Here we are in March.

7:52Justin: In March. So it was quick. Yeah. This is the end of the season. So this week we only have two games. To recap, Like I said, we're recording on Tuesday. Wednesday is the game against Guelph. So we'll record that in two weeks when we're back.

8:04Andrew: We will.

8:05Justin: So. Yeah. February 20th, Windsor home game. We won three to nothing.

8:11Andrew: Oh, yeah, we did, Andrew. That's right.

8:14Justin: How this scoring summary. Yeah.

8:17Andrew: Scoring summary for one team.

8:18Justin: Am I right? Remember when we previewed this and we were like, yeah, just run it back the Sam O'Reilly you played against Ottawa.

8:26Andrew: Yeah.

8:26Justin: And they did. And they did.

8:29Andrew: There was no scoring in the first period. There was some good back and forth play and there was some.

8:34Justin: It was.

8:35Andrew: I will say Kitchener out shot them 10 to 7.

8:37Justin: Yeah.

8:38Andrew: But they both had some solid chances in the first period.

8:40Justin: 10 to 7. I feel like that's a. They were both playing defensively well. Like this was well matched.

8:45Andrew: Yes, absolutely. They're. Both teams had power play chances. The. The Rangers actually had three power play chances in the first period and couldn't get anything going.

8:57Justin: Yeah, the. Unlike them. Yeah.

9:00Andrew: The Spitfires had one chance in the first period on the power play and couldn't get anything going. Much to the credit of Christian Kirsch, who was a phenomenal star in this game.

9:11Justin: Obviously, like also Costanzo, we should shout him out because he played unreal in this game. Like, he let in two, but like

9:17Andrew: he definitely giving props to Costanzo.

9:19Justin: Yeah.

9:20Andrew: However, in the second period, early in the second period, Weston Cameron deflected a Alexander Bilecki shot from the point. Very nice deflection standing in front using that big body and.

9:33Justin: Oh, he was getting crotch checked to the. I like he was falling down and deflected this into the.

9:37Andrew: Yes, he was. He was. He was getting pushed out of the way, that's for sure. Yeah. And he's so strong and such good eye, hand. Eye that. He tipped that like he. He just fought for that goal even the Aud was a deflection.

9:49Justin: Yeah.

9:50Andrew: Tanner Lam with the secondary assist. Of course, that's actually your game winner, right?

9:54Justin: Yes. Crazy.

9:56Andrew: That's what happens when you stop them all. Had a goal early in the period and we have a goal late in the period. I love it when it's for the Rangers. Dylan Edwards scored his 31st of the year from Jared Woolley and Sam O'Reilly You got to love the combination of new blood there. Yeah. With the patented insurance goal hold for sponsorship. And then of course, in the third

10:17Justin: period, we got to talk about that goal a little bit like. Oh, we do, we do. Like that. That.

10:20Andrew: That was a. That was. That was a. A great goal. This was the goal where it was.

10:25Justin: It was like a. It was like a no look pass by Woolly.

10:28Andrew: Yeah.

10:28Justin: To Edwards and like Edwards got every piece of that puck.

10:33Andrew: This was. This was such a nasty piece of highlight film for. For Dylan Edwards. It was like a. A Oetkin o. That. Yeah. Basically he was set up in that perfect spot. If the puck had a family, it doesn't anymore. It got slammed home and. And yeah. Jared Woolley had a beautiful cross ice pass. Yeah. And yeah, it's just. I think my favorite part of that goal, even though that was picture perfect one time action, was Dylan Edwards sick Sally. Where he like raises both his arms and then puts it down and. And the one leg comes up.

11:13Justin: Yeah.

11:14Andrew: And he's like screaming.

11:15Justin: Yeah.

11:15Andrew: It's just such a moment. Like, that was just. It was just. It was just like pure, like. Yes. Like, could you. Could you see how sick that was? Like, because I was thinking, oh, yeah, I'm feeling that in my bones. Where he's just like. Yeah, like, I love that kind of raw emotion.

11:31Justin: You can't fake that. No.

11:32Andrew: And even you think sometimes when you score 31 times that, like, maybe it doesn't. But they just love beating Windsor.

11:38Justin: Yeah.

11:38Andrew: I think it's just like, like I said, like they. They know what these guys are saying in interviews. Like, you know, I posted the clip with Liam Greentree talking about from the. That his one goal is to beat Kitchener this season or one of his goals. I should say, not just one goal, better goals. One of his goals. One of his goals is to be Kitchener this season. I Guess he still has a chance. Well, and Ethan Belchert's echoed those statements before this game. It's starting to feel like maybe Kitchener is the team that we said they were for. Windsor.

12:10Justin: Yeah. It's just.

12:11Andrew: They just have it in their heads. Right. Because don't get me wrong, Windsor is fantastic hockey.

12:16Justin: They're a really good hockey team.

