72: How Much Do You Bench-Boss? Interview with Head Coach Jeff Kyrzakos

0:00Justin: Hey, Andrew.

0:01Andrew: Hey, Justin.

0:02Justin: Hey, Jeff.

0:03Jeff Kyrzakos: How's it going, fellas?

0:05Andrew: Jeff Kyrzakos is on the pod today, the newest head coach of the Kitchener Rangers and an Owen Sound Attack alumni. And of course, we cannot forget the MVP of the Bossier Shreveport Mudbugs. I had to, I had to really, really work on that one. Didn't come out super clean, but I'm going with it. Yeah, you, you were the MVP of their title run back in 2011. I had to add that in there just because Mudbugs has got to be like one of the funnest names for a team ever. Welcome to The AudPod. So let's just quickly jump right into what was it like being a Mudbug and what was it like leading that team to a championship?

1:00Jeff Kyrzakos: It was, it was great. Kind of towards the tail end of my playing career. So I had some buddies go down there and they recruited me to end up, end up playing a couple of years there. And we got treated really well. And the people of Louisiana are super down to earth, very generous and kind people, and they treated us great. Our owner and staff was great and we were able to win.

1:26Justin: So Mudbugs sounds like it's like a— what's that? What's the base of the crazy baseball league down there? The Savannah Bananas?

1:35Andrew: Oh, yes.

1:36Justin: You could do some dance moves while you're playing. Yeah.

1:39Andrew: Yeah.

1:41Jeff Kyrzakos: I believe it's supposed to be a crawfish of some sort.

1:43Justin: OK.

1:45Jeff Kyrzakos: I didn't dig into it too much.

1:46Andrew: I'm seeing it. Was that a pun? Didn't dig into it. Mudbugs. But you mentioned that the city was down to earth and everybody was really supportive and ownership was great. Kind of similar to here in Kitchener. You obviously, you joined the Kitchener Rangers in 2023. We, you know, looking at— we didn't even really know until yesterday, believe it or not, that you officially had the title of assistant GM as well as associate coach. And there was a mention that you may be formally giving up that title, but you'd obviously informally still be involved in roster personnel and talking and being in Mike McKenzie's ear, I'm sure. Of course. as a cohesive unit. But talk about a little bit like what it was like coming to Kitchener from your experience in Mississauga, where you were like a longtime assistant GM and assistant coach.

2:40Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah, I think the transition has been, has been great. Obviously some familiarity with not only Joe Birch but Mike McKenzie for a long time in this league. And then back to our playing days, Mac and I missed each other at St. Mike's by a year, but we did play against each other in that league. So the familiarity was there and then just the timing was good and the opportunity to work with a guy like Jussi was intriguing. And I don't think any of us pretended that he was going to be around for a decade. So I think, you know, behind the decision was the possibility that this may be coming at some point. So 3 years later, obviously here it is. But Kitchener, the organization, everyone here has been, has been outstanding. And it's, you know, you immerse yourself into the community and you realize how important our fans are to our players and, and how important this team is to the community. So I couldn't be happier to have come here.

3:44Justin: You mentioned that you all— that you've been involved in all this, but now, now we're coming into this new year. Last year, you know, the talk was 2027. Obviously, the Memorial Cup things changed. Hashtag no regrets. Go to Kelowna, get it. Whatever Mike said at the pep rally.

4:01Jeff Kyrzakos: Those conversations actually took place. So it's not—

4:07Andrew: Oh, we believe it.

4:08Justin: Oh yeah.

4:09Jeff Kyrzakos: No, I wasn't making it up. I mean, we sat, we sat around for a week or so and, you know, we were obviously unhappy that we weren't awarded the bid, but Such is life and such is part of the bidding process. And, you know, about a week later, we came to the conclusion— I can't say the way we, we said it in the office, but we decided we would go for it this year.

4:33Justin: So, yeah, and obviously the right call because when you win it all, you win it all. That's, that's the best thing that can come out of it. So, so that was the right decision. But with winning it all comes a lot of change with an organization like this. You know, we know, we know some players have committed to NCAA agreements. We know the NHL has been poking around at some of the players. Like, I know some of it's formalized, some of it isn't. Some of it, it will— is probably yet to be figured out. But like, what is your, what is your approach now to, to this season? Yesterday you said at the press conference that you, you guys still want to go for it again this year, which, hey, we're happy about. But like, what, like, what is the approach for Now, as a head coach, you obviously know things that are going on with the, with the GM side of things, the operational side of things. What is the approach for this year?

5:22Jeff Kyrzakos: I mean, like, we'd love to be in the mix and go for it every year, to be honest. Yeah.

5:26Andrew: Yeah.

5:27Jeff Kyrzakos: You know, sometimes it's not the reality. And I'm always of the approach, especially in this new climate we're dealing with, let's wait and see what we got. So, you know, you can have a, you can have a master plan. You can have a 5-year plan or a 1-year plan, but it changes every day. And I think we'll be— we like a lot of the pieces we have coming back. We obviously moved a lot of assets out last year. So, you know, we'll see where things are at and make a decision. But, you know, I think most times the group is going to tell you, they're going to dictate which direction we go from year to year. And, you know, in speaking in more general terms, I think we're, we're always looking to compete. And some years you compete for, for titles and other years you compete for taking steps. So, you know, for us, I think we'll see where we're at. We got some great pieces coming back. Yeah. Did we lose a lot of really good players? Absolutely. That's the nature of this league. Other teams did too. So there's going to be some great teams this year, teams that are, you know, quote unquote going for it. And we'll have to deal with that. But my biggest takeaway going into this year is I hope and I think that we can really surprise some people.

