January 31, 2025 • 10 mins
Cyclones Captain Justin Vaive recently played in his 500th ECHL game and scored his 150th goal as a member of the 'Clones.
The Cyclones host their annual Teddy Bear Toss on Saturday, during an afternoon game against Toledeo.
Justin joined us to talk about the surging Cyclones, his career, and the Teddy Bear Toss, on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
The Cyclones host their annual Teddy Bear Toss on Saturday, during an afternoon game against Toledeo.
Justin joined us to talk about the surging Cyclones, his career, and the Teddy Bear Toss, on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is twenty two from five ESPN fifteen thirty sports
headlines in just a few minutes. But first, you know,
one of the coolest sports promotions in the city is
on Saturday night, that's actually Saturday afternoon, the Cincinnati Cyclones
have a game against Toledo at four o'clock. They do
a Teddy Bear toss every year, which is really cool.
(00:22):
It's a great initiative, and we're going to go into
further detail about that. They also have a game the
Cyclones do on Friday night, a home game against Wheeling.
They had a tilt last night. They win at four
to one. It's interesting the Cyclones since the first of
the year have They've rejuvenated everybody's playoff hopes because there
was a stretch of time in November and December where
(00:43):
not only were they not winning, but the scores were
kind of ugly. They have gotten things back on tracks.
Still lots of time to go. They're playing really well,
and a major reason why is a Cyclones legend, the
great Justin Vibe, who is with us now. It is
good to have you, Justin. What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh not a whole lot, Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I appreciate you doing this. I mentioned, you know, kind
of when the calendar flipped a twenty twenty five. It
feels like the switch got flipped on for the Cyclones.
You guys have been awesome in twenty twenty five. The
month is almost over. What's been the difference.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't think there's one, you know, easy, easy answer
for that. You know, we've made some personnel changes, which
you know was always a good thing when you shake
things up like that. But I think overall, just you know,
we're a really young team kind of finding our footing
in the pro aspect of things, and I think guys
have really stepped up your game to that next level,
(01:37):
and you know it's showing definitely on the scoreboard and
in the standings.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
In that stretch, you played your five hundredth career EHL
game and you scored your one hundred and fiftieth goal
as a member of the Cyclones. What do those milestones mean?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I mean, I've been asked a lot about it. It's
a special thing to me. I mean, it also just
means I'm getting old and I've been playing a long time.
But uh, at the end of the day, it's it's
definitely something cool I can look back on when I'm
retired and uh talk with my family and friends about
and it's just definitely just a special moment overall.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean, you're you're playing with You're playing with guys
who when when they when you started your professional hockey career,
were not even teenagers yet, So so what's that dynamic?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Like, I do my best to keep up with, uh,
you know, the lingo and all the happening things, uh
that they're enjoying these days, but it's definitely definitely a
unique challenge at times when uh I think now officially
I'm I'm closer to a lot of their parents' age
than the actual players on the team. So it's an
(02:48):
interesting dynamic. But uh, you know, I'll credit with them
keeping me young and uh definitely full of energy.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Do you find yourself being kind of an extension of
the coaching staff, given your your level of experience and
what you've accomplished in this sport.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I think on both sides of that kind of coin,
I see it, you know, obviously relaying messages that I
know the coaches are thinking about or talking about, but
also at the same time kind of talking to the
coaches when they, you know, want to come down on
guys for doing certain things or talking about certain things.
I'm on that other side hearing how these guys are
(03:24):
seeing the game now and you know, trying different things.
So it's an interesting middle, but one I've you know,
accepted and definitely enjoy doing.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Justin Vive of the Cyclones is with us. There's a
retire Vibe twitter feed Twitter account which the movement there
is is to get your number retired at the Heritage
Bank Center. I feel like that's going to happen one
day when when you look, you've been with the Clones
and you've left and you moved up the level. I
mean it's not like it's been continuous with the Cyclones.
But when you started your when you when you came
(03:56):
to Miami University and this part of Ohio, this part
of the country as a kid, could you have imagined
having carved out the legacy that you've managed to in
this city.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, first off, just to put the rumors going around
the locker room to bed. That is not my burner
account commenting that all the time. To set that straight,
but definitely not you know, when I got here at eighteen,
I never really been to Cincinnati before. I mean, I
(04:29):
didn't think it was going to be you know, a
dream really any city picked out. At that point, I
was just you know, wanting to play pro hockey and
wanting to have a career in it. But as I've
been here longer and longer, it's, like I've said many
times before, it kind of become my home. And you know,
I cherished the rink, the city, the fans, all that
(04:51):
that they've given me, and I've always said, if it's
a wish of the franchise at the end of my career,
then obviously I would be more than honor to accept that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What's interesting about that is you use the term end
of my career, and typically stuff like that gets floated
out there when a guy's at the You're not close
to retiring, are you, I.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Honestly, I have no clue. I've always said, as long
as I feel good out there on the ice, and
my body feels good away from the rink, then I
mean I want to play as long as I can.
