Episode 9: The Ando-lorian

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, Justin.

0:31Justin: It's the same thing every week. We won every game that we played.

0:36Andrew: October 11th. Yeah. Was the last time they lost a game.

0:40Justin: It's unbelievable. And we have. We only have two games this whole season where we didn't get points.

0:48Andrew: I know. Right at the beginning we were at one of them.

0:53Justin: We. We thought the curse had been brought.

0:55Andrew: Yeah.

0:56Justin: But it wasn't.

0:56Andrew: It wasn't.

0:57Justin: It wasn't us.

0:58Andrew: It wasn't us.

0:59Justin: Or maybe it is us.

1:00Andrew: Maybe it's us. And we're like we said, we blessed them.

1:03Justin: We blessed. Yeah.

1:04Andrew: I don't know.

1:04Justin: It's.

1:05Andrew: It's not us.

1:06Justin: It's the Aud all them. I don't even know how we lose now. And I'm like, now I'm nervous about.

1:10Andrew: Now I'm scared about losing because it's going to feel bad. Yeah. Even though they've won nine in a row, I feel like the next loss is going to hurt a lot.

1:20Justin: Still only bumped up to third in the OHL power rankings.

1:26Andrew: So they went from. Let me get this straight.

1:29Justin: 11th. Yep.

1:30Andrew: And then they were ranked eighth. Eighth. And then they were ranked third.

1:34Justin: Third.

1:35Andrew: By that math. You have to win nine in a row to go from 11 to third. You would have to keep winning.

1:42Justin: Yeah. I imagine that we have to win nine more to get to first.

1:46Andrew: Yeah, I know. And is London still ranked above us?

1:52Justin: Yes, I believe it's. I believe it's.

1:54Andrew: They're on a seven game winning streak.

1:56Justin: Yeah, they're also on a winning streak, so I get that.

1:58Andrew: Yeah, that's true. But like, Niagara was ahead of us

2:03Justin: for so long and they just.

2:05Andrew: Weird.

2:05Justin: They were because.

2:06Andrew: Head to head.

2:07Justin: And also if. If it was ranked on preseason rankings, Niagara was ranked like at the same level as Kitchener. They. They were ranked as poorly as Kitchener was coming into the season.

2:19Andrew: That's true. Right? We talked about that because when we first previewed that first game with Niagara, we were like, they weren't supposed to be good, but turns out they are good.

2:27Justin: They are good.

2:28Andrew: And turns out we're good, too.

2:29Justin: We are also good. We're better. Yeah, absolutely.

2:32Andrew: At least the data says we are.

2:34Justin: Also from when we played them, also

2:36Andrew: from head to head.

2:40Justin: Okay. So we. We got. We got. It was a nice light weekend to.

2:44Andrew: Oh, it was a good weekend. It was also a good little week in the NHL too. Oh, yeah.

2:52Justin: I was trying to get past that.

2:53Andrew: Yeah, you're trying to skip over that. It's funny, it's different when. When the Calgary Flames lose in the Battle of Alberta. That's not brought up.

3:03Justin: It was pretty close to being a series winning game for the Flames, but.

3:08Andrew: Oh, it was pretty close. It was horseshoes. Was it?

3:13Justin: Yeah. Yeah, it was a toss up.

3:15Andrew: There was some holding on there at the end, but I feel pretty good about them playing an incomplete game and still getting the win.

3:24Justin: Yeah, it's concerning that they. They won that well without McJesus there.

3:30Andrew: Yeah, he's back tonight. We're recording on Wednesday, and they're about to play the Vegas Knights. And he's back already?

3:35Justin: Yeah. Four games out, which I'm kind of like two to three weeks.

3:38Andrew: Is that good or bad? This dude's just a freak. You. I don't know if you watched that documentary of when he had his knee reconstruction over the summer and how, like, he. I think it was Tory. Like, three ligaments, not just one, and they all just, like, healed over a summer.

3:52Justin: Is he Wolverine. Yeah, I know. That's.

3:55Andrew: I mean, it would make sense, right, if he was a mutant. You know, if he was an X man.

3:59Justin: Right?

4:00Andrew: Like, it's just like, yep, there he is. It's yep. Yep.

4:05Justin: Okay, so back to Kitchener. We won the two games.

4:08Andrew: We did.

4:08Justin: Spoiler alert.

4:09Andrew: Ah, so we're still stuck doing the three stars.

4:12Justin: Two more sessions of the three stars.

4:14Andrew: How many stars do we have now?

4:16Justin: Six overall, right?

4:19Andrew: Count them all up.

4:20Justin: Yeah.

4:20Andrew: So many.

4:21Justin: We could do this math real quick. 9 times 3 is 27.

4:26Andrew: That's just in the last. That's just the last nine games. I know. They won three before that, too.

4:31Justin: Well, sure.

4:32Andrew: 12. I can't do double digits. Times I'm out.

4:35Justin: That's where I'm going. Oh, that's 36. He lied.

4:39Andrew: He lied again.

4:41Justin: He's a math wizard.

