Episode 7: We Blessed a Wagon

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. Hey. Justin points in nine straight. Four straight wins.

0:37Andrew: What are we, a wagon?

0:39Justin: We're a wagon.

0:41Andrew: We were worried that we cursed them. Then last week we were like, there's no curse. And now I'm like, maybe we blessed them.

0:50Justin: We are the blessing of the AudPod. Oh, the AudPod.

0:54Andrew: the AudPod era. We're going to take credit.

0:57Justin: Yes, absolutely.

0:58Andrew: As anyone should.

1:00Justin: We don't. We don't even have a good, bad and the ugly this week.

1:04Andrew: Not one.

1:04Justin: We can't even.

1:05Andrew: Single one. We can't even do it.

1:06Justin: We have to do three stars.

1:08Andrew: I was like, another three stars.

1:11Justin: Exhausting.

1:12Andrew: Oh, man,

1:14Justin: I'm.

1:15Andrew: I'm really excited about this team.

1:16Justin: Me, too.

1:17Andrew: I can't believe that this just all turned on a dime. That's what it feels like.

1:21Justin: It does.

1:21Andrew: Honestly. It felt like when we said, like, if this 12, 2. If they smarten up after this, it. It'll just the seasonal turn around.

1:29Justin: And it did. It did. Yeah, they. They took that beating to heart. Yeah, they had the. They had the poops.

1:35Andrew: They had the poops.

1:36Justin: They cut, it came back.

1:37Andrew: They wiped. They used the tushy. I'm a big fan. All right, let's try and get a sponsorship. It's not even a sponsorship here.

1:45Justin: I just. We'll take it, though. I'm telling you, I don't have one.

1:48Andrew: You got to get one.

1:48Justin: Okay. Okay, Great. You know, you brought in a special. You brought in a story for us.

1:54Andrew: I did story time last week. I just broke down a game that you didn't watch.

1:59Justin: I forgot about that.

2:00Andrew: That was my story time this week. I'm actually doing a little bit of a history lesson. Oh, hey, Justin.

2:07Justin: Hey. Hey, Andrew.

2:08Andrew: Do you know why the Kitchener Rangers share the name and uniform of the New York Rangers?

2:13Justin: I. I might have a vague idea, but not really. I'm going to say no for fun.

2:18Andrew: So let's hasten back to the year 1947. 1947, the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters are established. Yeah, that's real. That's the name.

2:30Justin: I don't know how it didn't stick.

2:32Andrew: So, you know, let's get some ragtimey music in here. And in 1960, they were sold and rebranded as the Guelph Royals, because the Royal City Guelph. Right. Oh, in 1963, Eugene George. Important name. You're going to want to remember that one. And a group of Kitchener businessmen brought the Guelph Royals, a farm team of the NHL's New York Rangers, to Kitchener and renamed them the Kitchener Rangers Junior A hockey club, the New York Rangers. Sponsorship of the team ended in 1967,

3:05Justin: with four years later.

3:07Andrew: Four years later?

3:07Justin: That's not very long.

3:08Andrew: No. With the expansion of the NHL's Original Six era. Okay. So on July 7, 1967, Eugene George agreed to purchase the team from the New York Rangers for a sum of $1. He declined the opportunity for private ownership, but instead turned the team over to the community through the creation of a not for profit organization. And that is why they are wearing ebg63 patch on their jerseys this year. Because he is a champion of the community. And he said, you know what? For $1, I'm going to buy this team and give it to Kitchener.

3:46Justin: That's amazing.

3:47Andrew: Yeah, that's like. That's like hockey Robin Hood.

3:50Justin: And this is why there's no owner. Owner. That is the Ranger.

3:53Andrew: Why it's a publicly owned team.

3:55Justin: This is amazing. Well, now I feel all snug in my jammies and tucked into bed and good with that little story. So let's. Should we recap some games?

4:04Andrew: Let's recap some games.

4:05Justin: So we got. We have three games to recap.

4:09Andrew: You're Scottish again.

4:10Justin: Oh, because of the Royals. I got thinking about it. Game recap. We started our Friday night.

4:15Andrew: Yes.

4:16Justin: With the Niagara Ice Dogs, which we

4:18Andrew: won 4 to 2. The Andrew Vermeulen revenge game. Yes. Former ice dog.

4:24Justin: Yes.

4:24Andrew: Yeah.

4:25Justin: Then we had two games in a row against the Guelph Storm. One in Guelph where we won three to two in a shootout.

4:31Andrew: Perfect.

4:32Justin: And then one in Kitchener where we won four to two. Just got.

4:35Andrew: Got better.

4:36Justin: Just. Just improved.

4:37Andrew: Yep. Didn't give up that point. Yeah.

4:40Justin: Yep. So that was our Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Let's start with the Niagara Ice Dogs. Andrew, what's your first star?

4:47Andrew: My first star. The defense. Seven assists on the defense core.

4:52Justin: Yeah.

