64: Eagle Hunt

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:00Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:03Justin: Season is over.

0:04Andrew: Season has concluded.

0:06Justin: Playoffs are here.

0:07Andrew: Championship.

0:08Clip: Championship. Championship.

0:09Justin: Championship.

0:10Andrew: Championship.

0:11Justin: Rangers came in second in the league.

0:13Andrew: They sure did. First in the West.

0:15Justin: First in the West.

0:16Andrew: First in the Midwest.

0:17Justin: Well, that's only possible if you.

0:19Andrew: I know, I know. I'm just listing. I just like to list all of the titles and all of the.

0:24Justin: Some good completionism there.

0:25Andrew: Accomplishments. Yes. Yes.

0:28Justin: Great season. 101 points. 1 point more than last year.

0:32Andrew: 1 point more than last year. Same amount of wins. 47.

0:36Justin: I think so.

0:36Clip: Yeah.

0:37Andrew: Yeah.

0:38Justin: Yeah. Feels. Feels pretty good.

0:43Andrew: Listen, I think although the team after the trade deadline had obviously gone all the way in like it was. That was obviously not the plan as we Learned with Mike McKenzie until the Memorial Cup stuff was announced. So that changed it. I feel like the second half of the season was. Not to say the first half wasn't successful. The second half of the season, they really heated up and it was a completely different kind of half of the season.

1:11Justin: I wouldn't have guessed that they were going to win the west if the first half of the season was exactly how the second half. I agree.

1:19Andrew: And I think most people, even the people, the AudPodience who listens have had some questions about goaltending. Yeah. Coming into the season, naturally, as we talked to Mike McKenzie last week about. About, you know, you don't have goalie who's putting up 9:30 save percentages because that's absurd. Y. I did see today that Christian Kirsch led the league in goals saved above expected. So he shared that on his personal Instagram.

1:48Justin: Yeah.

1:49Andrew: But it was an OHL post.

1:51Justin: Yeah.

1:51Andrew: And it was like. It was like. Like 10 more than the next.

1:55Justin: Yeah.

1:56Andrew: So I know that there was that game there in. That we're going to briefly talk about.

2:02Justin: Briefly. Yeah.

2:03Andrew: I actually saw people saying that we should bench him and he was. He won eight of his last 10 games before that game. So. Yeah, I think it's just good to get the ugly one out of the way before playoffs.

2:17Justin: Let's just say that. Yeah. And I mean, the. You know, the team tried to redeem everything, so. Yeah, that was a weird one. Okay. Anyways, this. This episode, we're. We are gonna. We're gonna briefly talk about that game because it was exciting. But this episode really isn't about the regular. Well, it's about wrapping up the regular season, not about rehashing these last games because really, by the time you're listening to this, you don't care what happened.

2:39Andrew: No week ago.

2:40Justin: We don't all we care about is playoffs. Starting playoffs tonight.

2:43Andrew: Playoffs. Playoffs starting tonight.

2:45Justin: So that's.

2:47Andrew: That's like where we're at.

2:48Justin: We're going to talk about playoffs. We're going to talk about saginaw. We're going to talk about who is our first round matchup. We're going to do our three stars of the season.

2:57Andrew: Sure are.

2:58Justin: We're going to do our favorite moments of the season.

3:00Andrew: Sure are.

3:02Justin: We did some bets earlier in the season.

3:04Andrew: We did over unders.

3:05Justin: Over under. So just as a reminder on that and see how well we did or probably more likely poorly.

3:12Andrew: We did okay.

3:13Justin: Did okay.

3:13Andrew: And then there was the downtown showdown,

3:17Justin: which we had our. A reporter on the street.

3:19Andrew: Yes.

3:20Justin: Former friend of the pod was out there.

3:21Andrew: So correspondent of all correspondence Sean for faro was out. He was perhaps officiating.

3:27Justin: Yeah, I heard. I heard he was also collateral damage.

3:31Andrew: Really, really disappointed. I wasn't there because I would have started a ref, you suck. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't have done that. Although I would have thought about it and I would have laugh.

3:45Justin: I think we probably would have done

3:46Andrew: that oddball where we're talking Kitchener Rangers

3:51Justin: hockey with the AudBalls themselves.

3:54Andrew: Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. I was initiating one single game of my career. If I didn't get a refuse suck chant, I would be disappointed.

4:06Justin: Andrew, this season was amazing. 101 points, 47 wins. We had a plus 82 goals goal differential. We. We had the third best goals against in the league.

4:17Andrew: Unreal.

4:18Justin: Under 200 goals against. Insane. Yeah. We had the best PK in the league at 81.1%. Yeah. It was a great season. Statistically. It was a great season.

4:28Andrew: Emotionally.

4:29Justin: It was a great season.

4:30Andrew: It was. It was a great season for the AudPod.

4:32Justin: It was a great season for the AudPod.

4:33Andrew: Truly, Truly true. Some huge strides made in our recording setup.

4:38Justin: Yes.

4:38Andrew: In our guests.

4:40Justin: Yes.

4:40Andrew: You know, and our. Our fan interaction.

4:43Justin: That's. That's true. We.

4:45Andrew: We. We have.

4:45Justin: We have a fans and we appreciate you.

4:47Andrew: Yeah. It's unbelievable.

4:48Justin: Yeah. So there was. There was a coaches poll.

4:51Andrew: There was a coaches poll is literally a coaches poll done by the ohl and they have different categories and the coaches, because I guess they pay attention to the league and know all the players much better than you and I. Perhaps they. They cast their ballot or their vote for an individual that matches each category.

5:12Justin: Cool.

