Carolina Hurricanes' Electrifying Season: Rantanen & Hall Transform Roster Amid Goaltending Battles and Community Triumphs

Join us alongside Shane Willis, the Director of Youth Hockey and Community Outreach & Analyst on the Carolina Hurricanes' broadcasts, as we uncover the story behind the Carolina Hurricanes' electrifying season and strategic roster moves. Discover the insights behind the pivotal trade that saw Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall join the Canes, transforming the team's dynamics and fueling their quest to challenge the Washington Capitals for the top spot. With Eric Tulsky's smart acquisitions, including Sean Walker and Shane Gostisbehere, the Hurricanes have fortified their roster and are poised for a thrilling playoff run.

We dive into the complexities of the Hurricanes' goaltending situation, where Freddie Anderson and Pyotr Kochetkov vie for dominance, spurring each other to new heights. Overcoming Anderson's injury, the team showcased resilience with players like Tokarski stepping up, yet defensive lapses remain a challenge. As we dissect the team's strategies, we also discuss their penchant for come-from-behind victories, the dangers of relying on such tactics, and the pressing need for improved puck management and offensive pressure.

In a heartfelt segment, we honor Eric Staal's jersey retirement and discuss the Staal family's indelible impact on both the National Hockey League and the Hurricanes. Shane Willis shares his thoughts on the team's culture, management philosophies, and community involvement, including the incredible success of the "First Goal Program". As we celebrate the growth of hockey in the Triangle area, the Hurricanes' community outreach efforts shine, making them not just a team to watch on the ice but a pillar of their community.

• Transforming the roster with strategic trades for Rantanen and Hall  
• Emphasizing the importance of players fitting the "Canes hockey" mentality  
• Highlighting the exceptional performance of Sean Walker, Dimitri Orlov, and Jalen Chatfield  
• Goaltending situation improving with Frederick Anderson's return  
• Discussing ongoing struggles with the power play unit  
• Experience and performance of veteran players like Jordan Staal  
• Importance of youth hockey programs and community outreach initiatives  
• Outlook on their potential playoff run and challenges ahead

00:00:01 Carolina Hurricanes Success and Trades
00:07:30 Carolina Hurricanes Goaltending and Offense
00:14:55 Carolina Hurricanes Culture and Power Play
00:25:46 Carolina Hurricanes Roster and Future
00:34:48 Hockey Predictions and International Tournament
00:42:32 Youth Hockey and Community Outreach Program
00:51:44 Carolina Hurricanes Community and Playoff Outlook
00:57:57 Carolina Hurricanes Fan Appreciation Conversation

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All signs are positive for the Carolina
Hurricanes.
These days On the ice, theCanes are on a heater 5-0-1
their last six games and poisedto make their move against
first-place Washington Capitals.
Off the ice, huge news on theweekend Blockbuster deal that
brought Nico Rantanen to theCanes and Taylor Hall.

(00:24):
Lots of excitement with theCanes these days.
Joining me to talk about newson the ice and off the ice, the
Director of Youth Hockey andCommunity Outreach for the
Carolina Hurricanes.
We know him better as pre andpost game and in between period
analysts for FanDuel SportsNetwork's games, shane Willis.

(00:47):
Welcome, shane.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It is great to be with you and, as always, what I
love to do talk hockey both onand off the ice today.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Well, that's definitely one of our favorite
things too, so it's great.
Favorite things too, so it'sgreat.
So lots of excitement.
These days Caniacs are.
They're pretty high and prettyexcited, for sure because of
both the play of the Canes andobviously, the big trade on the
weekend.
You know a lot of players leftthis year In the summer.

(01:18):
We weren't quite sure what toexpect, but Eric Tulsky did some
great work and boy the Canesare doing well, sitting very
nicely in second place in theEast.
What were you thinking when somany players were leaving in
free agency and the Canes had todo a bit of a rebuild?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
That was probably the question mark of the summer for
a lot of people and the fansreally as a whole, tom was.
They looked at the pieces thatwere moving, but many didn't do
a deep dive on the guys thatEric Tolsky and his staff were
bringing in, because I talked toso many people throughout the
summer who were worried, sayingoh, the Canes are worse, they're

(02:00):
going to miss the playoffs, andI said, hold on a second.
I said you have to dive deepinto this a little bit and look
at the factor, look at thepieces that left and without a
doubt, you're going to miss someof these big players.
And you know, brady Shea wasreally the question mark for me
on the back end for theHurricanes.
But a guy that they bring in ona longer term extension is
Scott Walker and you know thisis a guy who comes in and I was

(02:31):
talking with Mike Maniscalcolast year when he left Philly
and went to Colorado.
I said you know, sean Walker isa guy who we should be trading
for and Tolsky goes out, inkshim to a deal.
He's a great skater, he playsphysical, he comes in and the
other guy in the back end thatyou kind of fill in with offense
is Shane Gossespierre, who isabsolutely tearing it up in
Detroit at the end of the seasonand he comes in up front.

(02:53):
You look at Roslevic, you lookat Robinson and then you have
the wildcard factor of the kidin Jackson Blake.
So you definitely lost somescoring power and things through
the summer, but I still feltvery comfortable coming into the
season that this team hadenough firepower.
They added enough pieces andthe one caveat that I love about

(03:13):
the pieces they added is thatthey're hungry guys looking to
reestablish their careers andwhen you ever have that type of
hunger of a guy who knows he'sgot to play well, you get
results, and Eric Tolsky and RodBrennamore have gotten that
from this group so far thisseason.
Have that type of hunger of aguy who knows he's got to play
well, you get results, and erictolsky and rod brindamore have
gotten that from this group sofar this season well, you know
and eric talked a lot about thethe kind of decision making that

(03:34):
took place in in selectingthese players.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
They're specifically targeted for the canes and,
again, being players that playedrod brindamore type you know
canes hockey, if you will andwe'veore type you know Kings
hockey, if you will.
And we've seen that and youknow.
You talk about Sean Walker.
I really loved him inPhiladelphia.
He was playing upwards of 20minutes there.
He was, in all situations,great on the penalty kill.

(03:57):
He was doing some power playwork.
He was doing everything and Ithought he was a guy that could
definitely come in and make adifference.
And I'm a guy that coulddefinitely come in and make a
difference and I'm a guy that'sbeen talking a lot about Sean
this year and saying, hey, heshould be getting more ice time
because he's definitely a guythat can eat ice time and do it
well.
So, yeah, I agree with you onSean for sure.
You know you look at a couple ofthe guys that got an

(04:18):
opportunity as a result of this,of course, were Dimitri Orlov
and Jalen Chatfield.
Now you know they showed somegreat stuff in the playoffs last
year.
We're so impressed with thatbecause they stepped up.
Due to injury situation, theyhad to play a lot more minutes
and they held their own, Ithought, in the playoffs.
But you look at their numbersthis year they're incredible
Combined plus 41.

