October 3, 2025 • 46 mins
In this edition of Roadrunners Happy Hour head coach Steve Potvin join Kim Cota-Robles and our new hosts, for the season, James Mckey and David Mooradian. Always wonder what a hockey coach does in the offseason? Steve Potvin will answer your questions
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's five o'clock on your Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is Tucson Roadrunners Happy Hour from Fox Sports fourteen
fifty A yea with James Mackey, David Brady, and then
Kim Connor Roadblas. It's our usual Tuesday night can get
together right here on Tucson Sports stick shat Fox Sports
fourteen fifty A yea.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello and welcome to our Tuesday night get together. It's
the Roadrunners Happy Hour. I'm James Mackie, He's David Meridian.
We'll be bringing you everything for the tant anniversary and
the Old Pueblo here on Tucson Roadrunners Hockey Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. David, let's talk a little bit about it.
The off seasons over were shortly removed from the start
of the preseason, and then we get the wheels kick in.
(00:43):
It starts heavy. We talked about it on Sunday. We're
excited for what this season has to bring us. But
first let's introduce ourselves a little bit. David, tell the
people at home a little bit about yourself, where you are,
where you're from, and what you like to watch when
it comes to hockey.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, no, James, I'm looking forward to the season. I
think we're gonna be a good pair together and it'll
be a lot of fun. So I am from the northeast.
I come from the Hudson Valley area of New York State.
My dad and I grew up going to RBI hockey games.
For some of our real big hockey fans, if they're
paying attention to some prospects, they'll be familiar with the
ECAC League.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
In college.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I think we have a couple players from Quinnipiac who's
had a very good program. But hockey has been a
big part of my life, certainly in my childhood. Grew
up a big Rangers fan. And then since i've been here,
I've been fortunate to be the director of sports at
Camps Student Radio with the University of Arizona. So I've
kind of transitioned from the Northeast scene to some of
(01:37):
the southwestern teams down here. But this is a great
sportstown Tucson. They have a terrific passion for the U
of A, but also for the Tucson Roadrunners. Usually thousands
of people attending each game, and you can see why.
I mean, they've been here now for ten years. The
direct affiliation with the Utah Mammoth. So you know, this
is an exciting, exciting place to be for sports and
(01:58):
for hockey, and I'm really excited to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to see what
this season has in store. Last season, if you remember,
they took Abbots for the defending champions to the brink
in the first round. Unfortunately lost that series two games
to one. But nonetheless, this has been a Tucson team
that has been scrappy three consecutive seasons in the Color
Cup playoffs. As for me, I grew up in the
suburbs of a small town called Chicago, David, I don't
(02:22):
know if you've ever heard of Chicago, Illinois. I grew
up a Blackhawks fan. Unfortunately, the last couple of years
have not been very nice to me. I grew up
a Bears fan, still not very nice to me. I
grew up a White Sox fan, still not very nice
to me, and everywhere in between. I found sanctuary in
Arizona Hockey and working covering the Coyotes for four years
(02:43):
and then ultimately stumbling into the role here with the Roadrunners.
I'm excited to get this season going. Not only is
it the tenth anniversary season here in Tucson. But there's
a lot of really fun anniversary seasons going on at
the big league level with all the original six teams
eclipsing that one hundred year mark, and David will kind
of look at it. Here, we're gonna rank our top
five center rices in the NHL this season. I'm gonna
(03:05):
go non biased. First overall, I'm going with the Utah Mammoth.
Personally big fan of the Mammoth logo. I think it's
it's a clean look. The light blue outline with the
black inline and the white and blue the white colors
is really pretty. Second, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out
a little bit on a limb here and I'm going
with the Seattle Crack And I don't know if you've
seen it. They introduced their third jerseys this season, a
(03:27):
glow in the dark variation of their normal jerseys. They
then went with that at cent Rice. It's really clean,
good look. The red eye pops out really pretty and
super nice. Third overall, i gotta go with the Ottawa Senators.
The throwback logo at center ice. It's big, it fills
the entire center circle. It's fun, to look at. One
of my favorite logos in hockey is that old one.
(03:48):
Fourth overall, sticking on that old logo train the Los
Angeles Kings with the old crown logo back from the
glory days of Wayne Gretzky and Luke Roba tie and
you know when they had really stacked teams that were
winning Cups left and right. I really liked that old
school crown logo on there. And then fifth overall, as
a Blackhawks fan, it should be the Blackhawks one hundred
(04:11):
year Center Ice. But I have to go with Detroit
reinstating the Hockey Town logo at Center Ice. I've been
begging for them to do this since they moved to
Little Caesars. They brought it back this year with the
wing doing really good job of filling the first zero
on that one hundred logo in the one also there
behind the word hockey Town. It just looks it brings
childhood memories David of a younger me watching hockey and
(04:37):
being enamored with the beauty in the speed of the game.
I really really love the way it looks this season. David,
give us your top five NHL Center rices for this year.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, so I have two things. First of all, a
couple of agreements. I think you nailed it on the Kings.