I enjoy it too much and just thinking about not
waking up every day, you know, going to the rink,
that adrenaline of games and being out there in front
of all the fans and stuff like that. It's it's
(05:32):
something I don't want to see end. So as long
as everything's feeling good and I'm out there and able
to contribute in any way, then I definitely want to
keep playing.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So the Cyclones, you know, they have a lot of
they have a lot of promotions, they have a lot
of like different novelty jerseys. Do you do you have
like a novelty jersey that you've worn that you've been like,
you know what, I want to keep this, I like
this or I wish we were this more often.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
There's two that I actually have of my jersey that
we have worn, and one was the Skyline Chile. I'm
a big, big fan of Skyline, so I have I
have one of those at home. And then the other
one that I thought was really cool. I'm a big
fan of King's Island. When we wore the Beast jerseys
(06:18):
and they asked me to do a bobblehead kind of
promode with that jersey, So that was one that I
wanted to hold on to, so at some point in
my later years I can kind of display those at home.
But as it goes for just promos in general. I
think my favorite, and I think a lot of guys
would agree, is that the Teddy Bear Toss coming up
(06:39):
on Saturday. It's it's always something special to see, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and it feels like, you know, folks show up
to the game and they legitimately participate, like this is
one that a lot of people might go. Okay, I
gotta go to one game a year, but I want
to bring my teddy Bear. I want to go. It
is such a cool initiative and and fans really do
get into.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It one hundred. I mean, I don't really know any
other sport or event or team where, like you said,
you can go and you are actively waiting to interact
with the players and the team and just the whole
crowd itself. It's it's something that hockey is kind of
adopted and it's literally every team is doing it now,
(07:18):
and it's it's one of the coolest events ever. And
at the same time, you're benefiting great causes around your
local city. And just know that the players are they're
looking forward to seeing them fly just as much as
the fans are.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
For sure, You guys, in your sport, you have a
lot of quick turnarounds. But what is it like, and
I hate to say this, and look, you're younger than
me at your age, what does it like to play
a day game on Saturday after a night game on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's tough. You know, as the year, as the years
pile up, it definitely, you know, gets a little tougher.
But it's one thing that kind of since I've started
playing professional hockey, it's just, you know, you become accustomed to,
you know, whether it's three games and three nights or
an afternoon game after a night game. I mean, it's
every team's doing it, So I mean, I guess kind
(08:08):
of guys just gonna forget about the excuses when it
comes to these things, because you know, the other team
that we're playing on Saturday probably played a Friday night
and now they're traveling into Cincinnati. So everybody's doing it.
And it's just kind of the one of those mental
blocks you put in that you know, you're not tired
and you're just ready to get out there and compete.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now now you're gonna have to like go in your
mental rollodeckx here, what is like the toughest turnaround that
you've ever had, Whether it's been a bunch of games
in a short amount of time. A game at night,
in a game in the morning like that, You're like,
all right, we put up with a lot, we do
a lot. We're hockey players. We got through, but this
is maybe a little bit too much.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
There's two that come to mind. The first one was
about five six years ago. We played Friday Saturday night
on the road, and then we were scheduled to play
Sunday at home here in Cincinnati at three o'clock. But
there was a snowstorm when we were coming through Indy,
so we pulled over, slept on the bus until the morning,
(09:13):
and we got home about eleven am and basically went
back to her house, his apartments, showered, change described to
bite to eat, and then came right back to the
rink and still played the three o'clock game. So that one,
that one was pretty crazy. And then the other one
was this year. Actually we had some scheduling conflicts and
(09:33):
we played three games Friday, Saturday Sunday in Norfolk, Virginia,
and then we bust home after the Sunday night game,
got home Monday morning, and then turned around and played
Tuesday Wednesday night at home. Here, So five games in
almost six days.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That's that's insane. That's that's insane. Do you like Do
you like those ten thirty in the morning games they
have for school kids.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I but I've grown fond of them. I'll say that
when I was younger, it was a little tougher to
kind of get up that early and kind of get
into that mental game state. But as they've gotten older
and realize getting out of the rink at about one
point thirty after I already playing the game, it's kind
of nice. I'm a fan of them now.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, yeah, you got your day in front of you. Well,
Saturday's game is a matinee, the Teddy Bear Toss, Cincinnati
hosting the Toledo Walleye. A busy weekend of hockey downtown.