6:41Justin: Yeah, I, I know we're not a gotcha journalism podcast, but if you accidentally happen to slip something in like that would be fine.

6:48Andrew: Yeah, we are obviously very, you know, intrigued about the roster and stuff coming up. But without getting into too much specifics, I'm curious about that with the guys coming back. How do you manage expectation? And I'm sure that guys coming back and they've tasted that kind of, you know, victory and that success, maybe it's a little bit of a step back, but in the sense of not so much as like we're in a full rebuild or anything like that, but you've got to kind of like, you know, get your feet underneath you and figure out who you are. Like you said, the team will tell you. How do you manage that expectation with players who have now become comfortable playing at a level where You know, you went basically a month and a half without losing a game. That's unheard of. And, and, and you went right across the country and dominated the top teams in the competition out there. How do you manage that expectation while keeping, you know, that kind of, you know, steady kind of, you know, hand on the reins that it's like these— we're going to have some young guys too that need to learn from you. So how do you motivate both of those groups?

7:53Jeff Kyrzakos: Well, I think at the end of the day, winning always motivates. So for the guys that are returning and have been through that process, their competitive sides should come out every time the puck drops. And, you know, for us, I think any game we go into this year is one that we should think and want to win. And I think you can get in trouble when you look at big picture stuff too often. And I think even in the first half of last year with the Memorial Cup bid looming over our heads. There were— there was a lot of distractions and some players were obviously in the, you know, we want our team to get it camp and other players weren't. Right. And I don't think it's a secret. Why would an overager want us to get the Memorial Cup this year? You know, and so dealing with all that, we kind of got— we were big picture focused as a group at times and it was hard to deal with. the first half of the year. So for me, when you boil it down, it's we want to win the next hockey game we're playing. And, you know, we want to develop and teach guys. And, you know, I think the winning, the added benefit for us is once you learn how to win and you learn the compete it takes and what it actually takes day in, day out, that's information and knowledge you have over most of the league. So I think that helps. And I would never, I would never discount a bunch of guys who've won in any scenario.

9:22Justin: Yeah.

9:22Andrew: And speaking of that, the bunch of guys that won and that unbelievable run that they went on, one thing I wanted to specifically talk to you about was that, that last OHL series with Barrie. It was a sweep, but it had to be one of the most competitive sweeps we've ever seen, really, across any, you know, sweep I've seen in any sport ever, because those, those games went into, you know, double overtime and you're looking at a comeback in the last seconds in 2 games. What was that like learning from your, your players and from your coaches? Because as you said, it was an associate staff, like you had your head coach with Jussi, but you guys weren't assistants by, by nature. You were associates. And obviously there was maybe a big picture of perhaps this would be your team eventually one day because Jussi was a stepping stone or this was a stepping stone for Jussi. What was it like in that series particularly to see these guys grind out wins, especially in those 2 comeback games and, and complete the sweep on, on, on visiting ice?

10:25Jeff Kyrzakos: I mean, you never want to say it when you're in the middle of it and you certainly would never say it. But in the back of my mind, there were too many things that happened throughout the playoffs that were proof to me we were going to win, you know, and obviously, you know, things can happen, guys can get hurt, whatnot. But just Things were falling our way in a number of scenarios and just the calmness of our group, like nothing, absolutely nothing rattled the hockey club. So, you know, twice, all 4 games against Barrie were tied in the 3rd period. And not once did I sit in one of those games and go, I don't feel good about this. I think we all felt like we were going to win every game. But part of that is our group's reaction to any sort of adversity last year. In the second half, we were— nothing really rattled us. It's, you know, they tied 2 games, one with 2 or 3 seconds to go and one with 14 or 15 to go. It's almost automatic you go out and lose those games in overtime.

11:28Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

11:30Jeff Kyrzakos: I think we, we went in and obviously we were You know, we were pissed off, but guys reset pretty quick and went out there and just did a job. So there were, you know, that was the biggest thing. Biggest takeaway for me was just how unflappable the group was. And that's something that our returning players, I'm, I'm hopeful they bring with them into this season and pass it down to the younger guys.

11:55Justin: Speaking about those returning players, you know, every, every season brings, you know, new leadership changes in the room and things like that, especially in the OHL with so many developing players and and changes and things like that. How, how do you go into, uh, as 2 non-hockey players, so guys that have never been there, and probably some of our fans who are also have never played hockey, like what is the, what does it, what goes into making a leadership group for a team and, and what makes that a strong, uh, part of the team culture?

12:24Jeff Kyrzakos: Most of the time the leadership group, you know, makes itself. Obviously we're, we're selecting them, but the, the choices A lot of the time are obvious and guys have grown. And there's some guys you can see real early on, you're like, that guy's going to be a captain when he's 18 or 19. And there's just guys who are natural born leaders. And we have, we have some of them, a couple of guys who've maybe yet to wear a letter that to me are natural guys to have one this year. And we'll obviously discuss it as a group and come up with something. But, you know, I don't, I don't think there's a shortage of guys who can lead in our dressing room.

13:05Justin: Close to the vest, Jeff, over here.

13:09Andrew: He's not trusting us with this. All this talk that we'd cut things out of the episode if he leaves.