I mean that Crown is spectacular, and Detroit I think
is very aesthetically pleasing too. But I want to backtrack
just a little bit and then I'll give you my
top five. So I notice you had some disappointment undertones,
some disappointing undertones in your Chicago sports summary. Now I'm
(05:07):
a New York sports fan with the Jets and Nicks
and Rangers, and I was thinking to myself, geez, you
got two of the biggest markets, and a lot of times,
you know, we're kind of the envy of some of
the smaller cities. But when you think about it, Chicago's
had a lot of struggles with the Bears. New York
has had tons of struggles in their sports scene, and
we're supposed to be the teams with the larger budgets and,
(05:29):
like I said, the envy of the leagues, and that's
just not the case. And I think sometimes we still
have that target on our back, but I'm kind of
wondering why, because the wins certainly haven't been there for
our two cities, which I think is kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But anyway, I will give you my top five.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I love what the NHL is doing this year with
the Center Ice logos. Like I said, I'm lockstep with
you on La and Detroit, a couple you didn't mention
that I thought were really fantastic. First of all, Las Vegas. Now,
I know gold is not totally unique, with the Penguins
kind of have a similar look, but I just love
the shield that they have working the entire center circle
(06:05):
there is going to be filled with gold. I think
it's really going to pop on TV. And I think
they did a fantastic job.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Seattle.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I do like, but I don't have it in my
top five. Montreal it is kind of basic, but I
think it's fantastic, and I am partial to their logo,
to their colors. I think there's something about the Bell
Center in general that everything just feels very important. I
would say it's the mecha of the sport, and their
Center Ice logo this year certainly keeps them on that
(06:34):
kind of pedestal utah like you said, and maybe we
are a little bit biased being the affiliate, but the
Mammoth logo at Center Ice is really terrific, So that
would be that would be my top five. We have
a couple of agreements. The two that I'm bringing in
that are different would be Vegas and and Montreal.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Honorable mention Florida copying Las Vegas after they won the
Cup with the top of the Stanley Cup design. You
know what I mean when I say that, like, it
looks really good behind the panther shield. And then the
one we didn't mention that I was hoping you might
have brought up was the Knuck's logo. I really like that.
I don't know if it's a whale. I guess it's
a canuck would be the best way to describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, one, that's fantastic, one of my favorite logos.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They did a really job of kind of filling that
in it. It makes it, I don't know, it makes
it really pop. What I think is funny is you
didn't mention the Rangers. No.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I think the Rangers is very good, and all of
those original six teams have some sort of whether it's
one hundred or some denotion that they've been around for
a while. But I just think there are some better ones,
and the Rangers look at certainly iconic, and I don't
think they did a bad job, but I think there
are others that are that are really terrific. I was
wondering if you had a least favorite, because I do.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Are we in agreement that it's Philadelphia's.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We're not in agreement Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm not a fan, but I found one that filled
out is just kind of basic right to me.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Little flyer logo, it's just not doesn't click anymore.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
No, I don't like I don't like the way that
they situated it kind of it's horizontal there.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Mine is Winnipeg, and I just it's not working for me.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I recognize, you know, the fifteen years thing, but I
don't like the logo cut off by the center line.
It's just not working. I mainly it's the logo being
I don't like the split, but even the fifteen years,
let's be honest, You've got a couple other teams that
are posting one hundred years and you have fifteen there.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I just am not impressed.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
It's like the twenty five years for Minnesota in the
Blue Jackets, Like, I like what the Blue Jackets did,
the twenty five in the outline of the state of
Ohio with the Blue Jackets logo. That's a sharp looking
center ice if I've ever seen one, and that's coming
from a Michigan fan who can't stand much of what Ohio.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Does, especially Columbus Michigan and Ohio great.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Definitely up there on the list. I do want to
take a second to mention the Blackhawks centennial jerseys, though
very old style chief Blackhawk on the center of them.
There's a lot of really good looking commemorative stuff happening
this season, and we have not been given the clearance
to talk about this, so strike it from the record,
but rumor has it there's some new jerseys for the
(09:15):
Tucson Roadrunners brewing that's right. I've heard, I've heard similar,
I've heard I've heard the same. It's been. It's been
a lot of fun to see them, and they're very pretty.
Those come out obviously October second, but nonetheless very looking
forward to that. The Roadrunners have a good looking center
ice this year with the tenth anniversary badging being slapped down.
Some of the AHL teams also getting in on some
of that anniversary fund like the Springfield Thunderbirds, who I
(09:37):
don't know if you saw theirs, if you looked at theirs, well,
first of all, Grand Rapids. The thirty is a clean
look with the griffin in the middle of it with
the black under banners. Really pretty. But personally, the Springfield
Thunderbirds knocked this out of the park for me. The
solid navy blue in their circle with the gold ten
and then the words Springfield in gold with the blue
(10:00):
background than the word Thunderbirds and a gold outline with
a blue and field. It's a really pretty looking center ice,
if I do say so myself. I have to admit
Rochester seventieth anniversary ones also really pretty looking in the AHL.
So it's not just an NHL thing this season. We've
gotten a lot of really good looking center rices in general. David,
(10:21):
I'm curious to know top three all time NHL uniforms.
I've talked about NHL center ice is give me your
top three all time NHL uniforms.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, well, look, I think again, I'm tipping my hand here,
and I don't know if this is universally recognized, but
I have this very strange bias to Montreal. I think
that I like the colors, I like the uniform. It's
to me, it's a really good example of classic, simple
but really great. You think kind of like football reminds
(10:51):
me of the Packers, where there's nothing exceptional about it,
but it's iconic and there's no mistaking who they are.
And so Montreal for me is in my top three.
