November 4, 2025 • 38 mins
This week, the Packers play detective as they debate why the PWHL is waiting until next season to release Vancouver and Seattle’s team names and logos. Is this a marketing tactic or a blatant lack of care for women’s hockey? Logos aside, Madison and Anya also get into where each team stands with their training camp roster and predict how the start of the season will play out. All that plus Halloween nostalgia and a Lego mystery finally solved in this week’s episode.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to these packs puck. I'm Madison Packer
and I'm Anya Packer.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Madison and I are both former pro hockey players. We
met through hockey and fell in love, and now we're
married with two awesome toddlers, ages two and four.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
These days, we're opening up about the chaos of our
daily lives, between the juggle of being athletes, raising kids and.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
All the messiness in between.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So buckle the puck up because there is a lot
to talk about.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey, Anya, Hello Madie.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
That was a hectic pre show scramble.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, I will say that was quite chaotic, but i
did just eat a brownie, So I'm back to life.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Feel great? All right?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, should we jump right into it because we have
a lot to cover in a little amount of time.
PWHL training camps have a begun. They are underway, the
teams are some seem pretty set, some seem like some opening.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So we thought we would.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Chat little PWHL today, But first let's hit the hot take,
hoty hot take. The hot take of the day is
PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle are not revealing names or
logos until the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seventh season Boom.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I have so much, deep, deep, deep disdain for this decision.
I can't even wrap my brain around what we're doing,
why we're doing it, and why every investment in women's sports.
I'm gonna say hockey feels like we intentionally do it
(01:44):
wrong and I don't get it, so I'm angry.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I have two sides to play on it. I think
it's a little odd. I would agree because I think that,
but I don't know I could see it from both sides.
From a fan perspective, I think it's frustrating for a fan, Right,
you buy the jersey, you support the team, but supposedly
was it Seattle or Vancouver's jersey sold? Seattle's jersey sold
the most, but it's just a jersey that says sat
(02:10):
Pehl history. It's double dipping on your fans. Sure, but
I'm just saying it's it's cool like Peter Whl. Sure,
but I'm just saying I see it from that perspective
of like, Okay, you want the inaugural season's jersey and
all the other teams have it. But then it's also like,
where do you draw the line on who you stopped
doing that?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So they announced these another two rounds of expansions, which
we could I could vent about that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, but is it the original doesn't Okay, they.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Put an expansion in Chicago is the first Ye're just
going to be Chicago because it loses the luster dust
I didn't love it for year one of the league generally,
but I could also kind of vibe with it because
it was like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, I understood it for season one because they wanted
to get like like there was so much getting off
the ground. But like, I don't know, I see both
sides for for not doing it, but like, if I
had to pick one, I think it's a miss. Like
I agree with the double dipping on your fan base
that you have to buy you have to buy stuff twice.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And then I think it's a huge miss when you
have peterhl Seattle that's blowing up right playing against Victoire,
like playing against a brand like you're gonna put the
game is gonna be Yeah, Victoiah versus Peter WHL Seattle,
Like it just feels clunky.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
It feels hard to say.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
It feels like think about the color commentator that's gonna
be able to say sirens.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This Peter Michel Victoah, when.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You think about like when you're talking about a lot
of teams, like you don't like a lot of teams
say you don't say DC, but you say, like, yeah, sure,
but like a lot of people refer to the Red
Wings or the Wings or their Detroit or.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I'm just saying, if you think about the continuity when
all of the teams were city names, it made some
semblance of sense, even though I didn't love that either.
But I'm just I'm here to say we have these
two humongously important brands that have been introduced to the
ecosystem with no identity.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I don't love it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I think the colors are similar enough to one another
that it's confusing, and I think that we haven't done
a good enough job propping up the fact that women's
sports and women's hockey is what I'm gonna stick with.
Can have these really punchy, cool brands and then do
like a massive rollout where you ask fans what they
(04:25):
want to name their team, because instead of any of that,
we just come up with a city name, name it
after where it is inevitably, don't put the team to
play exactly where we say they are and then don't.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Give the fans the ability to cooperate on the branding.
I don't know, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I think it's stinks, and I think that they should
have come up with two sweet ass brands or done
a fan vote naming within the first However, many weeks
that they announced the launch, which went viral, we totally
missed the mark.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Again.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I mean, I don't know. I agree with some, I
don't agree with some. I think that there is enough
opportunity to be unique. I mean, the Vancouver jerseys look
like Toronto's jersey, right, it's the same. And in Seattle's
jerseys look like the Boston jerseys. So like, it's a
little it's gonna be interesting when they play each other,
Like the colors are very similar. But I want like,
(05:19):
like the whole league has that sembling, right, like it's
but again, then so does all of it become a
conversation of well, yeah, you're gonna have all of the
same decisions when the decision.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That's what I was just gonna say.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The challenge, it's obvious that each it's obvious that each
team doesn't have a unique designer. It is obvious to
me that they don't have a unique designer in each
market saying this is what our content looks like, this
is our marketing slick.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, like a.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Unique marketing person. You might have a communications person, but
there's not a unique marketing person.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Like I remember when we redid our jerseys back when
I was the GM of of RIVS. We redid our
jerseys with a designer. Then Boston borrowed because it was
the same ownership group that designer, and I remember him saying,
it's really challenging because I have to change my design
style because I'm not designing for for Steele Rosie, and
that as a designer is hard when you're asking them
(06:13):
to produce and ethos for a brand. Each brand needs
a designer, they need a marketing strategy, they need all
these things. And the marketing strategy can certainly be picked
up and dropped off, but it needs a designer, like
it needs its own vision, and we're missing that with
this with this like PWHL insert state city whatever name here,
(06:34):
because it was peter HL New York and PTERWHL Boston.
That's not even the same. It's a state in a
like then it's peterchl Minnesota. That's a state that's it
was not peterhl Minneapolis. Like we're just picking random things now,
right like, and it's peterhl Vancouver, which is I don't know.
You're gonna catch me on the side of women's sports
(06:55):
deserves an invested brand, an invested marketer, and an invested
person that's going to come up with the ethos and
the identity. And it has to make sense because Toronto's
logo looks like Taylor Swift's, Like, we're stealing too much.
We need uniqueness and that is important and I think
we're missing that right now with.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The Peter hl Well.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
On that note, this is going to be a home
on today. You are fired up.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
We're recording this before it happens, but I'm fired up
because I'm about to spend Halloween alone. So it's a
little bit like the topic is firing me up and
I love this. I could argue about this all day,
but as we move into our check in, I will
tell you I am.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Pretty fired up.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You don't have to spend Halloween alone. Well, so your
cheeks are like the color of my hair right now?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You could Oh, oh, that's what the all. That's what
the alternative is is.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I will leave my comfortable space with my seven hundred
and fifty Halloween costumes and all the different things that
I already know are going on to come spend it
in a hotel room in Buffalo. They the anchor bars there, like,
just walk around Key Bake Center, Like what else is
in Buffalo?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Buffalo?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Chicken Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I can't stand too well say as we head into
going to stick on the Halloween theme. It's my favorite
holiday of all time. I'm like a one million because
I love Halloween. I sent Harlan to school today in
a kiddy dress with kitty ears. I got a heinous
message from the school that the kids were not allowed
to wear costumes. It was a general message, so I'm
(08:27):
not going to take it personally, and a kiddy dress
is hardly a costume.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
But I my whole entire life, I know they don't
like all the rule. I don't like it because we're
too fun.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It's not necessarily because of anything important. It's because we're
not great with structure. But that to be said, I
love Halloween. I am a one million. I've never been happier.
Nothing about life could take me down right now. So
I think that's important to note that Halloween is my
favorite holiday.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
My update, first, apologies for the back ground noise. It
needs to go with a little bit of a visual.