4:43Andrew: Don't trust him.

4:44Justin: He is the AudPod data computer. It's him. Beep boop, boop, boop.

4:48Andrew: I knew those sounds sounded familiar.

4:50Justin: They were too real. Okay, we got three stars. So the first game was Sudbury Wolves. We were there.

4:57Andrew: Wolves. The Wolves.

4:58Justin: The Wolves.

5:00Andrew: We called it again.

5:01Justin: Here we go again. Talking about getting things wrong. We were like, it's a trap game.

5:06Andrew: It could not be less of a trap game. The Sudbury Wolves have not beat the Kitchener Rangers since October 1995 at the Aud It could not be less of a trap game.

5:18Justin: We should have bet money on it. We. Exactly.

5:21Andrew: It's like. It's I think they're 35. 01 and 1 since they haven't lost in regulation since 1995. It's like.

5:31Justin: It's absurd. Insane. Stat. Yeah. And here we are.

5:35Andrew: We're like, this feels like a trap game. It's a trap game. And it's like. No, it's quite literally the safest game that any two hockey teams in Canada play.

5:46Justin: It was not a trap.

5:47Andrew: No.

5:48Justin: Yeah, it's not a trap. Not a trap. Okay, so who's your first star of this game? Oh, we won eight. Four. Did we say that? I don't think so.

5:54Andrew: Eight to four. It was. We were there.

5:55Justin: We were there.

5:56Andrew: It was a blast.

5:57Justin: It was super fun.

5:58Andrew: It kind of. I was. I was scared that we were gonna lose. Not because the boys aren't an awesome team this year and they're not rolling, but just because I was afraid that maybe we are the curse.

6:07Justin: Yeah. We just.

6:08Andrew: We just have to be there.

6:09Justin: Yeah.

6:10Andrew: But no, like, right away, things got started on the right foot. The first star is obvious. The first star was the first star for me, that was also the first star of the game, which is also my first star. Yeah, It's Adrian MisleJavik.

6:23Justin: Yeah. Yeah.

6:24Andrew: Three goals, three assists, six points. A career high game of his life.

6:29Justin: He was three fights away from a

6:31Andrew: hat trick of Gordie.

6:32Justin: How he only had to scrap three times. He was that close.

6:38Andrew: I'm pretty sure there was a hockey game called NHL Hits back in the day that if you won three fights, you got a goal. Oh, yeah. So.

6:45Justin: And.

6:46Andrew: And former Kitchener Rangers Scott Stevens was on the COVID All ties together.

6:51Justin: It all ties together. Oh, good. Yeah.

6:53Andrew: But, yeah, Missile Javic was a man possessed. I cannot believe that. That he has taken this incredible step in his development, and he's no longer draft eligible. So, like, he is going to have the pick of the litter of where he gets to go play minor hockey. Like, minor league hockey right away.

7:12Justin: Like, right.

7:12Andrew: Like, he's going to be invited to. To training camps.

7:14Justin: He'll have to.

7:15Andrew: I don't know if he would necessarily step right into an NHL role.

7:18Justin: Yeah, but. But definitely an ahl. Like, he would be a top liner on an AHL team, I imagine.

7:24Andrew: Yeah. Well, he looks like two years ago we watched Francisco Pinelli play. He looks. I'm going to say it better. He looks like more offensively polished than Pinelli. I mean, Pinelli was a different type of player, but Missile Jevic looks like, dare I say it, like, in that same vein of the way, like, kind of. I mean, not as elite as maybe Ray Kopf's shot, but that is the. That is the type of player he looks like this year. Like that. That ilk.

7:56Justin: Yes.

7:57Andrew: Of player. Yeah. It's crazy.

7:58Justin: And he kind of came out of nowhere because he. The step was like. I mean, we had hoped he would take the step, but we didn't know.

8:06Andrew: I guess he had a hot start last year and the Aud kind of. It kind of tapered off and he was like less than a point a game player, which is absurd to think of now where you're looking. He has 25 points so far this year. He leads the Rangers. Yeah, it's. Every time he's out there, you're like, oh, it's no mistaking. You could take the number off his jersey. You know who it is?

8:27Justin: Yeah. All right. Who's your second star?

8:28Andrew: It is the captain. Yeah. Matthew Andonovski Yeah. He got the first goal of the game. It was the first goal of his season. He had three high danger chances.

8:40Justin: He. He's the leader.

8:42Andrew: He's the. We're going to talk about this in the next game as well, but he is very obviously the leader of this team. When he plays well, which is. I mean, we're on this stretch, he's been playing well consistently, but when he has a big game, everyone kind of has a big game. You can kind of see that. And it doesn't necessarily translate to the score sheet. It's more of a vibe, dude, with Ando, you know, so, yeah, he's a

9:11Justin: born leader and you can see it in the way that the guys get around him too. Like, even when stuff's going on on the ice next game we'll talk about that. But, you know, they were there with him. They. They came in for support. He's. He's always there for the boys and the boys are always there for him.

