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October 6, 2024 40 mins
New "Voice of The Roadrunners" Jonathon Schaffer recaps the preseason with new co host and Arizona Daily Star Roadrunners reporter James Kelly as they gear for the opening week of the AHL season. They talk about the first two games in Colorado and give some insight on the players to watch after some big preseason performances. Johnny gives some bold predictions and wishes Adrian Denny all the best of luck as he begins his season in the NHL. 
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you want more Roadrunners, We've got more road Runners.
This is the Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast. Back here on
a lazy Sunday to Tucson Roadrunners Insider Podcast Jonathan Schaeffer
Hugh with Arizona's Daily Stars James Kelly Kelly first time

(00:21):
on the Insider podcast. We had a really good preseason
for the Roadrunners as they had a nice little weekend
sweep against the Henderson Silver Nights. I had a couple
of funny stories while I was also on the trip
with the guys. We have someone to thank who has
moved on to the NHL, and we're gonna take a

(00:42):
little preview at the first weekend of the season or
against the regular season rather in Colorado, and we're going
to give some bold predictions for this upcoming twenty four
to twenty five season. Now that the preseason is over
and James Housing going, Man, it's good to have you
on here for the first time. And what you just

(01:04):
think of those preseason games for the Roadrunners in Henderson A.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Great start for Runners. You know there's people who are,
you know, like, oh, it's just preseason, but obviously want
to win and they want in a precious passion and
those goals are great and penally killing stuff like that
were great, and it's a great start for you know,
who knows he's gonna be on the roster obviously, but
once the season start regularly, the starts, but the great start.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, And that's kind of been the mentality for every preseason,
at least from US fans standpoint. You're just like, oh,
it's just preseason, you know, doesn't matter. I'm just ready
for the regular season. But uh, you look more into that.
And I had some good conversations with Steve Podvin on
the trip. You know, it's a it was a big
opportunity for a lot of guys, you know, a lot

(01:48):
of guys who are competing for roster spots and guys
coming from the EHL, and you know, we saw a
lot of new faces during training camp, but that first game,
we saw those new faces really show, uh the showcases
of their talent and skill. And one player that really
just stood out for Tucson was Noel Nord And he

(02:13):
had four points in the two preseason games over this
past weekend, and that's just, uh, that's a name that
stands out for a guy who can potentially make this roster.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, great showing you looked to see who scored, who
got points and everything, and there's so many new names
or so after the first game there's there's three guys
who didn't even have photos yet. So it's just a
lot of new faces, but a lot of guys doing
well and a lot of familiar faces doing well too.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, And part of the you know, the process that
we've had during training camp was you know, getting all
of these new faces ready to go. And that's just
what it looked like on that Friday night game with
the Roadrunners one six to two. They had the five
goals in that second period, three of those goals coming
in a minute and fourteen second span, and then the

(03:06):
end of winning six to two that we saw in
the second game, the Roadrunner scored three goals in the
very beginning in that first frame Hunter Drew got it
going just about a minute into the match and then
two Songs hung on for the four to two victory
and James, you were able to watch the first game.
Of course, the second game was on radio, so it's
a bit more difficult to watch, just wasn't on Flow

(03:28):
Sport on that Saturday, But you just like what you
saw from you know, kind of the Roadrunners leaving where
they left off, you know, with the great season that
they had they you know, second place in the Pacific Division,
going to the playoffs, and then you just saw that
kind of same play. And again we know that the
rosters not finalized yet, but just from the coaching aspect,

(03:48):
you saw the same old Roadrunners going and beating up
on these other Pacific Division teams and it just made
you feel tell yourself, it's like, yeah, touson hockey is back.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, there was that. I think it was a second
goal on the Drunners had on Friday. It was the
do Do goal where they pass him back and forth,
and that that looked really impressive because they those guys
hadn't been together that longest. You know, if if they've
just been together in that Rouners camp, it's only been
a week, but they just fuck like they've been playing
together for months and they were that great goal. So

(04:20):
if you guys are you know, just preseason, but that's
definitely like one of those highlight real goals you guys
got to put on there. And then after that they
scored so many goals in quick succession. It was really impressive.
That's a kind of an issue they had last year
in the playoffs where they would give up goals like
right after the goals. But they reversed that script on
on Friday and really unpressed.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, and that's a really good point, James.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
And it was a big issue in that playoff run
where uh, you know, we had that first game where
we got shut out and it was, uh, you know,
the Rotors had a I think almost like fifty shots
in that first game. I don't have the box go
round from it, but we knew that Duson out played
the Wrangler in that first playoff game and they end
up losing because you know, if Dustin Wolf had to
be Dustin Wolf. And then in the second matchup, you