(04:39):
They're playing upwards of twoand a half minutes a game more,
and the two of them are withinthe top 12 in plus minus in the
league.
That's quite a duel.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
And the one thing for Tim Gleason on the back end
coaching these guys he hasn'tmoved them around, he's stuck
with his pairs and they reallyhave pairings that complement
each other very, very well.
The one thing that I love as acoach when I was coaching youth
or when I look at guys coachingthe top when you have righty
lefties and you can play yournormal sides, yeah, it does make

(05:13):
the game easier on the back endand the hurricanes had that
luxury.
But jalen has talked about itearlier this season how well he
and dimitri know each other, notonly on and off the ice but how
each other plays.
And I think dimitri know eachother not only on and off the
ice but how each other plays.
And I think Dimitri has thatsize and strength to jump up.
He has a very heavy shot.
And where I think the factorkind of determines things for me

(05:35):
is people underestimate howwell Jalen Chatfield skates
Because he can cover a lot ofturf and make up ground if
there's a mistake made on eitherside.
So it's a great compliment,they've been great for the
Hurricanes.
And a lot of turf and make upground if there's a mistake made
on either side.
So it's a great compliment.
They've been great for theHurricanes, and a lot of people
look at that too right, thesetwo guys are going to slide up
into your 3-4 hole.
How is that going to look?
They've, you know, dominatedand played very, very well, as

(05:56):
you said in the plus-minuscategory.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Well, and of course they're playing heavy minutes
too.
So they're playing heavyminutes too, so they're great.
On the penalty kill, they playup against a lot of the tough
lines that the canes do goagainst.
I am a huge jaylen chatfieldfan as well.
Uh well, you talk about skating.
How many times has he, you know, come back to make plays?
You know what an error in thecenter ice zone somebody's

(06:20):
breaking in just because of hisspeed and his ability to get
back quickly.
He's just tremendous.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
The other thing I want to mention too, about Jalen
Chatfield is and you look athis journey to the NHL nothing
was given to this young man andI was watching him the other day
in New York, in both days wherethe team took the ice.
This guy never leaves the ice.
He is constantly working onsomething.
He was helping in skating withRiley Stillman, who's the extra

(06:51):
player who always knows.
You know, I got to put in alittle bit extra work.
I'm not playing.
Jalen Chatfield was rightbeside him getting in some reps,
working on some differentthings.
So he knows what got him tothis level with hard work and
determination, and he knowswhat's going to keep him there
as well, and he continues to doit on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
And you know he's another story where Eric Tolsky
put together an outstanding dealfor the Canes.
You know his value is certainlygoing to go well beyond what
the deal was with the Canes butit was a good deal for him at
the time.
I think a very smart move.
And again, yeah, chatfield,he's a keeper for sure.
Let's talk goaltending for aminute.

(07:31):
So goaltending a bit of achallenge this year.
So we had started the year withthe two guys that we're so
excited about last year and theninjury strikes, as it did last
year, and now you're kind ofgoing to others to try to fill
in and the Canes kind of alittle bit of a tough period, a
little bit of 500 hockey for aperiod, and I think goaltending

(07:53):
was maybe a part of that.
But now they've got Freddieback.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
What are you thinking about the goaltending situation
?
Very comfortable right now,with Freddie Anderson back and
pitching his first shutout ofthe season at MSG just the other
night for the CarolinaHurricanes.
But I think these two playerscomplement each other very, very
well in how they're built,their demeanor.
I think when goaltenders havefound in everyone around the

(08:22):
league a lot, what I would sayis going to a 1A and a 1B, if
you will, because they realizethe rest and mental preparation
for a goaltender is extremelyhigh.
Yes, and when these guys knowtheir schedule they seem to play
so much better.
I think they both have acomfort level.
I think Piotr is better whenFreddie Anderson is on the bench
.
I don't know the exact reasonwhy, but he plays better in the

(08:46):
net.
Maybe it's a little bit ofcompetition, maybe it's the
comfort knowing that Freddie isthere if something is off.
I tip my cap to the guys whocame through when Freddie was
hurt, because obviously that wasa low point for the Canes.
I think these guys that got theopportunity did well at certain
moments and when thingsstruggled the Hurricanes quickly
moved and had another playerstep up and kind of continue to

(09:07):
battle in a guy like Tokarski.
So overall, I think I look atboth these guys and I'm very
comfortable with the goaltendingsituation, the factor where
some people may say, well, theHurricanes are giving up more
goals.
Let's not always just point ourfinger at the goalies, because
I've spoke to Rod Brindamore andthere's been games where he is
not happy with how many scoringchances are being given up,

(09:30):
because if you went back to lastyear, the Hurricanes were so
tight defensively and this yearteams are breaking down the
system a little bit.
The Hurricanes are making moremistakes, if you will, that are
creating chances for other teamsand they've been grade A
chances.
You know it's easy to go backand look at.
I talk this, I would love tofind this stat out but when a
puck is turned over at thedefensive zone blue line it

(09:52):
seems to always end up in theback of the net.
That's where the Hurricanes,that's where the Hurricanes have
lacked some judgment thisseason In those areas where
you've turned things over andall of a sudden, we can't just
sit here and point at the goalieand be like what are you doing?
I'm like that was three guysjust gave the puck away and it's
in the.
So, um, I love the goaltendingsituation.
Everyone always wants to havethat superstar guy and I always

(10:15):
quickly turn and say who's goingto give you their guy?
When you find one and you haveone, you don't ever give them
away.
But the two guys that thehurricanes do have, I think when
you have them both and they'reboth on their game, you
definitely have a dynamic duo tobackstop you to victories yeah,
I mean last year they showedthat.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
I mean the the uh, from january 1st on, those guys
were were insane once freddiecame back.
Um, I agree.
I agree on all you're saying,shane, and you know that it's
been kind of a strange year forthe Canes because they're giving
up so many of these odd manrushes.
And the other thing that I'vebeen really talking a lot about
is, you know, rod Brendamorereally loves the team to start

(10:55):
on time and for some reason theCanes got into a period where
they weren't starting on time.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
And it's still a little bit there.
Um, I rod really didn't likethe first two periods in msg.
The other night he loved histhird period, um, but this team,
I agree with you, hasn't hadthat explosive jumps that we saw
last year.
Yeah, um, last year to me itwas almost like that middle
frame was always a little bit ofthe low for the team for some

(11:25):
reason.
And now it's it's the firstperiod and it's a dangerous
place to toy with.
Yeah, because, as you and Iknow, tom, that when you get
behind in this league it doesn'tmatter who you're playing
tonight.
The Hurricanes are going toface off here on Thursday night
against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Right.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Young, high flying team.
They got nothing to lose.
But if you get behind this teamit's going to be tough to chase
them down because they're goingto continue to score.
They have elite talent and Rodmentions that all the time.
It's a fine line betweenwinning and losing in the
National Hockey League and itmakes it that much harder when
you're chasing the game.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, and you know, and the Canes have been lucky
they lead the league with 17come-from-behind victories,
which is amazing.
But I think you're right, shane, you can't keep pushing that
button.
They've been dodging the bulletwith some great second and
third periods, but they're goingto have to change that.
The other thing that I look atwith the Canes as well is that