13:16Justin: Yeah. OK, tell us, tell us what made Cameron Reid a good leader this past, this past season.

13:22Jeff Kyrzakos: I think, and I think he'd be the first to admit it, He had to learn how to be a leader. So he had the qualities. I think he had a— he was— he's always been an excellent player for us and a great kid. I think there were things he had to learn or potentially even struggled with in the first half of the year that presented themselves. Part of that was, was the whole Memorial Cup stuff. It was hard on our guys. It was not an easy first half of the year. I know our record would scream otherwise, but it was a— I think we talked about it as coaches. It was by far the hardest 3 months of coaching we had to do in our, in our 3 years here as a staff. So, and a big piece of that was just kind of, you know, the Memorial Cup looming decision. And Cam had a lot on his plate. I think he found his niche. Especially as some other guys came back and took some, took some weight off his shoulders. The best thing he does is go out and play and lead by example. Some guys, some leaders are rah-rah guys and, you know, get the boys going. And some guys just go out and do it and show you how it should be done. And I think Cam's in the latter category there, and he's excellent at it. That's what makes him so good. He was able to go out and Just played his game real consistently throughout the entire playoffs and Memorial Cup.

14:49Andrew: Well, that's, that's a, that's a good point. I think, I think you brought up the fact that it was maybe a little uncomfortable. I mean, we're just fans. We're, we're a little bit closer to the team perhaps, but we're not in the dressing room and we're not obviously talking to people or getting scoops or anything like that. But it did seem like maybe a little bit of a less comfortable with winning in that first half of the season. And then it just kind of like took off and there was a lot of new personalities come into the dressing room, obviously. One, you know, 2 of the big ones coming from such a close rival. What was it like managing the personalities and the players? And I'm sure that they're all very professional, but there is that level of, you know, maybe there's a little bit of sandpaper there with the fact that you've got 2 London Knights and even an Erie Otter where, you know, there's maybe an underrated rivalry there with Erie and Kitchener. You got different guys coming in. That, you know, and even having, you know, Ando come back midseason or towards the end of the season, really, when he was a captain, what's it like, you know, having these injections of different personalities in the room and, and, and getting them to buy into the culture? Or was it, you know, seamless?

15:57Jeff Kyrzakos: I would say it was pretty easy. You know, at the end of the day, it's about the personnel you bring in. So, and I don't know how much Mac has alluded to this and other stuff, but We targeted certain guys and we kind of had a hint that Ando might be getting sent back at some point. But we had 4 guys on our list and, and we went out and got all 4 of them, which is very rare. But we didn't have an appetite to go in with just any players adding any players. We wanted certain players and we were lucky enough to— Mac did a great job getting all that accomplished. But at the end of the day, the hardest thing in junior hockey and what was tough for us in the first half is not knowing a direction of a hockey club in any given year allows teenage minds to wander. They're not pros. They're not being paid millions of dollars to just go out and play.

16:52Andrew: Yeah, right.

16:53Jeff Kyrzakos: You got some guys going, I might get traded if they get the Memorial Cup next year. Like, and you got other guys, you know, so Too many thoughts enter their head and it's a lot to deal with. And that's, that's why we're always of the philosophy going into any given year, we don't have something set in our mind that we're doing this or we're doing that. Our players are going to tell us and they're going to dictate what we end up doing at the end of the day. So if we're— we saw it in our first, first couple of years here, we weren't supposed to be very good and we were supposed to kind of sell off pieces both those years and I think the hockey club put us in a position where we couldn't really do that. We couldn't walk into the room and say, hey guys, I know you're— I know you're getting 100 points this year, but we're going to take these 2 guys out of your room. So, you know, and that's on them. Kudos to them. They— and I think that season going to the conference finals, the comeback versus Windsor, I think that all set us up for winning the following year.

17:51Justin: How How does it feel owning Windsor so badly in your tenure here with the Kitchener Rangers?

17:57Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah, they're a great hockey club. And Wally and Billy and Noobs do a great job there. We have, we have been lucky enough to beat them a couple of times, but they're, they're certainly—

18:13Justin: 3 times really badly.

18:14Jeff Kyrzakos: They're certainly a formidable opponent. You know, things happen that sometimes go your way and sometimes don't. And for whatever reason, they've been, they've been a team that we've been able to get, get over the hump with. We've also had a club shorter distance down the road that's put us out a couple of times in our time here too.

18:39Andrew: So we don't mention that on this pod.

18:41Justin: Yeah. Even though Andrew's wearing the colors.

18:44Andrew: I know, but you got a green shirt on. I'm mocking them. I'm mocking them because they say we have to thank them for that, for that Cup run because of the 2 players we added. And I said, no, no, no, those draft picks, that's the thank you. You'll enjoy those, those draft picks.

18:59Jeff Kyrzakos: There were 10 picks and 2 players that went their way.

19:02Andrew: So yeah, yeah, that's the thank you. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

19:06Justin: Exactly.

19:07Andrew: I'm just curious now, just talking different coaching styles. You're all— you, to lack of a better term, I described it almost as kind of like a group project because every time you talked about the coaching staff, he made sure to single out all of you— Jordan Decort, Brandon Murley, yourself, Brad— like that you all had such a big piece of what, what the success was, right? How is your style in the room, you know, gonna differ from Jussi? And how do you think that like your style is going to translate now? Like, is it, is it that much different or do you feel like It's, it's just this cohesive nature. And of course, he's moved on. Doesn't really matter in the sense of, of like it's not going to change this like culture. But at the same time, what do you feel like you bring into the room as a head coach as opposed to an associate coach?