5:12Andrew: We're going to get through this really quick. I may not tell you who won, but I will tell you every Ranger. This is Ranger focused. Yeah. Most underrated player was Michael deck of the Erie Otters with 25 votes. However, Dylan Edwards came second with 23. Smartest player far and away. Leading the vote by 24 votes, Sam O'Reilly with 38 first place votes. Of the Kitchener Rangers. Smartest player, hardest worker, Gabriel Sherrat came tied for third with nine votes.

5:45Justin: Oh, wow.

5:46Andrew: Okay.

5:46Justin: He's a hard worker.

5:47Andrew: He is. Best playmaker, Christian Humphreys came second to Igor Barabanov, who they're going to play in the first round. Barabanov had 26. Humps had 19 for best playmaker. Most dangerous in goal area, Nikita Klepov, who they're going to play, plays for. Saginaw has 24 votes. Dylan Edwards had 23. So Dylan Edwards getting narrowly edged out a couple times, but I mean, you just have to think like, you know, these are votes and they could go either way, but Dylan Edwards, extremely dangerous.

6:17Justin: Yeah.

6:18Andrew: Best shot, western conference.

6:20Justin: Who do you think it is?

6:21Andrew: Jack Pridham won by an astounding 23 votes over Liam Green Tree. He had 36 votes to Liam Green Trees 3 13. Best stick handler Christian Humphreys with 23 votes. Demian Zilken of the Saginaw Spirit had 22. So we're going to see some really talented guys in this first round matchup.

6:42Justin: They have one line that's really good.

6:44Andrew: They have one line that's incredible. That, like, they can't take the foot off the gas.

6:48Justin: These guys are there 40 minutes a night.

6:50Andrew: Best on face offs. Another incredible landslide victory for Sam O'Reilly with 38 votes. Best shot blocker, Carson Campbell edged out by one single vote 20 to 19. Grant Spada wins into the Guelph Storm. But Carson Campbell.

7:07Justin: Disagree.

7:08Andrew: I totally disagree. Carson Campbell recount. Yeah. Carson Campbell block shots. He's the dented soup can. Best defensive forward, the biggest margin of victory, Sam O'Reilly one with 26.

7:24Clip: Oh, wow.

7:24Andrew: What? 26 vote differential. He had 40 votes as the best defensive forward.

7:29Justin: Yeah.

7:30Andrew: No one even came close. Best penalty killer, Matthew Andonovski came in third, tied for third with 10 votes. Best Offensive defenseman if he played the whole season. I know. Best offensive defenseman, Cameron Reid came third with 13 votes. Best defensive defenseman, Matthew Anunowski came third with 13 votes. And the best shootout shooter, Humps came third with 15 votes.

7:54Justin: I thought it was going to be lechar.

7:56Andrew: Yeah, well, maybe they just didn't get to see enough of Le Char.

8:02Justin: We didn't go to a lot of shootouts this year.

8:03Andrew: No, we didn't Thankfully.

8:05Justin: Yeah. I don't like.

8:06Andrew: I don't like those.

8:07Justin: If you, if you're. If this is the first time you're tuning into the AudPod and you're like, who are the Kitchener Rangers? They're really good. That's what we're trying to Sam O'Reilly yeah, yeah. We're. We knew that. All of our fans knew that. We all know that because the Rangers are awesome. We're wrapping up the season, Andrew.

8:24Andrew: We are.

8:25Justin: We normally do our three stars.

8:26Andrew: Oh, we do.

8:27Justin: But last week we got some of the AudPodience we did to send in their three stars in their favorite moment of the season. Loved it. Would it really be fair if we didn't do it this week?

8:41Andrew: No. Oh, okay, Good. We have to do it.

8:43Justin: Okay.

8:43Andrew: It's our podcast.

8:44Justin: It is our podcast. Andrew, three stars of the season. Who is your third star?

8:50Andrew: My third star is the Andrew goaltending department. So. Jordan Decourt, Jason Schaubel and Christian Kirsch.

8:59Clip: Yeah.

9:00Andrew: Yeah. I think that they, they took over for Jackson Parsons, who was, of course, CHL goalie of the year for the Andrew country. Andrew 60 team, CHL. And they did an incredible job just holding down the fort and getting better and better and better.

9:16Justin: I know all you people are out there complaining about goaltending, but let's keep it positive.

9:21Andrew: Yeah. This is a good duo.

9:22Justin: Yeah.

9:23Andrew: And you know what? Like, it's a seven game series. You might have a bad goaltending game in a seven game series. Whatever happens.

9:29Justin: Yes.

9:30Andrew: Let's relax on that.

9:31Justin: Yeah. I think we'll be okay because you

9:33Andrew: can have a bad game in the playoffs and then the next game you can be lights out. We've seen it.

9:36Justin: Yeah. My third star of the season is my, my rookie of the season, Mr. Avry Anstis Nice. He played 62 games in this pretty hefty lineup where it could be very easy to pull a young lad out of the lineup. But he was in 62 of our 68 games, so, you know, nine goals, 20 points. He had a 12.5 shooting percentage. He looked great. He, you know, he was obviously playing down on the third and fourth line.

10:06Andrew: Yep.

10:06Justin: But man, whenever he was out there, he was impressive. He was working hard. He's going to win that hardest working coach poll.

10:14Andrew: Yeah.

10:15Justin: In the next couple of years because he's a hard worker.

10:17Andrew: He certainly is.

10:19Justin: All right, who is your second star?

10:21Andrew: My second star. And it's not just because we sat down and talked to him last week, but it's Mike McKenzie. And it's because the pivots and the, you know, changing course.

