Texas Sweep, Adrian's Opening Record?

Adrian Denny and Jonathon Schaffer recap Tucson's opening weekend sweep over the Texas Stars, analyzing Dylan Guenther and Matthew Villalta's perfomances in game two and previewing the home opener against Coachella Valley. Adrian chats with Guenther as well as Curtis Douglas and Ryan McGregor and reveals his season opener record as a hockey play-by-play broadcaster. The first edition of "Does Adrian Know?" is introduced where Jonathon asks Adrian if he knows a random Roadrunner fact.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
When you want more roadrunners, We'vegot more road runners. This is the
Two Sun Roadrunners Insider Podcast, andwe're not fighting. They were having a
discussion with the voice of the Roadrunners, Adrian Demi, what advice do you
have for me? Drink a lotof water. It's pretty odd and your
new best friend, my best friend, Jonathan Schaeffer. The guys are already

(00:21):
talking, so let's join them righthere on your Two Sun Roadrunners Insider Podcast.
And welcome to your two and ohedition of the Two Sun Broadrunners Insider
Podcast. Jonathan Schaeffer and myself AdrianDenny, coming to you on our lazy
Sunday, which has been anything butroadrunners. Traveling back from Texas. We'll

(00:41):
tell you all about it, Johnnysecond. I walked in the condo,
ate a protein bar, put onthe workout clothes, went out, ran
the canyon, got the workout inhigh nineties. It was hot, made
it back. But I'll tell youthis, Johnny before we get into the
hockey. Laying around the hotel roomyesterday getting ready for the game, and

(01:02):
turn it on. Some action fromthe Midwest. It was nasty in Cincinnati.
It was nasty, and Cincinnati againtoday with the Bengals playing the Seahawks
a rough day in the Midwest forweather rough weekend to the Midwest. Said
to my best friend Ryan, I'mlike, yeah, no, thanks,
I couldn't do that, So Iwill definitely take high nineties running in the
canyon in the middle of October,coming back from a two and oh road

(01:26):
trip. But that's impressive, Johnnytwo and O on the road, beating
the same team twice on back toback nights. It's first time the Roadrunners
have done it on the road inteam history to start the season. We
beat San Jose back to back gamesFebruary seventh and eighth of twenty twenty one,
the shortened COVID season to start theyear two and oh Matthew Volalta the

(01:48):
second Roadrunner in team history to winback to back starts on back to back
nights to start things up. Ieven did it back in twenty twenty one.
He was really, really impressive.I think it was a weekend of
you know, you just look ateverybody doing their jobs. And one of
the guys that talked to after thegame Saturday night was Ryan McGregor because he
took every single important face off atthe end of the game last night and

(02:12):
won every single one and just itjust it took, it took everybody,
and that that wasn't easy. Andone of my one of my messages,
and I kept telling myself this becausebecause we've got high expectations, we we
want to win every game. Butthe teams were playing, We're gonna run
into teams like Texas, who aredefending Central Division champions, who every year,

(02:37):
you know, pretty good, prettytough to beat, come out with
a chip on their shoulder, andin a game like last night, and
boy that they brought it. Andwe told you second in our mission,
all right, we've got to getready for the most intense period of the
year here because that's what it's goingto take to pull out two points.
And it was two nothing. Isaid, our biggest focus right now is

(02:58):
keeping this game to nothing. Andthen Texas got a goal, and I
didn't say my usual when you getone, you get two, because that's
our game. When you get whenyou get two, momentum dangerous lead,
most dangerous lead in hockey. Butwhen they made it two to one,
our next immediate goal was to makeit three to one. And I thought
we had some good shifts amidst Texas'spressure in Texas's desperation in the second game

(03:23):
of the year, eighteen shots inthe third period, Matt Vilalta stopped thirty
five to thirty six, twenty twentysix to twenty seven the final final two
periods, stopped all nine in thefirst and Steve pop been telling us Saturday
before the game, He's like,you know, he made some big saves

(03:44):
in the first period Friday that allowedus to just kind of get going,
get into the flow. And onething we always talk about is key moments,
big plays in key moments, bigsaves in key moments, talking Ryan
McGregor winning those faceoffs, Matt Blaltamaking those saves, Stephen Camp for winning

(04:05):
a battle in the corner late inthe game. I'll tell you this,
Johnny. You talk about wanting todevelop players to win, wanting to develop
players in a winning environment. Wehad our veterans out there in the final
two three minutes last night. Wewere playing to win the game, and
Justin Kirklin, John Leonard, StevenCamper, Michael Kessel, Ring, Ryan

(04:28):
McGregor. We had our veterans outthere to win the game. They sealed
the deal after the young guys onceagain helped his screate offense. Maxi Zuber
twenty twenty two draft pick of theCoyotes second goal on a beautiful pass from
Dylan Gunther off of a face offwin from Justin Kirklin. You wanted to
talk about key moments, It cameoff of an icing, so they can't

(04:54):
change. We come back down.Kirkland wins a faceoff, Dylan Gunther flips
to Maxie Zuber, who just kindof walked in. Fired at home.
You look at our first goal thatDylan scored. Jan Yunique made a great
play in the neutral zone, gotit to Zach Sanford, one of our
new veteran, experienced guys, alternatecaptains. He just rolled us to Dylan,

(05:15):
said just just go, Dylan,go go, and Dylan went in
one on one. Matt Murray buriedit. But just talking about, you
know, the key moments, thebig plays, the goals, the saves,
the face off wins, blocking shots. How many shots did we block
this weekend? Matt Vilalta brought thatup after the game on Friday. It's

(05:39):
kind of down the list with allthe important things we did, but the
shots that we blocked were big sotwo and zero after going into Texas getting
two straight wins, Texas zero totwo for the first time since twenty nineteen.
Last time they started oh and two, we handed them the first loss.
We moved on to San Antonio,Manitoba, switched of us. They

(06:00):
came in, beat him the nextnight, got him to ohen two.
Texas lost their home opener for thethird straight year on Friday night and two
years ago against Iowa. Texas cameback next night one last year got kind
of run out of the building byColorado. On night one, Texas came
back and won. Texas is atough team like that. You're not going

(06:26):
to get a tougher draw than Texas. And Steve Popman kind of comparing the
AGB Center to the Budweiser Events Centerin Colorado in terms of tough places to
play with tough teams, where yougot to you gotta keep it reeled in,
and the road Runners were able todo so. They were able to
push back on the pushback and andTexas was was really really impressed with the

(06:49):
Roadrunners and it's a tough place toplay. In fact, John Slaney says
to me, him and I sattogether on the plane today. We'll get
to all of that coming up onthe podcast. He says to me,
when was the last time we wonin Texas? And I said May eighth,
twenty twenty one. It was theCOVID shorten year. It was Ben
McCartney's first ever game, our alternatecaptain right now, he was nineteen.

