March 10, 2025 • 47 mins
Voice of The Roadrunners Jonathon Schaffer and Arizona Daily Star's James Kelley recap Tucson's three-game road trip after a 2-1-0-0 finish. The team now heads into a four-game homestand two points above the Bakersfield Condors for the final playoff spot post NHL trade deadline. They talk about the Aku Raty trade to Chicago and how the team will move forward without one of its best players from last season and how Tucson will fair against the Ontario Reign and San Jose Barracuda coming up.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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 twoson Roadrunners Insider podcast with a voice
of the Roadrunners, Jonathan Schaefer.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What advice do you have for me?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Drink a lot of water.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
It's pretty odd and your new best friend my best friend,
Arizona Daily Stars James Kelly. The guys are already talking,
so let's join them right here on your twoson Roadrunners
Insider podcast.
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Back at the two soon Arena after a three game
road trip, coming up a four game home stand before
getting to that. You're listening to this week's episode of
the two Son Roadrunners Insider Podcast. Jonathan Schaeffer here with
Arizona Daily Stars James Kelly. We have a lot to uncover. Tucson,
just finishing a nice three game road trip with a
(00:48):
two to one record, defeeding the Ontario Rain last Wednesday
four to one, defeeding the Bakersfield Condors in game one
of a two game series five to four, but then
losing the second match by a three to two score.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But a quick.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Turnaround a couple days off, including this Monday, where the
guys just worked out today. But now we have a
game coming up tomorrow, a game on Wednesday, both against
the Ontario Rain, and then later on this weekend Saturday
and Sunday to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day against the San
Jose Barracuda for a four game homestand coming right up
(01:23):
where the Roadrunners have a nice four game point streak
at three zero, one and OH.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Going into this matchup.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
The team is five to one one OH in the
last seven games overall, eight four to one and one
since the All Star Break, and Tucson is still in
a good spot at the AHL's Pacific Division race. We're
gonna hear from Sammy Walker during this show, as I
caught it with him after the Saturday night three to
two loss, as he continues to be a huge trade
(01:50):
asset for the Roadrunners. We just finished the trade deadline,
why player involved with the Roadrunners with that, we'll recover
that shortly as well big trays in the NHL. We
still have the HL trade deadline coming up in about
a couple more days on March fourteenth, if you're listening
on this Monday. So a lot to unravel as we
(02:11):
are back home for this upcoming series coming up against
the Ontario Rain. James Good Road trip, just mentioning earlier
two and one that's good. I mean only three games
is not a big sample size, right, and it's better
than going one and two. It's much better than going
zero for three. I mean a three to no road
trip with them in perfect but with not being able
(02:31):
to play as many games. You'll take an over five
hundred record on any trip. And you defeated the Ontario Rain,
which was the big opponent in that series, the one
the better opponent of that series or three game road
trip rather as they're kind of starting to crumble a
little bit as of late, and you know, you got
to split against the Condors, and though maybe you wanted
(02:52):
more of the points against the Condors in that road trip,
it would have been tough to sweep Bakersfield. Much better
game in the first than the second, obviously winning the
first one on Friday by score five to four, where
duson UH really had a battle in that one out
as they were down a couple of times in that matchup,
getting getting leads as well too as a back and
(03:12):
forth game. And then second matchup went down three to nothing,
almost came back, got two goals, needed one more, couldn't
get to it, but regardless, it was a good road
trip overall, and we'll enjoy a next home stand with
four games in seven days.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, definitely a really good road trip for the Ruderners.
They not just that they won those games and won
those games in the fashion they won, you know, really
really kind of dominated in the Ontario ring and then
you know, coming in having a really impressive third period
in the first Bakersfield win, and then they did lose
a second biker s Field game, but they did they
did show show a lot at the end of the
(03:53):
second period and in the third period, and maybe you know,
things went a little differently. You know, they had a
they're too many men on the ice pin on me
at the end, which kind of you know, prevented Maddie
from getting pulled. Maybe things go a little differently in
that game. So I think that in the the way
that game mad, they kind of and with the quick
turnaround with the game on Tuesday, I think they kind
of have the opportunity to kind of carry that momentum over.
(04:14):
And you know, obviously in that second game they were
that one of their best players. So they're shorthanded, not
only shorthanded, but without one of your best players, so
that that's a good result for them. And now I
don't look now, but we talked about who they played
in that in that road trip. You know, they played
one game against Ontario, who up to that point they
hadn't had any success against. But they kind of got
(04:35):
over that hump and then they got that win, and
now they're only seven points back of Ontario, which is
you know, they're in the fourth spot, the last spot
that's home ice advantage, and now there are a couple
of spots, a couple of points ahead of Bakersfield, who
they do have a couple of Bakersfield has a couple
of games and hands on Tucson, but now Tucson is
eight has eight more regulation wins than Pakersfield, So that's
(04:59):
pretty much at this point's kind of impossible for the
Runners to lose in it so many games. They would
jump runers if the lost so many games to catch
up with them. So that's effectively have two points, effectively
three points. So there's a very good spot for their owners.
I think it would have been a lot to ask
for them to to sweep on Bakersfield because you know
bakers so it's kind of playing for the playoff lives.
They still play the time to catch up with it
(05:21):
being month of margin only being two or had they
lost on four points, but it really made a statement
that win. And then you know, like I said, they
have a chance, kind of an outside chance admittedly, but
it's still a chance. They kind of chased down number
four Ontario who they have. Obviously, these two games huge games,
(05:41):
huge midweek games, and then there's another game against Ontario,
so in that kind of perfect role if to get
six points and obviously they're only one point back. So
that's a really really really productive week for the Runners
last week.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Yeah, seventeen games remaining for the Roadrunners. They are twenty seven,
twenty three, three and two seven seed of the Pacific
Division race, two points above the Condors. Bakersfield does have
two games in hand, but yeah, James, he had a
really good point. Tucson has a lot more of the
regulation wins, and that is actually one of the big
tie breakers. So you know, we always keep saying we're
confused with the tie breakers, but tend to forget that
(06:16):
it's literally right on the AHL standings page.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So these are the tiebreakers between two teams.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
So there's there's two categories between two teams and among
three or more teams. That just sounds chaotic. So we're
just gonna worry about the two teams for the time being.
So that's what the Roadrunners are potentially with the Condors
and maybe even Abbots Fred as well. But games one
in regulation excluding overtime slash shootout is the first one,
so that's a little interesting, right, And the Condors have
been in so many overtime in shootout games this season.
(06:44):
They've been in seventeen total overtimes this year. I think
that ranks amongst top two. I think Toronto has the
most overtimes this season. Bakersfield has seventeen. And though yes
they they're getting points and they win some of those
games in the overtime session as well, the HL doesn't
(07:04):
use that as a way to let a team get
tiebreakers over others. And I think it's good because you know,
I'm not trying to discredit bakers Field, but they kind.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Of played for the point a lot.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
They tied games up, and then all of a sudden
they kind of hold off and say like, oh, let's
just get the point we'll gain on Tucson. But then
you you don't realize, well, if end of the season
we're exactly tied with points with them, we're gonna get
the tie breaker because we have much more of the
regulation wins against Bakersfield, And we almost went to overtime
in both games against the Condors in our series.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I mean, we were up only four to three when
we got it.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Thankfully we got to emptying that goal because Bakersfield scored
with one second left. It didn't matter because we were
already up by two goals, So we won that one
five to four, and then if we were able to
tie it up on Saturday, we would have definitely went
to overtime. So it seemed Bakersfield play in person, you know,
you can tell why they've been in so many of
these overtime games because they're they're a good comeback team,
(08:04):
and they've had moments where they can't keep leads too
because they're they're pay p K and they're you know,
defending the six on five like us kind of struggles
a little bit. So you can tell why they are
an overtime willing team. But at the end of the day,
when you're you know, trying to at least tie points
with the team, ahead of you or vice versa. It's
(08:26):
not fully gonna guarantee you a playoff spot there you
have less of the regulation wins. In addition to that,
you know, at this point every point counts. You know,
when when the Roadrunners lost to the Rockford ice Hawks
last week to end off the home stand, Yeah, you know,
we came back and we forced overtime. We've got a
(08:46):
good point and we made it seven out of eight
possible total points in the homestand which is phenomenal for
any team, even us. But at the same time, you're like, ah,
you know, we needed that last point. You know, it
would have been huge because now you go into today
and instead of two points, instead of three points above Bakersfield,
you're only two and the Condors again stuff two games
in hand. So it's every point counts, even when we're
(09:09):
gonna take these games to overtime against our opponents going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Uh, you really still have that thought in the back
of your head.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
It's like we need that extra point, like it's it's
so crucial at this stage of the game. But the
Roadrunners are getting hot at probably the most perfect time.
I talked to Steve Pavin on the pregame show on
Saturday and just ask him, you know, like, at some
point this season, Steve, we were on an eight game
losing streak, and since the All Star Break we've been
(09:37):
good and we're we now have points and six of
our last seven exclusive of last night when we are
part on Saturday night when we lost. But you know,
and he said, yeah, at the end of the day,
obviously we're here to develop these players and develop this
team and gear them up for the future. But it's
showing that the development is getting there because we have
(09:57):
now found a ways to start winning. And you know,
sometimes developments of any players has a halt. We had
it during the eight game losing skid, and now the
development we're seeing it again and we're seeing everything come
together and it's crucial and even the Condors are actually
getting good points and playing good as well too. So
thankfully two soon kind of figured it out post All
(10:18):
Star break, because if we didn't when we went into
the All Star Break out of a playoff spot, we
could be down by a lot. So we figured it
out where five one and won our last seven games.
Every game counts at this point, I know, we always
say like, oh, this is a big series coming up.
This is a big homestand but at this point, with
seventeen games remaining, every matchup is going to feel like
(10:40):
a playoff game.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah. I mean you look at the the divisional quick
and in the last ten games, two on the six wins,
so that's third best in the whole division only Coachella
with seven and then San Diego surprisingly with eight. Are
have had better, I have had more wins the last
ten games. So they're obviously doing really well. It's it's
one thing that when they went on the gyms Are
(11:03):
road trip and they got that boost from getting Sami Walker,
they're kind of thinking, yeah, they're doing well on road again,
what are they going to be able to do well
at home? Because if you remember, weirdly enough part of
the game road Trip, big part of that was their
sixth game when the streak at home. So they came
back at home and then they obviously did really well,
and then they came in then and then you're kind
of thinking, well, they're going on the road again, are
they still gonna be able to do that? Well, they're
gonna continue that momentum and they they're able to do that,
(11:25):
So kudos to the the road owners for getting back
hot again and at the perfect time. You know, they
they're doing that. You know, obviously I mentioned Walker came
in and was a big boost. Kevin Carnton getting getting
back in the roster was a big boost. When they
had Dan briefly, he was a big boost. And then
you know, obviously Andrew Agazino coming back, that was a
(11:46):
big boost. And you're seeing a lot of guys who
were consistent throughout the year, like Sokolov and he Big
doing really well and they're they continue to do that.