4:53Andrew: Three from Cameron Reid It was by far Carson Campbell best game by far. He had five shots and an assist. He had a big block. He was a physical presence. It was. Was just Carson Campbell best game. The captain, Matt Andonowski had an assist. He was all over the place, as he always is. Yeah. And. Had an assist. And he had a couple enormous blocks on the penalty kill. He was just in the lanes clogging it up, doing what he does as a team. They held Kevin he to three shots and only one of Them registered as a dangerous shot, so. Which I just learned Dohl has tracking tracks that. So it is. Yeah. There is a certain amount of analytics.

5:39Justin: Yes.

5:40Andrew: But. Yeah. So Kevin. He might be him for sure. He's a. Looks like a great player. However, on Friday, he wasn't.

5:48Justin: He is who he is. Who? Kevin. Him. Kevin. Huh?

5:53Andrew: Who's your first star?

5:54Justin: My first star is Tanner Lam, because. Well, that was snipe city. You're just in love with this man. I know. I just, like, can't. I can't cope anymore. Like, there's just too many guys.

6:04Andrew: I mean, Tanner Lam is everything you'd want a guy taking a step from last year to be. Right. He. They were relying on him to become who he became.

6:15Justin: Like, we've. We've talked about him basically every episode since the season started.

6:19Andrew: The laminator.

6:20Justin: The la. Yes.

6:22Andrew: I can't. I can't take credit for that. I saw that on. I saw that on Instagram.

6:26Justin: Like, this game, specifically. Like, we have been. We have been mostly noting his exceptional passing because he is. He's got the laser eyes.

6:35Andrew: He's.

6:35Justin: He's got the laminating.

6:36Andrew: I can just say he was my second star.

6:38Justin: Yeah.

6:39Andrew: Just because I wanted to give props to the defense.

6:41Justin: Yeah. No, that's great.

6:42Andrew: Because they were facing Kevin. He.

6:43Justin: Mostly.

6:44Andrew: Right. But Tanner Lam I said, who was he on the game winning goal? Leon Lamb. That's who he was. Because that was a crazy angle.

6:52Justin: I don't understand that joke.

6:54Andrew: Leon Dryle scores from that angle.

6:56Justin: Oh, I hate that joke.

6:58Andrew: But it's not a joke. Not a joke. I mean, it's kind of a joke if you're an NHL goalie and you're getting scored on from that angle. But. Yes. Yeah. Leon Lamb on that angle. I loved it. I loved it.

7:12Justin: You know, we. We've had. You've come up with some great nicknames. I don't think that one's going to stick.

7:17Andrew: We'll see.

7:19Justin: Okay. Like, my. My second star was your first star, which was the defense.

7:24Andrew: Cute.

7:25Justin: Specifically calling out Chromiak, who had some exceptional. Like, he was all over Kevin. He.

7:31Andrew: Oh, we'll talk about him later.

7:33Justin: Yeah.

7:33Andrew: Got him later on for sure.

7:34Justin: Yeah, We're. I guess we're. We're out.

7:36Andrew: Romiak is just. Is just a great player.

7:39Justin: We're very.

7:40Andrew: That acquisition was huge for this team.

7:42Justin: I had no idea at the time.

7:43Andrew: No, me neither. Again, we will admit we don't know things. I had no idea that this guy was going to step in and be one of the best players on the. Which is what he's in this stretch. I will say he's. He's one of the best players on

7:56Justin: the team as, as a. And, and. And he's a defensive defenseman.

7:59Andrew: Exactly.

8:00Justin: Never gets the props that it should,

8:01Andrew: but he's starting to score points.

8:04Justin: He also has some points now.

8:05Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So it's. It's good.

8:07Justin: Him and Andonovsky specifically. On Kevin, he, like just going back to your first star is like, absolutely. That, that's, that's all what my second star was about. My favorite quote by the play by play analyst was Andonofsky blew up Kevin. He. Because he went into the center of the ice. I thought that was a great quote.

8:25Andrew: Yeah, it was a great quote. And I remember exactly what you're talking about. And he did. And that was. And I will say, like Kevin, he dished out some physical punishment as well during this game. You know, it was kind of the immovable object versus the unstoppable force at that moment.

8:38Justin: Yeah.

8:38Andrew: And Anovsky put him down. It was, it was great. He was like, I know we don't put much stock into plus minus, but he was like minus 1 or minus 2 and like had nothing.

8:48Justin: I mean, he had a breakaway.

8:49Andrew: Yeah.

8:49Justin: This wouldn't go into your high danger chances, but he had some pretty great passes through the slot.

8:53Andrew: He is a phenomenal hockey player.

8:54Justin: He's a phenomenal hockey player.

8:56Andrew: They contained him. They didn't stop him. No, he had chances, but they contained him.

9:01Justin: They kept him to the outside.

9:02Andrew: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And that's actually a really good segue. You brought up the breakaways. My third star is not that, but I wanted to honorable mention Parsons stopped three out of four breakaways. If you stop three out of four breakaways. Is that what your third star is?

9:17Justin: I have an honorable mention for Parsons as well.

9:20Andrew: Amazing.

9:20Justin: Look, we're, we're.

9:21Andrew: We're in sync here. We're.

9:23Justin: We're.