10:31Clip: Yeah.

10:32Andrew: Gabe Shera. Unreal pickup. Dylan Edwards. Unreal pickup. If someone told me at the beginning of the year that they would get Jared William from the London Knights and not given up, Alex Forrest and not given up, you know, like, that level of prospect.

10:51Justin: They didn't give up anyone.

10:52Andrew: Well, they gave up,

10:55Justin: all right.

10:56Andrew: I forgot we were doing that thing where we don't acknowledge that Jacob Xu was in that trade.

11:02Justin: Gotcha.

11:05Andrew: I. I would have laughed at them. I would have said, there's no way, no London. Like, because London's never gonna punt like

11:10Justin: that because they've never done it before.

11:12Andrew: No. And, like, it's like, they're not out of it. Like. No, they could still win.

11:16Justin: You know what I mean?

11:17Andrew: Like, it's absurd, but they could.

11:19Justin: Yeah, of course.

11:20Andrew: I don't think they can, but, like, I'm just saying, like, they're in it, so, you know, statistically, you could. They could win it.

11:26Justin: Yeah.

11:27Andrew: But without Sam O'Reilly and Jared Woolley, they're not going to win it.

11:30Justin: Yeah.

11:30Andrew: So to me, it's unbelievable that he pulled that off and that the cupboards

11:34Justin: aren't empty and that when we asked him in the interview, he was like, yeah, it just made sense. It was like, oh, okay.

11:39Andrew: Yeah, great.

11:40Justin: Yeah, yeah.

11:41Andrew: Unfortunately, off the record, he wasn't like those in London. No, he's just totally professional. So.

11:50Justin: Yeah, he's a professional guy.

11:52Andrew: Yep. Absolutely. So that's my second star. Who's your second star?

11:55Justin: Well, it's Mike McKenzie for literally all the reasons we just talked about. I love it. I love it. Maybe recency bias did come into this. You know what, I'm going to ask you this, but I bet our first star is the same. Or maybe it's not.

12:07Andrew: I don't think it is.

12:08Justin: Oh, you don't think it is. Okay. What's your first star?

12:10Andrew: It's actually two players.

12:11Justin: Whoa.

12:12Andrew: And it's Humps and Pridham.

12:14Justin: Oh, okay.

12:14Andrew: Together. Because they've been here since the beginning. Since, like, the beginning of the year. They were here last year. We Sam O'Reilly chemistry building and, you know, the bottom line is Obviously Pridham came second in the league with 46 goals and. And was fifth in the league with 90 points. Yeah. Humps ended up with 58 assists, and overall he had 85 points. Yeah. So five less points, but he had a ton of assists. He had his first hat trick. He had five game winners like Prids and Humps. I couldn't differentiate if you want to say 1A prids, 1B humps. Sure.

12:55Clip: But.

12:56Andrew: But I had to give them both. And, and I don't know. I mean, they both talked to the AudPod in the off season.

13:01Justin: Yeah, I don't know.

13:02Andrew: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there's something there.

13:07Justin: The Trent Swick blessing.

13:09Andrew: Yeah, exactly. I think perhaps maybe if you want to have a career year. You talked about an offseason.

13:15Clip: Yeah.

13:15Justin: Yeah. So you know, all you young guys

13:17Andrew: out there and your first star is

13:19Justin: the prid money himself.

13:20Andrew: Yes, of course.

13:21Justin: Yeah. Only to add on that. Yeah. The 90 points plus 38, 30 power play points, nine shorthanded points. Like you know, all the things you said. Plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus, he's so good and I love watching him play all the time. 65 games this season. He only missed three games.

13:41Andrew: Yeah. And he still had 90 points. And I mean you got to think that there was a little bit there,

13:45Justin: a little bit of a downswing where

13:47Andrew: there was a little. Yeah, there was a little bit of a lull in his, in his season. And we'll talk about this in the over unders and stuff. There was a part of me that I was like, oh, I like maybe we made too much of the 50 goal thing and, and, and, and that sort of narrative.

14:01Justin: Yep.

14:01Andrew: But then he scored so much down the stretch, like in the second half of the season, it was just, it was just totally berserk. He, you know, that whole, I mean, and of course, adding Dylan Edwards to your power play, adding Sam O'Reilly to your line, like that is all going to help. Yeah, but like the shot is the shot.

14:21Justin: Yes.

14:21Andrew: You know, like it doesn't matter really who's passing it to him. No, he can put the shot is the shot.

14:25Justin: He can put that in the net.

14:27Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.

14:28Justin: Okay. And your favorite moment of the season.

14:32Andrew: Oh, my favorite moment of the season. Okay. There's, there's a bunch I have to talk about. The Western Cameron Ben Pickle fight.

14:40Justin: Right.

14:41Andrew: Because I think that was just kind of like this unbelievable turning point a little bit.

14:47Justin: It's almost become the, like it's the, Aud the first star that we weren't allowed to name first star because it would be everywhere. Because everybody last week was like every. Me included. I also, I picked something else because I could have picked that moment too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

15:02Andrew: I, I.

15:03Justin: The Ben Pickle, Weston Cameron.

15:05Andrew: Fight, shovel.

15:07Justin: Fight. It was, it was awesome.

15:08Andrew: It was Huge. And it was important, I think, to the. To the Tommy Kut But I honestly think my favorite moment of the season was when the team had its brand new identity and they went on. I think they won six or seven in a row, and it was just like they played the Soo and the Soo there's not really. I hate to do it like this because it's a technicality, but it. It just kind of like there was like this. This. This feeling that I felt watching them where I was like, okay, they're not going to get pushed around anymore. They're the most dangerous shorthanded team in the league.