(12:26):
they don't seem to be as heavyright now on the puck.
Like you know, we used to seethem.
You know their game was, as Rodsays, get to their game and
they'd be pushing the other teamin the opposition zone.
You know lots of time up therewearing them down.
They don't seem to be gettingthat as consistent right now.
What are you seeing with that?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, I agree with you.
And when this team is on andcontrolling the puck and you
look at offensive zone time,you're winning those 50-50
battles below the goal line.
In my mind, in the one area, Ithink the Hurricanes have came
off.
A little bit is more of thatpuck possession time.
Hurricanes have came off alittle bit is more of that puck
possession time.
It's almost that they'reforcing plays instead of rolling

(13:10):
it back down below one moretime, utilizing their body,
holding on to pucks and they'redynamic players, there's no
question.
But when their play is thereand it's 30, 70, maybe a 30%
chance, instead of just holdingon and saying let's reset, let's
do it again, they're going forit.
And when those plays get brokenup or pucks are bouncing,
bouncing around, now it givesteams a chance to shoot it out
or get out of their own zone.
And I feel they've.
They've lacked patience, Ithink in a little bit, when

(13:33):
they've had that puck possessiontime in the offensive zone.
They're still a big, fast,heavy team, but I think they've
lacked a little bit of patiencewhen they're in the offensive
zone.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean certainly the Stahl line, as it
always does, is leech by exampleand it doesn't seem to matter
who's on the wing with thoseguys, Martinuk and Jordan Stahl,
I mean they're just getting itdone, and it was kind of fun to
see Jordan get some goalsrecently with his little run on

(14:02):
offense.
I guess there was a lot ofexcitement around the team.
They probably really enjoyedthat.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, I took credit for it because I picked him up
in fantasy going into thatweekend in our office pool and
everyone's like what were youthinking there?
And I said I don't know, it washis brother's retirement
weekend.
I figured the family would firehim up coming in and he
definitely went off that weekendwhile the family was in town.
He's continuing.
I mean, he always plays greatwith his size and strength and

(14:29):
sometimes he's just snake bittenat times that he can't find the
back of the net.
But he's always doing it right,as we hear the head coach say,
and you know it was nice to seehim get rewarded there for the
last couple weeks yeah, for sure, and you mentioned, mentioned
the big event with Eric.
How was that?
How did you enjoy thatMonumental?

(14:55):
I think a lot of peopleoverlook the fact that you don't
see many of these in your time.
You know certain teams havegone through them.
You know you look at theRangers, raptors and Montreal,
canadiens, toronto but teamslike the Carolina Hurricanes
this is number four and it'sbeen 17 years since we saw the
last one and rod brindamore goto the group.
So I always was talking to ourfans saying you're, you need to
get a ticket to this, like youmight not see this again in your

(15:16):
time here and it's a specialweekend.
Besides going into the hall offame, it's probably the highest
honor any player can receive ishaving their jersey retired and
it was a special moment.
I think it showed a lot abouteric stall, what kind of a
person, what he meant to thisorganization and city, with how
many people came out formerteammates, um, staff and then

(15:38):
the fans as a whole.
The stall family are greatpeople.
Eric gave a great speech intalking about that.
When you look around the hockeyworld and if people sat around
and talked about hockey families, the Stahl family would be in
there as such a powerful andstrong and character-type family
that was a huge part of theNational Hockey League and the

(16:00):
Carolina Hurricanes.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, for sure, they've always been leading by
example.
Uh, you know, when eric wascaptain, of course.
Now, with jordan as captain,I've always loved the stalls.
Now you're west western canadaguy, right, you can't be played
for, uh, swift current andlethbridge back in the day.
Uh, that's a great breedingground, and one of the things I

(16:22):
talked to a lot of folks aboutis I just think the quality of
players and individuals in thegame are amazing and you say
that about the stalls, but Ithink it's universal.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I mean we get such great people.
And it's funny because peoplealways ask me about our team now
and I said we might have thenicest team I've ever been
around.
And it kind of goes back to thehead coach, because every time
you hear Rod ask a questionabout a person in his room or
one of his players, the firstthing he says is well, they're
great people and that's a bigbox, it's on the checkmark.

(16:56):
When players are being lookedat to become a Carolina
Hurricanes player, what type ofperson are they?
Is this the type of person thatwe want to be part of our
culture and are they going to bethat piece we need?
And you know, rod looks at it,eric looks at it, um, dundon
looks at it.
And it's a big part before youknow, you get offered a contract

(17:16):
or a trade is made, um, to comehere and put on this jersey,
because it means a lot to thepeople that are here yeah, and
you know, you know you mentionedTom Dundon and I.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
I did a piece on Tom last fall.
I think he's incredible the waythat he's taken this team and
certainly he's had his you knowhis finger on all of it in
different ways and he doesn'tget enough credit in my view.
You know you still have thesefolks hammering on on the
different social media sitesabout Cheap Tom and all this

(17:47):
jazz.
They don't have a clue.
I think he's just done aphenomenal job and it's
reflected in the whole kind ofcharacter of the team.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
And I laugh when I see those things all the time
and I'm wondering if thesepeople have ever looked at the
salary cap websites to show thatwe're at the cap.
I don't know what people wouldlike to do to get higher than
that.
I think a lot of people getstuck in the fact of you don't
have that one high paid player.
But what I love about TomDunson's approach with his staff

(18:18):
is saying we are going to builda team and I use the Toronto
Maple Leafs because they're theeasiest target.
Being a Western Canadian guy,we don't.
You know, I was an Oilers guygrowing up.
So when you look at the Leafs,they have four players that are
getting paid over $10 million.
And how does that work for them?
Because you need other piecesof round.
You can't be built like abasketball team.

(18:40):
It just doesn't work in thissport and Rod knows that he
wants quality people.
And the other big piece that Ilove you know some players
probably don't love it is ifyou're a young player, if you're
Sebastian Ajo, if you're AndreiSvetlakov, if you're Jacob
Slavin, you're going to get thelong term deal because your
cornerstones is organization.
Other than that, he's notwilling to handcuff the

(19:03):
organization as something that'sgoing to hurt them down the
road, where then they cannotspend.
At a trade deadline, you cannotgo out and get a guy because
you're strapped to two guys thatyou had to buy out that didn't
work out, also known as theminnesota wild.
The minnesota wild they'reabout to come out of it.
They're about to come out ofthe zach parisi they had.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
They had, uh, they had a couple of guys the ryan,
the Ryan Suter, zach Parisi.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Contracts are about to come over.
I think there'll be going to bea celebration in Minnesota when
that comes off the books,because now you can add pieces
to your team and Minnesota's agreat team but they can't do
anything and I think peopleoverlook the fact of that.
When these offerings come outor Tom is signing people,
they're like oh, why didn't theysign them for six years?

(19:46):
Because most of those guys getbought out and you're still
stuck with that in your cap.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, I mean and that's certainly one of the
hallmarks of the hurricane sofar is that they've certainly
stayed away from these laterperiod contracts, long-term
deals that, as you say, theydon't age well, Just want to
touch on one guy we laugh allthe time because I always say
that's the one guy who'sundefeated and his name is
Father Time.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
He's undefeated, he never loses.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
That's exactly right.
Now you have the odd person,that kind of defies that, like
Brent Burns and others, yes Forsure.
Hey, just one last thing on theice I wanted to catch and
that's the power play, and youknow a lot of us sitting here
wondering.
I look back at the numbers.
I thought I'd just take a quicklook and see what the Canes
have been doing this year.
And in October they were at 29%, november 25.

