Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Well, I think since you brought it up, we should
go to it here in the Wood radio studio, the
old one. Yeah, this is West Michigan's morning news.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I love it. Now Coach Watson is on with us.
He loves to play with us. We love that, Coach.
Happy holidays and obviously congrats on the great start HL
record start for your Grand Rapids Griffins at twenty two
to one on one. But before we get into hockey, Coach,
I was thinking when I heard the foghorn, because you
guys have the great organ when you score a goal
at home at Van Agel Arena, but you've been around
(00:37):
at different places, and even when you were a kid,
maybe traveled around to different hockeyers. What do you think
is the best sounding celebration after a goal that you've
been at as far as a building.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
You know what, It was a great question. It's a
great question obviously being in in some of the buildings,
especially exhibition games. Traveling with Detroit, I've seen some great ones.
We talked about Chicago with Chelsea Dagger right after they
score Detroit alone with without me, you know, they kept
it at home there with Eminem. But the one that
(01:11):
I saw especially I was turning professional as a players
signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They have the cannon
that goes off after the goal is scored, and then
that place gets rocking and rolling with the cannon, So
it's something unique. It's different than a horn, but the
cannon can get going and get the place buzzing. So
I'll go with that one for now.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I've heard that. By the way, the sound effect for
a Red Wings game, You're right, that is awesome one
I was going to share with you. Have you ever
seen Tampa Bay with the lightning effect? Yep, that one
I was telling Steve. I went to a Red Wings
Tampa Bay game a couple of years ago on spring break,
and they're organ players, you know. He's got his own
like section, I mean up there, and then they have
these lightning rods that like, it's like real lightning, sounds
(01:55):
like that buzzing sound effect. You ever had one of
those things where it traps to flies, you know, and
kills the flies, That's what it sounds like in there.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It seems to me like you should pay attention to
the disclaimer in your ticket in those houses.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh my gosh, I'm telling you though, as coach will
attest to that place is on fire after they do that.
And obviously the lightning if he had quite a run
themselves coach speaking of runs, congratulations, And I got to
start with just the news that happened yesterday for people
who don't know, Patrick Kane is injured. He's going to
be down for a couple of games for the parent club.
John Leonard getting a call and why not for that guy? Wow,
(02:27):
he's going to be in the lineup. It looks like
tonight right for the Red Wings.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, he should be, and we are so excited. We
got the call after our win in Chicago on Sunday
and I grabbed John aside and told him and the
players kind of knew what was going on then when
he when he relayed a message, our whole locker room
was so excited for him, which is awesome to see
because there's other guys that get called up too, But
the fact that our players understand how important, how special
(02:55):
the player he is for us. For someone to get
that opportunity, you know, that's sort of the the culture
we've built there that we celebrate everyone's successes, and this
is a big time success for him and I hope
he goes there and lights it up. I hope he
does a great job. Yes, selfishly we want him in
our lineup, but this is what it's all about him
and I can't wait to watch him play today.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, Islanders tonight seven o'clock for the Red Wings. Griffins
will be in action at Iowa coming up tomorrow night
before we get to the wild and kind of your run,
Eric Gustafson comes back your way, and that's a nice
veteran defenseman to have back right, coach it is.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You know, he completely changes the dynamic of our power play,
our puck moving ability out of our own. He brings
that veteran experience with him when he's on top of
his game. You know, he certainly looks like he does
not belong in this league. So where we lose a
really good player, but we gain one on the back
end where we've been really good defensively. Now he's an
(03:51):
AD and provide some offense from back there for us.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I got to ask this question for my partner, Steve Kelly,
Griffin's powerplay head coach and Watson joining us and they've
got two coming up in Iowa tomorrow night and then
Friday night before they're back home on Sunday. Tickets still
available Griffinshockey dot Com for that Mattney affair, but he
wanted to ask it. I'm thinking the same thing. When
you have a start like this, I mean, it's so unbelievable.
Do you do anything much with your coaches as far
(04:17):
as changing up lines or not.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Nope, nope. We we just keep this rolling and try.