12:16Andrew: Really, really good hockey team, for sure. Moving into the third period, we did get an empty netter. Christian Humphreys, which is great, gets his 23rd from Jack Pridham, which gets those guys on the score sheet, which is good because those guys are in that top 10 in scoring. And. And we want, you know, we want those point totals to keep going up.

12:35Justin: Yep. There was. In the third period. There was a goal that did not happen.

12:41Andrew: There was.

12:42Justin: Which was really interesting. The goal, the referee. So the. There was a shot. I don't even know who took the shot. There was a shot on goal. It hit the post. From the ref's angle, it looked like it went in. And I did. I totally see where he saw it from because we were on that same side. Like, watch. Because I was at home watching on the broadcast. Sure. It looked like it went in. Totally. Jason called it too. Like, it looked like the. The referee was very emphatically saying goal. All the players were confused. Yeah. Yeah. All the players who saw it didn't go in. Yeah. Then the Rangers sort of have half heartedly, like celebrated. Sell it, I guess.

13:18Andrew: But it was also kind of like, you could just tell that they were like.

13:20Justin: Yeah, something was off. Yes. Yeah.

13:22Andrew: Yeah.

13:22Justin: But it was. That was a interest. It's interesting to see referees go back on their calls. I just. I'm not used to that.

13:29Andrew: Yeah.

13:31Justin: At least.

13:32Andrew: At least this referee could count. Yeah.

13:34Justin: What happened at the end of this game, Andrew? There was a little bit of a. Something happened. I don't even know. The broadcast did not show it at all, but we just saw the results.

13:43Andrew: I actually read. Read an article in. In the Record that basically recounted that nothing really happened. There was interviews with the coaching staff that. And Mike McKenzie that said, like, I. We legitimately do not know what was. There was an exchange. Yeah. Between Brad Flynn and. And the referee, Birchell.

14:03Justin: Yeah.

14:03Andrew: Who. There is a history there.

14:04Justin: Yeah.

14:05Andrew: Okay.

14:05Justin: Yeah.

14:06Andrew: There is a history with the Rangers coaching staff and this particular official. Okay. Jeff Grisco has actually got tossed by this official and had the mandatory two games. Like it's an automatic two game suspension if you get tossed as a coach.

14:18Justin: Yeah.

14:19Andrew: And basically what was said was we don't know what actually happened because there wasn't even. There weren't even curse words.

14:27Justin: Right.

14:28Andrew: So I have no idea what's going on there. But this ref, I. All I'd say to Brad is get your money's worth next time, buddy.

14:40Justin: Yeah. Because he not only got tossed from the game, he got suspended.

14:43Andrew: It's a man. It's a. It's an automatic suspension.

14:45Justin: If you get.

14:46Andrew: If you get a game misconduct as a coach, it's an automatic two game suspension. You know, and it's very strange because it was with 19 seconds left.

14:54Justin: I know. And dear Colo also got tossed from the game in this moment. Same.

14:59Andrew: At the same. Same. Same time stamp.

15:01Justin: And yeah, it's really unclear. Like there was something weird. Like there was a hit. Like there was. There were. It wasn't like it came out of nowhere. Like there was stuff happening.

15:11Andrew: There was stuff happening, but like it

15:12Justin: got chippy, it got whatever.

15:14Andrew: Nothing. Like it wasn't like, you know, the end of like an eerie game last year or the end of a saginaw

15:19Justin: game last year or an eerie game that we're going to talk about in about three minutes.

15:22Andrew: Exactly. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it was very strange.

15:26Justin: Yeah.

15:27Andrew: I don't. I think if. If there's personal things, you got to set those aside. I don't know.

15:32Justin: I don't know.

15:32Andrew: I don't know what the deal is with this official. The only reason I sent him by name is because he was named in, in the record and, and, and there is a history there.

15:41Justin: Yeah.

15:41Andrew: I don't, I don't know what the deal is, but like, maybe you gotta, you know, put that aside.

15:47Justin: Yeah.

15:48Andrew: Yeah.

15:49Justin: Then we went down the road to Erie where we won 3 to 1 against the Erie Otters.

15:57Andrew: This was a shovel game.

15:58Justin: This was a shovel game.

16:00Andrew: And of course a Noah Erled in game. He's a great goalie.

16:03Justin: He's great.

16:03Andrew: He always stands on his head.

16:05Justin: Poor guy. Okay, what's the deal with Erlodin? Is he overager? Where is he at in his development?

16:10Andrew: He's a 2005 baby, so he is an overager. He's a 2024 import draft, first round import draft out of Sweden.

16:17Justin: Okay.

16:18Andrew: He has experience at the junior at the world junior level with Sweden. But yeah, I'm. I think a team will probably invite him to camp this year. Yeah, he looks really.

16:30Justin: If he's undrafted, that's.

16:31Andrew: He's undrafted, so he looks really good. I'm. He.

16:33Justin: Yeah.

16:34Andrew: I'm keeping an eye on Noah earlyden Because he has been nothing short of phenomenal all the time. Just standing on his head.

