Episode 6: Pug Life 4 Life

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.

0:28Andrew: Oh, no. Watch Justin.

0:31Justin: We're in mourning.

0:32Andrew: We are.

0:34Justin: The Pug life is gone.

0:36Andrew: Well, I thought you meant because the Oilers lost the Flames.

0:39Justin: No, that was great. That's why.

0:41Andrew: That's why I have the sunglasses on. Oh, I. I am in mourning. I am.

0:46Justin: I. I mean, you should be in mourning. The. The. I mean, they won. The Oilers won again. Finally.

0:51Andrew: They beat Philly. Barely. Big, big comeback. Of course, we lost our beloved Antonino Pugliesi. He's alive.

1:01Justin: We didn't lose him.

1:04Andrew: As far as I know, he's doing well. It's just that the Overagers were maxed out and they had to do something.

1:11Justin: We did not figure out this overager thing early enough to know that we were in for some pain this year.

1:17Andrew: Well, we did talk about it, but the problem was, is we thought that there would be a trade.

1:22Justin: That's true.

1:23Andrew: We certainly didn't think that somebody was just going to play their last game

1:27Justin: of the season this early and also be an amazing game.

1:31Andrew: And just in general, had a great start to the year. Yeah. And we just were just huge fans, obviously.

1:37Justin: We highlighted them twice last week in the episode.

1:40Andrew: That's why. Yeah. The clip was the tribute video. Because we were just earnestly. We didn't know he was going anywhere.

1:46Justin: No, we had no idea.

1:47Andrew: Earnestly just complimenting and being grateful that we get to watch Pug life play hockey for the Rangers.

1:54Justin: Just appreciating his play.

1:56Andrew: I miss. It's like that, you know, Paved parking lots and put pave.

2:01Justin: Paradise. They paved parking lots, put up paradise. So.

2:05Andrew: Put up paradise. Yeah. Pave parking lots and put up a paradise. Yeah. So very disappointing. But also, that seems to be the nature of the ohl.

2:14Justin: This is. Unfortunately, this is a casualty of getting fresh new teams regularly.

2:20Andrew: Yes.

2:21Justin: Is that players cannot stay in the league for very long. There's caps on how many of these older players that teams can have. This is what creates great hockey all the time. Because your team can basically rebuild in three years. Every three years or in one off

2:38Andrew: season if you just trade for all the picks.

2:40Justin: If you have one good player and have all the picks.

2:43Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

2:44Justin: So long term, this will be okay. But right now, we're sad. It's tender.

2:48Andrew: We're sad.

2:50Justin: Okay. But exciting note. Flames beat the Oilers. Won the first four games of the season. So that's pretty great. Oilers having a terrible start to the season. So that's also pretty great.

3:02Andrew: It's okay.

3:02Justin: The analytics say they should have destroyed Chicago. That like, we don't need to get into Corsi. We don't need to talk about the officiating in the Calgary game either. There was. That was perfect. There was some questionable stuff going on. When I have Calgary Flames fans messaging me being like, yeah, no, I don't know, man. I was like, all right. Yeah. I. The Perry callback goal. Yeah. Did you see that?

3:30Andrew: They had another one in the.

3:31Justin: Yeah, the Hyman one against which I'm

3:33Andrew: like, all right, let's just get a crease violation. Can we just get a crease violation?

3:36Justin: That would be. That would be great.

3:37Andrew: I think everyone who is like a die hard fan of hockey, period, has no idea what goaltender interference is.1 like from one call to the next.

3:48Justin: Yeah. Get rid of the trapezoids.

3:49Andrew: Get rid of the trapezoids.

3:50Justin: Put in a crease rule.

3:51Andrew: 100% you can. Even if you want to. I mean, goalies aren't like this. You could make the crease a little bit smaller if you want it.

3:58Justin: Yep.

3:59Andrew: Because the Aud like they can be a little bit closer to that.

4:02Justin: And then you're in the blue paint.

4:04Andrew: That's it.

4:04Justin: Yeah. And. And outside, if the goalie is outside the blue paint, I mean, you can just.

4:08Andrew: You can run them, apparently. All right. Did you see Couturier just ran over Skinner and there was no call.

4:15Justin: Yeah. I was like, okay.

4:17Andrew: All I know is that if you're standing still, you own that ice. It doesn't matter if you're the goalie. Doesn't matter if you're the coach. If you're out there and you're standing still, no one can hit you anyway

4:28Justin: if you don't have the pocket. Yeah.

4:29Andrew: But.

4:29Justin: Yeah, and you're Stewart's kidding. We're turning it around.

4:34Andrew: Turns, turning.

4:35Justin: But actually, in good news, yes, we have points in six, three games at the Kitchener Rangers. That's what I'm talking about.

4:41Andrew: Yes, we do. We have turned it around. Not only are they not cursed, but I'm starting to think that they're going to do the over on wins.

4:49Justin: And they're a bit of a wagon right now, I think.

4:51Andrew: Yeah, I think. And like, not only that, they. They beat the heavy hitter there. In fact, the team that we previewed

4:58Justin: and we were like, they got to beat those guys because they're not very good loss. And the team that we were like, oh, they're going to saginaw beat Them. Whooped them handedly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

5:13Andrew: So. So again, back from episode two. We don't know things.