(07:11):
But tough place to play, toughteam, and we've we've battled against him,
we've competed against him, and andyou look at our last three games.
We were down four to nothing onon April eighth at home late in
the second period, tied it upat four with four unanswered goals too on
the power play, and found away. So matching Texas, competing against

(07:33):
Texas, big big weekend for theRoadrunners. Matt Ballalt's a big story.
We'll get to where does he rankin terms of goaltending to start the season
in the American Hockey League. Wehaven't even mentioned yan Yanique yet, factoring
in on three of our five goals. Fourth year Roadrunner, nineteenth multiple point
game and is a is a Roadrunneron Friday. But a lot of good

(07:56):
stories. The young guys are therewith the offense and Scoalie number one goalie
made the saves, and our uhand our glue guys were our glue guys,
and we start two and oh forthe third time in six years after
winning our season opener, Johnny,for the sixth straight season. Don't think
the guys didn't know that. Oneof them said to me after the game

(08:18):
Fridays, like, is that seventhstraight season openers? I said six?
He said, I knew. Iknew it was somewhere in there. So
the information, it's all processed.And and a good weekend there for two
sun Johnny. Yeah, it reallywas. I mean sometimes you like to
play against good teams to start offyour season, and two straight games in
Texas is no easy task for anyteam. And to go there, you

(08:41):
just said it tough bar to playin. To go in there back to
back nights, two scrappy wins,I mean those games could have gone either
way for each team. Is youknow the first night, you know,
goals were going on each side,and then minos Kelman gets the game winning
goal three to two win. TheStars made a final push, will Alta
made some saves, defenders were makingblock shots. Game two, it was

(09:03):
really similar, Uh, Roadrunners startoff hot, creating chances. They took
a lot of penalties early on inboth games, but as the game went
on then they started staying out ofthe box. And I was touching on
that too during the in one ofmiss intermission reports is that you shared are
taking a lot of penalties, butthey're killed. They're killing most of them.
I think game one they're four forfive on killing the penalty, and

(09:28):
then last night there are three forthree perfect. So that can frustrate a
team. Uh you know, you'reyou're giving all these power play opportunities and
you're not scoring. So you know, maybe that brought down the Stars a
little bit. And uh yeah,second game last night, uh two to
one win. Uh the Stars pushedreally hard in that third period with the
eight and a four shot differential andmat vealalta standing tall. So were two

(09:50):
really scrappy games. I expect alot of that kind of play from the
Roadrunners this year, especially those reallygood teams. And you know, the
season open or home opener now onSaturday against Coachella, so it does not
get any easier down the road.But you know, the guys have a
nice log week to get ready forit. We'll be I'm sure we'll be

(10:11):
catching up with them throughout the weekas they returned to Tucson. And you
know, so far, so good, long roads to go, just two
games down, but we liked ittwo and oh start. Yeah, And
you talk about the penalty killing,Johnny, that the three shorthanded situations in
the first period each night, andit's it's how we're gonna come out and
play. We're not gonna turn awayfrom it. We're not gonna back down.

(10:31):
If we take a penalty, wetake a penalty, we're gonna kill
it. You saw how good ourpenalty kill was, as you said,
seven for eight, and it didcreate momentum, if not for Texas not
scoring on those power plays for them, and you talk about frustration, but
we were so dialed, we wereso pinpoint to our execution on those pks

(10:54):
that it didn't even feel like penaltykilling in a lot of instances. You've
seen Texas's power play and you hadthe numbers in the game preview at two
soun roadrunners dot Com on Friday nightTexas's power play and how good they've historically
been. And when Texas was onthe power play, it really didn't look

(11:15):
like they were. They were,you know, really really on one because
the Roadrunners were winning the face off. McGregor, Karate, Soderstrom rims it
around and out and they couldn't getset up. So we're not going to
back down from the way that thatwe want to play. When we take
a penalty, we're gonna go killa penalty and as you said, use
it to our advantage. Generate momentumoff of that, and you know the

(11:41):
way we're gonna play, Johnny,it's gonna draw power plays too. You
saw Lee and Bixel go up theback. I think of Ben McCartney right
at center ice in front of thebenches in a key moment in the third
period on Saturday, just frustration playingwith playing with an edge and drawing penalties
because of the way that that weplay. But the key moments of killing

(12:07):
three penalties in the first period eachnight, and you look at it and
you're two two in the third periodon the road Friday night, you've led
one nothing, you've led to one. They haven't led. You got you
gotta find a way, and theydid, and they held them off the

(12:28):
board both nights. Texas went downby one extra attack or empty net.
The Roadrunners got through it, andVolalta was was was his biggest late in
the third periods each of the lasttwo nights, but blocking the shots,
clearing the pucks and finding a way. And you look at the way our

(12:48):
young guys got going offensively and asimpactful as they were. And I think
you can look at this series andif Kirkland and Sanford and guys like Guanik
who had had a great weekend,and players like like Josh Doan who were
here, if they had been puttingup all of our points, and you

(13:09):
know it took a week or twofor Dylan Gunther and Akuratu and Maxie Zuber
to get rolling. You'd kind ofexpect it with the roster that you have
and who's gonna take over on aweek one and who's going to help you
get the big goals? And ouryoung guys are there immediately. I remember
a couple of years ago when wehad Mattias Mitchelli, who you could say,
okay, Dylan Gunther, right,you could say jj Moser playing the

(13:33):
part of this year's Maxie Zuber.It took those guys two three weekends before
they really kind of rolled into whatthey were gonna be to get their mid
season call ups, to go upto the Coyotes and and not come back.
So so credit to all those guys. A nice move by Gunther,
beautiful pass out there in key moments. Zuber is is, I don't know.

(13:58):
It looks like JJ Moser all overagain. It was here for two
months in twenty twenty one, andit took JJ a month to get going.
And you look at Zuber and greatweekend by him and Aku Ratu.
Holy smokes, what a playmaker forthe fifth round draft pick in twenty nineteen
out there with Kellman and McGregor andthe way they were grinding and by battling

(14:24):
finding ways to make play. Soall great stuff there for the Roadrunners.
Last night after the game, Johnnycaught up with Dylan Gunther, caught up
with Ryan McGregor, Curtis Douglass.We've got a conversation with cut up with
him earlier on the weekend. Let'sstart Johnny with Dylan Gunther, ninth overall
pick in twenty twenty one and aguy we're really excited about. We know

(14:48):
he's going to be a star,and you know the disappointment last year for
him going back to juniors from theNHL. Wasn't AHL eligible. You have
to be twenty when the calendar yearends to be HL eligible when you're a
major junior player. So last yearnineteen, when twenty twenty two ended,
Coyotes made the tough decision sent himto juniors. Just excelled. Just disappointed

(15:11):
this year. Obviously, you wantto you want to make the NHL team
out of camp. You want tobe on the NHL roster, and the
Coyotes again eling Dylan, all right, Dylan, this is this is what
we're doing. And we know you'reall in. We're all in, go
to Tucson. These are the focuses. And you know, he's he's a

(15:31):
great kid. He's he's twenty yearsold, and he's he's gonna be a
big deal here and he's going tobe a big deal in the NHL.
And it starts with, you know, just the heart and the kind of
person he is. Big weekend,two points last night, the victory over
Texas. Johnny I caught up withhim after the game, heart dying.