19:59Jeff Kyrzakos: Honestly, and I said this yesterday, we really don't plan to change much. We're— we've always been a collaborative group. I think it's part of our success. Obviously, we lose Jussi's share of that collaboration, but, you know, we're like-minded and we're in alignment in terms of how we want to play and what we think is important. And that's straight from management down to the coaching staff. And I, you know, that's why who we bring in is important. We want to make sure we get it right, that not only he fits our staff dynamic, but sees the game the same way and will be able to relate to the players in a similar manner. And I really think at the end of the day, a lot of our success as an organization recently has come from— and it's a credit to Mac and, and Michael Zoltan, even, and even Burchie— we are in total alignment. There's no disconnect between management and coaching staff. We talk every day, we sit in the same room and bat around ideas and what we'd like to see or maybe what we could use. Or at the end of the day, I think that goes a long way to winning because when we talk about bringing in players we need to bring in to make a run, we got the guys we wanted and the guys we thought we needed. You know, Gabriel Chiarot, for, for an example, is not the most sexy name on the market at the time. But he was exactly what we thought we needed as a, as a coaching staff. We needed guys who played hard and got on pucks. And, you know, you can't have, you can't have 12 forwards who, you know, just want to shoot the puck. And, you know, you need guys to go get it. And, you know, there's components to winning hockey clubs. And he was a big piece. I think people kind of snickered a little bit at what we paid for him, but we really didn't care because we thought we needed a player like that to win. And Dylan Edwards, another guy who we go out and get another guy who got 40 goals, no problem. They were available, but he was a dog. So that's why we wanted him. And, you know, the 2 guys from London speak for themselves. I mean, winners and ultra competitive, you know. So at the end of the day, those guys were— those guys were easy guys to target, harder guys to acquire. But, you know, you know, for, for us, that having that alignment put everything in place. So for me going into this year, we're still going to do things the same way. You know, I have a familiarity with the players, which is, which is good. They know how I operate. They know my style. It's similar in nature. And so I don't think a ton is going to change. There's obviously a different guy in charge, but At the end of the day, it's still going to be a pretty collaborative group from Mac right on down to the coaching staff.

22:57Justin: OK, we know you're— we know you're like a lifetime hockey guy. Like, you played hockey. You've been coaching for about a decade now. Is that accurate?

23:06Jeff Kyrzakos: In this league? Yeah. A little longer than that.

23:10Justin: Yeah. Yeah. And in the GOJHL before that, is that right?

23:15Jeff Kyrzakos: I did a year in the OJHL.

23:17Justin: OJHL.

23:18Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah. play. And then I actually did, I did a year of minor midget as well.

23:24Andrew: So, okay, okay.

23:26Jeff Kyrzakos: The dreaded U16 draft year, dealing with all the parents and—

23:32Justin: Oh no. Oh no.

23:34Andrew: Yeah, that sounds not good.

23:36Jeff Kyrzakos: We had a really good group.

23:38Andrew: Yeah, but it could be, it could go the other way. It could go the other way when you— Yeah, yeah, for sure. But you— so you started— I do have to ask because I like, obviously, like any good investigative journalist, I pulled up your HockeyDB and it says that you started your coaching career with 3 games as a player coach with the Arizona Sundogs. How did, how did that transition happen?

24:03Jeff Kyrzakos: That one was— we were struggling a bit as a hockey club. I had gotten hurt. They're smaller operations in, you know, ECHL or at the time CHL before they merged. It's not our CHL, but Central Hockey League.

24:21Justin: Yes.

24:21Jeff Kyrzakos: And Coast Hockey League. You know, we had— we made the decision as an organization, obviously I didn't make it, but that they were going to— they were going to relieve the coaches of their duties and the team was set to go on a 3-game road trip the next day. And I don't think it dawned on them they didn't have a coach. So, so I thought they could— they maybe thought they could figure it out at home. Maybe the GM would go on the bench and cover a couple of games while they, while they found a coach. And I was hurt at the time. I was an older guy and they basically came and said, hey, would you travel with the team and coach the team for the road trip? Yeah.

25:04Justin: So, and did they win those games? All 3.

25:06Jeff Kyrzakos: All 3. It was actually— it was weird because it's not weird, but it was the top 3 teams in the league on the road trip we were going. So we somehow we went in and won them all.

25:21Justin: Yeah.

25:23Andrew: Behind the fearless leader. That's incredible that you just stepped into that role. And if I'm doing quick math, You had to be like, what, late 20s doing that? Early 30s?

25:34Jeff Kyrzakos: I was, yeah, I was late 20s. And we hired actually the coach I won in Shreveport with. That's who we ended up hiring to finish the year. OK.

25:45Andrew: And I—

25:46Jeff Kyrzakos: this is, this is how weird the minors can be. I was kind of his assistant until I got healthy and then I just came back and played. So. Wow.

25:55Justin: Perfect. Yeah.

25:57Andrew: The minors sound like they need a TV show. Is what they need, a fictional TV show.

26:02Jeff Kyrzakos: It's the Wild West once a year. They call it the jungle and they're not wrong.

26:06Justin: Yeah, right, right, right.

