Episode 10: From Streaks to Skid Marks

0:12Justin: Welcome to the AudPod, where we're talking Kitchener Rangers hockey with the AudBalls themselves, Andrew and Justin. Take it away, fellas. Hey, Andrew.

0:30Andrew: Hey. Variety is the spice of life.

0:33Justin: The first thing I wrote down for this episode, Skidmark City. All the streaks ended.

0:38Andrew: Oh, I thought you were telling us something about your undergarments.

0:41Justin: Oh, I don't think we need to get into that. No, we don't. Still happy for that tushy sponsorship? If the Aud there, we are looking for it.

0:48Andrew: I never have skid marks.

0:51Justin: Wait, okay, so we knew this was coming. We extended the win streak to 10,

0:58Andrew: which, yeah, in itself was a amazing. Felt really good.

1:01Justin: A masterclass game in how to win 10 in a row.

1:04Andrew: We also just kind of knew that three nights in a row was going

1:10Justin: to be really difficult to keep it going. However, we, we continued the. Soo we continued the point streak for an extra game. We did, which was great. 16, 16. And then all of that ended against Oshawa except Luca Romano seven game point streak. 14 points in 17 games.

1:29Andrew: So Luca keeps it going. So not all the streaks are dead.

1:33Justin: No, we, we always. There's always a streak in the wash.

1:35Andrew: There's always a streak. And not only that, like, we're just going to begin a new streak now. A good streak. We're not beginning a bad streak.

1:42Justin: No streaking. Yes.

1:43Andrew: Well, you know, I don't know. Not at our age.

1:47Justin: No, definitely not. Ncaa.

1:51Andrew: Ncaa. Big deal.

1:53Justin: It's a huge deal. I would be lying if I said that I understood all the nooks and crannies of this arrangement.

2:01Andrew: Yeah, I think that there's probably more informative podcasts and sources that you can go to. I think the rundown, a very, very simplified version now is that prior to this change, the OHL players, if you played in the ohl, you disqualified yourself from playing in the ncaa.

2:21Justin: Yeah.

2:21Andrew: Now that's not the case anymore. So we're going to see a lot of players who were holding out of the OHL because they had a NCAA commitment. Now they're going to come to the OHL and play for a couple years and then also we're going to see maybe more or less overagers now in the ohl, which is, you know, it's, it's, it's probably a good balance for the OHL and, and developing pre draft talent now.

2:45Justin: Yeah, and I would imagine, I would imagine that if there's, there's NHL players, they're probably going to play in the OHL because that's Like a one more year commitment after their draft eligible year and they'll just. Then they can go into AHL or they can still go to college if they can.

2:58Andrew: I think that the, the. Aud seems like the prediction of this is from. This is the big loser is going to be the ushl.

3:07Justin: Yes.

3:07Andrew: Which a lot of young American talent was going. Was holding out of coming to the chl. And I think the CHL was clearly head. Head and shoulders above in ability to develop. So players were intentionally. I mean, I think the USHL was using it kind of as a feather in their cap to try and keep homegrown talent in the US there. And I think we'll see kind of a US invasion now a little bit in the next couple years in the chl. I think that's good because we're going to just see better talent.

3:39Justin: So there's. There's two instant ramifications for the Kitchener Rangers. There are a. Our friend of the pod. Friend of the pod. Our guy.

3:49Andrew: Our guy. The original AudPod guy.

3:52Justin: Jackson Parsons.

3:53Andrew: Yeah.

3:53Justin: He's going to play for professional hockey next year. Ncaa, Clarkson University.

3:57Andrew: He committed.

3:58Justin: Yeah. Great for him.

3:59Andrew: That's great. Because he could be caught in a little bit of an in between land where maybe he's not going to get a shot at professional hockey right away. But now we're going to see him continue to develop.

4:10Justin: And we talked about this in an earlier episode where it's like goalies need longer times to develop. So we don't know where Jackson Parsons is going to go, but he will now have a, have a route.

4:19Andrew: He has a net.

4:19Justin: Yeah.

4:20Andrew: And that's the most important part for a goalie. Right.

4:23Justin: And then also instant ramification for the Kitchener Rangers.

4:27Andrew: Jack Pridham I'm really excited about this. I just think that this team isn't even in need of a boost. But talk about the best time to get a boost is you just went on a run, you've had no respect. The competition is finally now acknowledging that you're an elite team.

4:44Justin: Yeah.

4:45Andrew: And what happens, an elite two way forward with elite speed is coming to play forward for your team just like a gift. So. So Jack Freedom was playing in the bchl, which is known as an outlaw league because it's not affiliated with Hockey Canada with chl.

5:06Justin: So he could go play in the

5:07Andrew: ncaa, could maintain his. His scholarship, his commitment to the ncaa. Well, once that changed, he. His draft, he was drafted by the Kitchener Rangers.

5:18Justin: Yeah.

5:18Andrew: So he could now come fulfill that

5:21Justin: opportunity and he can play hockey in the ohl. Which is a great development league. Which is great.