15:46Justin: Yeah.

15:47Andrew: And if you twist my arm and say, give me one moment, it's the Sam O'Reilly in London game winner, right?

15:52Justin: Yeah. The night Killer.

15:53Andrew: Okay. So if, like, if you really want to break it down.

15:55Justin: Yeah.

15:56Andrew: But I think it was actually more of like this feeling where I was like, oh, the snowball is rolling downhill. Like, I felt like there was a moment where even on the podcast, I was like, there are no more trap games.

16:05Clip: Yeah.

16:05Andrew: This team doesn't lose trap games. There's no such thing as a trap game anymore because every single game, they have the foot on the neck. So I think, like, off the ice, for me as a fan, realizing that the foot on the throat kind of team that I wanted to see was now the team.

16:21Justin: Right.

16:22Andrew: But, yeah, the night Killer moment.

16:24Justin: Pretty. Pretty epic.

16:25Andrew: Yeah. And what was your favorite moment of the season?

16:27Justin: Justin made him wait. My favorite moment was it started in game one of the season.

16:37Andrew: Yeah.

16:37Justin: Against the Brantford Bulldogs.

16:39Andrew: Yeah. It's hard to pop that. I thought of that actually, when it was.

16:42Justin: We were down three nothing.

16:44Andrew: Yeah.

16:44Justin: Rangers came back in the third period. Ultimately, the. The start of the Tanner Lam revenge tour.

16:50Andrew: Of course, it's still going with the

16:52Justin: goal of the year.

16:52Andrew: Yes, it was the goal of the year.

16:54Justin: I think it's the goal of the year.

16:55Andrew: I think it is the goal of the year.

16:56Justin: We call it goal of the year on that first. First episode of the AudPod that se. With the season.

17:02Andrew: There's so many.

17:03Justin: There's so many good goals, and I still think it might be goal of the year.

17:07Andrew: I think it is the goal of the year.

17:08Justin: Yeah.

17:09Andrew: Like. Like, like the. The game winner was unbelievable. And that to me is almost like second.

17:15Justin: Yeah.

17:16Andrew: And then. But the one. The. Between the legs.

17:18Justin: Between the legs.

17:19Andrew: It. On the. On his. On the backhand. And then unbelievable. The. I think it is the goal of the year. It happened in game one.

17:26Justin: Game one.

17:27Andrew: And. And Tanner Lam had 19 goals, 29 assists for 48 points in 67 games. He did not play on the power play a lot like he did have 10 power play points. But he was second basically right away. He was second unit the whole.

17:45Justin: The whole season. So he's doing that mostly 5 on 5 and mostly 5 on 5 second units. So. Yeah. Tanner Lam is an amazing hockey player. Feel free to use all of this for your reel and send it to all the scouts.

17:59Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Tanner Lam or Tanner Lam parents or

18:02Justin: Tanner Lam agent, whoever's listening, please.

18:05Andrew: Yeah, we love. We love Tanner Lam Yes, I love Lamb.

18:08Justin: I love Lamb. Now we made Sam O'Reilly made some bets with no money and no stakes. Yeah.

18:15Andrew: Because that's.

18:16Justin: And Andrew was the house, so it felt rigged. Yeah, it was mostly against me, but Andrew, what are our bets? What were.

18:24Andrew: What were our bets?

18:25Justin: At the beginning of the season? What did we think was going to happen?

18:27Andrew: We did an over under on Jack Freedom goals and over under on Cameron Reid points. We did an over under on team shutouts and over under on Matthew La Char penalty minutes and we did an over under on Rangers wins.

18:41Justin: Okay.

18:41Andrew: Okay.

18:42Justin: Yeah, I think over on all of them.

18:44Andrew: Not true. Oh, not, not true. No, no, no. You said over. You said over on all of them. But they didn't all hit.

18:52Justin: Okay, okay. That makes sense. Yeah.

18:55Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:56Justin: Okay.

18:56Andrew: Okay. Jack Pram, 36 and a half goals is what I set it as. He destroyed that. Although like I said, there was a moment there where I was like, he might end up with 36 goals. Yeah, you said, you actually said in the episode that he'll score 40 goals.

19:10Justin: Yeah.

19:10Andrew: And he crushed that obviously with ending up with 46. Right. So he, he really.

19:16Justin: It was over and above.

19:18Andrew: Over and above. Yes. Cameron Reid we set his line at 73 1/2 points because he had 54 in 67 games last year. He only finished with 56 points. He had a. A goal, one goal and one assist more, but it was in 10 less games.

19:35Justin: So how many points is that per game? Or if you did 68 games, how many of that been.

19:40Andrew: Well, if he had 12, I'm trying to think was. What was it? 57. If he had 10 more, 11 more games.

19:45Clip: Yeah.

19:46Andrew: And he was scoring. It was like point, basically point per game. It would have been closer.

19:50Justin: It would have been closer.

19:51Andrew: It would have been a lot closer. And you got.

19:52Justin: Still would have been under.

19:53Andrew: Yeah, it still would have been under.

19:54Justin: Yeah. Okay. Okay.

19:55Andrew: Team shutouts. Yeah, we. We set the line. I Said. I don't know why I'm saying we because it was just me. I set the line. Yeah. We, the house set the line at five and a half.

20:06Justin: Yeah.

20:07Andrew: Justin said over derangers. Team shutouts ended with five.

20:12Justin: Yeah. So I think I said six. That's pretty.

20:14Andrew: Yeah. Pretty close. Yeah, it was. That was a good line.

20:17Justin: Yeah, it was a really good line.