5:19Justin: No.

5:19Andrew: We get things wrong.

5:21Justin: Well, and hockey is such a random

5:22Andrew: sport and we actually hold ourselves accountable, unlike most of the hockey media.

5:27Justin: Yeah. We comment on things we said and we're like, well, that didn't work. That was wrong. And we're happy to take that honestly. Yes. Because it's good.

5:35Andrew: Because we were like, you know, I was so excited watching that Saginaw game.

5:39Justin: It was so fun.

5:40Andrew: It was so good.

5:41Justin: So let's first, before we get into game previews or reviews. Review. Review the preview.

5:46Andrew: Y.

5:46Justin: Let's talk about the trade that happened. It happened earlier last week, but just around the time you were recording.

5:53Andrew: Yes.

5:53Justin: So Jakub Chromiak.

5:54Andrew: Yes.

5:55Justin: Comes to. Comes to. Kids share. This was another. We traded a seventh and a conditional eighth to the Kingston Front Ax for Chromiak and an eighth. This is. Feels almost like the same trade that we did for Grizzolia.

6:11Andrew: Yeah. I don't know why there's a weird pick flip thing with the seventh and the eighth round. I don't know what kind of.

6:19Justin: What happens in that.

6:20Andrew: I don't know what kind of value you're getting there. I don't know what the deal is. It almost seems like maybe it's just like we have to. We have to just throw in a pick swap. So just to like, just to like, put it over the edge. Like, it's. Maybe it's some sort of weird like, oh, GM kind of like. And the big swap. Right. We got to do the pick swap. Right. Like, it's just like, I guess, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. See if there's more pick swaps.

6:45Justin: The one thing I struggle. If anybody out there in the world has advanced analytics for OHL players, I'd love it. Because looking up a defensive defenseman and his value, it's hard.

6:58Andrew: Luckily, I mean, I test.

7:00Justin: Yeah, luckily. Now we've seen some games with him. I guess a good.

7:04Andrew: Let's discover like a niche.

7:07Justin: An ohl.

7:08Andrew: Are we now going to fund an

7:09Justin: OHL advanced analytics site? If anybody wants to get in on that, I will happily talk analytics.

7:15Andrew: We will happily give you 30% of that idea.

7:21Justin: So the one thing that he. The. The thing that he for sure brings is experience. He's played three seasons. He's been with the the Kingston FR and the Sudbury Wolves.

7:32Andrew: Right.

7:32Justin: He's played lots of international hockey with Slovakia. He's a Slovakian kid so he's 18, so, you know, he's like not a. Probably not a long term guy.

7:41Andrew: He's what they needed.

7:42Justin: But he's. He really seems like he's what needed not to jump the shark at all. But he played really well with Andonovsky and Saginaw. Yes, that was a really good.

7:51Andrew: He just seems like a great addition. I haven't seen. I haven't been watching like with a microscope on defensive zone exits and I haven't. You know what I mean? But like he's made an impact. Yep. And it seems like it's just overwhelmingly positive. Not like flashy, but positive.

8:09Justin: Yeah. Game recaps.

8:10Andrew: Game recaps. Right into it.

8:12Justin: Recaps is the word I was looking for.

8:14Andrew: Not reviews. Rat reviews. Review. Yeah, it didn't really do it for me.

8:18Justin: Give me a 2.7 out of 10. I don't know.

8:20Andrew: I thought the writing, the script was a little weak. I don't know why suddenly I.

8:26Justin: The defense needed more solemn.

8:29Andrew: All right, okay, so let's start with the first game, Justin. The first game that was happening while we were recording last week. You know that one?

8:38Justin: So I 100% forgot to watch that game.

8:40Andrew: He forgot that a game happened.

8:42Justin: I totally forgot it happened. So, Andrew, we won. That's all I got.

8:46Andrew: Did we? Did we? Are you sure?

8:48Justin: No.

8:49Andrew: Because you didn't come up with a three stars for it.

8:51Justin: Tell me more.

8:52Andrew: I think at some point during this podcast you said that you were a better fan. Well, let's just say that. Oh, how the turntables. Flint 2, Kitchener 3. That's right. They dug out of a 20 deficit. It was a great game. It was a good game for the Rangers to prove their mettle in that kind of a situation. Flint is a competitive team. It's not a cupcake team. And it's, you know, it seems like how many times have we played them now is. I'm trying to think.

9:23Justin: I think we've played them twice.

9:24Andrew: Twice. Yeah. So both games have been tight, right? Yeah. Like, it's not been. It's not. They're. They're well matched, let's put it that way. I would say it was a little bit of the same old story. Took too many penalties, got scored on, I think on a five on three. Nathan Day is a good goalie. A good goalie. Ultimately, this was the Trenswick breakout game. Yes, this was the Trenswick breakout game. This was the. Hello, hello, pals. The big man on campus has returned

9:53Justin: and he took over. Yeah.

9:56Andrew: And that's what you need when you're down to nothing.

9:58Justin: Yeah.