I'm not just saying this because we're on the same
show here and gonna be working together all season. But
the Chicago black Hawks have terrific uniforms. I think, you know,
the color combination really really works, the logo is terrific,
(11:14):
and they're just a sharp looking team every time they
take the ice. And then one more for me, and
this is not popular at all, and I recognize that,
but I'm a sucker for green, and I just happen
to you know. Sometimes I'd be watching, you say, the
Rangers on early and it's like, Okay, you know this
(11:34):
is over, but I want to watch a little bit
more hockey, and a team that would be on about
three hours later would be the Dallas Stars. And there
was just something about when they're playing at home, they've
got the green on green that it's attroactive to me
and I watch their game and usually they're putting on
a good performance. It's been a very good product down
in Dallas for quite a while. But there's something about
the green uniforms, James that that works for me. And
(11:56):
I've got in my top.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Three personally to know, are you a big fan of
the black and highlighter uniforms that they wore a couple
of years ago?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
See my problem with black and this is every sport
is too many teams are doing it. Everybody has a
black uniform now it seems like there's no nuance, there's
it's not genuine and so no, I'm not a fan.
I like it when teams stick to what they have
at least look within the logo and try to find
something and don't just say, oh, well we need a
black uniform, so here we go.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
That's fair. How about you personally in my top three,
not just because we're working on the same broadcast, The
Rangers in no particular order. The Rangers, the word Ranger
across the chest, that word mark I think is really sharp.
Number two cemented number two, I'm gonna have to go
with the red wings jersey. I like the I like
(12:45):
the winged we all like the way it looks. Red
is a bright color. It sticks out on ice. Personal
favorite in that one. And then my number one Oh goodness,
my number one. I'm between the Blue Jackets and in logos,
the cannon jersey and then also the King's new black
(13:06):
jerseys with that old badge on the front. Two of
my personal favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Now that's different because the Kings are black.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
So that's fine, right when I'm talking about a team
that has no history wearing black uniforms, it's not on
their logo, and they just pull it out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Right, kind of like ASU did against TCU this pass.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's a fair point.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Nonetheless, when we come back here on Runners Happy Hour,
myself and Kim Coda robla sit down with head coach
Steve Potvan. We talk about the postseason or last postseason.
We talk about the offseason, we talk about his expectations
for the upcoming season. We come back here on Welcome
Back to the Roadrunners Happy Hour. I'm James Mackie, She's Kimcodo,
Rob Lace and joining us on the podcast. Today's head
(13:44):
coach Steve Potvan. Steve, how is your summer? What did
you do? How'd you spend it? It was a great summer.
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
It was both resourceful, it was RESTful, and there was
a lot of reflection, And I think it's reallytant to
be able to have that reflection time, step away and
just analyze what you can do better as a person,
as a coach, and you know where we can really
make improvements as a team. So I honestly thought it
(14:12):
was a great summer from all standpoints. You got to
spend time with my family, but I you know, I
spend time trying to do what I could to improve
and make sure that I'm doing what I can to
give and offer our players, you know, the best chance
for success.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Do you ever fully step away from it, even in
the summertime, Do you ever just kind of unplug and
let go and just be Steve Potvin, not the coach?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Well, you know what, I don't know. I don't I
wouldn't say that I am the coach. I think it's
just something that you love doing, you know, and I
think you're It's the first thing you kind of think
about when you wake up, it's the last thing you
think about when you go to bed. You know, the
time in between you appreciate with your family so much,
but you know you're always trying to refine yourself, refine
(14:59):
you know, ways that we can you know, we can
improve our structure and how we deal with players, how
we communicate. So you know, all of those things, they're
not just for hockey. You know, you make improvements. They
can help with your family life and I think it
helps your kids. And you know, we talked a lot
about last year how we communicate with each other well,
(15:20):
dictate how well we perform under pressure. And you know,
I think that was one thing this this summer we
tried to do is just learn more about communication and
the art of persuasion and you know, how how can
we you know, create more buy in. Maybe it's through
visual data and you know, we just tried to find
(15:43):
little little edges where we can improve. But you know, communication,
I would say, is very helpful for anyone. So you know,
you can pass that down to your family and they
may they may be able to use it.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Okay, Well, speaking to a family, how is everybody? What's
everybody got going on right now? Where is Where in
the world is the apartment? Family?
Speaker 5 (16:06):
That is the that is the best question. We're always
we're never in the same place at the same time.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Boys in BC.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
My daughter's in volleyball, she's in California. My wife's trying
to you know, spread herself then between the two of
them and my son, my middle son. Now she's graduated
from Electrician school, I have to say with honors. Yes,
he's very proud of that. And yeah, so that's the family.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Wow, Holy smokes, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It's a lot.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
And you're living out of a suitcase right now.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Well, right now, we're living out of a suitcase. And
I think during the season, it's it's pretty much like that.
And there's an old saying. I think you guys are
probably well aware of it. You know, we interrupt this
marriage for the hockey season. It's fair and thankfully we've
we've got a lot of experience. It's been twenty seven years,
twenty six years, so I think where she's my wife,
(17:02):
Nada's you know, ready to interrupt the season with you know,
interrupt our marriage with the season where.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
This is completely not related. Well it is a little
bit related, but it was something I was thinking about
when I was coming here, because I was thinking about Nada.
When was the last time you took her out on
a date?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
And where y'all go, Oh, that's great.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Uh. So we went on our anniversary, we went to
how many years twenty seven years.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, so so she she knew she was signing up
for hockey interrupting the marriage. Oh yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh yeah, all right, that's hockey came before her.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I don't say that.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
I'm not saying it does now, I'm just saying it
did once.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
All right, that's fair exactly.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Uh okay, So twenty seven year anniversary date night, you
went to Olive and I oh in Scotts. Okay, Oh nice?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Well just once a year? Right?
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Yeah? Nice?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Did you save up save up enough for once a
year dinner? Wait?