16:39Justin: This poor guy plays for eerie.

16:42Andrew: But, yeah, that's not. Not a great situation.

16:45Justin: I feel like anybody that was in for Carter George at the end there probably should have gone for early.

16:50Andrew: No, that's actually a good point. But the problem is with him being an overager, so hard to find.

16:54Justin: It's so hard to fit him in, especially if you're like.

16:56Andrew: And he's an import. So. Import overager. He's probably kind of, like, locked into.

17:00Justin: Yeah. Niagara took Chromiak, so that was probably the only slot left. Imagine. Imagine the draft pick they would have given up for early.

17:16Andrew: 14 draft picks.

17:17Justin: Sorry, Brandon.

17:21Andrew: Yeah.

17:23Justin: Okay. Yeah. So Erie Erledin. Insane scoring summary.

17:27Andrew: Yeah. Scoring wasn't insane to start the game because one minute and 12 seconds into the game, Sam O'Reilly the man with the most shorthanded goals in the OHL, had his 24th tally of the season from Dylan Edwards and Cameron Reid on the power play.

17:45Justin: Not a shorthanded goal. Powerful goal. I got really confused where you were going with that.

17:50Andrew: I was just saying he has the most shorthand.

17:51Justin: He does have the most shorthand goal. I was like, we were shorthanded. I thought we were on the power.

17:56Andrew: I just saw that graphic today and I was just like, yeah, that's because. You know who has, like, the second most.

18:02Justin: Jack. Yeah. Because they didn't play on the same team.

18:06Andrew: Turns out you do not want to go on the power play against the Rangers.

18:09Justin: Yeah. Fun. Yeah.

18:11Andrew: So, okay, so moving on to the second period. We didn't have scoring right away. We didn't. We didn't get on the score sheet until about halfway through this period. Yeah. However, something did happen very early on in this period. Yeah. And Julius Sarri took advantage of a opponent. One of the Rangers coming into the offensive zone. Basically, it was a pass that was received by Christian Humphreys. Humphreys received the pass, was in a very vulnerable position.

18:39Justin: Yep.

18:40Andrew: I don't think this is a case of, you know, there's a lot of people who are always like, keep your head up. This is literally just one of those where it was a predatory hit because you knew the play was going there and he was already committed to that hit. And you know what? If he can make contact with that hit and not go like, what looked like. Now, I haven't gone in and tried to zoom in and see point to contact, enhance, but. Yeah. But it looked like elbow to head to me.

19:08Justin: That's what it Looked like.

19:09Andrew: Right. Looked like chicken wing to head maybe was forearmed ahead, but it's still principal point of contact was ahead and, and, and Humphrey is a little bit smaller of a player.

19:17Justin: Y.

19:17Andrew: So you still have the responsibility. It was vicious. I thought that Humps was in trouble.

19:23Justin: I. Well, the way he fell and slid across the ice. Yeah.

19:27Andrew: I thought he was in trouble.

19:28Justin: It looked bad. Yeah.

19:29Andrew: I thought, I thought, I thought we were going to be missing Humps.

19:31Justin: Yeah, I did too.

19:32Andrew: That was. My first guttural reaction was just like, oh no, he's hurt.

19:37Justin: And the refs didn't call it immediately.

19:41Andrew: Yeah.

19:42Justin: And then Humps was on the ice.

19:44Andrew: Yeah.

19:44Justin: And so then they called a five minute major to review it. Yeah.

19:49Andrew: And I, I understand that I'm, I'm

19:51Justin: okay with that as a, as a, as a course of action.

19:53Andrew: Yeah.

19:54Justin: What I was not okay with was then the very small eerie crowd booing the refs for reviewing it because there was obviously an injury or a potential injury because he was down. He did get back, but in that moment he was down. Yeah.

20:12Andrew: I don't remember any like, you know, cheering because he stood up either. Like. No, it was, it was a bad vibe. My bottom line is like, like we've seen, we've seen players on, on the Rangers make big hits.

20:25Justin: Yep.

20:25Andrew: You don't want people to get injured. If people, if someone gets injured, you got. There's a certain decorum I think involved of. You're not going to boo the call.

20:34Justin: Yeah.

20:34Andrew: Especially if you can just watch it. Now. I, I don't know what the Soo in arena, so I can't, I can't. Sometimes in arena they won't review. They won't replay on an injury. Yeah. So maybe they didn't see it or, you know, I. The play, the puck was there. So I don't know how the officials didn't see it and they didn't see it and I have no idea. But benefit of the doubt there aside. Yeah. That was, it was the booing. You know, he obviously got cracked in the head. Like it was pretty obvious.

21:05Justin: Now I know this might seem

21:08Andrew: rich

21:09Justin: coming from me because we did post a clip last year of the Aud singing refs.

21:15Andrew: You suck.