26:08Andrew: So you're both— both you and Mike McKenzie are ECHL and specifically, I think Charlotte Checkers alum as well. But you missed each other. But you missed each other there. Yeah. Going back to being an OHLer and going into that professional, I mean, it's probably much different back then, but Was there any sort of preparation for you in the OHL back then to step into professional hockey? And what's it like now when you're, you're talking to these players and, and trying to prepare them to, you know, basically go on and be professional hockey players at some level? And we know how rare it is for people to go on to the NHL and be millionaires, you know, 10 times over. But you, you still have to prepare these guys that they're going to have a future in hockey, even if it's 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 years. What's that like now compared to like when you were in the OHL? In the like mid-2000s?

27:01Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah, I mean, there was no— there was no book that prepared me for going and stepping into pro hockey, but it was— a lot of it's the same today. I think the thing we, we focus on is obviously their habits and details and being good defensively and away from the puck are things you need to transition to the pro game. I think the things that Maybe fans don't think about or other people necessarily is it's off the ice. These guys really come in, they come in at 16, and for the most part, they've had everything done for them, you know, their whole lives. So most of them don't know how to do a load of laundry or make a meal or, you know, simple tasks like that. So, you know, it's good for—

27:53Justin: I know.

27:53Jeff Kyrzakos: Back when we were in Mississauga, we used to put them in culinary school.

27:57Justin: Oh.

27:57Jeff Kyrzakos: Just because it's like they are— it's a different generation, I think. You know, those were things kind of our parents forced us to learn, people my age, I guess. But some of these guys, and they're very fortunate, but they come from situations where maybe they haven't had to do that and they're still learning those things. So it's tough for an 18 or 19-year-old kid be ready to go to pro hockey. And, you know, he doesn't know how to do laundry or iron a shirt or, you know, whatever, whatever it is, just little tasks that are part of being an everyday adult off on your own. So I think those go under the radar. And as our guys mature, you know, those are things that hopefully they're learning through the billet system. We got some excellent billets here.

28:44Justin: Yeah.

28:46Jeff Kyrzakos: You know, I think waiting hand and foot on guys nonstop doesn't do them any favors. They need to learn to do some things on their own. And, you know, it's funny, we have some— we have some guys in our room who are certainly the exception to the rule. They're, you know, they're mature beyond their years and they could easily probably go away and live on their own. But it takes all kinds.

29:09Justin: OK, who From your past, who's the worst? Like, you got to have somebody who was— Even a teammate back in the day. Yeah, yeah, teammate, anybody.

29:20Jeff Kyrzakos: Like, oh man. I mean, this is probably— this is— this has to be a cutout, but—

29:29Andrew: Can we just cut the name out? Can you tell the story?

29:33Jeff Kyrzakos: Oh, well, I mean, there might be some clues in there. Yeah, I mean, I'll try and hide it as good as I can.

29:39Justin: OK. OK. OK. Yeah.

29:41Jeff Kyrzakos: I had a player in Mississauga and he was a— he ended up playing in the NHL and he was a pretty, pretty good prospect, let's say. This guy had no idea how to do anything away from the game. On the ice, very accomplished player.

30:01Justin: Yeah.

30:03Jeff Kyrzakos: So his first year where he was playing, I can't even say where he's playing because It'll, it'll, it'll whittle it down. But his mom was flying there like once a month to make all his meals for him and put them in Tupperware in the freezer. So all he had to do was take them out and throw them in the microwave. Oh, come on. That was actually, that was actually the leading cause behind us starting culinary classes for our players.

30:30Justin: This one player.

30:32Andrew: Unbelievable.

30:33Justin: Yeah.

30:33Andrew: And yet somehow Totally believable.

30:35Justin: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

30:37Jeff Kyrzakos: You hang around, you hang around 25 kids that are 16 to 20 every day. It's extremely believable. So, yeah.

30:44Justin: Yeah.

30:45Andrew: Well, so, so some of that— does any of that lingo rub off on you? Do you find yourself thinking these, these outrageous Gen Z terms sometimes in your head? Because, you know, you hear them. But I got to be honest, we're, we're basically the same generation. We're in our late 30s. You're early 40s. Like, we're the same generation. And sometimes talking to these guys, Even us, we're like, man, these guys are— this is a totally different— this is totally different, you know, culture and generation.

31:13Jeff Kyrzakos: I used to care. Like, I used to be like, I should probably learn that. And there's some— now it's like, I don't care. I don't even want to know what it means. You guys, right? You know, there's— I would say none of it infiltrates me, that's for sure.

31:29Justin: Temple of solitude there. Yeah.

31:33Jeff Kyrzakos: At the end of the day, it's like I learned how to— I learned how to speak. You know, 40 years ago. So I don't, I don't need to pick up new words. So, yeah, right. But I love it there. They joke around. They got their, they got their slang that they use at times. And it is what it is. It's part of, part of them being where they're at in their, in their age and development.

31:54Justin: OK, away from hockey, how does Jeff Kyrzakos relax? You know, how do you get away from the game a little bit? How do you, How do you zen out?

32:03Jeff Kyrzakos: I don't that much, to be honest.

32:05Andrew: And that's why you're a head coach.

32:09Justin: Yeah.

32:11Jeff Kyrzakos: The only time I really ever usually try and every year I try and get away to Europe for a couple of weeks at some point. It's more of my personality. I'll be a guy who will never retire and it's hard for me to sit around the house and do nothing. So I'm always doing something. Yeah. You know, really, unless I get on a plane and I go, I go over the pond, that's the only time I can kind of relax and not do anything. So.