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Did you actually eat a meal with like a million
calories and like indulge.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Or I don't think I went to a million, but
I went to half a million.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Oh okay, so I was proud.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
That's awesome.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Dedicated a pretty good portion of the summer trying to
stay fit, so it was a nice reward.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Where at the end of the summer, kind of walk
us through UTA's camp. You made a couple of media
appearances after coaching a couple of the preseason games. Walk
us through kind of what UTA's camp was like, and
there are any major changes you witnessed this year comparative
to last year.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Well, you know what, you go into camp, and of course,
once the puck drops and you play in rookie tournament,
you want to win. And when you actually step back,
we didn't get an opportunity to win. But when you
get to step back, you understand that it's a necessary
part of the process to evaluate exactly where we are
and what we need to make improvements. And so sometimes
(18:56):
it can be very misleading, you know, it could set
false expectations sometimes, and you know, I thought it was
very valuable that there's a lot of work to do
and in the areas that we're trying to refine are
very important, and then it just you know, creates a
little sense of urgency when you get to camp here.
So I thought that was a real valuable part of
(19:19):
our camp is being with the younger players, understanding exactly
where they're at and the type of work that's necessary
for them to be able to take the next step
and help us win a Stanley Cup at some point.
So you know, you're just really doing all that you
can to gather as much information and it was really
really so valuable. And the other part of being being
(19:44):
at camp with the NHL coaches is the fact that
you get to kind of learn from each other, and
especially when we're trying to mimic the exact same style
of play, you get to hear the insights and you
get to prepare the players that we're going to currently
have for an opportunity for a call up. So we
(20:06):
want to try to do what we can to use
the same language and obviously the same system. So to
be able to hear it and then apply it here
means a lot to the young players and to our team.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Was there anybody at camp from last year's roadrunning his
team or even the guys that you had coming into
this year that you kind of looked at and watched,
you know, play and practice. In those situations, you're like,
I think this guy's going to be really good for
us this season, or this guy took a step forward
in the off season.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
I really thought Zuber Max Max had a really good
summer and he put the time and you could see
that he was checking forward and he was doing a
lot of the things that we were asking him to do.
He really advanced his game during the summertime. You know,
it's it's amazing what happens when you get it. We
call it getting out of the wheel. You know, when
you're during the season, you're in this wheel and you
(20:54):
don't really have enough time to really reflect and make
the improvements. You're kind of trying to make the improvements
on the goal. So you have to really take advantage
of your summertime in the gym on the ice and
you're just you know, trying to find those little refinement
pieces to elevate your game. And I thought he did
that this summer.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
So going back to sorry, some of the younger guys
that you were talking about, I want to say, like
probably people across industries run into the issue of being
able to talk to different generations. Right we have some
really young guys on this team right now. How do
you bridge the gap from I'm going to out you
(21:35):
a little bit from gen X.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
We have birth here, so we can go back and forth.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Well, but it can be difficult like talking to you know,
talking to young kids and getting things to land and
speaking in their skibbity language is like how do you so,
how do you as a coach. I know you you
have very high emotional intelligence, but like ya, how do
you bridge that gap communicationally, especially to keep in line
(22:07):
with the top.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Lub I think it helps having kids of your own,
of that age group, so that does help. You know,
you can test a lot of what you're saying to
them and see how they respond to it. And you know,
I think that's a natural thing. You have to be
able to be aware of people's responses and players' responses.
I mean, you can't keep doing, you know, the same
(22:31):
thing over and over again and expect a different result.
Everybody knows you know that quote, but you know, I'm
a firm believer that you have to have the awareness
of how it's received. And you know, we ask a
lot of questions, and I think if you have the
intention of learning and trying to really understand what gets
(22:53):
the player going, then you're going to ask the right
questions and you're going to collect the right information.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And that's how we treat it.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And I think that's how we respond is based on
a lot of our experience and dealing with the younger players.
And then, you know what, I think there there is
coming a time now where I feel that the younger generation,
the clearer, the better, and the five second touches, you know,
(23:23):
the quick hits, you know, bumping into each other and
you know, giving that quick dialogue. They're they're used to
that now, that's that's what they want. They want the
information quickly. They want to direct and that makes them efficient.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Kim mentioned the skibbity language. So if you if you
allow me to borrow a term here, is there any
words you've been taught by some of the jen A guys,
I guess if you will that you you now know
the meaning of or some of the memes you're hip
with from TikToker. Yeah, I love Mattie Vallalta.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
I think we all do because he's he's got them,
you know, like feeling mossy and come on now, and
you're kind of like, well, when do you use come
on now? Does that mean like let's get going or
it's like come on now, let's have a great day.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
So I've learned over time to appreciate and understand his language.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
He definitely speaks a language all on his own, he does,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, kind of adds to that. Goalies are characters, vibe
you get a lot of the time, totally tends to happen.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yeah, Maddie, Maddie is definitely a beauty. But there is
a lot of depth in him, and he is a smart,
intellectual human that has a lot of self reflection and
he tries to do what he can to really make
the best of his day.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
You gotta love him for that. Is there anybody you
saw in today's camp that you're you really are are
kind of It's only day one of a nice right
Is there anybody you saw or anything you saw in
today's camp where you're kind of like, you know what
this is? This is something I feel like we could
build on, whether it be you know, the way Matika
uses his speed in his body size, or the way
he was battling with on Yabuci at times, Like is
(24:59):
there anything that you saw that where you're like, I'm
looking forward to seeing this. I really like the spirit
of our guys.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
You know, I don't know if it's just one player
or on one play, but I think that's the importance
and the value of being in front of NHL coaches
NHL players. You're constantly in the heat of the moment
and you're observing and you you really build on the
awareness of what it takes to play at the next level.