9:58Andrew: Is you need your veteran leader who's also like, now your first line winger is just like going to come in and dominate. And he did. I will Sam O'Reilly made a special note that Cameron Reid had a great game. Cameron Reid has an absolute howitzer. He was absolute shinpad assassin in this game. He had a wicked reverse hit. He had the puck. He checked a guy as the puck kind of was in the corner. He checked a guy and then he got the puck and then a guy came in to lay the hit on him while he was. Had the puck. And Cameron Reid said, no, son, and

10:36Justin: sat him down too.

10:37Andrew: So Cameron Reid is just a guy. That's. We know that this was one of those games where you're like, oh, this is. This guy is a first liner. Next year for sure. Ultimately, I'll get to the first, second and third star. My first star, pretty obvious. Trent Swick, the big man, he's back with a vengeance. He had two goals and an assist. I believe in this game. Second star was the physical play that I mentioned. Not just from Cameron Reid but I think Matt Anonofsky sets a tone the whole team follows. I quickly rewatched the recap. The highlights were either goals or Rangers hits.

11:15Justin: So there was no in between. Right.

11:17Andrew: So I like that. And then of course, the third star is quite literally digging out of a two nothing hole because prefer if you didn't get in the two nothing hole. Yep.

11:25Justin: That is the question.

11:26Andrew: So it's a good thing that they did it. But ultimately, just please stop getting down early and trying to dig out of it because as we'll see in the next game, it doesn't always work. Yeah. And like the season opener, that was a pain because you got in that

11:40Justin: hole and then they just couldn't get it.

11:42Andrew: Yeah.

11:42Justin: Well, thank you. Thank you for.

11:43Andrew: You're welcome. Taking me through that story time with Andrew is over.

11:47Justin: That was great. I don't have to watch any games anymore.

11:49Andrew: No.

11:50Justin: I'll just relay all of them to you.

11:52Andrew: That would be so funny. Guy starts a hockey podcast, hates hockey. Like watching hockey at all. Just lets his buddy watch.

12:00Justin: You watch. I'll listen. I'll listen intently. Interesting. Yeah. What I wrote as Game one was game two of our recurrence.

12:09Andrew: Yes.

12:09Justin: We are professionals as well. Two Greyhounds. We lost in a 5, 4 shootout loss. And I think this game, we have to start at the ugly because the ugly is pretty ugly.

12:21Andrew: Oh, yeah.

12:22Justin: We didn't even confer on Our ugly. But I'm 100% positive it's the same thing. And I'm going to say it out loud right now. It is two shorthanded goals against. And at the end of this game, we. Our goal differential on power plays was negative. One, we had five shorthanded goals against and four power play goals for it.

12:43Andrew: It was a brutal text back and forth, our conversation back and forth during this game because we were. I was like, how many shorthanded goals

12:51Justin: are we having on. Yeah.

12:52Andrew: Is this really. Is that really happening? Is this really happening again?

12:55Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Well, two shorthanded goals.

12:58Andrew: Ugly.

12:58Justin: On the same power play.

13:00Andrew: On the same power play, no less. Yes, absolutely. It was a weird game to have to be. You know, it was. It was four. Four going into a shootout.

13:08Justin: Yeah.

13:08Andrew: So it's not like the Rangers didn't play well enough to get a win. No, it just felt like a game where they didn't bring their best game.

13:16Justin: Yeah.

13:17Andrew: There were some bright spots. Don't get me wrong. I think Tanner, Lam and Misaljevic and I think like the usual suspects were playing really well. I just think that there were some defensive lapses, to say the least. I did want to make note that arena looked really cool and I thought it would be a great place to take in a game. AudPod, roady someday.

13:38Justin: Absolutely.

13:39Andrew: I think that would be fun.

13:40Justin: At some point over this. This thing, we're going to go visit all the arenas.

13:43Andrew: Yes, absolutely. Because they're within driving distance. Yeah.

13:46Justin: You can maybe they have to stay

13:47Andrew: at night while sue is the furthest, I think. Is it not the furthest?

13:51Justin: I think it's like one of our favorites.

13:52Andrew: Yeah, it is. It is. But yeah, it looked like a great atmosphere. It seemed like a real classic kind of place to see junior hockey. Yeah. And before we get to the. The bad and then the good, I did just want to say that Grizzly the hip check was like. Was like a. Probably an all time highlight for him. Yes. I think, like, if, you know, regardless of how his career goes on from here, that's going to be on his highlight reel forever.

14:15Justin: That's like in NHL when you're playing the video game and you hit it perfectly. Yes, exactly. That's exactly what happened.

14:21Andrew: That dude went flying. The great thing was nobody got mad. No. Because it was clean, Shack.

14:25Justin: It was so clean.

14:25Andrew: It was just clean. And. Yeah.

14:27Justin: And everybody got on the plane. It was great.

14:30Andrew: All right, so we had the ugly. Both of us had the same ugly. Of course.

14:33Justin: Yeah.

14:34Andrew: What's your bad?

14:34Justin: Just Might be a little bit of a cop out. Bad because I didn't. Overall. You didn't watch the game. No, I'm kidding. Sorry. Had to after all those practice shootouts in preseason.

14:47Andrew: Yeah. To lose in the shootout.

14:49Justin: How did we lose in the shootout?