(15:52):
Nice game for us. You gottastarted with that goal, the nice little
pass to Maxie, and we tookcare of the rest held on to one
nice too, and oh start.Yeah, I think that's a pretty good
start for us as a team.I thought we uh, you know,
played well the first game and tonightI don't think it was our best,
but you know, on the roadback to back into good team, you

(16:12):
gotta find a way to win gamessometimes. So I thought we did a
good job. Tell me about thegoal. You got a nice pass up
ahead. I think Samford got itto you from from Unique and one on
one with the goalie. Yeah,I think just a quick, quick transition.
I was coming back and puck kindof came out. I made it

(16:33):
past the Sanny jumped in the middleand made a nice play and uh yeah
score. How about that face offwhen Kirkland won it? You got it
to Zuber there. You could kindof feel the momentum for us. A
couple of good shifts in a rowand able to get it in right there.
Yeah. I think we were justkind of the receiving end of a
couple of good shifts, Like yousaid, uh, you know, all
the lions kind of went to workand we we were just able to kind

(16:56):
of capitalize off in icing or somethinglike that. So just a good job
by the team there, and wewere kind of just the beneficiary of a
How about Matt Vilalta both nights wasreally good last night, just had to
make that pers se. We dida good job tonight Texas. Texas really
brought it. There was a lotof pressure from them. They're they're a
good team. They didn't want toget swept at home, and we did
it. And then he was abig part of it. Yeah, he's

(17:17):
really good. You know, he'she's a gamer, he's into the game,
and you know, we don't wintonight without him. So I thought
he did unlivable job both games,and yeah, he's just a good player.
Final thing, just how about theteam effort with all the little details
that that we had to cover tocome out with this week? Right that
the goals, the penalty killing,that the five on five deep in our
own late, the base offs.McGregory was winning every single one. Yeah,

(17:40):
just a really good team effort.I think you don't beat a team
back to back, especially a teamlike them, if not everyone's contributing.
So everyone did their job. Ithought we did a good job managing the
game. You know, it wasn'tthe cleanest prettiest game, but we were
able to get bucks out and blockshots and good say this, Mark Ollie,
good Jobdwan, thanks a lot,buddy, Yeah, thank you.

(18:02):
And that's a guy Johnny like he'sall in and as happy as he was
with the two points, he wasjust one of those guys that's happier that
they won the game and he wasable to help and contribute, and you
know, it's it's it's a greatthing about being in the American Hockey League
as a fan is you get tosee players like like Dylan right now.

(18:26):
And you know, John Ferguson wasasked by Brett on Happy Hour last week,
like, is this a situation withJosh Jone where you got to come
see him now because might not behere very long? And obviously we know
the same thing with with Dylan Gunther, but a great prospect to watch and
and in the meantime, one ofwhat nineteen guys that was instrumental in helping

(18:48):
the broad Runners get off to thattwo and oh start. Yeah, I
think that's always the bummer of youknow, watching players in this kind of
league, the AHL, because they'replaying so great and obviously we want the
best for every single player in allteams, and you know, yeah watch
them now. You know, thisis our only chance here to see these
players, you know, playing inthis league for Tucson and because they're they're

(19:12):
gonna go up there eventually, youknow, either whether it's this season or
next season, because these are justtoo talented of guys that are you know,
they're too talented for this league.Well not not now, but eventually
they will be. So yeah,Dylan Gunther just he he made played just
mistake free. You know, helooked really good. I had in a
prediction of him get to assist onopening night for the first goal of the

(19:34):
season, but he got two pointsthe next so I'm not surprised by that
at all. You know, Ireally thought the youngsters were contributing while the
veteran players were just contributing as well. You know, everyone was just doing
their job, you know, whetherit was playing great defense, blocking the
shots, you know, capitalizing onthe opportunities. Matthew Veloto of course playing

(19:55):
great. It seemed that it wasjust every game was a whole team effort.
And that's that's what I was mostimpressed by. And I'm watching Dylan
Gunther over the weekend playing with JohnLeonard and Justin Kirkland. And I'm thinking
he's playing with those guys because thereare NHL players and that's the kind of
players he's gonna be playing with inthe National Hockey League. Oh yeah,
exactly. And the lines were whenthe lines first came out, we were

(20:17):
a little surprising, you know,Yanya, Niku and Josh Stone on the
fourth, but then of course Guntherand Leonard with Kirkland on the top line.
Uh, but Don and Yanni contributedto that line looked out standing as
well. So whatever Steve Popman hasbrewing up right now, you know,
who knows what the lines will looklike, uh comes Saturday. But whatever

(20:38):
he's come up with, it's it'sworked so far in the first two games.
And yeah, it's that's what youlike to see. Zach Sanford,
yan Yannique, Josh Stone could bea first line. It's listed on the
line that shed the fourth. Yougotta put you gotta put everybody somewhere,
right, But yeah, yeah,that that that's a good first line in
the h L. And a hugeweekend for jan Yanique his nineteenth multiple point

(21:03):
game on Friday and since April twentythird to twenty twenty one seventy nine points
in eighty eight games, second onlybehind Mike Carconi and a guy that joined
the Coyotes mid camp and had hada good camp and a great weekend to
get things started for the Roadrunners.And another another fourth year guy with us

(21:25):
who's who's making an impact, andyou know, it's it's all kind of
coming together. And I was talkingto some people after the game last night,
like, well, you guys arepretty good. Like it's been a
process over a four year stretch oftaking these guys, developing them to every

(21:45):
single detail, getting them to thislevel where they're knocking on the door where
they're the call up based on theneed. And then we had our next
crop of prospects, Ratu, DonDyan Gunther, Maxi Zuber. You get
them and you're comparing them Mitchelli andJJ Moser and the core returning guys like

(22:10):
lad Koya, Chanik Cam Karate andthen and then you add guys like John
Leonard, Justin Kirklin, Zack Sanford, Matt Vlalta. Yeah, I think
we're pretty good. Our process overfour years, next crop of prospects,
depth prospects for the two way dealslike the guys that we just mentioned,