5:26Andrew: Obviously better than the vchl.

5:28Justin: Yes.

5:29Andrew: Even the Aud seems like there's probably going to be some pretty top guys coming from leagues like that now. And I'm excited to see how it shakes up the league.

5:37Justin: Yeah.

5:38Andrew: All right.

5:38Justin: Should we hop into some recaps? We should. Let's start with our Friday game against

5:46Andrew: the Soo Greyhounds Firstly, my favorite game of the weekend.

5:50Justin: I don't know if you're alone in that. So we beat the Greyhounds for nothing.

5:56Andrew: Yeah. The Greyhounds took an L because our team is full of dogs.

6:02Justin: Matt Anonoski, dog.

6:05Andrew: Cameron Reid dog. Friend Swick, dog.

6:10Justin: Who let the dogs out?

6:11Andrew: Jackson Parsons, dog.

6:13Justin: I think the Soo Greyhounds let the dogs out.

6:15Andrew: That's true.

6:15Justin: They did.

6:16Andrew: And they're running down the street. They're all over town.

6:19Justin: We don't know where they are. Somebody get them a home. Our last three stars of the week.

6:24Andrew: Our last three stars of the week. That's okay. That's okay. We were. I think I was a little burnt out on the three stars.

6:29Justin: Me, too.

6:30Andrew: Not that I'm burnt out on winning. I just burned out on my part of winning.

6:35Justin: It's a lot of work to win this fight.

6:36Andrew: It's a lot of work for us

6:37Justin: to just keep doing the same shtick. All right, Andrew, what's your first star?

6:41Andrew: My first star were the uniforms, man. The Remembrance Day uniforms. And I will side note that with whoever is designing the Kitchener Rangers merchandise. You are doing an amazing job, whoever it is. Give them a promotion. No, don't give them a promotion. Give them a raise. Because we need them to keep.

7:01Justin: We need them to keep doing this. Yeah.

7:03Andrew: The designers are crushing it.

7:05Justin: It's so good.

7:07Andrew: It's good. But it's also bad for my bank account because every time they come out with something new, I'm like, I want it. And not only that, it's not just me in my house. My wife wants it. We got to get these western shirts. Okay. I love those. I love those shirts.

7:23Justin: Yeah, they're great.

7:24Andrew: I love the. The uniforms and I love the merch. So first star goes to the uniforms. Because I thought it very beautifully honored Remembrance Day and the. The 80 year anniversary and everything that you needed, while also maintaining the spirit of the Kitchener Rangers.

7:41Justin: They were so clean. They were so. Yeah, they were great.

7:43Andrew: They were just nice.

7:44Justin: Okay, so I'm doing this again. I'm jumping to my third star because. He's jumping to his third star because it relates to what you just said.

7:50Andrew: Well, that's okay. We can jump around. It's our podcast.

7:52Justin: Oh, okay. We have.

7:53Andrew: We make the rules.

7:54Justin: My third star is whoever on the Soo Greyhounds decided to wear their reds. Why weren't they just wearing their whites? It looks so weird.

8:02Andrew: It was so weird. So apparently I saw photos of it from the Aud and it looked better in person.

8:08Justin: Oh, it was the stream.

8:09Andrew: It was the stream. It was the stream. The stream made everything. It makes everything. Once it gets on the. The close side of center darker. So yeah, it was very hard to

8:19Justin: tell what was going on. It was very confusing.

8:21Andrew: And I Sam O'Reilly guy. I Sam O'Reilly saw Andonovsky hit Hayes at one point and I thought Andonovski

8:28Justin: ran into his own teammate. Yeah, it was confusing.

8:34Andrew: Yeah.

8:35Justin: Okay. My. My first star is the team. This was a statement game.

8:40Andrew: It really was.

8:40Justin: The. Was a statement game on a way to win 10 in a row.

8:43Andrew: And we said we owed him one.

8:45Justin: Oh, we owed sue big time. So you got sued.

8:49Andrew: I don't think that's going to stick.

8:53Justin: You got sued.

8:55Andrew: I think that would work if we were the Soo and we were like beating.

8:59Justin: Oh yeah, you got sued. Well, here's for all the Soo Greyhounds fans. Here's your new. He got married. So yeah, ten in a row. It was great. It was great. Just deserved it. It was great. Okay, what's your second star?

9:10Andrew: Second star? The Andalorian. Because you know what? We posted that Andalorian clip last week on our socials. If you're not following, get out there. Follow us right now. We put up great content. Well, we think it's great.

9:23Justin: But if you like the. Sometimes we do good things.

9:26Andrew: Sometimes we do good things. I thought that the. The Andalorian clip was really good. I'm not taking credit that he had a great game, but maybe, maybe we. We.

9:34Justin: I think you should take credit.

9:35Andrew: I think we inspired the Andalorian a little bit. He had that game winning goal. So he didn't have a goal. One goal coming into it, which was from the previous game, I believe. And then he came in and he hit the GWG early on because it was a 4 nothing win. And as I mentioned, he had that enormous hit on Hayes. We just, I mean, we could gush over Ando the whole time. Matt Andonovsky is unequivocally the leader of the Kitchener Rangers.