And then you're seeing some some guys who you said
some guys doing well again like Benny McCartney one, Hunter
two and they're continue to do well. So there's just
a lot of heroes on the roster right now. A
lot of guys are doing really well.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
So out of the next seventeen games, ten of them
are at home, seven on the road, and actually, James,
we played the most away games in the entire division
at this point. You know, obviously the seven game Gems
Show trip is a huge part of that, and especially
with the three game road trip we just have. We
have a five game road trip coming up that's literally
(12:30):
starts next week because we're here for the four games
all week.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
This isn't a.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Friday, Saturday, Friday, Saturday homestand this is a Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,
Sunday homestands. We have four games the next seven days,
so come to the Tucson Arena as much as possible
because we only have ten home games left, and just
considering what the playoffs are going to look like, at
least for the first round, you know, we might not host.
We could still, I mean things are still very changing
(12:55):
as much as possible. But before we get to that,
let's look at our home pardon our home record. Yeah,
so we played twenty nine games on the road, most
in the entire division. So that's actually pretty good considering
that we have a fourteen to fourteen, zero to one
record on the road. Because look at the Eagles they
have they are probably maybe the best team in the
division now, they very have they have a big shot
(13:17):
of winning the division because Coachelle Valley has two more
games played more than them, but they have an eleven
and eleven three to one record on the road. Calgary
has a losing record on the road. Coachelle Valley's road
record is pretty good. At a sixteen to ten record.
Ontario's is good sixteen to eight, zero to one, but
then look at San Jose losing record, Abbotsford losing record
(13:38):
on the road, condors do you have a winning record
on the road, and then the Goals and Silver Nights
losing records on the road as well. And James, we
touched on this earlier this season where Tucson was just
kind of near five hundred on the road, But just
considering how hard it is to win away from your
arena in this division this year, it's it's pretty good
for the roadrunners and at home after that really nice
(13:59):
four game bones and we just had Judson as a
thirteen to nine, three and one record at home now
and a lot of the Pacific Division teams have much
better records at their home barns as well.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
It's one one of the things that when you try
and to be you want to try and get the
sweep in the series at home and then get a
split on the road. But the road runs have been
getting I've been almost getting the sweep back on the
road now lately last few games, and they almost got
the sweep on the last road trip, So you know,
obviously we talked about how big a big a home
stand this is, you know with Ontario for it here
(14:31):
for Tuesday and Wednesday. I really like the promotion for
Tuesday the Service Workers Night. It's nice to give them
some recognition. And then Saturday you have the First Responders
Night when Tanse comes to town and that's always a
fun night. You know that there's the game beforehand between
the is it TPD and TFD?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I think yeah, sure it is, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Tow so on fire department and two some police department
both both then their neighbors downtown for the Roadrunners. And
then and then on Sunday, you know, obviously with Saint
Patrick's saving on the Monday, you can't really party very
hard on that day, so it's nice they have the
early game at four when San Jose comes down for
that second part of that series, and then they there's
a tailgame live band and you can have fun there,
(15:14):
and then they came out free T shirts, so it's
it's always a fun holiday. But it's always fun when
the road Owners have a game, either on St. Patricks
Day or around Saint Patrick's Lay, So lots of reasons
to come the come to this four game series and
other than being obviousteally important for the road owners.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So we have the Ontario Rain coming up next, and
we are actually catching them at a pretty good time
for ourselves, bad time for them as they are. They
are pretty they're struggling, like just like a lot of
teams in our Pacific Division at this moment, they are
struggling going into this series. They've lost their last five
in a row, which is a season.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
High for them.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
They're oh four one to oh in their last five
games in total. And they were also affected by the
trade deadline. They let go Tyler Madden. He is now
with the Iowa y old. Uh didn't have a lot
of points for them this season, but you know, I
just have a theory that he was a good locker
room guy and they they lost a big locker room
name and now they're starting to struggle for him. Eric Portillo,
(16:11):
they're one of their good goaltenders, has been heard as well.
So they're running with Phoenix Copley and I don't think
he can really keep up with the back to back
games as much as maybe our goalie, our goaltending crew
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So they're, uh, they're they're struggling. Right now.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
But that doesn't mean it's guaranteed wins, James. I mean,
look at us. We're on an eight game slide and
now we've figured it out. So teams always go through
this kind of slide throughout the season. It happens to everybody.
Some teams, it happens to worse more than others. And uh,
this is just another big opportunity for us to really
catch them at a bad spot. We just beat them
by a four to one score and they've been struggling
(16:47):
to put goals up on the board. And I think
we're in a good spot too with Matthew Wilalta getting
the nod. You know, the news coming recently of Connor
Ingram entering the NHL Assistance program with the family lost
that he had earlier this year, so he's stepping away
from the game. We wish him the best of luck
and prayers for his family. But this has been given
(17:08):
an opportunity now for Jackson Stabber who's called up to
the Utah Hockey Club. And then now we have Dylan
Wells back in the building as well from the Allen Americans.
And I don't know what it is, James, but when
Dylan Wells is in the building. Matthew Wolalta in the
road Runners just seem to play a little bit better.
And that's what we talk about big locker room NIT guys, right,
and Dylan Wells is one of them. He's a very
(17:28):
liked player within this organization. You know, we saw what
he did last year. He's great with the fans. He's
just great with everyone. It's always good to have that
guy in the building. And Stober is great too, but
it's a great opportunity for him to, you know, get
some more playing time in the NHL. And when Matthew Walalta,
when he has that net to himself, he's dialed in
and he's still even though we lost on Saturday, he
(17:50):
made forty two saves on forty five shots. He's three
and one in his last four starts. He's a lot
of one point seventy five goals against average as well,
and a very high saper percentage. So this is a
good spot for Tucson going into this home stand.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, I went in in the in the notes for
the paper coming out tomorrow, I compared the stats he
had in the NHL and all HL, and also I'll
put down the NHL stats for Jackson this year, and
obviously he's done really well in NHL. He's just shown
that he's more than serving a chance. But it's kind
of weird that if you think about it last week,
and part of it was probably because the the first
(18:26):
game was in Ontario and that's where Matty played a
bunch of seasons, so it's big home playing for him
and big important for him to get that win, and
which he did get the win. He played really well.
He was the i believe, the third start of the
night for the whole league and first star locally, so
he played really well. So he played that game, and
then Jackson played the next game, and then Matt played
the third game. So Matt was kind of the number
(18:48):
one last week pretty much, you know, he even though
they both got leave, them both got to win. So
technically it's like your second year number two is actually
when I moved up to the NHL. But actually this
year Matt has better goosgainst Sarah, better say percenters than Jackson,
even though Jackson had done really well in the NHL.
And when you mentioned how when Dylan comes up, he
(19:09):
he Matt plays really well and when he when Matt
needed a break, don't Dylan came in and played really well,
so that was impressive. It's a they talk about how
good friends they are, although I think a lot of
people would be friends with good friends with Matt, and
you know, they just work really well together. They're on
both bets in the league. And they both when they
both talked about when they when they play, they they
(19:33):
combined notes and they you know, I'm not sure other
guys do, but they seem to do it really well.
They they you know, they they talk about stuff. You know,
they commind me. You know, they plan and they you know,
you know, they assess and they kind of figure out
what they need to do and in each game and
you know, kind of what they maybe something that Dylan
(19:54):
sees from that that angle where they they were an
angle where they said where the back of Bully said,
maybe see something that really helps Matthew out. But it
was great, great first great great for Matt to get
over that hump. And he's also not only that to
get that win and be doing really well. He's he's
also won Forbes Forbes last six games, so he's really
(20:15):
a run and the only loss was that biggest for
the loss, which was is a close one and they
almost came back in that one and then they he
lost that coach ou Valley, but then he just wins.
He had that big win against Henderson where he snapped
his strig, and he had a big win against Abatsford
and then a big win against Rockford and then obviously
that big Ontario win. So Matthew's doing really well. Obviously
(20:37):
we wish the best to you know that that situation,
which is the best, but it's it's a nice that
the NHL has that program like that you can step
into and for for the road owners there Road unders
Slash Utah, they had there in a great position in
terms of definite a goalie. Obviously, we talked about that
all year and this is the point where it's kind
(20:58):
of crunched time. It's really cruise well for both teams.
For Utah trying to make their playoff push and for
to make their playoff push. So it's really it's really
beneficial for them to have three goals like that at
the HL level that we can move on off you
have really three HL caliber goalies or even in the
case of Jackson, how well he's played with Chicago, and
while he's played by the Utah, the guy who show
(21:20):
that he's perhaps better than a HI level goalie. But
you have three great, three great options at goalie right now,
for for two soon and for now with Utah. So
it's a great option. It's it's a great situation for
the Runners and and for Utah.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Yeah, it's a really good point, James. I mean that's
why we brought in Jackson Stauber, right. You know when
we first resigned Matthew Volalta to the two year two
way contract and then brought back Dylan Wells, uh, you know,
many thought like, okay, we're just gonna run with the
Volalta Wells duo again and then uh or really Matthew
Walta starting Wells plays when needed as the backup. But
(21:54):
then you brought in Jackson Staubur, and all of a
sudden you think, like, whoa, that that was an aggressive signing,
Like we didn't think we're gonna be another goalie in
and then we did.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
And you know, from looking at Stabur.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Stats last year, it's like, oh, this is gonna be
a good tandem, and you know it's it was a
bit wonky at first, where Stobber was getting the wins
and Volalta was struggling a big At the beginning of
the year, Stober wasn't called up with Connor Ingram initially
thought injury, but it was, you know, due to a
family loss. So he stepped away, you know, to be
with his family. And it gave Matthew Volalta a chance
(22:26):
to really come back and start playing phenomenal again and
then Jackson. Stober even made some athletes with the Utah
Hockey Club, getting the first shutout.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
In team history.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Overall this season with the Utah Hockey Club, he has
a two to one to one record, a two point
two three goals against average, and nine to twenty five
save percentage. Matthew Valalta went on a crazy run, getting
a couple of shoutouts big wins for the Roadrunners as
well going into the holiday break, and then Connor Ingram
returned to the Utah Hockey Club, Stober came back, so
we started going with the one two duo and it
(23:00):
it got a little wonky again where we lost eight
in a row. Matthew Valta was at win number ninety
nine for nine straight starts. He lost his last nine
games Staber got us a couple of wins to get
the groove back, and then lately Volalta has really turned
the tables around. And yeah, Staber has had some some
(23:20):
you know, interesting games where you know, maybe he should
have made one that's one of those saves or another.