(20:40):
These are outstanding numbers.
And then 23.7 in December,still going well, and then the
wheels came off 5.4% so far inJanuary.
I mean, this is hard to believewhat's going on.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Characteristic for the amount of talent that's on
the ice, without a doubt.
I like to see power plays over25% for sure.
I harped hard on the Hurricaneslast year and Mike was like wow
, that's a strong number.
But I think you need to be inthe top five on your PK and your
power play Right.
To be one of the best in theleague.
You have to make your powerplay run and sting teams Early

(21:16):
in the season it was rolling.
It is a big momentum thing,without a doubt.
Momentum is a huge factor inthe power play when things get
rolling.
A key piece that went down wasshane goss's bear and how well
he was playing offense on thepower play early in the season.
Now you've added a few newpieces with the big trade uh,
with ranton hall coming in, yeah.

(21:39):
So now you're trying to mix innew pieces to your power play
and move things around.
Natius is out.
Drury was also on the power playyeah, but it's a little bit of
a momentum thing and when thepower play is rolling, you're,
the puck is moving and Rod talksabout this all the time and he
uses his father-in-law as agreat example because he was a
great basketball coach.
Down here he says a greatbasketball team.

(21:59):
The ball is always moving, it'snever sitting in one place, and
he resembles the power play.
That way too, if you're gettingthe puck and the power play and
a lot of it comes down toconfidence you're holding,
you're holding and then you'removing and that guy's holding
and holding, moving, it's easierto defend.
But when it's on its game andit's sharp and it's bang, bang,
bang and there's a shot, thenit's continuing, bang, bang,
bang, which we saw in october,november exactly it will roll

(22:23):
and they have this skill rightnow.
I think they're lacking a littlebit of confidence in that
quickness.
Again, teams are watching moreand more video and they're
dialing in to defend it, butpuck has to move quicker in my
mind, and that's been lacking,as you said, through the month
of January.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, and you see the power plays that seem to have a
lot of success, have a lot ofmotion, as you say yes.
And one of the things that Ithink with Shane Goss' spare,
what he really added, from myviewpoint, was a guy that he
could get on that blue line andmove from side to side, which is
really incredible.
If he can get to the center ofthe blue, that is a very, very

(22:59):
dangerous spot and, you know,probably the best guy we see is
Kale McCarr.
But if you can kind of do that,and I think Shane does that
well, I think you've got a realshot to make things happen.
But the movement's key Now,something interesting I saw um
was that uh, of course, uh,shane had been doing a lot of
good work with uh, with martynatchez, so he, he was feeding

(23:22):
him in those.
You know that sweet spot for theone-timer frequently, and I
noticed in the first couple ofgames with uh, with miko ranton,
and he seems to be getting asimilar kind of you know,
continuity getting it over tohim quickly.
And you know, again, rantanenjust figuring things out.
But he was getting shots offand that was encouraging to me

(23:45):
because I mean, it's not on theother side, it was on the left
side before, now it's on theright, but Shane showed that he
can handle that quite nicely.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, it's a different look.
Now you have Ajo on his sideskating downhill, as Rod likes
to talk about on his regularside, on the left side, as the
quarterback who can now feed hisgreat friend through that seam
for a big shot.
And I think the one thing thatI love about it it's only been
two games so far is now teamsare trying to adjust because you

(24:15):
mentioned, with Marty Natchezit's all coming off the left
side because he's a righty onthe one-timer.
Now teams are trying to adjustbecause the Canes are going the
other direction.
Now how do we defend this bigguy over here?
Ajo's got the puck on a stickhere he can shoot.
He can pass to the middle to aguy.
Svec is there, so he's thequarterback.
He has three options now who'sSvetch, ranton or Gossespierre,

(24:37):
back at the top?
But the puck has to move,there's got to be shots, it's
got to be chaotic in a way tostart breaking teams down.
And I always tell people I saidI'm not greedy, I don't need
two, three power play goals anight.
But in those key moments, ifthe game is tied or maybe you're
up by one or two, it's kind ofthe dagger that you need to put
teams away, and that's what'slacked for me a little bit on

(24:58):
the power play is just those keymoments and those key goals
yeah, and sometimes they theychange the entire temperature of
the game.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Um, you know, because you miss on your power play and
the next thing you know, theother team scores and you're
done.
Um, you know, talking aboutmiko and tay Taylor Hall.
So last Friday, some of us wereshocked.
I literally fell out of mychair.
I almost hurt myself and, yeah,really didn't expect that.

(25:26):
I mean we were.
We've been talking a lot about,you know, eric Tolsky has been
definitely out and about, as hedoes, and the Canes usually are,
and we thought it was going tobe Vancouver.
And we've been talking a lotabout JT Miller and, of course,
elias Pettersson.
So when it was Mikko Rantanen,we were caught off guard in a
good way.
But what was going through yourmind, shane?

(25:49):
Did you think this was comingor was it a bit of a surprise?
And then, what's your thinkingnow?

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Well, I was as shocked as anybody was, because
this was a very well-kept secretaround our organization and
really around the league.
Usually somebody slipssomething out, and this one.
Mike maniscalco and I wereactually at dinner in garden
city in new york while we waitedto take on the islanders and
our phone started buzzing withpeople saying is this real, did
Did you see this?

(26:15):
And I was like what are peopletalking?

Speaker 1 (26:17):
about.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
So you know, we started looking and talking
about it.
I'm like this is real.
And you know, first reportscame out that it was nature's in
Kokanemi and then it came downto realizing it was nature's
injury.
That was the official deal withthe picks, with Chicago
involved to take on some money.
A creative deal.
I love the deal.

(26:40):
I think it's hard from abusiness standpoint, when you
talk about the relationships, tomove a guy like Marty Natchez
with a skill level and without adoubt I think Marty Natchez
gets 100 points in this leagueat some point.
Yes, and do I think Jack Drurybecomes a bonafide star in this
league and maybe a captain orassistant captain, without a
doubt.
But you have to also look atwhat you brought back a guy in

(27:02):
miko ranton and who has been inthe top five in scoring in the
past five years, right behindsuperstars of david dry sidle
and his line mate mckon.
So why wouldn't you want thatin your roster?
And then Taylor Hall, a formerfirst overall pick, who I go
back to the hunger factor ofreally wanting something.

(27:22):
Yes, this guy's been in some.
There's been some things saidabout Taylor Hall and I said
this guy's been in terriblesituations on some bad teams
over the past few years.
It's hard, I said, as any guywould.
I'll tell you, if you're on abad team it's hard to be
motivated on a daily basis to belike let's go get it boys.
But I saw last game a littlehunger in Taylor hall, um

(27:44):
against the Rangers.
He was, he was dynamic and hewas creating some things.
So, as I mentioned, tonightbeing Thursday, um to play the
Hawks, I think these two guys infront of this building are
going to get a warm reception,the electricity and you're never
forgetting and people you justmove on from players.