14:51Andrew: I think it was probably because the guys shooting in the shootout were in training camps somewhere else.

14:55Justin: Yeah, that's true.

14:56Andrew: So, like, not to criticize the Juice, because obviously you're going to put out Trent Swick and you're going to put out, you know, Devic, and you're going to put out those.

15:03Justin: Yeah, but they just weren't there.

15:04Andrew: They just weren't there. So they didn't have to play in six shootouts.

15:10Justin: I felt so bad for Shabble at that point because he was like. He had obviously faced a lot of breakaways against. Throughout that whole game, which is a

15:17Andrew: good segue, because that's my bad.

15:19Justin: That's your bad.

15:20Andrew: Giving up four breakaways resulting in three goals. That. That's the game. Yeah, right there. If the shorties weren't enough, the fact that they were breakaways, there was four breakaways. So, I mean, realistically, like, sure, you can say, well, it was, you know, it was four goals. Ideally, you'd want your goalie just to cap it at three. Just in general. Right. Because you would probably win most games in the OHL if you only let in three. Three of them were on the breakaway. And that's not a goalie's fault. That's. What are you going to do? The shooter is so heavily favored in those situations, of course. So that, to me was just the bad. You can't give up those breakaways. It's too easy. These guys are too skilled, too fast, and they've got, like. They have the highest technology in these sticks. It's coming off the stick so fast. Like, it's not like me going out there with an old wooden stick trying to shoot on a breakaway. It's. No. You're screwed. Yeah, Right.

16:11Justin: You're screwed. Yeah. Okay. What's your good, though?

16:15Andrew: My good is actually the passing of Tanner Lam and just generally the passing of that line because the passing in this game in the offensive zone was phenomenal.

16:27Justin: It was unbelievable.

16:28Andrew: The second goal, most specifically is my good. The second goal. The Rangers second goal. The Tic Tac goal, as they said. Unbelievable. It was like.

16:37Justin: It was confusing.

16:38Andrew: It was like a Chell goal.

16:39Justin: Yes, it was.

16:40Andrew: Yeah.

16:41Justin: Tannerland was also my first star.

16:42Andrew: Nice.

16:43Justin: I'm worried I'm collecting too many guys. Like, I got too Many guys on the team now, it's like, especially the third team, they could just be released at any moment. I know.

16:52Andrew: Bug life.

16:53Justin: You'll always buckle it for life. Yeah, but Tanner. Okay, that goal, the one that Stark scored from Elena's and Lamb. So that was all Lamb. He saved it at the blue line. My favorite part about that goal. Stark was in the left circle, Ellenas was in the right circle. They were kind of converging on the goalie. Lamb was looking straight at Stark, past Adelinas, because he was looking straight at him. And he went to pass. All the defenders went to Stark. Then Elenas had the goal. Elenas. Then all the defenders start dropping down, trying to block this shot. Instead of shooting, he passes it to Stark, who is wide open.

17:32Andrew: All of a sudden, it's that extra pass. Because Elynas could have easily just quickly shot that.

17:38Justin: Yeah, and he might have scored because it was a great position and he's

17:41Andrew: been playing great and he has a great shot. But that extra pass, the goalie's screwed.

17:45Justin: Yeah, for sure.

17:47Andrew: The extra pass is. No one wants to see that one.

17:50Justin: Right.

17:50Andrew: Because they're just like, oh, it's it.

17:52Justin: And if a defender knew where the puck was, they could easily block that pass. But because Lamb created so much chaos.

17:59Andrew: The head fake.

18:00Justin: 100% off that fake those defenders had. No, they were gone.

18:04Andrew: It was beautiful. Yeah. A high note.

18:06Justin: Yeah.

18:06Andrew: They got a point.

18:07Justin: They did. They got a point. It was actually a fun game to watch.

18:11Andrew: It was a fun game. It was an entertaining game.

18:13Justin: Game three, Saginaw Spirit, 74 win. Yeah. So we get to do three stars.

18:19Andrew: We do.

18:19Justin: What's your first star?

18:21Andrew: Ultimately? My first star. It's a bit of a cop out because I feel like I've talked about these guys so much. It's Swick and Mislejevic.

18:27Justin: Yeah, mine too. Mislejevik is the obvious first star because he was also the first star of the game.

18:32Andrew: Yeah, exactly. It's the chemistry between. Listen, Romano and Lamb and Mislejevic had chemistry, but I feel like Lamb is a better driver on the second line and Swick is a stronger finisher to add to the. To. To the first line. But he's also, you know, Missile Jevik's probably the best finisher on the team. Absolutely. Yeah. So it's interesting. I think there's just a lot of talent on the team now with Swick back. It just like. It doesn't seem like there's. It seems like there's actually a lot of depth now. Scoring depth.

19:07Justin: Yeah.

19:08Andrew: So I would say, like, yeah. The Swic and Misaljevic connection in this, in this game was my first star.

19:14Justin: It felt like in those, in the early games, it felt like a one line team. And now, now it's, now it's a two plus. Like, we are getting stuff. Pug life gone. The fourth line's a little.

19:24Andrew: But you can almost see it coming. Hey, like, they were adding like bottom sixers.

19:28Justin: Yeah.