But he's gotten us wins and that's what's the most
important thing for goalten or I mean, he's three zero,
one and one in his past five starts. He's made
big saves when you need him to. And this move
going back up to the Utah Hockey Club, where one
could argue, oh, maybe give Matthew Walta a shot, but
you just said it, James. I mean, Stober has more
(23:41):
of the NHL experience. He has really good stats with
the Utah Hockey Club already this year. You can assume
that Crovomelca will take a lot of the starts moving forward,
because just like the Utah Hockey Club and the road Runners,
they're both pushing for the playoffs. And you know Volalta, yeah,
you could definitely be an NHL goalie too. We haven't
seen a lot of NHL time for him. He only
(24:01):
has one career start in the National Hockey League. But
this is a good opportunity because the Roadrunners, they're gonna
rely on Matthew Valta for the playoff. Pushed, they'll rely
on Dylan Wells as well. I would not be shocked
if we see a well start during this four game
homestand could be against Ontario, could be this weekend against
San Jose, because that's just a lot of games for
Volalta to have to play, especially just playing this past
(24:24):
Saturday against the Bakersfield Condors. And Wells is two and
ohero in his two games with the Roadrunners as well,
So this is this is a move to where you
really can tell both sides want to make the playoffs.
Stober will help Utah as much as he can when
he's called upon. Matthew Volalta will take full rings for
the road Runners. And when Maddy just has more games play,
(24:45):
he just finds his grow much better. And we will
rely upon Dylan Wells too, because you know, it's it's
always that aspect of you know, yeah, these backups sometimes
don't get as much playing time, but when they do,
guys just play a little bit of an extra edge
because they want to get that guy there. When especially
just such a great locker room presence like Dylan Wells.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, I think that you kind of touched on it.
I don't think we touched on the podcast, but you
touched on on the broadcast about how Maddie kind of
seems to have gotten a little bit of boost when
he when he switched out the Utah pads, which actually
I think they're kind of two song pads too, because
they had the mountain look to it, but the color
mountains look obviously they're Utah colors, but they do look
(25:29):
like the Tucson Mountains, the mountains that go around Tucson,
So technically could have kind of worked for both. Obviously
it was a Utah, but I think he could have
gone both ways, and I think he did to go
both ways, but he did switch to the swirl pads,
and and he's been really on a Terra since then,
so obviously, you know, obviously it's not really that, it's
just him playing better, him continuing to play play really well.
I'm getting more time, getting more consistent time. But yeah,
(25:50):
he's just been really really big boost. And he's a
guy who not just us saying that, or not even
just the stats saying that, but the coaches have said
that when he plays more, he plays better, you know,
and for whatever reason, you know, maybe he gets in
a grove more. And I don't think he's gonna obviously
play all games of this Force four game hometown because
it's quick turnaround from the last series, and it's a
(26:11):
quick turnaround from Yeah, even though the series starts on
Saturday and usual Friday, it's right after this Ontario series,
so we'll probably get to see down walls again. But yeah,
the more you play. The formula for Maddie has kind
of been the more you play him, the better he plays,
and the more he gets in the game, So that
that's something that's something to look out for.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
So yeah, so Matthew Volosa and Dan Wells will be
our two goalies moving forward. James, what a what a
trade deadline for the National Hockey League.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It was.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It was quite insane, probably one of the most insane
that I've seen in recent memory. Uh Utah, not too
involved in it, but they did make a move that
did affect the road Runners, So this one was kind
of a weird one. So they acquired the or they
traded away the rights of Shaye Weber, who hasn't been
in the league, uh in these past few seasons. But
(27:08):
he was his rights, his contract rights were with Arizona
going into Utah.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
So Utah trades his rights away.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
They trade the rights of Victor Sodastrom away as well
as he's still playing in Europe, and in a result
they get a fifth round draft pick back. But in
that the trade also they included Ford Aku Ratu. So
Ratu is now presumably heading to the Rockford IceHawks slash
Chicago Blackhawks organization. We wish him the best of luck,
(27:37):
you know, talking with Steve Poppin in that pregame show,
because what was so chaotic about it is, uh that
the trade deadline was on a game day for us,
So you know, we we just lost a player for
the to the trade deadline and you know we still
had a game to play and talk with Steve Poppin
about U. Just you know, how do we you know,
(27:58):
stay calm and collected moving forward after losing a player
like Aku, And you know, he said it was tough
because Aku was a kind of player who showed up
to the rink every day trying to get better and
he had a great season with the road Runners last year.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
You know, twenty nine.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Assists, fifteen goals for forty four points and fifty five
games played, yet a point per game average of point
eighty and though in his second season it hasn't panned
out as much of the success from last year with
nineteen points in fifty games played. You know, Ratu was
a guy going into this season who we thought was
going to take a huge leap leaped back just a bit,
(28:32):
but there's still so much potential for him on the
table to be a very successful hockey player. The former
fifth round pick picked one hundred and fifty one overall
and then twenty nineteen NHL Entry Draft, spend some seasons
in Europe as well playing hockey before coming to North America,
and he will be missed.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Again, he was a great locker room guy, a great
guy to have on the team.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
He showed a lot of flashes of what he can do.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
And you know, for Rockford, I think it's a really
exciting player to acquire as they are trying to push
for the playoffs as well. So that's the only trade
that was involved in the trade deadline that affected the Roadrunners.
Some big ones off the top of my head, obviously,
Miko Ranton and getting traded to the Dallas Stars. After
getting traded early on this season to the Carolina Hurricanes
after they couldn't settle on the contract. Brad Marshan is
(29:21):
now with the Florida Panthers, which was absolutely baffling. Boston
actually had one of the most busy trade deadlines as
they sold a lot of players away. And but we
still have the AHL trade deadline coming up in four days,
so any HL contracted guys can still get affected by
this one. Maybe some moves in the EHL as well.
(29:41):
So it's not over just yet and we will monitor
anything if if Tucson is involved, but this is we had.
We didn't really see any trades for the Roadrunners last season.
You know, the one before this year was the Steven
Campor trade two years ago. And now this year we've
traded away Aku Ratu. We acquired Sammy Walker, who has
(30:02):
been a huge part of this season's turnaround. He has
thirteen points in his first fourteen games as a Roadrunner,
with four goals and nine assists. He's helped Big Lee
on the power play as well. And you know, it's
it's kind of fun when the when your team's involved
in some trades because yeah, it sucks losing guys, but
it's also fun gaining guys too. When you finally get
(30:22):
to meet the mid season and you realize why we uh,
you know, went out and acquired a guy like Sammy Walker.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, it seems like I haven't talked to Sammy yet,
but you've talked to him a couple of times after
the games, and he seems like a great guy to
talk to. It seems like a great guy from the
locker room. And obviously he's great in terms of staffs
and great teams, the posting team. So that's a fun
trade that they got, and you know, it is a big,
you know, a bit big trade. Landinghl deadline was big
for the for Tucson. Obviously, you talked about losing Aku,
(30:52):
who had a great, great first season, but it didn't
just generally kind of maybe a sophomore slump or whatever
whatever happened this year. It was kind of always expecting
him to kind of go on a run, and you know,
he scores and I thought like, oh, well, he's gonna
gonna get started again and go on a big run
like he had like in December or January or whatever
last year. When he was just on a terror and
he ended up as one of the leading scorers on
(31:12):
a team that on a team last year that finished
with the second seat in the playoffs. So good good
luck to him. I think that maybe it's a thing
where he changes. It might be a situation where he
changed the scenery and he does you know over in
Rockers Lous Chicago, maybe moving over there is help. You know,
we've seen that a lot of times where guys just
move over and we'll work to a new franchise and
(31:34):
for whatever reason, maybe new opportunities, maybe NW what whatever
it is, they ended up doing better. So so there's
that one. And obviously a victor part of the trade
was you know, we talked about Shay Weber's contracting in
cent over which Bill Armstrong the Utah GM. He explained
that the reason for that trade was to free up
the cap space for next year. And that's how you're
(31:55):
seeing UTAH is maturing as an organization where they're they're
moving away from that Cotes time period where they're where
they're rebuilding and where they're cumulating drap pics all. Did
they get good raptick on this one, But we're they're
they're taken on contracts like on Weber's contract like that.
And then also the other is the trade away their
rights to Victor Soostrom, who he didn't play with for
Duson this year, but he did play a bunch of
(32:16):
seasons with Tucson and they weren't able to He and
Utah were able to agree to contract, so we ended
up going to Sweden. But that's another big trade. And
from the Road's perspective, but I'm looking back, road Runners,
you usually aren't that Road slash Arizona slash Utah. They're
not usually that busy at the trade deadline. This year
they've been very busy. So they haven't really been involved
(32:39):
in the at the AHL deadline but the previous years.
But maybe they are this year because they've just been
so busy with moving guys around and with a lot
of movement for Utah. So who knows. But I'm not
really expecting them to make another trade, but who knows.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
Yeah, well, we'll see if any HL trades are involved.
But yeah, I don't really see that either, James. I
think this team as a is so to where it
wants to be at, and you know, it's always just
tough losing guys you know that are you know, you
get to know, and it's tougher for the players and
the coaches too.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
You know.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
We we know them from our perspective, you know, seeing
them at the ranks, seeing them at practice and games
and interviews and everything.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
But it's tougher when you know.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
These are guys that you play with and you get
to know and you go through everything in the locker room.
I mean, Rottu went with us through that eight game
slide just as much as he was with us when
we started turning it around.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So with him the best of lock you never know.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
It could be another Sammy Walker situation for the Rockford Iocks,
where you know, Walker before joining Tucson was you know,
in a bit of a slide as well for himself.
Eleven points in thirty games, not terrible, but also not
as good as what he had previously with two forty
plus point seasons. Prior to that, he only had one
power play goal with the Iowa wild as well, so
(33:53):
just one power play point. But since joined the Roadrunners,
mentioning earlier four goals, nine assists thirteen points, he has
two power play goals with the Roadrunners, as well, and
also five power play assists, so you never know rock
To can go on a nice run. I mean, he's
playing with a lot of very young talent because Rockford is,
you know, just like Chicago, kind of rebuild too. Obviously,
(34:15):
their division is a bit different, so they're in a
pretty much locked in playoff spot despite having a losing record.
But again, at the end of the day, that's why
the AHL expands these playoffs, so a lot of these
guys can play very meaningful games. So excited for Rod two.
He's gonna be a part of a big playoff push
for the Rockford Iceogs. And we're gonna be seeing Rockford
in our last two away games next month in April,
(34:36):
so we'll see how it goes. We'll be playing Rod
two again, so that'll be a fun little series for us.
I talked to him after he got traded, and he
seems really excited just for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But for us, we'll we'll move on, We'll we'll keep going.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
We'll we'll miss Row too, but we overall miss wish
him the best of luck and we'll miss him as well.