9:27Andrew: Oh, yeah, he's the leader. You can tell.

9:29Justin: Yeah.

9:29Andrew: I mean, Mislejavic might be leading the team and Swick might be, you know, like our big man on campus. And, and there's all these guys who have different roles on the Rangers, which is really cool to see, but Anonofsky is the leader.

9:43Justin: My. My second star. It ties in a little bit to Anonofsky because it's. It's the grinders of this team. So it's like not. It's all about these guys who are like the wolves were, were hounding some specific players like, like Swift and, and Reed were getting.

10:03Andrew: You can put the crickets in, right? The Crickets. You have the power to do that.

10:07Justin: I have the power to do that. Will I do it? I don't know. I doubt AudPod. But you could see, like, Swick, Reed, even Mis were being. They were just being surrounded. The Wolves, they obviously had a plan to take down some of these high offensive guys and. And then there. All the complimentary players on those lines got into the dirty corners. They were able to help out those guys who were getting surrounded and get the puck away. The. The systems are in place. But then also they have the flexibility to adapt, which I think is really powerful on this team.

10:38Andrew: Yeah. Well, like we talked about in the last episode, the depth scoring is unreal. Like, the. The Juice has the. The depth scoring going, you know, in every game. It doesn't matter if there's injuries, which we've been absolutely crushed by, but I use that completely loosely because we're not seeing results go down on the ice. Right. So we're not crushed. But it's crazy to see, like, I was also at the second game of the weekend and looking at the scratched layers. It was. They had to do two slides on the. On the. On the jumbotron and then the next one for the opposition. They had one guy out.

11:19Justin: Yeah. So, yeah, like, they were playing at full capacity.

11:22Andrew: They were playing at full capacity, and

11:24Justin: we were, like, all over the place.

11:25Andrew: We're like 11, seven every game. Who's going to play together? We don't know. But it doesn't matter because, you know, the Juice keeps doing Juice things.

11:38Justin: Yes, he does.

11:38Andrew: Yeah.

11:40Justin: Okay. My. My third star is questioning a little bit the. The defensive zone work.

11:44Andrew: Okay. Yeah, the.

11:45Justin: In this. There was a little bit of laziness in this game. There was. We got caught puck watching.

11:50Andrew: Yeah, it was.

11:50Justin: We. We lost our. We lost the. We lost the man in the slot. That was the first goal that Sudbury scored with Guy standing all by himself in front of shovel. And then. Yeah, and then we had. We had problems clearing the zone. It was some. Some soft plays that. That led to extended defensive zone time.

12:08Andrew: Sudbury had four goals on 22 shots. The game was. And I mean, that's not. I'm not criticizing Shabble.

12:15Justin: No.

12:15Andrew: The game was always kind of out of reach for Sudbury. In a way, it felt like Kitchener was just in the driver's seat the whole way.

12:25Justin: Yeah.

12:26Andrew: There was a moment in the second period where I thought if Sudbury got the next goal, it would become a game.

12:34Justin: I think that's where my main concerns came.

12:36Andrew: Yeah. And I think, thankfully, the big gun said, I Will just outscore him.

12:40Justin: Yeah, right.

12:42Andrew: Which is not how you're going to win a OHL championship.

12:46Justin: Yeah.

12:47Andrew: But I guess, you know, there is sometimes on a Friday night where you can just throttle a team and you can give up for. Yeah, it's not ideal, but you're right. That's a good third star.

12:58Justin: What's yours?

13:00Andrew: Well, Justin, you're my third star.

13:02Justin: Oh, no. What did I do?

13:06Andrew: Well, you see, you took a shot on the ice between the second and third intermission.

13:14Justin: Yeah.

13:15Andrew: Yeah. Which I liked. I liked that we had that experience. We were selecting.

13:20Justin: Super fun.

13:21Andrew: Yeah. Shout out to Stephen at game ops. Thank you so much for that opportunity. However, to quote Jameis Winston, quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, quoting Eminem, you only get one opportunity. Do not miss your chance to blow. Or something like that.

13:38Justin: Well, you. You blew. That's where I'm going with that. Yeah. You know, I didn't miss that opportunity.

13:43Andrew: You did not miss your opportunity to blow. You. You. You know what? I'm going to say it was a quality dump in right from the blue line. Quality dump in.

13:55Justin: So it's safe to say that you and the people that had the audible gasp in the Aud When I missed so dramatically, you all knew that I have never shot a puck on the ice before.

14:07Andrew: Well, you know, like I said, it's. It was pretty good, considering when I watched you, you never looked up to see where you were shooting until you'd already taken the shot.

14:17Justin: So is that not how you do it?

14:20Andrew: I mean, that's how you can do it. You do it if you're. If you're Tanner Lam you can do it. But I'm guessing he's logged a few times doing that in practice before it got.

14:31Justin: So that's my problem. I wasn't practicing enough ahead of time to know where the net was.

14:36Andrew: It's true. Yeah.

14:37Justin: It's a really small hole.