9:23Andrew: We are the AudBalls We share a brain. I think my third star is. Was the power play. They had two power play goals for

9:30Justin: and zero shorthanded goals again. Yes.

9:35Andrew: Right. It's feeling good.

9:36Justin: It's.

9:36Andrew: It's starting to look like a power play.

9:38Justin: So I'm happy about that. Get my. My honorable mention was for Parsons going for the empty netter at the end of the game.

9:44Andrew: Oh, yes.

9:45Justin: I was like, the balls on this guy, man. I loved it. I loved it.

9:48Andrew: I loved it. I would have went nuts.

9:50Justin: And it wasn't that far off.

9:52Andrew: No, it wasn't it was a good shot and I loved all the boys coming over and congratulating him on the win, but he took off his mask and he was having a laugh. Yeah, it was good taking that shot.

10:02Justin: It was good. My third star. Me. I'm my own third scar. Because remember.

10:07Andrew: Okay.

10:08Justin: We love. We like we question. Oh, I'm getting the we question. You're questioning myself.

10:15Andrew: Yeah.

10:15Justin: Niagara is a good team and last week when we were doing the recaps, I was really worried about this game going in, but I need to check myself. The Rangers are really good and they've been playing really well against some of these, like, high offensive teams.

10:30Andrew: Yeah. And good goalies. We said that last episode. They play well against good goalies.

10:34Justin: Myself, I'm going to question myself. I'm going to take it back. I'm going to. I'm going to try and believe more. I'm a pessimist at heart when it comes to hockey.

10:42Andrew: Okay. Well, I mean, you know, you are the Alberta B team fan, so. That's true. One thing I wanted to point out in this game was Ellen has had that power play snipe. That was just like Snipe City. The commentator specifically mentioned that that was an NHL level goal. An NHL level shot. Very much so. It was through the wickets of the defenseman.

11:02Justin: It was amazing.

11:03Andrew: It was awesome.

11:04Justin: Yes.

11:04Andrew: And Swick had a disallowed goal and was robbed. Rob. Grand larceny robbed on a breakaway with like 40 seconds left.

11:12Justin: Yeah.

11:13Andrew: He's all over the place.

11:14Justin: Yeah. Yeah. So game number two was the shootout win over Guelph. Three, two. My first star. So this. This is my third star coming into play for my first star of this game.

11:25Andrew: You broke my brain.

11:26Justin: Yeah.

11:27Andrew: No one. No one. If I can follow it.

11:29Justin: No.

11:30Andrew: And we share a brain.

11:31Justin: Yes.

11:31Andrew: How is anyone going to follow that?

11:33Justin: My first star is allowing the first goal. It's working for us. Going for it, going with it. Yeah.

11:39Andrew: That's.

11:39Justin: We have not been. We have. We have allowed the first goal in almost every game. The only one that we have scored first in, I think is Owen Sound, where we lost.

11:48Andrew: Okay. So don't score first.

11:50Justin: We're just not scoring first.

11:51Andrew: We're the comeback kids.

11:52Justin: That's the first star of this game is we are allowing the first goal and then we win.

11:57Andrew: And they actually allowed the first two goals.

12:00Justin: Yeah.

12:00Andrew: They were down two. Nothing.

12:01Justin: They did. Yeah.

12:02Andrew: And we were talking about that against Erie. Don't get in that hole. Don't get in that hole.

12:05Justin: Actually, I like the hole. We like digging out of the hole. It's a comfy hole.

12:09Andrew: We get in the hole, we say, hey, boys, we're in a hole.

12:12Justin: We're natural burrowers.

12:13Andrew: Exactly right. Marsupials. The juice has them going.

12:17Justin: Yeah.

12:18Andrew: It doesn't matter if they're down early. Yeah, the juice has them going. My first star. The kid. Next year's number one starter, barring something catastrophic. Jason Sh. Stopped 24 out of 26, had huge saves in the overtime and stopped two out of three in the shootout. Won them the game. And, yeah, I just. I just love watching someone go from getting shelled in that first Ohl appearance to now I'm like, oh, it's a shovel game. That's great. We have a really good chance of winning because he's elite for.

12:55Justin: For a youngster, I literally have no worries about our goaltending. It's like, it doesn't matter who's in net. I'm happy.

13:01Andrew: It's. It's. It's absolutely such a pleasure to watch to a tandem of goalies that I have full confidence in 100%.

13:10Justin: I'm. I am with you all the way on this. I. I love watching Shoble play. What's your. What's your second star?

13:16Andrew: Talking about our guys and the way that you love lamb and. Actually, we both love lamb. I love lamp.

13:22Justin: I love lamb.

13:23Andrew: This is Luke Ellinas Yeah. Another guy that we just love. He had a chance early on. He nearly scored in the second, and then with 10 minutes left in the third period, make or break kind of situation, he popped one in. That's what you need. That's what you need from a guy like that. He's also playing a lot of center. He was 11 for 21 in the face off dot. So it's almost half. You know, it's like it's just a little bit over. Right. So it's just a little bit over half, which is what you need at least. Right. And I don't. I don't know if he's a natural center.

13:55Justin: Yeah. I don't know.