(05:06):
know when we took the first lead with Dylan Gunther
and then Calgary would score just you know, less than
a minute later, it's just really hard to keep that lead.
And I think that's one thing the coaching staff is
really going to want to work on. And again, it
was only those two playoff games, and then throughout the
whole season beforehand, the road Runers were notorious for scoring
early then holding onto leads with the strong goaltending of

(05:27):
Matthew Volalta. But to be honest with you, James, I
think you know, with with how great last season went
and how good the offense was and how great the
defense and the goaltending was, stats wise, it was still
pretty middle in the PAC. Like we were, you know,
around the fifteenth to sixteenth range of you know, goals

(05:48):
for per game and then the goals against per game
as well. But the way we were winning the games
with the one score fashions was just how we were
able to win.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
You know.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
It's the stats were I want to say average. It
was just in the middle of the league, but we
just won those one score games. But James, would you
say that this season, with you know, the talent that
we've added and the young prospects in the new faces
and on defense as well, I think it's easy to
say we could be easily top ten, top five in
both goals for per game and goals against per game.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, there was, Like you said, there's a little bit
drop off like coming off that year the year before
last year, and they had Carconi leading the league in scoring,
so I think it's then natural to kind of drop
off in those points in scoring like that. But It
was just impressive how they're able to hold on to
get we'll get those one one goal, one goal wins.
But now I think this year you see these great

(06:41):
mogior TWNA players coming up from juniors, coming up from college,
coming over from Europe, and really impressive, really really skilled,
really really promising. Looks like they're going to be scoring
a lot this year.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
And one guy that we'll touch more base on is
Igor Sokola who had a goal and an assist in
the preseason weekend against the Henderson Silver Knights. He had
that nice assist with that artem due the goal on
the power play, that power play that just was looking
just endlessly Chris, because what had happened was it was

(07:17):
four on four for a bit because the Roadrunners were
on the pkn and Henderson was given a penalty, so
we're on four and four. It ended after that, and
then we're giving the five on four for the rest
of the power play because then we got our guy back.
And instantly right after that, the Roadrunners had already had
possession and it was between Sokolov, Branden, Tracy and Duda

(07:39):
just kind of all passing it to one another and
then Sokolov kind of faked the shot and slid it
over for Duda, and dude was able to score that
power play goal. But and again, James, you weren't able
to watch the Saturday game. You were probably just listening
to it only. But one of the big plays that
Igor was able to make, and I made this. I
kind of made the mistake on the broadcast because it

(08:00):
just happened so quick. The Roadrunners were killing a penalty
on their end, and right in the dying seconds of
the p k Akuatu had started a rush shot to
Henderson's zone and they're still shorthanded. And then what had
happened was Igor got out of the penalty box right
at the last second. I didn't see him get out there,

(08:21):
and I also kind of forgot he was he was
in the penalty box in the first place. So in
that same play, Rasu slid over to McGregor, had the
ice puck in the middle of the ice, and he
faked a shot as well, and then he found Igor
back door for a beautiful goal. And I was like, oh,
it's a shorthanded goal. No wait, no, it's not that.

(08:43):
That's Sokolov right there. He just came out of the
penalty box. But man, yeah, now finally getting to see
a lot of the guys in person and and play,
it just makes me more excited. And I think Sokolov
is primed to have a huge year for the Roadrunners.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, it looks like he didn't subte or from the
Eastern Conference. Just another guy that Roders Frans are gonna love.
Looks like.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, and James h throughout training camp as well. When
you know, we again seeing all the new faces with
the coaching staff. And I don't think I've had this
conversation with you yet, but who you most excited to see,
you know, whether it comes to the to the new
prospects or the new players that are coming to Tucson.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, I was thinking of Igor, but then you're looking
at who was it that was? It was a Nord
that had a four points first few game. Yeah, so
there's a lot of guys. I'm like, wow, these are
you guys only see some more? These guys are really
really exciting and I want to see who they are
who Utah, you know, since sends back to Tucson, But
I think that right now you've seen some great, great

(09:47):
action from like guys like do to from from Nord
from from Igor.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, Noel nord drafted in the third round, seventy two
overall in the twenty twenty three NHL Entry drafts, so
pretty recent pick from the Arizona Coyotes. Now a player
of the Utah Hockey Club organization, and he spent some
years in Sweden's junior leagues and the professional leagues as well.