14:38Andrew: Your awareness stat, very low. If there's a clearance, a dump in stat, it's pretty high because it's pretty good. There was definitely some heat on the shot. I loved the audible gas, though, from the Aud It was a. Yeah, it was. And not only that, people were busy doing things.

14:57Justin: It was intermission. They were not paying that much attention.

15:00Andrew: And yet there was still kind of like a. It wasn't quite like they were laughing at you. It was almost a shock that it was so far off.

15:11Justin: So far off. Cool.

15:14Andrew: Yeah. You're my third stars. First star in our hearts. Third star in that game.

15:19Justin: In definite reality. Yes.

15:23Andrew: Cool.

15:23Justin: Well, okay. Game Two Saginaw Spirit. We won four to two.

15:27Andrew: We sure did.

15:28Justin: What's your satisfying win? It was a satisfying win. What's your first star? I bet we're getting to the why it's satisfying in your third star. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

15:39Andrew: The first star was once again, I think he leads. I think he leads in. We had. If we translated stars to points and we gave three points for first star, two points for second star and one point for third star, I would guess that this man leads. And it's Jackson Parsons.

15:58Justin: Yeah, yeah. He stopped 39 out of 41. Yeah.

16:01Andrew: I'm going to be perfectly honest. Saginaw got goalied in the first period 100%. That could have been a very different game. In fact, when it started I thought, oh, this was the trap game. As I'm sitting there with my wife and I, I got our in laws to come up and babysit our son

16:19Justin: and, and I like we walked down

16:21Andrew: to the game and I was just like, this isn't the trap game, is it? And the first period happens and I was like, oh, no. I just want this to be a good game. My wife doesn't get out all that often. She's doing an awesome job. I just want her to have some

16:33Justin: fun at this game.

16:35Andrew: Thankfully, the boys came through and biggest

16:39Justin: thanks to Jackson Parsons 100%. I mean, I'm going to jump ahead a little bit here. So this was my third star.

16:45Andrew: Okay.

16:46Justin: And it's not, it's not because of Jack Jackson Parsons. It's because we had to rely on Jackson Parsons in this game. I mean, they got. They had 19 shots in the first period. I know the first nine were uncontested because we didn't get a single shot in the first five minutes.

17:03Andrew: Yeah, I was sitting behind Jackson Parsons for that game.

17:06Justin: You got a good view of that first period.

17:08Andrew: Yeah, it was a busy period. It was scary.

17:10Justin: And there were great shots. Like, yeah, these were not just like outside shots or whatever, like a lot of dump in type shot. These were high quality, like at least four high danger chances in the first period alone.

17:23Andrew: This is the defending Memorial Cup champion. This is like the top scorer in the league. This is arguably the best offensive defenseman in the league. On Saginaw and Zane Pere. You've got like potentially the next Kale Makar in him. You've got, you know, Michael Misa is probably a top three pick on like no matter what, right?

17:44Justin: Yeah, Misa, top three pick. Misa got no points in this game.

17:52Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

17:53Justin: Misa went home with Big L. Yeah.

17:57Andrew: That's. That's why Jackson Parsons is by far and away the first star.

18:02Justin: Yeah, my first star. A. I knew you were going to take Jackson Parsons, so I was trying to give some different here. Yeah. But, but mine was Romano. Yes. Because he was, you know, Romano is interesting because he, he is a play driver.

18:16Andrew: Yes.

18:16Justin: And he, he does have to kind of be everywhere and he's, he's playing with some very high offensive guys, so he kind of gets lost in the shuffle a little bit.

18:23Andrew: Well, I think on the square sheet sometimes he does.

18:25Justin: Yes. But he's very important to the team.

18:28Andrew: I would argue that he might be the hardest working player on the team, 100% just from like going in and digging and fighting and trying to find the puck and push the play.

18:37Justin: And that's what my first star is, is how hard Romano works.

18:40Andrew: And I'll just interject and say it's my second star.

18:42Justin: Oh, great.

18:43Andrew: Right. So we don't have to spend time on that. That's.

18:46Justin: Yeah. He.

18:47Andrew: I, I was watching a, A draft preview video and things are looking really

18:51Justin: good for Luca Romano. Yeah. I'm, I'm excited to see how high he ends up going because I think he's adding only, only value to himself.

18:59Andrew: Yeah. And I think that, like, scouts are not just looking at box scores. They're. They're actually coming to the rink and they're watching them play. And he's a big reason why they've won nine in a row.

19:10Justin: Yeah, absolutely. I called him in my notes, I called him the everywhere man.

19:16Andrew: That's a. Yes. That's a good, good name for, for Romano.

19:19Justin: Yeah.

19:19Andrew: What's your.

19:20Justin: Romano.

19:21Andrew: What's your second star?

19:22Justin: I screwed up.

19:24Andrew: You screwed up.

19:25Justin: Well, my, my second star was actually Jackson Parsons, so that's okay. I had talked about him in the third star because we had to depend on him. But I mean, Jackson Parsons, he got the OHL goalie of the week, which.

19:37Andrew: That's true.

