April 2, 2026 • 43 mins
Julia Tocheri and Tessa Bonhomme of the PWHL’s Jocks in Jills podcast join Sarah to discuss the white hot Boston Fleet, why the league’s expansion teams have struggled mightily in their first year, and whether the PWHL might soon be playing in a town near you. Plus, everyone is headed to Phoenix, a few LinkedIn profiles just removed their “open to work” badges, and now’s the time to pull out that perfect 10.
- The latest USWNT roster is here, and the schedule of friendlies vs. Japan is here
- Watch the video of NiJaree Canady receiving her AUSL Golden Ticket here
- Listen to the latest episode of Jocks In Jills here
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where in the
absence of a triple espresso.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
We're happy to at least be getting a double.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's Thursday, April second, and on today show we'll be
chatting with Olympic gold medalist and senior Director of New
Media for the PWHL, Tessa Bonham, plus our partner in crime,
director of new Media for the PWHL, Julia to Sherry.
Together they're the duo behind the Jock's In Jill's podcast,
we discuss the white hot Boston Fleet expansion struggles, how
the Olympics have impacted this third season of the league,
(00:28):
and if the PWHL might soon be playing in a
town near you. Plus everybody's headed to Phoenix. A few
LinkedIn profiles just removed their open to work badges and
now's the time to pull out that perfect ten.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Here's what you need to know today, Starting with hoops.
You already know the main event going down in Phoenix
this weekend. Definitely lots more on that in tomorrow show,
but the senior national team will also be in Phoenix
this weekend. Team USA is holding a training camp during
the NCAA Final Four, and there are some key roster
changes from last month's FOBA tournament. First, let's start with
(01:13):
who's out. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kelsey Plumb, Ryan Howard,
and Chelsea Gray will not be in camp this time around,
leaving Paige Beckers as the lone player to be part
of all three camps during this cycle. So there's room
for a whole bunch of national team players from previous
camps and tournaments to come back, including Asia Wilson and
Ifisa Collier, marking their first training camp call up during
(01:34):
Kara Lawson's tenure as head coach. According to reporting from
The Athletic Collier will remain on the sidelines, though after
having surgery on both her ankles at the beginning of
this year. WNBA players Sabrini and Escu, Steph Dolson, Asray Stevens,
and Britney Sikes will also return to the national team
for camp, and making her senior team training camp debut,
will be Friend of the Show and rising NCAA junior
(01:55):
michaeleb Blakes. The Vanderbilt guard, is fresh offer team Sweet
sixteen run and will be the only collegiate player on
the court. A handful of NCAA coaches will be there too,
though head coach Lawson is from Duke and Notre Dames
Neil Ivy and Vandy's Shay Ralph will be on site
as court coaches.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
To soccer where.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
US women's national team head coach Emma Hayes has named
her roster for three upcoming friendlies against Japan. The group
is headlined by the return of Sophia Wilson and Tierna Davidson.
Wilson returns to the national team for the first time
since late twenty twenty four. She spent twenty twenty five
on maternity leave. Davidson, meanwhile, last played for the US
women's national team in February of twenty twenty five, before
(02:33):
tearing her acl last April and missing the rest of
the year. In a press conference on Wednesday, Hayes said
both players will be on a minute's restriction in the
upcoming friendlies. Other members of the roster include Ali sent
Nor m Sears and Trinity Rodman Waye. Trinity and Sophia.
We're just one male, Swanson away from being fully caffeinated.
(02:53):
We'll link to the full roster in the show notes
along with the schedule for the upcoming friendlies to the NWSL,
where the front office as a couple of new faces.
On Wednesday, the league announced Brian Kelly as the new
Chief Commercial Officer and Rachel Epstein as Chief Marketing Officer.
The league had been operating without either role since Julie
hadn't parted ways with the league last year. In a
press release, Commissioner Jessica Berman said, the new hires come
(03:15):
quote as we enter a pivotal next phase of growth
for the NWSL and Women's Soccer end quote, pera press release,
Kelly joins the NWSL from Top Rank Boxing, where he
served as Chief Revenue Officer, and Epstein joins the league
from ESPN, where she served as Vice president of Live
Sports and Audience Expansion. She also led programming and development
for espnW and was a big part of the leadership
(03:37):
team that launched the now defunct Women's Professional Soccer League
back in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Now I've been.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Working with Rachel for fourteen plus years at espnW, and
she is an absolute boss. I can't tell you how
excited I am to see how she's going to help
this league reach new heights, pumped for her, pumped for
the NWSL. And while we're on the topic of fires,
sources tele ESPN's Alexa Philippo that former ESPN NBA report
or Kevin Pelton has been hired to see assistant GM
(04:03):
and Vice president of Analytics for the WNBA's Houston Comets.
Now remember, the Connecticut Sun is going to play one
last season in Uncasville before the franchise moves west. Clearly,
preparations for the return of the Comets have begun. To gymnastics,
the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships are underway. First round action
across four regional sites started on Wednesday, and the first
(04:23):
and second rounds continue through the weekend. The favorites to
win it all are top ranked Oklahoma, the defending champions.
They'll face some fierce competition from number two LSU and
number three Florida. Though the Gators are fresh off a
major win in the SEC Championships a couple weeks ago,
where they took down Oklahoma by zero point two five points, Sooners.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Are looking to prove that win was just a fluke.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
After this weekend's first two rounds, the semi finals start
April sixteenth, and the finals are on the eighteenth. We'll
keep you posted as results come in.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
We're going to take a break. When we come back,
we talk all things PWHL.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, less than a month left in the right regular season,
Boston has already clinched a playoff spot, while expansion teams
Vancouver and Seattle are all the way down at the
bottom of the standings. I caught up with Tessa Bonham
and Juliette Tocherry on Wednesday to talk about the season so.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Far and the upcoming playoff push stick here joining us now.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
She's won half of the jocks in Jill's podcast and
the senior director of New Media for the PWHL. A
former pro ice hockey player, she was an Olympic gold
medalist for Team Canada and played for the Toronto Furies
in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. An Ohio State buck
guye and former TSN reporter, she got crowd served by
the Canadian women's national hockey team while dressed in a
bird costume at a Blue Jays World Series game.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's Tessa Bonham. Hi, Tessa, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
What's up. Awesome to be here again.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Thanks for having me joining her the other half of
the Jocks in Jill's podcast and the director of New
Media for the PWHL. A former minor hockey player with
Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, she
also put in her time at TSN. She sipped from
the Walter Cup and she shared spaghetti Lady in the
Trail style with her co host.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
She's short, but her feet are met for someone who's
six feet tall. It's Julia Jo's sherry that is so awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It's an upgrade from last time when my historical interpreter
passed was run to this.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yes, we did do a deep dive on your historical
interpreter past last time.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Got update my LinkedIn. I'm such a joke on linked
please keep it there. But so good, Lise.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
It's such a fascinating thing that four years, four years
of churn and butter.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
It was longer than that, Sarah, it was more summers
than that. When I was first in intern at TSN,
I left for the summer. My boss allowed me to
leave for the summer and return so I could work
in my last summer as Annabelle on the farm.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And he was so understanding that we learned a lot
about that. Last time.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We also learned about Jill's the pelvic protectors from hockey players.
We helped people understand the jocks in Jill's name of
the podcast, which many were confused about and some still are.
This time, we're coming to for a thorough rundown of
all things Pete WHL as we ever closer to the
postseason of this third season of.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The league and Juliet.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Before we even get into the nitty gritty, I kind
of want to know what you'd say to summarize season
three so far. We're a little more than two thirds
of the way and we got about a month left.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Like, what sums up the season for you?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I think that my season summary would be that this
has been the season of the goalie thus far. We've
had a lot of conversations on our show about the
MVP race. It looks like it's Aaron Frankels to lose
right now. And her performance at the Olympics definitely doesn't
hurt either. The way she caught so many eyeballs in
that gold medal game against Canada when like nothing was
(07:37):
going by her. What did she let in two goals?
The entire tournament or something crazy to that effect. But
she's got an Renee debierhot on her heels with the
Montreal bigtoire and the Canadian national goalie as well, so
they've been kind of going back and forth.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Some of the greatest highlights this year, not just from
those two goalies.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Have been highlight reel saves.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
We've seen Hannah Murphy with the Seattle torn an insane
highlight reel save. I think Fagan Kirk what the Toronto
Stepters has had a couple crazy ones. So it's kind
of been the year of the goalie.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
This year year the goalie.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And that's I think a through line from last year's finals,
because didn't Gwyneth Phillips win the finals MVP despite her
team losing.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Yes, because she was playing out of her face. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The goalies are trying to take control of the narrative. Well,
there were a lot of stories that came out of
the Olympics, not just Aaron Frankel's dominance. We've got players
that were injured coming back and have just made their returns.
We have a few that are still out in Tess.
I wonder, you know how you see this season differently
because of the Olympic break and you know, prep for
the Olympics, the pause during the injuries post like, there's
(08:46):
been a lot of impact from this being the first
season disrupted by the Games.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yeah, and I disrupted oftentimes has like a negative connotation.
But if you look at a team like Montreal, who
in years past has always relied on their top line
in Meddi Philip Pus and relied on their goaltender to
try and get things done, it just never worked from
they always pooped out first round of the playoffs. When
we talked to Abby Rock on our podcast and just said,
you know, when everyone was away at the Olympics, what
(09:11):
were you all doing? Like all of a sudden, they
were getting the secondary scoring that they needed. So players
on their you know they're I say bottom three lines,
but on their other three lines, and they had kind
of shifted the mentality on how they approached practice and
it really worked well for them.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
You kind of saw it with other teams as well.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
But the thing that I love about this league is
and the Olympic break, is you're seeing players who are
really connecting and jiving with Olympians who didn't make the
Olympic team.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Exhibit A.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
Rebecca Leslie and Brian Jenner. Those two are on fire
for the Ottawa Charge. Rebecca Leslie did not play on
the Canadian Olympic team, Brian Jenner did, and those two
are just so simpatico.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It's glorious to see out there.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So I love these cool dynamics that the Olympics kind
of bring in in a sense with as a team
as a whole. When they were missing massive chunks of
their lineup, they were still practicing. They weren't at home
pick and their nose watching Netflix, like, they're actually getting
work done, lifting and skating every day, right.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And sometimes there's a lot of improvement to be made
there because you're not focused on, you know, scouting the
next team or getting prepped for a game.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You're just working on the things that you need to
get better at.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And your confidence.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
And look at Catherine Dubois on Montreal right now with
Pula out, she was on the top line. She's got
what like three goals. Now Juliet with that top line
three or four goals. So I think that that part
is cool. But then you see, like with Minnesota when
they come back with all of the Olympians on their team.