(22:33):
another fourth year roadrunner who last nightdid so many big things. He's on
the PK taking those draws like itwas it was clockwork. When the face
off Karate to Soderstrom, rims itaround, it out and our PK has
just killed twenty seconds. Ryan McGregorcaught up with him also after the game,

(22:57):
Brian good Weekend, took out everybody, took every little thing, every
little face off, win, everyevery puck that we got out, every
goal, every save, and agood start for Yeah, you know,
obviously coming here on the road andgrab the first two, it's huge.
You know, at the end ofthe year last year we really realized how
much every every point matters. Soit's good to get off to a great
start. And like you said,took everybody. Maddy was incredible in the

(23:19):
net there and you know kind ofkept us in it. You know,
I kept telling myself, like,we have our expectations for our team,
but but so does that group overthere. And knew going into the third
period it was going to take themost intense brand of hockey we've played to
seal it often we did. Yeah, you know, I thought we were
desperate at the end there. Youknow, they they made their push and

(23:41):
you know, I thought for themost part, we responded pretty well.
And you know, like I said, we kind of packed it up and
like I said, Maddy was awesome. What do we talk about going into
the weekend that that was going tohave success for us? Is a group
just just every every single player thatwe were able to execute. Yeah,
I mean obviously we had you know, like you said, everybody from our
fourth line to our first line.Everyone was contributing powerplay. Penalty kill was

(24:03):
good, and you know that's whatyou need in this league. It's it's
hard to get wins. And justfortunate to get those two big face us
that that you took for us,and then we knew what was gonna happen
with those but by design, right, like what we do we win a
face off and and finishing it fromthere. Yeah, you know, all
our centers are pretty good in thedot. You know, I would have
liked a couple at the end there, but Maddy kept us in it and

(24:27):
we had our d or fowards.Everyone was blocking shots, everyone was committed
to getting the two points and helpingeverybody out. The penalty kill again like
you we we win the draw,Karate Soders from rim it out and just
just the details there to have success, right, like going on the power
play when when Texas has it,you know that they're good at it,
and we didn't really give them achance this weekend. Yeah, you know

(24:48):
they're they're really good on the powerplay. Most teams are really good when
you let them get in the zone. So when you can get those clears
to start for seven seconds, getit out and make them break it in
on you. And you know,I thought we did pretty good job of
that. And then looking at ourteam, we've got some fourth year guys
like you, some third year guys, some some draft picks, some prospects,
and some guys that you know,we're a headache to play against around

(25:08):
the AHL all on our team rightnow. Yeah, we got a really
deep group here. You know,everybody, everybody's been contributing. And you
know it's tough to play against me. You can get four lines rolling and
everybody playing hard and being tough toplay against. Thanks tryan good jobing.
He's such a such a detailed guy. And you know when you've got guys

(25:30):
like Ryan and Cam, hebig thattake those big face offs. It helps
you win. It's it's why youwin. Going in and beating Texas to
in a row, it's going totake a lot, especially what they were
going to bring. You remember,first time in team history we've ever gone

(25:52):
in on back to back nights tostart the year and went to and oh
you remember last year we did itduring the playoff chase in Colorado. First
time we'd ever want to straight inColorado, and it was March twenty fifth
and twenty sixth, and it wasthe same thing. We just went in
and took it to of them.Next night, we knew what was gonna
come. We came, we matchedit, and onward we went. But
you look at last year's team.We won in Henderson to start that yere

(26:15):
Henderson wasn't great next night, butthey were ticked off because they lost their
home opener. They came out aminute in they put a puck into the
back of the net. Matt Walalt'sa huge part of that, right,
making the big, big timely saves. Year before we lost three two in
Stockton after beating them one nothing inovertime the night before in the first game
of the year. Again, youknow timely saves big deal, right,

(26:36):
Like Matt, Matt Valalta was wasreally really good and a huge, huge
addition. And hearing from John Fergusonlast week on Happy Hour, he said,
we knew the situation with Ivan,We knew that was a possibility.
It's the rules, it's how itworks. We had hoped it wouldn't.
But going out and knowing, Okay, Matt Walalta is a guy that,

(27:00):
with LA's depth, could be aguy that comes available and a guy that
were definitely interested in. And youwere the first to notice the souarros on
the pads, Johnny, But goodluck to you if you're firing pucks into
the pads of Matt Valalta with thosetwo soarros. Yeah, and for Matt
Valalta, it's it couldn't. Itcould have been easy, of course,

(27:22):
to play back to back night.But you know, when before Ivan was
claimed, you kind of expected atandem at least for this these first two
games. I mean guaranteed Ivan probablywould have gone game one and Valalta would
be in game two. But thenall of a sudden, you're the guy
now, you know, who knowswhat kind of moves the Coyotes will make
to maybe give road the Roadrunners anothergoaltender. Of course, they have Jared

(27:45):
mo still on the PTO for thebackup, but yeah, Valta just went
straight to starting two games and hewas just absolutely phenomenal. I mean,
no, not a lot of rebounds, which what I noticed. You know,
he wasn't letting a lot of reboundsin front the least bad ones,
and even if he did, thedefenders were able to just clear it away.
So yeah, just really calm thecollector in the net. You talked

(28:07):
to him after Friday's game, youknow, really outspoken guy, team player.
You know, obviously everyone was justhappy to get the wins. But
yeah, I'm just really excited tosee Matt Valalta down the line. I
think he can he can really takeover that crease as the season goes on.
There's two goalies in the American HockeyLeague right now that are two and
zero. Matt Blalta is one ofthem. Matt, here are the numbers

(28:32):
so far. A one point fiveto one goals against sarage a, nine
to five to two save percentage,stopping sixty to sixty three shots. The
other goalie, Johnny He's a goaliewho I thought might be the second or
third best goalie in the division lastyear. They just didn't score any goals
for him. In Uri Petera andHenderson better roster, better players, better

(28:53):
scorers, well scorers that score.Through two games, they go in beat
Iowa in A and Urie Petera.The only other goalie next to Matt Balalta
in the AHL who's two and ohso handed to hand it to Matt on
that back to back And I saidto Steve Potman before the game, I
think the only person more excited thathe's going than than we are is is

(29:15):
Matt. And he was. Hewas juiced, he was ready to go.
One thing Steve said about him beforethe game was, you know what
you want to hear about with agoalie, calm composed, chill, nice,
guys want to play, Guys wantto play in front of him,
just like just like Ivan, it'sthe guy that that you want to go
out and do everything for. Andthey did. They The amount of shots

(29:37):
blocked Friday and then into Saturday withwith Henderson getting or I'm sorry Texas getting
almost forty shots there was it wasa lot of block shots that and and
Matt saw a lot of a lotof action, especially late, and was
was up to it. But it'dbe great starts the weekend for for Matt
Valta. You look at you know, best starts uh in Roadrunners Street,

(30:00):
second only to Ivan back to backshoutouts to start twenty one twenty two,
which is impressive. But that's that'sa nice weekend for Matt with the back
to back starts starting off to it. Oh and biggest story is just how
much we love the pads, thewhite pads with the cactus. I still
need to when I run into him, I gotta ask him because you know,
it's a little hard to get playerson this podcast during the season.