19:37Justin: The respect is finally shown to the man who is keeping this team alive at certain times.

19:44Andrew: Yeah. And I mean, that was the case last year too, right? Like, I think more so last year than this year. Yeah. Jackson Parsons was keeping this team alive. I think last year the team was much more like of a rush scoring team. And Parsons would bail the Aud Yeah. I mean, I didn't watch it as much as I'm watching it this year, obviously. But the games that I did watch, especially the playoffs, which I watched all of them, that seemed to be the case. Right. They were Relying on their top elite end talent and their overagers and then they were kind of like in their own zone. It was a bit scary.

20:23Justin: It was a little scary. Yeah.

20:24Andrew: And I saw shades of this against Saginaw but they just like converted their chances against Agana and that was the difference was Jackson Parsons stood on his head at times. But this is, this is what, this is the difference between a good team and a great team is, is good teams win the games that they're supposed to. Great teams win the games they're supposed to and the games that they probably shouldn't.

20:49Justin: Yeah.

20:49Andrew: That is the difference. And they, they draw from maybe one individual performance or they draw from a certain strength. Whether it be like we talked about it in the last episode, the defense had all the scoring or, or the power play and the special teams. Right. Against Saginaw it was early, it was Jackson Parsons and then as the game went on it was just getting ahead and converting chances.

21:12Justin: Yeah. What's your third start?

21:13Andrew: I've debated all day about how I was going to approach this because when I was at that game we won. But I was pretty heated at the end of that game.

21:23Justin: You were.

21:25Andrew: I made some posts on our social media that received a lot of positive attention because they were spicy.

21:33Justin: Yeah.

21:34Andrew: I think I'm going to take a little bit of the high road here. A little bit.

21:37Justin: A little bit. That's a new thing for you.

21:38Andrew: Yeah. I mean I am going to say that it's rich coming from a team that sounds like university intramural volleyball team. The spirit that you'd come into the Aud as the Memorial Cup champions, defending Memorial Cup champions and get goalied and honestly it was a good clean game. It was, it was. There was no bs. There was no bs. And the Aud the end of the game in which you had 60 minutes to put up or shut up then you just decide to just go old time hockey at the end of it after it's over. Because what? Because we're running out the clock in the corner. It's a multi goal game. It wasn't a one goal game. And you're frustrated. You lost like you lost the whole game. At one point you were down four to one. You already lost seven to four once to this team. Now you're losing four to one. Lose with a little bit of class. If you're think if you're the Memorial Cup defending champions.

22:40Justin: I don't think they have that in them unfortunately.

22:42Andrew: I don't think so. Michiganders questionable. I will go ahead and say that maybe this is a paper champion. Because I looked into it. I did a little deep dive on my little break today.

22:56Justin: Interesting.

22:57Andrew: And it turns out Saginaw lost in the third round to London four games to two. Then they went home and they licked their wounds and they rested up and they had their milk and cookies and they got ready to host the big dance. And then guess what? London came to town and beat him in a round robin, too. So if you're counting, that's four games to two. That's now five games to two if we want to just do a cumulative score here. And then they got lucky because they got a cupcake in Moose Jaw. They beat them 7 to 1. And they played London, who'd played an Andrew series of hockey between that and won the OHL championship against a very good team and embarrassed Oshawa. And they beat them with seconds left on the clock at home in their own ring, four to three. But if you count it, that's five games to three. I think London, as much as I hate to say it, was the best team last year. And Saginaw. Saginaw is what I'm saying. Okay. That's what I'm saying about Saginaw.

24:02Justin: It's a little. Nah.

24:03Andrew: So I want to say that the third star is the paper champion Saginaw Spirit. The spirit. We've got spirit. And I just want to say that they're no match for the Andalorian, our boy, Matthew Andonovski We're going to post the clip. Matthew Andonovski is fighting two Saginaw players at the end of the game, and

24:27Justin: the ref has to save the Saginaw players. All right?

24:34Andrew: So that's all I have to say about y'. All. So I don't know if that was the high road, but I didn't want to get too intense there. I didn't want to get too mad because they were mad enough for both of us.

24:44Justin: We salute the Andalorian.

24:46Andrew: The Andalorian.

24:49Justin: Okay, so we got some previews. We got a triple header coming up. So we play our old friends, the Soo Greyhounds, who, spoiler alert, is the last team we lost to in a shootout. In a shootout.

25:01Andrew: Yeah.

25:01Justin: Then we play Owen Sound Attack. Then we play a new team we have not played yet this season, but might have been at that OHL championship last year is the Oshawa Generals.

25:13Andrew: Okay. I'm excited about that game in particular. Yeah, that's going to be a good test. Now, I'm going to be honest. Nine in a row is hard it's hard to. I think it gets harder the more wins.

25:23Justin: Yeah. It becomes a mental game.

25:24Andrew: Yeah, for sure. What's really funny is go back and they lost when they lost a Windsor and it was really brutal. I said, why they're not going to win like 16 in a row like Edmonton? Well, I think nine in a row playing an OHL schedule where you're only playing, you know, at the end of the week and there's big breaks in between and some of these guys are going to school.