13:56Andrew: I'm not sure. It seems like they're rotating through guys, but he's been playing a lot of center and he's been good.

14:02Justin: He's been versatile. So that's. Yeah.

14:04Andrew: And. And. And that's what you want. You want to win at least half your draws, and that's. If you look at centers at the highest level, maybe the most elite win a little bit more than that. But honestly, like, you're a good center. If you're winning half your draw.

14:15Justin: And. And my second star is. Who passed. Elena's that tying goal. Mr. Grizzolia. Gris.

14:22Andrew: Oh, yeah, yeah. Chris Gris.

14:24Justin: Chris Grizz.

14:25Andrew: Yeah.

14:26Justin: Chris Griz. Griz Golia.

14:28Andrew: Chris Golia.

14:30Justin: I like Grizz better.

14:31Andrew: The Grizzolia Bear. He.

14:33Justin: He deserved a star from this weekend's games. He was great in all three games. He did, and that's why I'm putting him here, like, maybe.

14:40Andrew: And he also had an insurance goal in one of these.

14:42Justin: Yeah. In the. In the next game as well. Yeah, he just had a fantastic weekend.

14:46Andrew: He.

14:46Justin: He seems to be fitting in with really well, and he's got a good eye for the game.

14:51Andrew: Absolutely.

14:51Justin: He just. He just can see what's coming. He's not selfish in any way. He makes the best play for the moment.

14:57Andrew: It doesn't throw the body, and you can throw it.

15:01Justin: What's your third?

15:02Andrew: My third star.

15:03Justin: Yeah.

15:03Andrew: Which is, again, it's something that I like, but I question because of how many times they had to do it. The penalty kill.

15:10Justin: Aha.

15:11Andrew: Guess what? Guelph didn't take any penalties in this game.

15:14Justin: Well, that's my third star, but this

15:16Andrew: is what I'm saying is, is if they were calling it that way.

15:19Justin: Yeah.

15:20Andrew: They killed all four of them.

15:21Justin: They did.

15:22Andrew: And so that's good. Now you'd like to draw some penalties. You'd think so. That's kind of where I'm questioning it as well.

15:30Justin: Yep.

15:31Andrew: But they did what they had to

15:32Justin: do going forward to the next game. Guelph took eight penalties. So I. I see a really strong correlation here of they took zero and they took eight.

15:41Andrew: Like, it's almost like they had some makeup calls the next day.

15:46Justin: Yeah, it felt very.

15:48Andrew: What is this? NHL playoff hockey?

15:50Justin: That's kind of what it felt like. Yeah. It was a little bit of a. Strange that. That second game, it was a bit of a snoozer that. The first Guelph game. Yeah, it was a bit of a snoozer. Like, I don't want to call out any. Any officiating or whatever, but it was. It felt like a no game.

16:05Andrew: I mean, I will give them a little bit more benefit of the doubt than. Than NHL refs because I would think that it's. It's probably almost harder to. To officiate to our level because it's fast and it's crazy and it's really physical and. And also, like, you are probably not making nearly as much as an NHL ref, so you don't want to put anyone on blast, but I do think that was a bit weird.

16:30Justin: It was a bit weird.

16:32Andrew: A bit weird.

16:33Justin: Okay, so game three was again against Guelph. We won four, two. What's your first star?

16:38Andrew: I said that I was going to mention him. Jakub Chromiak. Yeah, yeah. He had two beautiful assists.

16:45Justin: Yeah, he did.

16:46Andrew: He was all over the place at one point. He was. He almost had like a goal down low. Like, it was. He was just like. This was his best offensive game. And he was still a presence, obviously, on the blue line. It's really nice to see that they have an opportunity to roll out and an osce. On the power play. They have the opportunity to roll out Chromiak on the power play as that, like, PP quarterback back there. You know what I mean? But Chromiak, like. Yeah, like all the. All the. All the scouting on him was that he was a defensive defenseman, but I think he has. Well, he had this, like, beautiful cross the ice. There were like two or three Storm players reading what he was doing, and he still passed it to Mislejavic. The puck ended up in the back of the net. So if you can get a defensive defenseman who's starting to put up points like this, you're going to win, you know, four in a row.

17:39Justin: Yes, you are.

17:40Andrew: Yeah.

17:40Justin: Yeah. I. I've been loving watching Chromiak play. It's. It's been a delight.

17:44Andrew: What was your first star?

17:45Justin: My first star was the Juice and his Angry Pulp is what. I'm going with the name of the assistant coaches.

17:51Andrew: Oh, okay. The Angry Pulp. I don't think that's going to stick the Sam O'Reilly Leon Lamb might not stick, but you tried.

17:59Justin: It's a work in progress.

18:00Andrew: You weren't great with names. Now we find out that you're not great with nicknames.

18:04Justin: Okay, okay, yeah, fine.

18:07Andrew: You don't wanna know my nickname for the Juice this week.

18:09Justin: Yeah. Five. Alive. Five.

18:11Andrew: Cause we're going for five in a row.

18:13Justin: Yes, we are.

18:14Andrew: And we are so alive.