(28:05):
You're never forgetting MartyNatchez and Jack Drury and what
they meant to the organization.
But there will be an energytonight when Mikko Rantanen and
Taylor Hall come over the boardsand I feel one of them scores
tonight and you know, as theysay, the rest is history and
this team gets on.
As you said, a big run, yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Well, I mean, there's a couple of things I liked
about it.
Taylor Hall is a guy that I'vealways liked, and something I
mean similar to what you'resaying, shane is that you know,
taylor is a guy who was a HartTrophy winner, you know 2017-18.
He's a guy that I've alwaysfelt that he can skate like mad.
He's strong as anything, and Ithink that's a thing that a lot

(28:46):
of folks aren't aware of justhow strong that Taylor Hall is.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
He's bigger than you expect.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Yeah, well, yeah, and think about this.
I mean, we talked a little bitabout the trade the other day,
and here's what we were thinkingtoo.
You've just added two bigbodies, okay, and you've taken
out a couple of slight guys andyou've changed the temperature
of the hockey club Yep, you andI both know what happened last

(29:14):
week.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Oh, the Hurricanes got pushed around a little bit.
Yes, you're not moving theMoose.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
He's nicknamed the Moose for a reason.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
And when Taylor Hall did walk in I was like maybe I
need to look at his stats.
I'm like well, he's bigger thanI thought he'd be.
But I always tell people tooI'm like you're drafted first
overall into the National HockeyLeague, you don't lose that
skill.
That skill is never leaving you.
He has it, he has that abilityand I think Rod Brindamore is

(29:45):
the perfect coach to get thisguy rolling.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well, I mean Taylor has said that repeatedly in the
last few days.
I mean he thinks this is theperfect match for him and he
wants to prove and I think youmentioned that in the broadcast
the other day too, shane hewants to prove that you know he
can do it.
He wants to be a differencemaker.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, he's searching for something everyone does,
whether you're a first overallpick or your last pick in the
draft.
What are you searching for inyour career?
A Stanley Cup.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Stanley Cup, and he hasn't been.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Now he is in a position that a team has that
ability, they're going to havethe opportunity to go after it.
It wasn't going to be there inChicago, it wasn't there in
Arizona, it wasn't there inBuffalo, it was kind of there in
Boston when he was there.
But I mean other than that thisguy's been chasing it for a

(30:37):
long time.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Well, you mentioned Boston.
He had a great year in Bostonand in the playoffs as well.
So yeah, bounce back here.
I mean, the big challenge withTaylor, of course, has been
injuries and last year, ofcourse, a torn ACL.
He was out quick and gosh.
We've seen torn ACLs herebefore, not the best situation,

(30:59):
but here's the other thing we'rethinking about.
I wanted to get your feelingabout this back to the heaviness
.
So you think about the, youknow, a stall line which is
always a heavy line and doestheir good work in the offensive
zone.
Now you're bringing anotherreally heavy line.
So if you've got Sveshnikov,kokaniemi and Taylor Hall man,

(31:20):
you're throwing a couple of biglines out there.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Without a doubt.
And you are now again, SethJarvis is with what he calls the
dads.
They just are going to grindyou down.
He's not afraid of anything.
And then you look at the topline with Ranton Ajo and Jackson
Blake, you have three really,really dynamic lines that can

(31:45):
come at you.
And as I've told everyone andif you watch anything Eric
Tolsky said over the past fewdays, I don't think he's done it
.
I just think he is alwaystalking to people.
He's always wondering questionswhat do you know that guy?
What do you know that guy?
And he and Tom Dunn are alwaystalking of like does this make
us better?
Yes, that's the only questionyou have to ask, and if it's a

(32:06):
no, you move on.
If it's a yes, then you explorewhat it's about.
And it's all the time, it'severy every week.
So don't be surprised ifsomething else goes down where
he's trying to make this teambetter, and you and I talked
about it.
Do you need a centerman?
yeah, right so you go out thereand look at you.
Can you find another?
You know, big body,right-handed centerman yes it's

(32:31):
not.
You're not looking for thesuperstar.
I'm not saying you're going toget connor mcdavid, everybody
that's not gonna happen, I'lltake him superstar.
I'm not saying you're going toget Conor McDavid, everybody,
I'll take him.
Yeah, I'll take him if he'savailable.
I think these players there'splayers out there that fit that
bill yes, there would be a keyagain.
You're putting together apuzzle and you're always missing

(32:51):
pieces.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
So until you find those pieces you're always
looking, those pieces you'realways looking.
Well, eric has moved from thekind of position of a relatively
new general manager to gettinga lot of attention in the
stratosphere, folks starting torealize just how incredibly
brilliant this man is.
And so many of the deals he'sput together have been, they've
been kind of off the charts,they've been different in some

(33:13):
cases.
The way he kind of packaged theyou know the finances and some
of the deals, certainly signingplayers for the kind of
contracts he did.
He's just a wizard and you knowwe're just delighted we've got
Eric in that position and Iagree with you.
He's got some more moves up hissleeve for sure, and you know
you look at the Canes right now.
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (33:39):
the canes need if they want to go deep or go all
the way right now.
How do you?
What do you think they need toshore up?
Well, you and I talked aboutone thing I think the power play
needs to heat up.
I think that's an area wherethe superstars can get things
rolling.
And oh, you're only two gamesinto the new additions, so you
want to see continued chemistryand growth from those two
players inside and outside ofthis locker room on the ice.
Um, the goaltenders are nowback.

(34:00):
Right, you have freddieanderson back.
We're going to celebratetonight before the game, with
his milestones and peter, andthen the big caveat tom, as you
and I know, down the stretchesfor these team, is this health
yes and you know I always goback to.
You know florida was banged up.
The year they lost to vegas.
Vegas didn't have anybody.
None of their starters wentdown that entire playoff run.

(34:22):
People missed that fact.
Florida was banged up.
Kachuk could barely skate right.
And then last year floridabecame away unscathed.
Sure, they were banged andbattered and bruised, but they
didn't lose anybody in a majorasset role to go and win the
Stanley Cup.
And that's a big, big factorfor teams that are able to win.

(34:42):
It is the health card and howhealthy are you to get through
the playoffs?

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Well, who do you think, if you were going to pick
a small list of teams, who doyou think the teams are that
we're going to have be to winthe cups, say in the east and
the west?
Who do you think they'd be?

Speaker 2 (34:57):
well, I keep looking and keep waiting and I guess I'm
gonna have to maybe tip my hatat some point.
But I keep waiting for the capsto slide and they're like, I
keep waiting for the bump in theroad for the washington
capitals and all they do is keepwinning and I'm just like, well
, okay, maybe they are real.
So you're going to have to goagainst one of our arch rivals
to get out of the Metro and theWashington Capitals.