Obviously kend of Coin'scholfield was out for a little bit,
but you know, Taylor Heisei was still flying high like.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
All those ladies were just cruising.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And then you got their two goaltenders who felt like,
you know, they they might have been let going off
of the national team a little too early for the
American side, and so you know, both of them were
playing with chips on their shoulders.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
A lot of extra motivation coming out of the Olympics, Oh.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
It forces coaches to coach because they realize they've got
players to come back. So as much as goaltenders need
to stand on their head, the coaches actually have to
find ways to get minutes out of their lineups and
get players performing, maybe in roles that they might not
have been performing in years past.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
We saw you too at the Olympics, producer Alex and
I we got a chance to dig through your suitcase
of merch full of pins and hats and all that
we stole a lot of I guess I shouldn't say stole.
We were offered and took many things from you. Is
the suitcase empty now? Or are we still taking it
everywhere we go until we're fully relieved of our duties
as merch slingers.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
That's like a Julia thing, and it's amazing. I love
that she does it. She finds that we could fit
Julia in that suitcase. It's a good sized suitcase, and
she just rams that thing full.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Exactly. You guys need some merch. Everybody needs merch. So
we bring the suitcase home. We make sure to empty
it on trips, and then I bring it home. I
fill it up with a couple of miscellaneous items, and
they bring it back on the road. So we got
merch from more people. I'm headed to New York this weekend.
I'm going to be at the MSG game. I'm so excited, Sarah.
I've never seen a game at MSG before.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Crazy. Yeah me, neither. Isn't that wild what you have it?
I know? Isn't that crazy? Okay? That makes me feel
like a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You are like the sports queen of the US.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I don't know how to found of that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I know, And the only game I've seen at Fenway
is a hockey game, not even a baseball game.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I know, dude, we all have to get together and go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
I've done a lot of my work in studios throughout
the years.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Can you get to New York this weekend?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
No, because I'm going to be in Phoenix for the
Final Four basketball.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, Jesus I respect.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I'm traveling more for this show than I ever did
for ESPN, where I was like studio bitch for years
and years.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So I'm starting to check things off. But there you go.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
We're going to talk about that MSG game coming up,
but I want to start by going through a couple
teams and looking at the standings. And you know, because
we were talking about the Olympics, you know, Hillary Knight
is a player who just returned to the ice after
missing time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
She played through an MCL tear in Milan. Okay, sure.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Her expansion team, Seattle Torrent has struggled all season long,
last place in the standings. They have just six wins
on the year. What have you seen from Seattle, Julia Wise?
It been such a struggle for them.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I feel bad for Seattle, like they have been ravaged
by injury. Not Hillary Knight is obviously the headline one
and she's back now, which is awesome, but they've just
been struggling with injuries all season. It was teesh Larova
to start the year, they lost handed Bill kit Ltr.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
She won't be back all season long.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Michaeleb grant Mentis, who's a headline player for them, is
out right now. They've been without a ton of their
headline players at different points during the season, so injury
has been a struggle. And then Tess and I talk
about this podcast on our podcast all the time, and
the West Coast teams have caught a couple not caught
strays from us, but I think with expansion, everybody looked
(13:35):
at these rosters and was saying, Okay, these two expansion teams,
just hand them the Walter Cup. But what we didn't
factor in was they were going to be the first
two PWHL teams one to have to put themselves together
and create chemistry that the other team's already had kind
of going and to travel economy across the continent, like
it's a lot happening once or twice a week, so
it's a lot of travel. And I factor that in
(13:57):
and I'm mostly mentioning that because Seattle sort of got
a roadway, and this weekend Tessa and I were arguing
about it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
On the podcast.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
They got a roadwin in a takeover tour game. I
don't know if I'm fully counting that.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's not a full road win because it's not the
animus of the opposing team's fans.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
You're just neutral exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
So they're still looking for their first road win. I
give Seattle a little bit of slack though, Tessa, just
because of all the injuries that they've had this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I don't this year. Rather, I don't know if you
feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Yeah, I mean, to me, that's excuses because every team
runs into that and has run into that. But like
the magnitude of their injuries definitely has been pretty large
and in charge. But I still we said at the
beginning of the year they these two expansion teams were
handed the hardest thing to do, and that was, you know,
they basically yacht seed a team together, some had played
together before, some not, with a brand new coach who
(14:45):
has never coached in the league before, to come in
and try and ice a team that is automatically going
to compete, Like, did we actually expect them to be
able to truly compete? I understand on paper it looks great,
but compete against a Minnesota back to back champs who
are just a well oiled machine. You got Ken Clee
who runs that bench like it's the easiest thing he's
ever done. I'm not saying it's an easy job for him,
(15:05):
because that guy works hard.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
He definitely makes it look easy he does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I mean, it is pretty rare in any sport for
an expansion team to compete right away.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It's not easy to do, and so when it happens,
it's noteworthy.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Like when Vegas did it in the NHL.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Yes, people were like wow, and it's like, no, this
is a rarity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
The Valkyrie is making the playoffs and the WNBA, you know,
the San Diego Wave being a playoff team in the NWSL.
It's much more common for those expansion teams to struggle
early in part two because you're maybe not getting the
biggest players. But what was interesting for Seattle was they
were getting Hillary Knight. Unfortunately, between the Olympics and injuries,
it just hasn't quite clicked yet. It hasn't clicked for
(15:45):
the Golden Eyes either. They're just above the Torrent in
seventh place. They just have seven wins on the season.
The other expansion team out of Vancouver and Tess. Of course,
you know, tough to catch up with those teams that
have a couple of years experience, like you mentioned, But
what is it with the GoldenEye that you've seen prevent
them from having more success?
Speaker 5 (16:02):
I felt like it was that lack of chemistry. They
had Sarahners, who they expected to really drive their offense.
Miss how much time Julie was it like two months? Yeah,
after their first game. She played one game and then
was out with an upper body injury for a long time,
when their coach Brian Adalski was forced to shuffle lines
and recreate and then you know, Emernd smash Meyer was
(16:24):
doing the best she could. But it just felt like
their offense wasn't clicking. And we were expecting a lot
of their offense to come from their defense because of
who they plucked in the expansion draft, and it's like
that wasn't even really going great for them. Again, I
felt like it was figuring out new systems for them,
trying to find some type of chemistry and familiarity with
(16:44):
each other out there against teams that had it already.
So I will say that I've seen games in glimpses
from Vancouver where I'm like, you know what, technically they're
six points back from a playoff spot right now, which
isn't too bad. That's two regulation wins because each win
is worth three points. Yeah, they can still get in
(17:05):
because they got the goaltender and Emertz maash Meyer who's
back from injury. So that's a beautiful thing about this
league is like your team really isn't out until they're
actually out. But I do see Vancouver coming together a
little quicker than I have for Seattle, which was very
surprising to me. I expected Seattle to hit a lot
of bumps in the roads at the beginning of the
(17:25):
season and then finally be able to pull it together,
but it just wasn't the case. And hey, maybe it's
these international breaks or like you said, the Olympic break
that kind of, you know, throws a hiccup in when
they feel like they're finally getting strides. But it's been
tough for both of these teams to really find familiarity.
The beautiful thing is both of the teams have the
most amazing fans and they show up and show out
(17:45):
every game.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That's what I was just going to say.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
So I respect and appreciate that, and I want nothing
more than for those fans to get the wins that
they were expecting this year. And look, we expect expansion
to happen again this year. You heard Amy Sheer say it.
So teams are going to be shuffled again. So next
year they're going to have their core group and they'll
be able to iron out some more wins for their team.
But hopefully they finish strong because even when you do
(18:09):
get eliminated from the playoffs. I'm not sure if you
know this, Sarah, but the second you get eliminated from
the playoffs, you still have to win if you want
the first overall pick.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
You're not allowed to tank.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
One of my favorite rules.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Once you're eliminated, every point you earn is entered into
a new standings to win the first overall draft pick
or an attempt at the first overall draft pick, because
we don't really know how the draft's going to go
this year.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, it's a great thing from the PWHL to try
to encourage teams to keep working hard and try even
if they've been eliminated, so the fans can still get
a good product out on the ice.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And Julia, you're.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Dying to talk about the fans for these expansion teams.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Oh yeah, they're so awesome, Like it's nine thousand people
on a Tuesday in Seattle. Are fifteen thousand people on
a Wednesday night in Seattle. Same thing with Vancouver sailing
between eight thousand and nine thousand tickets. So I don't
not to be like little miss pom poms on the
side while we're talking about the expansion teams and their
struggles on the ice, But just really positive news for
(19:02):
the league and for women's hockey that even though the
results haven't been what Seattle and Vancouver are looking for
off the ice, they've strengthened the league in a really
meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And how many people they bring in the doors each night.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Yeah, we weren't surprised, by any means by any of that,
because we went to the Takeover Tour games when they
were there and we were like, holy smokes, like this
is wicked.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Two of the coolest buildings in the league.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, Seattle with the twin jembotrons, I've never seen that
in my life. And then Vancouver being the only team
with a primary venue is just so cool to see
that logo at Center Ice. Anyways, that's my that's my
speech of the day.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, here's hoping the play will help them in the
future to keep those fans. You know, we're going to
get to expansion and some changes later. But real quick, Tess,
what did you mean by not sure what the draft
is going to look like this year? Is that just
you mean based on expansion and number of teams or otherwise.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
All of that?
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Just number of teams and then how draft order will go,
like where the expansion teams will draft, because I'm not
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Nobody knows yet, Julie. Let's talk New York Sirens.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Not an expansion team, and yet they're mucking it up
kind of near the bottom of the table with those
new squads. They missed the playoffs in both of the
league's first two seasons. And they've got this big talent.