So I was feeling like in the mid seventies until
I saw a little piece of my lego sticking out
of my lego train, and I was like, oh again, Nope,
a glorious day. Just just wait, just.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Wait, No one finds this to be glorious. All your
lego pieces.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Those are all the people. Harry Potter's there, Ron Hermione,
professor mcgonagald owl like, these are collectibles.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
People, you don't know, these are collectibles.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's crazy, the dementor Harry Potter's curt No, the legit
they are, you don't understand. Like to replace one of
those characters is like.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Third Buck, what would we do do without them?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
No?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But like when you think about the cost of the
lego and and like it's I I clearly invest in
my collection. Look at this, I got the Titanic. Those
were the pieces that were missing from platform nine and
three quarters from my Hogwarts Express lego. Long story short,
you know where thank goodness with the trade. So I
am at two a one million. Also, we are going
(10:11):
to see Freddy and the BB's tonight and we're gonna we're.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Gonna food together, the food and have babies.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
And we're gonna take her babies and give her our babies.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yes, let's do that. Her babies do not talk and
they do not move. I would every day of the
week trade. Now every day is crazy. Maybe once a
week just do a little tritty trade.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, So I'm a little bommed about missing the Halloween thing.
I'm not gonna lie, but I don't. It's kind of
like a tough predicament. The kids have four games.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I care the most about Halloween, Halloween and Thanksgiving, and
I think my reasons are pretty valid. There's two very
important childhood memories that I have wrapped around both holidays.
My mom owned a party good store my entire growing up,
and we never had like the most for anything but Halloween.
I got to like dress up in every costume. I
(11:02):
worked every day with my mom. We had all the decorations,
we had all the stuff because we had like the
previous year's inventory. So I felt like we always had
the most maximalist Halloween, and my mom loves Halloween, given
the whole precursor that I just explained, so it was
always one of the holidays that was the most fun.
And then it went directly into November nineteenth, which is
(11:25):
my birthday, which always happens to like line up with
Thanksgiving enough that I thought that Thanksgiving was just everyone
coming together for dinner for my birthday. I never really
like wrapped my mind around the fact that without me,
we would still be doing Thanksgiving. So this holiday, yeah,
it kicks off my favorite time. Okay, So I say
(11:47):
all that because I am like crazy about the Halloween costumes,
the having the stuff, the doing all the things that
I could possibly fit in walking.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Around Like, but you don't like scary minds, I don't
like scary movie.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I don't like being scared.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
General, let's watch a scary movie tonight. No, please, we've
never done it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Let me think about it. No, I don't like being scared.
Do you like being scared? You don't even watch them?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But it's like it's like you and you go, I don't,
I can't watch. Tell me what's happening. It's just me
being scared. I'm the only one that's scared, I know, but.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Let's try it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, try something new one today, Let's try it.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Okay, that's enough about horror movies. We're not doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
We're gonna go to a quick break and then we'll
be back to what people really.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Care about the hockey.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
In the spirit of training camp picking off and things
starting to shake up, we could go team by team,
do a quick little deep dive, and then at the
end we'll give our predictions. Let's say I think that
it's too it's lofty to try and predict, like start
to finish, where people are gonna end up. But where
do you think where do you think the teams are
(13:01):
going to stack up? Let's say going into chrisp Ooh.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I love this actually because I think there's not a
there's Yeah, let me tell you what I know for
a fact. I know for a fact in the top
two there's going to be expansion teams. I think the
top three, in my opinion is let me think about
it more pragmatically, but the top three includes both expansion teams.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Those teams are absolutely stacked.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We'll start with my favorite city, the Boston Fleet, who
this season have lost Hillary Knight, who we have to
all mutually agree. Played an incredible season last year showed
everybody that there's probably a really good reason that she's
had the career that she has. And after season one
we thought, ooh, maybe she's slowing down. Last season she
(13:46):
lit the world on fire. I think she's excited for
her final Olympics run. That's a humongous loss for the
Boston Fleet, So yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I think nothing. Really, I don't know. It's an interesting
one because there's not really much to talk about there
because I think that the most exciting thing that happened
was the departure of the captain, and then it's like, Okay,
you've got a void from a leadership standpoint, you've got
a void from an experienced standpoint. No disrespect, but I
don't think that anything that they're bringing into camp. I
get why they moved night. They didn't protect her because
(14:17):
you're thinking long term. But I also think looking back,
I don't know, I don't know if I would have
made the same decision looking at how things panned out, right,
So I don't know. I don't not much positive to
say about Boston for me, Although I am happy Jill Sonia.
They extended Sonya's contract. I thought that she did a
great job once she moved from New York to Boston.
(14:40):
Sometimes just the change of the backyard is all you need.
And I think she's playing just about as well as
she's ever played right now. So happy for her.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I mean, I think they did that right. If you
think about some of the ones that they signed. Ella Hubert,
which was I think a good pick up in the draft.
I think she's going to be a good, solid player.
Learning Gable got in a extension. They brought in Chloe Errard,
they brought in Zoe Boyd. So they're trying to kind
of pick and pull from some other places to bolster
the team.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I hope it works.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I think they're middle of the pack come the holidays,
very solidly middle of the pack.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Hannah Brant is probably there.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Hannah Brant and Megan Keller are their two main leadership
corps players. I think I could I could probably see
Jill Sonia going up to a leadership role there. But
they have Aaron Frankel, they have Abbi Levy. I think
nothing nothing to you know, kind of bat your eyelashes at,
but I wouldn't say that that's a top top three
team right now, I'm with you, all.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Right, moving on to we're gonna go in alphabetical order.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
They hanv you with it, but.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
We're gonna save the new the two new teams for last,
and then we're gonna stack our predictions, even though you
keep shouting them out as we go. Good on you. Honestly,
it's kind of a similar vibe for me from Minnesota,
Like I don't I think that what they lost was
more valuable than what they gained, and I think that
I think it's interesting. I know that this works like
(16:05):
this at all levels, it's going to happen, but I
just think it's always interesting going into camp when like
there's no there's no risk for somebody, right, Like you
look at Minnesota's roster. They've got three goalies signed, Like yeah,
like you're they kind of already know going in and
like you're still vying for one, two or three, But
like what's the risk in bringing it fourth in and
seeing like like just to push the pack, you know,
(16:29):
or give people I don't know. I just I don't
like the comfort I just always found, especially as a
player too. Yeah, Like it's more like when you know,
when you know that everyone's going for a spot and
like it's just there's nothing on the table at all.
I just think it makes for a more interesting field.
But also, the one thing I will point out and
then I'll pitch it to you, Minnesota has hired Hall
(16:51):
of Fame legend Brianda Deck.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I was just going to say that, I think the
coaching staff changes in Minnesota are going to be incrementally
supported to their roster because they have a lot of
really young, good talent, and I think if you can
get if you can get Decker to put some of
what she's so good at into some of these players,
(17:15):
she can upskill them really really quickly. So I'm really
excited about that. I will say that's the most important
thing to me about the reigning champions. I think going
back to back is really hard, and I think that
that obviously sets them on a path for success. I
do tend to agree with you that I think what
they lost was not built up with what they gained.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
But again I said this a million times.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think the draft was set up in a way
that really didn't appreciate that per team. You know, I
think we could have the same thematic answer for everything.