20:18Andrew: Every now. Every year I get one that I'm like, bang. Nailed it.

20:21Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

20:22Andrew: Last year it was Cameron Reid points. This year it was team shutouts.

20:25Clip: Yeah.

20:26Andrew: Yeah. Matthew Hlacar Pims penalty minutes. I said 68 and a half because he had, I think 64 last year in like 47 games. He had 91.

20:40Justin: I believe that. I said I thought he was going to get a hundred.

20:43Andrew: You said over. You said 100.

20:45Justin: Yeah. Yeah. So I knew what I was talking about. You did, you did, you did.

20:50Andrew: He played more games this year too.

20:51Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

20:52Andrew: Ranger wins. Yeah. Set it at 43 and a half. Seems phenomenally low now.

20:58Justin: Yeah, Right.

20:59Andrew: But we did. We wondered.

21:00Clip: We.

21:00Andrew: We wondered if maybe there was a little bit more magic last year just because nobody saw them coming.

21:05Justin: Yeah.

21:06Andrew: Right. And they ended up with 47, which was exactly what they won last year. And I think if. If the house knew anything about it, they would have just set the line at 47. It was right there for silly house.

21:19Justin: If only the house was paying attention.

21:21Andrew: If only the house was getting paid to look up probability statistics.

21:26Justin: Stare at stats all day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

21:28Andrew: God. Okay, well, I did just stare at stats all day.

21:31Justin: Yeah, me too.

21:32Andrew: What a nerd. Yeah, both of us.

21:34Justin: I'm saying that collectively starting a podcast about a major junior hockey team.

21:39Clip: It's true.

21:40Justin: Okay, so after all of this season, we go to the playoffs. We're the first seed in the west. We have home ice advantage through all of the first three rounds. If we go that far.

21:52Andrew: Yep. If.

21:55Justin: Championship. Championship. Round one. Saginaw Spirit.

22:00Andrew: Saginaw Spirit.

22:02Justin: We have faced them four times this year.

22:06Andrew: How'd those go?

22:07Justin: Well, if I look, you know, if I think back on these, I. I think we beat them.

22:16Andrew: We own their soul, their souls.

22:19Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We won four nothing on the season series. Goals were 20 to 11.

22:26Andrew: Okay.

22:27Justin: Shots were 131 to 93.

22:30Andrew: Okay.

22:30Justin: Jack Pridham alone had seven goals and two assists against Saginaw Spirit, including back to back hat tricks against the Spirit.

22:41Andrew: Well, if only we could have played the Aud times, Jack would have hit 50 and led the lead totally.

22:48Justin: Just off those games alone on the. On The Saginaw side. Klepov, you know, he's. He. He's a factor. He factored on. On five. Five of their 11 goals. So.

23:03Andrew: And we have to mention he led the league in points.

23:05Justin: He also led the league in points.

23:06Andrew: 97 points. He had a great season.

23:08Justin: He's unbelievable.

23:08Andrew: Yeah.

23:09Justin: Saginaw has one of the top power plays in the league.

23:11Andrew: Yeah, they're. They're incredible players. Like, the problem is, is.

23:14Justin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. And. And. And really what we saw when we played Sega.

23:19Clip: Nah.

23:20Justin: Is that they like to stir things up because they, they try and get them to retaliate. That's like.

23:25Andrew: Because they're goons. They're bums.

23:26Justin: They're bums and they have an amazing power play. So get us to.

23:30Andrew: They're not. They're just in a totally different spot. Right. They. They won the Memorial Cup a couple years ago. They're just.

23:34Clip: They're.

23:34Andrew: They're just a. In a different spot in. In where they are culturally as a team and like reloading. They have really incredible young players on their first line. Like, it's, It's. It's.

23:45Justin: That's going to be a deal.

23:46Andrew: The bottom line is, is those guys can combine for like. Like Baranov, Klepov and Jill can. Can. Can have. Can factor in on two goals every night. No problem in their sleep.

23:55Justin: Yeah.

23:56Andrew: So they. If the, if the Rangers want to outgun them, they have to outgun them.

24:00Justin: Yes.

24:01Andrew: And they have to try and shut them down. If you can hold that team. That. That line to one goal, you are going to sweep them.

24:09Justin: Yes. Right.

24:10Andrew: Every game like that's. You're going to sweep them because they're not going to be able to contain the Rangers depth.

24:14Justin: No. I think we. I think we played two of our games against them prior to the trade deadline and two after. Yeah. So there is like our defense has changed quite a bit.

24:25Andrew: Yeah.

24:25Justin: Well. And so you got the twin towers

24:28Andrew: now like in the. On the first pairing, right?

24:30Justin: Yeah. So I think the Wolf and the werewolf. Yeah, I think. I think the werewolves of formerly London will be a pretty.

24:43Andrew: Yeah. The lichen brotherhood there on the first pairing.

24:48Justin: Yeah, I think like, you know, that's going to. That's going to be. That's going to be some matchup snaking that is going to have to happen, especially on home ice.

24:55Andrew: Yeah.

24:56Justin: And. And when we are in Saginaw, that's what they're going to try and get away from is our.

25:00Andrew: Yeah. They're Going to try and avoid those two. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because. Because they're going to be stuck to them like glue in Kitchener.

25:06Justin: Yes.

25:06Andrew: Which is part of the reason you got to win both in Kitchener. And I get it, like, this is. They're huge underdogs. We're not expecting anything less than four or five games. Yeah. However, like, you got to win both in Kitchener because then you go back and they can avoid those two big boys on defense.

25:21Justin: Well. And I was saying earlier that Saginaw loves to goad the Rangers into doing stuff.