You know, They've got twenty twenty five Rookie of the
Year Sarah Philier. They've got this season's first overall draft
pick in Christina coulton Kova. What is holding this team
back yet again this season?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Oh themselves? Is that a weird answer?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Like, the New York Sirens have so much talent and
so much youth.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And I think the other thing that.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Like, it's really hard to make the playoffs this year,
like the league has added two more teams and no
more playoff spots, So half of this league is going
to be very disappointed when they do not punch their
ticket to the postseason, which is very sad to me
because New York has made so many strides, like they
pretty much did a full rebuild over the course of
a summer last year. Their marquee players were players like
(20:52):
Ella Shelton, players like Alex Carpenter who are on the
Torrent and the Scepters respectively now and are no longer
part of that team. At the draft last year, they
made money moves. They got the first overall pick in
Calton Kova, who has been excellent but just got placed
on LCIR. So you can add injuries to the mix
for New York as well as something that's hindered them
(21:13):
all season long, because they've been without SIRA affiliate points,
they've been out without they've been without Casey O'Brien, who
they took third overall when they traded up for that
pick with Toronto. So New York I don't want to
criticize New York so much because they have made so
many strides this year and they're still a really young
team and that youth has been really exciting. And I
(21:34):
still am not counting them totally out of it. They
are at that twenty seven point mark as well, right
there with the Vancouver Golden Eyes. There are two regulation
wins away from potentially being in a playoff spot.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
So I the Sirens could be a sneaky team to
get in last second.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
They're scrappy and they're young, and they've seen the improvement
that I think that they were hoping to see this season.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, there's like a maturity to the game that's just
lacking there a little bit for them. And it's to
be ecs because you can play top level collegiate hockey
totally awesome, but you come into this league and it's
much different. Everybody's played that top level and we're adding
body contact now right, the physicality of the game is
a little bit of a shocker. Some of them welcome it, obviously,
but now you're playing an extended season where every game
(22:18):
you're getting a run through the wall at least once
a game. So and then you got to figure out
how to make plays. I feel so bad for the
wingers in this league that come in and are young,
because like now you got to not only worry about
how to make a play on the boards, but you
also have to protect yourself and the puck, and you
don't want to deliver a pizza up the middle to
the other team, which we've seen happen sometimes. So I
think there's just a little bit of maturity. But like
(22:40):
Julia said, their growth throughout this season has been great.
It's just unfortunate they lost one of their top players
in calton Kova right now, who's on the LTIR.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
So remind me the Olympics is slightly less allowed contact
than the PWHL.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
P WHL's pushing it a little bit, a lot of bit,
a lot of bit.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Usually back when I played, it was really frustrating because
we would train very in the off season to make
sure we are as strong as possible, and sometimes other
countries weren't there yet physically where we were, and it
would be like, okay, well I'm just stronger than them.
They just fell like there's a difference, whereas I felt
this Olympics, Julia, we even said we were like they're
allowing a lot more at this international tournament, So I
(23:17):
feel like they let them play a lot more, probably
to the requests, from the request of the players, I'm
going to assume.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So just in the women's game, moving a little bit more,
you're never going to get the full checking.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Like on the men's side.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Hopefully we'll be keeping more teeth on the women's side,
but you are allowing a little more physical I want
to ask about the injuries quickly, and I do want
to move on to some of the other teams. But
is it just the amount of hockey being played between
the Olympics and in a professional season more so than
ever before, plus maybe the contact or is there no
injury issue. It's just professional sports and people get hurt
(23:51):
because it does seem like a lot of storylines for
a lot of teams are missing a lot of big players.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
It's a four year cycle, and when you're two years
out from an Olympics, you're going to play through a
lot of things. If you didn't nip it in the
butt right away. So if it was something that you
could kind of tape together and hold together and still
play good hockey, you will, and you'll grind through two
seasons to make it to the Olympics and play.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You want to earn that spot.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Because you're not waiting another four to get there, right, Yeah,
because it's a four year training block. So did you
just train four years to kind of pull the shoot
on something and so now it's going to be an
eight year training block. No way, no, how, Like, no
one's doing that. That's why Hillary kept playing. All the
teammates said, we knew how bad it was, and she
was still going out there.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
So now they're saying, Okay, post Olympic, let's actually give
our body break if it needs it because it's got
some time.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That makes sense.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Yeah, now because this is their career. So now it's
not like, well like I don't have to play because
I only have four years down the road, or I
can still play because I have a four year weight
And it's like no, no, no, no, no, you have
one can you make it back for playoffs? And two
you have the rest of your career to worry about.
You can't have this linger. So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Let's skip to the top of the standings and the
Boston Fleet. They're in first place as we're recording this
with fifty one points. After making the finals in year one,
they missed the postseason on a tie breaker last year,
and then they left Hillary Knight unprotected in the expansion draft,
which was an absolute shocker of a move, and it
paid off.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Tesla. What's made Boston so good this year?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I don't know if it paid like well.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I mean not that the direct link to their success
is letting her go, but it's just wild that we
were like, that was stupid, good luck now, and then
we're like, oh, you're in first yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
I think that message to the team kind of might
have been like, well, we believe in all of you
that you can fill that void and it's not going
to be one person, it's going to be all of you,
which is nice.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I think the coaching change.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
That took place Chris Bars had this group playing a
very structured, systematic style of play that they're doing to perfection.
Julie and I would have been commenting since the beginning
of the season. Aaron Frankel has won them probably nine
to nine point nine percent of their games. They've majority
have been one goal games, which are very tight playoff
(26:01):
style hockey. Our concern for them was can they score?
And the second we started chirping them scoring, they went
out and scored four goals two games in a row.
So I don't know what to say about Boston anymore
except you guys just keep doing you because we're going
to keep our comments to our selves and watch y'all
take this league by storm. But it has been a
nice coming of age for Boston because, like you said,
(26:23):
year one, they made it all the way to the
Walter Cup Final Game five and lost it to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And then last year they played probably their worst.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Game in the game that they needed the most, the
last game of the year, and it was just a
flop for them to and then they ended up missing
the playoffs. So it's nice to see them come back
with a vengeance. I have picked them to win the
past two years in a row, so if they could
just make me right in the past finally, it would
be nice. But they're team to be messed with right now.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
That's not how predictions work, Tessa.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I know you mentioned Aaron Frankel, first goaltender in PWHL
history to have three straight shoutouts. She's got seven shutouts
this season, which is more than any goaltender has recorded
in their career, and she's up to nine all time,
so she is absolutely a brick wall back there, the
Green Monster as they call her out in Boston. Let's
talk about the Montreal Victoire because this has sort of
been the team riding in that.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I'm like, they've got it. This team can't be beat,
and they can be beat, and.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
They have been beat in the semi finals twers in
a row. So we're recording this Wednesday afternoon. They can
clinch a playoff spot tonight. The Minnesota Froscin clinches early
as Saturday, so we've got these two teams in the
second and third positions. Juliet feels like the Victoire's regular
season record means almost nothing. They top the standings last year,
but second straight season they lose in the semi So
who really cares if you won the regular season.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
This is a team that wants more.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Am I wrong in thinking that this season is sort
of a lost one without a win or maybe at
least a runner up in the finals.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
If you asked the players on the Victoire, they would
tell you that. So you're one hundred percent correct, and honestly, Sarah,
you asked these questions perfectly because Tessa picks Boston twin
and has picked Boston twed and I picked Montreal this
year to waking as a nice job on that. Yeah,
I think especially I think Marie Felley Pulaan wants her
(28:06):
chip in this league as she should. She's a winner,
she wins everywhere she goes. And speaking of chips, I
think the Olympics would add to that fire even more
tough to see her struggle with injuries this year, and
that might factor in as well. But like if any
player we saw the way Hillary Knight got it out
at the Olympics, I think Polan's done the same thing
(28:26):
at different points, like she's not scared to play through
tough situations as well, and Tessa's earlier point, the thing
that Montreal has always struggled with in the postseason is
throwing Aaron Ambrose on the ice for thirty five minutes
or an hour or something when they're in double overtime.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Didn't you play sixty minutes when it was triple overtime? Crazy?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Like that's sixty minutes of ice time logs, Marray Feley
Pulan playing like forty in those games, so that was
that was just not sustainable, and then they'd have like
a fourth line that you didn't see at all. Now
they have a third and fourth line that you see
and that contributes, and they've had to step up. Tessa
mentioned all the work that they did during that Olympic break.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I think Abby Rock brings a lot.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Too, because I think sometimes that that lineup, like playing
with a goat, is probably hard. I have no experience
with it, but I think that there's a lot of
pressure that comes with playing with the goat. I think
sometimes you see girls grip their sticks a little bit
tighter when they look over at Pule and they're like,
oh my gosh, her legacy is kind of like involved
with me right now, and I want to do the
right things.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Or they're like you got this right, no, no, I
need your help. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
So I think the girls and I think Abby Rock
brings a little bit of levity in that, like shell
chir Pooh and like.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Make suir pookem out of.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Her skin a little bit too, Like well, and I'm
glad you touched on that, Julia, because in years past,
you know, Poo's a competitor and like a very very
highly competitive human being, and I mean more than your
average goat. Like she detests losing and wants to win
so bad like no one I've ever met before. And
(29:57):
she carries it and she wears it sometimes when she's
out there and we've.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Been made too even like it radiates off of her.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Yeah, someone's going to lighten the mood. Enter Aby Rock.
We're like, this is going to be great.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
This is even be great for the bench for everyone around,
and it'll be great for Pooh too, you know, just
to remind her like, don't worry, we got this.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah. Do we have any idea of when she might
be back?
Speaker 5 (30:15):
I wish, I wish I could tell you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, because we saw we saw Hillary Knight and Kettle
Cooin Schofield come back, but we're still waiting, still waiting
on Pullin.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We had zero indication of that.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, just all of a sudden, I message Chillery before
the Takeover game in Chicago, and I was like.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Are you going to be out here at least? Are
you getting close? And she was like no, sadly not
going to make it out.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
There, And then like the two games later, I'm like, oh, okay,
now you're available It's.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Like her and Coiner, we're texting each other like, Hey,
you want to come back now?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Sure, Yeah, Well let's talk about the Frost because they're
probably the team that cares the least about regular season standings.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Fourth place back to back years one.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
It all from the bottom both times, so they're sitting
in third right now. What are you seeing from the Frost, Tessa, Consistency?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
I think outside of that that gaming against was it Montreal, Julia,
where Montreal just routed them. They're just a consistent wave
of attack and they understand their system and what ken
Clee wants from them, and they go out and they're
a confident group because he just breathes that into them.
(31:18):
They've got two goaltenders who have been there and won that.
They've got Kelly Panic in the middle of the ice,
who is having herself a hell of a season. Julia
and I always joke that, like, we never see Kelly
Panic have a bad game, and she's a beast in
the dot, Like she'll win face offs, which is incredibly
important because to start every face off with possession is
(31:40):
huge and with the team that has that much fiery offense, like,
it's tough to get the puck back, and I guess
we can go there and talk about league leaders in offense,
like you want to talk about league leading point there's
top three league leaders in points are from the Frost
Panics leading in goals, Heisi's leading in assists.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Followed by Curl Like.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
They are just all over the league leading statistics that
it's like, well, no, you can't turn your eye on
them or ever take them lightly. And they have this
I don't want to say swagger, we'll call it swagger,
but it's like a confidence, not arrogance, a confidence. And
I've told this story before where I was in Toronto.