21:16Justin: To We Will Rock youk. But the. That was obviously more of an organic moment that came about. Yeah. The Sweet Caroline refs. You suck. That everybody seemed to know immediately. Yeah. I'm a little concerned about the eerie fans down there. Like, what. What are you guys on about? Like you have, you have a predisposed song for Your refs. You suck Chair.

21:39Andrew: I think they're on. On last place.

21:41Justin: Yeah. I think that's what they're.

21:42Andrew: They got a little. A little too much time on their hands to come up with creative refuse.

21:46Justin: Suck. Yeah. So. Yeah. Anyways, I, I didn't, I didn't love. I didn't love the vibes in this game after that.

21:54Andrew: No.

21:54Justin: I got. I actually got a little pissed off and didn't watch it all live after that.

21:58Andrew: I found it a little odd that nothing happened in the moment on the ice.

22:03Justin: Yeah.

22:03Andrew: After that I. I did find. I did. I did have a bit of a. Usually even if, like we've talked to Babs before, even if you don't know if it was a clean hit or anything like that, usually if you see your guy laid out.

22:16Justin: Yeah.

22:16Andrew: You're gonna go over and try and like, you know, hack them or start something or whatever or just.

22:21Justin: Yeah.

22:21Andrew: Be.

22:21Justin: Be nearby.

22:22Andrew: Be like, you know, kind of like have some sort of pushback a little bit. Right. I do understand that. You know, you've got like the offensive Jack Pridham That's who's out there is that line. They don't want to get their hands dirty. I don't want them to get their hands dirty. It's like I'm glad it didn't happen because it benefited them long term that nothing happened and Humps was okay. And then there's no like suspension for trying to get revenge or anything like that.

22:48Justin: Yeah.

22:48Andrew: But I do hope that if they're in a, in a seven game series with an actual contender, obviously.

22:54Justin: Yeah.

22:55Andrew: Not like Erie. So I guess maybe that's why it was a bit less of a. Like we're not gonna play into this because these guys have nothing to play for.

23:02Justin: Yeah.

23:03Andrew: Is that, you know, you'll go out and maybe get a pound of flesh in a seven game series early. Like if the Soo starts running around, stop them.

23:11Justin: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

23:13Andrew: Because we have guys who can do that now.

23:15Justin: Yeah. For sure.

23:15Andrew: So that I'm not criticizing anybody who's on the ice because like I said, I don't want those types to engage in that. I don't think it benefits anybody. But I was, I did find it curious. I was like, is it because Brad is.

23:28Justin: Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Oh, if Brad had been there, he would have got a three game suspension. Yeah.

23:36Andrew: Nobody. Nobody was sent out

23:41Justin: that that's what was missing. Yeah. So as long as we have Brad for playoffs, we're fine.

23:45Andrew: As long as.

23:46Justin: Yeah. And that ref that he is a beef which isn't on our.

23:49Andrew: Yeah.

23:50Justin: Yeah. That could be a problem.

23:51Andrew: That could be a problem.

23:52Justin: Okay. But the. The little thing that I was. You know, I. Okay. There was no on ice pushback. But then there was a five minute major penalty that was do out for this and we didn't score like it. There was like a.

24:05Andrew: There's a little bit of like a. A drop in intensity. Right. In the sense of like I'm like if you're not gonna. Yeah. If you're not gonna go over and give the guy a hack or give him a little cross check or.

24:14Justin: Or. Or make him suffer in another way

24:16Andrew: or try and drop the gloves. It's like you got to score on that five minute major.

24:20Justin: Yeah.

24:21Andrew: Thankfully Erie's is hopeless. So they didn't need to. They do score on the power play. Eleven minutes into the game, into. Sorry. Into the period. And Dylan Edwards gets his 32nd. Another power play goal. And the game winner from Jack Pridham and Cameron Reid The power play. I know.

24:43Justin: You know, I mean these were all power play goals.

24:44Andrew: I was gonna Sam O'Reilly know. The power play went 0 for 3 against Windsor. Windsor is very, very good on the. On the penalty kill.

24:50Justin: And also they have best in the league.

24:51Andrew: And. And also Costanzo is probably their best penalty killer.

24:54Justin: Yeah.

24:54Andrew: But kitchener does go 3 for 7 on. So they turn around and almost hit 50% against Erie to get back on track. Yeah. Literally 45 seconds later, Jack Rham scores his 36th of the season from Dylan Edwards and Humps. So Humps is okay. You know, like he's raised. Factoring right in. Yeah, that's that for the second period. I don't think there's anything else that I wanted to. There was a fighting instigator that was handed out to Gabriel Sherrat in the second period. Things got chippy here. Luke Plant also got an instigator for Eerie there. There was obviously. And a misconduct. There was obviously a lot of chippiness going on in this second period. And yeah, this is. You know, they got a. They got a bench miner as well. Like the Rangers in this.

25:54Justin: There was.

25:55Andrew: There was a lot of weird stuff that happened throughout the rest of the game. I felt like. Yeah. Without Brad. I felt like the officials lost a little control in this game.

26:03Justin: Yes.