18:17Justin: I gotta be honest, I was a little scared that first pod back.

18:20Andrew: That second pod. Second episode. I was a little scared.

18:23Justin: Yeah. I was not. Not super comforted in the direction we. Not anymore, but. No. Not anymore, but yeah, no, this is the. The Juice and the. The assistant coaches. This is like the. The team is a delight. Obviously. The. All the chatter around the league preseason was that we are a bubble team at best. I just don't see it anymore. They've destroyed that preconceived notion. Yeah. And this team is excelling and they're beating good teams. They are.

18:48Andrew: It'd be different if, like, you know, these, you know, sweetheart cupcakes were being marched out here and it was bottom feeders and they're just absolutely crushing the Aud you're like, yeah, well, you're supposed to. No, they're playing like the class of the league in prospect.

19:02Justin: Yes.

19:03Andrew: They're the class of the league in standings and they are winning and putting it together and it's like, you know, this is a lot. This is like they're playing back to. Back to back and. And they're winning.

19:14Justin: Yes.

19:15Andrew: Right. And they don't look tired.

19:16Justin: No.

19:17Andrew: Now, I will say, last season they were way overperforming. Yeah. And then there was a lull and then they still ended up, you know, in the top half of the league. Could that happen again? Sure, of course. But that would just mean that they're still so far ahead of schedule.

19:33Justin: Yeah.

19:33Andrew: That just means that I think when we peak, we are going to be the dominant team in the ohl.

19:38Justin: I agree. Okay. What's your second star?

19:40Andrew: Mistle Jamick. Speaking of elite. Yeah. He has 15 points. He is the team leader in goals and assists. He's just a monster. I mean, he just like, is literally running the off. Like the offense runs through misleadvick when he's on the ice. Yeah, he. He is. He has all the tools. I don't. I didn't see this anywhere as being like, projected that he was just going to be the force on the team.

20:07Justin: No.

20:08Andrew: So I'm really excited about his progression.

20:12Justin: I agree.

20:12Andrew: What is your second star?

20:13Justin: My second star is the power play. I know you sort of mentioned this about the power play earlier, but it's like we scored three goals in three games on the power play. We didn't get any power plays in the second game. So those came in two games. Really?

20:25Andrew: Yeah.

20:26Justin: We didn't get scored against at all on the power play.

20:28Andrew: Exactly.

20:29Justin: And I didn't even really see any crazy defensive lapses on the power play either. It felt like the. The juice and the.

20:35Andrew: My anxiety about the power play is gone.

20:37Justin: Yeah.

20:38Andrew: There was a clip from last week where we were talking about how the power play might be the downfall. Within a week, it's turned around.

20:44Justin: That was my. That was my second star. What's your third?

20:46Andrew: My third star. I'm going to go a little bit off the board here. Not necessarily because I'm questioning it, but because I just think that this kid Needs some love. Cameron Mercer.

20:55Justin: Yeah.

20:56Andrew: Cameron Mercer is playing a role that is not glamorous on this team and he's doing it really well. He is playing that 3C, if you want to put it you know, that way. He's playing that like shut down center. We're not expecting him to score points. No. However, he had some chances in this game. He hit the post. I really wanted it to go in for him. But the big thing was he was 9 for 13 in the dot. I mean, you're going to. If you have a guy playing checking line minutes. Yeah. And he wins, you know, nearly all of his face offs. That's going to help you win 4 to 2. That's going to.

21:34Justin: Typically, you're throwing out your third line when you need some minutes killed. You need everyone to get a rest. You just want the puck to not really be in your zone very much. And not only is Mercer doing that and that third line doing that, they are also getting offensive zone time.

21:49Andrew: Absolutely.

21:50Justin: Which is amazing.

21:51Andrew: It's huge. Yeah, it's huge. What was your third star?

21:54Justin: My. My third star got bone to pick with the CHL.

21:59Andrew: Wow.

22:00Justin: We are not in the top 10 power rankings. And Brampton is still in third. You know where Brampton is in the OHL. They're like 11. They're the bottom of their own division.

22:09Andrew: I think they're going to move again.

22:10Justin: Okay.

22:11Andrew: Because there's nobody at these Brampton games, which is sad because they have a loaded team. Like, they have a lot of talent. They're not winning. But do I would. I think that there'd be people there even if they're not. I. I think the GTA doesn't care about junior hockey. And it's sad.

22:25Justin: It is sad going beyond the. The sadness of that because I do agree that is sad when player people don't go see these kids play.

22:32Andrew: Like.

22:32Justin: Yeah.

22:32Andrew: Well, it's also just like it's affordable hockey. Like.

22:35Justin: Yeah, we don't have that outside of the OHL here. Brampton, like, they. They have not been putting wins together.

22:41Andrew: No, no. They're. They're underachieving.

22:44Justin: They are.

22:44Andrew: So they're literally ranking them. I think. You know what? I think it's lazy.

22:48Justin: It's.

22:48Andrew: Well, they're ranking them on name value alone.

22:51Justin: They are.

22:51Andrew: Yeah.