32:38Justin: Did you get away this year? And it was a short summer.

32:40Jeff Kyrzakos: No, because we had— our league decided to put the draft in June. So we had— we got back June 1st from Kelowna and we had, we had our draft, we had our development camp right after that, the weekend after, and then we had The NHL draft was the weekend after that. Then we did the import draft. I agreed to be a guest coach at Maple Leafs development camp after that. And then right after that, we got into Jussi getting a job and leaving and started this whole process. So I think Sunday I go to Edmonton to Ivan Hlinka to watch our imports and Get back. There's a couple of league meetings, August 12th and 19th, and all of a sudden we're at camp. So, wow.

33:31Justin: Yeah.

33:32Jeff Kyrzakos: But I mean, I would do it again.

33:34Andrew: Yeah.

33:36Justin: Yeah. The downsides of winning, I guess. Yeah.

33:39Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah.

33:39Andrew: Less time off.

33:40Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah. I would do it again. I will say this. I've only played 3 rounds of golf this summer and normally I'm A lot harder than that.

33:52Justin: So the classic off-time hockey player hobby to do.

33:57Andrew: Absolutely.

33:57Jeff Kyrzakos: We only know how to do a select few things, right?

34:00Andrew: So yeah, got to be swinging some sort of stick in hand.

34:05Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

34:07Andrew: For sure. And we have been told— oh, sorry, I just want to jump in here. We have been told and we haven't seen it really firsthand Justin may have— I didn't see it when I attended practice and watched you guys. We have been told that you have some dirty dangles, so hopefully we can get in there with our friend of the pod, Sean Furfaro, again this season. And maybe we'll see— maybe we'll see the head coach on a breakaway here, perhaps, and we'll see some. But did you always have those dirty dangles when you were a player, or is that something that you've kind of refined now as a coach?

34:39Jeff Kyrzakos: I've probably actually gotten better with some hand stuff, just doing all the skill stuff that the players do now. But I would say your reports, I don't know how accurate they are. Like, I'm older now. I'm 41 years old. So yeah, I would hop in a drill from time to time if, you know, if we had 14 forwards and we were looking to run 5 lines, I would hop in from time to time. I don't think I'll be doing that. It's, it's something I've done a handful of times over the last couple of years.

35:12Justin: I might have seen a practice tradition between you and Jussi. What, what new traditions are you going to bring now that— though the one that I saw was you just shot a lot of pucks at him. That's true.

35:26Jeff Kyrzakos: I saw that too.

35:28Justin: Yeah.

35:29Jeff Kyrzakos: Those were— that was morning skate.

35:32Justin: Yeah.

35:32Jeff Kyrzakos: And when we transitioned from We had 4 drills. We transitioned from the 3rd to the 4th with pucks on both sides, and we wanted to get them all on one side. And Jussi would stickhandle. I don't know if you've ever seen a clip of Patrick Kane stickhandling, but, you know, Jussi was a goalie, so I think he'd be the first to admit maybe his hands aren't as good as, you know, they could be. And so he would try and do the Patrick Kane stickhandling through all the pucks coming at him. And we used to send them softly. And then it was actually me and Andrew Vermeulen joined me every morning skate and we would start ripping them pretty good across the ice. And luckily no one got hurt over 3 years because those pucks ricocheted a few times and went, went up high in the air. And, you know, you never, you never really got one in the shin or— It could have been bad, but it was something we started doing and couldn't stop.

36:28Justin: OK, so what, what's your, what's your routines? What are your— are you superstitious?

36:33Jeff Kyrzakos: I say no, but you get into the playoffs and we were doing some stupid stuff. I can tell you that.

36:41Justin: We're all ears. Yeah, you can't tease us like that. Yeah.

36:48Jeff Kyrzakos: Maybe I'll rat out a couple other guys. Burchie. Burchie had a turkey sandwich every home game in the playoffs, so he had to be getting tired of those.

36:58Justin: Oh, yeah.

36:58Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah. Yeah. No, I think we always at home games, we always go in the sauna. So we have our meeting with the guys. And I can tell you this too, the one way I'm definitely different than you, you won't catch me running around East Avenue between 5 and 5:30. Yeah, it's probably not going to happen.

37:18Justin: So.

37:18Jeff Kyrzakos: OK. OK. You know, I don't mind getting a workout in, but He, most of our seasons played during the winter and that doesn't seem enjoyable to me. So.

37:29Justin: Yeah.

37:30Andrew: And just the wardrobe change too, right? Like going from tracksuit and parka to back to suit and all that kind of stuff. That seems like pretty rushed to me. I'd be pretty comfortable, I think, in what I'm wearing to the rink.

37:42Jeff Kyrzakos: He's got a tight schedule for sure, but he's got it down to a science.

37:45Justin: I bet.

37:46Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah. Mine, mine was always more relaxed. Because I would— my meeting would be in the morning with the power play guys. And obviously I sit in the 5-on-5 meetings that we would have at 5 o'clock. But the second that was over, you know, Jussi would go for his run, but I'd already be done everything. I'd be— I'd have my sauna done. I usually come in, come back to the rink after we were here in the morning. I'd work out, eat, go home for maybe an hour or two, let the dog out. I'd come right back and that was sauna time. So we would always, we'd always have the same time. Me and Brandon Murley, we'd always go in and occasionally Flinner would sneak in, but he usually went in after the 5:00 meeting.