(30:22):
So you know, maybe if Isee him at practice this week, I'll
just have to ask him, wheredid you get those pads? But are
you going to ask to touch thepads? I don't know about that.
Maybe I think only Puck should betouching those, and of course him when
he puts them on. But yeah, I'm just too curious to see how
he got those. He still needsto change his helmet. He still has

(30:45):
the La logo on his helmet.That's what I saw over the weekend on
the pictures. So yeah, maybeI'll give it to him for not getting
that road learn or logo on hishelmet just yet. Those things take time,
man like, it's yeah, progresspainter. The painter is definitely working
at them, and sometimes they don'tcome in as when they're expected. And

(31:06):
yeah, as a goalie, youcan't just go down to Dick's Sporting Goods
and buy a goalie mask. Yeahyou just get it. They have to
be fitted and everything. Oh yeah, I'm sure whatever it is it will
match the pads beautifully. So yeah, looking forward to that. May.
I'll ask him when he's getting it, just so we have a time a
time frame. So Matt the onlygoalie along with euripetera two an ozer.

(31:30):
Let's take a look at player statsfor for the road Runners. Don't really
have anybody leading the league right andin skater stats because we were so even
across the board. But the uniquescoring in in both games for for Tucson
and you know, five goals scoredby five different players, it just I

(31:51):
think just shows more of the morethe team side of it. With Dylan
Gantha the only other player besides Johnwith with multiple points. Yeah, I
like the guys who scored. Imean, of course y Nick Gunther,
Josh Don who was expected to havea good season, Milos Kellman who got
the game winning goal in Game one, also second year in a row of

(32:12):
scoring on the season opener. Andyeah, the goal scorers were great.
Those are guys that we expect tohave big seasons and they're already off and
running. The other story for theroad Runners, I think I said it
over the weekend, Johnny, butit was the players that weren't in the
lineup. Maybe the biggest story aboutwho's in the lineup is who's not in

(32:38):
the lineup, because there's some reallygood players who didn't play this weekend for
two Soon you go down. CurtisDouglas, Hunter, Drew, Austin Paganski,
who played in twenty two to twentyfour playoff games for Coachella Valley going
to the seventh game of the ColorCup Finals last year. Colin Tyson,

(32:58):
I didn't see Montana and Ya Boochiedidn't see Patrick Kach, Cameron he Big,
didn't play on Friday, played onon Saturday. I think that's another
another big story for the Roadrunners isOkay, here's your lineup. But the
biggest story is who's not in thelineup because the Roadrunners are so deep.
That's that's a lot of HL NHLguys not playing because of how deep the

(33:22):
Roadrunners are right now. Yeah,and that's how it's gotta be tough for
Steve Poffin because he I'm sure hewants to play every single person on this
team. But you know, sometimesyou just have to make the hard decisions.
And you know, the Red Runnershave, you know, every player
they can possibly want right now.Things will change over time. You know,
injuries will happen with the Coyotes,injuries will happen with the Roadrunners.

(33:44):
So eventually guys will start getting playingtime. And that's what's so important about
having depth in the AHL, becauseguys will start getting moved around, and
yeah, we're we're going to seeeverybody eventually, and it will test the
team. You know, a guy'snot gonna play as much and then all
of a sudden he's on the thirdor fourth line playing every single game,

(34:04):
and it's gonna be a test.It's gonna be a mental test for the
guys who aren't playing as much either, because they still have to just have
that positive energy saying you know,this is what's bets for the team right
now. When I get my opportunity, I'm going to take it full on.
Again. Tough decisions for Potvin,but he's doing great so far,
and I'm sure eventually over time,guys will get their opportunities. And we've

(34:27):
heard it from Steve, We've heardit from GM John Ferguson. We love
the internal competition of staying in thelineup, keeping your lineup spot, pushing
into the lineup, and Johnny,it's it's it's not just injuries and call
ups over the course of a season. On a back to back, when
you're playing four games and six nights, inserting a fresh body here and there

(34:53):
is gonna be huge and you're notgonna miss a beat on it because the
guys are gonna be ready. Alsodifferent, a lot of different looks for
opposing teams. You know, theymight see this one lineup one night,
and then next night it's completely differentand they have nothing on those players who
didn't play the night before, Soit's it's a huge advantage. One of

(35:13):
those guys we talked about again,one of the stories, a guy like
Curtis Douglas not in the lineup,and Johnny, did you notice one of
our storylines this year was top twoin the league or top five in the
league in penalty minutes. We hadtwo guys from each of the last two
years in the top five and penaltyminutes. Hunter drew each of the last
two seasons. Montana and Yobouchi twentyone twenty two is San Jose, Curtis

(35:35):
Douglas last year with the Roadrunners.Those guys weren't in the lineup this weekend
for two sun they could have been. Montana took warm ups on Saturday night.
He would have been ready to hopin. But we kept our our
prickly cactus in the greenhouse over theweekend in Curtis Hunter and Montana. But

(35:57):
always going to be ready to goand always gonna be ready to be that
next man up. And we're gonnaneed absolutely everybody. And we talked about
it last year when we got offto that hot start. Guys not in
the lineup now, guys in theECHL right now, we will absolutely need
them during the course of the season. They're gonna help us win. I
caught up with Curtis Douglas before westarted the weekend in Texas. Curtis like

(36:22):
the group. We have a lotof guys coming back, a lot of
new guys. It's gonna be afun year. Yeah. We got a
really really close snack group. Sowe're pretty excited to start going tomorrow and
kind of grow as a team andgrows and grows people in HUT players,
and we're just kind of trying tovibe off one another and get things going
to morrow. Like I said,you look at our training camp and our

(36:43):
preseason game. What do you think? What do you think we've got in
store as a group, just asfar as our identity and and what to
expect every night. Yeah, Ithink there's a lot more focus on details
and making sure we do every littlething correctly. And I think it's gonna
be huge for us this year andplaying more are more of a united defense
and playing our identity of just beingreally hard to play against and getting really

(37:07):
good for check and and just batteringteams down. Almost exciting. Uh,
you got you last year and wentinto the summer knowing you were under contract
ready to come back for year two. Yeah, I'm really excited. I
love the love the people here.I loved I love two sounds of City
and I'm just really excited to getthe season on. Thanks Curtis, Thank
you. So Curtis is always acrowd pleaser on the podcast, so I