I brought my daughter down to say hi to Taylor Heisi,
(32:19):
and a Toronto Scepters fan walked by and said, there's
no way the Frost are going to go back to
back to back this year. And I turned and I'm like,
do not?
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Why would you see that? And Heisei laughed it off
and she was just like you just wait, we'll show you.
And I was like, this is it great?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
You just screwed my pick in Boston.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
They don't need this, they don't need bulletin board material. Yeah,
they've already got enough swagger.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
Seriously, but it's just waves of offense. But they don't
forget about their defense. They are very responsible in that sense,
and their forwards aren't just players that produce points, they're
players that contribute in the D zone as well. So
they're going to be a tough team to take down.
And I love that you mentioned the standings that they
were in fourth place both times. The first year they
(33:05):
were chosen by Toronto to play against, which is tough.
So as much as Boston's like, yeah, we're sitting pretty
in first place, it never works out for the first
place team to pick their opponent. So that's where you
kind of started gritting your teeth.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Speaking of bulletin board material, Yeah seriously.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, for those who don't remember, the PWHL actually allows
the top seeds to pick who they'll play. And you know,
then you're immediately giving your opponent this chip on their
shoulder of like, oh, you think we're the easiest to
go through, We'll show you.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It's a couple more things.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
I know we're running out of time here, but middle
of the pack battling for the fourth and final playoff
spot right now, it's the charge in the Scepters. Any
major storylines that stick out to you for these two teams.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Julia, you just never know what the Ottawa Charge, do you.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
And when they've got Gwen with Phillips, who to your
earlier point, who was Playoff MVP last year, Like she
just plays like such a monster. And Tessa mentioned the
combo of Rebecca Leslie and Brian Jenner, Like Rebecca Leslie
has turned a lot of heads in the second half
of the season and even before ye like she was
great to start the year, she didn't get a sniff
at all with Team Canada. And she has just been
so dominant for the Ottawa Charge, getting overtime winners and
(34:07):
game winning goals for them, and being from the city
of Ottawa, like she's the mayor of the city right now.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And as for the Scepters, like.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
They just continue to be the Scepters, they're so unpredictable.
One game it's like, Okay, this is Toronto, this is
the game that they want to give us, and then
right after that it just is a totally different team
that comes out so hard for them to find any consistency.
That's usually our criticism of the Ottawa Charge, but the
Ottawa Charge just proved that they when they lock in
(34:35):
for the playoffs like they did last year, they're a tough.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Team to be.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Each of those four finals games went to overtime. They
lost to the Frost and the Finals, so they're hungry
to get back and prove.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That they were this close.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I was listening to your show and the PWHL trade
deadline just passed. You were talking about it and Tessa,
I was unaware that teams can't trade draft picks yet
gotta be one for one deal. So now that I
think about it, that's how the trades in the league
have gone.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
But it never occurred to me that.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
They weren't able to trade future picks. What's that rule
and is it expected to change anytime?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I would eventually expect it to change, But with expansion looming,
I don't think you can trade picks because you don't.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Know where Nobody knows where the picks.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Are, where the picks are, right, you don't know what
you have or or that.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Okay, So that's why the rule is that way, because
they've been planning for expansion in advance.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Yeah, And I think once they finally hit the number
of teams that they're comfortable with and we'll sit at
for an extended period of time. I think maybe then
it will be introduced, but as of right now, it's
it's hard. It's basically a one for one trade and
it's got to work out for both teams. And we
kind of saw it, I mean with Denisa Koshova right
going over, we heard from Melissa Cruso GM of the
(35:42):
Minnesota Frost that you know, she kind of got buried
in their lineup because their lineup is so offensively gifted
that they felt like they kind of owed it to
her a little bit, and they knew they were going
to have to give something up to get Jinc Rose,
who's a defender that kind of bolsters their back end
now to just get you scratch in your head like, okay,
this is going to happen again.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, they're going to be tough to beat back there.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Right, But I mean it kind of makes it fun
in a sense, like this is the team you picked.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Figure it out, like go to work, learn to battle.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
You can't win one way, there's a million ways to
win if that system's not work and fix something. So
it kind of puts responsibility on the coaching staff as well,
which I really really like.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Let's talk expansion quickly because you mentioned it, Tessa. I
was in attendance for the most recent Chicago Takeover Tour
game helped the league pass two million fans that night,
incredible accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Chicago among the.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Cities rumored to be in the mix for an expansion team.
What are you hearing, Tess about where the league might
be headed next and when?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And how many more?
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Can I just say that I would love it to
be in Chicago. I love Chicago as a city. I
almost moved there years back. I think what the.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Way the league chooses is there.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Has to be a good venue, the scheduling has to
work out, the city has to be hockey hungry, which
obviously Chicago is. I have no insight, but my guess
would be one American, one Canadian, just because it makes sense.
I think you're going to have to pull teams more
west because right now you just have Vancouver and Seattle
kind of hanging out there on their own. So maybe
something central would be nice. I know Denver's making a
(37:08):
really big push. They were the ones that initially started
the chant we want a team.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, and they've had better showings than Chicago in terms
of attendance for the takeover tour stuff. Chicago's a tough
one in terms of venues and there's a lot of
teams too. Breaking through marketing wise is always hard.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
That's just it.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
But PWHL is such a different experience. If you will,
you've been to the games, I'm sure you can talk
to it. But Detroit also has showed up and showed
out in Halifax on the East coast in Canada. I
mean they blew the top off of that thing twice.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Thank you for telling me where Halifax is, so I
did not know. No, I would have been like, Okay,
is that on the west? Okay, that's the East. I'm
still learning Canada. I'm working on Sarah. It's awesome. Oh
I love Canada, but I've never been to Halifax.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
I need to get Halifax is like the most Canada
Canada could get.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
It turns up the Canada.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Dial perfect, Yeah, let us know when you go.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah. Well, there's just too much to do.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And then this whole Daily Show thing really gets in
the way of me traveling just to go hang out
with my friends at sporting events, which I'm.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Trying to do.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Speaking of this weekend, Sirens and Torrent at Madison Square Garden,
a sold out takeover tour game, one of the most
famous arenas on the planet, set to yet again, for
like the seventh time this league has done it break
the US attendance record for a professional women's hockey game.
I think the fourth time this season alone that they're
going to break that record. Julia, You're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
What are you most excited about for this one? Oh?
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I just can't, Like personally, I mentioned I've never been
to Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
It's kind of a dump, I've heard now, but it
has a lot of history, kind of a card.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
I've been to a couple of rigs that were like
designed after Madison Square Garden, like they copied the roof
for something to that effects. I'm excited to see the
original one. And I'm excited for Like I know they
play the Prudential and the numbers have been up there
recently nine thousand people after the Olympics on a on
a regular game night, which was so awesome for the
For the Sirens, I'm so excited for this to be
(39:01):
right on Broadway where it deserves to be, Like it
is a show. They're not just games. It is a
production that happens. It is a traveling circus, and I'm
excited for it to be under the Broadway lights. And
I'm excited for all those Sirens players to get to
experience that, specifically Casey O'Brien, who told us on the
podcast about growing up in Manhattan and going down to
(39:22):
Chelsea Piers to learn how to skate, for her to
be able to be at MSG and play on that
ice like where she grew up, learning the game in
such a different way than Tessa and I experienced, and
I think in a really different way than a lot
of traditional hockey.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Fans have experienced. I think it's really full circle. It's
gonna be really cool.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Yeah, and I'm excited for Julia to discover that there
is actually a club up in the corner in MSG's
a tow up there?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Is it still there?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Oh? I don't know. We'll have to find out.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Yeah, I'm quite sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
I'm going back to Soul Cycle too, which I'm very
excited about. Nice terms of the other NYC sites.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I got to experience the Sirens fans in person, and
I never had occurred to me that their cheer, of course.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Would be like a siren. I was confused at first.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
Dude, New York Sirens fans are the absolute best. They
have the most niche fan culture. They call themselves the
Pizza Rats. They wear their Sirens hats like they are
the most dedicated group of fans.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
They are so cool.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Well, I'm hoping all the casuals that get to MSG
for that one spot the diehards and they want in
on that because that's how the community grows, and it
also grows because your show y'all are the best. Thank
you so much for coming on helping catch us up
on all things PWHL as we head into the crunch
time of the season.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
This was so much fun. Appreciate you, Sarah, You're the best.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
We appreciate you. Thanks Sarah.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Thanks again to Test and Julia for taking the time.
We have to take another break when we return. I've
got a Golden tickt. I've got a golden tick it.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Welcome back, Slice. We love that you're listening, but we
want you to get in the game every day too.
So here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Now that you're all caught up on where the teams
stand heading into the last month of regular season play.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Actually, go watch the PWHL games.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
You can stream them for free on YouTube in the US,
and our Maple Bacon slices up in Canada can watch
on TSN and CBC. Also, go listen to Tessa and
Julia's podcast Jocks and Jill's.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We'll link to the latest episode in the show notes.
Oh and one more thing.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
My apologies for incorrectly shouting out Coach Fenn aka Mary
Fendley in yesterday's show. She's tied for second in our
March Slicednesse bracket and I called her coach Fern, which
is a cute name. Mary wrote in to say, make
sure you get it right when I win on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I love the confidence, my kind of gal. We always
love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Sit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot
com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two
two O four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe
a rate and review, y'all, It's so easy. Watch The
Return of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League Golden Tickets rating
five out of five stars.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
For creativity review.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
The AUSL Golden Ticket campaign is one of our favorite
things in sports, and it's back. The now annual tradition
sees top college softball players around the country learn they've
been selected in the AUSL College Draft after a game
while they're on the field with their team, their friends
and family and fans all in the crowd. Among those
who have received the ticket so far, Texas Tech superstar
(42:25):
Nijerie Kennedy, who was surprised by AUSL Commissioner Kim Ang
and a video message from Texas Tech alum and NFL
superstar Patrick Mahomes at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas
on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Though it's no surprise.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That Kennedy would be selected in the draft, it's always
still fun to see their faces when they're shocked to
discover that Kim Ang and in this case, a video
message from Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
We're awaiting them after the game. We'll link to that
in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow. Good game, Tessa, good game, Julia, Thank you.
How hockey always just says upper body or lower body injury?