I don't think players coming out of college right now
are at the same level of veterans that are gone.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
That's just not, in my opinion, not the same.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
And we have no a league like we have no
amateur build up except as Mung goes overseas, which we've
actually seen be a good pipeline. So maybe that's the answer,
but the reality is, I don't think there's a good
amateur option. People aren't getting bigger and stronger and with
a limited set of resources. Right players are getting paid
for the truncated season that they're there. They're not getting
(18:15):
paid to train, They're not getting the nutrition, coaches, they're
not getting all the things. So I think it's who
can gel really quickly with a coach that puts good.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Knowledge into them.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I think he got a great coach here, so that's
really giving me a lot of inspiration. I hope Taylor
Heisei has another standout season. I thought season one was
better than season two. If she can continue to have
that big body approach, I think she can be a
really big option for Minnesota. I know she typically is
the go to player, but I'd love to see her
put on five ten pounds of straight steel that would
(18:45):
be that'd be a scary player to play against.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I think, uh, I agree on what points on that Montreal.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We've got the victoih which, by the way, I think
important to note that one of the big narratives coming
out of preseason last year was the Victoix leadership corps
of Stacy Pooh and Debien taking pay cuts to increase
their roster and their cap. I think that was clear
with some of their trades. I think that's clear with
some of their signings. I would say, given what they lost,
(19:19):
I would say that Montreal is in the best position
from a how they got picked apart standpoint with what
they added. I like what they added. I see what
they're doing here. I'm always hopeful that Montreal can figure
it out. I think this is probably the season that
they really pull some stuff together.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I mean, they've got a huge roster going into training camp,
right They've got at least, as of most recently updated
in their camp right now, seventeen forwards, eight defensemen, four goalies.
You look down that training camp roster and I mean
there are likely going to be players in situations that
they're less than thrilled about that could make other teams
(20:00):
from this Looking at this training camp roster, like, I
just think that they've gone out, they've done their homework,
They've figured out the pieces that they're missing and the
pieces that they need how to compliment their best players. Obviously,
in that trade, you know where they lost for O'Neil
and they gained Rock. We'll see how that plays out
(20:22):
for them. I mean, obviously she's a very very talented forward.
But I think that of all the original teams, I
think that they're sitting in the best position going into
this training campgrind.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think anyone that cuts from gets cut from Montreal
is a pretty good pickup for most other clubs. They
have a really solid depth. I also think that they
do a good job picking internationally as well. I don't
think that they stay so siloed in one bucket that
they lose the ability to really have a good depth.
But again, really solid coaching staff, like a good community,
(20:57):
and I think the second that you have a Pool
or a Dabien or Stacey or an Ambrose for that matter, right,
you have people that people want to learn from, they
want to play with. It's almost that like idyllic state
where I want to be around Skamura, so I'm gonna
go where she is. That's always like the college recruiting
tactic too. I remember when you and I were both
(21:18):
in school. You were Team USA, we were Hockey Canada,
and if there was an elite player from either club,
they were going to look at Wisconsin in Boston University,
probably first or top five, right, So like, I think
it's a natural draw. So I would say Montreal in
my opinion, really good position. I think, really good players.
They have Maggie Flaherty, which they didn't really have that
(21:40):
like super edgy, you know, kind of like shit disturbing
style D and now they do, which I think they
actually really need because nobody can capitalize on a power
play better than Montreal.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I agree. Ah oh, Siren, I hear some little pitter
pattering feet. Hold on a second, A brief break in
our episode, my Isabelle Cup Championship ring went missing the
other day and Harlan had lost it in the heater
and Whalon found it.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Shout up, all right, Sirens.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I want to be as optimistic and positive as I
can be. However, I just look at their roster and
I think from an experience and firepower standpoint. It's going
to be another long year, and I understand the need
for a cultural rebuild wholeheartedly. And who knows, you know,
(22:46):
maybe I don't know. I don't know what the thought
process was here. I just fun fact their goaltending core
all have like a similar iteration of the same name.
You've got Kaylee k and CALLI.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
There you go, and that's what we have to add
about the sirens. I think that's a fabulous silver lining.
I think they've tried to rebuild some D. You have Bourbone,
you have Rose, you have MICUs Andy Hart. I think
D is a weakness. Alice Shelton, the loss of Alice
Shelton I just biggest loss in p WHL history. I mean,
I understand it's two three years, but I think this
(23:22):
will go down for many years to come to be
one of the largest losses that negatively impacts an entire
franchise like Doom for years.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
All right, well, let's transition there to that's all we have.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
That's all we have on New York.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So I mean, I don't, yeah, I don't. I don't.
I think that Ottawa. I think that New York and
Boston not only we want to be in but we'll see.
I mean I said that last year than Boston came
out of nowhere, so who knows. But Ottawa I think
is interesting because Ottawa doesn't stand out to me right away,
but I think that I feel that way because of
(24:02):
their back end, which could go one way or the other.
Right Like, I think up front they're in pretty good shape.
I've actually grown to be a fan of some of
these players, like Gabby Hughes hasn't like traditionally or to
this point in the league, been a huge producer. However,
I think that she will be like I think she's
just catching her stride. I feel the way the same
(24:23):
way about Sir Dacney, But I don't know. I think
you know they got Jaguar now who was buried in
New York. You've got some of these other Vasco Leslie
are on that training camp ros Or Leslie's signed. Those
are players that are just like sneaky plugaway chip away players.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, I will say I feel I feel like Ottawa
has still has the similar pieces and at the end
of last year they made a really good push.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
When you have Gwyneth.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Phillips, it's hard to say that I think the decour
is weak. I would agree with you that this decorep
is not the highlight of the story. But it's not terrible.
Not that anyone's terrible, but it's not the weakest. Plus
the goaltending makes it makes it fine. And then when
you think about the quiet grinder style firepower, I think
(25:13):
it's going to be okay. I want more out of
Brian Jenner personally, and I think that that is something
that any Auto a Charge fan can really lust for,
is for your captain to do more. And I think
it's consistent. She is very consistent as a Cornell player.
(25:33):
I mean she's had success at the pro level, she's
had success at the Olympic level, She's had success at
the collegiate level. I don't think there is a battlefield
that Brion Jenner hasn't won at. I just haven't seen
her completely change a game yet, Like I know she can.
I still think that's in her bag though I'm not
counting her out on that. So I want to see
a better season off her and if we can get
(25:55):
that piece in play, I think this Autoa roster has
some life.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I don't know if I fully agree on the happy
senior change a game. Yet, like, I think that there
have been. Yeah, I think that she's had moments of
greatness for sure. I think that that's what's like, I
think that's what kept her protected. I think that, I mean,
people have shown it's a ruthless business. Like, I don't
think her family situation necessarily has maybe a little bit,
but I mean it's at the end of the day,
(26:21):
it's it's a profound greasiness, right. I think that I
think that she has had and I think that she
certainly has a more. But I think that I think
that she's done a good job navigating in a tumultuous
and ever evolving environment as a leader. But I don't
know that's just me.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
So uh yeah, we kick it over to this Toronto,
we kick it through the scepters, and I think that
this is one We talked about the Ella trade. We
talked about what happened there. This is where Ella went.
And so for that reason, you cannot tell me that
a team that has not a fast in Ella Shelton
on one roster isn't the scary team you ever played against.
Both of those players can affect all three zones of play.
(27:05):
I think that is massive you have sav Harmon, you
have Cali Flanagan, right, you have some really other solid
d Then you look at their forwards, Jesse Kampfer, Emma Malte.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
They still have Claire to.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
George, right, like you have Natalie Spooner, Blair Turnbull, Emma Woods.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Gentry with Gentry, Yeah, so Gentry is a good young town.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Ken another team that kind of came out a little bit,
a little bit scathed right during the draft, and then
the Ellis Shelton trade just makes the whole world different.
They get Elane Chuley in the offseason. I mean, I
thought that was an insane pickup. But all of that
to say, Toronto is very hopeful. In my opinion, they
(27:47):
have to shake the bonds of the ego of being
Toronto because I think that they get a little bit
stuck in their own way.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
They lose Sarah Nurse, they lose Hannah Miller, they lose
some players that really make big pieces of their pie.