26:03Andrew: And what I'll say is sometimes like it's. It's hard when you've got a good team and a bad team. I'll give the officials the benefit of the doubt there that it is hard because you've got one team that is kind of can goon it up and you've got one team that's kind of like, well, we're not gonna be pushed around. But also, why am I getting engaged with you? And you. That's why you have to just start sending guys to the box. Yeah, I didn't really see that happen until things had already kind of got off the rails a little bit. Thankfully, nobody got hurt. So, yeah, ultimately, I'm not complaining.

26:32Justin: Let's take that as a.

26:33Andrew: We'll take that as a win. They did break the shutout in the third period.

26:37Justin: Yeah, so it goes.

26:38Andrew: Yeah, so it goes. That was pretty much my only. The only downside of this game.

26:44Justin: It was a fine goal. Like, it was. It wasn't one of those ones where you.

26:46Andrew: No, it was like.

26:47Justin: It was good.

26:48Andrew: It was fine. I just. I just felt bad because I thought. I thought that we were gonna get that double shutout weekend again, and I thought shovel played well enough to deserve it. So is what it is. I'll take one goal over two games.

27:00Justin: Yeah, me too. Three stars of the weekend. Three. Three stars of the weekend. Andrew, who's your third star?

27:11Andrew: My third star is Dylan Edwards. So Dylan Edwards had probably one of my favorite goals and favorite Sollies of the year, and he factored in. In the game winner in the second game. No, that was the second game. Sorry. The first game he had the insurance goal, and then in the second game, he had the game winner against Erie. So he is my third star. Who's your third star?

27:34Justin: Mine is Avry Anstis You know, he's playing on the fourth line, but in these two games, he had six shots on goal, and five of them were counted as high danger.

27:45Andrew: Oh, okay. Okay.

27:46Justin: And, you know, he looked really good. Yeah, okay, maybe he didn't get any points, but, you know, he's driving play. This kid works so hard. Like longtime listeners of the Aud bod this season will know that we love Avry Anstis on this podcast, and he's. He's a pretty. He's a pretty awesome dude, but, man, he just looks so good. He gets better. He's getting so good in this season. Yeah, I just. Third star because I'm excited to see what's coming.

28:14Andrew: Absolutely.

28:15Justin: Yeah. Who's your second star?

28:16Andrew: Carson Campbell. Carson Campbell. When. When the scores are low and they're not scoring against you, it's fine to reward the goaltenders. They always get the credit. They deserve the credit. However, I want to throw out some credit to Steady Eddy, unsung hero of the team, and that is Carson Campbell of Campbellford. I thought that, you know, he didn't factor in on any of the points, but he was just kind of all over the ice. He actually was a star in the Spitfire game. He was. He was a third star. He's my second star because I thought he was equally as good against Erie. I just think that, like, he's just. He's just a really good defenseman and he's good at defensive defending. That is what he's good at. He's good at just taking away chances. Yeah. Who's your second star?

29:02Justin: My second star is Kirsch. Yeah. Shut out against Windsor. I mean, what else? We've talked about him at length already this episode. What else is there to Sam O'Reilly your first time.

29:14Andrew: Jordan Decord, the goaltender coach. Throwing it out.

29:20Justin: Nice.

29:21Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm throwing it out there.

29:22Justin: Is he related to Joey Decorations?

29:25Andrew: No, it's D E K O R T court.

29:28Justin: Okay. Decourt.

29:29Andrew: Decourt. Not decord.

29:30Justin: Okay.

29:31Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Obviously, phenomenal development with Jackson Parsons. Yeah. And he's got, you know, a young goalie and shovel, and he's got an import with Kirsch, and he's got them both playing at a great level. It's. It's a hard market to play goalie and is what I'm discovering. People are mean online. There's a lot of people who hate goalies in Kitchener and in this market, or I shouldn't say hate goalies, but blame goalies for. And I will say that, sure, the Rangers don't have, like, a crazy history of, like, dominant, like, goaltenders that have gone on to be, like, Vezina winners and all that kind of stuff. They have some. But, like, it's not necessarily, like, a staple of the organization. Right. It's not what they hang their hat on. I think this guy is a really good coach because I just. The only goalies that I've bear witness to play for this, you know, organization that he's coached, they're all getting better as the seasons go.

30:29Justin: Yeah.

30:29Andrew: So it. It's. I don't know who else to attribute it to. I. I'm sure that all of these guys individually have coaches and mentors and all that kind of stuff, but I'm just going to give it to the goaltending coach this time.

30:40Justin: That's awesome.

30:41Andrew: Yeah.

30:41Justin: My first star is your third star, Dylan Edwards. Yeah. For all the same reasons. That goal was awesome. Four points in two games, three against his old team. You know, I love these guys that have come to Kitchener to kill their old team. I know.

30:56Andrew: And they've all bought. I think they've all bought in now to the Kitchener identity.

30:59Justin: Yeah.