Speaker 2 (43:01):
We need details? What part of your lower body what
do you mean? A concussion is just an upper body injury.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
our producers are Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rudder, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and
(43:32):
Gianna Palmer. Production assistant from Avery Loftus and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where in the
absence of a triple espresso.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
We're happy to at least be getting a double.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's Thursday, April second, and on today show we'll be
chatting with Olympic gold medalist and senior Director of New
Media for the PWHL, Tessa Bonham, plus our partner in crime,
director of new Media for the PWHL, Julia to Sherry.
Together they're the duo behind the Jock's In Jill's podcast,
we discuss the white hot Boston Fleet expansion struggles, how
the Olympics have impacted this third season of the league,
(00:28):
and if the PWHL might soon be playing in a
town near you. Plus everybody's headed to Phoenix. A few
LinkedIn profiles just removed their open to work badges and
now's the time to pull out that perfect ten.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It's all coming up right after this. Welcome back, y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Here's what you need to know today, Starting with hoops.
You already know the main event going down in Phoenix
this weekend. Definitely lots more on that in tomorrow show,
but the senior national team will also be in Phoenix
this weekend. Team USA is holding a training camp during
the NCAA Final Four, and there are some key roster
changes from last month's FOBA tournament. First, let's start with
(01:13):
who's out. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kelsey Plumb, Ryan Howard,
and Chelsea Gray will not be in camp this time around,
leaving Paige Beckers as the lone player to be part
of all three camps during this cycle. So there's room
for a whole bunch of national team players from previous
camps and tournaments to come back, including Asia Wilson and
Ifisa Collier, marking their first training camp call up during
(01:34):
Kara Lawson's tenure as head coach. According to reporting from
The Athletic Collier will remain on the sidelines, though after
having surgery on both her ankles at the beginning of
this year. WNBA players Sabrini and Escu, Steph Dolson, Asray Stevens,
and Britney Sikes will also return to the national team
for camp, and making her senior team training camp debut,
will be Friend of the Show and rising NCAA junior
(01:55):
michaeleb Blakes. The Vanderbilt guard, is fresh offer team Sweet
sixteen run and will be the only collegiate player on
the court. A handful of NCAA coaches will be there too,
though head coach Lawson is from Duke and Notre Dames
Neil Ivy and Vandy's Shay Ralph will be on site
as court coaches.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
To soccer where.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
US women's national team head coach Emma Hayes has named
her roster for three upcoming friendlies against Japan. The group
is headlined by the return of Sophia Wilson and Tierna Davidson.
Wilson returns to the national team for the first time
since late twenty twenty four. She spent twenty twenty five
on maternity leave. Davidson, meanwhile, last played for the US
women's national team in February of twenty twenty five, before
(02:33):
tearing her acl last April and missing the rest of
the year. In a press conference on Wednesday, Hayes said
both players will be on a minute's restriction in the
upcoming friendlies. Other members of the roster include Ali sent
Nor m Sears and Trinity Rodman Waye. Trinity and Sophia.
We're just one male, Swanson away from being fully caffeinated.
(02:53):
We'll link to the full roster in the show notes
along with the schedule for the upcoming friendlies to the NWSL,
where the front office as a couple of new faces.
On Wednesday, the league announced Brian Kelly as the new
Chief Commercial Officer and Rachel Epstein as Chief Marketing Officer.
The league had been operating without either role since Julie
hadn't parted ways with the league last year. In a
press release, Commissioner Jessica Berman said, the new hires come
(03:15):
quote as we enter a pivotal next phase of growth
for the NWSL and Women's Soccer end quote, pera press release,
Kelly joins the NWSL from Top Rank Boxing, where he
served as Chief Revenue Officer, and Epstein joins the league
from ESPN, where she served as Vice president of Live
Sports and Audience Expansion. She also led programming and development
for espnW and was a big part of the leadership
(03:37):
team that launched the now defunct Women's Professional Soccer League
back in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Now I've been.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Working with Rachel for fourteen plus years at espnW, and
she is an absolute boss. I can't tell you how
excited I am to see how she's going to help
this league reach new heights, pumped for her, pumped for
the NWSL. And while we're on the topic of fires,
sources tele ESPN's Alexa Philippo that former ESPN NBA report
or Kevin Pelton has been hired to see assistant GM
(04:03):
and Vice president of Analytics for the WNBA's Houston Comets.
Now remember, the Connecticut Sun is going to play one
last season in Uncasville before the franchise moves west. Clearly,
preparations for the return of the Comets have begun. To gymnastics,
the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships are underway. First round action
across four regional sites started on Wednesday, and the first
(04:23):
and second rounds continue through the weekend. The favorites to
win it all are top ranked Oklahoma, the defending champions.
They'll face some fierce competition from number two LSU and
number three Florida. Though the Gators are fresh off a
major win in the SEC Championships a couple weeks ago,
where they took down Oklahoma by zero point two five points, Sooners.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Are looking to prove that win was just a fluke.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
After this weekend's first two rounds, the semi finals start
April sixteenth, and the finals are on the eighteenth. We'll
keep you posted as results come in.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
We're going to take a break. When we come back,
we talk all things PWHL.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, less than a month left in the right regular season,
Boston has already clinched a playoff spot, while expansion teams
Vancouver and Seattle are all the way down at the
bottom of the standings. I caught up with Tessa Bonham
and Juliette Tocherry on Wednesday to talk about the season so.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Far and the upcoming playoff push stick here joining us now.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
She's won half of the jocks in Jill's podcast and
the senior director of New Media for the PWHL. A
former pro ice hockey player, she was an Olympic gold
medalist for Team Canada and played for the Toronto Furies
in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. An Ohio State buck
guye and former TSN reporter, she got crowd served by
the Canadian women's national hockey team while dressed in a
bird costume at a Blue Jays World Series game.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's Tessa Bonham. Hi, Tessa, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
What's up. Awesome to be here again.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Thanks for having me joining her the other half of
the Jocks in Jill's podcast and the director of New
Media for the PWHL. A former minor hockey player with
Hockey Northwestern Ontario and the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, she
also put in her time at TSN. She sipped from
the Walter Cup and she shared spaghetti Lady in the
Trail style with her co host.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
She's short, but her feet are met for someone who's
six feet tall. It's Julia Jo's sherry that is so awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
It's an upgrade from last time when my historical interpreter
passed was run to this.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yes, we did do a deep dive on your historical
interpreter past last time.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Got update my LinkedIn. I'm such a joke on linked
please keep it there. But so good, Lise.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
It's such a fascinating thing that four years, four years
of churn and butter.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
It was longer than that, Sarah, it was more summers
than that. When I was first in intern at TSN,
I left for the summer. My boss allowed me to
leave for the summer and return so I could work
in my last summer as Annabelle on the farm.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And he was so understanding that we learned a lot
about that. Last time.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We also learned about Jill's the pelvic protectors from hockey players.
We helped people understand the jocks in Jill's name of
the podcast, which many were confused about and some still are.
This time, we're coming to for a thorough rundown of
all things Pete WHL as we ever closer to the
postseason of this third season of.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The league and Juliet.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Before we even get into the nitty gritty, I kind
of want to know what you'd say to summarize season
three so far. We're a little more than two thirds
of the way and we got about a month left.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Like, what sums up the season for you?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
I think that my season summary would be that this
has been the season of the goalie thus far. We've
had a lot of conversations on our show about the
MVP race. It looks like it's Aaron Frankels to lose
right now. And her performance at the Olympics definitely doesn't
hurt either. The way she caught so many eyeballs in
that gold medal game against Canada when like nothing was
(07:37):
going by her. What did she let in two goals?
The entire tournament or something crazy to that effect. But
she's got an Renee debierhot on her heels with the
Montreal bigtoire and the Canadian national goalie as well, so
they've been kind of going back and forth.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Some of the greatest highlights this year, not just from
those two goalies.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Have been highlight reel saves.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
We've seen Hannah Murphy with the Seattle torn an insane
highlight reel save. I think Fagan Kirk what the Toronto
Stepters has had a couple crazy ones. So it's kind
of been the year of the goalie.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
This year year the goalie.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And that's I think a through line from last year's finals,
because didn't Gwyneth Phillips win the finals MVP despite her
team losing.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Yes, because she was playing out of her face. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The goalies are trying to take control of the narrative. Well,
there were a lot of stories that came out of
the Olympics, not just Aaron Frankel's dominance. We've got players
that were injured coming back and have just made their returns.
We have a few that are still out in Tess.
I wonder, you know how you see this season differently
because of the Olympic break and you know, prep for
the Olympics, the pause during the injuries post like, there's
(08:46):
been a lot of impact from this being the first
season disrupted by the Games.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yeah, and I disrupted oftentimes has like a negative connotation.
But if you look at a team like Montreal, who
in years past has always relied on their top line
in Meddi Philip Pus and relied on their goaltender to
try and get things done, it just never worked from
they always pooped out first round of the playoffs. When
we talked to Abby Rock on our podcast and just said,
you know, when everyone was away at the Olympics, what
(09:11):
were you all doing? Like all of a sudden, they
were getting the secondary scoring that they needed. So players
on their you know they're I say bottom three lines,
but on their other three lines, and they had kind
of shifted the mentality on how they approached practice and
it really worked well for them.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
You kind of saw it with other teams as well.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
But the thing that I love about this league is
and the Olympic break, is you're seeing players who are
really connecting and jiving with Olympians who didn't make the
Olympic team.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Exhibit A.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
Rebecca Leslie and Brian Jenner. Those two are on fire
for the Ottawa Charge. Rebecca Leslie did not play on
the Canadian Olympic team, Brian Jenner did, and those two
are just so simpatico.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
It's glorious to see out there.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So I love these cool dynamics that the Olympics kind
of bring in in a sense with as a team
as a whole. When they were missing massive chunks of
their lineup, they were still practicing. They weren't at home
pick and their nose watching Netflix, like, they're actually getting
work done, lifting and skating every day, right.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And sometimes there's a lot of improvement to be made
there because you're not focused on, you know, scouting the
next team or getting prepped for a game.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You're just working on the things that you need to
get better at.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And your confidence.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
And look at Catherine Dubois on Montreal right now with
Pula out, she was on the top line. She's got
what like three goals. Now Juliet with that top line
three or four goals. So I think that that part
is cool. But then you see, like with Minnesota when
they come back with all of the Olympians on their team.