10:00Justin: Yeah, absolutely.

10:01Andrew: What's your second star?

10:02Justin: My second star. How did we ever question this power play who's so dominant in this game?

10:08Andrew: Just wait.

10:08Justin: I know I wrote these notes before I watched More game, I was going to say. This is going to tie into my next few recaps anyway.

10:16Andrew: Yeah, the was elite.

10:18Justin: I don't think they spent any time outside the offensive zone when they had a power play. It was. Even if they didn't score, they got tons of shot attempts. It was, it was great.

10:27Andrew: It's true.

10:27Justin: I, I.

10:27Andrew: You can't always judge a power play based on whether or not they convert, Right?

10:32Justin: Absolutely. Yeah.

10:32Andrew: I would think that. Honestly, sometimes you just need to watch a power play and you're like, well, they didn't score, but that goalie made an incredible save.

10:39Justin: Hey, Andrew, what's your third star Remembrance Day?

10:41Andrew: I don't want to get political here, but have we learned anything? My great grandfather died in World War II. He served in World War I. It's hard to watch these tributes and honoring and remembering, and then every year it seems like there's more carnage and loss in the world. We're not trying to be political, but it is something. I think it just took a pause that I was like, I don't know. Are we better off? I have no idea. It just seems like a lot's going on in the world and.

11:09Justin: Hard to say.

11:09Andrew: It's hard to Sam O'Reilly Not to bring the mood down, but just kind of, you know, every now and then you need a human moment, even on a silly hockey pod.

11:17Justin: Yeah. All right. So then we moved into game two. Yeah. We played Owen Sound Attack. It was a 54 overtime loss. First loss in a while.

11:28Andrew: Boy, oh, boy, did this game make me mad.

11:31Justin: So I would like so as a reminder to our faithful listeners.

11:35Andrew: Yeah.

11:35Justin: When we lose, we do the good, bad, and the ugly.

11:38Andrew: And you haven't. This hasn't happened since episode two.

11:41Justin: There probably are people who have never heard this before.

11:43Andrew: This is true.

11:44Justin: Usually we start with the good, but I think we should start with the ugly on this one because I bet we have the same one. We do. What is it, Andy?

11:51Andrew: Believe it or not, I contemplated making my bad and ugly the same thing.

11:56Justin: I didn't.

11:57Andrew: But the ugly was the officiating. Yes. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Listen, in a previous episode, we talked about how we give the benefit of the doubt to some of these refs, to all of these refs, to these officials. We know that they're not making NHL money. We know it's a really hard job. We know that you're managing teenagers. We understand. But to say that this game was poorly officiated is a slap in the face to a poorly officiated game.

12:26Justin: Yes.

12:26Andrew: This was flat out bad. It was ugly. It was truly offensive. How bad? This was like, it's pretty bad when the opposing team's home commentators are commenting and saying, well, I don't know about that. That didn't look like much of a penalty to me. I didn't like that. Which side Note, I want to just give props to those guys. They were a great commentary team. Yeah, I thought they were great. Owen. Sound guys. They did a really good job and I thought they were really fair because they kind of called it right down the middle. There was no favoritism really whatsoever. Saginaw.

12:57Justin: It felt like the first period was no calls on egregious things. Both sides. Not. Not one side or the other. Not the Rangers.

13:04Andrew: No.

13:05Justin: It was no calls. Then the second period was all makeup calls on the softest soft things. It wrecked the flow of the game.

13:12Andrew: Yeah. And the game winning goal came on a penalty in overtime. That was the most ticky tack, like non penalty.

13:20Justin: Okay. It's. It should have been offsetting minors at the. Aud the max.

13:24Andrew: But it's overtime. They've played to a 4, 4 the Soo far. Why are you deciding the game?

13:30Justin: Yeah.

13:30Andrew: Why are you doing this?

13:31Justin: Okay, let's jump back to the good. What do you got for good, Andrew?

13:34Andrew: Oh, well, it was the huge comeback.

13:36C: Yeah.

13:36Justin: Yeah. Right.

13:36Andrew: They were down four to one.

13:38Justin: They were.

13:38Andrew: I actually turned the game off because I was so mad with the penalties. Yes. That I was like, not like this. Not like this. I couldn't believe the streak was coming to an end on a game where I felt like the Rangers did not have control of their own.

13:51Justin: Yeah. The refing was deciding, listen, if the

13:54Andrew: Rangers had a bad game or whatever, that's one thing. But when the negotiating is deciding whether or not you're gonna go on an 11 game streak from a 10 game streak. It's just kind of like this is. This is awful. I will say side note, I did promise that this was supposed to be the night without hockey in the house,

14:11Justin: so it was easy for me to turn it off. So when I was texting you, turn it back on. Turn it back. I was like, oh no, I'm a bad, bad.

14:19Andrew: And I turned it back on. And then.