(25:27):
When you're in the NHL camp, it is fast, there's urgency,
and you can see that everybody's trying to pick up
the dialogue, pick up the drill. They want to make
sure that they're on point. And so I really like
the spirit of our practice today and seeing guys want
to be on point. And it's day one, but I
love that they're wanting to fight for positions and they're
(25:49):
trying to do what they can to be a pro
hockey player. And it's great when the spirit is high
like that. The spirit isn't high, then you're you know,
you've got a lot of work to do. And so
day one, I really appreciated their attention to detail and
their their capacity to want to go hard.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I was curious, Steve, so.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Some of the changes that we saw happen over the
summer were Travis Barron and Hunter Drew going to the
different teams, and those are two kind of not enforcers,
but they definitely could step into that role if they
need to. But also high scorers, guys who got the
team going, who are you looking to this season to
(26:32):
kind of fill that if there is a gap there
to fill that gap?
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Again, that's going
to have to come from the collective. You know, we
we're going to have to play within one every team,
every year, every season, try to do what they can
to form a team and play us one. But it's
going to be a major emphasis that there is nobody
there to bail you out. You're the person that's that
we're relying on. So, you know, the one thing about leadership,
(27:00):
you have to be able to take care of yourself first.
And if everybody takes care of their their little entity,
they're a little spot on the ice. There there are
moments on the ice, they're five feet around them. We're
gonna be fine, and we're gonna have to do it collectively.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Obviously, new facilities out in you saw the new practice
building and everything. What is it like to be back
at home? Right, Let's let's let's look at it that way.
You're here, you're back into so on your back on
your home ice. I'm sure it was a lot of
fun to be there. But what is it like to
be back at the TCC somewhere where you're comfortable and
can kind of you know, you get your coach's room
back and you know, maybe if there's a couch in
(27:39):
there somewhere where you're lounging around. What's it like to
be back home?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
You know, well, it's fantastic to be home, because the
entire time you're there, you know you're there for one
reason is to collect, trying to collect as much as
you can. And then you get to a point where
you've collected a lot and now you want to be
able to execute a plan, and that that makes really
fun to get back. And then when you when you
(28:03):
come back to this type of environment, you're like, this
is this is an environment of work and our process.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I'm very proud of our program.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
We've got extra ice touches, we've got extra skills coaches,
we've got guys that are are very passionate about not
guys I would say, we have a staff that is
very passionate about growth. And they did the same thing
as we did as coaches. They went and spent their
summer trying to refine their game and add to the
(28:33):
program so they can benefit the players. And so coming
home now we're able to try to execute our plan
and try to execute what we've learned, and we're so
looking forward to that.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
So you just had a birthday about a month ago.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Oh jeez, you're killing.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
We're here for.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
So you're a Libra. And I don't know if you
know this, but this, when I was writing down the
characteristics of a Libra, I was like, oh, this, this
is you one thousand percent.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Have you ever heard this?
Speaker 6 (29:09):
That you have a desire for balance, charm and ability
to compromise and you focus on creativity and harmony.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Ah.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Man, that sounds like a person I want to be.
I'm not sure I'm quite that person.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I think there's there's places in my life where I
I like balance, but I you know, and I look
at my routines and what I value.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I don't know if I'm I don't. I don't have
much balance there, you know.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
I think I there's certain ways and certain things I
really believe in, and I think that's the line I
like to walk.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And I think it might have to do with having
a uh what's the my My father is born in May, Okay.
So he's uh, I don't know, you don't know.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
In front of me, Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
So he's very stubborn, very stubborn, very there's no gray.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
So I've kind of grown up with that, you know
in my Oh yeah, with the little wind in my back,
I would say, so, I think he eliminated and helped
me eliminate a lot of gray.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
Okay, interesting that you carry that with you and that
you don't see yourself in this way because one of
my questions also was going to be if you weren't
doing this, what job do you think that you would
be doing? And I already have an answer for I
have to, I have to. You'll have to let me know.
Number one, I could see you being a diplomat.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Okay, you said that when he was on his way
up here.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Yeah, he's so, so incredibly diplomatic. But I can also
see you being like a therapist, psychologist, somebody who listens
to people and like like helps you know, helps them
find their way.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
My wife would love for me to listen.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
I'm sure rewife in time Adam Fandem like would love
for a husband to listen more.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
But you know, I think that you have to.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
From a coaching standpoint, I think it's hard to find
reason with the player if they're emotional, because when they're emotional,
they won't respond to reason. So I think that's maybe
the diplomatic part, where you have to have some empathy
for a for you to be able to get your
(31:29):
point across, but you can't mix emotion with logic. And
so maybe that's, you know, part of our communication tactic,
which probably gets to the part where you're a little
bit more diplomatic or you know, psychiatrist type. But you know,
we're again just trying to do what we can to
understand the player so that we can put them in
(31:49):
the best position. And we do find in today's environment,
everybody wants to be told the truth. You know, if
you asked somebody, hey, how would you like somebody to
tell you what you need to do? You would say, yes,
I want them to be very honest with me. But
then when you deliver the information, you're always kind of
(32:12):
sensitive about their emotions or their their feelings. So I
think today's world people want the information to be direct,
and I don't think it needs to be harsh, but
it needs to be clear and it needs to be truthful.
So I think we're trying to follow that model a
little bit more. And you know, listen, today everybody gets
(32:37):
information so quickly, we have to be able to be
efficient with it, and so I think that's where we're
going to be able to kind of meet in the
middle balance that you used before, where we're going to
get more out of the guys being more truthful, a
little bit clear, and more direct.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
At any point this season you find yourself asking a
guy how that made them feel. Just remember it came
go to roblaz Is, the one who said you would
be a psychiatrist. That's right.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Well, I hate to say it, but that's part of coaching, right,
Like you have to learn how to speak with the players,
communicate with them. You got to learn what what's going
to motivate them, and you know, we do what we can.