You know what we try to do, and the word
is consistency. We try to be as consistent as he
possibly can with what we do. Hockey players are so
habit driven, and you you know, they get up, they
have their breakfast, they come to practice, we have our meeting,
we go practice, they get off, they do their workout.
(04:41):
It's almost they have a routine. We don't want to
get them out of their routine. You know, we have
to change your lineups just because the veteran role, we
sit one or you know, we sit a forward set
of defense, and so those get changed automatically every game.
But the guys are comfortable, they know what's happening depending
on who's out. So we just we just keep it rolling.
To be honest with you, we just keep the same
and you know, we try to change it up a
(05:02):
little bit here and there, but not too much where
the guys are like, WHOA, well, what's going on here?
You know, we don't ever want them to have those
types of thoughts in their heads.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Best to luck to you guys on the road.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Tip.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I wanted to end with this, coach, and Merry Christmas
to you and your family. But explain to the audience
just how rare air the goal differential that you guys
have right now. Folks. It's twenty four games. They've scored
ninety three goals. I was explaining this to Steve during
the break. They've only given up forty four. So the
plus minus is forty nine goals. Coach, that's unheard of.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Gosh, yeah, that's a lot. It's crazy. I mean, I
think the best goal differential I've ever had in Toto
was one hundred. But I mean it took seventy two
games to get there, and we're a third of the
way through and we're almost a fifty. So again, our
guys defensively, to me, the number is the defensive number.
I love that we're right there. Forty four. We're the
(05:53):
lowest by a lot, but we have had trouble scoring
goals in the past. Now guys are scoring goals, are
feeling good about themselves, so and ten to one scores
can kind of help that as well, you know down
in Texas there and we want ten to one. Those
those types of the goal differentials helped the big overall picture.
But certainly proud of our team and hopefully can continue it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Always great to catch up head coach of the Grand
Rapids Griffins, Dan Watson, Thanks for your time this morning,
no thanks
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And Merry Christmas everybody.
Well, I think since you brought it up, we should
go to it here in the Wood radio studio, the
old one. Yeah, this is West Michigan's morning news.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I love it. Now Coach Watson is on with us.
He loves to play with us. We love that, Coach.
Happy holidays and obviously congrats on the great start HL
record start for your Grand Rapids Griffins at twenty two
to one on one. But before we get into hockey, Coach,
I was thinking when I heard the foghorn, because you
guys have the great organ when you score a goal
at home at Van Agel Arena, but you've been around
(00:37):
at different places, and even when you were a kid,
maybe traveled around to different hockeyers. What do you think
is the best sounding celebration after a goal that you've
been at as far as a building.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
You know what, It was a great question. It's a
great question obviously being in in some of the buildings,
especially exhibition games. Traveling with Detroit, I've seen some great ones.
We talked about Chicago with Chelsea Dagger right after they
score Detroit alone with without me, you know, they kept
it at home there with Eminem. But the one that
(01:11):
I saw especially I was turning professional as a players
signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They have the cannon
that goes off after the goal is scored, and then
that place gets rocking and rolling with the cannon, So
it's something unique. It's different than a horn, but the
cannon can get going and get the place buzzing. So
I'll go with that one for now.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I've heard that. By the way, the sound effect for
a Red Wings game, You're right, that is awesome one
I was going to share with you. Have you ever
seen Tampa Bay with the lightning effect? Yep, that one
I was telling Steve. I went to a Red Wings
Tampa Bay game a couple of years ago on spring break,
and they're organ players, you know. He's got his own
like section, I mean up there, and then they have
these lightning rods that like, it's like real lightning, sounds
(01:55):
like that buzzing sound effect. You ever had one of
those things where it traps to flies, you know, and
kills the flies, That's what it sounds like in there.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It seems to me like you should pay attention to
the disclaimer in your ticket in those houses.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh my gosh, I'm telling you though, as coach will
attest to that place is on fire after they do that.