14:21Justin: Yeah, the Aud happened again. Then you got that over time. I got that over time. You missed all the good stuff.

14:26Andrew: I missed all the good stuff. But I did go back. I watched the. Aud was a gutty comeback. They, they, they're just, they're just such a skilled team.

14:34Justin: My good ties into that and, and it's specifically for our dear friend Jason Schaubel because, yeah, he, he let him four goals in the first and second period. That dude was lights out in the third period. There was some amazing saves, like he came out of nowhere, cross crease, all sorts of business. It was phenomenal. I love seeing Shabble play like that. It feels like he's gaining some confidence. When the team needed him to step up, he stepped up big time.

15:01Andrew: He gives you a chance to win.

15:03Justin: He did. He got us overtime.

15:04Andrew: Exactly.

15:05Justin: And there is no blame on him for that game.

15:07Andrew: And they got a point. And I think when you're down four to one in the first, getting a point out of that is almost a victory in itself. Absolutely.

15:14Justin: Okay, what's your bad?

15:15Andrew: 1 for 5 on the power play.

15:17Justin: Yeah.

15:17Andrew: Which is going to tie into the next game as well. Not to foreshadow too much, but yeah, 1 for 5 on the power play. I kind of felt like, I felt like it was like a, it was an ugly game because like we said with the officiating, there was no real flow to it. But you got to think that, like, if they get maybe, you know, they convert one more power play opportunity, we're doing the three stars.

15:38Justin: Yep. My bad. I mean, it's just a bad, like a, like a sportsnet, NHL plus premium whatever stream. Just things weren't quite in sync.

15:50Andrew: Right.

15:51Justin: Yeah, that's a good one. I like that one. Yeah, there was, there was a lot of opportunities where the Rangers looked like things were going well and then they just like pass, like an important pass would just miss the mark by a couple feet. Even Mislejevic, like, he was like just shooting over the net. Like it was, it was all those little, it's all those little things. It's like even if one or two of those would have connected, completely different game, but just, it was just out of sync fatigue a little bit.

16:18Andrew: It felt like.

16:19Justin: I would imagine so. I, I also felt like the head games of, of a winning streak were probably getting into them there. That that's what it felt like in this game.

16:26Andrew: Yeah. I think after a while like that it gets mental.

16:28Justin: Yeah. Because, because the first period was so bad for, for officiating that I, I, I felt like it went downhill for a while. Obviously they came back in the third

16:36Andrew: period, but yeah, I think they're just, I mean, realistically, I think they're just a much better team than Owen Sound. And it was kind of like the longer you give the prize fighters in the, in the ring, the the more of the more skilled technician is going to come back and start winning the fight. Right. It just felt like they ran out of time a little bit because I felt like they could have won it in regulation.

16:57Justin: So the third game of the weekend on Sunday, we played the Oshawa Generals. And this was a three, two, loss, regulation. Regulation.

17:06Andrew: The streak is over.

17:07Justin: Even before we get into the good, the bad and the ugly. This was quite the game.

17:12Andrew: This was one of the best games of the year.

17:14Justin: I agree.

17:15Andrew: Which is weird to say because they didn't get a point out of it.

17:18Justin: No.

17:19Andrew: But as far as elite competition, if you're excited about watching two really good hockey teams play each other, this was

17:25Justin: a great game and they. They did it. Both teams were exceptional in this game, so.

17:30Andrew: And I. I'll give the Rangers a lot of credit. The third game of a triple header to come out like that in Oshawa. I don't know. I think we've got a contender.

17:40Justin: Yeah, I think so, too. Okay. What's your good?

17:43Andrew: My good was the same as the last game. Another comeback.

17:46Justin: Yeah.

17:47Andrew: You're down 2 to nothing. I get it. You're tired. I watched. I. This game I watched in its entirety. I didn't really fault them to be down 2 to nothing. It's one of those, you know, it's just. That's the way it went early. That didn't change the pace of the intensity. That didn't change. The Rangers weren't gripping their sticks. They weren't trying too hard. They weren't none of those things. It just literally was. We're just going to keep playing our game, which maybe my first star should be the Juice, because he keeps these guys calm under pressure.

18:20Justin: He does.

18:20Andrew: So realistically, the comeback can be attributed to, I think, the coaching staff in the third game of a tripleheader on the road, keeping the boys focused. And they came back and tied the game at one point early in the third.

18:32Justin: In the third, the opportunity was there to win it. And it was a tight game.

18:37Andrew: Yeah. And I don't. Listen, I don't want to talk about fatigue too much, but it has to play a part. Right.

18:42Justin: So my good was Luca Romano, as I mentioned earlier, he extended his point streak. He had a amazing goal in this game.

18:50Andrew: Beautiful highlight reel.

18:52Justin: Highlight reel goal. So maybe play of the week. I haven't seen those yet this week, so. Just phenomenal. Goal. He. He's the good. Cause he's. He's still streaking.

19:00Andrew: He is the good. And I'm really excited to See where he gets drafted.