We have a program out there that we learn their
personality so that we can best communicate with them.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
So it's it is part of our process.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Wait, so what's your answer.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
What's my answer of what I would be? I don't know.
I can't. I always thought I could be part of
the military or part of the army, you know the army. Yeah,
definitely a Navy person.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Yeah, I think discipline and you know, trying to Yeah,
working with others, being part of a team.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
That's a good answer. I hate to reopen a wound.
The end of last season, you take Abbotsford to the
brink in the first round, right three games, really good
team in Abbotsford. You're here, now, what are some things
you're hoping to pull from that series against Abbitsford, your
three plus consecutive postseason berths. What are you hoping to
(34:21):
pull from that and try and build a deeper run
this season. That's that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
I thought that they were able to elevate their game,
you know, and so we want to in the first
couple of weeks here. We want to establish a foundation
and where the ground is right, but there has to
be more from that foundation. You have to be able
to elevate your game, and we were able to do
that in Game two and we couldn't find that next
(34:50):
level in Game three. So you know, when when our
guys are in the middle part of the year, we
have to find that we have to narrow the storming
phase and then really start to find another level in
our game. So I think the quicker we can bond
as a team early, get over the storming phase because
(35:11):
it happens in every season, quicker than we did in
the past, to start elevating our game, so that that
becomes our new foundation.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
I talked to our PR guy Chase about this before
ninetieth year, the AHL two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
the City of Tucson, tant anniversary of the Tucson Roadrunners,
and your fifth year head coaching here. How does that
make this year more special for you? And what do
you what do you kind of get a take from
this year in regards to those anniversaris.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Well, I hope that kind of you know, maybe it's
a it's one of those special years that we're able
to get past the first round, but I honestly, it
just every year just offers that that excitement again because
every year you're with new players, and every year the
year that passed, you've learned so much and you can
not wait to get back into the grind and then
(36:03):
to be able to do it in front of the
people that you've been with for the last ten years.
I've been the head coach for five, but I was here,
you know, from the start, and so to kind of
go through that will not kind of to go through
that experience with the fans and with you guys and
understanding the history of it, it's definitely special. It means
a lot. I mean, this is what you know, you
(36:26):
hate to bring your family into it, but they go
through the sacrifice of being away from you for ten years,
and of course it means a lot when you're able
to sit here when you're sacrificing time went away from
your family and your kids, et cetera. So yeah, it's
it's another special year that you a get to do
this and be you get to do with the people
that you've started it with.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
I have one more question. Do we have time for one?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, you've got plenty of.
Speaker 6 (36:50):
You do have a very silky smooth radio voice.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Stee, we're not getting I am not singing.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
There's no chance I am singing.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
I saying, but I was going to ask you to
do your best. Please welcome to the ice. Your Tucson
road Runner.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Is welcome to the ice.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Your twoson road Runners. That was amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I would be worried for your job.
Speaker 6 (37:16):
Yeah, that was I'm glad that you're busy when I'm working.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
I have no formal training. I just gotta said.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
That was very natural, even it didn't even really try.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Just now I know what you did this.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Don't lie to the people. We set up here for
twenty minutes before we started recording. I do that. You're right,
you know that coach, Bob Van. I appreciate your time.
It was nice to meet you for the first time.
Hopefully I didn't taint your image of me by asking
you about the playoffs from last season. Not at all.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
It's not a wound at this point where we learned
and we're trying to find the next level in our game,
so I no no worries at all.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Appreciate it so much. One is great meeting you as well.
Back for the normal Tuesday night activities here on Roadrunners
Happy Hour, James alongside my color commentator for the season,
David Meridian. David, let's take a second to talk about
a pot Van. His third season at the helm of
this Roadrunners team. Fifth season. I'm sorry, third consecutive year
they've had a postseason birth. He kind of really beautifully
(38:13):
sets the stage for what he's looking forward to a
lot of fun up at the Big Camp. I will say.
I talked to Miko Matik on Sunday and I asked him,
I said, Miko, what was your favorite part about Big Camp?
And he said, just getting to play hockey again. He
said he had one goal and one assist with Utah.
He's looking forward to quote scoring goals was what he
(38:34):
told me when I asked him what he was most
looking forward to this season with the Roadrunners. So I
guess you could say there's a lot of excited hockey
coming our way here in the desert when things get
kicked off and started on October the eighteenth against Calgary.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Yeah, So what I've been hearing, and it's a lot
of good things, is energy, I think is going to
be there. There's going to be energy, enthusiasm, passion, effort,
all that. I think that that's been a constant on
a coach Povin and you know that you need that there,
there's no question about that. But there's always that kind
of striking a balance between energy, too much energy, harnessing that.
(39:09):
So the road Runners, James, they were one of the
more penalized teams last year, over one thousand minutes, one
thousand and seventy five minutes in the penalty box, three
players over one hundred penalty minutes. So, yes, we have
all this pent up energy. Guys are excited to go
out there and play hockey, but it's going to be
important to allocate all of that energy and resources in
the right way, right do we don't want to be
(39:31):
kind of sloppy or you know, doing things that are
going to put you behind the eight ball, so to speak.
So definitely want that passion for the game, be excited
to go out there and play, but harness it in
the right way.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to see how
these teams pick up from how this team picks up
from where they were last year. We know already one
big bring back is Montagne and Yabuci. I'm looking forward
to watching him play really big body guy that they use.