(10:15):
So you know, it's again it's one of those moments where, yeah,
it's hard to crack a roster right now, you know,
especially with all the death that the road Runners had.
But Noel Nordont definitely made some noise for himself with
the two goals and two assists and he had a
couple of just really good snipes towards the net and
the first goal coming off the deflection for Peter Debatory

(10:36):
in the first game that was a power play goal,
and then the second one coming on Saturday, where Travis
Baron kind of set him up for a perfect shot
and he was able to rip it back towards the net.
And you know, in that moment, again we have a
lot of death and we'll have to see what the
what the final rosters are. But Noel Nord's a guy
who you know, might not be shocked if he ends

(10:57):
up making the roster.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
It's another nice problem to have for the staff for again,
they had it last year after training camp, and they
had it again and then the season when they had
guys coming back from the Coyotes. But there's some great
problem to have for them to have too many good
players and a lot of competition for spots and a
lot of options. If you know, guys aren't doing you know,

(11:20):
the stuff in the stats sheets as much as they
normally would, you can turn to other guys and other
guys of step up and they have a lot of options.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, And that's that's one of the things that we
talked about a lot last season with the depth that
the road Runners had, at least at the beginning of
the year before the injuries and the call us began
to happen. And every time we asked Steve about that,
head coach Steve Pavin, he was always saying like, yeah,
it's it's it's always such a lot of tough choices
to make, you know, And it was It's funny to
think that the Astaba Gansky Uh got player type players

(11:53):
of the team last year didn't even start off as
on the opening night roster, and then they rest to
come in and ended up playing just terrific and earning
HL contracts. And honestly, James, we're even more in depth
now for this upcoming season and talked to Bob Hoffman
about it as well on the same podcast a couple

(12:13):
of weeks ago, and you know, he said it's looking
like even more death and it's very true. I mean,
you know, not only when you bring all this familiar
faces back like Cameron Hebig Hunter, Drew Churs, Douglas Miloschkelman,
Matthew Volalta, Ben McCartney, lots of more names on that list.

(12:34):
Then you bring in the new guys Andrew Ragazino, Kevin
Connat and Robbie Russo returning to the organization trading for
Igor Sokoloff. And we wish John Unique the best of
luck in his situation as well. But Sokolov's a big
goal scorer for the team as well, added Jackson Stabber,
which was a really aggressive signing to give the team
more death. You know, when we still have Dylan Wells

(12:57):
and Anson Thorn in the back end of the Death
as well, but uh, regardless of that, it's uh, it's
gonna be tough decisions for the coaching staffs to make.
We might see a lot of guys who deserve the play,
of course, and you know, every guy on the roster
deserves to play. But and we're gonna be seeing a
lot of talent potentially playing in the EHL with the

(13:17):
new affiliation about the Allen Americans. But that's just okay
because that's, uh, that's what the development is all for.
That's why we have affiliations. And uh, you know, as
the roster gets finalized in the next few days, we're
gonna be missed some faces, but they'll be back when
when their names are called.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah. It's also the other thing to think about when
you're heavy players moving up and down and different players
really competing for spots, is that they have a really
good culture. The run Unders do that. This funny last
year I asked, I kept asking Steve about, you know,
the record number of pulps who you guys have, and
he's just like, oh, it's a great thing, you know,
players moving up and to providing more opportunities. Instead of

(13:58):
the angle of him saying that, oh, yeah, it's insuppressive
that we're able to have better stuff. Puff He's like, no,
it's great. We're having open those opportunities for guys. And
he was excited. Obviously he was excited to see people
move up, but he was excited to see those people
get opportunities. And it wasn't looked at it's like, oh,
we're able to win despite all these guys moving up
to the NHL. It looked at its like, well, these

(14:19):
guys are doing well, and then the guys stepping in
doing well, and then's great opportunity club.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, and one someone getting a big opportunity over the
preseason as well was goaltender Anson Thorn. So we'll go
more too the goaltending through this past weekend because you know,
usually in the preseason you kind of expect the switching
of goaltenders potentially. And for Friday Night's game, when Anson
Thorn was named the starter, I'd asked Steve Povin, you know,
I didn't want to put him on the spot of hey,

(14:46):
what you're doing with your goaltenders, but I did give
him just kind of that hunch of you know, we're
seeing Anton Thorn to start the game. We'll see what happens,
and you know, Jackson Stoubert can be making his Roadrunners
debut tonight as well. Again, this is back on Friday,
but just what were you looking for? The goaltenders and
Steve Povin elected to give Anson Thorn the entire game.