19:29Andrew: They kind of like. Yeah. And I will Sam O'Reilly also have to give props to the Juice in this one. Yeah. For that set play. The second goal.

19:37Justin: Yeah. Was a set. The Reed bomb.

19:39Andrew: Yes. Yeah, it was a set play. That's a set play. They, they, they ran face off and it worked.

19:45Justin: It was so good.

19:45Andrew: Yeah.

19:46Justin: My, my second star. Because we had the same first star. My second star. I was skeptical about Chromiak when I saw him on the top pair with Andadowski. I was like, I don't, I don't know. I just don't know who this guy is.

19:57Andrew: Right.

19:58Justin: I, I'm still confused why Derolo is not playing up there. But that's, that's okay. Like, but it was great. The two of them, they owned neutral zone.

20:06Andrew: Yeah.

20:07Justin: They were, they were all over it. They were creating. Not just were they creating, like clogging up the neutral zone. They were creating chances for the team. Like, they were, they were doing good transitional play. They worked really well together and seemed to have a really good chemistry.

20:23Andrew: They did. Yeah, they do.

20:25Justin: It was even commented on in the, I think it was the intermission interview with Andonovsky. During that game, he was talking at how well Chromiak was fitting in with

20:33Andrew: the team, which was great. Yeah. Because it just seemed to be a fit right away. Yeah. He just seemed like a guy who just came in and knew what his job is and he's doing his job and it's working out.

20:41Justin: Yeah. Yep.

20:42Andrew: My second star. The whole team is kind of going. And I, I, I attribute that to, to the Juice, but it's the team, really.

20:50Justin: So, like, what, what juice is he this week?

20:52Andrew: Sunny D. Oh, of course. Because obviously. Yeah, right. He got the boys going. So it's, it's just the whole, the whole squad, they turned it around. They went into Saginaw and they beat Goliath kind of thing. They battled Misa, they battled with Papa Born and Misael. Just so talented. Like, so talented. But it didn't stop the Rangers from being like, we're just going to play our game. And so that's my second Start. That's. It's kind of an abstract concept, but it's basically the coach got him going and the boys responded and like we're back in the thick of things.

21:24Justin: Well, speaking of like Misa specifically, it felt like they had a plan for him.

21:28Andrew: Yeah.

21:29Justin: And they kept him to the outside. They didn't give him any great chances. They were. And I attribute. That's part of my second star at attributing to Andonovsky and Kromak working together. Is it really shut down Visa Parek was a little bit more of a gamble. He's harder to defend because he's a defenseman. He's back in the play.

21:47Andrew: Yeah. And he skates so well and he's got a crazy shot. He's a menace. Yeah. Parakis is a menace and a flame.

21:57Justin: So you're going to be seeing a lot of him.

21:58Andrew: So what's your third star, Justin?

22:00Justin: My third star. The second period was a little sloppy. They. They came out. They came out hot in the first period and then they took the foot off the castle. They didn't come out. They came out lukewarm.

22:12Andrew: Maybe a little tired.

22:13Justin: Yeah. I mean these. All these head to head, back to back games.

22:17Andrew: Yeah.

22:18Justin: It's crazy.

22:18Andrew: But you know what if they were going to. You know, it's like a prize fight if they're going to take a round off. They took the right round off. They did. Right. So it's. It's. They came back and the Aud they took over and were dominant in the third frame.

22:29Justin: Yeah.

22:29Andrew: Right. Mine was Parsons. He had to stand on his head a few times. There was a lot of chances. A plus close to the crease. Chances for the spirit. So I'm not saying that I'm lukewarm on Parsons standing on his head. I'm lukewarm on the fact that Parsons had to stand.

22:50Justin: Had to stand on his head.

22:51Andrew: But it's Saginaw. So the nice thing is Parsons is in mid season four.

22:57Justin: Yes. Right. Because there were some pretty excellent chances in that second period. Saginaw scored twice in the second period. It could have been a lot worse. And Parsons was the sole reason it wasn't.

23:08Andrew: I didn't feel like Kitchener was chasing Saginaw. It felt much more like a tilt between two evenly matched teams.

23:16Justin: I agree.

23:17Andrew: So that was a positive.

23:18Justin: Which does worry me about potential trades.

23:22Andrew: Yes, of course. Yes.

23:24Justin: Because we're on different swings.

23:26Andrew: But it just feels like the Juice has these guys way ahead of schedule every year.

23:32Justin: I don't know what every year.

23:34Andrew: Because you know, I think he's just a guy that you want to play hard for and he knows how to get offensive production out of guys. And I think that no one, I don't think anybody really saw, like, Misaljevic

23:45Justin: being taking the step that he has. I mean, like, he looks like the

23:51Andrew: best player on the team, like, on most of his shifts. And then Tanner Lam driving the second

23:56Justin: line also took a huge step this year.

23:58Andrew: And. And I will say, Ellen, is. It's funny because I think he could have a lot more goals because he's hit the post.

24:04Justin: He's been so many times. He's been robbed a few times. There's a regression coming.

24:09Andrew: I. Yeah, I think he's going to. He's going to have like a. Just like a bundle of goals coming quick. Like, it's going to be. We're going to see a couple, two goal games from Elenis because he's had like A plus chances and it's just like almost right. Like. And he's still scoring.