(37:31):
had to had to catch up withhim. He's a good guy, good
good team guy. Just just aroad runner, I said to Steve over
the weekend, Like when we whenwe were naming our leadership group, Stephen
Camp for our captain is a guy. And how many of these guys have
we had over the years, Guysthat we trade for, Guys that we

(37:52):
sign to fill an immediate need.The Coyotes went out and got Stephen Camp
from Grand Rapids last year in midMarch to help our playoff run, and
then he did that fourteen games playoffs. He signed him to a two week
contract in the off season. Ourcaptain right now and one of many that

(38:17):
we signed we traded for to fillan immediate need that then become part of
our big picture. Stephen Camp orone of them there. We named him
captain before the game Friday, butformally introduced him Zack Sanford and Ben McCartney
as our alternates before the home openerand our face off luncheon on Wednesday.
But the other favorite story there isis Ben McCartney, a twenty two year

(38:40):
old alternate captain seventh round draft pickby the Coyotes in twenty twenty. That
was an odd draft. It happenedin the middle of COVID. Benny wasn't
watching it, who was with hissister and her boyfriend, and they found
out he got drafted by the Codesin the seventh round and went played his
junior year, had a great junioryear in the WHL bubble, and we

(39:01):
brought him in just you know,because we could. Right we needed some
bodies to skate, wanted to takea look at Benny, and all of
a sudden, like, this kid'sready to play in the AHL. So
he made his debut in Texas Mayeighth, twenty twenty one, multiple points.
Last time we won in Texas beforelast night, three year entry level

(39:22):
deal last year before the season started, one of our alternate captains and this
year with this roster and alternate captainagain, another big big stick tap there
to Ben McCartney and Zack Sanford whowas assigned late last week by the Coyotes
or other alternate captain. He's abig, long, six foot four kid
and leading score against US for Milwaukeelast year, so we know we know

(39:46):
him, We've seen a lot ofhim. But that's your leadership corps this
year. Steven Campfer is your captainand Zach Sanford and Ben McCartney as your
alternate captains. Yeah, and Ithink it's just because they all have so
much experience in the pros. Atleast Stephen Camford does, you know,
just play a lot. I thinkthe experience is the reason why they were

(40:07):
chosen because they know what it's liketo be in the playoffs. They know
what it's like to be losing games, they know what they know what it's
like to win games, but howdo you keep that winning going? And
they're they're just great additions, areYeah, great additions and great choices to
be running this team. All right, Johnny, We've got two fun things

(40:28):
to unveil here. I'm going totake credit for opening night record. Over
the last six seasons, we've wonOpening Night six years in a row.
Right. My first, my firstgame with the Roadrunners was the first time
we ever won an opening night gameOctober sixth, twenty eighteen. Since then,
we've won six straight Opening nights.And I'm thinking Friday Night after the

(40:50):
gaming. Like, man, Ithink my opening night record is a play
by play announcer in Utah was prettygood too. So I had Joe Babbot
at the ECCHL League of US lookit up for me, and he's like,
yeah, you were six three andone your last ten years in Utah
because we lost. We lost openingnight my first three years there, oh
five, O, six oh seven. But from eight to twenty seventeen we

(41:13):
went six three and one. Youhad six straight wins with the Roadrunners.
Twelve three and one is an openingnight record? Is played by play announcer
or something. I'm happy to takecredit for, Johnny. Yeah, that's
pretty good. I don't think I'veever really kept up my record as a
play by play announcer for during mytime at Santos A State Hockey, but
I guess we can say that.I'm two and zero in a regular season

(41:34):
as a game show host or gameshow host, a intermission, a pregame
and intermission host. So far,I haven't done a post game yet because
we don't do post games on awaygames. Uh. So yeah, I'll
take credit for that too. Ifwe're uh, we're going to be doing
that. Why why why wouldn't wetake credit for something want in preseason though
Owed won in the preseason, butone of the preseason. Yeah, so

(41:57):
Roadrunners two and oh get another openingnight victory. Me and John Ferguson were
up with the booth together watching theaction this weekend. It's always it's always
something because you're you're down with theteam and then they go play the game.
The coaches go to the bench andcoach the game, and you go
up and you're hundreds of feet awayfrom him and kind of all alone.
So when I'm up there and JohnFerguson sits down, we kind of kind

(42:20):
of have kind of have something together. And during the playoffs when it was
me and Kim Koderoblas and our goaltenderdevelopment coach Charlie McTavish sitting at a six
foot table right on the concourse there, I was calling the game and then
they were right next to me.It was fun. But yeah, I
enjoyed having John with me, andyou know, he could have provided I
think he was doing his own broadcastin fact over without the mic at the

(42:44):
headset, but he was. Hewas into it. He was pleased.
After the game on Friday night,he reaches over for a fist bump.
I reached over for a handshake,and the usual, uh, the usual
right awkwardness. I said after thegame to him and the coasts up said
John, I get it now,fist bump moving forward and don't have to

(43:05):
worry about that. And then afterthe game on Saturday we win at the
buzzer again, starts walking away,looks over and just gives me a thumbs
up. I think you guys justdon't say anything to each other, just
either fist bump, thumbs up something. I think that's just the way to
do it. So I guess thethumbs up moving forward because he didn't trust

(43:27):
me, didn't trust me to notbotch the fist bump panshake again. But
John, on his way out toNew York to watch the Coyotes take on
the Rangers Monday, Islanders Tuesday SaintLouis Thursday. Home opener for the Coyotes
is Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks atMullat Arena. That is a one o'clock
start. Redvenders play at seven.John Ferguson is one of the people that

(43:50):
will be taking in a hockey doubleheader. Saw him in the parking lot after
the game last night as he washeading off to the East coast and said,
don't worry, John, We'll havea police escort to get you through
Casa Grand there and get the gameon Saturday. Get into the red carpet
walk, John, I mean whatthat game might end around three thirty.
Do you think like hockey games aroundtwo and a half hours? Yeah,
three, probably has to get outof town U two hours, so yeah,

(44:17):
you'll get here around five. Yeah, he'll get here in time because
our games on Saturdays at seven,so you'll have about you'll have about an
hour. Maybe he might have tostop for lunch or something, but you'll
maybe you can stop off at ourfavorite in and out in Costa Grand.
Cost Oh did a good Costa Grondin and out? Yeah, we like
it. We like it. That'swhere the deal was done with the Tucson

(44:39):
City government and the Coyotes to officiallybring the Roadrunners to Tucson. They really
halfway at the Costa grond and inand out at the at the in and
out Costa Grand and uh, andgot the deal done there. I took
the drive from Phoenix to Tucson todayafter after the flight in the Roadrunners flying