Obviously kend of Coin'scholfield was out for a little bit,
but you know, Taylor Heisei was still flying high like.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
All those ladies were just cruising.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And then you got their two goaltenders who felt like,
you know, they they might have been let going off
of the national team a little too early for the
American side, and so you know, both of them were
playing with chips on their shoulders.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
A lot of extra motivation coming out of the Olympics, Oh.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
It forces coaches to coach because they realize they've got
players to come back. So as much as goaltenders need
to stand on their head, the coaches actually have to
find ways to get minutes out of their lineups and
get players performing, maybe in roles that they might not
have been performing in years past.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
We saw you too at the Olympics, producer Alex and
I we got a chance to dig through your suitcase
of merch full of pins and hats and all that
we stole a lot of I guess I shouldn't say stole.
We were offered and took many things from you. Is
the suitcase empty now? Or are we still taking it
everywhere we go until we're fully relieved of our duties
as merch slingers.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
That's like a Julia thing, and it's amazing. I love
that she does it. She finds that we could fit
Julia in that suitcase. It's a good sized suitcase, and
she just rams that thing full.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Exactly. You guys need some merch. Everybody needs merch. So
we bring the suitcase home. We make sure to empty
it on trips, and then I bring it home. I
fill it up with a couple of miscellaneous items, and
they bring it back on the road. So we got
merch from more people. I'm headed to New York this weekend.
I'm going to be at the MSG game. I'm so excited, Sarah.
I've never seen a game at MSG before.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Crazy. Yeah me, neither. Isn't that wild what you have it?
I know? Isn't that crazy? Okay? That makes me feel
like a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
You are like the sports queen of the US.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I don't know how to found of that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I know, And the only game I've seen at Fenway
is a hockey game, not even a baseball game.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I know, dude, we all have to get together and go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
I've done a lot of my work in studios throughout
the years.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Can you get to New York this weekend?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
No, because I'm going to be in Phoenix for the
Final Four basketball.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, Jesus I respect.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I'm traveling more for this show than I ever did
for ESPN, where I was like studio bitch for years
and years.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So I'm starting to check things off. But there you go.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
We're going to talk about that MSG game coming up,
but I want to start by going through a couple
teams and looking at the standings. And you know, because
we were talking about the Olympics, you know, Hillary Knight
is a player who just returned to the ice after
missing time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
She played through an MCL tear in Milan. Okay, sure.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Her expansion team, Seattle Torrent has struggled all season long,
last place in the standings. They have just six wins
on the year. What have you seen from Seattle, Julia Wise?
It been such a struggle for them.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I feel bad for Seattle, like they have been ravaged
by injury. Not Hillary Knight is obviously the headline one
and she's back now, which is awesome, but they've just
been struggling with injuries all season. It was teesh Larova
to start the year, they lost handed Bill kit Ltr.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
She won't be back all season long.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Michaeleb grant Mentis, who's a headline player for them, is
out right now. They've been without a ton of their
headline players at different points during the season, so injury
has been a struggle. And then Tess and I talk
about this podcast on our podcast all the time, and
the West Coast teams have caught a couple not caught
strays from us, but I think with expansion, everybody looked
(13:35):
at these rosters and was saying, Okay, these two expansion teams,
just hand them the Walter Cup. But what we didn't
factor in was they were going to be the first
two PWHL teams one to have to put themselves together
and create chemistry that the other team's already had kind
of going and to travel economy across the continent, like
it's a lot happening once or twice a week, so
it's a lot of travel. And I factor that in
(13:57):
and I'm mostly mentioning that because Seattle sort of got
a roadway, and this weekend Tessa and I were arguing
about it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
On the podcast.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
They got a roadwin in a takeover tour game. I
don't know if I'm fully counting that.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's not a full road win because it's not the
animus of the opposing team's fans.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
You're just neutral exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
So they're still looking for their first road win. I
give Seattle a little bit of slack though, Tessa, just
because of all the injuries that they've had this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I don't this year. Rather, I don't know if you
feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Yeah, I mean, to me, that's excuses because every team
runs into that and has run into that. But like
the magnitude of their injuries definitely has been pretty large
and in charge. But I still we said at the
beginning of the year they these two expansion teams were
handed the hardest thing to do, and that was, you know,
they basically yacht seed a team together, some had played
together before, some not, with a brand new coach who
(14:45):
has never coached in the league before, to come in
and try and ice a team that is automatically going
to compete, Like, did we actually expect them to be
able to truly compete? I understand on paper it looks great,
but compete against a Minnesota back to back champs who
are just a well oiled machine. You got Ken Clee
who runs that bench like it's the easiest thing he's
ever done. I'm not saying it's an easy job for him,
(15:05):
because that guy works hard.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
He definitely makes it look easy he does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I mean, it is pretty rare in any sport for
an expansion team to compete right away.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It's not easy to do, and so when it happens,
it's noteworthy.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Like when Vegas did it in the NHL.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Yes, people were like wow, and it's like, no, this
is a rarity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
The Valkyrie is making the playoffs and the WNBA, you know,
the San Diego Wave being a playoff team in the NWSL.
It's much more common for those expansion teams to struggle
early in part two because you're maybe not getting the
biggest players. But what was interesting for Seattle was they
were getting Hillary Knight. Unfortunately, between the Olympics and injuries,
it just hasn't quite clicked yet. It hasn't clicked for
(15:45):
the Golden Eyes either. They're just above the Torrent in
seventh place. They just have seven wins on the season.
The other expansion team out of Vancouver and Tess. Of course,
you know, tough to catch up with those teams that
have a couple of years experience, like you mentioned, But
what is it with the GoldenEye that you've seen prevent
them from having more success?
Speaker 5 (16:02):
I felt like it was that lack of chemistry. They
had Sarahners, who they expected to really drive their offense.
Miss how much time Julie was it like two months? Yeah,
after their first game. She played one game and then
was out with an upper body injury for a long time,
when their coach Brian Adalski was forced to shuffle lines
and recreate and then you know, Emernd smash Meyer was
(16:24):
doing the best she could. But it just felt like
their offense wasn't clicking. And we were expecting a lot
of their offense to come from their defense because of
who they plucked in the expansion draft, and it's like
that wasn't even really going great for them. Again, I
felt like it was figuring out new systems for them,
trying to find some type of chemistry and familiarity with
(16:44):
each other out there against teams that had it already.
So I will say that I've seen games in glimpses
from Vancouver where I'm like, you know what, technically they're
six points back from a playoff spot right now, which
isn't too bad. That's two regulation wins because each win
is worth three points. Yeah, they can still get in
(17:05):
because they got the goaltender and Emertz maash Meyer who's
back from injury. So that's a beautiful thing about this
league is like your team really isn't out until they're
actually out. But I do see Vancouver coming together a
little quicker than I have for Seattle, which was very
surprising to me. I expected Seattle to hit a lot
of bumps in the roads at the beginning of the
(17:25):
season and then finally be able to pull it together,
but it just wasn't the case. And hey, maybe it's
these international breaks or like you said, the Olympic break
that kind of, you know, throws a hiccup in when
they feel like they're finally getting strides. But it's been
tough for both of these teams to really find familiarity.
The beautiful thing is both of the teams have the
most amazing fans and they show up and show out
(17:45):
every game.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That's what I was just going to say.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
So I respect and appreciate that, and I want nothing
more than for those fans to get the wins that
they were expecting this year. And look, we expect expansion
to happen again this year. You heard Amy Sheer say it.
So teams are going to be shuffled again. So next
year they're going to have their core group and they'll
be able to iron out some more wins for their team.
But hopefully they finish strong because even when you do
(18:09):
get eliminated from the playoffs. I'm not sure if you
know this, Sarah, but the second you get eliminated from
the playoffs, you still have to win if you want
the first overall pick.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
You're not allowed to tank.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
One of my favorite rules.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Once you're eliminated, every point you earn is entered into
a new standings to win the first overall draft pick
or an attempt at the first overall draft pick, because
we don't really know how the draft's going to go
this year.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, it's a great thing from the PWHL to try
to encourage teams to keep working hard and try even
if they've been eliminated, so the fans can still get
a good product out on the ice.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
And Julia, you're.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Dying to talk about the fans for these expansion teams.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Oh yeah, they're so awesome, Like it's nine thousand people
on a Tuesday in Seattle. Are fifteen thousand people on
a Wednesday night in Seattle. Same thing with Vancouver sailing
between eight thousand and nine thousand tickets. So I don't
not to be like little miss pom poms on the
side while we're talking about the expansion teams and their
struggles on the ice, But just really positive news for
(19:02):
the league and for women's hockey that even though the
results haven't been what Seattle and Vancouver are looking for
off the ice, they've strengthened the league in a really
meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And how many people they bring in the doors each night.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
Yeah, we weren't surprised, by any means by any of that,
because we went to the Takeover Tour games when they
were there and we were like, holy smokes, like this
is wicked.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Two of the coolest buildings in the league.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, Seattle with the twin jembotrons, I've never seen that
in my life. And then Vancouver being the only team
with a primary venue is just so cool to see
that logo at Center Ice. Anyways, that's my that's my
speech of the day.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, here's hoping the play will help them in the
future to keep those fans. You know, we're going to
get to expansion and some changes later. But real quick, Tess,
what did you mean by not sure what the draft
is going to look like this year? Is that just
you mean based on expansion and number of teams or otherwise.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
All of that?
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Just number of teams and then how draft order will go,
like where the expansion teams will draft, because I'm not
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Nobody knows yet, Julie. Let's talk New York Sirens.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Not an expansion team, and yet they're mucking it up
kind of near the bottom of the table with those
new squads. They missed the playoffs in both of the
league's first two seasons. And they've got this big talent.