31:00Andrew: It feels like it. It feels like they're Rangers, even if it's fleeting.

31:03Justin: I Andrew I Andrew I. You know, I'm going to toot my own horn here, but I said before, that road trip, that eastern road trip, I'm like, these guys are going to bond.

31:12Andrew: Yeah.

31:12Justin: I feel like they have.

31:13Andrew: It feels like they've.

31:14Justin: Yeah, there's some chemistry here. I like it.

31:17Andrew: Yeah.

31:17Justin: I don't.

31:18Andrew: I don't know if, if, if, if Willie and O'Reilly would ever admit it, but I think that it feels good on this team. I think it feels natural.

31:25Justin: Okay. So as previously mentioned, we're taking next week off, which means we have some games to preview.

31:34Andrew: Yeah.

31:34Justin: Few.

31:34Andrew: A handful.

31:35Justin: Yeah. But we're gonna, we're gonna blast through these. So the. Not a big deal. Okay. Friday, February 27th, the day you're listening to this.

31:44Andrew: You better be. You better be.

31:47Justin: We're at home at the Aud against the Brampton Steelheads for our second meeting of the season.

31:52Andrew: Yep. We're gonna be at this one.

31:54Justin: And then we are. And then Sunday we're home for afternooner against London.

32:00Andrew: London.

32:01Justin: Wednesday, March 4th, we are in Sarnia. Friday, March 6th, we're at home at the Aud against the Soo This important game.

32:10Andrew: Yeah, that's. That is. That is a. I got a. Yeah, circle that one on the calendar.

32:14Justin: Both of. And the other game you should circle is Sunday, March 8th. We're away at Windsor to see if Liam Greentree can complete his goal for the season.

32:24Andrew: His final, his only goal. No, I can't say that because he said it was one of his goals, but it's probably his greatest dream.

32:33Justin: Yeah, for sure. He's. He's thinking about it right now. I bet.

32:36Andrew: I'm sure.

32:38Justin: Okay, so this is a. This is a real hit and miss calendar. Like we are both. It's like alternating between teams we desperately need and want to beat and teams who are like everything but statistically have to be out of the playoffs.

32:54Andrew: Must be.

32:55Justin: Yeah.

32:55Andrew: So cannot drop these points.

32:57Justin: No. So Brampton dead last in their division.

33:01Andrew: Yeah.

33:02Justin: There's. They're nine points out of eighth place in the East. Like they are not making the playoffs. This is, you know, thank God it's at home so we don't have to deal with the freaking Brampton Arena.

33:14Andrew: This team is. Is such a wagon right now. I have no concerns.

33:18Justin: I don't either. But I.

33:19Andrew: You know how we were talking about, like Erie could be a trap game or whatever.

33:22Justin: Well, yeah, sure.

33:23Andrew: I don't. I think we're beyond that now.

33:25Justin: I think. I think. I think they got the mentality. Championship. Championship.

33:28Andrew: Yeah, I think. I think that's where we're at now.

33:30Justin: Yeah. So. So Brampton, that. Hopefully that game is just a. A. Just a real nice get. Jack Pridham, the. The OHL lead in goals or something.

33:40Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

33:41Justin: Let's set some goals. You know, better than Liam Green Tree has.

33:45Andrew: We need like a. We need like a. We need like a four goal game.

33:47Justin: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

33:49Andrew: Feed him.

33:49Justin: Yeah, feed him.

33:51Andrew: Yeah. Sarnia, let's fill up the net.

33:53Justin: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Then London. Sam, O'Reilly good? Yeah, that's. I. That's all. We need Sam O'Reilly to show up.

34:02Andrew: We need him to do his night killer.

34:04Justin: Yeah, be the night killer.

34:05Andrew: Be the night killer.

34:07Justin: And then. Yeah. Sarnia exactly the same as Brampton. Like.

34:10Andrew: Yeah.

34:11Justin: Like they are.

34:12Andrew: Fill the net.

34:13Justin: Six points out of eighth in the West. Like they're not making the playoffs.

34:17Andrew: No.

34:17Justin: Like Sarnia's out. Yeah.

34:19Andrew: No prisoners.

34:20Justin: No prisoners.

34:21Andrew: Foot on neck.

34:21Justin: Sue.

34:22Andrew: Sue. So I'm interested in this one.

34:25Justin: Yeah. So I was. I was kind of. I was crunching the. Using the ipod computer, crunching some numbers.

34:30Andrew: I'm interested in all of them. I have a podcast about.

34:32Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this game. So this is like. London and the Soo are basically destined to play each other in the. In the first round of the playoffs. They're. They're essentially. They're essentially like, at this point, all they can do is fight for home ice. Like, they. They're close enough that either one of them could end up in fourth and the other one could end up in fifth. But there's the. The gaps on either side are too big.

34:56Andrew: Like. Yeah, right. Six, seven and eight is. Is whatever it is. Four and five is literally. And then one two in London and one, two, three. Have to figure out where they are.

35:05Justin: Yes.