And obviously the lightning if he had quite a run
themselves coach speaking of runs, congratulations, And I got to
start with just the news that happened yesterday for people
who don't know, Patrick Kane is injured. He's going to
be down for a couple of games for the parent club.
John Leonard getting a call and why not for that guy? Wow,
(02:27):
he's going to be in the lineup. It looks like
tonight right for the Red Wings.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, he should be, and we are so excited. We
got the call after our win in Chicago on Sunday
and I grabbed John aside and told him and the
players kind of knew what was going on then when
he when he relayed a message, our whole locker room
was so excited for him, which is awesome to see
because there's other guys that get called up too, But
the fact that our players understand how important, how special
(02:55):
the player he is for us. For someone to get
that opportunity, you know, that's sort of the the culture
we've built there that we celebrate everyone's successes, and this
is a big time success for him and I hope
he goes there and lights it up. I hope he
does a great job. Yes, selfishly we want him in
our lineup, but this is what it's all about him
and I can't wait to watch him play today.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, Islanders tonight seven o'clock for the Red Wings. Griffins
will be in action at Iowa coming up tomorrow night
before we get to the wild and kind of your run,
Eric Gustafson comes back your way, and that's a nice
veteran defenseman to have back right, coach it is.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You know, he completely changes the dynamic of our power play,
our puck moving ability out of our own. He brings
that veteran experience with him when he's on top of
his game. You know, he certainly looks like he does
not belong in this league. So where we lose a
really good player, but we gain one on the back
end where we've been really good defensively. Now he's an
(03:51):
AD and provide some offense from back there for us.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I got to ask this question for my partner, Steve Kelly,
Griffin's powerplay head coach and Watson joining us and they've
got two coming up in Iowa tomorrow night and then
Friday night before they're back home on Sunday. Tickets still
available Griffinshockey dot Com for that Mattney affair, but he
wanted to ask it. I'm thinking the same thing. When
you have a start like this, I mean, it's so unbelievable.
Do you do anything much with your coaches as far
(04:17):
as changing up lines or not.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Nope, nope. We we just keep this rolling and try.
You know what we try to do, and the word
is consistency. We try to be as consistent as he
possibly can with what we do. Hockey players are so
habit driven, and you you know, they get up, they
have their breakfast, they come to practice, we have our meeting,
we go practice, they get off, they do their workout.
(04:41):
It's almost they have a routine. We don't want to
get them out of their routine. You know, we have
to change your lineups just because the veteran role, we
sit one or you know, we sit a forward set
of defense, and so those get changed automatically every game.
But the guys are comfortable, they know what's happening depending
on who's out. So we just we just keep it rolling.
To be honest with you, we just keep the same
and you know, we try to change it up a
(05:02):
little bit here and there, but not too much where
the guys are like, WHOA, well, what's going on here?
You know, we don't ever want them to have those
types of thoughts in their heads.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Best to luck to you guys on the road.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Tip.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I wanted to end with this, coach, and Merry Christmas
to you and your family. But explain to the audience
just how rare air the goal differential that you guys
have right now. Folks. It's twenty four games. They've scored
ninety three goals. I was explaining this to Steve during
the break. They've only given up forty four. So the
plus minus is forty nine goals. Coach, that's unheard of.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Gosh, yeah, that's a lot. It's crazy. I mean, I
think the best goal differential I've ever had in Toto
was one hundred. But I mean it took seventy two
games to get there, and we're a third of the
way through and we're almost a fifty. So again, our
guys defensively, to me, the number is the defensive number.
I love that we're right there. Forty four. We're the
(05:53):
lowest by a lot, but we have had trouble scoring
goals in the past. Now guys are scoring goals, are
feeling good about themselves, so and ten to one scores
can kind of help that as well, you know down
in Texas there and we want ten to one. Those
those types of the goal differentials helped the big overall picture.
But certainly proud of our team and hopefully can continue it.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Always great to catch up head coach of the Grand
Rapids Griffins, Dan Watson, Thanks for your time this morning,
no thanks
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And Merry Christmas everybody.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.