25:27Andrew: Yes.

25:28Justin: Them to take penalties. And those two are a little bit more prone to taking some penalty.

25:35Andrew: Those two play on the edge there.

25:38Justin: You can't help it.

25:38Andrew: Right. It's like, you know, the Soo the full moon and it gets a little. Yeah. It gets a little crazy. I get it. Everybody's got to keep their nose clean. It's long playoffs. It is like, it's, you know, we can't, like, you know, I love the. I love. You know, bald is beautiful. Matthew Ler shaved his head.

25:55Justin: You're not allowed to say that.

25:56Andrew: I. I absolutely can. I'm taking the word back. He shaved his head. Don't go full. Like Jason Statham, because that man is a war criminal.

26:09Justin: Yeah.

26:09Andrew: You keep telling me he's the good guy. I'm like, that guy wasn't doing anything. Why did he kill him?

26:15Justin: He's an npc. Exactly.

26:18Andrew: Innocent bystander. He throat chopped. Yeah. Definitely watch the Beekeeper if you want a really funny action.

26:25Justin: I have not watched. Oh, dude. It's not.

26:26Andrew: I'm not saying it's good, but I'm saying it's phenomenal.

26:29Justin: Okay. I mean. Yeah, yeah.

26:30Andrew: Yeah.

26:30Justin: That's the type of movie. I mean.

26:32Andrew: Yeah. It's so bad that it's good. And there's so much stuff that you can't. You're like, what is happening now? It's one of those. I loved it. And I love the. I love the head shave. It's all business. He's got to be so fast now, the aerodynamics, Right. That bucket comes off like a bucket comes off. And like, you know, he's bobbing and weaving in a fight. Yeah. It's game over.

26:54Clip: Yeah.

26:55Justin: Nothing for them to aim at.

26:56Andrew: No, exactly. Right. And even if you connect right, it's just. It's just like a sweaty bald head.

27:00Justin: It's just. It's just right off.

27:01Andrew: Right. It just. It just flies right off. No, I just. Everybody. I know that they're going to come out like crazy in that first Period. On Friday on tonight. Tonight.

27:12Justin: Tonight. You're listening.

27:13Andrew: You're listening.

27:13Justin: On free game.

27:14Andrew: Of course I know they're going to come out crazy. Just don't get too crazy.

27:17Justin: Yeah.

27:18Andrew: Because you're way better. You're way better than. Than Saginaw.

27:21Justin: Don't get. Don't.

27:22Andrew: No suspension.

27:23Justin: No suspension.

27:24Andrew: No stupid penalties.

27:25Clip: Yeah.

27:26Justin: No five minute. Because we don't want to deal with their power play.

27:29Andrew: Don't hit anybody. Exactly. Exactly.

27:31Justin: That's. That could be the major downfall of this series.

27:35Andrew: That could be.

27:35Justin: Is a five minute major against this

27:38Andrew: power play in like a swing game.

27:40Justin: This power play is insane.

27:41Andrew: The first game or like game three or whatever.

27:44Clip: Right?

27:45Andrew: Like, you can't. You can't board a guy and take five and like, this cannot happen. Nose is clean.

27:52Justin: Yeah.

27:52Andrew: Just beat them.

27:53Justin: If you're taking five, they're taking five. That's like.

27:56Andrew: Honestly, they. I can't imagine them not scoring two goals on a. On a five minute power play. Yeah, that's. the Soo lethal.

28:02Justin: the Soo lethal.

28:03Andrew: And that's it, though.

28:04Clip: That's.

28:04Andrew: That's like. That's their. They're a glass.

28:05Justin: Their whole thing.

28:06Andrew: It's a glass cannon. They can't. They're not going to do anything else.

28:09Justin: It's easy to avoid 5v5.

28:12Andrew: There's.

28:12Justin: They got nothing.

28:13Andrew: They got nothing. Yeah.

28:15Justin: Yeah. So that's. That's Saginaw.

28:16Andrew: Yeah.

28:17Justin: I don't know. Is there like. There's lots of other good matchups. Of course.

28:20Andrew: The first round in what's cool. There's an ohl bracket this year.

28:24Justin: Yeah, I know.

28:25Andrew: Yeah, me too.

28:26Clip: Yeah. Yeah.

28:26Andrew: Such a boring vanilla bracket for me. I didn't really do anything too crazy.

28:31Justin: I think. I think I did the. I think I did the battalion beating.

28:35Andrew: Okay. Yeah. Seattle, is that. Who know, The Pete's.

28:38Justin: The Pete's.

28:39Andrew: But that's a four or five.

28:39Justin: That's a four. Five.

28:40Andrew: Like, it's not even a. It's not even that big of an upset. I'll tell you where my big upset came and I think it's wishful thinking.

28:46Justin: Okay.

28:46Andrew: I had Barry beating Branford in the east final. Oh. So I just. I just, you know, just imagined that the wheels fall off for some reason.

28:55Justin: Yeah.

28:56Andrew: Kashan Aitchison just. You can't. Takes over for Barry and there's just. That's just like the surprise of the. Of the whole.

29:05Justin: Awesome. Yeah. It would be.

29:06Andrew: Well, I mean. Yeah, Barry is good.

29:08Justin: Barry is good.

29:09Andrew: Yeah.

29:10Justin: There's a lot of good teams yeah,

29:12Andrew: yeah, but I, I, Like I said it was. I, I had Kitchener and Flint in the west final and, And, And Barry and Branford in the east final, so it wasn't. I had a 13 and a 1 2. It wasn't exciting.

29:24Justin: Oh, yeah.