If they can get the ego out of the way
and really fight for every game, which I now know
they will with Ella and Renata on the D, I'm
scared of this.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I agree, And and their goaltending situation, I think is
an upgrade. I mean, was was Elaine truly not unbelieved.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
She's unbelievable, and no one, no one rooted for her.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Everyone counted her out and she sat behind an incredible
goalie and it all makes sense. But give that kid,
I mean, you've played against her. She ruined your life. Like,
give that kid a platform.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
She's a great goalie, she's a great cool I.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Think she's spent a lot of years, so happy for her.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I hope that she I hope she wins that starting
position there and I think she's going to make that
team a lot better. So Okay, without further ado, p
w HL Seattle, that is a scary training camp.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
It's not even fair.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's the problem is we're going to talk about all
those teams and then we're gonna look at any of
these rosters and just be like, Okay, this is officially
not fair. But if you look at what's going on
with PWHL Seattle, just from a what happened during the draft,
they have every piece of the pie. If you look
at it from the forwards perspective, you look at it
from the deep perspective, if you look at from a
goalie perspective, if you look at it from a general
(29:20):
RIZ perspective, this team is just sick. Everything about it
is disgusting. Everything about it is just swaggy. Like this
team is gonna hopefully the only thing standing in their
way is if they gel, because everything seems to make
perfect sense, and sometimes that's the worst team.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
But I'm voting that they're going to be amazing. That's
my vote.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think they're talented top to bottom, So no disrespect
to their d However, when you look at their forwards
and their goalies, I mean, Schroeder, Jackson, Murphy, those are
your goalies up front. You've got just to name a few. Carpenter,
Sir Dakney Snodg asked, grant Mentis, Bilka, Agia, Eldridge, Knight, Gostling,
(30:06):
like those are those are the returning coming back to
the league. That's how many first lines I mean, you
know what I mean. Like, so they just it's an
inherent advantage obviously having an expansion team. So if these teams,
if these players don't like show up and show out
for the for their fans and put on an absolute show,
because also, like how much fun is that going to be?
(30:27):
It's gonna be like playing it also trying to say
you're also playing against great talent, right, but like I mean,
I'm I'm fired up for that for a Vancouver Seattle game,
and it probably, like you hope that it won't actually
take that much for these teams to hit their stride
because you know, you're not talking about like building something
in the same way of building from nothing, right you
(30:48):
have there's there's so much already there to work with.
And I mean, like Night and Carpenter reunited on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Come on, their season opener is against each other. So right,
we're gonna see all of this play out live. I
will call it right now. The difference between any team,
and I think this is what I really loved about
when the Vegas Golden Knights came into the league is
it was clear that the Vegas Golden Knights had this
chip on their shoulder, like we're all the guys that
(31:18):
were picked to go and together we're going to create
something really powerful.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So could that be Seattle? Right?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Vancouver it's like the best I think, well, transition to Vancouver,
because I think Vancouver's roster is also pretty disgusting. But
I think the major difference in my opinion is going
to come down to goaltending. If both teams are super rosters,
which they are, I think the defenders on Vancouver are
really solid. If Ashton Bell, Sophie Jakes, Claire Thompson, you
(31:48):
have some just to name a few, said Bard, you
have some crazy defenders. I don't ride with this goalie
core of Campbell, Nashmeier, possibly Kim Newell, possibly Erica Fryar.
I'm not sitting here saying best goalie core of my life.
I actually probably would have split some of Seattle's goalies
(32:10):
for Vancouver's, but I'm not the decision maker here. I
think that's where this team shows a little bit of weakness.
When you have Cova mcquig all these players up on
the front, I think the goaltending for me stresses me out.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yeah, I would agree with that, and I mean, listen,
I think that their front end, their forwards are very
impressive as well. I think they probably have more overall depth,
but Seattle has a little more like individual firepower the
goaltending thing, though I agree wholeheartedly, I think that their
(32:51):
decore is probably a little stronger. I mean, you've got
some really solid d there obviously, so I don't know.
I still think that both of these teams are gonna be,
you know, right in the mix of one or two
all season long. The only thing that as you were talking,
I was thinking and then and then you know, let's
get to our rankings. The only like outlier for this
(33:13):
for these West Coast teams is they have to travel
to the East Coast to play everyone, right, the East
Coast teams only have to travel to the West Coast, Yeah,
to play those That makes a huge difference. So at
what point, Yeah, I mean, I think about how much
we were traveling season one, and now I'm like, now
(33:35):
you're adding two teams, Like you've got the number of
these players now that have families or are married. Like,
you're away from your people, you're away from your bed,
You're not on a nice cozy coach bus all the time,
you're not on a private plane. I mean, like, it's
gonna wear your body down. And so at what point,
I mean, obviously it's professional sports, you have all these resources,
(33:57):
but no, I think you're I think this is the
first that we're going to really start to see the
travel and the effects of the travel wear you down,
because those players are going to be feeling it so
much more frequently.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
That is such a good point, Like it's not to
be understated that that because because we know or we
haven't seen any kind of PA repeal that adds travel
restrictions and support specifically for a team that is a
three hour time difference, because how early are they traveling
(34:32):
for these games? How are they going to navigate that?
I remember when we added Toronto, there was such a
level of scrutiny upon what our practices were to allow
people for border crossing, for time travel, blah blah blah,
changes snow Buffalo, Like we had a bunch of issues
where players were like, excuse me, we need more of
a a buffer for travel. So we aren't getting this
(34:55):
PA release that there's going to be this increased focus
on recovery, travel resources private planes.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
That's not happening.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yet, So it's gonna severely hurt the clubs that have
to travel and play in East Coast TV schedule.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I agree, all right, should we rank them? Do you
want to go like I'll give my eight, you give
your eight, or should we each start with like who
I'm gonna say top middle last, That's what I'm going
top middle last, but you go first because I want to.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
I want to know what you're gonna say first.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
The top two I'm putting Seattle in Vancouver. Well, I
feel like our answer.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Is going to be the same for this Mine's not
the same. That's all right.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
My bottom two are going to be Boston in New York.
And by the way, this is at Christmas, so actually
hold on, I'm gonna change mine. This is at Christmas,
the time of Christmas. I'm going top two Seattle and Montreal.
Bottom two Boston and New York. The middle Vancouver, Toronto,
Ottawa and Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Okay, I'm going my top two are Seattle and Toronto.
Know I think victwias dangerously close. And I think my
bottom two are Frost and Sirens. I think Frost is
going to struggle, like I said, unless unless Decker gets
in there and really makes a big change quickly. I
think they have a lot of rebuild. I think without
(36:17):
veteran presence, New York is going to be struggling. And
I cannot underscore how stressed out I am about the
Ella Shelton loss for the decor of New York. That
to be said, I could see Toronto early in the
season running table given the fact that it's a team
that's established, they have a market that's established, They understand
(36:39):
what's going on with one another, they have a you know,
cadence with the coaching staff, like there's enough there that I.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Think they can easily chew that.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
I think Vancouver is going to have a lot of
good players, So even if they don't gel right away,
you can't tell me that you're not going to see
night Karp like they're gonna light it up. So that's
gonna happen. I think Vancouver's goaltending is going to struggle.
I think Autowa is going to start to get it
figured out. VIKTWA is going to be close. But those
(37:08):
my top two, my bottom two. Everyone else is somewhere
in the middle.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
I think we agree on a lot of things. We
see it a little bit differently. But it's going to
be fun to watch, fun to follow. So this is
leading into what will be our final episode of season one,
which will be a fun season recap. So thanks for
following the preview of the season with us, and we
(37:33):
will check in next time on these packs Puck. That's
it for this week. Thanks for listening, and if you
like what you heard.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Spread the word seriously right now, take your phone out,
Text a friend and tell them to subscribe.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
And be sure to rate and review us on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify if you haven't already. It really really
helps until next week. I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
And I'm Onya Packer and this was These pas Puck.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
These packs Puck is a production of iHeart Women's Sports
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. It's hosted by Us
Madison and Oniapacker. Emily Meronoff is our senior producer and
story editor. We were mixed and mastered by Mary Deo.