24:23Justin: Yeah. And.

24:24Andrew: Yeah, let's not take it away from him.

24:25Justin: And he's still putting that snake bit.

24:26Andrew: No, he's not snake bit. It's just that there's also maybe one or two other chances every game where he could add another one.

24:32Justin: All right, let's get into some previews. We got three. We got three. Three games versus two opponents.

24:38Andrew: Okay.

24:38Justin: So we got a triple header again. We got Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yeah, we got Friday against Niagara Ice Dogs.

24:44Andrew: Okay. They're supposed to be not very good.

24:47Justin: They're supposed to not be very good.

24:49Andrew: However.

24:49Justin: Yeah, they only lost their first game on game number six.

24:55Andrew: Yeah. So we. Again, another thing we got wrong, to be fair, we were just reading kind of the general scuttlebutt around the loop.

25:02Justin: I think everybody's surprised by Niagara.

25:04Andrew: Yeah, they weren't supposed to be very good.

25:06Justin: But I do not want to see another clip of Kevin he with he is him as the caption. Yeah, well, because he might be him and I get that.

25:14Andrew: I'm completely over the he is him thing. Like, blame him.

25:17Justin: Sure.

25:17Andrew: It's played out.

25:18Justin: It is played out. But yeah, Kevin, he needs a new thang because we're going to be seeing

25:23Andrew: a lot of his highlights, I think

25:25Justin: for sure he's very good. So, yeah, Niagara Ice Dog, it's going to be an interesting game. But as we saw against Saginaw, like, we have the defensive prowess to take down some of these bigger elite players.

25:37Andrew: And I like. Yeah, exactly. And I like the Aud that they Lost one to Flint and lost to, like, Nathan Day and Connor Klattenberg. And those are kind of like the two big stars in Flint. Right? And then they came back and they kind of learned and got better and beat the Aud now they've parlayed that into, like, you know what? Rather than letting the Soo loss make things, like, kind of, like, you know, spoil the party, they went into Saginaw and just, you know, gutted out a win. So I think now it's interesting to see if Niagara has a little bit more regression back. I think he'll still. He'll. He will keep scoring, but will they keep winning? This seems like it might be a good time to catch them is what I'm trying to get at.

26:26Justin: There's another factor in Niagara, though. They are overager. Goalie Owen Flores has a.935 save percentage. He might be him.

26:36Andrew: He might be him.

26:37Justin: And he's a Flores.

26:38Andrew: I mean, they've been facing good goalies.

26:40Justin: They have.

26:41Andrew: They faced Carter George, right? Like, and he was drafted last year by the Kings. Like, they've been facing good goalies. I. I just think, like, they're shooters on the team in the passing. I don't think the downfall of the Rangers is going to be offensive zone outcomes.

27:00Justin: Correct. I think. I also think that we know what

27:03Andrew: the downfall of the Rangers so far

27:05Justin: is going to be, is getting a power play. Oh, my goodness. No more.

27:09Andrew: Just leave a guy off. If someone gets a penalty, just leave a guy off. Go four on four, see what happens. Honestly, I'm just saying at this point.

27:18Justin: Yeah, yeah, I agree. They can't score a short end goal if there's only four guys out there. Right. I'm so worried when we get a power. I know. I am.

27:27Andrew: Like, oh, man. When is the inevitable blue line turnover going to happen and the play going

27:32Justin: to go the other way? But you got to be honest, junior hockey, super scrambling, super fun, which makes it more fun. Yeah. Like. And what I'm hoping out of this Niagara Ice Dogs game is it's either, like, it could be a tightly contested, like, goalie battle, or it could be, like, a slugfest, and we could just get a lot of goals. And it could be fun.

27:50Andrew: It could be really fun. I'm hoping for a fun one.

27:52Justin: Yeah, me too. Okay, then we play Guelph twice. So battle of Highway 7.

27:57Andrew: It's getting a lot of home and

27:58Justin: home getting a lot of wear right now.

28:01Andrew: The home and home.

28:03Justin: These will be our second and third gameplay played against Guelph. So.

28:06Andrew: Yeah, they play Guelph a lot. All the time.

28:08Justin: Yeah. Well, division.

28:09Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. I just remember last year because I went to a gaming Guelph last year, and it's a great barn. That's another great place to take in a game.

28:16Justin: Yeah. We should get it there, too.

28:18Andrew: We should. Absolutely.

28:19Justin: Our tour of all the stadiums. We should probably just go there.

28:21Andrew: Our world tour of the ohl.

28:24Justin: I think Luchenko is sticking in Philly.

28:27Andrew: Yeah, I think so, too. Which is good news for the ohl.

28:30Justin: Good news for the ohl. Good news for him, too.

28:32Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.

28:33Justin: Yeah.

28:33Andrew: He looks like he fits right in there.

28:35Justin: I think he was playing second line minutes against the Oilers, like.

28:38Andrew: Yeah, he's a good player.

28:38Justin: He is. The one guy we talked about last time we previewed Guelph was Cam Allen.

28:44Andrew: Right.