(15:06):
And Thorn had a really just good Friday night game
and he made a lot of easy says where he
made it easy on himself. And we saw a couple
of flashy says with the glove and going from right
to left and made stopping a couple of odd man
rushes from Henderson. And for Anson Thorn's standpoint, you can

(15:27):
really see that he has so far made a big
jump from last year.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, that's good to see. You see he played that
whole game on Friday, and then on Saturday, the veteran
guys that they switched, they played half and nat pretty much.
But it's good to see Anson play the whole game.
I remember last year and Matt also got called up.
That was right after like Anson sent over the ECCHL
and he had just been with the road Owners. So

(15:55):
it was like a week later and asked Steve, I
was like, so how come you guys then move Anson
back up you say, well, we want him to play,
and so that's good to see him play and good
to see him develop. And he made those you know,
like you said the saves needed to make me also
made those highlighted says, which really, I think really really
fire guys off. Really gets excited when you see when
you see your goalie makes a really good save, you

(16:16):
like you want to get back and you want to
kind of return that favor and do really well. So
it looks like a really good, good game for him
that first game.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, and again, you know, I don't want to make
any speculations on the final rosters, but lots of death
on the on the team right now when it comes
to the goaltending aspect, so we'll see what moves are
made there. But you know, if there is the chance
that Thorn does start in the EHL, he's going to
be in a really good situation with the Allen Americans
who's had a lot of success in these last few

(16:43):
seasons with their coaching and the other players they signed
to EHL contracts. So regardless of that, I think Thorn
can definitely have a really big year at least professionally wise.
And you know, down the line when goaltending injuries happen,
which they do to every single team, and Maddie's called
up or you know, hopefully this never happens, knock on wood,

(17:05):
But in a moment where Maddy and Stobber are both
in Utah, will have Dylan Wells and Anson Thorne back
here in Tucson potentially rending the crease. So definitely a
really good again, the aggressive signings for Tucson with the goaltenders,
and speaking of Jackson Stober fourteen saves on fourteen shots

(17:25):
in about a period and a half in Saturday's game
and then the Roadrunner switched to Dylan Wells for the
back half of that game. But going back into Jackson,
Stobber a two point eighty five goals against average last season,
eighteen eight and three record and a nine to two
save percentage. Yeah, and James, we had that scenario last

(17:47):
season where we had Ivan Prosvatov and Matthew Volata who
we kind of expected to both take the crease for Tucson,
and a lot of people were, you know, making the
prediction of, yeah, this is going to be one of
the goaltending duos in the AHL with the two talented
goaltenders we had, but unfortunately Prosmatov ran out of send

(18:10):
doowns I guess, or you know, whatever those rulings are
where he had to go on waivers, you know, just
part of the contract process, and you can't keep sending
a player down. Just kind of ran out of those
I guess. I know in baseball it's running out of options.
It's kind of a similar scenario for hockey. Ivan was
put on waivers, he was acquired by Colorado, had a
good year there, and now now he's playing in Europe,

(18:32):
so he's not in the AHL anymore. But now fast
forward to this year. You know you had the clear
cut starter Matthew Vlalta, but Jackson Stobber is a guy
you can potentially go back and forth with as well.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
And that was really surprise signing because for me because
you know, obviously you wont that death, and especially at
that position, especially after last year, but after how well
Blot did last year, and you kind of think, like
one thing, when I talked to Charlam Travis last ye
about how matt was doing, and he said that, well,
it turned out that the more he played and they

(19:07):
found out that he played better, you know, and that
makes sense to if he look at his career that
he was you know, backed up and then something last
year exploded in the being All Star getting called up.
And so his theory was that, well, he played so
much last year that he was able to kind of
develop more. And so it's really bold of the organization
to bringing Jackson. But maybe he's still a little help

(19:29):
with Matt getting more rest because last year he's just
at the bend season. He just had to play so much.
And so it's a it's a good thing for organization. Pella.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
So, James, the news is finally out.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
I have taken over as the voice of the roadners
for the team, and Adrian has moved on to Utah
to work for the Utah Hockey Club's radio team. And
this was my first trip with the team for preseason
as a play by play broadcaster. And again we I
wish Adrian all the best and we thank him that