38:30Justin: So, Andrew, I noticed that he, he did rat out a couple of people, but he really didn't give us anything about himself in that. So.

38:37Jeff Kyrzakos: No, no.

38:38Justin: Yeah, that's close to the— Jeff is going to stick.

38:44Andrew: Yeah, we have to earn the trust. We have to earn the trust.

38:46Justin: I guess, you know, I thought we were there, but, you know, yeah, it's gonna take some time.

38:50Jeff Kyrzakos: Take some time. Well, I stopped eating the pizza they delivered to our office, and that was a superstition.

38:56Andrew: Okay, that's just good for your sodium levels.

39:00Justin: Yeah, I think that's probably good for you.

39:02Jeff Kyrzakos: Usually it was the other way around. If we didn't get pizza, he didn't— he thought we couldn't win. So, um, oh yeah, so there was So we had to get the pizzas.

39:10Andrew: Yeah.

39:11Jeff Kyrzakos: But I started—

39:12Justin: From a specific place?

39:13Jeff Kyrzakos: Always same place every time.

39:14Justin: Yeah.

39:15Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah.

39:15Justin: OK.

39:16Jeff Kyrzakos: That bled into on the road though. So we started getting pizzas on the road and I would always go up to the media room for food when I was here. So yeah, we'd be— it was a guessing game what they were, what they were going to have, but try to get there before all the media. Otherwise the cookies are gone.

39:37Justin: All right, Jeff, we've, we've taken more than enough of your time. We really appreciate you coming on to chat with us. You know, this new— being a new head coach, this is, this is exciting for us. You're the, you're the first major change in this organization since we've started following it. So we got really excited to hear you were coming on and, and yeah.

39:57Andrew: Yeah, we're extremely grateful that you sat down and talked to us, though. There is one more question I think that Justin has for you from a friend of the pod, Mike Farwell.

40:06Justin: Yeah.

40:07Andrew: Yeah.

40:08Justin: Mike, he kind of brought it up to you yesterday, but it sounds to me like the community might need an apology for the 6-point game you put up against the Kitchener Rangers in— was it '04?

40:22Jeff Kyrzakos: No, it wasn't. It was '05, '06.

40:27Justin: OK. Yeah.

40:28Jeff Kyrzakos: No, it was— we just We happened to beat Kitchener in the first round of the playoffs.

40:36Andrew: Oh, so humble.

40:37Justin: This is— this is how you teach the boys. No apology is what I'm hearing. No, not—

40:42Andrew: well, you know, you can't apologize for being better.

40:44Jeff Kyrzakos: That's, you know, the series went our way, that's for sure. But, you know, I, I don't hold playing for Owen Sound against me. You know, I'm a, I'm a Kitchener Ranger guy now.

40:59Andrew: So absolutely through and through.

41:01Justin: Yeah, it's in your blood. The only really unforgivable hard Hard part is, is, you know, the green team that we do not name on this one.

41:09Andrew: That's true. That's true.

41:10Justin: Yeah. Anybody else we get there. Yeah. You got to play where you can play.

41:12Andrew: We ran into the, into the O'Reilly family a few times last year during the run, and we were like, don't listen to the episodes before Sam got here.

41:21Justin: It was like, don't, don't go back that far.

41:23Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah, don't go back and listen to those.

41:26Andrew: Yeah, those are not important. We're just like delisting them from YouTube.

41:30Jeff Kyrzakos: We're just To their credit, they had their Ranger jerseys on for the second half of the year and in the playoffs.

41:38Andrew: So yeah, and they're, they're big AudPod supporters. So we are, we're like this with them. They're, they're, they're great. We love them.

41:44Justin: The O'Reilly sisters did say that Kitchener was better than London. So that's all we really—

41:49Jeff Kyrzakos: They did.

41:50Andrew: So that's, that's our—

41:51Jeff Kyrzakos: Yet after we won.

41:53Justin: Yeah, that was in Barrie.

41:54Andrew: Yeah, it was.

41:55Justin: Yeah, it was on the ice after the game. Yeah.

41:58Jeff Kyrzakos: Yeah.

41:58Andrew: So we'll take it. We'll take it.

42:00Justin: Yeah.

42:00Andrew: But yes, once again, thank you so much for joining us on the AudPod. We'd love to— obviously, we'll chat, hopefully be able to check in with you again at some point in the future. Hopefully we're celebrating again. But either way, we'd love to chat with you again. And we do really appreciate your time and talking to us, and especially for the Rangers fans, because we had no idea how much of a niche we were, we were filling when we started this podcast and really are completely, you know, pinching ourselves that we're sitting here with the head coach of the Kitchener Rangers, just, you know, 2 short years into our podcast. But, you know, we are super gracious and just We just, we just so grateful that you joined us here today and you've answered all these questions and, and put up with our silliness because we are not serious journalists. We are not journalists.

42:46Jeff Kyrzakos: No, I'm happy to come on. And, you know, for the people that watch it, you know, I know as coaches and we keep a lot close to the vest, you know, maybe—

43:01Justin: As you should.

43:02Jeff Kyrzakos: Maybe the next time I'll divulge a little more information. Looking forward to it.

43:07Justin: Awesome. Thanks, Jeff. And go Rangers.

43:11Jeff Kyrzakos: Yes, absolutely.

43:14Justin: Well, that was a great, a great chat with the new head coach.