You know, They've got twenty twenty five Rookie of the
Year Sarah Philier. They've got this season's first overall draft
pick in Christina coulton Kova. What is holding this team
back yet again this season?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Oh themselves? Is that a weird answer?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Like, the New York Sirens have so much talent and
so much youth.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And I think the other thing that.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Like, it's really hard to make the playoffs this year,
like the league has added two more teams and no
more playoff spots, So half of this league is going
to be very disappointed when they do not punch their
ticket to the postseason, which is very sad to me
because New York has made so many strides, like they
pretty much did a full rebuild over the course of
a summer last year. Their marquee players were players like
(20:52):
Ella Shelton, players like Alex Carpenter who are on the
Torrent and the Scepters respectively now and are no longer
part of that team. At the draft last year, they
made money moves. They got the first overall pick in
Calton Kova, who has been excellent but just got placed
on LCIR. So you can add injuries to the mix
for New York as well as something that's hindered them
(21:13):
all season long, because they've been without SIRA affiliate points,
they've been out without they've been without Casey O'Brien, who
they took third overall when they traded up for that
pick with Toronto. So New York I don't want to
criticize New York so much because they have made so
many strides this year and they're still a really young
team and that youth has been really exciting. And I
(21:34):
still am not counting them totally out of it. They
are at that twenty seven point mark as well, right
there with the Vancouver Golden Eyes. There are two regulation
wins away from potentially being in a playoff spot.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
So I the Sirens could be a sneaky team to
get in last second.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
They're scrappy and they're young, and they've seen the improvement
that I think that they were hoping to see this season.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, there's like a maturity to the game that's just
lacking there a little bit for them. And it's to
be ecs because you can play top level collegiate hockey
totally awesome, but you come into this league and it's
much different. Everybody's played that top level and we're adding
body contact now right, the physicality of the game is
a little bit of a shocker. Some of them welcome it, obviously,
but now you're playing an extended season where every game
(22:18):
you're getting a run through the wall at least once
a game. So and then you got to figure out
how to make plays. I feel so bad for the
wingers in this league that come in and are young,
because like now you got to not only worry about
how to make a play on the boards, but you
also have to protect yourself and the puck, and you
don't want to deliver a pizza up the middle to
the other team, which we've seen happen sometimes. So I
think there's just a little bit of maturity. But like
(22:40):
Julia said, their growth throughout this season has been great.
It's just unfortunate they lost one of their top players
in calton Kova right now, who's on the LTIR.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
So remind me the Olympics is slightly less allowed contact
than the PWHL.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
P WHL's pushing it a little bit, a lot of bit,
a lot of bit.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Usually back when I played, it was really frustrating because
we would train very in the off season to make
sure we are as strong as possible, and sometimes other
countries weren't there yet physically where we were, and it
would be like, okay, well I'm just stronger than them.
They just fell like there's a difference, whereas I felt
this Olympics, Julia, we even said we were like they're
allowing a lot more at this international tournament, So I
(23:17):
feel like they let them play a lot more, probably
to the requests, from the request of the players, I'm
going to assume.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So just in the women's game, moving a little bit more,
you're never going to get the full checking.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Like on the men's side.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Hopefully we'll be keeping more teeth on the women's side,
but you are allowing a little more physical I want
to ask about the injuries quickly, and I do want
to move on to some of the other teams. But
is it just the amount of hockey being played between
the Olympics and in a professional season more so than
ever before, plus maybe the contact or is there no
injury issue. It's just professional sports and people get hurt
(23:51):
because it does seem like a lot of storylines for
a lot of teams are missing a lot of big players.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
It's a four year cycle, and when you're two years
out from an Olympics, you're going to play through a
lot of things. If you didn't nip it in the
butt right away. So if it was something that you
could kind of tape together and hold together and still
play good hockey, you will, and you'll grind through two
seasons to make it to the Olympics and play.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You want to earn that spot.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
Because you're not waiting another four to get there, right, Yeah,
because it's a four year training block. So did you
just train four years to kind of pull the shoot
on something and so now it's going to be an
eight year training block. No way, no, how, Like, no
one's doing that. That's why Hillary kept playing. All the
teammates said, we knew how bad it was, and she
was still going out there.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
So now they're saying, Okay, post Olympic, let's actually give
our body break if it needs it because it's got
some time.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That makes sense.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Yeah, now because this is their career. So now it's
not like, well like I don't have to play because
I only have four years down the road, or I
can still play because I have a four year weight
And it's like no, no, no, no, no, you have
one can you make it back for playoffs? And two
you have the rest of your career to worry about.
You can't have this linger. So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Let's skip to the top of the standings and the
Boston Fleet. They're in first place as we're recording this
with fifty one points. After making the finals in year one,
they missed the postseason on a tie breaker last year,
and then they left Hillary Knight unprotected in the expansion draft,
which was an absolute shocker of a move, and it
paid off.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Tesla. What's made Boston so good this year?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
I don't know if it paid like well.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I mean not that the direct link to their success
is letting her go, but it's just wild that we
were like, that was stupid, good luck now, and then
we're like, oh, you're in first yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
I think that message to the team kind of might
have been like, well, we believe in all of you
that you can fill that void and it's not going
to be one person, it's going to be all of you,
which is nice.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
I think the coaching change.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
That took place Chris Bars had this group playing a
very structured, systematic style of play that they're doing to perfection.
Julie and I would have been commenting since the beginning
of the season. Aaron Frankel has won them probably nine
to nine point nine percent of their games. They've majority
have been one goal games, which are very tight playoff
(26:01):
style hockey. Our concern for them was can they score?
And the second we started chirping them scoring, they went
out and scored four goals two games in a row.
So I don't know what to say about Boston anymore
except you guys just keep doing you because we're going
to keep our comments to our selves and watch y'all
take this league by storm. But it has been a
nice coming of age for Boston because, like you said,
(26:23):
year one, they made it all the way to the
Walter Cup Final Game five and lost it to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And then last year they played probably their worst.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Game in the game that they needed the most, the
last game of the year, and it was just a
flop for them to and then they ended up missing
the playoffs. So it's nice to see them come back
with a vengeance. I have picked them to win the
past two years in a row, so if they could
just make me right in the past finally, it would
be nice. But they're team to be messed with right now.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
That's not how predictions work, Tessa.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I know you mentioned Aaron Frankel, first goaltender in PWHL
history to have three straight shoutouts. She's got seven shutouts
this season, which is more than any goaltender has recorded
in their career, and she's up to nine all time,
so she is absolutely a brick wall back there, the
Green Monster as they call her out in Boston. Let's
talk about the Montreal Victoire because this has sort of
been the team riding in that.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I'm like, they've got it. This team can't be beat,
and they can be beat, and.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
They have been beat in the semi finals twers in
a row. So we're recording this Wednesday afternoon. They can
clinch a playoff spot tonight. The Minnesota Froscin clinches early
as Saturday, so we've got these two teams in the
second and third positions. Juliet feels like the Victoire's regular
season record means almost nothing. They top the standings last year,
but second straight season they lose in the semi So
who really cares if you won the regular season.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
This is a team that wants more.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Am I wrong in thinking that this season is sort
of a lost one without a win or maybe at
least a runner up in the finals.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
If you asked the players on the Victoire, they would
tell you that. So you're one hundred percent correct, and honestly, Sarah,
you asked these questions perfectly because Tessa picks Boston twin
and has picked Boston twed and I picked Montreal this
year to waking as a nice job on that. Yeah,
I think especially I think Marie Felley Pulaan wants her
(28:06):
chip in this league as she should. She's a winner,
she wins everywhere she goes. And speaking of chips, I
think the Olympics would add to that fire even more
tough to see her struggle with injuries this year, and
that might factor in as well. But like if any
player we saw the way Hillary Knight got it out
at the Olympics, I think Polan's done the same thing
(28:26):
at different points, like she's not scared to play through
tough situations as well, and Tessa's earlier point, the thing
that Montreal has always struggled with in the postseason is
throwing Aaron Ambrose on the ice for thirty five minutes
or an hour or something when they're in double overtime.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Didn't you play sixty minutes when it was triple overtime? Crazy?
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Like that's sixty minutes of ice time logs, Marray Feley
Pulan playing like forty in those games, so that was
that was just not sustainable, and then they'd have like
a fourth line that you didn't see at all. Now
they have a third and fourth line that you see
and that contributes, and they've had to step up. Tessa
mentioned all the work that they did during that Olympic break.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I think Abby Rock brings a lot.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Too, because I think sometimes that that lineup, like playing
with a goat, is probably hard. I have no experience
with it, but I think that there's a lot of
pressure that comes with playing with the goat. I think
sometimes you see girls grip their sticks a little bit
tighter when they look over at Pule and they're like,
oh my gosh, her legacy is kind of like involved
with me right now, and I want to do the
right things.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Or they're like you got this right, no, no, I
need your help. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
So I think the girls and I think Abby Rock
brings a little bit of levity in that, like shell
chir Pooh and like.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Make suir pookem out of.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Her skin a little bit too, Like well, and I'm
glad you touched on that, Julia, because in years past,
you know, Poo's a competitor and like a very very
highly competitive human being, and I mean more than your
average goat. Like she detests losing and wants to win
so bad like no one I've ever met before. And
(29:57):
she carries it and she wears it sometimes when she's
out there and we've.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Been made too even like it radiates off of her.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Yeah, someone's going to lighten the mood. Enter Aby Rock.
We're like, this is going to be great.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
This is even be great for the bench for everyone around,
and it'll be great for Pooh too, you know, just
to remind her like, don't worry, we got this.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah. Do we have any idea of when she might
be back?
Speaker 5 (30:15):
I wish, I wish I could tell you tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, because we saw we saw Hillary Knight and Kettle
Cooin Schofield come back, but we're still waiting, still waiting
on Pullin.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We had zero indication of that.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, just all of a sudden, I message Chillery before
the Takeover game in Chicago, and I was like.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Are you going to be out here at least? Are
you getting close? And she was like no, sadly not
going to make it out.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
There, And then like the two games later, I'm like, oh, okay,
now you're available It's.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Like her and Coiner, we're texting each other like, Hey,
you want to come back now?
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Sure, Yeah, Well let's talk about the Frost because they're
probably the team that cares the least about regular season standings.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Fourth place back to back years one.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
It all from the bottom both times, so they're sitting
in third right now. What are you seeing from the Frost, Tessa, Consistency?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
I think outside of that that gaming against was it Montreal, Julia,
where Montreal just routed them. They're just a consistent wave
of attack and they understand their system and what ken
Clee wants from them, and they go out and they're
a confident group because he just breathes that into them.
(31:18):
They've got two goaltenders who have been there and won that.
They've got Kelly Panic in the middle of the ice,
who is having herself a hell of a season. Julia
and I always joke that, like, we never see Kelly
Panic have a bad game, and she's a beast in
the dot, Like she'll win face offs, which is incredibly
important because to start every face off with possession is
(31:40):
huge and with the team that has that much fiery offense, like,
it's tough to get the puck back, and I guess
we can go there and talk about league leaders in offense,
like you want to talk about league leading point there's
top three league leaders in points are from the Frost
Panics leading in goals, Heisi's leading in assists.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Followed by Curl Like.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
They are just all over the league leading statistics that
it's like, well, no, you can't turn your eye on
them or ever take them lightly. And they have this
I don't want to say swagger, we'll call it swagger,
but it's like a confidence, not arrogance, a confidence. And
I've told this story before where I was in Toronto.