19:02Justin: Yeah, me too. I'm excited for the draft for him.

19:04Andrew: What's your bad?

19:06Justin: My bad is just luck. Like, I think the triple header, coming into a hard team like this. Like, I. I don't. I don't think anybody scheduled it so that they knew that this was going to be a hard game for the. For the Rangers, but it's just a luck thing. It was a. It was a hard. It just wasn't on our side.

19:22Andrew: That's fair.

19:23Justin: That's what I got. What's your bad?

19:24Andrew: Callum Ritchie line kind of ran the show when they were out there.

19:28Justin: It's my ugly.

19:30Andrew: There you go. So I was happy with what the Rangers were doing, but it did seem like they were really struggling as that one line in particular.

19:39Justin: They were.

19:40Andrew: Bennett Seneca seemed like he either had the puck or he was on the bench.

19:45Justin: And now we know how to say his name.

19:46Andrew: Yeah, there's really not much to say about this other than Callum Ritchie had a whale of a game, and that line really dominated when they were out there.

19:54Justin: As a Flames fan, I have PTSD from any Richie playing. This is a.

20:00Andrew: This is a. This is a good segue because I have PTSD with the back of those Generals uniforms. That's the exact font and numbering as the Oilers I grew up with, with the. Like the. The copper and blue in the Dark Ages. No, prior to Dark Ages. Yeah, prior to the Dark Ages, when. When it was fun.

20:19Justin: Yeah.

20:20Andrew: You know, Ryan Smith and Doug Wade, all those guys. But it messed with my head. It was weird to see, like, the exact same font and so PTSD right across the board here.

20:30Justin: Richie and the font.

20:31Andrew: Richie and the font. Yeah, that's. That should be a podcast.

20:37Justin: Maybe. Maybe run by the. Maybe run by the person who designs the apparel for the Rangers.

20:42Andrew: Yeah. So we know what your ugly was.

20:44Justin: Yeah. What's your ugly?

20:45Andrew: My ugly were the needless penalties.

20:48Justin: Yeah.

20:48Andrew: I felt like the Rangers were tired. I don't want to call anybody out or anything. I will say that I felt like the Andonovsky cross check. I feel like I've almost seen him do that exact thing in another game. I understand where he's coming from, throwing his hands up and being annoyed, but I think guys are baiting him.

21:08Justin: I think so.

21:09Andrew: I think he's getting baited on that play. I think guys feel the contact on his. On their back, and they just go down. And then he gets a penalty. He does. I think it sucks because I think it's a part of his game, and I think he should be able to make contact like that without getting baited, but I think it's happening too often.

21:27Justin: Yeah.

21:27Andrew: So that one was kind of a momentum shifter. It was a little bit of a momentum killer. I mean, he's the Andalorian and we Stan him forever. But I think if there's anything to take away from it, I think there's guys who go down really easy.

21:40Justin: Okay, so that's our. That was our three games from this weekend. Guess what we got. We got three more games coming up.

21:45Andrew: Oh, reviews.

21:48Justin: So, luckily we don't have a triple header this week, so we have Friday against the Peterborough Petes which is a hilarious name. I love it.

21:54Andrew: It's a great name.

21:55Justin: It is a great name.

21:56Andrew: They're just a classic franchise.

21:58Justin: They definitely are. Sunday we're playing the Sarnia Sting, where we're home on Friday. Always Sunday we're away in Sarnia.

22:06Andrew: Okay.

22:06Justin: And then Tuesday we are home against the London Knights.

22:11Andrew: Oh, London.

22:12Justin: Yes. This is our first game against London. Oh, I can't wait. Yeah. Sometimes part of me is okay that we ended our win streak so that there wasn't that on top of the London game, because I want just a good, solid London game.

22:25Andrew: Yeah. I'm excited because I think that that's going to be another measuring stick.

22:31Justin: I agree. I agree. And we're so close in points in the standings that it will define first place again. So. Peterborough Petes This is depressing. They have one win this season.

22:44Andrew: Sorry, One win, like the whole season this season, period.

22:49Justin: Yes. So they're every metric. They don't really have a lot of scoring going on. They don't have any players with double digits, points.

22:58Andrew: Oh. Are they very young? I would guess they are. I hoping.

23:02Justin: I'm hoping. I couldn't. There's not a lot of information on their players.

23:06Andrew: Kind of impressive to be that bad.

23:09Justin: The only thing I really know about the Petes, even after doing research, is that Huxley Workman is a big fan. And I'm a big fan of Huxley Workman. So I kind of like the Peets now.

23:17Andrew: You know what it is that makes us.

23:21Justin: You know what it is that breaks us?

23:25Andrew: Sorry, I don't know.

23:26Justin: Is that the God that Comes? Of course I know what that is. Oh, my God.

23:31Andrew: I Sam O'Reilly workshop performance of that in Calgary. I bet you were probably not maybe at the same show, but maybe.

23:38Justin: No. Well, I was working at theater. Calgary. Down the hall.

23:41Andrew: The One Yellow Rabbit Theater or something.