Curtis Douglas rumor has it might be coming back to
us again this year. So it's going be very fun
to see what this year is gonna bring. Uh. And
(40:06):
really the fan base that we had Sunday at at
the the fan fest was just tremendous. I mean there
was not a minute that the ice was not full
of people skating from two o'clock till four o'clock when
we stopped. Uh. The Raffle turnouts were huge, The garage
Shale turnout was huge. It was just cool to see
(40:26):
how many people were in the building for that and
how many people are excited for Roadrunners Hockey David, This
this team really brings this town of Tucson together, and
I hate to admit it, I really love to see
Tucson banned around something as beautiful as hockey. Being from
the Valley of the Sun. Of course I have some
I leaned towards ASU a little bit, but you as
(40:48):
campus is beautiful. Tucson's a beautiful town, and they banned
very well around this, this Roadrunners team. It's I'm excited
to do it, David. You and I have talked a
lot about it, and uh, it really hit us Sunday.
But now the ball has started and were in motion.
I hope you're as ready for it as I am.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah, I am ready, and you're absolutely correct about this community.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
They know what they have.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
They have a high level hockey program here in the AHL,
a direct affiliate with an NHL team, and they also
have a university that brings respectable programs across the board football, basketball, baseball,
even those other sports that aren't as popular. And when
it comes to supporting those two different teams, you have
the road Runners obviously hockey in a minor league capacity
and you of a Division one. This city they support
(41:31):
these teams. They have terrific fan bases. They're very passionate
about sports, and I think the players really appreciate the
support that they get from Tucson, whether it be the
college athletes or even the guys that we were talking
to yesterday. They see the engagement, like you said, at FanFest,
constantly with solid attendance in the Tucson arena, and it's
(41:53):
really exciting to be a part of that environment that's
so passionate about sports and recognizes what they have here.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
And we're excited to get things rolling. Let's take a
second now to look forward as to what's coming up.
October fourth, David and I take you through preseason opening
action between the two Son Roadrunners and the Henderson silver
Knights from Henderson, Nevada. That at six pm here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifteen in the iHeart Radio app and
then Sunday to fifth, it's a two o'clock start between
(42:20):
those two teams as well. That'll be a lot of
fun preseason hockey. We back training camp starts here relatively soon.
We're looking forward to that, and then don't miss it
the home opener October eighteenth at Versus Calgary at seven pm.
We have a tailgate kicking off at four pm. Red
carpet at four thirty, But before that, October the sixteenth,
it's a faceoff gala. Free for Dusty's Force members, fifty
(42:42):
dollars for season ticket holders and sixty dollars for general mission.
The team's going to be there. We're going to be there,
the players are going to be there. It's gonna be
a lot of fun to have that. It's gonna be
another environment where we get to really see how fans
interact with the team, and the excitement team introduction and
player introductions with fans, so everybody knows who they're looking
for this year. We're gonna get to see those beautiful
(43:04):
new jerseys in person on the ice before that, obviously,
but when you get to really sit there and look
at him in person on the guys wearing them at
the gala, that'll be a lot of fun. Be sure
to visit Tucson Roadrunners dot com for information on those
events coming up. Come out to the TCC and join
us for opening night. David, we were there yesterday again Sunday,
I mean and again. Beautiful arena. Can you imagine that
(43:27):
place pack to the gills. The goal is to sell
it out. We pack that place full of Roadrunners fans
and it is going to be electrifying.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Yeah, there's nothing like it, James, and I'm sure you'll
appreciate this when you have an arena that's full. And
not only that, but you hear the anticipation, the ooz,
the ohs every time there's a big hit or you
see somebody you know kind of streak across the center
that's about to be somebody that gets laid up and
the whole crowd kind of goes quiet. There's a gasp
and then a roar once it happens, or the same
(43:58):
with a developing play, maybe it's a breakaway on one.
You have that slow build up and then you know
the encapsulation. So you can only have that when the
arena is full. And that's one of the beautiful things
about hockey is you always can hear it. I know
from a few times I've been to Madison Square Garden
for Rangers games. It just has that unique sound where
everybody is watching, they're paying attention, and in Unison it's
(44:21):
almost like a chorus or a musical with the background.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
You just have it.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
It's the third element of the game is the crowd
reaction and so much accentuated when it's packed.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to really see
this community in action. I mean again, it's one thing
when you watch it on AHL TV and when you're
listening on the radio. It's another to be in person
at the arena. That is October the eighteenth, seven pm
puck drop between Calgary and Tucson. Again. The tailgate starts
at four pm, with the red carpet at four thirty
(44:55):
as the players walk into the game. If you can't
join us in person, be sure to tune in on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty the Heart Radio app in hl
TV by Flow Hockey. This season the second year Flow
is going to be in charge of the HLTV and
we had a lot of fun with it last year,
a lot of really good broadcasts happening there. So super
excited to get it rolling and see where we kind
(45:16):
of build the culture in the broadcast booth together. David,
I have to admit we may not see eye to
eye because I believe you're about an inch taller than
I am, but I can guarantee you there will either
be a milk rate or something for me to stand
on in the broadcast booth when we're shoulders shoulder.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
I don't know if you saw the NFL broadcasting team
of Iron Eagle and JJ Watt. Luckily, we're not working
with any kind of discrepancy like that where I think
JJ Watt is at least a full foot taller than
Iron Eagle, so we're not, you know, we're only dealing
with maybe an inch difference. That's a foot, so I
think we'll be able to overcome that.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
I think we should be able to as well. I
have to admit Iron Eagles standing next to JJ Watt hilarious. Yeah,
that was probably one of the funniest moments of the
NFL season. Nonetheless, that's enough about us. We appreciate you
for taking the time out of your Tuesday evening to
sit here with us. For our producer Michael Goodrich, Kim
Coda Roblace, and my play by play partner David Moridi,
(46:13):
and I'm James Mackie. We say so long, Thank you
very much,
It's five o'clock on your Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is Tucson Roadrunners Happy Hour from Fox Sports fourteen
fifty A yea with James Mackey, David Brady, and then
Kim Connor Roadblas. It's our usual Tuesday night can get
together right here on Tucson Sports stick shat Fox Sports
fourteen fifty A yea.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello and welcome to our Tuesday night get together. It's
the Roadrunners Happy Hour. I'm James Mackie, He's David Meridian.