22:51Justin: 100%. That is what their. Their power rankings are on. Okay. I kind of understand why Niagara is in there. Obviously. I understand why Windsor's in there. Come on. Brampton can be not in there. Also, Kitchner is the second.

23:02Andrew: You want to Say is in there. Sure, that's fine. Windsor's in there. They spanked us. Whatever. We were sick.

23:08Justin: But. But done that to other teams.

23:11Andrew: But they've gone and done that to other teams.

23:13Justin: Yeah.

23:13Andrew: Niagara's rolling. But listen.

23:15Justin: Yeah. Kitchener is also rolling.

23:17Andrew: Kitchener is rolling. Give some respect. You know What?

23:19Justin: The top 10 if you're gonna put. You have three leagues. If you're gonna put three OHL teams, I would 100 buy Windsor, Niagara and the Rangers.

23:28Andrew: You know what though? I'm gonna. I'm gonna push back on this one. You know why? Let them sleep on us.

23:33Justin: Yeah. I don't want.

23:34Andrew: I don't. Nobody will know. I don't. You know what?

23:36Justin: Yeah.

23:36Andrew: No, forget about it.

23:37Justin: What?

23:38Andrew: We're seven two and two sleeping giants. Exactly. Right. That was terrifying. But seven seven two and two sleep on us.

23:47Justin: Yeah.

23:47Andrew: Oh, no. Yeah, because we're. We're not beating good teams. We're not beating like elite goalies. Yeah. Okay.

23:52Justin: Sure.

23:52Andrew: No shirt over. Yeah, it's. Oh, it's the Rangers. Yeah, they're. They do this. They're overachieving. Whatever.

23:56Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

23:57Andrew: They're fun group. They're. They're going to be. Yeah. You know, they're going to be good in a couple of years. They're good now.

24:01Justin: They're good right now. Preview some games. Preview. Sorry. Had to get that out. I was so annoyed when that came out yesterday. Okay. We got three games. So we got Friday, Saturday and Tuesday. I. I like it when we have

24:20Andrew: like a mid week is really nice.

24:23Justin: So we got Yuri twice. The f. The Friday Saturday game against Yuri, Erie Otters. And then the Tuesday game is against the Sarnia Sting.

24:33Andrew: Interesting. That's exciting. A new opponent.

24:35Justin: Yes.

24:36Andrew: You know, in the sense of. We've seen some of these division rivals.

24:38Justin: Yeah, obviously our. The Erie Otters we played opening opening night of the season. Look strong. They look strong. I mean since we met them last, they've scored a lot. Sam Alfano and Pano Femis.

24:51Andrew: Yeah.

24:52Justin: Are names that I'm pretending to know how to say. Are. Are. You know, they're points leaders on the team. 13 points apiece. They. They seem to have like a really strong first line or top line including Malcolm Spence, who's another pretty strong NHL prospect for the next couple of years. That top line seems to be a thing. I don't see a lot of depth on that team.

25:12Andrew: Okay.

25:12Justin: So.

25:13Andrew: So it's. It's a stack top line versus a depth. A deep Rangers team.

25:18Justin: Correct. So we'll.

25:19Andrew: We'll see you know, if we can grind the Aud and wear them down.

25:22Justin: And it'll be interesting to see how now, with a few games under our belts, all of our stars back from NHL camps, because obviously we were missing guys when we played them on opening night.

25:33Andrew: That's true. So Swick.

25:35Justin: Swick.

25:35Andrew: Swick is going for sure. Yeah.

25:37Justin: So now that. Now that we have guys back, it'll be nice to see sort of how that matchup actually plays out, because I don't. I don't feel like that first game of the season was a huge indicator of.

25:48Andrew: I agree. What.

25:49Justin: What the matchup would be. I agree. So we play them twice, and then we got the Sarnius Sting. They're off to a strong start, sitting fourth in the league. You know, we have some similar stat lines. Weirdly, 11 games, they have 36 goals and 40 against exact same teams.

26:05Andrew: Okay. But they didn't get a 12. 2.

26:08Justin: So, yeah, they've lost. But they did lose a lot of goals to Windsor as well.

26:13Andrew: Oh.

26:13Justin: So. All right.

26:14Andrew: So quite literally, this might be the mirror image here.

26:17Justin: Yeah, this.

26:17Andrew: That'll be fun game.

26:18Justin: I think this is, like, probably out of the games we've played so far, this is the closest matchup we're gonna have.

26:24Andrew: Okay.

26:24Justin: On. On paper.

26:25Andrew: All right. Bring it. Sarnia.

26:26Justin: Yeah. I'm excited. Oh, one. One other thing I was gonna mention about Sarnia. I don't know if this is a concern or if this is, like, a good thing. They have no shorthanded goals for, so I don't know if they're due.

26:37Andrew: They're either due or they're just.

26:40Justin: Or they just don't. Aren't aggressive on the penalty kill.

26:44Andrew: Remember this?

26:45Justin: Remember this? I saw that, and I. My anxiety and my glee spiked at the same time. I was like, I don't. I don't know what to do with this.

26:57Andrew: That's good.

26:58Justin: Yeah.

26:59Andrew: And scary.