25:45Justin: Yeah.

25:46Andrew: And you know what I mean? I think nine in a row is very close to that. So, I mean, I think a triple header is going to be really hard to come out 12 in a row. It's just going to be really hard because I agree that's very tiresome.

25:59Justin: So.

26:00Andrew: Yeah, they can do it for sure.

26:02Justin: The expectation I think is. Is this has been fun.

26:06Andrew: It's been fun. And if they drop one this weekend, that's. I mean, it's an incredible start to the year.

26:11Justin: So we do have. So the first game back is. Is sue on Friday. So Soo Greyhounds.

26:17Andrew: So we owe them one.

26:18Justin: We do owe them one. So they're sitting fifth in the west, ninth overall.

26:22Andrew: And that's a home game.

26:23Justin: That's a home game Friday nights at the Aud Yeah, that's just a thing.

26:26Andrew: It's so good.

26:27Justin: I love it. So we got Justin Cloutier and Brady Martin sitting at 12 points in 15 games. So they're, you know, they're. They're doing all right. They got a good. They got some guys there. I think last time we talked about them, you know, they were having struggles with getting guys to stay on the team. They were leaving. So I think they got that all sorted out. Martin Minosa was the player of the week last week, so.

26:50Andrew: Okay, so they've got some.

26:51Justin: They got some heat coming in too. So this isn't. This isn't going to be the easiest game in the world, but I think they. They got a little bit of a stretch going, too.

26:59Andrew: I don't want to say that it felt like they underperformed against the Soo last Tommy Kut I did feel like they have better games.

27:07Justin: I agree.

27:08Andrew: Than that one.

27:08Justin: And. And the Soo is coming in. They. They have eight points in games against Windsor, London and Flint. So they. They've played some of the big guys lately and. And have won.

27:20Andrew: Okay, so.

27:21Justin: So it's good. Also, shout out to the Soo Greyhounds. Like sighted men. They have a whole page of player pronunciations.

27:29Andrew: Oh, yeah, I love it. Which I would. We would all benefit from if. If the Rangers adopted that too.

27:35Justin: I agree.

27:35Andrew: When they acquire a player, they. They put up the pronunciation, but it's nowhere to be found.

27:41Justin: It's kind of lost after that.

27:42Andrew: Yeah.

27:43Justin: Yep. Okay, then we play Owen. Owen Sound Attack. So they're sitting ninth in the West 18th overall. So we're recording on a Wednesday. They are playing right now, but coming into this game they're on an eight game losing streak. So either we will be facing a team on a nine game losing streak looking for a redemption game, or they'll be one and eight in their last nine.

28:06Andrew: And that's in Owen Sound.

28:08Justin: That is in Owen Sound. Yeah.

28:09Andrew: Which. Which we gotta remember those Bayshore bounces.

28:12Justin: Yes. Oh, yeah, right. Yep. Carter George, though their goalie has been on a tear since we saw him.

28:19Andrew: So he's a LA draft pick. He is a force in the net.

28:23Justin: the AudPod analytics team failed me on this one. Boop. Boo. Boo. Boo, boo. Boo. I wrote down. He's been facing a lot of shots. I think he's one of the top three in shots against this season. Like he's facing a lot and has a good save percentage. So. And then they have. They have this guy with a great hockey name, Landon Hookey.

28:47Andrew: Oh, I like hookey.

28:49Justin: He's got 14 points in 15 games. So he's. He's tearing it up too.

28:52Andrew: He's a per game guy.

28:54Justin: Yep. And then we have our friends, the Oshawa Generals, who are sitting third in the east, sixth overall. Luca Morelli is there. Is a defenseman leading their team with 24 points.

29:07Andrew: Wow.

29:08Justin: And he's a Blue Jackets prospect. He's like, he's a guy. I think he's an overager and probably his last season in the.

29:15Andrew: Oh, but okay, so he's an overager. He's 24 points as a defenseman. That's impressive. But that makes me appreciate Cameron Reid who is draft eligible.

29:24Justin: Yes.

29:24Andrew: And is going to be drafted and has 19 points 100% as a defenseman.

29:28Justin: Yeah.

29:29Andrew: So he's second on our team in points.

29:31Justin: Well, he's. He's leading the OHL in assists as a defenseman, so. Yeah. And then of course, they have the best draft NHL draft pick of Bennett Senec. Do you not know who he is?

29:47Andrew: No.

29:47Justin: Oh, he's the guy in the NHL draft that was shocked when he got drafted third overall.

29:52Andrew: Oh, okay. All right. Anaheim.

29:54Justin: Yeah.

29:55Andrew: Yeah. Okay. All right. I just didn't recognize the name.

29:57Justin: Yeah, maybe it's Seneca Bennett. Bennett Senec.

30:00Andrew: I do know who. Exactly who you're talking about.

30:02Justin: Yeah, yeah, of course. So he. He's played. He was at Anaheim development camp and he missed the first five games of the season and he still has 21 points. Okay.