Congratulations on your recent milestones on the turnaround of the season.
You guys still have a lot of hockey to play,
and I can't thank you enough for doing this. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on and looking
forward to well the whole weekend, but Saturday, watching all
those bears fly
It is twenty two from five ESPN fifteen thirty sports
headlines in just a few minutes. But first, you know,
one of the coolest sports promotions in the city is
on Saturday night, that's actually Saturday afternoon, the Cincinnati Cyclones
have a game against Toledo at four o'clock. They do
a Teddy Bear toss every year, which is really cool.
(00:22):
It's a great initiative, and we're going to go into
further detail about that. They also have a game the
Cyclones do on Friday night, a home game against Wheeling.
They had a tilt last night. They win at four
to one. It's interesting the Cyclones since the first of
the year have They've rejuvenated everybody's playoff hopes because there
was a stretch of time in November and December where
(00:43):
not only were they not winning, but the scores were
kind of ugly. They have gotten things back on tracks.
Still lots of time to go. They're playing really well,
and a major reason why is a Cyclones legend, the
great Justin Vibe, who is with us now. It is
good to have you, Justin. What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh not a whole lot, Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I appreciate you doing this. I mentioned, you know, kind
of when the calendar flipped a twenty twenty five. It
feels like the switch got flipped on for the Cyclones.
You guys have been awesome in twenty twenty five. The
month is almost over. What's been the difference.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't think there's one, you know, easy, easy answer
for that. You know, we've made some personnel changes, which
you know was always a good thing when you shake
things up like that. But I think overall, just you know,
we're a really young team kind of finding our footing
in the pro aspect of things, and I think guys
have really stepped up your game to that next level,
(01:37):
and you know it's showing definitely on the scoreboard and
in the standings.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
In that stretch, you played your five hundredth career EHL
game and you scored your one hundred and fiftieth goal
as a member of the Cyclones. What do those milestones mean?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I mean, I've been asked a lot about it. It's
a special thing to me. I mean, it also just
means I'm getting old and I've been playing a long time.
But uh, at the end of the day, it's it's
definitely something cool I can look back on when I'm
retired and uh talk with my family and friends about
and it's just definitely just a special moment overall.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean, you're you're playing with You're playing with guys
who when when they when you started your professional hockey career,
were not even teenagers yet, So so what's that dynamic?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Like, I do my best to keep up with, uh,
you know, the lingo and all the happening things, uh
that they're enjoying these days, but it's definitely definitely a
unique challenge at times when uh I think now officially
I'm I'm closer to a lot of their parents' age
than the actual players on the team. So it's an
(02:48):
interesting dynamic. But uh, you know, I'll credit with them
keeping me young and uh definitely full of energy.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Do you find yourself being kind of an extension of
the coaching staff, given your your level of experience and
what you've accomplished in this sport.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I think on both sides of that kind of coin,
I see it, you know, obviously relaying messages that I
know the coaches are thinking about or talking about, but
also at the same time kind of talking to the
coaches when they, you know, want to come down on
guys for doing certain things or talking about certain things.
I'm on that other side hearing how these guys are
(03:24):
seeing the game now and you know, trying different things.
So it's an interesting middle, but one I've you know,
accepted and definitely enjoy doing.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Justin Vive of the Cyclones is with us. There's a
retire Vibe twitter feed Twitter account which the movement there
is is to get your number retired at the Heritage
Bank Center. I feel like that's going to happen one
day when when you look, you've been with the Clones
and you've left and you moved up the level. I
mean it's not like it's been continuous with the Cyclones.
But when you started your when you when you came
(03:56):
to Miami University and this part of Ohio, this part
of the country as a kid, could you have imagined
having carved out the legacy that you've managed to in
this city.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, first off, just to put the rumors going around
the locker room to bed. That is not my burner
account commenting that all the time. To set that straight,
but definitely not you know, when I got here at eighteen,
I never really been to Cincinnati before. I mean, I
(04:29):
didn't think it was going to be you know, a
dream really any city picked out. At that point, I
was just you know, wanting to play pro hockey and
wanting to have a career in it. But as I've
been here longer and longer, it's, like I've said many
times before, it kind of become my home. And you know,
I cherished the rink, the city, the fans, all that
(04:51):
that they've given me, and I've always said, if it's
a wish of the franchise at the end of my career,
then obviously I would be more than honor to accept that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What's interesting about that is you use the term end
of my career, and typically stuff like that gets floated
out there when a guy's at the You're not close
to retiring, are you, I.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Honestly, I have no clue. I've always said, as long
as I feel good out there on the ice, and
my body feels good away from the rink, then I
mean I want to play as long as I can.