Our executive producers are Jennifer Bassett, Jesse Katz, and Ali Perry.
Hi, everyone, Welcome to these packs puck. I'm Madison Packer
and I'm Anya Packer.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Madison and I are both former pro hockey players. We
met through hockey and fell in love, and now we're
married with two awesome toddlers, ages two and four.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
These days, we're opening up about the chaos of our
daily lives, between the juggle of being athletes, raising kids and.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
All the messiness in between.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
So buckle the puck up because there is a lot
to talk about.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey, Anya, Hello Madie.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
That was a hectic pre show scramble.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, I will say that was quite chaotic, but i
did just eat a brownie, So I'm back to life.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Feel great? All right?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, should we jump right into it because we have
a lot to cover in a little amount of time.
PWHL training camps have a begun. They are underway, the
teams are some seem pretty set, some seem like some opening.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So we thought we would.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Chat little PWHL today, But first let's hit the hot take,
hoty hot take. The hot take of the day is
PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle are not revealing names or
logos until the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seventh season Boom.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I have so much, deep, deep, deep disdain for this decision.
I can't even wrap my brain around what we're doing,
why we're doing it, and why every investment in women's sports.
I'm gonna say hockey feels like we intentionally do it
(01:44):
wrong and I don't get it, so I'm angry.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I have two sides to play on it. I think
it's a little odd. I would agree because I think that,
but I don't know I could see it from both sides.
From a fan perspective, I think it's frustrating for a fan, Right,
you buy the jersey, you support the team, but supposedly
was it Seattle or Vancouver's jersey sold? Seattle's jersey sold
the most, but it's just a jersey that says sat
(02:10):
Pehl history. It's double dipping on your fans. Sure, but
I'm just saying it's it's cool like Peter Whl. Sure,
but I'm just saying I see it from that perspective
of like, Okay, you want the inaugural season's jersey and
all the other teams have it. But then it's also like,
where do you draw the line on who you stopped
doing that?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So they announced these another two rounds of expansions, which
we could I could vent about that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, but is it the original doesn't Okay, they.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Put an expansion in Chicago is the first Ye're just
going to be Chicago because it loses the luster dust
I didn't love it for year one of the league generally,
but I could also kind of vibe with it because
it was like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, I understood it for season one because they wanted
to get like like there was so much getting off
the ground. But like, I don't know, I see both
sides for for not doing it, but like, if I
had to pick one, I think it's a miss. Like
I agree with the double dipping on your fan base
that you have to buy you have to buy stuff twice.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And then I think it's a huge miss when you
have peterhl Seattle that's blowing up right playing against Victoire,
like playing against a brand like you're gonna put the
game is gonna be Yeah, Victoiah versus Peter WHL Seattle,
Like it just feels clunky.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
It feels hard to say.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
It feels like think about the color commentator that's gonna
be able to say sirens.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This Peter Michel Victoah, when.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You think about like when you're talking about a lot
of teams, like you don't like a lot of teams
say you don't say DC, but you say, like, yeah, sure,
but like a lot of people refer to the Red
Wings or the Wings or their Detroit or.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I'm just saying, if you think about the continuity when
all of the teams were city names, it made some
semblance of sense, even though I didn't love that either.
But I'm just I'm here to say we have these
two humongously important brands that have been introduced to the
ecosystem with no identity.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I don't love it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I think the colors are similar enough to one another
that it's confusing, and I think that we haven't done
a good enough job propping up the fact that women's
sports and women's hockey is what I'm gonna stick with.
Can have these really punchy, cool brands and then do
like a massive rollout where you ask fans what they
(04:25):
want to name their team, because instead of any of that,
we just come up with a city name, name it
after where it is inevitably, don't put the team to
play exactly where we say they are and then don't.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Give the fans the ability to cooperate on the branding.
I don't know, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I think it's stinks, and I think that they should
have come up with two sweet ass brands or done
a fan vote naming within the first However, many weeks
that they announced the launch, which went viral, we totally
missed the mark.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Again.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I mean, I don't know. I agree with some, I
don't agree with some. I think that there is enough
opportunity to be unique. I mean, the Vancouver jerseys look
like Toronto's jersey, right, it's the same. And in Seattle's
jerseys look like the Boston jerseys. So like, it's a
little it's gonna be interesting when they play each other,
Like the colors are very similar. But I want like,
(05:19):
like the whole league has that sembling, right, like it's
but again, then so does all of it become a
conversation of well, yeah, you're gonna have all of the
same decisions when the decision.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That's what I was just gonna say.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The challenge, it's obvious that each it's obvious that each
team doesn't have a unique designer. It is obvious to
me that they don't have a unique designer in each
market saying this is what our content looks like, this
is our marketing slick.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, like a.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Unique marketing person. You might have a communications person, but
there's not a unique marketing person.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Like I remember when we redid our jerseys back when
I was the GM of of RIVS. We redid our
jerseys with a designer. Then Boston borrowed because it was
the same ownership group that designer, and I remember him saying,
it's really challenging because I have to change my design
style because I'm not designing for for Steele Rosie, and
that as a designer is hard when you're asking them
(06:13):
to produce and ethos for a brand. Each brand needs
a designer, they need a marketing strategy, they need all
these things. And the marketing strategy can certainly be picked
up and dropped off, but it needs a designer, like
it needs its own vision, and we're missing that with
this with this like PWHL insert state city whatever name here,
(06:34):
because it was peter HL New York and PTERWHL Boston.
That's not even the same. It's a state in a
like then it's peterchl Minnesota. That's a state that's it
was not peterhl Minneapolis. Like we're just picking random things now,
right like, and it's peterhl Vancouver, which is I don't know.
You're gonna catch me on the side of women's sports
(06:55):
deserves an invested brand, an invested marketer, and an invested
person that's going to come up with the ethos and
the identity. And it has to make sense because Toronto's
logo looks like Taylor Swift's, Like, we're stealing too much.
We need uniqueness and that is important and I think
we're missing that right now with.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The Peter hl Well.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
On that note, this is going to be a home
on today. You are fired up.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
We're recording this before it happens, but I'm fired up
because I'm about to spend Halloween alone. So it's a
little bit like the topic is firing me up and
I love this. I could argue about this all day,
but as we move into our check in, I will
tell you I am.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Pretty fired up.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You don't have to spend Halloween alone. Well, so your
cheeks are like the color of my hair right now?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You could Oh, oh, that's what the all. That's what
the alternative is is.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I will leave my comfortable space with my seven hundred
and fifty Halloween costumes and all the different things that
I already know are going on to come spend it
in a hotel room in Buffalo. They the anchor bars there, like,
just walk around Key Bake Center, Like what else is
in Buffalo?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Buffalo?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Chicken Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I can't stand too well say as we head into
going to stick on the Halloween theme. It's my favorite
holiday of all time. I'm like a one million because
I love Halloween. I sent Harlan to school today in
a kiddy dress with kitty ears. I got a heinous
message from the school that the kids were not allowed
to wear costumes. It was a general message, so I'm
(08:27):
not going to take it personally, and a kiddy dress
is hardly a costume.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
But I my whole entire life, I know they don't
like all the rule. I don't like it because we're
too fun.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It's not necessarily because of anything important. It's because we're
not great with structure. But that to be said, I
love Halloween. I am a one million. I've never been happier.
Nothing about life could take me down right now. So
I think that's important to note that Halloween is my
favorite holiday.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
My update, first, apologies for the back ground noise. It
needs to go with a little bit of a visual.