(20:02):
for everything, uh for both of us, you know, building
me up for for this moment and UH for you
as well, and uh we're gonna miss him, but just
huge opportunity for him in Utah to go back home
and just an exciting team to you. Know, be part
of the radio team for the inaugural season.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
He's a great fit. I mean, obviously he's from there.
He went to U or Utah or whatever what do
they call, and he worked for the Riskies for a
long time, and obviously he worked with the road Runners,
and you know, there's a lot of players that moved
up and that's a great opportunity. And they're getting a
they're getting a great host. You know, they're getting a
great they're getting a great broadcaster coming in. And what's

(20:43):
the I was trying to think about what the quote was.
I should have detect it, but edifier was Brett who
got the quote, or if it was Adrian or you?
But where Steve said that we hate to see you go,
but we don't want to see you come back or whatever.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah come up, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
That's always what it is when it comes to the AHL,
when it comes to the players. You know, we hate
to see you go, but don't come back. And Adrian,
we're gonna be saying the same thing for you. We
hate to see you go, but don't come back. You know,
stay up there, do your thing. We're gonna be listening,
and we know Adrian's going to continue to be involved
with the Roadrunners as well, because James the best part

(21:25):
of it. It's a it's an affiliation, you know, it's
regardless of everything that happened, we're still all under one
team at the end of the day, and we're really
excited for what the Utah Hockey Club is going to
accomplish this year with the the big signings. They did,
the big trade giving Dylan Gunther the eight year contract extension,

(21:47):
and Bill Armstrong has done a phenomenal job of this rebuild.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
And for the Roadrunner standpoint, the rebuild is kind of over.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
We we had a couple of those years with drafting
the players and acquiring the talent, and last year was
the big jump you need when it comes to a
rebuild because you know, you just don't know, like what's
the year where it's you're gonna make the jump. Last
year was the big jump, and now this year is
the year where you look at the team and say

(22:17):
this can this can this can have Cup aspirations. And
for the Utah Hockey Club, again it's a much harder
league it's the NHL, But for them, I think, uh,
I think you can say playoff aspirations for you know
that team this season.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, even early on last year and for that when
I talk to Steve, you would always say that the
goal is to win Stanley Cup for the organization. And
so you know, you know, the guys in the front
officer building and getting ready, and now they're kind of
getting ready to have a more solid situation in Utah
so they can take more risks and you know they're
trying to definitely trying to end that drought. And so

(22:55):
I think this is gonna be a season where you're
going to see both both those teams in the playoffs
and it's gonna be one of those were situations where
both the American League team and both national team are
doing well. And it's an organization that they've been building.
They've been building the building, and they've been the Clarne
Trust acts, cart and picks. But now they're ready to
at the NHL level, ready to compete more.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, what you noticed throughout the AHL, and we've seen
AHL teams get frustrated with their NHL affiliates over this,
and you know, the Chicago Wolves being one of those
teams that kind of eventually breaking it off and then
now they're I don't even know what the deal is
with them, but they're kind of working it out as
they go. But they were frustrated with the Carolina Hurricanes

(23:35):
because they felt that the Kings weren't setting them up
to win games. You know, they weren't setting them up
enough to go win the Calder Cup, which is funny
because they did. And in recent years the Chicago Wolves
did you know, they had a really good, talented team.
But and again it's it's the AHL's team job of course,
is to develop the players and get them ready for
the NHL. You know, no matter how professional the AHL is,

(23:58):
it's still a myor league development league. But at the
same time, you still do want to have that championship mindset.
You know, you still want to win the games. And
and it's it's funny because you see a lot of teams,
especially in the Pacific Division, like you know, teams that
kind of finished bottom of the barrel with San Jose

(24:19):
and and Henderson in San Diego. They have talent, you know,
they have a lot of young talented prospects, They have
good goaltenders and you know, again we'll see what happens
this year.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
As every HL team changes.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
But you know, you look at those teams, it's like, man,
how do they keep losing with all the young talent
they have? And I think when it comes to that, it's,
you know, maybe they're focusing more on the developmental aspect
of things, whereas for the road Runners, we're developing players
really well in our end, but we also want to
win the games. And I think that's why the team
went out in free agency and signed a lot of