(35:19):
I feel.
I feel that the Canes and theCaps are kind of above all
others.
New Jersey was making the steps, I thought.
I think the injury to Markstromit's hard on them.
They're still young, they'rehigh flying.
Are they ready?
Are they ready?
I'm not sure.
So I like the Caps, I think theLeafs are just that
high-powered offense.
And then to me, the other teamin the East will be the Florida

(35:41):
Panthers.
Once again, I think they'rejust big, strong and powerful in
the East to get out andchallenge somebody in the West.
In the West I think you canplay your usual cars of the
Dallas, colorado, edmonton, butthe one team and I don't mind it
, I'd love to see the energythere They'll have a little bit
of sailboat as the Winnipeg Jetsat the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Oh wow, yeah, great team.
Well, all good teams.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, I mean, in my perfect world of being a
Canadian, I'd love to see theCanes play a Canadian team in
the finals.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
That'd be fun, yeah, that'd be fun.
The other team that would befun would be the Colorado
Avalanche, of course.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
That would be interesting.
Yes, we'd have a few stories.
We'd have some stories to workon, tom.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, you'd have a lot you could get behind in that
one.
Well, we have one of ourinsiders, of course, who's on
regularly.
Katie Bartlett is both a Canesand Avalanche fan, so she was in
full form in our last podcast.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
It was great and she said man, this is the best
situation you could ever be,when you ever trade like this
and you cheer for both teams.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah no doubt she's got a little bit of best of both
worlds.
Well, you know, talking aboutthe Capitals, we've been saying
the same thing for months on thepodcast, that we just wait for
them to fall on their sword.
But I heard somewhere, and youcan maybe confirm this, that Rod
Brendamore said they play Caneshockey but better.
I don't know if that's true ornot.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Well, rod's hard on his voice so I'm not going to
say better.
But I did tell somebody theother day and this is not a
slight to rod brendamore andwhat he does, because I love the
way he coaches if it the seasonwas to end right now and I
don't know if anyone can evencatch him I would have to say
carberry and washington winscoach of the year hands down for

(37:26):
sure, because the turn thatthat team has made has been
amazing.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, and you know it goes?

Speaker 2 (37:34):
it goes back to the one thing that's always been a
group to.
They want to stay on the cupand they were playing together.
It's a matter of do you playthe right way?
He has him playing heavy, hehas him playing mean, but
they're playing strongdefensively and at the end of
the day, when they're gettinggoaltending like Logan Thompson
is giving them you have a chanceto win every night when you've

(37:56):
got firepower up front.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, and Lindgren as well.
I mean, their goaltending hasbeen off the charts.
But you know they do it bycommittee right, I mean they
even had Ovechkin was out for awhile.
They kept winning, it didn'tmatter.
And you see, some of theplayers that are leading them
and they're not names that youand I would jump out at and say,
oh wait a minute.
Like you know, Protus and someof the other guys, Strom and all

(38:19):
these guys Great team and Ilove watching them because they
do play the game in the rightway.
And, as you say, I think,Spencer Carver, he's incredible.
So, yeah, it'd be a greatseries if we played those guys.
I think it'd be a lot of funand if our goaltenders are
healthy, I think they can holdup quite nicely against
Washington as well.

(38:39):
Let's talk about Four Nationsfor a couple of minutes too.
Shane, I wanted to get yourthoughts on this.
We got four guys going, whichis great.
We've upped that with Rantonand joining, which is kind of
exciting.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
This is a huge tournament.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
I don't know if a lot of folks really see the
significance of this tournament,but I think it's huge.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Without a doubt, it'll be interesting to see how
it plays out because the playersgoing in a lot of guys haven't
talked a lot about it.
You know they're excited to go,but it'll be interesting to see
, when the puck is dropped, theintensity level of where it's at
and how hard these guys aregoing, because past experiences
experiences whether it be theolympics or these type of

(39:21):
tournaments it gets prettyintense.
Yeah, um, there's a lot on theline for these guys.
I'm excited because I thinkthis is going to be much better
than watching an all-star game.
I don't know, I don't rememberwhen.
The last time I watched anall-star game was because it's
gotten to the point of like, arewe, are we just shooting pucks
around?
What are we doing out here?
So I'm I'm excited to watchthese games.

(39:43):
I think it'll be great hockeyanytime.
You can put the best of thebest against each other in a
little mini tournament.
Why wouldn't you do it?
I loved it when they're in theOlympics.
So it's going to be greathockey and exciting time both
for the cities of Montreal andBoston.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah, yeah, and you know it's again a great
representation of all topplayers that are going to be
going up against each other.
It's going to be exciting and,of course, now that we've got
two players in Finland, that'sgoing to raise the ante a little
bit on the Finnish side, sothat's kind of cool.
Raised the ante a little bit onthe Finnish side, so that's

(40:19):
kind of cool.
And speaking about Team Finland, some rumors that Jesperi
Kokoniemi might be a possible ifEric Howlett can't go.
What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (40:30):
I believe that is very, very accurate and I think
the way he's played over thelast two weeks will help his
case.
Yes, I think he's been very,very good utilizing his size,
his strength, and Jesperi Kokkokanemi is a guy I think this
organization has a lot of beliefin and they're just waiting for
it to to fully catch right, tofully be that consistent, heavy
piece put in the pocket on thatmaking plays that everyone

(40:54):
thinks he can be, and it's justa matter of time.
And maybe if he gets into thistournament, if he goes with team
finland, then he and it's justa matter of time.
And maybe if he gets into thistournament, if he goes with Team
Finland, then he becomes and ittakes that confidence piece to
another level for him.
But he's played very, very wellover the past couple of weeks
for Rod Brunel.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah, he sure has.
And he's such an enigma becauseat different points he just
looks the part.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Two seeds.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
A big guy.
He's out there making it happen.
He's using the body.
He's, uh, making great plays.
I mean, one thing I've alwaysbeen impressed with yasperi is
the way he he dishes off thepuck.
Uh, he's great at getting it tothe point, guys.
He's you know, he does a lot ofthings well, but then he gets
into these periods where he justdoesn't seem to have any
confidence and he doesn't lookanything like what he can look

(41:42):
when he's playing.
Well, what do you think?

Speaker 2 (41:44):
about that.
I was sitting at a practice acouple weeks ago and I never
really thought about it becauseI don't see him shoot a lot and
I was sitting with JustinWilliams and talking with him.
He said he's probably got thesecond hardest shot in the team.
And I turned and looked at him.
I said are you for real?
He's.
I'm like why doesn't he shootmore?
He's like why do you think?
I keep talking to him about it?
Because he's got an absoluterocket.

(42:05):
And I was like, so I startedwatching it lately.
I'm like he does have a rocket.
Why doesn't he use that thingmore?
Because he scored a couplegoals I can't remember where it
was this year, was at home, itwas across the blue and he made
one quick move inside and rippedit top corner and it was a
bullet and I think it goes, sogoes so far back to confidence
and getting those positions andit's there.
It's just.
It just hasn't, you know hehasn't hit the home run with a

(42:27):
long stretch to kind of take himto that next level.
And he's playing very wellright now.
But I think if he did getselected to go to four nations,
I think that may take him toanother level yeah, sure and
sure and oh.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
That would be huge for him and I think his new line
mates, I think they could be abig boost for him as well.
You know Sveshnikov is playingvery well right now.
Obviously he had a couple ofgoals the other night and I
think Taylor Hall coming in onthat other wing brings another
dimension to that line.
So you know, it's quitedifferent than the line he had

(43:00):
before.
If you think about Robinson andMarty Natchez, this is quite a
different line and I thinkthey're well-suited together.
So I have high hopes he's goingto continue his line play.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Yeah, those three should have the puck a lot, with
their frames and their bodiesthrowing around Again.
I wouldn't want to be adefenseman on their team with
that line coming into cornerswhen I had the puck, that's for
sure.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Yeah, and I think for sure, when Yosperi is using the
body and doing what he can on aheavy four-check type mission,
when he gets into that frame ofmind, I think he's very, very
strong out there.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
So we've got lots of hopes.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
I don't see the Canes doing anything with him in the
near term.
He's been in so many traderumors.
He's been in just about everydeal you think about and you
know it's time for that to kindof settle down and just let him
come in and be the player that Ithink that he can be and we're
big fans of Kokanemi in ourpodcast for sure.