30:11Andrew: So he's just an unbelievable talent and America's sweetheart or Canada's sweetheart in that. In that moment.

30:16Justin: Yes.

30:17Andrew: When he was drafted and he was so.

30:18Justin: He was like, he was shocked. He was as shocked as everybody because we didn't really expect him to go that high. And the Aud was heartwarming. It was wonderful.

30:28Andrew: Yeah. It was one of those moments you

30:29Justin: could never fake Jeff Marek talking about talking to him after he was still in shock and he's like. So we all saw the shock. Yeah. He also is on a goal streak with 11 goals in the last eight games. So he's going to score.

30:43Andrew: Well, we'll see. Jackson Parsons or Jason Schaub will have.

30:48Justin: They might have something to say about that. They. Misa has not. Has he. Misa has not scored a goal. Misa has not scored a goal. We played him twice and he hasn't scored a goal against us. I know.

30:59Andrew: They've done a really good job of shutting down the top end talent on the teams.

31:03Justin: Yeah. Oshawa also has Colby Barlow now.

31:06Andrew: Oh, yes.

31:07Justin: Who.

31:07Andrew: Who is middle aged.

31:10Justin: Yeah. He looks like he's 32 and could be on our podcast. Yes.

31:14Andrew: Yeah, he's got more hair than, you know, you would expect for somebody of his age. And I'm not saying that it's impossible

31:22Justin: that he's faked his birth certificate. That's all I'm saying. He had a slow start. He was pointless in his first six games, but he had 29 shots.

31:30Andrew: Okay. So it was going to regress positive regression.

31:33Justin: Yeah. He's now. He has now put up a lot of points since then, but he's a force. All right, so that is. That's the recap for the weekend. Now, of course, we get to the very special part of the Groot. The Groot, the greatest Ranger of all time. And I think I go first this week.

31:52Andrew: You do.

31:54Justin: So you're immediately going to know who this player is.

31:56Andrew: Well, that's not very fun.

31:57Justin: I know. But he's got to be on the list.

32:01Andrew: Okay, I'll pretend I don't.

32:02Justin: Okay, great. It was a brief but good time. Two seasons in the OHL for Kitchener. In his rookie season, he was third in points and second in goals amongst rookies as a 17 year old. The next season, he came back as the captain Making him the first European and first non Canadian in franchise history as a captain. But then he left and went to the NHL. After being drafted second overall by the Colorado Avalanche, he scored his first NHL goal against another former Kitchener Rangers goaltender, Steve Mason. Oh, that was interesting. I was like, oh, I still don't

32:46Andrew: know who it is.

32:48Justin: Wink, wink, wink.

32:49Andrew: You can't see it on the pod, but I'm winking.

32:52Justin: Audio Medium. He won the Calder for Outstanding Rookie of the Year.

32:56Andrew: I have a problem with it.

32:58Justin: He won a gold medal with Sweden in the World Junior Championship.

33:01Andrew: Ryan Nugent Hopkins should have won the Calder that year.

33:05Justin: You suck it up, you still don't know who it is. And then, of course, he won a Stanley cup with Colorado as the captain in 2022. My nominee for the groat is Gabriel Landiscog.

33:21Andrew: Usually I say give it up for them, but he's had enough.

33:25Justin: No, he's gotten enough. I love Landiscog. He's so good. What a great captain. Yeah. I have mixed emotions about Gabriel Landisco. I'm a. I'm a big fan. I mean, I bet you are. Colorado vicariously through the Colorado. Yeah. Colorado is my second team, so I do. I've been. How I know you weren't for a while.

33:46Andrew: You weren't a hockey fan pre salary cap because. Because nobody could be a fan of these powerhouses that just came to Alberta

33:56Justin: and crushed both our teams.

33:58Andrew: I know there's no bones about it.

33:59Justin: He's. He had to be on this list.

34:01Andrew: He's had a phenomenal career. He was an iconic ra. Just because I'm sore about what he's accomplished in the NHL and how it's directly affected my team every time he wins an award. That is just kind of proof in the pudding that he's a great player.

34:16Justin: He is.

34:17Andrew: Yep.

34:18Justin: That's my nom.

34:20Andrew: That's a great nom.

34:21Justin: Who do you got?

34:22Andrew: All right. Shout out to my dad because he is going to know this player long before anybody listening or watching.

34:30Justin: All right, Laurie, you tell us right now.

34:32Andrew: All right.

34:33Justin: Exactly.

34:34Andrew: All right. He played for the Kitchener Rangers from 1969 to 1972. So it predates the OHL.

34:41Justin: I'm out. I have no idea.

34:42Andrew: The OHA. Of course we know he finished with 127 goals, 171 assists, and 298 points in 177 games. Oh.

34:52Justin: What?

34:53Andrew: Yeah. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers seventh overall in the first round of the 1972 draft. He was called up after 11 games in the AHL. And in his first season with the Flyers, he scored 30 goals and 34 assists and was second in Calder voting. He was part of the famed LCB line. He helped the Flyers in both of their Stanley cup wins. Their only wins, 74 and 75. Which by the way, the Flyers have way too much attitude for only two cups. 74 and 75. Like, way too much attitude for a franchise. That's only one. We give Toronto a lot of.