(24:54):
guys to the two way contracts, you know, again if
they need to get called up to Utah, but also
to kind of have that main staple here in Tucson
and win games here and try to win a cup.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Because again it's we're at that point of the the
rebuilds over.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
You know, the rebuild just ended and now we're at
that point where again, as I just said, it's uh,
it's Cup aspirations and it's winning the Pacific Division.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, they're obviously the Coyotes and Roadrunners and now ut
Hockey Club and the Runnans have really a close relationship
on like you know, other independent you know league teams
in the league there, you know, like you're talking about
like Caroline, I am Chicago where they had kind of
had set relationship at the time, so they still have

(25:41):
the same coaches in place, still have the same staff
in place. So it's like, you know, they did change
ownership the road Uners did, I mean not, they didn't
change the Utah change ownership, so they're not owned by
the same team anymore, but they still have that still
have that synergy, still still the same people working together,
and I don't think they're gonna miss the beat.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
So we have Colorado this upcoming weekend or I guess
I would say end of the week and weekend with Friday,
October eleventh, the start off the season, and then the
second game on Saturday, October twelfth, and we're flying out
to Colorado a little early this week to you know,
get some practice days in days in in Loveland. And

(26:24):
you know, James, these were two teams that didn't play
a lot last season. They only played about four times,
and the Roadrunners got the sweep over the Eagles at
the kind of near endpoint of the year to clinch
home ice advantage, you know, winning that last game two
to one and going three to one against Colorado in
total this year or last year. Rather, but these are

(26:47):
these are two teams that were really good defensively last
year and Colorado kind of struggled to score on the
other side. But talked to Steve Podvin on you know,
getting ready for the preseason and and going straight to
the regular season after that, and he thinks that the
Eagles are one of the most talented teams now in

(27:07):
the hl's Pacific Division, and he thinks it's going to
be us and them competing for that first play spot.
And Colorado did have a pretty good offseason. They added Tynan,
who was one of the top scorers with Ontario these
past three years, so they got a big piece for
them to help their scoring. And you know, I think
with you know, the first couple of games, it always

(27:28):
takes a little bit of time to get adjusted and
get things flowing. And I'm so I'm really confident in
that because we had a good preseason where the guys
all seem like they've been playing together for weeks.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
So I think it's going to be the same thing.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
And you know, we'll see how things go, but it's
going to be a good weekend to start off the year.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
It's a it's good good start for the Runners because
you know, a couple years ago they played their their
series at Colorado late the season. But it's good to
play that play the altitude, play over there when it's
Erlin season, you have more energy. Although this year they
did change the schedule a little bit where the last
couple of years they only played they only went to
play four games against Carolado. But this year it's a

(28:09):
I believe they at least they make two trips to Colorado,
so that's a kind of positive for them. And also
we talked about Ivan, he went over to he's obviously
from Moscow. He went back to play for ESSCA. Moscow
is the big club over there, so that's lost for them,
but they should still be a good team.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, this schedule's kind of changed a little bit and
it are kind of flip flopping back and forth now
to where Tucson only plays Coachella Valley four times, which
I'm bummed about because I love those Coachella Valley trips,
and we will play San Jose four times as well.
And last season it was the opposite where we only
played Colorado four times in Abbotsford four times, if I'm

(28:50):
not mistaken. So more games against the Eagles now, so
we'll definitely be seeing more of them and starting it
off with this weekend. And uh, once again, we're still
waiting on the finalizations of the final roster. We saw
some familiar faces come back on that Saturday preseason game,
with Milosh Kellman and of course Ben McCartney returning and

(29:14):
Aku Ratu back into the mix, Patrick Koch mac Zuber.
One big player who we thought could potentially make the
Utah roster was Maverick Lamaru. He made his Roadrunners debut
on Saturday, hard guy to miss, six seven, two hundred
and fourteen pounds of the defenseman and he is just
one guy you look at who's could be a potential

(29:35):
star for the Roadrunners this year and then eventually in
the NHL.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, it looks like a guy that if he does
come to the Roadrunners, it's gonna be an the fan favorite,
like you know on the mold of Curtis out or
you know a couple of years ago. It's going to
be a guy who I think the Roads are gonna love.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
All right, James, Well, just about a week away until
the season starts, and we're gonna go over to a
couple of bold predictions, and I have about five. I
don't know if you have any on your list as well,
but one big bold prediction for me I think is
going to happen this season is with Andrera Gazino coming