23:43Justin: Well, they were doing. It was playwrights.

23:45Andrew: Yes. It Was playwrights.

23:46Justin: Yeah, yeah. Huxley, Workman. Big fan. And I'm a big fan. Sarnia. We play on Sunday. Sarnia. Sting west division, fourth and seventh in the conference.

23:57Andrew: Yeah. And we already cooked them.

23:58Justin: We cooked them once. We just saw them play. That. That was. That was one of our most complete games. That game is, like, very memorable to me. Agreed. Because the Rangers were just buzzing.

24:10Andrew: All right, well, you should see. You can't see how proud he is, but I've never seen him more proud.

24:19Justin: So they have played five games since we beat them. They've only won once and it was against Brampton, so I'm pretty happy about that, too.

24:26Andrew: That's nice.

24:27Justin: Yeah. Good job, Sarnia.

24:28Andrew: Yeah, thanks.

24:29Justin: Proud of you guys. Thanks. Then we play London, so. Oh, yeah, they're in our division. They're sitting second. They're sitting third in the conference. Honestly, looking at their stat lines, the only difference is overtime losses. Like, they've. They've just not gone to overtime three less times than us, so. Okay, that's the, that's the main difference. Um, they're currently at time of recording on a nine game win streak.

24:54Andrew: So, I mean, it's not 10.

24:56Justin: It's not 10. So we'll see. See how that goes. I mean, obviously they got Sam Dickinson, Easton, Callum that are both on point streaks right now with 17 points in eight games, so. And like, it's going to be a game.

25:11Andrew: It's going to be a game.

25:12Justin: They.

25:12Andrew: They feel like the big box store.

25:15Justin: Yeah.

25:15Andrew: We're the.

25:16C: We're the.

25:17Andrew: We're not little, but we're, you know, we're.

25:19Justin: We're. We're the.

25:20Andrew: We're the mom and pop shop. Okay. All right. So if you're. If you don't have a dog in the fight yet, you know who to join. Yes. You know who to cheer for.

25:30Justin: Oh, yeah. So can't wait for that game. Now we are on to the greatest Ranger of all time.

25:38Andrew: The Groat.

25:39Justin: The Groat. The Groat. The Groat. The Groat. Okay. I'll go first.

25:43Andrew: All right. Okay. Justin.

25:46Justin: Yeah.

25:46Andrew: This is the shortest of short kicks.

25:49Justin: Oh, okay.

25:50Andrew: Because I can't even get a read on what his actual height is. On every site, it's different. Listed anywhere from 5, 6 to 5, 9, and always around 165 pounds as an under 15 player. Get this.

26:04Justin: Whoa.

26:04Andrew: He scored 94 goals and had 161

26:07Justin: assists in 80 games. What, for the Rangers? No. Oh, under 15. Oh, under 15. Under 15. Okay. Okay.

26:15Andrew: His Rangers statistics are as follows. One hundred and seven goals and 288 points in 235 Rangers games. His personal best year, he amassed 43 goals, 81 assists and 124 points in 67 games in 2007. 2008.

26:32Justin: Okay.

26:33Andrew: He won the Red Tilson Trophy for the most outstanding player in the OHL that year. the Aud Powers Memorial Trophy for the top scorer in the OHL that year. the Aud Chenoweth Trophy for being the top scorer in the Memorial Cup. He was CHL player of the year. He was the CHL top scorer.

26:49Justin: He's a dude.

26:50Andrew: And he won, of course, the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for being the most outstanding player in the OHL playoffs. And they won the OHL championship that year. He was a short King. He was £160. Yeah.

27:01Justin: So. So tough life in the NHL.

27:03Andrew: He was drafted 153rd overall in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings.

27:11Justin: Okay.

27:12Andrew: He was an older draft pick at this point. Yeah. He immediately turns professional and gets signed to the ahl. He plays and is a big role player for the Manchester Monarchs. He ends up going to Europe after a couple seasons in the A. All right. Where he is an SM LIGA all star. He had the most assists ever by a rookie with 38. He had the most points by a. By a rookie that year with 58. He had the most shorthand goals that year with three. He led the playoffs in 2012, 2013 with 10 goals and 18 points. Then he moves on. He says, you know what? I don't need SM LIGA anymore. I'm going to the K. All right. Where he's in the Continental Hockey League in Russia. He's. He's a first time all star.

27:59Justin: He.

27:59Andrew: Twice he was a champion over there. Funny, the team went bankrupt after they won the championship.

28:06Justin: Oh no.

28:07Andrew: He had the playoff most assists the year they won, which was in 2018. He had the most game winning goals in the playoffs. 5. He had the most points, 24. And he was the playoffs MVP. So outside of the NHL, he has quite literally dominated everywhere at every level. He's now playing. He's still playing. He's 37 years old. He's still playing in the German league, the DEL. Oh, and he was also on the U18 World Junior Hockey Championship team. Basically, he played at every level and played everything. He succeeded. This week's Goro is Justin as a veto.

28:41Justin: Never heard of him.