I brought my daughter down to say hi to Taylor Heisi,
(32:19):
and a Toronto Scepters fan walked by and said, there's
no way the Frost are going to go back to
back to back this year. And I turned and I'm like,
do not?
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Why would you see that? And Heisei laughed it off
and she was just like you just wait, we'll show you.
And I was like, this is it great?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Now?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
You just screwed my pick in Boston.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
They don't need this, they don't need bulletin board material. Yeah,
they've already got enough swagger.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
Seriously, but it's just waves of offense. But they don't
forget about their defense. They are very responsible in that sense,
and their forwards aren't just players that produce points, they're
players that contribute in the D zone as well. So
they're going to be a tough team to take down.
And I love that you mentioned the standings that they
were in fourth place both times. The first year they
(33:05):
were chosen by Toronto to play against, which is tough.
So as much as Boston's like, yeah, we're sitting pretty
in first place, it never works out for the first
place team to pick their opponent. So that's where you
kind of started gritting your teeth.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Speaking of bulletin board material, Yeah seriously.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, for those who don't remember, the PWHL actually allows
the top seeds to pick who they'll play. And you know,
then you're immediately giving your opponent this chip on their
shoulder of like, oh, you think we're the easiest to
go through, We'll show you.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It's a couple more things.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
I know we're running out of time here, but middle
of the pack battling for the fourth and final playoff
spot right now, it's the charge in the Scepters. Any
major storylines that stick out to you for these two teams.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Julia, you just never know what the Ottawa Charge, do you.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
And when they've got Gwen with Phillips, who to your
earlier point, who was Playoff MVP last year, Like she
just plays like such a monster. And Tessa mentioned the
combo of Rebecca Leslie and Brian Jenner, Like Rebecca Leslie
has turned a lot of heads in the second half
of the season and even before ye like she was
great to start the year, she didn't get a sniff
at all with Team Canada. And she has just been
so dominant for the Ottawa Charge, getting overtime winners and
(34:07):
game winning goals for them, and being from the city
of Ottawa, like she's the mayor of the city right now.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
And as for the Scepters, like.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
They just continue to be the Scepters, they're so unpredictable.
One game it's like, Okay, this is Toronto, this is
the game that they want to give us, and then
right after that it just is a totally different team
that comes out so hard for them to find any consistency.
That's usually our criticism of the Ottawa Charge, but the
Ottawa Charge just proved that they when they lock in
(34:35):
for the playoffs like they did last year, they're a tough.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Team to be.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Each of those four finals games went to overtime. They
lost to the Frost and the Finals, so they're hungry
to get back and prove.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
That they were this close.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I was listening to your show and the PWHL trade
deadline just passed. You were talking about it and Tessa,
I was unaware that teams can't trade draft picks yet
gotta be one for one deal. So now that I
think about it, that's how the trades in the league
have gone.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
But it never occurred to me that.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
They weren't able to trade future picks. What's that rule
and is it expected to change anytime?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
I would eventually expect it to change, But with expansion looming,
I don't think you can trade picks because you don't.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Know where Nobody knows where the picks.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Are, where the picks are, right, you don't know what
you have or or that.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Okay, So that's why the rule is that way, because
they've been planning for expansion in advance.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Correct.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Yeah, And I think once they finally hit the number
of teams that they're comfortable with and we'll sit at
for an extended period of time. I think maybe then
it will be introduced, but as of right now, it's
it's hard. It's basically a one for one trade and
it's got to work out for both teams. And we
kind of saw it, I mean with Denisa Koshova right
going over, we heard from Melissa Cruso GM of the
(35:42):
Minnesota Frost that you know, she kind of got buried
in their lineup because their lineup is so offensively gifted
that they felt like they kind of owed it to
her a little bit, and they knew they were going
to have to give something up to get Jinc Rose,
who's a defender that kind of bolsters their back end
now to just get you scratch in your head like, okay,
this is going to happen again.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, they're going to be tough to beat back there.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Right, But I mean it kind of makes it fun
in a sense, like this is the team you picked.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Figure it out, like go to work, learn to battle.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
You can't win one way, there's a million ways to
win if that system's not work and fix something. So
it kind of puts responsibility on the coaching staff as well,
which I really really like.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Let's talk expansion quickly because you mentioned it, Tessa. I
was in attendance for the most recent Chicago Takeover Tour
game helped the league pass two million fans that night,
incredible accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Chicago among the.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Cities rumored to be in the mix for an expansion team.
What are you hearing, Tess about where the league might
be headed next and when?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And how many more?
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Can I just say that I would love it to
be in Chicago. I love Chicago as a city. I
almost moved there years back. I think what the.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Way the league chooses is there.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Has to be a good venue, the scheduling has to
work out, the city has to be hockey hungry, which
obviously Chicago is. I have no insight, but my guess
would be one American, one Canadian, just because it makes sense.
I think you're going to have to pull teams more
west because right now you just have Vancouver and Seattle
kind of hanging out there on their own. So maybe
something central would be nice. I know Denver's making a
(37:08):
really big push. They were the ones that initially started
the chant we want a team.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, and they've had better showings than Chicago in terms
of attendance for the takeover tour stuff. Chicago's a tough
one in terms of venues and there's a lot of
teams too. Breaking through marketing wise is always hard.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
That's just it.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
But PWHL is such a different experience. If you will,
you've been to the games, I'm sure you can talk
to it. But Detroit also has showed up and showed
out in Halifax on the East coast in Canada. I
mean they blew the top off of that thing twice.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Thank you for telling me where Halifax is, so I
did not know. No, I would have been like, Okay,
is that on the west? Okay, that's the East. I'm
still learning Canada. I'm working on Sarah. It's awesome. Oh
I love Canada, but I've never been to Halifax.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
I need to get Halifax is like the most Canada
Canada could get.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
It turns up the Canada.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Dial perfect, Yeah, let us know when you go.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah. Well, there's just too much to do.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And then this whole Daily Show thing really gets in
the way of me traveling just to go hang out
with my friends at sporting events, which I'm.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Trying to do.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Speaking of this weekend, Sirens and Torrent at Madison Square Garden,
a sold out takeover tour game, one of the most
famous arenas on the planet, set to yet again, for
like the seventh time this league has done it break
the US attendance record for a professional women's hockey game.
I think the fourth time this season alone that they're
going to break that record. Julia, You're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
What are you most excited about for this one? Oh?
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I just can't, Like personally, I mentioned I've never been
to Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
It's kind of a dump, I've heard now, but it
has a lot of history, kind of a card.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
I've been to a couple of rigs that were like
designed after Madison Square Garden, like they copied the roof
for something to that effects. I'm excited to see the
original one. And I'm excited for Like I know they
play the Prudential and the numbers have been up there
recently nine thousand people after the Olympics on a on
a regular game night, which was so awesome for the
For the Sirens, I'm so excited for this to be
(39:01):
right on Broadway where it deserves to be, Like it
is a show. They're not just games. It is a
production that happens. It is a traveling circus, and I'm
excited for it to be under the Broadway lights. And
I'm excited for all those Sirens players to get to
experience that, specifically Casey O'Brien, who told us on the
podcast about growing up in Manhattan and going down to
(39:22):
Chelsea Piers to learn how to skate, for her to
be able to be at MSG and play on that
ice like where she grew up, learning the game in
such a different way than Tessa and I experienced, and
I think in a really different way than a lot
of traditional hockey.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Fans have experienced. I think it's really full circle. It's
gonna be really cool.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Yeah, and I'm excited for Julia to discover that there
is actually a club up in the corner in MSG's
a tow up there?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Is it still there?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Oh? I don't know. We'll have to find out.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
Yeah, I'm quite sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
I'm going back to Soul Cycle too, which I'm very
excited about. Nice terms of the other NYC sites.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I got to experience the Sirens fans in person, and
I never had occurred to me that their cheer, of course.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Would be like a siren. I was confused at first.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
Dude, New York Sirens fans are the absolute best. They
have the most niche fan culture. They call themselves the
Pizza Rats. They wear their Sirens hats like they are
the most dedicated group of fans.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
They are so cool.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
Well, I'm hoping all the casuals that get to MSG
for that one spot the diehards and they want in
on that because that's how the community grows, and it
also grows because your show y'all are the best. Thank
you so much for coming on helping catch us up
on all things PWHL as we head into the crunch
time of the season.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
This was so much fun. Appreciate you, Sarah, You're the best.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
We appreciate you. Thanks Sarah.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Thanks again to Test and Julia for taking the time.
We have to take another break when we return. I've
got a Golden tickt. I've got a golden tick it.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Welcome back, Slice. We love that you're listening, but we
want you to get in the game every day too.
So here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Now that you're all caught up on where the teams
stand heading into the last month of regular season play.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Actually, go watch the PWHL games.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
You can stream them for free on YouTube in the US,
and our Maple Bacon slices up in Canada can watch
on TSN and CBC. Also, go listen to Tessa and
Julia's podcast Jocks and Jill's.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
We'll link to the latest episode in the show notes.
Oh and one more thing.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
My apologies for incorrectly shouting out Coach Fenn aka Mary
Fendley in yesterday's show. She's tied for second in our
March Slicednesse bracket and I called her coach Fern, which
is a cute name. Mary wrote in to say, make
sure you get it right when I win on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
I love the confidence, my kind of gal. We always
love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Sit us up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot
com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two
two O four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe
a rate and review, y'all, It's so easy. Watch The
Return of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League Golden Tickets rating
five out of five stars.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
For creativity review.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
The AUSL Golden Ticket campaign is one of our favorite
things in sports, and it's back. The now annual tradition
sees top college softball players around the country learn they've
been selected in the AUSL College Draft after a game
while they're on the field with their team, their friends
and family and fans all in the crowd. Among those
who have received the ticket so far, Texas Tech superstar
(42:25):
Nijerie Kennedy, who was surprised by AUSL Commissioner Kim Ang
and a video message from Texas Tech alum and NFL
superstar Patrick Mahomes at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas
on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
Though it's no surprise.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That Kennedy would be selected in the draft, it's always
still fun to see their faces when they're shocked to
discover that Kim Ang and in this case, a video
message from Mahomes.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
We're awaiting them after the game. We'll link to that
in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Now it's your turn, y'all rate and review. Thanks for listening,
See you tomorrow. Good game, Tessa, good game, Julia, Thank you.
How hockey always just says upper body or lower body injury?
Speaker 2 (43:01):
We need details? What part of your lower body what
do you mean? A concussion is just an upper body injury.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
our producers are Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive
producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rudder, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and
(43:32):
Gianna Palmer. Production assistant from Avery Loftus and I'm Your
Host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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