So I was feeling like in the mid seventies until
I saw a little piece of my lego sticking out
of my lego train, and I was like, oh again, Nope,
a glorious day. Just just wait, just.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Wait, No one finds this to be glorious. All your
lego pieces.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Those are all the people. Harry Potter's there, Ron Hermione,
professor mcgonagald owl like, these are collectibles.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
People, you don't know, these are collectibles.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's crazy, the dementor Harry Potter's curt No, the legit
they are, you don't understand. Like to replace one of
those characters is like.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Third Buck, what would we do do without them?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
No?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But like when you think about the cost of the
lego and and like it's I I clearly invest in
my collection. Look at this, I got the Titanic. Those
were the pieces that were missing from platform nine and
three quarters from my Hogwarts Express lego. Long story short,
you know where thank goodness with the trade. So I
am at two a one million. Also, we are going
(10:11):
to see Freddy and the BB's tonight and we're gonna we're.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Gonna food together, the food and have babies.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
And we're gonna take her babies and give her our babies.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yes, let's do that. Her babies do not talk and
they do not move. I would every day of the
week trade. Now every day is crazy. Maybe once a
week just do a little tritty trade.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, So I'm a little bommed about missing the Halloween thing.
I'm not gonna lie, but I don't. It's kind of
like a tough predicament. The kids have four games.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I care the most about Halloween, Halloween and Thanksgiving, and
I think my reasons are pretty valid. There's two very
important childhood memories that I have wrapped around both holidays.
My mom owned a party good store my entire growing up,
and we never had like the most for anything but Halloween.
I got to like dress up in every costume. I
(11:02):
worked every day with my mom. We had all the decorations,
we had all the stuff because we had like the
previous year's inventory. So I felt like we always had
the most maximalist Halloween, and my mom loves Halloween, given
the whole precursor that I just explained, so it was
always one of the holidays that was the most fun.
And then it went directly into November nineteenth, which is
(11:25):
my birthday, which always happens to like line up with
Thanksgiving enough that I thought that Thanksgiving was just everyone
coming together for dinner for my birthday. I never really
like wrapped my mind around the fact that without me,
we would still be doing Thanksgiving. So this holiday, yeah,
it kicks off my favorite time. Okay, So I say
(11:47):
all that because I am like crazy about the Halloween costumes,
the having the stuff, the doing all the things that
I could possibly fit in walking.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Around Like, but you don't like scary minds, I don't
like scary movie.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
I don't like being scared.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
General, let's watch a scary movie tonight. No, please, we've
never done it.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Let me think about it. No, I don't like being scared.
Do you like being scared? You don't even watch them?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But it's like it's like you and you go, I don't,
I can't watch. Tell me what's happening. It's just me
being scared. I'm the only one that's scared, I know, but.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Let's try it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, try something new one today, Let's try it.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Okay, that's enough about horror movies. We're not doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
We're gonna go to a quick break and then we'll
be back to what people really.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Care about the hockey.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
In the spirit of training camp picking off and things
starting to shake up, we could go team by team,
do a quick little deep dive, and then at the
end we'll give our predictions. Let's say I think that
it's too it's lofty to try and predict, like start
to finish, where people are gonna end up. But where
do you think where do you think the teams are
(13:01):
going to stack up? Let's say going into chrisp Ooh.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I love this actually because I think there's not a
there's Yeah, let me tell you what I know for
a fact. I know for a fact in the top
two there's going to be expansion teams. I think the
top three, in my opinion is let me think about
it more pragmatically, but the top three includes both expansion teams.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Those teams are absolutely stacked.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We'll start with my favorite city, the Boston Fleet, who
this season have lost Hillary Knight, who we have to
all mutually agree. Played an incredible season last year showed
everybody that there's probably a really good reason that she's
had the career that she has. And after season one
we thought, ooh, maybe she's slowing down. Last season she
(13:46):
lit the world on fire. I think she's excited for
her final Olympics run. That's a humongous loss for the
Boston Fleet, So yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I think nothing. Really, I don't know. It's an interesting
one because there's not really much to talk about there
because I think that the most exciting thing that happened
was the departure of the captain, and then it's like, Okay,
you've got a void from a leadership standpoint, you've got
a void from an experienced standpoint. No disrespect, but I
don't think that anything that they're bringing into camp. I
get why they moved night. They didn't protect her because
(14:17):
you're thinking long term. But I also think looking back,
I don't know, I don't know if I would have
made the same decision looking at how things panned out, right,
So I don't know. I don't not much positive to
say about Boston for me, Although I am happy Jill Sonia.
They extended Sonya's contract. I thought that she did a
great job once she moved from New York to Boston.
(14:40):
Sometimes just the change of the backyard is all you need.
And I think she's playing just about as well as
she's ever played right now. So happy for her.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I mean, I think they did that right. If you
think about some of the ones that they signed. Ella Hubert,
which was I think a good pick up in the draft.
I think she's going to be a good, solid player.
Learning Gable got in a extension. They brought in Chloe Errard,
they brought in Zoe Boyd. So they're trying to kind
of pick and pull from some other places to bolster
the team.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I hope it works.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I think they're middle of the pack come the holidays,
very solidly middle of the pack.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Hannah Brant is probably there.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Hannah Brant and Megan Keller are their two main leadership
corps players. I think I could I could probably see
Jill Sonia going up to a leadership role there. But
they have Aaron Frankel, they have Abbi Levy. I think
nothing nothing to you know, kind of bat your eyelashes at,
but I wouldn't say that that's a top top three
team right now, I'm with you, all.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Right, moving on to we're gonna go in alphabetical order.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
They hanv you with it, but.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
We're gonna save the new the two new teams for last,
and then we're gonna stack our predictions, even though you
keep shouting them out as we go. Good on you. Honestly,
it's kind of a similar vibe for me from Minnesota,
Like I don't I think that what they lost was
more valuable than what they gained, and I think that
I think it's interesting. I know that this works like
(16:05):
this at all levels, it's going to happen, but I
just think it's always interesting going into camp when like
there's no there's no risk for somebody, right, Like you
look at Minnesota's roster. They've got three goalies signed, Like yeah,
like you're they kind of already know going in and
like you're still vying for one, two or three, But
like what's the risk in bringing it fourth in and
seeing like like just to push the pack, you know,
(16:29):
or give people I don't know. I just I don't
like the comfort I just always found, especially as a
player too. Yeah, Like it's more like when you know,
when you know that everyone's going for a spot and
like it's just there's nothing on the table at all.
I just think it makes for a more interesting field.
But also, the one thing I will point out and
then I'll pitch it to you, Minnesota has hired Hall
(16:51):
of Fame legend Brianda Deck.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I was just going to say that, I think the
coaching staff changes in Minnesota are going to be incrementally
supported to their roster because they have a lot of
really young, good talent, and I think if you can
get if you can get Decker to put some of
what she's so good at into some of these players,
(17:15):
she can upskill them really really quickly. So I'm really
excited about that. I will say that's the most important
thing to me about the reigning champions. I think going
back to back is really hard, and I think that
that obviously sets them on a path for success. I
do tend to agree with you that I think what
they lost was not built up with what they gained.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
But again I said this a million times.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think the draft was set up in a way
that really didn't appreciate that per team. You know, I
think we could have the same thematic answer for everything.