35:05Andrew: Rangers, Flint and Windsor.

35:07Justin: Yeah.

35:07Andrew: Figure out who they are. But yeah, you're right. That's kind of destiny there.

35:12Justin: Those two are locked in for. For this playoff.

35:14Andrew: Who will. Who will have home ice. Game one is pretty much what they're deciding.

35:18Justin: So I. I have a proposition for the Rangers. So we.

35:22Andrew: We.

35:24Justin: I can't even say this. I was gonna Sam O'Reilly let them win this game so we get their ego inflated a little bit just. Just so that they have a little more of an edge on London.

35:32Andrew: Can't Let anybody win.

35:33Justin: No.

35:35Andrew: Again, especially not London. No, you were gonna Sam O'Reilly know.

35:40Justin: No, I wasn't gonna say London's good. I said the suit. Okay. Okay.

35:43Andrew: But no, I. I have actually, like, of course I have. Have overarching. I have issues with London beyond.

35:50Justin: Yes.

35:51Andrew: Comprehension of the English language. But the Soo I actually have more personal beef with this year. Yeah. Right. Lucas Fisher and.

35:59Justin: Yeah.

36:00Andrew: Around and never taking any penalties.

36:02Justin: Yeah.

36:02Andrew: I don't. I don't understand that.

36:04Justin: I. I should have. I should have looked this up. This. Is this our first meeting with the Soo since we got Woolly and Ando came back.

36:12Andrew: Yeah.

36:12Justin: Yeah. So this is not.

36:13Andrew: Played them.

36:14Justin: This like the Soo has had our number in the beginning of the season and now we had them last year. Yeah, that's true.

36:20Andrew: Like, you know what I mean? Like, like, obviously the Rangers were a better team than. Than the Soo last year, but, like, it was like a tough. It was a tough game every time.

36:28Justin: Yeah.

36:28Andrew: Yeah.

36:29Justin: So, yeah, I'm hoping these new additions, the firepower and.

36:32Andrew: And the brute force needs to send a message to the Soo Yeah. That's what has to happen in this game.

36:38Justin: Yeah.

36:38Andrew: Yeah. And the Soo coming to the Aud Right.

36:40Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

36:41Andrew: Okay. So you. I think it's hard to go all the way up there on a road trip on a bus and play.

36:47Justin: Get back to backs and weird scheduling

36:49Andrew: and whatever, but I think them coming down there, you need to send a message.

36:52Justin: Yeah.

36:52Andrew: Do not want to play us in the playoffs.

36:54Justin: This is our house.

36:55Andrew: Exactly. This is our house.

36:57Justin: And the last game that we're going to preview is Windsor. No notes. No.

37:02Andrew: I just. Just do the same thing. Just keep doing the thing.

37:06Justin: Yeah. You're. You're doing great work against Windsor.

37:09Andrew: Yeah.

37:09Justin: Yeah.

37:10Andrew: I don't think you're taking notes from this podcast, but if you are, just keep doing the same thing. Yeah.

37:15Justin: Whatever you did. We like it. Yeah. Yeah.

37:19Andrew: It seems like the seeds have been planted in the minds of the Windsor Spitfires. So just keep doing it.

37:24Justin: Well, that's our previews. Did you want to talk any news around the OHL or alumni news or anything like that?

37:30Andrew: Matthew Hlacar was suspended, obviously, along with Brad, also suspended. I thought it was really strange that there's a checking to the head minimum. You're allowed to check to the head this many times without getting a suspension. Super weird. I don't know what message that's sending.

37:47Justin: Why can't we just have a Department of Player safety sort of style? Like if there's a check to the Head. Let's review it. Have to be.

37:55Andrew: I don't, Yeah. I don't think it needs to be like a mandatory like man, you checked him to the head again. That's, that's, that's, that's too many noggins now. Right. Like it's like, it's a weird thing to me. Obviously don't check to the head. Is the, is the, the takeaway. I think realistically, if you really cared about heads, it would be an automatic one game suspension if you check to the head. I'm not suggesting that. Don't get mad at me for that. I'm just saying, Andrew. I'm just saying that realistically, if you wanted to punish checking the head, it would just, you'd just be booted and you have to miss the next game. That would just be what it is. So I don't really understand the logic. It's, it's a little bit like the three fight rule. You can have three fights. As soon as you go over that, you're out like for a couple games. I don't understand.

38:38Justin: But then, but the Aud erased.

38:40Andrew: Yeah.

38:40Justin: Right. Then you can have three more fights,

38:42Andrew: then you can go back, you have three more fights. I don't really understand.

38:46Justin: Feels a little arbitrary. Like it feels like there's good intentions behind these rules, but they don't.

38:50Andrew: Well, what it is, is they know people come for the fights and the, Aud the rough stuff. Right. Like so they can't get rid of it entirely. So I, I don't know. I think to me I would do away with the fight rule thing. I mean, I think you could deincentivize, you know, having, having strictly enforcers because it's just bad for you, you know. But I think the checking to the head thing is weird. I don't understand. That's weird. Yeah. Yeah.