29:24Andrew: Who did you have with London and Sue? You had London, right?

29:27Justin: Sue?

29:27Andrew: Did you. Yeah, yeah, I, I, that one. I don't know.

29:30Justin: I think the Soo if they do the same thing to London that they do to the Rangers. I know it. They goad them into exactly what we just talked about with not doing against Saginaw. They're really good at goading and I think without Woolly and like.

29:45Andrew: Yeah.

29:46Justin: I feel like they're more Go to.

29:48Andrew: I could see that.

29:49Clip: Yeah.

29:49Andrew: Did you see the shout out to our friend Babs? Did you see the Bab stat, though?

29:53Justin: No.

29:54Andrew: CARTER George is 1 in 18 versus London. Oh, yes.

29:58Justin: Oh, I did see.

29:58Andrew: Now, to be fair, Carter George has played most of his career in Owen Sound against London. Yeah, but that's a crazy stat.

30:05Justin: That's now one of the best goaltenders to ever play in the CHL.

30:09Andrew: Yeah. And he has won in 20 games. Like, I think he's 118 and one or something like that.

30:15Justin: Oh, insane.

30:15Andrew: It was insane.

30:16Justin: Yeah.

30:17Andrew: I was like. I was like, that's. Wow. That's got to be in your head. Yeah, but it's a different team. You're right. I think sue is more physical.

30:24Justin: Yeah.

30:25Andrew: I would. I would be rooting for the Soo to come out of there, but at the same time, you know, I'm rooting for all the low seeds in the west, so it doesn't.

30:34Justin: I, I lose my NHL bracket every year because I always put Edmonton out in the first round.

30:39Andrew: They do not do that.

30:40Justin: They, they don't. They always seem to.

30:42Andrew: They might this year if they.

30:44Justin: They might every year, but they never do.

30:47Andrew: Yeah, no, but they play. They play LA every year. They're not going to play la.

30:51Justin: No, they definitely won't. No, no. They might have a team with more points in a wild spot.

30:56Andrew: I will admit that last year I did have them losing to LA in the first round. Not in my heart, but in my, like, brain bracket. I had them losing because I was like, there's no way that LA could lose four, four years in a row. Another wild stat is that Anjay Kopitar and Drew Doughty haven't won a playoff series since they won the cup.

31:19Justin: Like, it's like, like 20.

31:20Andrew: They're like 26 years old or something. Like, that.

31:23Justin: Oh my goodness.

31:24Andrew: And Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taze, not counting the play in series. Yeah. Because that was only a three game series.

31:29Justin: Yeah, yeah.

31:30Andrew: Or best of three. Best of five.

31:32Justin: Only teams that lost that series counted as a playoff series.

31:35Andrew: Right, right, right, right. Yeah. Not counting that they haven't won since they're like 28 a series. So just put that in perspective, how hard it is to your window. Both those teams won multiple cups. That's five cups between those three. Those two teams. Yeah. And the Aud it's been literally forever. Careers have come and gone since they won. That's just unbelievable.

31:59Justin: Darryl Sutter, best coach in the league to can't get a job and in the that amount of time.

32:06Andrew: Right. I mean we just look at like Florida.

32:08Justin: Right.

32:09Andrew: They go to three straight, they win two and now are they going to make playoffs? No, probably not. People saying this team was like so stacked. the Aud could just be. They could never go back. Just like this could be done for Florida. Like we could be talking about 10 years down the road. That was it.

32:24Justin: If Edmonton and Florida both missed the playoffs this year, that would be Amazon's

32:28Andrew: not listing the playoffs. And, and they will sneak in. They will sneak in.

32:32Justin: I know they're in the Pacific Division where there's no competition.

32:35Andrew: Yeah. But this is the problem is if they win the division, they have to play the wild card.

32:38Justin: I know. Who's going to have more points. Yes. So Utah is going to be your

32:43Andrew: better off not winning the division.

32:45Justin: Wild card. One in. In the west is way better than the third seed or the second seed in the, in the Central Division.

32:54Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it's bizarre.

32:56Justin: Okay. This is how Andrew and I basically started the podcast. This is how we talk all the time about hockey all the time. Yeah. So this is why we started our podcast together so we could talk about hockey and get out of the house.

33:09Andrew: Cut that last part, Tim.

33:12Justin: Well, my wife doesn't listen. My mom.

33:14Andrew: My mom. My, my.

33:16Justin: You call her mom at home?

33:17Andrew: No, no, I do call her. I do refer to her as Mama now because.

33:21Justin: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

33:21Andrew: Because I accidentally. This is actually funny little anecdote.

33:24Justin: I accidentally referred to her as Jess

33:27Andrew: to my almost 2 year olds. And he's just kind of looking at me and I'm like, yeah, I'm like. Something along the lines of like, go see Jess.

33:37Justin: Who's that? Who is that? Right?

33:40Andrew: Yeah, Mama.

33:41Justin: Yeah.

33:41Andrew: Yeah.

33:43Justin: Hey, we were on, we were on CTV this week.

33:45Andrew: We were. That was unbelievable. Last minute, super exciting.

33:49Justin: Yeah, super. Like, you know what's really exciting? Okay. I have yet to see the full clip. We're going to try and get it and we'll post it if we get it or whatever. Yes, there's like a full clip of. Of Andrew and I talking. People sent us pictures, but I haven't seen it. The. The six o' clock news had a clip and they went. We spoke with some hockey analysts and it cuts to Andrew and I was like, I assume they were cutting to literally anybody else. And then they were gonna go, and there's a local fan.