(30:15):
to the team and him kind of doing damage to
the Roadrunners over the years. It's great to have him
now on a two year contract with the organization, and
I think he's going to finish top five in scoring.
I think he'll be the top scorer for the road Runners,
you know, with with total scoring wise, because not only
he's a great goal scorer, he can set up guys
for goals as well, and with the talent around him,

(30:37):
you know, he did this good. He did really good
with the San Diego goals last season, which was a
team in a bottom in the Pacific Division. But now
he's with a team like Tucson and I think he
can definitely crack that top five spot.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, he's got a lot of experience. Look at how
make clubs he's played for. It's just going to help
and heal Runners have a successful guys with all the
experience like that, So it should be a really scussful
season for him.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Do you have any bold predictions predictions James anything, you're
thinking that's gonna happen with the team this season.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Not so bold, but definitely gonna make a long playoff
run this year. You know, it's gonna be one of
those situations where we're gonna be going to playoff games
and you're gonna be wearing a jacket or you're wearing
a sweater and then you you take it off and
you come back into the arena and it's like, oh,
it's so cool, you know, playing in the may or whatever.
You know's gonna be one of those weird situations where

(31:31):
it's like, oh, this is definitely hockey weather when it's
like ninety something outside, but you're still going to the
hot game. So I expect them to have a long
run this year.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, it's it was a bit of a bummer last
season when everyone thought, yes, we're gonna go on a
deep playoff run.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
We got second place in the division.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
We played the last seed Wranglers, but again it was
just one of those two games where the Wranglers. Uh,
I wouldn't say they really had much better of a
game plan. It's just how things went.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
You know.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
We played super hard, We played two really hard games,
and unfortunately the Ranglers just had a good goaltending and
scored in the in the right moments. But uh yeah,
definitely do think that the road Runners will get over
that hump, but get at least past the first round
and go for a deep run where we're playing playoff
hockey in uh late May early June, and you know
that'd be around the Collar Cup time and that's what

(32:18):
it's gonna get hot. So that's a that'd be awesome
to see another bold prediction from me. And you know,
we talked about him a bit before, Egor Sokoloff, I think,
and this is a big this is a big bold prediction, James.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
And again, these are just bold ones.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
I'm not saying it's going to happen, and I just
like to be an optimistic and I've just heard really
good things about Sokkooff. I think he's going to hit
over thirty goals this season and potentially potentially break Michael
Carconi's total of thirty one.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
How's about that for you. That's a big one.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, it's a big one because it's just a you know,
all though recent records, but it's one of those records
throughs to to get but you know, he's had great
staffs over ya, you know over in Eastern Conference that
he did, comes in with the great resume and you know,
the Runners have had great success with guys like that
coming over and I except another big year.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Also, Yeah, he's had night over nineteen goals in the
last three seasons with Belleville. And again, you know, we
wish Yanna best of luck. It's, you know, the flip
flop of the trade. And Igor even acts like yan
Yanique a lot too. I got to see him a
bit more on this road trip, and it's definitely a

(33:29):
flip flop of those two players.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
And again, it's all about the situation.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
You don't know, Yanya Nique could have one of his
best seasons in his career with Belleville and then Igor
can have a tremendous year with us here. It's just
all about the situation that someone is in. So next
bold prediction for me again back at the goaltending with
Matthew Valta and Jackson Stobber. I think we're gonna finish
top five in goals against per game. Again, we're about

(33:56):
the middle of the pack last season, which did win
us the games, and Matthew Valotta was a big reason
for that because he started all those games, played the
most games that had the most wins. But uh, I
think with Jackson Stobber, you get a bit more flexibility
with that where you don't have to play Maddie night
in and night out, even though I'm sure Volota is
okay with that because that's what he was with last year.

(34:16):
But uh, I think with him and Jackson Stobbur, and
you know bearing of call ups happened with Wells and Thorne,
it's uh might be the deepest goaltending depth in the
AHL right now.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, no doubt about that. It's it's great to have
a lot of depth player there in that position. You
have Mattalota, who you know, he had that great breakout
here last year, and then you have Tag Jackson and
a lot of great resume and the young guy and
ens in the prospect, and and Dylan Walton did really
well when he came up and had absolutely great rapport

(34:50):
with with Matt. So it's a it's a really deep,
Julie deep position for the Roadrunners. And uh, like I said,
like you said you, I wouldn't be surprised of off
they they do have really good statsies.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
Like that next one for me for the bold predictions
of my five on my list, it feels like we're
doing a draft right now. He had a really good
weekend in the preseason. He's a guy who I had
never seen play in person yet, but right from the
get go on the Friday game, he was flying out
there as a defenseman. He made really good defensive plays.