I enjoy it too much and just thinking about not
waking up every day, you know, going to the rink,
that adrenaline of games and being out there in front
of all the fans and stuff like that. It's it's
(05:32):
something I don't want to see end. So as long
as everything's feeling good and I'm out there and able
to contribute in any way, then I definitely want to
keep playing.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So the Cyclones, you know, they have a lot of
they have a lot of promotions, they have a lot
of like different novelty jerseys. Do you do you have
like a novelty jersey that you've worn that you've been like,
you know what, I want to keep this, I like
this or I wish we were this more often.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
There's two that I actually have of my jersey that
we have worn, and one was the Skyline Chile. I'm
a big, big fan of Skyline, so I have I
have one of those at home. And then the other
one that I thought was really cool. I'm a big
fan of King's Island. When we wore the Beast jerseys
(06:18):
and they asked me to do a bobblehead kind of
promode with that jersey, So that was one that I
wanted to hold on to, so at some point in
my later years I can kind of display those at home.
But as it goes for just promos in general. I
think my favorite, and I think a lot of guys
would agree, is that the Teddy Bear Toss coming up
(06:39):
on Saturday. It's it's always something special to see, that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and it feels like, you know, folks show up
to the game and they legitimately participate, like this is
one that a lot of people might go. Okay, I
gotta go to one game a year, but I want
to bring my teddy Bear. I want to go. It
is such a cool initiative and and fans really do
get into.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It one hundred. I mean, I don't really know any
other sport or event or team where, like you said,
you can go and you are actively waiting to interact
with the players and the team and just the whole
crowd itself. It's it's something that hockey is kind of
adopted and it's literally every team is doing it now,
(07:18):
and it's it's one of the coolest events ever. And
at the same time, you're benefiting great causes around your
local city. And just know that the players are they're
looking forward to seeing them fly just as much as
the fans are.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
For sure, You guys, in your sport, you have a
lot of quick turnarounds. But what is it like, and
I hate to say this, and look, you're younger than
me at your age, what does it like to play
a day game on Saturday after a night game on Friday.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It's tough. You know, as the year, as the years
pile up, it definitely, you know, gets a little tougher.
But it's one thing that kind of since I've started
playing professional hockey, it's just, you know, you become accustomed to,
you know, whether it's three games and three nights or
an afternoon game after a night game. I mean, it's
every team's doing it, So I mean, I guess kind
(08:08):
of guys just gonna forget about the excuses when it
comes to these things, because you know, the other team
that we're playing on Saturday probably played a Friday night
and now they're traveling into Cincinnati. So everybody's doing it.
And it's just kind of the one of those mental
blocks you put in that you know, you're not tired
and you're just ready to get out there and compete.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Now now you're gonna have to like go in your
mental rollodeckx here, what is like the toughest turnaround that
you've ever had, Whether it's been a bunch of games
in a short amount of time. A game at night,
in a game in the morning like that, You're like,
all right, we put up with a lot, we do
a lot. We're hockey players. We got through, but this
is maybe a little bit too much.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
There's two that come to mind. The first one was
about five six years ago. We played Friday Saturday night
on the road, and then we were scheduled to play
Sunday at home here in Cincinnati at three o'clock. But
there was a snowstorm when we were coming through Indy,
so we pulled over, slept on the bus until the morning,
(09:13):
and we got home about eleven am and basically went
back to her house, his apartments, showered, change described to
bite to eat, and then came right back to the
rink and still played the three o'clock game. So that one,
that one was pretty crazy. And then the other one
was this year. Actually we had some scheduling conflicts and
(09:33):
we played three games Friday, Saturday Sunday in Norfolk, Virginia,
and then we bust home after the Sunday night game,
got home Monday morning, and then turned around and played
Tuesday Wednesday night at home. Here, So five games in
almost six days.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That's that's insane. That's that's insane. Do you like Do
you like those ten thirty in the morning games they
have for school kids.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I but I've grown fond of them. I'll say that
when I was younger, it was a little tougher to
kind of get up that early and kind of get
into that mental game state. But as they've gotten older
and realize getting out of the rink at about one
point thirty after I already playing the game, it's kind
of nice. I'm a fan of them now.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, yeah, you got your day in front of you. Well,
Saturday's game is a matinee, the Teddy Bear Toss, Cincinnati
hosting the Toledo Walleye. A busy weekend of hockey downtown.
Congratulations on your recent milestones on the turnaround of the season.
You guys still have a lot of hockey to play,
and I can't thank you enough for doing this. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on and looking
forward to well the whole weekend, but Saturday, watching all
those bears fly
Mo Egger News
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