43:18Andrew: Unbelievable.

43:20Justin: Yeah.

43:20Andrew: Coach Jeff Kyrzakos is a somewhat semi-open book with us on—

43:26Justin: No.

43:29Andrew: Yeah, well, you can preview. You can preview some of that.

43:33Justin: Well, you open that book and there's only like 3 words at the top of the page. It's all redacted. It's all redacted. It's all the black lines.

43:39Andrew: Yeah, it's just black lines.

43:41Justin: Just wait till you find out the stuff we cut.

43:43Andrew: Yeah, yeah, no, uh, but no, I mean, so, so exciting that he joined us and talked to us about the, about the club and, and last year especially, and just kind of like, you know, him, him, himself as a, as a person and as a leader and as a coach himself. So it was, uh, all, all in all, I learned a lot from him. And, uh, yeah, all in all, you didn't say all in all once. Not once, but we just did. Uh, uh, but, uh, yeah, all in all, I thought it was a very entertaining, uh, conversation, if not for anything else.

44:15Justin: All in all, I agree.

44:17Andrew: Yes. So exciting.

44:20Justin: Yeah. So thanks to Jeff for, for sitting down with us. It is definitely an exciting thing coming up for next season is, is a new head coach. Um, you know, obviously we haven't recorded anything since, uh, since Jussi, uh, said he was leaving and going to Colorado. You know, we know the OHL is a development league, not just for the players, for the coaches. We are so excited that, you know, a, a coach from, uh, this team that we follow, the Kitchener Rangers, uh, now is in an NHL system. Like, that is the dream. You want to get to the NHL, and he is now in the NHL system, uh, head coaching the, the AHL Colorado Eagles.

44:58Andrew: That's Amazing.

44:59Justin: Like, what a huge jump, actually. It's phenomenal. So—

45:02Andrew: It's huge.

45:03Justin: Couldn't be happier for him.

45:04Andrew: You're going directly to like the step right before the NHL. Like a lot of these guys, you know, you have to work your way through, you know, many leagues to do what you're doing. And for a European-born coach to be right there on the cusp that quickly, unbelievable. I mean, obviously Coach Jussi Ahokas is a special individual. But it's very exciting that we are getting to promote with it from within and have somebody around that's familiar, you know, with the team, but also the AudPod and able to bring you content and, and, you know, just continue this Kitchener Rangers tradition of being community focused and, and giving back to the fans. And, you know, the ownership group is what we'll call this.

45:50Justin: That's what we'll call all of us.

45:52Jeff Kyrzakos: Yes. Yes.

45:53Andrew: We are, we are the ownership group.

45:57Justin: All right. We should let you all go. I hope you're all enjoying your summer. Thank you to Papa Bourne, my dad, for director of branding and marketing.

46:07Andrew: Tiredly working on stuff.

46:09Justin: There's some stuff coming. Hey, if you haven't checked out our website in a while, it looks different.

46:14Andrew: It looks different. It does. It looks great. Thank you, Justin. You've done a ton of work on it this summer.

46:20Justin: Yeah. Yeah, trying to get, trying to get it useful. There's even information about some of us on there.

46:25Andrew: That's true.

46:26Jeff Kyrzakos: That's true.

46:27Justin: We obviously have to shout out our prodigal producer Liam.

46:31Andrew: The phenom.

46:32Justin: We got to shout out—

46:33Andrew: I almost forgot to say it. I almost forgot to say it. It's been so long.

46:36Justin: Tim will tighten that up.

46:37Andrew: Tim.

46:38Justin: Tim. Thank you to JJ for doing our voiceover of our, of our intro.

46:43Andrew: Yes.

46:43Justin: And, uh, thank you all for listening. Uh, I hope you're enjoying our our interviews this summer. And, you know, obviously we'll be back in the season. Uh, there'll probably be maybe some more interviews coming. We don't know. We don't know.

46:53Andrew: And obviously I got to do a quick shout out. Thank you to my wife for delivering our baby girl one week ago today. So that's pretty exciting. I know people kind of knew that, that, that was happening. So I'll just say that that happened and we've got a wonderful, lovely little girl. And, uh, now, uh, we're both girl dads now.

47:14Justin: So we are girl dads.

47:16Andrew: We can be totally out of our element together.

47:18Justin: We're bro-less girl dads. Yeah, we're bro-ing bro-less girl dads.

47:23Andrew: That's true. We have no siblings ourselves. But now, now I have a child, 2 children with, you know, siblings with each other.

47:28Justin: They each have a sibling.

47:30Andrew: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how to manage that. So I'll be, you know, dealing with my wife. My wife will be dealing with that. Yeah.

47:37Justin: So congratulations. Yeah. Congrats. Congrats, you guys. I didn't forget I was going to bring it up, but, you know, thank you.

47:42Andrew: Whatever.

47:42Justin: Thank you. Self-promotion. That's fine. I just—

47:44Andrew: I figured I wanted to thank her. Because I was there in the room and I'm going to thank her. I'll never thank her enough. Let's put it that way.

47:51Justin: Thank you, Jess.

47:53Andrew: But also not thank you, because that's why I missed the, the Dylan Edwards episode, because I was, I was working and trying to provide for these dependents. Now I'm in trouble. All right. Yeah, I gotta go pick up one of them from daycare. So, all right, I'll see you later. Okay.

48:13Jeff Kyrzakos: Bye. Bye.