28:45Justin: So we talked about him taking a step forward. And I mean, he really has. He's like.

28:50Andrew: He's point per game already this season.

28:52Justin: Like, he's killing it. The one thing that Guelph is struggling on is their power play, so that will be interesting.

29:01Andrew: Hopefully that doesn't. Their power play. Yeah. And our power play, what's going to happen? Whoever gets penalty first, the other team

29:10Justin: is going to lose.

29:14Andrew: Yeah.

29:14Justin: Great.

29:15Andrew: Yeah.

29:16Justin: So that's the games. We got three games.

29:17Andrew: All right. That's exciting.

29:19Justin: Now is the time for the Groot. Groot. The Groot.

29:23Andrew: The Groot.

29:25Justin: Yeah.

29:25Andrew: I think it is time for the Groot.

29:27Justin: The Groot. The greatest Ranger of. Oh, I get seconded again. The greatest Ranger of all time. I think I went first last time. I think you should go first this time.

29:37Andrew: Okay, I will go first.

29:39Justin: I know you're excited.

29:39Andrew: I am really excited because I. Not only that, I could have picked, like, three other guys that I did research on, and I was, like, super excited about, and then I came across this individual. Whoa.

29:52Justin: Okay. I'm already like, wow, this is where I'm gonna. I will be arguing to the death for this man.

29:59Andrew: No, it's just. It's cool. The significance of this particular player. Okay, so he is seventh all time in OHL points per game, which is the highest of any Ranger. Whoa.

30:12Justin: Okay.

30:13Andrew: For example, Eric Lindross is first all time. Oh, so he is seventh all time. So he is an elite company. All right. He has 94 goals, 119 assists, and 213 points in 113 games.

30:26Justin: That's insane.

30:27Andrew: It is insane.

30:29Justin: Yeah.

30:29Andrew: He played with the Rangers from 1980 to 1982. So two seasons. He won two OHL championships and one Memorial Cup. The second year.

30:40Justin: Okay. Yeah.

30:42Andrew: In the 1981 playoffs. I'm going in depth here, so buckle up.

30:46Justin: It's going to be a long clip. All right.

30:48Andrew: 1981 playoffs. He had 14 goals and 27 points in 16 games played, including a hat trick in the semifinals that got them to the Memorial Cup final. They lost that game.

31:03Justin: So they made it to the Memorial Cup two years in a row and got to the final two years in a row.

31:08Andrew: And this guy had a hat trick in the semis to get them to the Memorial Cup final. Okay, they lost that time.

31:15Justin: Yeah. This dude was like, I'm gonna lock in. 1982, he finishes with 45 goals in 47 games played. Oh, my. So Mr. Automatic. Yeah.

31:29Andrew: Okay.

31:30Justin: He had 16 goals and 29 points

31:33Andrew: in 15 OHL playoff games. And then in the Memorial Cup, in five games, he had six goals and 12 points. All right. And the historic Memorial Cup final, which was their first Memorial Cup win as the Rangers. He had a hat trick and two assists in that game. And they won seven to four. Okay, so he was the guy.

31:54Justin: He's the guy.

31:55Andrew: Moving on from the OHL career, He was drafted second overall in 1982 by the Minnesota North Stars. All right.

32:02Justin: Great logo.

32:03Andrew: Now he's named. This is a fun fact. He's technically the youngest captain in NHL history. However, they don't count it because it was just an interim captaincy. Because he's actually in 1983, 1984. He's actually younger than McDavid, Crosby and Landiscog, the Ranger.

32:21Justin: Okay, I have no idea who this is.

32:23Andrew: I know he got them to the conference finals in 83, 84 as the youngest captain. Okay. He got them to the Stanley cup finals in 1991. We know who they ran into. The Penguins. Right. But he was 10, 19 and 29. So he's 10 goals and 29 assists in 23 games. Yeah. Right. So he's a machine after this. He gets traded to Montreal.

32:47Justin: Okay.

32:47Andrew: In 1992. And he is angry, publicly livid that this happened because he loved the North Star.

32:54Justin: Wow.

32:54Andrew: All right, what does he do? What does he do? He channels that anger.

32:58Justin: And they win the cup in 93.

33:00Andrew: And he has a 40 goal season with the Canadiens.

33:03Justin: He's the last Canadian Stanley Cup.

33:05Andrew: He's. Yes. He's the last Kitchener Rangers Canadian Stanley cup winner. Wow. Okay, he is the Aud He is an eight time 30 goal scorer. He scored 55 in 1989. He actually got back to the Stanley cup final as a 33 year old with the Washington Capitals. He scored six goals and 13 assists in 21 games. He didn't even play a full season. He played 11 regular season games and then showed up with the Capitals and got them to the Stanley cup final. They ran into the Red Wings. The Dynasty Red Wings. He had the worst luck. He ran into the Dynasty Penguins and the Dynasty Red Wings.

33:44Justin: Yeah.

33:44Andrew: Okay. He was the 54th player in NHL history to 1000 points. He's played over 1000 games in the NHL. He was an unprecedented 51 goals, 71 assists and 122 points in 143 playoff games in the NHL.

34:00Justin: Wow.

34:01Andrew: Coming in as this nomination to the Groot. The Groot from St. Catharines, Andrew Brian Bellows.