28:42Andrew: No, of course you haven't.

28:43Justin: What a. What a legend of a Ranger.

28:44Andrew: What a. He truly was A legendary ranger. That 2007, 2008 season was. Is one of the best Rangers seasons ever. It's top six, I think. I think it's the six.

28:54Justin: So many guys from that team. All right, my entry into the groat this week is a home. And home is what I'm calling this.

29:02Andrew: Okay.

29:03Justin: He's a hometown boy from Kitchener, Andrew Another homegrown boy. He is a storied player. He was drafted by the Peterborough Petes but he refused to play anywhere but for the Rangers.

29:15Andrew: Maybe the Pete's were as bad as they are this year.

29:17C: They weren't.

29:18Justin: His agent threatened to sue the league to let him out of his contract with the Petes. He refused to go to Peterborough to play. Eventually, the OMJHL at the time, they reversed their decision to allow first round draft picks to be traded so that three teams, including the Peterborough Petes, the Kitchener Rangers and the Oshawa Generals could trade this player to Kitchener. He was so highly touted and he refused to play anywhere else. So he did get his wish and he became a Kitchener Rangers He was a defenseman for three seasons, but he played four seasons for the Kitchener Rangers.

30:00C: No way.

30:01Andrew: He's the position change.

30:02Justin: The position change. Unreal. So he played 217 games with the Rangers.

30:07Andrew: Do you think he just got sick of it?

30:09Justin: Sorry to interrupt you. Do you think he just got sick

30:10Andrew: of it the Sam O'Reilly he was

30:11Justin: like, I'm only playing for Kitchener.

30:13Andrew: Was he just like, you know what? I'm sick of playing defense.

30:15Justin: You know what? He's a dude who knows what he wants. Okay. Sounds like it's okay. So he played 217 games and scored 231 points for Kitchener in those four seasons. This doesn't quite paint the picture of this player in his age. 18 and final season with the Rangers. He was named the captain, he moved to center and he scored 51 goals and 78 assists for 129 points in 66 games. So he scored half of his points in one season.

30:46Andrew: Yeah, when he was playing center.

30:47Justin: Not that his point total was schlubby in any way before that. So he was then drafted immediately by the. Naturally, this is part of the home. He was then drafted by the Atlanta Flames in 1979, which of course in 1980 they moved to Calgary and became the Calgary Flames, where he played there for nine seasons and had the most unfortunate of trades happen in the summer of 1988, just before the Flames won the cup in 1989, where he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks. He had to Reider at age 30 due to injuries and back problems. But in the NHL, he put up 559 points in 648 games. And as a defenseman, only 227 PIMs.

31:35C: Wow.

31:36Justin: So pretty.

31:37Andrew: So he went back on defense?

31:38Justin: Yeah, he went back to defense immediately. He only played center for that one year for the Rangers and just, like,

31:43Andrew: balled out and then was just like, no, you know what? I like being on the back end.

31:47Justin: Obviously. He put up tons of points. He almost put up point per game as a defenseman in the Soo Freakish. Yeah, it's amazing. He had an exceptional shot. He produced from all over the ice. And speaking of producing, he produced a son who is currently sitting second in the NHL in goals. My nomination for the Groat is Mr. Paul Reinhart.

32:07Andrew: Wow. What a great groat.

32:09Justin: Yeah, it's so interesting.

32:11Andrew: It's weird that he flew under the radar.

32:13Justin: Totally. I had no idea he was a Ranger until my dad texted me and said, was Nazem Kadri and Paul Reinhardt, Kitchener Rangers? Sure were. And I was like, yes, that's pretty cool. Yeah.

32:26Andrew: So that's a great groat.

32:28Justin: A groat. A home and home groat for Justin. Home, in a way, for Andrew. So those are our groats. Hey, we have heard from. We have heard from many of you. We have your groats.

32:39Andrew: We're really excited. We've heard from a lot of people about growth. The growth in person.

32:45Justin: Yes.

32:46Andrew: On social media.

32:47Justin: Yep.

32:47Andrew: And in our dms.

32:48Justin: Yes. So thank you to everyone who sent. Andrew and I have not yet figured out how to deal with the. With the nominations from you, but we will definitely do that.

32:57Andrew: Yeah. And if we have to make our own little videos for you, we will. But if you want to send us content.

33:06Justin: Yes.

33:07Andrew: Send us.

33:07Justin: We will happily play you on the podcast if you send us a voice

33:10Andrew: memo, and we will also share a video to our story if you record one.

33:14Justin: If you send us a video, we'll use that, too. Speaking of which, we have received, through very stealthy sources, a Groat nomination, which you are going to hear in a moment from our dear friend Babs, the other Babs on all the social media platforms. And you're going to hear that right now.

33:33Andrew: All right, we're outside the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium with Babs. Babs, tell me, what was your favorite hockey team growing up?

33:40C: So I'm a Leafs guy through and through. My dad raised me on the Leafs, and I'm. I'm happy to be one. Even though there's struggles because you got to stick to it. Now. I also, in the NFL, was a Colts fan growing up and decided to be a 49ers fan instead. So my fandom can be called into question at some point, I would think.