Let's get to our one and only interview of this
week's show speaking Sammy Walker. Caught up with him quickly
after the game in Bakersfield, a quick interview because we
had to get out of.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
There, James.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
We had a bus overnight or just two hours bus
two hours back to Lax to eventually fly here yesterday
on Sunday. But I caught with Sammy Walker just to
you know, talk about his recent play with Tucson, the
recent road trip with the Roadrunners, and pushing for the
playoffs because he has been a big part of the
recent success too of Ben McCartney. That we'll get too shortly,
but real quick. Catching up with Sammy Walker after the
(35:29):
three to two loss against the Bakersfield Condors. Sammy, not
the result we wanted, but overall, good road trip and
finish it off two and one, and now we head
back home still in a good stretch. Just how do
we just keep it going for ourselves and still continue
on to push for these playoffs.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Yeah, I mean everyone is huge, and I mean it's
playoff hockey right now. I mean that's a good team
and they had an answer from their loss yesterday. So
we just got to keep moving and you know, take
one game at a time and try to just get
some wins here.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Talk to Ben McCartney yesterday and he said he just
for you guys, just keep the stick on the ground
for those power plays and you know you guys final
lanes to get opened and you scored one tonight. How's
that unit just been clicking for you guys as a
recent as well?
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Yeah, I know it's nice for just Uh, I feel
like we're moving the puck pretty well and we're lucky
that one the rev I'm kind of just pop right
to me. But I mean it's yeah, we're moving our feet,
we're moving it quick and just using each other and
luckily we've you know, we've we've been successful. So but
the big thing is we gotta be consistent with it
(36:34):
and keep it going.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Thanks Sammy James. I've liked this.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Uh, I've liked the new power play unit that we've
been rolling out there right.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
It's our first new unit.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
Uh. It's and Draga Zino since we're turning from his injury,
with Ben McCartney and Sammy Walker with Yeah Momoto and
Zueber who's on the back end. Robbie Russo used to
be the main point guy, the quarterback, you would say
for the power play unit. But now Zuber is getting
been getting some time as well, and he's been contributing
to the power play. But the Roadrunners power play unit
(37:06):
scoring three goals over the weekend against the Bakers two
of condors went two for six on Friday one for
three on Saturday. Has scored a power play points or
a power play goal rather in five of their last
six games overall, so the unit's been starting to click
and Ben McCartney has been a big part of that too.
We mentioned it a lot this season on how much
(37:28):
of his special teams goals that he's been contributing, but
it really has. Out of his ten total goals this season,
seven of them have been special teams, with five power
play goals and two short handed goals as well, and
overall this season he's slowly started to climb.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The total power play.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Points for the Roadrunners and it's been a big beneficiary
with Sammy Walker getting mixed in to that power play
unit as well, with the addition of Andre Ragazino returning
to the lineup.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
You know has been Carney. He hasn't.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
He sat a couple of games in our last fourteen outings,
but eleven of the last fourteen games that he's played
in the team is ten for thirty on the power play.
So really like to see what Ben McCartney's been doing
for Tucson as a recent since Sammy Walker joined the lineup.
And that's what's also been huge about that trade acquisition.
Not only Sammy Walker again thirteen points in his first
(38:22):
fourteen games of the Roadrunners, he seems to be finding
ways to get other guys open, to get other guys
scoring opportunities, and that's just shows how valuable that trade
has been for Tucson.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah, it's a great trade, and not only just for
the power play unit to be scoring those goals and
doing well with that one, but it's an opportunity that
where it's a little bit bounced out I think last
few games, but before that there was a point where
they weren't getting a lot of power play opportunities. So
for them to be able to capitalize on those when
they got them, it was really impressive. And how about
the PK unit, I mean we were talking about special
(38:55):
teams already, how about the PK unit on this road tip,
especially on Friday that that was nuts with the third
period where they started with Kyler got the game of
his conduct and also the the five minute major, and
so they had to kill that one, which if you're
we're forgetting what the firemen major is like, it's a
situation where they still stay up a man even if
(39:16):
they score. So they had an opportunity to ring up
a bunch of goals and when Tuson was protecting that lead,
and then so they have that one, and then they
had a double minor on Uh who was I I
didn't write down it, but it doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
I think it was Ben McCartney, speaking of which it
was Ben McCartney. He slashed or yeah, he high stuck
someone with the high sticking and they were bleeding.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Yeah, well he had the game. He had a couple
of goals that game and the game winning goals, so
I kind of makes up for that one. So there
was a two minor so that they they had to
go to five on three and then right after they
killed those there was another penalty. So it was just
like for for almost a whole half of that that
period that they had the the p K and the
defense that the goalie they had to really stand out
(39:58):
a man and Maddy had to really stand up and
or actually it was a sotobbery. It was a goal
and the protect the lead, and it was really impressive
that in the past they were kind of giving up
leads in the bat but they're able to not only
protect that lead, but they're able to get the win.
So that was just really impressive. Really well, obviously you
want to looking back, you want to cut down on
those penalties and stuff like that. And now they talked
about how on then an ill time, too many men
(40:21):
on the ice penalty at the end of the game
on Saturday, they kind of may have killed the opportunity
for them to pull pull Maddy for that long, so
that hurt. You want to kind of clean up those penalties.
But regardless, it was a really impressive outing for the
penalty kill unit on Friday.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Yeah, so James, we had seventeen total and I'm glad
you brought it up because it kind of whizzed through
my head.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
But that's that Friday night game.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
We had seventeen total minutes of PK time and we
only allowed twenty one shots, so that was also much impressive.
Baker's through power play went did way better the next game,
scoring twice on the Saturday game that was a big
part of their victory because we took a lot of
penalties over that series overall. But for the Friday it
was the five minute major from Yaoma the spearing. Ben
(41:04):
McCartney was called for a double minor for high sticking
a Baggers fiel player and they were bleeding, resulting in
the double minor. And then two minutes into that double minor,
Curtis Douglas, Uh, I think it was Curtis Douglass or
was an artem due that it was one of those guys.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
UH were called over the delay of game.
Speaker 5 (41:21):
I'm gonna just get pulled up right, okay, So yeah,
it was due to pardon me, Dudah called for the
delay of game. So then we had to kill off
a five on three and it was remarkable PKing by us.
Uh didn't again didn't do so well the next game,
but uh Tucson's PK still went six for seven on
that Friday game. And UH to also talk to see
Pavin about that, just, you know, how do we use
that as the momentum going into Tonight's with just the
(41:43):
way we were able to you know, pretty much shut
down the Baggers field power play, you know, just on
the way to use that momentum and maybe use that,
you know, just kind of as our season too, because
sometimes when we're backed in into the wall, you know,
henceforth eight game losing streak, we find ways to to
come back from that and now hence forth our record
since the All Star break.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah, it's something that they kind of turn around. And
they didn't actually win the game on Saturday, but I
still think that that that third period where they hold
they hold pictures scoreless until the last, like the last
second the game, last two secons of the game. Ben
McCartney scored empty that goal which end up being the
game winner, which was really you know, empty net goals
(42:28):
usually are maybe not lucky, but you know, kind of unfortunate,
you know a little bit when they're shooting. But that
one was really an empty that goal they earned where
he's skating down the icy dove and he poked it in,
poked in the net. So he got that. INDI to
do his power play goal that he got in the
second period. But I think that you can really look back,
this might be a situation where you look back and see, like, well, boy,
(42:49):
the team held up and played really well in that
second period. On Friday. That might be kind of one
of those things where if they make the class, you
might look bad at it and say like, wow, that
was really big turning point for the season. You know,
obviously they did fall on Saturday, but like I said,
gum Modo got suspended for the game on Saturday because
of the game is conduct that he got. And you
(43:10):
also also they're obviously losing Aku, so they kind of
had to adjust. And there I mentioned they're being there
short handed because they didn't have Kyler, but they're short
handed because he didn't have Aku because he got traded
during that trip. I think weren't able to replenish him
like they normally would, so they were a little bit
I'm short handed on that for Saturday too. But I
still think that you're kind of looking back. You might
(43:31):
be able to look back. Maybe we're looking back on
this in June or something and assessing like, how did
they make the playoffs or how did they start that
run or whatever, although they were continuing, well, this might
be kind of a turning point in the season where
you're like, wow, this is really where they're really impressed
and really show that they might be the case where
because they're already playing well, but it's still it just
still seems like a like a big moment of the
(43:51):
season where you really impressive that not only were you
able to do that, we're able to prevent because from
scoring other than like a garbage time goal like that,
and they scored a lot of second but they were
able to do that. I guess they really good team
in Bakersfield. That they're not a playoff team right now,
and they in my mind, I don't think they will.
I think the road Uns will end up ghetting that
playoffs lot. But they're they're a good team. They're really
(44:13):
telling the team and they're as a whole the team
like that Squirrels snap period really felt weird because it
seems like when there's so many penalties like that, so
many situations like a five on three and whatnot, the
team's gonna break through and in the score them if
they're a good team like rough Bakersfield. So it is
very impressive for me.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
Yeah, all impressive for Tucson. It has been a good
turnaround for the team. But it's not over yet, James,
and there's still seventeen games left to go, and and
though we are very much less than a quarter away
through the season left. It's it's very tight. Anything can
go drastically wrong or anything can go very good. You know,
the Roadrunners will just keep it going. Uh five to one,
(44:54):
one to oh in the last seven games, were catching
Ontario on a five game losing streak.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
San Jose has struggled a.
Speaker 5 (45:00):
Bit on the road this season as well, so it's
just more opportunities for the Roadrunners to really get some
points on this homestand and we had a good home
stand last time.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
We swept the Abbots for Canucks.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
We got three out of four possible total points against
Rockford Ice Hawks, then a two to one, really solid
road trip in just three games. And now with a
chance here to get some big points and maybe James
maybe start looking and maybe at a potential home iice
advantage spot if we were able to catch Abbots for it,
and San Jose as well. With Calgary starting to collapse,
(45:32):
really collapse, No, not starting too, they're already collapsing. They
have been completely outscored in all their games as of
recent They barely got to win against Manitoba. And then
maybe if Ontario rain continues to slide down as well.
Thanks everyone listening in on this podcast. As always, a big,
big series coming up starting tomorrow for the road Runners
(45:53):
up against the Ontario Rain and then two more games
this coming weekend against the San Jose Bearcuda. We have
first responders on Saturday. What I did what we did
last time was awesome. We had first responder vehicles all
in the ice during one of the intermissions. We have
the Tucson Fire Department against the Tucson Police Department pre
game as well, so check out all of that with
(46:14):
the Saint Patti's Day game on Sunday with a postgame
jersey auction as well coming up for us with our
Saint Patrick's Day Roadrunner Jersey. So find out all more
on those at Tucson Roadrunners dot com. And we will
be back tomorrow night as well for our usual Tuesday
night get together for Roadrunners Happy Hour. We are trying
to see we can get Assistant Captain Travis barn but regardless,
(46:38):
we will have our special guest guest as always, James,
Thanks for joining us once again. We will see you
here tomorrow and hope to see all you folks at
the Tucson Arena for a two game series coming up
against the Ontario Ring. We'll throw things out with roadrunners.
Speaker 4 (46:55):
Come after one of our house friends.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
You've seen us gap before.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
We know how this story ends.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Tonight.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
We're rising up tonight.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
You go down, you try to run up on us.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
We're gonna the last town.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Get on the bus, go back to where you came from.