39:17Justin: So let's try out for a couple games.

39:19Andrew: Yeah. But you know, he'll be back and

39:21Justin: he'll be back and we're looking forward

39:23Andrew: to seeing him back to his old tricks.

39:25Justin: Yeah.

39:27Andrew: Is what it is at this point.

39:28Justin: He's got a clean slate to check. I don't like this. I don't understand it. I don't get it.

39:34Andrew: But you know what? I, I like how he plays the game. I, I, if he could be a little cleaner with some of the, some of the decision making, I think that would be better for his career. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just in general and obviously for other people. I don't want people get hurt, so.

39:49Justin: Yeah.

39:50Andrew: But I do love that the intensity plays with. And I do love that sometimes he will throw a quote unquote dirty hit. That is not, it's not harmful. And it's not like to the head. It's just like kind of late and it's like. But you kind of got to like, sometimes you got to throw those to

40:04Justin: be like you do.

40:05Andrew: Right? You do. Sometimes you got to be like. You got to be like, I'm here and I will take a two minute penalty.

40:09Justin: Yeah.

40:10Andrew: And now you're going to look over your shoulder. That's hockey. That's always been hockey.

40:14Justin: Yeah.

40:14Andrew: But you can do that without like putting somebody's face into the boards.

40:17Justin: Yeah, for sure, for sure.

40:19Andrew: But that, I do like that. I do like that style of play. You just, just, just stay on the right line of it.

40:24Justin: Yeah, it's hard, that line.

40:25Andrew: It is.

40:26Justin: It is hard.

40:27Andrew: It is hard.

40:28Justin: All right, that's our episode for the week. Of course, we gotta thank Ken Born director of branding and marketing, Papa Born

40:34Andrew: We got to see him on the pod.

40:36Justin: He was on the pod last week.

40:38Andrew: Feedback. My parents were like, we got to see. We got to see Papa Born.

40:41Justin: Yeah, it was nice. I was happy to see papa.

40:44Andrew: That's cool.

40:46Justin: The cameo. Yeah, Cameo born. And then of course, shout out to our prodigal producer, Liam.

40:53Andrew: Him.

40:55Justin: Tim.

40:55Andrew: Hang on. No, we haven't got any notes.

40:58Justin: We haven't got any notes from Liam in a while.

41:00Andrew: And I know we're not that good now, so either. He's not listening.

41:04Justin: He's. He's playing too much hockey. Yeah, I think so. He's. He's got a. He'll probably catch up in the summer and we'll get like a bevy of notes. Yeah.

41:10Andrew: He'll be like, that was a terrible season.

41:12Justin: Yeah. I should have been listening and giving them notes. Yeah. Okay, Tim, Tim, we. We already mentioned this, but happy birthday. Jj, thank you for doing the voiceover at the beginning of the episode.

41:27Andrew: Yeah. We couldn't do it without you now.

41:29Justin: Yeah. Thank you to the Kitchener Public Library for hosting us once again home away from home. And Andrew, how do you find us on the social medias at the Aud

41:37Andrew: podcast on TikTok and Instagram and you can search us up on Google or on YouTube and you'll find us if you search Kitchener Rangers or theoddpod, we're the first thing that pops up. It's pretty crazy. Apparently you just make enough content and Internet's like, yeah, these guys know what they're talking about. Yes. This is a good source for you.

41:55Justin: This is how you know that Google is really.

41:56Andrew: That's what I was going to say. That's what I was going to say is you cannot trust the Internet.

42:00Justin: No, do not trust.

42:01Andrew: Do not trust the Internet.

42:02Justin: Not even a little bit.

42:02Andrew: Yeah.

42:03Justin: And Andrew, as always, you can find us at.

42:06Andrew: Well, you can email us too. You should email us if you have odd history, because we haven't.

42:10Justin: We.

42:10Andrew: We need more odd history. We do, you know, and we haven't really talked about.

42:13Justin: We might have one when we come back.

42:15Andrew: I think so. But. But yeah, you can email us, you can send us. You can DM us on any platform, but you can also email us at. Hello@the pod.com theaudpod.com I just want to try and get, you know, the few people that listen to the end of this.

42:28Justin: Yeah. The 26% of you, which I appreciate, all 26% of you.

42:32Andrew: Some odd history. Give us something.

42:34Justin: Yeah, come on. We know that you're going to be

42:36Andrew: like a concert or there's.

42:37Justin: We know you're out there.

42:38Andrew: Yeah. Or like you were a little kid and you're running around like. Like give us something about the Aud that you can remember, you know, an usher. That was cool.

42:46Justin: Yeah.

42:47Andrew: Hey, I know there's cool ushers.

42:49Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

42:49Andrew: So give us a story. I know there's stories.

42:52Justin: Yeah, give us the stories. Okay, Andrew. And as always, you can find us

42:55Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.