34:19Andrew: Local Hockey analyst. Yeah, yeah. Idiot with a library card I think is what I actually prefer. But It's a great LinkedIn title. Right? Like, you know, those, like the reality of it. And then the LinkedIn version.

34:34Justin: Yeah, right.

34:34Andrew: Local hockey analyst is the LinkedIn version of AudPod Co host.

34:42Justin: We told them to put our. Our titles as co AudBalls I noticed they went with co host.

34:49Andrew: They did.

34:50Justin: They were probably like, no, we're not.

34:52Andrew: We're not doing that. That seems insulting.

34:53Justin: Yeah. Someone will be offended by this. Yeah, for sure.

34:57Andrew: For sure.

34:58Justin: But anyways, thank you to the CTV crew for. For inviting us on. That was a blast. Yeah, I hope I can see it soon. I'm gonna send it to my mom.

35:06Andrew: Hey, sorry to interrupt your AudPod episode, but we're actually gonna throw it to our AudPod correspondent on the street. The man on the street who also happened to rep the stripes for the downtown showdown. We couldn't be there. So our former friend of the pod and assistant to the regional producer Sean Furfaro had us covered. Take it away, Sean.

35:27Clip: Hey, Andrew. Hey, Justin. It's the downtown showdown today. The team isn't here yet, but there's going to be ball hockey. There's going to be a lot of fun. We got the giant inflatable Ranger over my shoulder. The skating rink is open. Hoping for a good day. Going to have a great time. I know you can't be here, so I'll be your correspondent with some updates throughout the day. Hey, guys, the players have arrived. Hey there. There's Luke over my shoulder. Pam Reed's getting interviewed right over here. The players have all arrived. Games are going to be starting shortly. We're excited. I think I actually got roped into having a referee this thing. I'm not happy about it, but we'll see what happens. Hey, guys. I indeed get roped into refereeing, but we're having a good time down here. Right now. Players are signing autographs over here. The Round world Robin portion has ended. We're going to the championship game coming up, so we'll let you know who ends up winning this year's Downtown Showdown. Okay, last report for you. Team Sufy just won the Downtown Showdown with an 112 victory in the championship game. A great time here at the Downtown Showdown. Hope you guys can make it next year.

36:23Andrew: Thanks for that, Sean. Back to the pod.

36:26Justin: Last week we had Mike McKenzie on, so we just wanted to say again, thank you to Mike McKenzie for coming on the AudPod.

36:31Andrew: Yes.

36:32Justin: And we didn't thank him at all last week, but thank you to Luca Lombardi, who is the head of communications at the Rangers, who helped set all that up. We really appreciate it. And that was super fun.

36:41Andrew: Yeah, it was the best.

36:42Justin: We said it last week. That was not the. That was not the interview we expected to do, but it was a blast. Okay, Andrew, Justin, we got to thank Cam Born Papa Born our director of branding and marketing, who also put together, like, a really nice professional. Well, yes.

37:01Andrew: What was it, the Aud is it called?

37:03Justin: Branding.

37:03Andrew: Branding guidelines.

37:06Justin: Yeah. A branding guide.

37:07Andrew: Yeah. Loved it. So unbelievable. I wish we could share it. It's so professional.

37:11Justin: Season three.

37:12Andrew: Yeah.

37:13Justin: A refresh is coming. It looks great.

37:16Andrew: It's. We're real. It's exciting.

37:18Justin: Yeah. We gotta shout out our prodigal producer, Liam, the phenom. We have to thank Tim. Tim, Tim, Tim. Who uses this part.

37:28Clip: Whoa.

37:29Justin: That the way that you said Tim? It echoed and it sounded like there was a bat behind me.

37:34Andrew: Oh, yeah. I can throw my voice as only

37:37Justin: as a bat, though as a bat,

37:38Andrew: it's really has no practical use.

37:41Justin: You are actually a natural enemy to the werewolves of formerly London.

37:48Andrew: An adversary.

37:49Justin: Thank you to the Southwest branch of the Kitchener Public Library.

37:53Andrew: Yes.

37:54Justin: For hosting us with this great lighting.

37:55Andrew: Our Tex Mex home away from home. Yeah, I love West.

37:59Justin: Yeah. Some enchiladas.

38:00Andrew: Some Southwest ranch. A little ranch. A little spice in it, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, it's what I've been told.

38:06Justin: It's a branch.

38:07Andrew: Yeah, it's a. Oh, not a branch.

38:10Justin: A branch.

38:10Andrew: A branch.

38:11Justin: Like a tree on Southwest. Who's on first? And of course, we gotta thank JJ for doing the voiceover at the beginning of the episode.

38:19Andrew: Of course. It's how every episode starts.

38:21Justin: Yes. Now and forever. Unless she tells us. We have to stop. How do you. Please don't tell us. Please don't.

38:27Andrew: I don't want to re record that. With the pitch down.

38:30Justin: I know. We definitely lost the file, so.

38:32Andrew: Yeah, it's gone.

38:33Justin: It's gone.

38:33Andrew: Yeah.

38:34Justin: Andrew, how do you find us on the social medias?

38:36Andrew: You can find us at the AudPod on Tick Tock and Instagram and you can find us as theoddpod on YouTube. So you can just Google us. We come up right away. We're at. We're in the ether.

38:52Justin: I was trying to do the.

38:53Andrew: Aud was offensive here.

38:54Justin: Here.

38:54Andrew: It seemed like you were. Yeah, it seemed like you were doing that, but you have no idea what you're doing. Just throwing up gang signs.

39:01Justin: And as always, you can find us

39:04Andrew: for the playoffs at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

39:23Justin: Gats in the club.