Speaker 6 (47:17):
Getting on the bus, drive five far away, Hang up
your skates, drop your gloves, put just this away.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
You got beat down tonight.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
That's the two.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
Sad Way road right from.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Road rider from road righter from road righting fro net
Stick to the sad Way
When you want more Roadrunners, We've got more road Runners.
This is the twoson Roadrunners Insider podcast with a voice
of the Roadrunners, Jonathan Schaefer.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What advice do you have for me?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Drink a lot of water.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
It's pretty odd and your new best friend my best friend,
Arizona Daily Stars James Kelly. The guys are already talking,
so let's join them right here on your twoson Roadrunners
Insider podcast.
Speaker 5 (00:27):
Back at the two soon Arena after a three game
road trip, coming up a four game home stand before
getting to that. You're listening to this week's episode of
the two Son Roadrunners Insider Podcast. Jonathan Schaeffer here with
Arizona Daily Stars James Kelly. We have a lot to uncover. Tucson,
just finishing a nice three game road trip with a
(00:48):
two to one record, defeeding the Ontario Rain last Wednesday
four to one, defeeding the Bakersfield Condors in game one
of a two game series five to four, but then
losing the second match by a three to two score.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But a quick.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Turnaround a couple days off, including this Monday, where the
guys just worked out today. But now we have a
game coming up tomorrow, a game on Wednesday, both against
the Ontario Rain, and then later on this weekend Saturday
and Sunday to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day against the San
Jose Barracuda for a four game homestand coming right up
(01:23):
where the Roadrunners have a nice four game point streak
at three zero, one and OH.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Going into this matchup.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
The team is five to one one OH in the
last seven games overall, eight four to one and one
since the All Star Break, and Tucson is still in
a good spot at the AHL's Pacific Division race. We're
gonna hear from Sammy Walker during this show, as I
caught it with him after the Saturday night three to
two loss, as he continues to be a huge trade
(01:50):
asset for the Roadrunners. We just finished the trade deadline,
why player involved with the Roadrunners with that, we'll recover
that shortly as well big trays in the NHL. We
still have the HL trade deadline coming up in about
a couple more days on March fourteenth, if you're listening
on this Monday. So a lot to unravel as we
(02:11):
are back home for this upcoming series coming up against
the Ontario Rain. James Good Road trip, just mentioning earlier
two and one that's good. I mean only three games
is not a big sample size, right, and it's better
than going one and two. It's much better than going
zero for three. I mean a three to no road
trip with them in perfect but with not being able
(02:31):
to play as many games. You'll take an over five
hundred record on any trip. And you defeated the Ontario Rain,
which was the big opponent in that series, the one
the better opponent of that series or three game road
trip rather as they're kind of starting to crumble a
little bit as of late, and you know, you got
to split against the Condors, and though maybe you wanted
(02:52):
more of the points against the Condors in that road trip,
it would have been tough to sweep Bakersfield. Much better
game in the first than the second, obviously winning the
first one on Friday by score five to four, where
duson UH really had a battle in that one out
as they were down a couple of times in that matchup,
getting getting leads as well too as a back and
(03:12):
forth game. And then second matchup went down three to nothing,
almost came back, got two goals, needed one more, couldn't
get to it, but regardless, it was a good road
trip overall, and we'll enjoy a next home stand with
four games in seven days.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, definitely a really good road trip for the Ruderners.
They not just that they won those games and won
those games in the fashion they won, you know, really
really kind of dominated in the Ontario ring and then
you know, coming in having a really impressive third period
in the first Bakersfield win, and then they did lose
a second biker s Field game, but they did they
did show show a lot at the end of the
(03:53):
second period and in the third period, and maybe you know,
things went a little differently. You know, they had a
they're too many men on the ice pin on me
at the end, which kind of you know, prevented Maddie
from getting pulled. Maybe things go a little differently in
that game. So I think that in the the way
that game mad, they kind of and with the quick
turnaround with the game on Tuesday, I think they kind
of have the opportunity to kind of carry that momentum over.
(04:14):
And you know, obviously in that second game they were
that one of their best players. So they're shorthanded, not
only shorthanded, but without one of your best players, so
that that's a good result for them. And now I
don't look now, but we talked about who they played
in that in that road trip. You know, they played
one game against Ontario, who up to that point they
hadn't had any success against. But they kind of got
(04:35):
over that hump and then they got that win, and
now they're only seven points back of Ontario, which is
you know, they're in the fourth spot, the last spot
that's home ice advantage, and now there are a couple
of spots, a couple of points ahead of Bakersfield, who
they do have a couple of Bakersfield has a couple
of games and hands on Tucson, but now Tucson is
eight has eight more regulation wins than Pakersfield, So that's
(04:59):
pretty much at this point's kind of impossible for the
Runners to lose in it so many games. They would
jump runers if the lost so many games to catch
up with them. So that's effectively have two points, effectively
three points. So there's a very good spot for their owners.
I think it would have been a lot to ask
for them to to sweep on Bakersfield because you know
bakers so it's kind of playing for the playoff lives.
They still play the time to catch up with it
(05:21):
being month of margin only being two or had they
lost on four points, but it really made a statement
that win. And then you know, like I said, they
have a chance, kind of an outside chance admittedly, but
it's still a chance. They kind of chased down number
four Ontario who they have. Obviously, these two games huge games,
(05:41):
huge midweek games, and then there's another game against Ontario,
so in that kind of perfect role if to get
six points and obviously they're only one point back. So
that's a really really really productive week for the Runners
last week.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Yeah, seventeen games remaining for the Roadrunners. They are twenty seven,
twenty three, three and two seven seed of the Pacific
Division race, two points above the Condors. Bakersfield does have
two games in hand, but yeah, James, he had a
really good point. Tucson has a lot more of the
regulation wins, and that is actually one of the big
tie breakers. So you know, we always keep saying we're
confused with the tie breakers, but tend to forget that
(06:16):
it's literally right on the AHL standings page.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So these are the tiebreakers between two teams.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
So there's there's two categories between two teams and among
three or more teams. That just sounds chaotic. So we're
just gonna worry about the two teams for the time being.
So that's what the Roadrunners are potentially with the Condors
and maybe even Abbots Fred as well. But games one
in regulation excluding overtime slash shootout is the first one,
so that's a little interesting, right, And the Condors have
been in so many overtime in shootout games this season.
(06:44):
They've been in seventeen total overtimes this year. I think
that ranks amongst top two. I think Toronto has the
most overtimes this season. Bakersfield has seventeen. And though yes
they they're getting points and they win some of those
games in the overtime session as well, the HL doesn't
(07:04):
use that as a way to let a team get
tiebreakers over others. And I think it's good because you know,
I'm not trying to discredit bakers Field, but they kind.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Of played for the point a lot.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
They tied games up, and then all of a sudden
they kind of hold off and say like, oh, let's
just get the point we'll gain on Tucson. But then
you you don't realize, well, if end of the season
we're exactly tied with points with them, we're gonna get
the tie breaker because we have much more of the
regulation wins against Bakersfield, And we almost went to overtime
in both games against the Condors in our series.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I mean, we were up only four to three when
we got it.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Thankfully we got to emptying that goal because Bakersfield scored
with one second left. It didn't matter because we were
already up by two goals, So we won that one
five to four, and then if we were able to
tie it up on Saturday, we would have definitely went
to overtime. So it seemed Bakersfield play in person, you know,
you can tell why they've been in so many of
these overtime games because they're they're a good comeback team,
(08:04):
and they've had moments where they can't keep leads too
because they're they're pay p K and they're you know,
defending the six on five like us kind of struggles
a little bit. So you can tell why they are
an overtime willing team. But at the end of the day,
when you're you know, trying to at least tie points
with the team, ahead of you or vice versa. It's
(08:26):
not fully gonna guarantee you a playoff spot there you
have less of the regulation wins. In addition to that,
you know, at this point every point counts. You know,
when when the Roadrunners lost to the Rockford ice Hawks
last week to end off the home stand, Yeah, you know,
we came back and we forced overtime. We've got a
(08:46):
good point and we made it seven out of eight
possible total points in the homestand which is phenomenal for
any team, even us. But at the same time, you're like, ah,
you know, we needed that last point. You know, it
would have been huge because now you go into today
and instead of two points, instead of three points above Bakersfield,
you're only two and the Condors again stuff two games
in hand. So it's every point counts, even when we're
(09:09):
gonna take these games to overtime against our opponents going forward.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Uh, you really still have that thought in the back
of your head.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
It's like we need that extra point, like it's it's
so crucial at this stage of the game. But the
Roadrunners are getting hot at probably the most perfect time.
I talked to Steve Pavin on the pregame show on
Saturday and just ask him, you know, like, at some
point this season, Steve, we were on an eight game
losing streak, and since the All Star Break we've been
(09:37):
good and we're we now have points and six of
our last seven exclusive of last night when we are
part on Saturday night when we lost. But you know,
and he said, yeah, at the end of the day,
obviously we're here to develop these players and develop this
team and gear them up for the future. But it's
showing that the development is getting there because we have
(09:57):
now found a ways to start winning. And you know,
sometimes developments of any players has a halt. We had
it during the eight game losing skid, and now the
development we're seeing it again and we're seeing everything come
together and it's crucial and even the Condors are actually
getting good points and playing good as well too. So
thankfully two soon kind of figured it out post All
(10:18):
Star break, because if we didn't when we went into
the All Star Break out of a playoff spot, we
could be down by a lot. So we figured it
out where five one and won our last seven games.
Every game counts at this point, I know, we always
say like, oh, this is a big series coming up.
This is a big homestand but at this point, with
seventeen games remaining, every matchup is going to feel like
(10:40):
a playoff game.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah. I mean you look at the the divisional quick
and in the last ten games, two on the six wins,
so that's third best in the whole division only Coachella
with seven and then San Diego surprisingly with eight. Are
have had better, I have had more wins the last
ten games. So they're obviously doing really well. It's it's
one thing that when they went on the gyms Are
(11:03):
road trip and they got that boost from getting Sami Walker,
they're kind of thinking, yeah, they're doing well on road again,
what are they going to be able to do well
at home? Because if you remember, weirdly enough part of
the game road Trip, big part of that was their
sixth game when the streak at home. So they came
back at home and then they obviously did really well,
and then they came in then and then you're kind
of thinking, well, they're going on the road again, are
they still gonna be able to do that? Well, they're
gonna continue that momentum and they they're able to do that,
(11:25):
So kudos to the the road owners for getting back
hot again and at the perfect time. You know, they
they're doing that. You know, obviously I mentioned Walker came
in and was a big boost. Kevin Carnton getting getting
back in the roster was a big boost. When they
had Dan briefly, he was a big boost. And then
you know, obviously Andrew Agazino coming back, that was a
(11:46):
big boost. And you're seeing a lot of guys who
were consistent throughout the year, like Sokolov and he Big
doing really well and they're they continue to do that.