34:11Justin: Brian Bellows.

34:12Andrew: His son Kiefer Bellows plays for the Predators. I'm familiar. There you go. You do know.

34:18Justin: Yeah, I did, but I didn't know that about him.

34:21Andrew: I was absolutely.

34:23Justin: He's a beast. Yeah.

34:25Andrew: I had no idea that he was like the guy that won Kitchener their first Memorial Cup.

34:30Justin: Wow. Yeah. That's amazing.

34:31Andrew: And like came back from losing in the OHL championship. It just feels like, man, what I would have loved to have been covering the Rangers back then. Could you imagine, you see like this like. And there's other guys on that tape.

34:41Justin: Like, don't get me wrong, he wasn't the only guy.

34:43Andrew: But like, you know, and you're watching it and you just see this guy like just go off in the Memorial Cup final.

34:49Justin: Yeah.

34:50Andrew: Five points. Yeah. Of course you're going to win.

34:52Justin: Well, that was. Al McInnis was on that team too. They were. They were.

34:55Andrew: Everybody was. Well, not everybody, but like the Rangers were loaded.

35:00Justin: It was insane. That was an insane team.

35:02Andrew: Yeah.

35:03Justin: Okay. My entry into the Grot. The Grot. This week I am focusing on a player whose prime of their hockey career was in the ohl. Exciting. And for the Rangers, exciting did play in the NHL. But impact was definitely with the Rangers. It's a short cane. Five foot nine.

35:27Andrew: I know who it is.

35:27Justin: I know you do. I know who it is. He played. Where did he play his last game? Oh, I know. Well, I have a section for that. I just love that already. I know he's a short king because he is. He is a short king. So he played 242 games with the Rangers.

35:43Andrew: Yeah.

35:43Justin: He scored 355 points.

35:45Andrew: Yeah.

35:46Justin: He's the second most points in Rangers history. 147 goals. Also the second most in Rangers.

35:52Andrew: All he did was put up points.

35:54Justin: He just scored all the time. So known for being a hardworking, high skill player. Always in the corners getting the puck. He always got the puck. He just. Hardworking guy. He. Not only did he win the Memorial Cup with Mike Richards in 2008, he was the captain of that team riding shotgun.

36:11Andrew: Yeah.

36:12Justin: He won the rookie of the year. He won the Wayne Gretzky award for playoff mvp. His career killer was being drafted by the Buffalo Sabres.

36:22Andrew: Hey, but you know what? He had an underrated. He had an underrated NHL career.

36:27Justin: He did.

36:27Andrew: Look at his NHL stats.

36:28Justin: He's good.

36:29Andrew: His NHL stats are underrated.

36:31Justin: Agreed.

36:31Andrew: Yeah.

36:32Justin: Unfortunately, he had to end his career with the Oilers.

36:35Andrew: Oh. In the decade of darkness.

36:37Justin: In the decade of darkness.

36:38Andrew: But you know, I was so excited to have him on the team.

36:41Justin: Yeah.

36:41Andrew: Just because I just knew that he was a spark plug.

36:44Justin: He's.

36:44Andrew: He's a short king.

36:45Justin: He's a short king.

36:45Andrew: Yeah. My.

36:46Justin: My entry to the.

36:48Andrew: To the grot.

36:49Justin: The grot is Mr. Derek Roy.

36:52Andrew: Derek Roy. Give it up for Derek Roy. We love Derek Roy. Yeah. Yeah.

36:57Justin: I, I really enjoyed. I was, I, I did the same thing. I was researching a few people. Like, I was looking at a couple different players and I just came across Derek Roy and there was like just everything. I was watching some clips of him. I was just like, I love this guy. Thaj is great.

37:11Andrew: I thought about using Derrick Roy because he's at the top of a lot of lists.

37:14Justin: He is.

37:15Andrew: Yeah.

37:15Justin: Well, I mean, he.

37:16Andrew: A lot of stat categories.

37:17Justin: He was super influential with the Rangers. Like, this is when we have to separate the NHL career from the Ranger career.

37:25Andrew: Totally. He was. I mean. Yeah. I mean, statistically speaking, he's probably the most dominant Ranger. Right. Like just from a stats point.

37:33Justin: All right, that's our week. Okay. So thank yous this week.

37:36Andrew: Yes.

37:36Justin: Ken Born We're gonna, we're gonna upgrade from logo to.

37:40Andrew: Yeah. Branding in general. Yeah. He's made some really nice stuff and he's optimized it for different platforms. I really appreciate it.

37:47Justin: We look legit.

37:48Andrew: We do, we do. And it's pretty much only because of your dad's branding, correct? Yeah, yeah.

37:54Justin: Prodigal producer, Liam.

37:56Andrew: Oh, the phenom.

37:57Justin: I hear he's working on some interviews for us. We want to thank the Waterloo Public Library for hosting us this week.

38:03Andrew: Yeah. Wonderful space. You can check us out on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter theaudpodcast. If you have an interesting story about the Aud The Kitchener Rangers or just Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo, you can send us an email@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd love to hear from you.

38:20Justin: And as always, you can find us

38:22Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium via the Eye.