(43:59):
So high hopes for this youngman.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Shifting gears for a minute.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
I thought we'd talk a little bit about your other
role, so Director of YouthHockey and Community Outreach.
You've been doing this for awhile, one of the things I've
been reading up on, and reallyexciting is the First Goal
Program, and I see that over4,500 boys and girls have been
in this program since 2016.

(44:25):
This is quite a story.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, probably I would have to argue one of the
best parts of my job because Iget to be a kid.
Obviously there's a bigorganizational factor and
communicating with families whohave never played the sport
before.
And this program allows kids toget involved in hockey.
And I hear so many greatstories from people on the
concourse during games or when Irun into them in the rink and

(44:50):
they're telling me you coachedmy son or daughter the first
time they got on the ice andthey're absolutely hooked.
They love it, they're having somuch fun.
I had a young guy last nighthad an autograph event and his
mom said well, tell him he'splaying you know recreational
hockey now.
And he said I scored a hattrick last weekend and like to
hear those stories.
It kind of just takes me backto being a kid.
So when we get to do this at avery low cost to families to get

(45:12):
them attached to our game andthere's so many different facets
of it, from the parents to thekid themselves who are playing
and what they can get from thissport, I'll argue with anybody
it's one of the best in theworld to get your kids involved
in, from a team aspect, the youknow the physical part of things
and the health part of thingsthat hockey can provide, but

(45:34):
also the friendships and familythat you make for a lifetime.
It's been a huge piece of ourculture here in Raleigh and, as
you mentioned, to go over 4,500,we're going to go over 5,000
this year to continue to spreadacross our state.
We're running low on rinks andice time, which is exciting, and
then also getting nationallyrecognized at certain levels

(45:56):
with the talent level of pool wehave here.
I mentioned Justin Williams alittle while ago.
His son's team is ranked in thetop 10 in the country right now
.
So they're a U16 team.
They're ranked in the top 10and looking to make a run at a
national championship.
So when you're hearing storieslike that or you're hearing
stories of, you know, a teamfrom Raleigh, north Carolina,
won a tournament in Detroit it'sexciting because I always go

(46:18):
back.
I was one of the guys that wassitting here and when I played
here, everyone's saying, wow,hockey's not going to work in
the South, it's not going towork there.
I mean, this is a hockey hotbedright now and the first goal
program has been a huge part ofit and it's an exciting time
through the summer to be on theice with these kids and, you
know, giving back in that way,getting more and more families

(46:39):
involved in our sport.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Now I think I might have heard this Riley Stillman
and Skyler Brendamore were inthat program as well.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Yeah, they grew up here.
Obviously, riley Stillman alittle bit of a shorter period
because his dad moved on afterbeing here, but Skyler
Brendamore, growing up playinghere for a very long time.
A number of players that havecome out of Raleigh, north
Carolina, are playing divisionone, division three hockey
around the country right now,different levels of junior, so
it's exciting.
You know you mentioned thosenames.

(47:10):
That was when I first started,uh, in my position here.
I coached Skylar when he was 12.
Um, we went up to theQuebecnament.
So that makes me feel oldbecause I know he's in.
Chicago, but so many greatplayers, so many talented
players.
Girls and women's hockey isexploding, which is also
exciting to see here in the cityand be a part of that as well.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Well, and I did see that Elisa G gagliardi had been
very much involved in that and Iknow she's done some coaching
stints, uh, at different timesin the, in the off season and so
on with the canes.
Having someone like thatinvolved really again takes it
up a notch right yeah, I thinkwhen you you're putting pieces
in place.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
and that was one area when I first started.
It was how do we get more girlsplaying the game?
And I'm sitting there you know,I'm a 40 year old guy trying to
connect with kids and you go tothese meetings.
You can talk to a lot of peopleand I found very quickly how
representation is a huge part ofthat, because a young girl is
not going to always connect withme and I can't be on that level

(48:15):
.
And when Alyssa first came on toour staff years ago, I
immediately saw it.
I could see a different look inyoung girls when they were
looking at Alyssa than when Iwas standing on the ice.
You know, I was on the ice, Iplayed in the NHL.
These young girls could careless, but there was an older
female on the ice teaching themhockey.
She was cool and they wanted totalk to her and she spearheaded

(48:37):
what we're doing now.
She's obviously moved on.
She's up in the Rochester areacoaching, now at higher levels.
Sarah Swingle is now workingalongside me in that area and
doing a tremendous job as well,and so much of it comes down to
not only getting more girlsplaying, which we are through
first goal and learn to playhockey, but then creating that

(48:57):
structure and that ecosystem forthem to succeed.
And you put a pathway aheadwith very good teams, because
when girls come up, they think Ihave to play with the boys.
Well, no, you don't, because wehave a great girls team that
can take you and get you toachieve your goals, which is
playing girls hockey.
It's not playing boys hockey,it's playing girls hockey.
Soah has done a great job increating a culture and an

(49:20):
ecosystem for young girls tosucceed.
Now, um, and we're lookingforward to exciting things in
the future for our young girlsin the area as well well, you
know.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Uh, big news, of course, is that the pwhl is
going to have a game in raleighuh, march 7th, and I've been
following that league veryclosely.
I think it's phenomenal, thehockey's great.
I think it's just wonderful forthe sport.
So might be some players thatin the days ahead Shane will be
heading from the program hereand up into the pro ranks and

(49:51):
certainly into the PWHL.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
I'm so excited to host that game.
We've been on phone calls overthe past few weeks with their
organization, the PWHL, andmaking sure there's practice ice
ready.
How many kinds of events can weput around it to put their
players Once again?
When I talk aboutrepresentation, getting these
players on the ice with younggirls in our area trying to fill
this building for the game thatFriday night is going to be

(50:15):
exciting and it will be.
You know, we talk about younggirls and now they have right.
When girls were playing hockeybefore they were looking at
colleges and things like that.
But now you can see, you can.
You can have a dream of sayingI'm going to play professional
one day.
Right, I'm going to play on aprofessional women's hockey team
and you have a dream to trulychase down.
And so it's exciting for younggirls.