And then you're seeing some some guys who you said
some guys doing well again like Benny McCartney one, Hunter
two and they're continue to do well. So there's just
a lot of heroes on the roster right now. A
lot of guys are doing really well.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
So out of the next seventeen games, ten of them
are at home, seven on the road, and actually, James,
we played the most away games in the entire division
at this point. You know, obviously the seven game Gems
Show trip is a huge part of that, and especially
with the three game road trip we just have. We
have a five game road trip coming up that's literally
(12:30):
starts next week because we're here for the four games
all week.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
This isn't a.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Friday, Saturday, Friday, Saturday homestand this is a Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday,
Sunday homestands. We have four games the next seven days,
so come to the Tucson Arena as much as possible
because we only have ten home games left, and just
considering what the playoffs are going to look like, at
least for the first round, you know, we might not host.
We could still, I mean things are still very changing
(12:55):
as much as possible. But before we get to that,
let's look at our home pardon our home record. Yeah,
so we played twenty nine games on the road, most
in the entire division. So that's actually pretty good considering
that we have a fourteen to fourteen, zero to one
record on the road. Because look at the Eagles they
have they are probably maybe the best team in the
division now, they very have they have a big shot
(13:17):
of winning the division because Coachelle Valley has two more
games played more than them, but they have an eleven
and eleven three to one record on the road. Calgary
has a losing record on the road. Coachelle Valley's road
record is pretty good. At a sixteen to ten record.
Ontario's is good sixteen to eight, zero to one, but
then look at San Jose losing record, Abbotsford losing record
(13:38):
on the road, condors do you have a winning record
on the road, and then the Goals and Silver Nights
losing records on the road as well. And James, we
touched on this earlier this season where Tucson was just
kind of near five hundred on the road, But just
considering how hard it is to win away from your
arena in this division this year, it's it's pretty good
for the roadrunners and at home after that really nice
(13:59):
four game bones and we just had Judson as a
thirteen to nine, three and one record at home now
and a lot of the Pacific Division teams have much
better records at their home barns as well.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
It's one one of the things that when you try
and to be you want to try and get the
sweep in the series at home and then get a
split on the road. But the road runs have been
getting I've been almost getting the sweep back on the
road now lately last few games, and they almost got
the sweep on the last road trip, So you know,
obviously we talked about how big a big a home
stand this is, you know with Ontario for it here
(14:31):
for Tuesday and Wednesday. I really like the promotion for
Tuesday the Service Workers Night. It's nice to give them
some recognition. And then Saturday you have the First Responders
Night when Tanse comes to town and that's always a
fun night. You know that there's the game beforehand between
the is it TPD and TFD?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I think yeah, sure it is, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Tow so on fire department and two some police department
both both then their neighbors downtown for the Roadrunners. And
then and then on Sunday, you know, obviously with Saint
Patrick's saving on the Monday, you can't really party very
hard on that day, so it's nice they have the
early game at four when San Jose comes down for
that second part of that series, and then they there's
a tailgame live band and you can have fun there,
(15:14):
and then they came out free T shirts, so it's
it's always a fun holiday. But it's always fun when
the road Owners have a game, either on St. Patricks
Day or around Saint Patrick's Lay, So lots of reasons
to come the come to this four game series and
other than being obviousteally important for the road owners.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So we have the Ontario Rain coming up next, and
we are actually catching them at a pretty good time
for ourselves, bad time for them as they are. They
are pretty they're struggling, like just like a lot of
teams in our Pacific Division at this moment, they are
struggling going into this series. They've lost their last five
in a row, which is a season.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
High for them.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
They're oh four one to oh in their last five
games in total. And they were also affected by the
trade deadline. They let go Tyler Madden. He is now
with the Iowa y old. Uh didn't have a lot
of points for them this season, but you know, I
just have a theory that he was a good locker
room guy and they they lost a big locker room
name and now they're starting to struggle for him. Eric Portillo,
(16:11):
they're one of their good goaltenders, has been heard as well.
So they're running with Phoenix Copley and I don't think
he can really keep up with the back to back
games as much as maybe our goalie, our goaltending crew
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
So they're, uh, they're they're struggling. Right now.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
But that doesn't mean it's guaranteed wins, James. I mean,
look at us. We're on an eight game slide and
now we've figured it out. So teams always go through
this kind of slide throughout the season. It happens to everybody.
Some teams, it happens to worse more than others. And uh,
this is just another big opportunity for us to really
catch them at a bad spot. We just beat them
by a four to one score and they've been struggling
(16:47):
to put goals up on the board. And I think
we're in a good spot too with Matthew Wilalta getting
the nod. You know, the news coming recently of Connor
Ingram entering the NHL Assistance program with the family lost
that he had earlier this year, so he's stepping away
from the game. We wish him the best of luck
and prayers for his family. But this has been given
(17:08):
an opportunity now for Jackson Stabber who's called up to
the Utah Hockey Club. And then now we have Dylan
Wells back in the building as well from the Allen Americans.
And I don't know what it is, James, but when
Dylan Wells is in the building. Matthew Wolalta in the
road Runners just seem to play a little bit better.
And that's what we talk about big locker room NIT guys, right,
and Dylan Wells is one of them. He's a very
(17:28):
liked player within this organization. You know, we saw what
he did last year. He's great with the fans. He's
just great with everyone. It's always good to have that
guy in the building. And Stober is great too, but
it's a great opportunity for him to, you know, get
some more playing time in the NHL. And when Matthew Walalta,
when he has that net to himself, he's dialed in
and he's still even though we lost on Saturday, he
(17:50):
made forty two saves on forty five shots. He's three
and one in his last four starts. He's a lot
of one point seventy five goals against average as well,
and a very high saper percentage. So this is a
good spot for Tucson going into this home stand.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, I went in in the in the notes for
the paper coming out tomorrow, I compared the stats he
had in the NHL and all HL, and also I'll
put down the NHL stats for Jackson this year, and
obviously he's done really well in NHL. He's just shown
that he's more than serving a chance. But it's kind
of weird that if you think about it last week,
and part of it was probably because the the first
(18:26):
game was in Ontario and that's where Matty played a
bunch of seasons, so it's big home playing for him
and big important for him to get that win, and
which he did get the win. He played really well.
He was the i believe, the third start of the
night for the whole league and first star locally, so
he played really well. So he played that game, and
then Jackson played the next game, and then Matt played
the third game. So Matt was kind of the number
(18:48):
one last week pretty much, you know, he even though
they both got leave, them both got to win. So
technically it's like your second year number two is actually
when I moved up to the NHL. But actually this
year Matt has better goosgainst Sarah, better say percenters than Jackson,
even though Jackson had done really well in the NHL.
And when you mentioned how when Dylan comes up, he
(19:09):
he Matt plays really well and when he when Matt
needed a break, don't Dylan came in and played really well,
so that was impressive. It's a they talk about how
good friends they are, although I think a lot of
people would be friends with good friends with Matt, and
you know, they just work really well together. They're on
both bets in the league. And they both when they
both talked about when they when they play, they they
(19:33):
combined notes and they you know, I'm not sure other
guys do, but they seem to do it really well.
They they you know, they they talk about stuff. You know,
they commind me. You know, they plan and they you know,
you know, they assess and they kind of figure out
what they need to do and in each game and
you know, kind of what they maybe something that Dylan
(19:54):
sees from that that angle where they they were an
angle where they said where the back of Bully said,
maybe see something that really helps Matthew out. But it
was great, great first great great for Matt to get
over that hump. And he's also not only that to
get that win and be doing really well. He's he's
also won Forbes Forbes last six games, so he's really
(20:15):
a run and the only loss was that biggest for
the loss, which was is a close one and they
almost came back in that one and then they he
lost that coach ou Valley, but then he just wins.
He had that big win against Henderson where he snapped
his strig, and he had a big win against Abatsford
and then a big win against Rockford and then obviously
that big Ontario win. So Matthew's doing really well. Obviously
(20:37):
we wish the best to you know that that situation,
which is the best, but it's it's a nice that
the NHL has that program like that you can step
into and for for the road owners there Road unders
Slash Utah, they had there in a great position in
terms of definite a goalie. Obviously, we talked about that
all year and this is the point where it's kind
(20:58):
of crunched time. It's really cruise well for both teams.
For Utah trying to make their playoff push and for
to make their playoff push. So it's really it's really
beneficial for them to have three goals like that at
the HL level that we can move on off you
have really three HL caliber goalies or even in the
case of Jackson, how well he's played with Chicago, and
while he's played by the Utah, the guy who show
(21:20):
that he's perhaps better than a HI level goalie. But
you have three great, three great options at goalie right now,
for for two soon and for now with Utah. So
it's a great option. It's it's a great situation for
the Runners and and for Utah.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Yeah, it's a really good point, James. I mean that's
why we brought in Jackson Stauber, right. You know when
we first resigned Matthew Volalta to the two year two
way contract and then brought back Dylan Wells, uh, you know,
many thought like, okay, we're just gonna run with the
Volalta Wells duo again and then uh or really Matthew
Walta starting Wells plays when needed as the backup. But
(21:54):
then you brought in Jackson Staubur, and all of a
sudden you think, like, whoa, that that was an aggressive signing,
Like we didn't think we're gonna be another goalie in
and then we did.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
And you know, from looking at Stabur.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Stats last year, it's like, oh, this is gonna be
a good tandem, and you know it's it was a
bit wonky at first, where Stobber was getting the wins
and Volalta was struggling a big At the beginning of
the year, Stober wasn't called up with Connor Ingram initially
thought injury, but it was, you know, due to a
family loss. So he stepped away, you know, to be
with his family. And it gave Matthew Volalta a chance
(22:26):
to really come back and start playing phenomenal again and
then Jackson. Stober even made some athletes with the Utah
Hockey Club, getting the first shutout.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
In team history.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Overall this season with the Utah Hockey Club, he has
a two to one to one record, a two point
two three goals against average, and nine to twenty five
save percentage. Matthew Valalta went on a crazy run, getting
a couple of shoutouts big wins for the Roadrunners as
well going into the holiday break, and then Connor Ingram
returned to the Utah Hockey Club, Stober came back, so
we started going with the one two duo and it
(23:00):
it got a little wonky again where we lost eight
in a row. Matthew Valta was at win number ninety
nine for nine straight starts. He lost his last nine
games Staber got us a couple of wins to get
the groove back, and then lately Volalta has really turned
the tables around. And yeah, Staber has had some some
(23:20):
you know, interesting games where you know, maybe he should
have made one that's one of those saves or another.
But he's gotten us wins and that's what's the most
important thing for goalten or I mean, he's three zero,
one and one in his past five starts. He's made
big saves when you need him to. And this move
going back up to the Utah Hockey Club, where one
could argue, oh, maybe give Matthew Walta a shot, but
you just said it, James. I mean, Stober has more
(23:41):
of the NHL experience. He has really good stats with
the Utah Hockey Club already this year. You can assume
that Crovomelca will take a lot of the starts moving forward,
because just like the Utah Hockey Club and the road Runners,
they're both pushing for the playoffs. And you know Volalta, yeah,
you could definitely be an NHL goalie too. We haven't
seen a lot of NHL time for him. He only
(24:01):
has one career start in the National Hockey League. But
this is a good opportunity because the Roadrunners, they're gonna
rely on Matthew Valta for the playoff. Pushed, they'll rely
on Dylan Wells as well. I would not be shocked
if we see a well start during this four game
homestand could be against Ontario, could be this weekend against
San Jose, because that's just a lot of games for
Volalta to have to play, especially just playing this past
(24:24):
Saturday against the Bakersfield Condors. And Wells is two and
ohero in his two games with the Roadrunners as well,
So this is this is a move to where you
really can tell both sides want to make the playoffs.