I don't think players coming out of college right now
are at the same level of veterans that are gone.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
That's just not, in my opinion, not the same.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
And we have no a league like we have no
amateur build up except as Mung goes overseas, which we've
actually seen be a good pipeline. So maybe that's the answer,
but the reality is, I don't think there's a good
amateur option. People aren't getting bigger and stronger and with
a limited set of resources. Right players are getting paid
for the truncated season that they're there. They're not getting
(18:15):
paid to train, They're not getting the nutrition, coaches, they're
not getting all the things. So I think it's who
can gel really quickly with a coach that puts good.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Knowledge into them.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I think he got a great coach here, so that's
really giving me a lot of inspiration. I hope Taylor
Heisei has another standout season. I thought season one was
better than season two. If she can continue to have
that big body approach, I think she can be a
really big option for Minnesota. I know she typically is
the go to player, but I'd love to see her
put on five ten pounds of straight steel that would
(18:45):
be that'd be a scary player to play against.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I think, uh, I agree on what points on that Montreal.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
We've got the victoih which, by the way, I think
important to note that one of the big narratives coming
out of preseason last year was the Victoix leadership corps
of Stacy Pooh and Debien taking pay cuts to increase
their roster and their cap. I think that was clear
with some of their trades. I think that's clear with
some of their signings. I would say, given what they lost,
(19:19):
I would say that Montreal is in the best position
from a how they got picked apart standpoint with what
they added. I like what they added. I see what
they're doing here. I'm always hopeful that Montreal can figure
it out. I think this is probably the season that
they really pull some stuff together.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I mean, they've got a huge roster going into training camp,
right They've got at least, as of most recently updated
in their camp right now, seventeen forwards, eight defensemen, four goalies.
You look down that training camp roster and I mean
there are likely going to be players in situations that
they're less than thrilled about that could make other teams
(20:00):
from this Looking at this training camp roster, like, I
just think that they've gone out, they've done their homework,
They've figured out the pieces that they're missing and the
pieces that they need how to compliment their best players. Obviously,
in that trade, you know where they lost for O'Neil
and they gained Rock. We'll see how that plays out
(20:22):
for them. I mean, obviously she's a very very talented forward.
But I think that of all the original teams, I
think that they're sitting in the best position going into
this training campgrind.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think anyone that cuts from gets cut from Montreal
is a pretty good pickup for most other clubs. They
have a really solid depth. I also think that they
do a good job picking internationally as well. I don't
think that they stay so siloed in one bucket that
they lose the ability to really have a good depth.
But again, really solid coaching staff, like a good community,
(20:57):
and I think the second that you have a Pool
or a Dabien or Stacey or an Ambrose for that matter, right,
you have people that people want to learn from, they
want to play with. It's almost that like idyllic state
where I want to be around Skamura, so I'm gonna
go where she is. That's always like the college recruiting
tactic too. I remember when you and I were both
(21:18):
in school. You were Team USA, we were Hockey Canada,
and if there was an elite player from either club,
they were going to look at Wisconsin in Boston University,
probably first or top five, right, So like, I think
it's a natural draw. So I would say Montreal in
my opinion, really good position. I think, really good players.
They have Maggie Flaherty, which they didn't really have that
(21:40):
like super edgy, you know, kind of like shit disturbing
style D and now they do, which I think they
actually really need because nobody can capitalize on a power
play better than Montreal.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I agree. Ah oh, Siren, I hear some little pitter
pattering feet. Hold on a second, A brief break in
our episode, my Isabelle Cup Championship ring went missing the
other day and Harlan had lost it in the heater
and Whalon found it.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Shout up, all right, Sirens.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I want to be as optimistic and positive as I
can be. However, I just look at their roster and
I think from an experience and firepower standpoint. It's going
to be another long year, and I understand the need
for a cultural rebuild wholeheartedly. And who knows, you know,
(22:46):
maybe I don't know. I don't know what the thought
process was here. I just fun fact their goaltending core
all have like a similar iteration of the same name.
You've got Kaylee k and CALLI.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
There you go, and that's what we have to add
about the sirens. I think that's a fabulous silver lining.
I think they've tried to rebuild some D. You have Bourbone,
you have Rose, you have MICUs Andy Hart. I think
D is a weakness. Alice Shelton, the loss of Alice
Shelton I just biggest loss in p WHL history. I mean,
I understand it's two three years, but I think this
(23:22):
will go down for many years to come to be
one of the largest losses that negatively impacts an entire
franchise like Doom for years.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
All right, well, let's transition there to that's all we have.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
That's all we have on New York.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So I mean, I don't, yeah, I don't. I don't.
I think that Ottawa. I think that New York and
Boston not only we want to be in but we'll see.
I mean I said that last year than Boston came
out of nowhere, so who knows. But Ottawa I think
is interesting because Ottawa doesn't stand out to me right away,
but I think that I feel that way because of
(24:02):
their back end, which could go one way or the other.
Right Like, I think up front they're in pretty good shape.
I've actually grown to be a fan of some of
these players, like Gabby Hughes hasn't like traditionally or to
this point in the league, been a huge producer. However,
I think that she will be like I think she's
just catching her stride. I feel the way the same
(24:23):
way about Sir Dacney, But I don't know. I think
you know they got Jaguar now who was buried in
New York. You've got some of these other Vasco Leslie
are on that training camp ros Or Leslie's signed. Those
are players that are just like sneaky plugaway chip away players.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, I will say I feel I feel like Ottawa
has still has the similar pieces and at the end
of last year they made a really good push.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
When you have Gwyneth.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Phillips, it's hard to say that I think the decour
is weak. I would agree with you that this decorep
is not the highlight of the story. But it's not terrible.
Not that anyone's terrible, but it's not the weakest. Plus
the goaltending makes it makes it fine. And then when
you think about the quiet grinder style firepower, I think
(25:13):
it's going to be okay. I want more out of
Brian Jenner personally, and I think that that is something
that any Auto a Charge fan can really lust for,
is for your captain to do more. And I think
it's consistent. She is very consistent as a Cornell player.
(25:33):
I mean she's had success at the pro level, she's
had success at the Olympic level, She's had success at
the collegiate level. I don't think there is a battlefield
that Brion Jenner hasn't won at. I just haven't seen
her completely change a game yet, Like I know she can.
I still think that's in her bag though I'm not
counting her out on that. So I want to see
a better season off her and if we can get
(25:55):
that piece in play, I think this Autoa roster has
some life.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I don't know if I fully agree on the happy
senior change a game. Yet, like, I think that there
have been. Yeah, I think that she's had moments of
greatness for sure. I think that that's what's like, I
think that's what kept her protected. I think that, I mean,
people have shown it's a ruthless business. Like, I don't
think her family situation necessarily has maybe a little bit,
but I mean it's at the end of the day,
(26:21):
it's it's a profound greasiness, right. I think that I
think that she has had and I think that she
certainly has a more. But I think that I think
that she's done a good job navigating in a tumultuous
and ever evolving environment as a leader. But I don't
know that's just me.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
So uh yeah, we kick it over to this Toronto,
we kick it through the scepters, and I think that
this is one We talked about the Ella trade. We
talked about what happened there. This is where Ella went.
And so for that reason, you cannot tell me that
a team that has not a fast in Ella Shelton
on one roster isn't the scary team you ever played against.
Both of those players can affect all three zones of play.
(27:05):
I think that is massive you have sav Harmon, you
have Cali Flanagan, right, you have some really other solid
d Then you look at their forwards, Jesse Kampfer, Emma Malte.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
They still have Claire to.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
George, right, like you have Natalie Spooner, Blair Turnbull, Emma Woods.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Gentry with Gentry, Yeah, so Gentry is a good young town.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Ken another team that kind of came out a little bit,
a little bit scathed right during the draft, and then
the Ellis Shelton trade just makes the whole world different.
They get Elane Chuley in the offseason. I mean, I
thought that was an insane pickup. But all of that
to say, Toronto is very hopeful. In my opinion, they
(27:47):
have to shake the bonds of the ego of being
Toronto because I think that they get a little bit
stuck in their own way.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
They lose Sarah Nurse, they lose Hannah Miller, they lose
some players that really make big pieces of their pie.