(50:35):
I think the league is in a very, very strong position and as
they go around continuing toshowcase what they have and what
you mentioned, if you've neverseen a women's game before, I
hope a lot of people are buyingtickets right now because I
think you'll be taken back alittle bit with the physicality,
with the intensity and theskill that these women have, and
it's going to be a great gamehere between Minnesota and

(50:57):
Ottawa in March, and it's goingto be a great game here between
Minnesota and Ottawa in March.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah, I mean, I've watched a number of games and
you're right, it's great hockey.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Now this might be something to whisper into Tom's
ear and say maybe time to thinkabout a franchise, move into the
triangle area and bring in aPWHL team.
Yeah, I mean those are alwaysthe conversations and I think,
with what is being built hereinternally, inside this arena,
and then what he is committed todoing outside with our

(51:27):
community, as I mentioned, no,no different than trades, mr
Dundon is always looking on howto improve, how to bring the
next big thing of a truedestination point to the
entertainment arena here and youknow it's going to be an
exciting time to see theseladies come down.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Yeah, I mean it's the story, as you talked a little
bit about before, shane, aroundhockey and the way that things
have developed in the Trianglearea over these years.
I mean, I think back to thePeter Carmanos reign and not a
lot of fun.
We had many years of kind oftough slugging and just to see

(52:05):
what's happened in terms of youknow the Canes, just the way
they've kind of gone forward andplayed so well Hockey in the
area, the good work you're doingand your team's doing, some of
the other opportunities with thedevelopment around the
development around Lenovo Centerand so on, it's just marvelous.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Yep and Tom, I'm going to always point out the
obvious Winning makes our jobeasy.
Yes, so Rod Brendamore and themanagement team here and a
winning team on the ice, andthat winning culture obviously
energizes the community, but theorganization is, and I've been
a small piece of being part ofour community and we go back to

(52:47):
Peter Carmanos.
That was the one thing when Iplayed here.
The building wasn't full, butthat's the one thing he knew
he's like.
How do we stay connected tothis community?
And he was fully bought intoRaleigh even when people were
against it.
And my team and our othercommunity members are continuing
to push the envelope of how dowe make sure our brand is
involved in schools, in ballhockey, which we're creating a

(53:07):
couple new, brand new ballhockey rinks now drawing the
game in any way we can, becausewe know not every boy or girl is
going to be able to skate andgo to the rinks and become a
hockey player, but maybe theycan play ball hockey right,
Maybe they can play streethockey.
How do we grow the sport thatway and continue to spread our
brand across this great state?
And right now it's red hot.
So we're just trying to doeverything we can to kind of

(53:29):
ride that wave.
As we know, the wave will comeand go right, It'll get smaller
at some point.
But our community involvementand our dedication to this state
will never change, and I thinkthat's what people love about
this organization.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Yeah, and you talk about ball hockey and street
hockey.
Hey, I grew up on that inCanada.
It was for many years, as youwere.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
It was the full.
I joke all the time, causepeople are like you guys play
every night.
I'm like almost we'd be,there'd be a line at the office
to use the phone right, becausewe didn't have cell phones to
call your parents and be likeI'm not going to be home after
school, we're going to play.
You know, there was a street wewould go to and I mean it was
20 guys.
We had full line changes goingon Yep, so we're going to try

(54:12):
and get that going at Raleigh.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Well, that's great, and I can tell you that playing
minor hockey and all the thingsthat you're trying to accomplish
with young people in your areaas well, shane was great.
It was so much for me, ithelped me in so many ways and I
know that it's going to be greatfor those kids that can get
involved as well.
It's a lot of fun.

(54:35):
The camaraderie, thecompetition, I can go on and on.
It's just an awesome thing.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Yep Again.
I always tell people I'mdriving to work and I'm a big
people watcher so I always lookat people when they're driving.
I'm like I got a smile on myface.
I get to come in here and I getto watch professional hockey.
I get to talk about it on TV,then I get to go to schools and
introduce kids to the sport andstreet hockey.
Or I go to the rink and teach akid how to skate for the very
first time.
I said I got it pretty goodright now.

(55:01):
So I have fun every day when Icome to work.
I have a great team and peoplearound me and we'll continue to
move the needle.
And you know, drive that uphere in this city.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Well, you know what Similar for me?
Hockey's my obsession, I guess,and so being able to talk
hockey with people like you,shane, of course, it doesn't get
any better.
Hey, as we wrap up, finalthoughts.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Well, it'll be an exciting second half.
I think we had a few games togo before.
As you and I talked about theFour Nations Cup break.
I think the players with acondensed schedule are ready for
a little bit of a break.
But, there won't be any dullmoment in March and April as
these teams make a run towardsthe playoffs.

(55:48):
And when you get there and Ithink the standings all reset to
zero, you never know what'sgoing to happen.
And I feel there's still goingto be some big moves out there.
And I feel there's still goingto be some big moves out there
the Hurricanes.
You know being one of them, butRod Brendamore really loves
this group, he loves his teamand I think this city is really

(56:10):
ready to make a very, very deeprun in the playoffs.
A couple of disappointing endsto the season the last couple of
years in the second round, butthey're ready for a deep one and
it's going to be an excitingMarch and April ahead of the
Carolina Hurricanes.
Tom.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
Yeah, and you know a lot of folks thought this was a
transition year, Guess again.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Never say never.
Everyone thinks it's always atransition year until it isn't.
But you got to have I thinkit's the hard part People you
have to have.
I think it's the hard part,people you have to have that
belief.
You have to get outside ofthinking that oh, the one, one
move can't totally flip you tothe other side.
It's a knee jerk reaction.
I I talked about this, um theother day after the trade was

(56:50):
made and then the hurricaneslose to the islanders.
It was classic fashion, right,because of course, as humans
we're, we want instantgratification.
We want ranton to score a hattrick, we want Taylor Hall to
have two points.
What happened?
How do you lose that game?
I'm like this is professionalsports, this is not.
You have to think realistic.
And Rod says all the timepeople don't like the word

(57:10):
process because they don't wantto wait.
There is a process.
I think these guys will begreat tonight against the Hawks,
especially in the energy inthis building.
So I'm ready.
I'm ready for again, I'm readyfor a little bit of a break, tom
, as we see it coming ahead, andthen, you know, wind it up for.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
March and April in the playoffs.
Well, for sure, and Shane, thishas been a great amount of fun
talking hockey with you, and Ijust want to thank you for
spending the time with me totalk about the hurricanes.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Well, it's absolutely my pleasure, Tom.
We'll do it again sometime.
Maybe, as the playoffs approach, we'll talk to matchups and see
how far we can make this thingrun into the heat of the summer
here in North Carolina.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
That would be my pleasure.
I was going to ask you if you'dbe willing to come back and
spend a couple of minutes withme because yeah it's so exciting
to cheer for a team like theHurricanes and, as I mentioned
before, there were years when itwasn't quite the same.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Those were the years I was on the ice, Tom.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
I didn't say anything .
I didn't say anything.
No, I know for sure that youmade great contributions when
you were a cane and, of course,you've been doing some great
work now, and thanks for all ofthat and, on behalf of the fans
and ourselves here at StoneTracker, for those of you who
have been watching or listening,thanks for spending time with

(58:38):
us.
I hope you enjoyed thisopportunity to hear from Shane
and, if you like this episode,please press the like button.
If you have any questions orcomments for Shane, I'll try to
get them to him and we'llrespond just as quickly as
possible.
If you want to be alerted offuture episodes of StormTracker,
please press the subscribe andthe bell button and you'll be

(59:00):
made aware as soon as there is anew video.
Again, shane and I thank youfor joining us today and look
forward to getting together withyou real soon right here on
StormTracker.
Thank you.