Stober will help Utah as much as he can when
he's called upon. Matthew Volalta will take full rings for
the road Runners. And when Maddy just has more games play,
(24:45):
he just finds his grow much better. And we will
rely upon Dylan Wells too, because you know, it's it's
always that aspect of you know, yeah, these backups sometimes
don't get as much playing time, but when they do,
guys just play a little bit of an extra edge
because they want to get that guy there. When especially
just such a great locker room presence like Dylan Wells.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, I think that you kind of touched on it.
I don't think we touched on the podcast, but you
touched on on the broadcast about how Maddie kind of
seems to have gotten a little bit of boost when
he when he switched out the Utah pads, which actually
I think they're kind of two song pads too, because
they had the mountain look to it, but the color
mountains look obviously they're Utah colors, but they do look
(25:29):
like the Tucson Mountains, the mountains that go around Tucson,
So technically could have kind of worked for both. Obviously
it was a Utah, but I think he could have
gone both ways, and I think he did to go
both ways, but he did switch to the swirl pads,
and and he's been really on a Terra since then,
so obviously, you know, obviously it's not really that, it's
just him playing better, him continuing to play play really well.
I'm getting more time, getting more consistent time. But yeah,
(25:50):
he's just been really really big boost. And he's a
guy who not just us saying that, or not even
just the stats saying that, but the coaches have said
that when he plays more, he plays better, you know,
and for whatever reason, you know, maybe he gets in
a grove more. And I don't think he's gonna obviously
play all games of this Force four game hometown because
it's quick turnaround from the last series, and it's a
(26:11):
quick turnaround from Yeah, even though the series starts on
Saturday and usual Friday, it's right after this Ontario series,
so we'll probably get to see down walls again. But yeah,
the more you play. The formula for Maddie has kind
of been the more you play him, the better he plays,
and the more he gets in the game, So that
that's something that's something to look out for.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
So yeah, so Matthew Volosa and Dan Wells will be
our two goalies moving forward. James, what a what a
trade deadline for the National Hockey League.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It was.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It was quite insane, probably one of the most insane
that I've seen in recent memory. Uh Utah, not too
involved in it, but they did make a move that
did affect the road Runners, So this one was kind
of a weird one. So they acquired the or they
traded away the rights of Shaye Weber, who hasn't been
in the league, uh in these past few seasons. But
(27:08):
he was his rights, his contract rights were with Arizona
going into Utah.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
So Utah trades his rights away.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
They trade the rights of Victor Sodastrom away as well
as he's still playing in Europe, and in a result
they get a fifth round draft pick back. But in
that the trade also they included Ford Aku Ratu. So
Ratu is now presumably heading to the Rockford IceHawks slash
Chicago Blackhawks organization. We wish him the best of luck,
(27:37):
you know, talking with Steve Poppin in that pregame show,
because what was so chaotic about it is, uh that
the trade deadline was on a game day for us,
So you know, we we just lost a player for
the to the trade deadline and you know we still
had a game to play and talk with Steve Poppin
about U. Just you know, how do we you know,
(27:58):
stay calm and collected moving forward after losing a player
like Aku, And you know, he said it was tough
because Aku was a kind of player who showed up
to the rink every day trying to get better and
he had a great season with the road Runners last year.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
You know, twenty nine.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Assists, fifteen goals for forty four points and fifty five
games played, yet a point per game average of point
eighty and though in his second season it hasn't panned
out as much of the success from last year with
nineteen points in fifty games played. You know, Ratu was
a guy going into this season who we thought was
going to take a huge leap leaped back just a bit,
(28:32):
but there's still so much potential for him on the
table to be a very successful hockey player. The former
fifth round pick picked one hundred and fifty one overall
and then twenty nineteen NHL Entry Draft, spend some seasons
in Europe as well playing hockey before coming to North America,
and he will be missed.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Again, he was a great locker room guy, a great
guy to have on the team.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
He showed a lot of flashes of what he can do.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
And you know, for Rockford, I think it's a really
exciting player to acquire as they are trying to push
for the playoffs as well. So that's the only trade
that was involved in the trade deadline that affected the Roadrunners.
Some big ones off the top of my head, obviously,
Miko Ranton and getting traded to the Dallas Stars. After
getting traded early on this season to the Carolina Hurricanes
after they couldn't settle on the contract. Brad Marshan is
(29:21):
now with the Florida Panthers, which was absolutely baffling. Boston
actually had one of the most busy trade deadlines as
they sold a lot of players away. And but we
still have the AHL trade deadline coming up in four days,
so any HL contracted guys can still get affected by
this one. Maybe some moves in the EHL as well.
(29:41):
So it's not over just yet and we will monitor
anything if if Tucson is involved, but this is we had.
We didn't really see any trades for the Roadrunners last season.
You know, the one before this year was the Steven
Campor trade two years ago. And now this year we've
traded away Aku Ratu. We acquired Sammy Walker, who has
(30:02):
been a huge part of this season's turnaround. He has
thirteen points in his first fourteen games as a Roadrunner,
with four goals and nine assists. He's helped Big Lee
on the power play as well. And you know, it's
it's kind of fun when the when your team's involved
in some trades because yeah, it sucks losing guys, but
it's also fun gaining guys too. When you finally get
(30:22):
to meet the mid season and you realize why we uh,
you know, went out and acquired a guy like Sammy Walker.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, it seems like I haven't talked to Sammy yet,
but you've talked to him a couple of times after
the games, and he seems like a great guy to
talk to. It seems like a great guy from the
locker room. And obviously he's great in terms of staffs
and great teams, the posting team. So that's a fun
trade that they got, and you know, it is a big,
you know, a bit big trade. Landinghl deadline was big
for the for Tucson. Obviously, you talked about losing Aku,
(30:52):
who had a great, great first season, but it didn't
just generally kind of maybe a sophomore slump or whatever
whatever happened this year. It was kind of always expecting
him to kind of go on a run, and you know,
he scores and I thought like, oh, well, he's gonna
gonna get started again and go on a big run
like he had like in December or January or whatever
last year. When he was just on a terror and
he ended up as one of the leading scorers on
(31:12):
a team that on a team last year that finished
with the second seat in the playoffs. So good good
luck to him. I think that maybe it's a thing
where he changes. It might be a situation where he
changed the scenery and he does you know over in
Rockers Lous Chicago, maybe moving over there is help. You know,
we've seen that a lot of times where guys just
move over and we'll work to a new franchise and
(31:34):
for whatever reason, maybe new opportunities, maybe NW what whatever
it is, they ended up doing better. So so there's
that one. And obviously a victor part of the trade
was you know, we talked about Shay Weber's contracting in
cent over which Bill Armstrong the Utah GM. He explained
that the reason for that trade was to free up
the cap space for next year. And that's how you're
(31:55):
seeing UTAH is maturing as an organization where they're they're
moving away from that Cotes time period where they're where
they're rebuilding and where they're cumulating drap pics all. Did
they get good raptick on this one, But we're they're
they're taken on contracts like on Weber's contract like that.
And then also the other is the trade away their
rights to Victor Soostrom, who he didn't play with for
Duson this year, but he did play a bunch of
(32:16):
seasons with Tucson and they weren't able to He and
Utah were able to agree to contract, so we ended
up going to Sweden. But that's another big trade. And
from the Road's perspective, but I'm looking back, road Runners,
you usually aren't that Road slash Arizona slash Utah. They're
not usually that busy at the trade deadline. This year
they've been very busy. So they haven't really been involved
(32:39):
in the at the AHL deadline but the previous years.
But maybe they are this year because they've just been
so busy with moving guys around and with a lot
of movement for Utah. So who knows. But I'm not
really expecting them to make another trade, but who knows.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
Yeah, well, we'll see if any HL trades are involved.
But yeah, I don't really see that either, James. I
think this team as a is so to where it
wants to be at, and you know, it's always just
tough losing guys you know that are you know, you
get to know, and it's tougher for the players and
the coaches too.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
You know.
Speaker 5 (33:09):
We we know them from our perspective, you know, seeing
them at the ranks, seeing them at practice and games
and interviews and everything.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
But it's tougher when you know.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
These are guys that you play with and you get
to know and you go through everything in the locker room.
I mean, Rottu went with us through that eight game
slide just as much as he was with us when
we started turning it around.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So with him the best of lock you never know.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
It could be another Sammy Walker situation for the Rockford Iocks,
where you know, Walker before joining Tucson was you know,
in a bit of a slide as well for himself.
Eleven points in thirty games, not terrible, but also not
as good as what he had previously with two forty
plus point seasons. Prior to that, he only had one
power play goal with the Iowa wild as well, so
(33:53):
just one power play point. But since joined the Roadrunners,
mentioning earlier four goals, nine assists thirteen points, he has
two power play goals with the Roadrunners, as well, and
also five power play assists, so you never know rock
To can go on a nice run. I mean, he's
playing with a lot of very young talent because Rockford is,
you know, just like Chicago, kind of rebuild too. Obviously,
(34:15):
their division is a bit different, so they're in a
pretty much locked in playoff spot despite having a losing record.
But again, at the end of the day, that's why
the AHL expands these playoffs, so a lot of these
guys can play very meaningful games. So excited for Rod two.
He's gonna be a part of a big playoff push
for the Rockford Iceogs. And we're gonna be seeing Rockford
in our last two away games next month in April,
(34:36):
so we'll see how it goes. We'll be playing Rod
two again, so that'll be a fun little series for us.
I talked to him after he got traded, and he
seems really excited just for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But for us, we'll we'll move on, We'll we'll keep going.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
We'll we'll miss Row too, but we overall miss wish
him the best of luck and we'll miss him as well.
Let's get to our one and only interview of this
week's show speaking Sammy Walker. Caught up with him quickly
after the game in Bakersfield, a quick interview because we
had to get out of.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
There, James.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
We had a bus overnight or just two hours bus
two hours back to Lax to eventually fly here yesterday
on Sunday. But I caught with Sammy Walker just to
you know, talk about his recent play with Tucson, the
recent road trip with the Roadrunners, and pushing for the
playoffs because he has been a big part of the
recent success too of Ben McCartney. That we'll get too shortly,
but real quick. Catching up with Sammy Walker after the
(35:29):
three to two loss against the Bakersfield Condors. Sammy, not
the result we wanted, but overall, good road trip and
finish it off two and one, and now we head
back home still in a good stretch. Just how do
we just keep it going for ourselves and still continue
on to push for these playoffs.