26:59Justin: And so scary. So now for our regularly scheduled section of the greatest Ranger of all time, it's the Groot. The Groat. The Groot. The Groat. The Groat. Who. I think I go first this time.

27:15Andrew: You go first this time.

27:16Justin: Okay. I. I'm going. I'm going. Current player that I have always thought has been a very underrated player in the NHL.

27:24Andrew: Underrated in the NHL.

27:26Justin: He's had a. He's had a tough go in his career in the NHL.

27:30Andrew: Okay.

27:30Justin: Specifically recently. But he's. I mean, as soon as I say this, you're going to know. He's a goalie. Called it. He's a goalie as. Interestingly, one of my favorite stat lines is that he has played in 26 OHL playoff games. Also 26 NHL playoff games. He played two seasons in the OHL, 10 seasons in the NHL.

27:55Andrew: That doesn't seem good.

27:57Justin: That's not good.

27:58Andrew: Not necessarily a reflection of his talent,

28:00Justin: but when he was a Ranger, he was unbelievable. He was super talented. He played 59 regular season games over two seasons. He had a 2.2.6 goals against average and a.928 save percentage.

28:15Andrew: Wow.

28:15Justin: Now, we've watched a lot of OHL games. Like everyone gets scored on all the time. There's a lot of goals.

28:20Andrew: There's a lot of goals. There's not necessarily a high number of shots. Yeah. So you're not getting those. You're not getting those stat lines where it's like 37 shots against and like one or two goals. You're seeing like three or four. How could you possibly stop that? Because everything broke down.

28:37Justin: Correct. And like, I'm going to guess if we're talking about stat lines today, like, I feel like we're like 900 or under for safer, like league wise.

28:46Andrew: Oh, for sure.

28:47Justin: So. Yeah.

28:47Andrew: Yeah.

28:48Justin: So nine, nine. 28.

28:49Andrew: Yes.

28:50Justin: Pretty stellar.

28:51Andrew: Yeah. And even 2.6. It sounds high. It's the OHL.

28:54Justin: Yeah. Playoff. So playoff games. I mentioned he played 26 playoff games. 2.47 goals against average. Nine. 41 save percentage.

29:04Andrew: That's good.

29:06Justin: But no ships because he got Londoned two years in a row. They got London.941 save percentage. And they got destroyed by London.

29:14Andrew: What year was that?

29:16Justin: 2012 and 2013. They got. They lost to London both years.

29:20Andrew: Yeah. I'm gonna have to look up that London roster. I bet you it's so obscenely stacked.

29:25Justin: Absolutely. They. They just. I was just looking at the. The playoff breakdown from that those two seasons and they just rolled everyone.

29:33Andrew: Like they have a tendency to do that.

29:35Justin: So screw you, London.

29:37Andrew: Yeah.

29:37Justin: Because you sold some great years of

29:40Andrew: a terrific goaltender because you stole your name from a city that's better than the one you're in.

29:46Justin: So NHL stats. 477 games played, 26 playoff games, three full seasons over 920, say percentage in the last five years, which is pretty impressive. He's a few years. I mean, he's had a rough team in front of him.

30:01Andrew: He's been injured.

30:03Justin: Yeah.

30:03Andrew: Yeah.

30:03Justin: It's been a. It's been a tough road for him. But he was a great Ranger. And my submission for the groat this week is Mr. John Gibson.

30:11Andrew: Give it up. John Gibson.

30:13Justin: Yeah.

30:13Andrew: All time goalie. Rangers goalie. Yeah, for sure. And our first goalie groat.

30:19Justin: Yes, I. I'm liking to throw in some curveballs here.

30:23Andrew: I think it's good.

30:24Justin: Yes. Mr. Andrew, who's your groat today?

30:30Andrew: We're going way, way back. He played for a team just like before with the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters. He played for a team that played in the Aud before the Rangers did the Kitchener Green shirts or the Kitchener Dutchman. But I believe officially it was the green shirts. He played for the Rangers from 1963 to 1968. He captained the team for his final two years in which the Rangers won the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season's champs. Unfortunately, they lost in the semifinals in that first year where he was. And then in the second year, the final year that he was there, they lost in the finals of the Andrew Hockey Association. This is OHA in seven games. So it was a tight one. But they lost in 67, 68. He had his best year ever with the Rangers. He scored 37 goals and had 93 points in 52 games. So he went off. He had 17 goals and 37 points in 19 playoff games that year that they lost in the finals in game seven. His family is Ukrainian, but he was born in West Germany before moving to Kitchener when he was 2. All right. You still have no idea. Nobody has any idea. So because he was with the Rangers back the Aud it ties back into my history lesson, he was a New York Ranger. During his first two seasons with the New York Rangers, the club and media around the country mispronounced his name. He centered the Bulldog line with Bill Fairbairn and Dave Ballin. He played his Andrew 14 year career with the Rangers. And he was known as an elite shutdown center specializing in face offs and shadowing the other team's best forwards. This was most on display in 1972 when he played in the Stanley cup final against the Boston Bruins. They lost in six games, but he held Phil Esposito without a goal in the series. Phil Esposito, all he did was score goals. He was also asked to play for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. But just listen to this. He declined due to having an obligation for running a summer hockey school here.