(35:24):
He had a power play goal on Friday night. Ardam
Duda was just super impressive for I'm sure not only me,
but the entire coaching staff and what he was able
to do out there. And he's had quite the journey
with being drafted in twenty twenty two in the thirty
sixth overall spot and playing in the KHL for a bit,

(35:49):
having some visa card issues getting here, but now he
finally is with the road Runners. He finally signed his
entry level contract with the Utah Hockey Club and with
you know just what I signed again all bold predictions.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
We're just going bold here.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
I think he will lead toos on defenseman in goals
this year because he is super aggressive. He gets in
on the rush, he's extremely fast. I mean, you're watching
the game on Friday, James, but I just seeing him
in person, the way he skated, he is clearly ready
for this league. He's clearly ready for the AHL and
potentially in the NHL eventually. But I think he's gonna

(36:29):
lead the team in goals from defenseman if he's able
to come in and play. Yeah, again, it's it's a
lot of depth at the defenseman spot right now as well.
But definitely showed over the weekend that he could he
could be on the opening night roster. But if he
is and plays a lot of games this season, I
think he can accomplish that.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah, he looked really good. And he's the guy who
cut Tomo from Russia that he had he had such
a great prison. You know, we're working for the junior
team for SESCA. You know, like I said, they're big
club over there. So you know, he's the guy who
was expecting to go to college but that didn't work
out or in say college, I should say American College,

(37:10):
ended up going to the Tour schol in Toronto. But
he's the guy who you should see, you should expect
to have a really good season.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
And then the last bold prediction for me, guy who's
back with the road Runners came in last season from Europe,
a draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes, and you know,
a guy who came in and kind of just stole
the show. After the first ten games of the year,
he had two points in the first ten games and
then after that became a points per game player. He

(37:42):
had got a hat trick last season, which was also
a four point nine against San Jose and now he's
back with the Roadrunners.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Aku Ratu.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
I think he will make the All Star Game this
season as the Tucson road as one of the reps
of the Tucson Roadrunners. So uh yeah, rod tou just
another guy to be excited for this year.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Yeah, it's it's really tough to get in the especially
in this division with so many teams and so so
so really talented. But yes, it's really tough to make
the Elshra team. But that's another that's a good prediction
because he's a he's a guy who really showed a
lot of gumpses last year. He what what was the
December I think it was that he led the team
in scoring or I don't remember what that was.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
But Mark, well, March he had, yeah, March, he had
about sixteen points in fourteen games and that was the
most second all time by a Roadrunner. And I think
he did also lead scoring in December as well. There's
just a couple of months there in the back end
of the season where rodtu was just going off.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Yeah, yeah, got the kind of months six up. But yeah,
he's the guy who showed a lot of glimpses last year.
And even though he was he was new to the
American game, new to a North American game, and knew
the knew the organization and everything, but he was really
he really did rely and really show a lot of glimpses.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, James, there you have it. Welcome to the Tucson
Runners Insider podcast. Great job, awesome talking with you. You know,
just getting excited for the regular season and start off
in Colorado this weekend, and gosh, it's just crazy to
think that hockey is back. Hockey regular season is back
and we'll get things rolling here.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, it seems like for me just just the season
will ended. I mean, it's free, you guys, it's different.
There's not really off season. You just keep going around.
But for me, it just feels like it kind of ends,
like it's just so nice to be back and everything
it's nice to be starting out again.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Yeah, things are moving quick here. We will quickly move off.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
We'll end it with road Runners Rock and we'll see
you next week before our next podcast, which will be
after the first two games of the season in Loveland, Colorado.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Come after one of ours. You cann't need a lot
more friends.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
We've seen us gape before. We don't how the story
ends tonight, Tonight to go down. You try to run
nothing on us.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
We're going runs down.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Get on the bus, go back to where you came from.

Speaker 4 (40:09):
Getting on the bus, drop five file away, hang up
his skates, drop your gloves, put just this away. You
got beat down tonight. That's the two sad Way road
right fro road Ridder from road Rider from road Rder

(40:37):
Frock Next the Two sad Way
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