Speaker 6 (35:44):
Yeah, I mean everyone is huge, and I mean it's
playoff hockey right now. I mean that's a good team
and they had an answer from their loss yesterday. So
we just got to keep moving and you know, take
one game at a time and try to just get
some wins here.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
Talk to Ben McCartney yesterday and he said he just
for you guys, just keep the stick on the ground
for those power plays and you know you guys final
lanes to get opened and you scored one tonight. How's
that unit just been clicking for you guys as a
recent as well?
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Yeah, I know it's nice for just Uh, I feel
like we're moving the puck pretty well and we're lucky
that one the rev I'm kind of just pop right
to me. But I mean it's yeah, we're moving our feet,
we're moving it quick and just using each other and
luckily we've you know, we've we've been successful. So but
the big thing is we gotta be consistent with it
(36:34):
and keep it going.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Thanks Sammy James. I've liked this.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Uh, I've liked the new power play unit that we've
been rolling out there right.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
It's our first new unit.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
Uh. It's and Draga Zino since we're turning from his injury,
with Ben McCartney and Sammy Walker with Yeah Momoto and
Zueber who's on the back end. Robbie Russo used to
be the main point guy, the quarterback, you would say
for the power play unit. But now Zuber is getting
been getting some time as well, and he's been contributing
to the power play. But the Roadrunners power play unit
(37:06):
scoring three goals over the weekend against the Bakers two
of condors went two for six on Friday one for
three on Saturday. Has scored a power play points or
a power play goal rather in five of their last
six games overall, so the unit's been starting to click
and Ben McCartney has been a big part of that too.
We mentioned it a lot this season on how much
(37:28):
of his special teams goals that he's been contributing, but
it really has. Out of his ten total goals this season,
seven of them have been special teams, with five power
play goals and two short handed goals as well, and
overall this season he's slowly started to climb.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The total power play.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Points for the Roadrunners and it's been a big beneficiary
with Sammy Walker getting mixed in to that power play
unit as well, with the addition of Andre Ragazino returning
to the lineup.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
You know has been Carney. He hasn't.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
He sat a couple of games in our last fourteen outings,
but eleven of the last fourteen games that he's played
in the team is ten for thirty on the power play.
So really like to see what Ben McCartney's been doing
for Tucson as a recent since Sammy Walker joined the lineup.
And that's what's also been huge about that trade acquisition.
Not only Sammy Walker again thirteen points in his first
(38:22):
fourteen games of the Roadrunners, he seems to be finding
ways to get other guys open, to get other guys
scoring opportunities, and that's just shows how valuable that trade
has been for Tucson.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah, it's a great trade, and not only just for
the power play unit to be scoring those goals and
doing well with that one, but it's an opportunity that
where it's a little bit bounced out I think last
few games, but before that there was a point where
they weren't getting a lot of power play opportunities. So
for them to be able to capitalize on those when
they got them, it was really impressive. And how about
the PK unit, I mean we were talking about special
(38:55):
teams already, how about the PK unit on this road tip,
especially on Friday that that was nuts with the third
period where they started with Kyler got the game of
his conduct and also the the five minute major, and
so they had to kill that one, which if you're
we're forgetting what the firemen major is like, it's a
situation where they still stay up a man even if
(39:16):
they score. So they had an opportunity to ring up
a bunch of goals and when Tuson was protecting that lead,
and then so they have that one, and then they
had a double minor on Uh who was I I
didn't write down it, but it doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (39:28):
I think it was Ben McCartney, speaking of which it
was Ben McCartney. He slashed or yeah, he high stuck
someone with the high sticking and they were bleeding.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Yeah, well he had the game. He had a couple
of goals that game and the game winning goals, so
I kind of makes up for that one. So there
was a two minor so that they they had to
go to five on three and then right after they
killed those there was another penalty. So it was just
like for for almost a whole half of that that
period that they had the the p K and the
defense that the goalie they had to really stand out
(39:58):
a man and Maddy had to really stand up and
or actually it was a sotobbery. It was a goal
and the protect the lead, and it was really impressive
that in the past they were kind of giving up
leads in the bat but they're able to not only
protect that lead, but they're able to get the win.
So that was just really impressive. Really well, obviously you
want to looking back, you want to cut down on
those penalties and stuff like that. And now they talked
about how on then an ill time, too many men
(40:21):
on the ice penalty at the end of the game
on Saturday, they kind of may have killed the opportunity
for them to pull pull Maddy for that long, so
that hurt. You want to kind of clean up those penalties.
But regardless, it was a really impressive outing for the
penalty kill unit on Friday.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Yeah, so James, we had seventeen total and I'm glad
you brought it up because it kind of whizzed through
my head.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
But that's that Friday night game.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
We had seventeen total minutes of PK time and we
only allowed twenty one shots, so that was also much impressive.
Baker's through power play went did way better the next game,
scoring twice on the Saturday game that was a big
part of their victory because we took a lot of
penalties over that series overall. But for the Friday it
was the five minute major from Yaoma the spearing. Ben
(41:04):
McCartney was called for a double minor for high sticking
a Baggers fiel player and they were bleeding, resulting in
the double minor. And then two minutes into that double minor,
Curtis Douglas, Uh, I think it was Curtis Douglass or
was an artem due that it was one of those guys.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
UH were called over the delay of game.
Speaker 5 (41:21):
I'm gonna just get pulled up right, okay, So yeah,
it was due to pardon me, Dudah called for the
delay of game. So then we had to kill off
a five on three and it was remarkable PKing by us.
Uh didn't again didn't do so well the next game,
but uh Tucson's PK still went six for seven on
that Friday game. And UH to also talk to see
Pavin about that, just, you know, how do we use
that as the momentum going into Tonight's with just the
(41:43):
way we were able to you know, pretty much shut
down the Baggers field power play, you know, just on
the way to use that momentum and maybe use that,
you know, just kind of as our season too, because
sometimes when we're backed in into the wall, you know,
henceforth eight game losing streak, we find ways to to
come back from that and now hence forth our record
since the All Star break.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah, it's something that they kind of turn around. And
they didn't actually win the game on Saturday, but I
still think that that that third period where they hold
they hold pictures scoreless until the last, like the last
second the game, last two secons of the game. Ben
McCartney scored empty that goal which end up being the
game winner, which was really you know, empty net goals
(42:28):
usually are maybe not lucky, but you know, kind of unfortunate,
you know a little bit when they're shooting. But that
one was really an empty that goal they earned where
he's skating down the icy dove and he poked it in,
poked in the net. So he got that. INDI to
do his power play goal that he got in the
second period. But I think that you can really look back,
this might be a situation where you look back and see, like, well, boy,
(42:49):
the team held up and played really well in that
second period. On Friday. That might be kind of one
of those things where if they make the class, you
might look bad at it and say like, wow, that
was really big turning point for the season. You know,
obviously they did fall on Saturday, but like I said,
gum Modo got suspended for the game on Saturday because
of the game is conduct that he got. And you
(43:10):
also also they're obviously losing Aku, so they kind of
had to adjust. And there I mentioned they're being there
short handed because they didn't have Kyler, but they're short
handed because he didn't have Aku because he got traded
during that trip. I think weren't able to replenish him
like they normally would, so they were a little bit
I'm short handed on that for Saturday too. But I
still think that you're kind of looking back. You might
(43:31):
be able to look back. Maybe we're looking back on
this in June or something and assessing like, how did
they make the playoffs or how did they start that
run or whatever, although they were continuing, well, this might
be kind of a turning point in the season where
you're like, wow, this is really where they're really impressed
and really show that they might be the case where
because they're already playing well, but it's still it just
still seems like a like a big moment of the
(43:51):
season where you really impressive that not only were you
able to do that, we're able to prevent because from
scoring other than like a garbage time goal like that,
and they scored a lot of second but they were
able to do that. I guess they really good team
in Bakersfield. That they're not a playoff team right now,
and they in my mind, I don't think they will.
I think the road Uns will end up ghetting that
playoffs lot. But they're they're a good team. They're really
(44:13):
telling the team and they're as a whole the team
like that Squirrels snap period really felt weird because it
seems like when there's so many penalties like that, so
many situations like a five on three and whatnot, the
team's gonna break through and in the score them if
they're a good team like rough Bakersfield. So it is
very impressive for me.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
Yeah, all impressive for Tucson. It has been a good
turnaround for the team. But it's not over yet, James,
and there's still seventeen games left to go, and and
though we are very much less than a quarter away
through the season left. It's it's very tight. Anything can
go drastically wrong or anything can go very good. You know,
the Roadrunners will just keep it going. Uh five to one,
(44:54):
one to oh in the last seven games, were catching
Ontario on a five game losing streak.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
San Jose has struggled a.
Speaker 5 (45:00):
Bit on the road this season as well, so it's
just more opportunities for the Roadrunners to really get some
points on this homestand and we had a good home
stand last time.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
We swept the Abbots for Canucks.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
We got three out of four possible total points against
Rockford Ice Hawks, then a two to one, really solid
road trip in just three games. And now with a
chance here to get some big points and maybe James
maybe start looking and maybe at a potential home iice
advantage spot if we were able to catch Abbots for it,
and San Jose as well. With Calgary starting to collapse,
(45:32):
really collapse, No, not starting too, they're already collapsing. They
have been completely outscored in all their games as of
recent They barely got to win against Manitoba. And then
maybe if Ontario rain continues to slide down as well.
Thanks everyone listening in on this podcast. As always, a big,
big series coming up starting tomorrow for the road Runners
(45:53):
up against the Ontario Rain and then two more games
this coming weekend against the San Jose Bearcuda. We have
first responders on Saturday. What I did what we did
last time was awesome. We had first responder vehicles all
in the ice during one of the intermissions. We have
the Tucson Fire Department against the Tucson Police Department pre
game as well, so check out all of that with
(46:14):
the Saint Patti's Day game on Sunday with a postgame
jersey auction as well coming up for us with our
Saint Patrick's Day Roadrunner Jersey. So find out all more
on those at Tucson Roadrunners dot com. And we will
be back tomorrow night as well for our usual Tuesday
night get together for Roadrunners Happy Hour. We are trying
to see we can get Assistant Captain Travis barn but regardless,
(46:38):
we will have our special guest guest as always, James,
Thanks for joining us once again. We will see you
here tomorrow and hope to see all you folks at
the Tucson Arena for a two game series coming up
against the Ontario Ring. We'll throw things out with roadrunners.
Speaker 4 (46:55):
Come after one of our house friends.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
You've seen us gap before.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
We know how this story ends.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Tonight.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
We're rising up tonight.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
You go down, you try to run up on us.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
We're gonna the last town.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Get on the bus, go back to where you came from.
Speaker 6 (47:17):
Getting on the bus, drive five far away, Hang up
your skates, drop your gloves, put just this away.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
You got beat down tonight.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
That's the two.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
Sad Way road right from.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
Road rider from road righter from road righting fro net
Stick to the sad Way
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.