32:46Justin: Oh, man.

32:47Andrew: So the man.

32:48Justin: Yeah, I was read that.

32:50Andrew: And I was just like, that's unbelievable because he could have said. He could have said Michael Jordan meme f them kids. He didn't. And he was replaced By Bobby Clark of the Philadelphia Flyers. So he was chosen before Bobby Clark. Yeah. In the 1979 Stanley cup playoffs, he was a key contributor as the rangers upset the first place New York Islanders. The 79 Islanders, they upset the Aud got to the Stanley cup finals. Unfortunately, they ran into the big red, white and blunt blue machine, the Montreal Canadiens, and they lost in five games. So he never had a Cup. But I mean he ran into like Phil Esposito's Bruins, the 70 dynasty Canadiens. And then I will say his. His. His career ended tragically.

33:35Justin: Oh, no.

33:36Andrew: Yeah. He was the captain in his final year and it didn't make it through the full year because on Febr. 1981 he suffered an eye injury when hit in the face with a puck. Oh, man. Never played again.

33:48Justin: Oh.

33:49Andrew: Over his career he played in 945 NHL games scoring 227 goals and 678 points. And despite being a big, strong defensive center, he only accumulated 556 penalty minutes in 14 years. That's pretty good. He is technically the all time leading playoff scorer for the Kitchener Rangers.

34:15Justin: Oh, wow.

34:15Andrew: With 81 points in 51 playoff games.

34:19Justin: That's insane, right?

34:20Andrew: He is Walt Kachuk.

34:23Justin: I've never heard of this guy. I know legend, but huge legend.

34:28Andrew: Huge legend. I was amazed.

34:30Justin: That's amazing. Yeah, for sure. He.

34:32Andrew: I will go back and say his name was pronounced Tae Chuck the first year that he was in the NHL. And then somebody was like, that's not how you say his name.

34:41Justin: Because it was probably like someone like Justin up there announcing. It's true.

34:45Andrew: And it's spelled tka cz uk. So it's similar to Kachuk. Yeah, but I believe it's pronounced Kachuk.

34:52Justin: I believe. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that name before, but I don't think I've ever heard of this guy.

34:57Andrew: But yeah.

34:58Justin: Well, it was awesome.

34:59Andrew: It was quite the history.

35:00Justin: What a groat.

35:01Andrew: It was a groat. The Gro.

35:02Justin: The Gro.

35:03Andrew: The greatest Ranger of all time.

35:05Justin: We want you who are listening to get involved with this. We need you to get involved that we mentioned earlier. We're doing a bracket. That's. That's the goal.

35:16Andrew: We're. The goal is to fill a bracket.

35:18Justin: At some point we're going to stop naming groats, but not before we mention your groats.

35:23Andrew: So give us the gro.

35:25Justin: Give us the gro. Send your groats in. We got a couple already, so that's helpful. So send your groats in. Then we're going to Seed the Aud that will be a. That will be later.

35:35Andrew: That will be a thing all unto itself.

35:37Justin: And the Aud then we'll probably use the Instagrams and the Tiktoks and we

35:42Andrew: will get you to vote.

35:43Justin: We're going to get you to vote for.

35:44Andrew: So we're vote for the groat.

35:46Justin: We're.

35:46Andrew: It writes itself.

35:47Justin: The groat vote is coming. The groat vote. Okay, thank yous. This week we have the one and only. As always, Ken Born For all of our branding purposes, just continued.

35:58Andrew: Continued branding.

35:59Justin: Every time we ask for something, it's

36:00Andrew: every time I check the drive, there's something new.

36:03Justin: So thanks. Dad, hold up.

36:09Andrew: I didn't realize you were a nepa baby.

36:11Justin: Wait, is the only reason I'm on this podcast because my dad's maybe a nepa dad?

36:15Andrew: I don't know how it works.

36:16Justin: I don't know how this works.

36:17Andrew: All right.

36:18Justin: Okay, then we, of course, we have our prodigal producer, Liam the phenom. As always, thank you to the Kitchener Public Library for.

36:25Andrew: We're back. We're home.

36:26Justin: Yeah, this feels nice.

36:27Andrew: It does feel good. Yeah.

36:28Justin: Check us on the socials.

36:29Andrew: You can find us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter @theaudpodcast. If you have an interesting story about the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the Kitchener Rangers, or Kitchener Cambridge Waterloo, you can email us@theaudpodcastmail.com we'd love to hear from you

36:46Justin: and we'd love to hear your groats through any of these channels.

36:49Andrew: Any of these channels.

36:50Justin: That's. That's us for the week. So please subscribe. Do the things that the Soo to do at the end of podcasts.

36:56Andrew: Yeah, do all those things. Like subscribe, engage, follow.

37:00Justin: We like it all. We appreciate it all.

37:02Andrew: We need it all.

37:03Justin: We need it all.

37:04Andrew: We want it all.

37:05Justin: And as always, you can find us

37:07Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

37:09Justin: See you at the Aud