(45:00):
direct from Austin to Phoenix, andagain we usually find a Tucson. There's
not a direct to Austin. Andthe team was in Phoenix last week practicing
because Disney and I CCC, sowe all flew out of Phoenix. I
drove up Wednesday morning and I methim and Johnny. I parked in a
in a lot at the Phoenix Airportthat I'd never parked in before. Nine
dollars a day. Best bargain you'llever find. Oh my gosh, you

(45:22):
should see the prices at LAX.Yeah, that's insane. Best bargain you'll
ever find. So nine bucks,but Johnny, nine bucks, Okay.
I could have paid fourteen, couldhave paid fifteen, could have paid sixteen.
Team would have happily reimbursed me foranything. But you know, I'm
a budget guy, whether it's me, whether it's the organization, always going

(45:45):
to find the best deal and getto make it happen. So I parked
in the sky Harbor Airport Economy Westlot. It wasn't a park and ride,
Johnny, it was a park andwalk, and it said please allow
fifteen to twenty minutes to get tothe skytrain to take your train to the

(46:06):
terminal. There's signs everywhere that sayno shuttles available. It's kind of like
when you're out in the middle ofnowhere. You're on an interstate and there's
signs everywhere that say don't pick uphitch hikers, and you're like, where
am I. I'm out in themiddle of the desert at Sky Harbor and
there's signs everywhere that say no shuttleavailable. And then I found out Eric
Bechtol, our equipment manager, hadparked at the same lot because the other

(46:29):
economy lots were full when he parkedin there and I said, oh,
you're in the parking walk. He'slike, yeah, Maddie's going to drop
me off in the equipment truck onthe way on the way out, so
he didn't have to walk, butI did. It would have been a
nice walk. Today. It wasn'tas hot as it was on Wednesday.
Wednesday, when I got to theterminal, I was sweating and I did
everything possible to not do that.But today it was a little better.

(46:52):
Get on it. The route JohnFerguson's going to take down on Saturday.
Kind of an un eventful day oniten traffic was pretty light. I don't
know, Johnny, if you've drivenenough times that you'd know where the brick
and mortar pizza hut is on theright side of the road, middle of
nowhere. No, I do not, middle of nowhere. There's a brick

(47:14):
and mortar pizza hut. And therewas there was a couple of cop cars
and a fire engine and an ambulanceand they're like, oh, what's this.
Look over and there was a Mercedesin the embankment there that somehow drove
off the road and was front facing, so easy to get on the tow
truck, but in the embankment infront of the pizza huts. We had
that, and then we had anotheranother thing. You know, we're all

(47:37):
zooming back, zooming back to Tucson. So we're driving down iten, I
say, we it's me. I'mdriving down it. I'm listening to Cardinals
pregame on Fox Sports fourteen fifty hadjust driven by the Mercedes in the in
the kind of embankment there in frontof the brick and mortar pizza hut in
the middle of nowhere in the desert, and you know, just like,

(48:00):
all right, well, what's gonnabe the next entertaining thing here, Well,
there's a cop pulled over in theon the other side of the media
and just kind of in the center, and he starts pulling out and it's
like, all right, which oneof those are you gonna get? And
he the car closest to him,just kind of straddles along and he turns
on his lights and he's like,you just back off so I can get

(48:20):
in the road. And he wentup ahead and he was just getting on
the road. He wasn't wasn't goingafter and he always the most scary thing
ever when you drive by a copcar and they just happened to start pulling
out the same time, and you'relike, well they got me. This
is I've never gotten a ticket before. And you know, I'm knocking on
what as I say that, buteverything that every time that happens, I'm
like, well, this's the firstone. Yeah, they're they're pulling out.

(48:42):
They pull out, and you're like, go get him, go get
him. Yeah, kind of slowand get go get them. They're going
I slowed down, they're still goingyeah. Yeah. Well, I mean
for a short story by dad,I think my dad and I were going
to a ducks game back in Anaheim, and we were flying with two other
cars and a cop car came andjust got They kind of kind of make

(49:05):
that choice, you know, there'sthree cars, which one are you gonna
get? You got a car fullof just these kids, like these teenagers,
and so they get pulled over.And then the guy the other car,
my dad and him look at eachother and just we're both like giving
signs of relief because we all knewsomeone was getting pulled over and it was
a car full of teenagers. Soit was kind of funny. I've driven

(49:28):
the rush hour from Ontario to LAbefore for a Kings game at Staples Center
at the time in Crypto dot com, and I was there with me and
our two coaches in two thousand andeighties, two thousand and nine ers.
We were just driving in for thegame. We're playing the Ontario Rain and
the Kings had a game the nightbefore, so we drove up and it's

(49:49):
it's rush hour, Johnny, Andrush hour going from Ontario to la is
not the worst thing in the worldbecause everybody's going the opposite direction, but
you're still gonna hit traffic. Andbut we had we had a game to
catch and I stayed in the fastlane the entire time, and I said,
this is how you drive in LAAnd I just put the pedal to
the metal, drove, drove asfast as I could when I could drive.

(50:12):
Right, You just you just goas fast as you can. When
when you can go as fast asyou can, you see breaks, you
tap the brakes. But other thanthat, you were just going flying.
You just you showed up how todrive in California. That's I like,
this is how you drive in California. I'm great. I like it.
I miss I miss California driving,which sounds absolutely insane for me to say,

(50:32):
but it's just it's driving here inTucson's a lot different than where I'm
from and driving. And I hateto say it, but I miss California
driving. The traffic was always terrible. People moved, people like it takes
a while to get around here.I like a freeway. I like a
freeway. I get I like freeways. Yeah, I like freeways. And
I actually drove on a freeway lastnight after our game. I went to

(50:54):
my friend's house and yeah, itwas nights driving on a freeway for once.
Yeah, I like the freeway.But found out when I got here.
There's there's not gonna be a lotof freeway driving unless you're heading to
l Passo or Phoenix. You canget on it drive Phoenix. But yeah,
a couple of duds of stories ofgetting from from Sky Harbor to Tucson.

(51:19):
Today listening to the Cardinals there there'sanother another thing that that didn't especially
go ourway. They lost the LaRams. But that's kind of the recap.
John Slainey and I sat together onthe on the airplane and I sat
in the middle and he sat onthe aisle and he sits down. I
said, John, two hour flight, Probably gonna have to make you get

(51:39):
up so I can go to thebathroom. He said, don't worry,
I'll be up to And the guycomes down to take our food and drink
order or drink order, and beforehe handed out the snacks, and John
says, a seat belt signs stillon, But could I go to the
bathroom. And the guy says,I can't tell you you can or can't,
but it's about to come off.It goes bing and he got up

(52:00):
and then he went up, tooka pee, comes back. I was
up and just perfect timing, perfecttiming, there, but that John and
I, as usual, had ourhad our normal good time sitting together on
the airplane. I was in themiddle and he was on the on the
aisle doing his video watching some football, and we we made it back.