If they can get the ego out of the way
and really fight for every game, which I now know
they will with Ella and Renata on the D, I'm
scared of this.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I agree, And and their goaltending situation, I think is
an upgrade. I mean, was was Elaine truly not unbelieved.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
She's unbelievable, and no one, no one rooted for her.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Everyone counted her out and she sat behind an incredible
goalie and it all makes sense. But give that kid,
I mean, you've played against her. She ruined your life. Like,
give that kid a platform.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
She's a great goalie, she's a great cool I.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Think she's spent a lot of years, so happy for her.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I hope that she I hope she wins that starting
position there and I think she's going to make that
team a lot better. So Okay, without further ado, p
w HL Seattle, that is a scary training camp.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
It's not even fair.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
That's the problem is we're going to talk about all
those teams and then we're gonna look at any of
these rosters and just be like, Okay, this is officially
not fair. But if you look at what's going on
with PWHL Seattle, just from a what happened during the draft,
they have every piece of the pie. If you look
at it from the forwards perspective, you look at it
from the deep perspective, if you look at from a
goalie perspective, if you look at it from a general
(29:20):
RIZ perspective, this team is just sick. Everything about it
is disgusting. Everything about it is just swaggy. Like this
team is gonna hopefully the only thing standing in their
way is if they gel, because everything seems to make
perfect sense, and sometimes that's the worst team.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
But I'm voting that they're going to be amazing. That's
my vote.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think they're talented top to bottom, So no disrespect
to their d However, when you look at their forwards
and their goalies, I mean, Schroeder, Jackson, Murphy, those are
your goalies up front. You've got just to name a few. Carpenter,
Sir Dakney Snodg asked, grant Mentis, Bilka, Agia, Eldridge, Knight, Gostling,
(30:06):
like those are those are the returning coming back to
the league. That's how many first lines I mean, you
know what I mean. Like, so they just it's an
inherent advantage obviously having an expansion team. So if these teams,
if these players don't like show up and show out
for the for their fans and put on an absolute show,
because also, like how much fun is that going to be?
(30:27):
It's gonna be like playing it also trying to say
you're also playing against great talent, right, but like I mean,
I'm I'm fired up for that for a Vancouver Seattle game,
and it probably, like you hope that it won't actually
take that much for these teams to hit their stride
because you know, you're not talking about like building something
in the same way of building from nothing, right you
(30:48):
have there's there's so much already there to work with.
And I mean, like Night and Carpenter reunited on a
daily basis.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Come on, their season opener is against each other. So right,
we're gonna see all of this play out live. I
will call it right now. The difference between any team,
and I think this is what I really loved about
when the Vegas Golden Knights came into the league is
it was clear that the Vegas Golden Knights had this
chip on their shoulder, like we're all the guys that
(31:18):
were picked to go and together we're going to create
something really powerful.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
So could that be Seattle? Right?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Vancouver it's like the best I think, well, transition to Vancouver,
because I think Vancouver's roster is also pretty disgusting. But
I think the major difference in my opinion is going
to come down to goaltending. If both teams are super rosters,
which they are, I think the defenders on Vancouver are
really solid. If Ashton Bell, Sophie Jakes, Claire Thompson, you
(31:48):
have some just to name a few, said Bard, you
have some crazy defenders. I don't ride with this goalie
core of Campbell, Nashmeier, possibly Kim Newell, possibly Erica Fryar.
I'm not sitting here saying best goalie core of my life.
I actually probably would have split some of Seattle's goalies
(32:10):
for Vancouver's, but I'm not the decision maker here. I
think that's where this team shows a little bit of weakness.
When you have Cova mcquig all these players up on
the front, I think the goaltending for me stresses me out.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yeah, I would agree with that, and I mean, listen,
I think that their front end, their forwards are very
impressive as well. I think they probably have more overall depth,
but Seattle has a little more like individual firepower the
goaltending thing, though I agree wholeheartedly, I think that their
(32:51):
decore is probably a little stronger. I mean, you've got
some really solid d there obviously, so I don't know.
I still think that both of these teams are gonna be,
you know, right in the mix of one or two
all season long. The only thing that as you were talking,
I was thinking and then and then you know, let's
get to our rankings. The only like outlier for this
(33:13):
for these West Coast teams is they have to travel
to the East Coast to play everyone, right, the East
Coast teams only have to travel to the West Coast, Yeah,
to play those That makes a huge difference. So at
what point, Yeah, I mean, I think about how much
we were traveling season one, and now I'm like, now
(33:35):
you're adding two teams, Like you've got the number of
these players now that have families or are married. Like,
you're away from your people, you're away from your bed,
You're not on a nice cozy coach bus all the time,
you're not on a private plane. I mean, like, it's
gonna wear your body down. And so at what point,
I mean, obviously it's professional sports, you have all these resources,
(33:57):
but no, I think you're I think this is the
first that we're going to really start to see the
travel and the effects of the travel wear you down,
because those players are going to be feeling it so
much more frequently.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
That is such a good point, Like it's not to
be understated that that because because we know or we
haven't seen any kind of PA repeal that adds travel
restrictions and support specifically for a team that is a
three hour time difference, because how early are they traveling
(34:32):
for these games? How are they going to navigate that?
I remember when we added Toronto, there was such a
level of scrutiny upon what our practices were to allow
people for border crossing, for time travel, blah blah blah,
changes snow Buffalo, Like we had a bunch of issues
where players were like, excuse me, we need more of
a a buffer for travel. So we aren't getting this
(34:55):
PA release that there's going to be this increased focus
on recovery, travel resources private planes.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
That's not happening.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yet, So it's gonna severely hurt the clubs that have
to travel and play in East Coast TV schedule.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I agree, all right, should we rank them? Do you
want to go like I'll give my eight, you give
your eight, or should we each start with like who
I'm gonna say top middle last, That's what I'm going
top middle last, but you go first because I want to.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
I want to know what you're gonna say first.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
The top two I'm putting Seattle in Vancouver. Well, I
feel like our answer.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Is going to be the same for this Mine's not
the same. That's all right.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
My bottom two are going to be Boston in New York.
And by the way, this is at Christmas, so actually
hold on, I'm gonna change mine. This is at Christmas,
the time of Christmas. I'm going top two Seattle and Montreal.
Bottom two Boston and New York. The middle Vancouver, Toronto,
Ottawa and Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Okay, I'm going my top two are Seattle and Toronto.
Know I think victwias dangerously close. And I think my
bottom two are Frost and Sirens. I think Frost is
going to struggle, like I said, unless unless Decker gets
in there and really makes a big change quickly. I
think they have a lot of rebuild. I think without
(36:17):
veteran presence, New York is going to be struggling. And
I cannot underscore how stressed out I am about the
Ella Shelton loss for the decor of New York. That
to be said, I could see Toronto early in the
season running table given the fact that it's a team
that's established, they have a market that's established, They understand
(36:39):
what's going on with one another, they have a you know,
cadence with the coaching staff, like there's enough there that I.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Think they can easily chew that.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
I think Vancouver is going to have a lot of
good players, So even if they don't gel right away,
you can't tell me that you're not going to see
night Karp like they're gonna light it up. So that's
gonna happen. I think Vancouver's goaltending is going to struggle.
I think Autowa is going to start to get it
figured out. VIKTWA is going to be close. But those
(37:08):
my top two, my bottom two. Everyone else is somewhere
in the middle.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
I think we agree on a lot of things. We
see it a little bit differently. But it's going to
be fun to watch, fun to follow. So this is
leading into what will be our final episode of season one,
which will be a fun season recap. So thanks for
following the preview of the season with us, and we
(37:33):
will check in next time on these packs Puck. That's
it for this week. Thanks for listening, and if you
like what you heard.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Spread the word seriously right now, take your phone out,
Text a friend and tell them to subscribe.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
And be sure to rate and review us on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify if you haven't already. It really really
helps until next week. I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
And I'm Onya Packer and this was These pas Puck.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
These packs Puck is a production of iHeart Women's Sports
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. It's hosted by Us
Madison and Oniapacker. Emily Meronoff is our senior producer and
story editor. We were mixed and mastered by Mary Deo.
Our executive producers are Jennifer Bassett, Jesse Katz, and Ali Perry.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.