35:33Justin: All right.

35:34Andrew: And like Philly.

35:36Justin: Yeah. They only eight years later and they

35:40Andrew: did back to back, but it almost counts less because it's. It was back to back and now it's so far in the rear view. Yeah. Anyway, he. He was. He scored at least 20 goals every season and scored 30 or more nine times. All right. His best season was 50 goals and 62 assists in the 75, 76 season. He played in the 1976 Canada cup for Canada and he scored a very famous goal where they were behind in the final against Czechoslovakia. And he scored to send the game into overtime. And eventually Team Canada won that game. In 79, 80. He helped the Flyers on their record three 35 game unbeaten streak. He was captain for just over a season. He is the all time Philadelphia Flyers goals scored leader. He's sixth all time in Rangers points. He's third all time in Rangers goals. He's second only to Brian Bellows in points per game of Kitchener Rangers players who've played over a hundred games with the Rangers. He was forced to retire after the 8485 season after being unable to return from reconstructive knee surgery in the spring of 84. His number is retired as a flyer number seven. On October 7, 1990, he was inducted into the hall of Fame. Bill Barber.

37:03Justin: Bill Barber. Wow. What a. What a force, man.

37:06Andrew: His number seven was. Is in the rafters in Kitchener as well.

37:09Justin: Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, wow.

37:11Andrew: That one's for my dad.

37:12Justin: So we got those two Groot nominees. And guess what, Andrew. What? We heard from some fans.

37:21Andrew: No way.

37:21Justin: About their groats.

37:23Andrew: So exciting.

37:24Justin: We went to the game on Friday against Sudbury.

37:28Andrew: Yes. And we intercepted some people. I'll call it.

37:32Justin: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they were waiting for the bathroom. We don't ask those questions.

37:36Andrew: We don't ask those questions.

37:38Justin: But we grabbed a few people and we asked them who their groats were

37:42Andrew: and we got some answers and it was fun.

37:44Justin: And then we're gonna magically play that. Now. What's your name? Ben. Who is your favorite Ranger to ever play for the Rangers?

37:52Andrew: Christian Ray.

37:52Justin: Gulf. All right, and what's your name? Jordan. Jordan, who is the greatest ranger of all time? And when I was his age, I really liked Steven Rice. What's your name?

38:03Andrew: Kyler Bowman.

38:04Justin: All right, Kyler, who is the greatest ranger of all time? Probably going to have to go with, for watching the best ranger I've watched. Watched. I mean, finale was fun to watch. What's your name? Ryan. Ryan, who's the greatest Ranger of all time?

38:22Andrew: That's a hard question.

38:23Justin: Yeah, it is.

38:25Andrew: We're trying to answer that.

38:26Justin: Yeah, we've been. We've spent a lot of time working on that one.

38:29Andrew: I know Jeff Skinner played, right?

38:30Justin: He did.

38:31Andrew: Let's go with Jeff Skinner. What's your name?

38:34Justin: Bruce.

38:34Andrew: Bruce, how long you been a Rangers fan?

38:37Justin: Since 1968.

38:39Andrew: Wow. So almost all the way. Almost since the very beginning. That's very impressive.

38:44Justin: We love that. We love to hear that.

38:45Andrew: So you'll have a great perspective on this. Tell us who is the greatest Ranger of all time.

38:51Justin: I'd have to go with Mike Richards. Some great insight, some cool groats.

38:56Andrew: Great groats.

38:58Justin: Groat, Groat.

38:59Andrew: Groat.

39:02Justin: So that's. That's the groat. Now we. Now we have some new names to add. Couple names that we had already nominated,

39:10Andrew: which will only help them when it comes to debate time, of course, when

39:16Justin: we get to the debate. Of the growth.

39:18Andrew: When we get to the debate.

39:21Justin: All right, so we got a couple thank yous for this week. So we have Ken, Born as always,

39:26Andrew: always for the brand.

39:27Justin: Papa Born Papa Born And then we have our prodigal producer, Liam, the phenom Kitchener Public Library. Thank you for the beautiful space.

39:35Andrew: It's basically home at this point. Home away from home.

39:38Justin: It is. It's so cozy, where everyone knows your

39:40Andrew: name, your face, your face and your name. If they scan your card socials, you can find us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter heddpodcast. 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.

40:01Justin: If you're enjoying the podcast, please do all the normal things of subscribing, liking, engaging with us on social media. We would.

40:09Andrew: We need it.

40:10Justin: We need it.

40:11Andrew: We'd love it.

40:11Justin: We'd really appreciate it. And we appreciate everybody who's done so so far.

40:15Andrew: Yeah, everybody watching and listening. We love you.

40:18Justin: We love y'. All. And as always, you can find us

40:21Andrew: at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

40:25Justin: See you at the Aud

40:30Andrew: Sam.