(52:22):
That flight from Austin to to Arizonais pretty quick. Like you think Texas,
you don't think it's is close,but it's less than two hours from
from uh from Austin to to Phoenix, and we made it back. I
said it last night on the broadcast, Johnny two Sons, the closest team
Texas has and we're not in thesame division, but we play him every

(52:43):
year because we're the closest team.We're the closest team to him, and
they like to come to Tucson andAustin, Texas is a is a pretty
good spot to to go as well. But but enjoyed our time, picked
up the two victories started to andoh, I against a Stars team that
you know, really pushed back hardat eighteen shots in the in the third

(53:07):
period, the Roadrunners found a wayto get the victory. Yeah. And
you know, before we get outof your Adrian, I have a new
little segment that we came up onthe office earlier this week working with you,
have I've noticed that you're literally awalking Roadrunners encyclopedia. So I'm going
to start challenging you on if youknow these random stats are random facts that

(53:30):
I search up. I found thisone very quickly. We're gonna I'm probably
gonna try to start off easy becausethis is my first time doing this.
But yeah, this new little segment, I'm a segment. I'm gonna call
it, did Adrian know? Maybemight change it over time. Let's get
some Let's get some did Adrian know? Music playing here? We? Oh,

(53:51):
like the like the little clock noise? Yeah, like some some game
show music or something. Okay,okay, we'll get some. We'll get
some in I'll find something. Let'sget some fun before the buzzer that says
I did. Okay, So,Adrian, did you know that Tucson had
the most power play opportunities in twentynineteen? No? I did. I

(54:15):
wasn't aware of that. You didnot know that? Okay, do you
want to guess the number of powerplay opportunities they got that season? Also,
this was the year that COVID startedbrewing up and the season was halted.
Okay, So we played fifty eightgames in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty.
Okay, you got that. I'mgonna say. I'm gonna get out

(54:35):
my little calculator here. You saywe had the most power plays a game
in the American Hockey League in twentymost most power play opportunities, not the
most power play goes, just themost opportunities in the league. And we
had a we had a significant thatour first spot was like way more than
the next team that I'll tell youeventually. But yeah, fifty eight games,

(54:57):
most power play opportunities, and yeah, you'll you can guess the number
if you'd like. I think wealso had the leader in the league in
power play goals that season in BraydonBurke. Oh my god, I'm well
that was something I didn't know.So now you just just flipped it on
me. To see how this gameis gonna go. I'm gonna say we
had I'm gonna say, Johnny,you said we had a lot more than

(55:20):
everybody else. So I'm gonna shoothigh here, man. I'm gonna say
we had two hundred and seventy twopower play opportunities in fifty eight games.
That is a really good guess.Two hundred and eighty seven. Oh,
that is a really good guess.The next team though, two hundred and
sixty nine, but they played sixtytwo games, so a couple of games.
More So, the Roadrunners just hada lot of power play opportunities in

(55:45):
and I looked a little bit moreinto it, the Roadrunners were twenty third
I think in the league on beingon the power or being on the penalty
kills, so they weren't penalized alot. They were just on the power
play a lot. So they justdrew a lot of penalties. But that's
four nine to four power plays agame. That's incredible. Yeah, that's
that's pretty pretty impressive because I thinkin full seasons I was looking at at

(56:09):
it two and some ties were justhaving like in the low three hundreds.
So for Tucson to have two hundredand eighty seven and at fifty eight games,
yeah, that was a lot.You know what. Over the weekend,
I was I was texting with withWalt Ruff, who was with us
that season. He co hosted thepodcast with Brett and did our did our

(56:30):
radio stuff. And there's our mediarelations manager and he's the web reporter and
content manager for the Carolina Hurricanes rightnow. And I texted him Friday night
because I was going through some stuffand I found our tweet from when we
beat Texas to nothing on opening nightin twenty nineteen, and Walt was running

(56:51):
social media and Anti Ronto, who'snow Carolina's goalie, with Walt there and
Michael Bunting's there too, so it'skind of Tucson Arizona East, and Walt's
tweet was can we keep him?After Auntie Ronta got the two nothing shut
out went over Texas. I textedto Walt and we were kind of going
back and forth, and you know, his last season with the Roadrunners was

(57:13):
twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, andhe said what I've said for years,
and we all felt that that teamwas gonna go all the way and win
the championship. And we were reallygetting hot right as things kind of kind
of came to an end there.But anybody that's listening that w with know
Walt, he says hi, perfect, Yeah, doesn't say hi to you,
doesn't know you, but sure,sure he'd love you. I'd love

(57:37):
to meet him one day hopefully.Yeah, well we'll get we'll get you
connected. But as the a twoSun Roadrunners Insider Podcast reunion show with Walt
Roff. Oh, let's do it. That'll be fun. That'd be fun.
Yeah, he'd be good. Thethe first ever host to the Insider
podcast, wall Roff. We'll callit the Reunion Special. We'll call it

(57:59):
that. So that's what we caughtJohnny Opening Night coming up Saturday at seven,
can't wait, right, carpet walkfour players walking that well. Introduced
formally our leadership group at the FaceOff luncheon on Wednesday with road Unders head
coach Steve Potman. Yeah, it'sgonna be fun. I don't think I've
chosen what I want to eat yet. There. I know we have like

(58:21):
options, so I need to seewhat they have available for food and pick
my plate. Yeah, it's Ican tell you what we have here,
and I can tell you what theteam's getting because I've taken everybody's order on
the team. Chicken Moley, chickenMolay with roasted yucca and potato, grilled

(58:42):
bestro tender medallions with steak fries andveggies, Vegan chicken molay with roasted yucca
and potato. Dessert choices caramel appleblossoms or strawberry short layer cake. Every
single player is taking the grilled bstrotender medallions with steak fries and veggies and
strawberry shortcat. I think that honestlymight be my choice too, because I

(59:02):
love strawberry shortcase and steak fries aregood with the Beast show. Yeah,
that might be my choice, SoI need to I need to submit that.
That's it. Sounds great, soundsgreat, johnn. You want to
take everybody out with with Roadrunners rockhere here starting the season opening weekend,
coming up Tucson at two, andoh yeah, let's do it. Let's
go to Son, Let's get thathome opener, come after one of ours.

(59:30):
You can need a lot more friends. We've seen us gape before.
We don't how the story ends tonight. We're rising up tonight to going down.
You try to run up on us. We're the bus. Go back
to where it came from. Gettingon the bus, drop five far away,

(59:55):
hang up your gates, drop yourgloves, put just dis away.
We got beat up tonight. That'sthe two sad Way road right from broad
Ronna from road righter from road righta frock. That's the two sad Way