33:53Andrew: Okay, so you jumped around in the NFL. I'm stuck with the Raiders. I, I, every time I want to give them up, I just look at the silver and black uniforms and I'm

34:00Justin: just like, I got to stick with

34:01C: them when there's, there's always hope in sports. So I guess that's the good thing about it.

34:05Andrew: All right, who do you think is the most talented active? Oh, talented active.

34:11C: Oh, I think Easton Cowan right now really shows me a lot of good stuff. Now, we did see him in this arena kind of dive a little bit, and I think that's something he has to take out of his game. London was running, you know, a pretty good game, but that I think was taking away from it because Kitchener was bodying him quite a bit and he dope. I think I saw two. He was called for a dive on one, so I think he just. That's what he's got to focus on. Unfortunately, I couldn't say it's anybody on the Rangers right now.

34:34Andrew: That's fair. We weren't looking for you to, you know, pump our tires if you didn't think it was true. They are a wagon right now. We're feeling pretty good about this start. We're feeling pretty good about the start. What do you think about the start?

34:43C: I'm happy. I love coming to the games here, and I was a Bell Bulls fan growing up, and that doesn't exist now. So I'm allowed to adopt an OHL franchise without any hate. So this is mine now. I really enjoy coming to the games and, you know, SW and you got some, some. It is nice to see.

34:57Andrew: All right, let's get right down to it. At the AudPod, we're doing a segment called the Greatest Ranger of All Time or the Gro. You don't have to say it like that. Tell me, who's your Gro?

35:10C: I think Nazem Kadri is a guy you have to put in the conversation at the very least. Now, he's had ups and downs in his career, but he's a good Andrew boy, and I think the way he played in, in juniors really showed that he was one of the best players, period. Now, he had probably his best time, you know, when he wasn't playing for the Rangers anymore at that point. But I think overall For a guy who started his career, you know, ripping some puck here, I. You could argue very much that it could be him.

35:32Andrew: As an Oilers fan. I hate it. The Calgary Flames fan is behind the camera right now. Shout out to his cousin. I'm good buddies with his cousin. So we'll take it on the AudPod today. Thanks, Babs. You're welcome, Nazem Gadry.

35:44Justin: Nice.

35:46Andrew: Yeah. For you.

35:49Justin: My.

35:49Andrew: My little heart broke. We'll post the clip. You can actually see my face.

35:52Justin: Kind of be like, Andrew dies inside.

35:54Andrew: Yeah. But because we really respect his opinion.

35:57Justin: And I was like, okay, I respect it more now.

36:00Andrew: Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it's. He is a. He is a groat.

36:03Justin: He's a. He's a groat among groot.

36:05Andrew: I'm just glad you didn't get to do it. You didn't get to do the cad, everyone. I would have got all giddy and I didn't have to.

36:12Justin: Yeah. Okay, so now we got. We got something. Okay. We have one special shout out to do this week.

36:20Andrew: We do.

36:21Justin: We have our dear friend Gord.

36:23Andrew: Gord the flag waving machine.

36:26Justin: He. We got to meet him at the game last week. So lovely to meet you. You've been a super fan since the beginning. Liked everything we've done and we couldn't appreciate it more. We wanted to give you a little shout out, dude. You say thanks.

36:39Andrew: You have literally supported everything we've put out there so far and it doesn't go unnoticed. We were just a couple of guys talking about the Rangers and you love the Rangers more than anyone we know.

36:49Justin: Absolutely. So thanks, man. We really appreciate it. We got some other thank yous to do, so. Of course, Ken Born for the branding and for the Paul Reinhart and for the groat pull. Yeah.

36:59Andrew: Now, should that be actually one of your groats or should that be a suggestion?

37:03Justin: It could be a suggestion, Gro. Could be. Yeah.

37:05C: Yeah.

37:06Justin: I liked it the Soo it's true. Yeah, it's okay. Of course. Our prodigal producer, Liam, the phenom. And we want to thank the Waterloo Public Library as we're hanging out in the digi space this week.

37:16Andrew: We are. We're in a new space and a new old space.

37:19Justin: A new, old, new space.

37:21Andrew: It's very new. It's very nice.

37:22Justin: It's very nice socials.

37:24Andrew: You can find us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter @theaudpodcast. If you want to send us interesting facts or history about the Kitchener Rangers, the Aud or Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge, please email us@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd love to hear from you.

37:40Justin: If you're enjoying the podcast, please do all the normal things of subscribing, liking, engaging with us on social media. We would.

37:48Andrew: We need it.

37:49Justin: We need it.

37:50Andrew: We'd love it.

37:50Justin: We'd really appreciate it. And we appreciate everybody who's done so so far.

37:54Andrew: Yeah. Everybody watching and listening.

37:56Justin: We love you. We love y'. All. And as always, you can find us

38:00Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

38:04Justin: See you at the Aud Sam.