We'll be bringing you everything for the tant anniversary and
the Old Pueblo here on Tucson Roadrunners Hockey Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. David, let's talk a little bit about it.
The off seasons over were shortly removed from the start
of the preseason, and then we get the wheels kick in.
(00:43):
It starts heavy. We talked about it on Sunday. We're
excited for what this season has to bring us. But
first let's introduce ourselves a little bit. David, tell the
people at home a little bit about yourself, where you are,
where you're from, and what you like to watch when
it comes to hockey.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, no, James, I'm looking forward to the season. I
think we're gonna be a good pair together and it'll
be a lot of fun. So I am from the northeast.
I come from the Hudson Valley area of New York State.
My dad and I grew up going to RBI hockey games.
For some of our real big hockey fans, if they're
paying attention to some prospects, they'll be familiar with the
ECAC League.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
In college.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
I think we have a couple players from Quinnipiac who's
had a very good program. But hockey has been a
big part of my life, certainly in my childhood. Grew
up a big Rangers fan. And then since i've been here,
I've been fortunate to be the director of sports at
Camps Student Radio with the University of Arizona. So I've
kind of transitioned from the Northeast scene to some of
(01:37):
the southwestern teams down here. But this is a great
sportstown Tucson. They have a terrific passion for the U
of A, but also for the Tucson Roadrunners. Usually thousands
of people attending each game, and you can see why.
I mean, they've been here now for ten years. The
direct affiliation with the Utah Mammoth. So you know, this
is an exciting, exciting place to be for sports and
(01:58):
for hockey, and I'm really excited to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to see what
this season has in store. Last season, if you remember,
they took Abbots for the defending champions to the brink
in the first round. Unfortunately lost that series two games
to one. But nonetheless, this has been a Tucson team
that has been scrappy three consecutive seasons in the Color
Cup playoffs. As for me, I grew up in the
suburbs of a small town called Chicago, David, I don't
(02:22):
know if you've ever heard of Chicago, Illinois. I grew
up a Blackhawks fan. Unfortunately, the last couple of years
have not been very nice to me. I grew up
a Bears fan, still not very nice to me. I
grew up a White Sox fan, still not very nice
to me, and everywhere in between. I found sanctuary in
Arizona Hockey and working covering the Coyotes for four years
(02:43):
and then ultimately stumbling into the role here with the Roadrunners.
I'm excited to get this season going. Not only is
it the tenth anniversary season here in Tucson. But there's
a lot of really fun anniversary seasons going on at
the big league level with all the original six teams
eclipsing that one hundred year mark, and David will kind
of look at it. Here, we're gonna rank our top
five center rices in the NHL this season. I'm gonna
(03:05):
go non biased. First overall, I'm going with the Utah Mammoth.
Personally big fan of the Mammoth logo. I think it's
it's a clean look. The light blue outline with the
black inline and the white and blue the white colors
is really pretty. Second, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out
a little bit on a limb here and I'm going
with the Seattle Crack And I don't know if you've
seen it. They introduced their third jerseys this season, a
(03:27):
glow in the dark variation of their normal jerseys. They
then went with that at cent Rice. It's really clean,
good look. The red eye pops out really pretty and
super nice. Third overall, i gotta go with the Ottawa Senators.
The throwback logo at center ice. It's big, it fills
the entire center circle. It's fun, to look at. One
of my favorite logos in hockey is that old one.
(03:48):
Fourth overall, sticking on that old logo train the Los
Angeles Kings with the old crown logo back from the
glory days of Wayne Gretzky and Luke Roba tie and
you know when they had really stacked teams that were
winning Cups left and right. I really liked that old
school crown logo on there. And then fifth overall, as
a Blackhawks fan, it should be the Blackhawks one hundred
(04:11):
year Center Ice. But I have to go with Detroit
reinstating the Hockey Town logo at Center Ice. I've been
begging for them to do this since they moved to
Little Caesars. They brought it back this year with the
wing doing really good job of filling the first zero
on that one hundred logo in the one also there
behind the word hockey Town. It just looks it brings
childhood memories David of a younger me watching hockey and
(04:37):
being enamored with the beauty in the speed of the game.
I really really love the way it looks this season. David,
give us your top five NHL Center rices for this year.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, so I have two things. First of all, a
couple of agreements. I think you nailed it on the Kings.
I mean that Crown is spectacular, and Detroit I think
is very aesthetically pleasing too. But I want to backtrack
just a little bit and then I'll give you my
top five. So I notice you had some disappointment undertones,
some disappointing undertones in your Chicago sports summary. Now I'm
(05:07):
a New York sports fan with the Jets and Nicks
and Rangers, and I was thinking to myself, geez, you
got two of the biggest markets, and a lot of times,
you know, we're kind of the envy of some of
the smaller cities. But when you think about it, Chicago's
had a lot of struggles with the Bears. New York
has had tons of struggles in their sports scene, and
we're supposed to be the teams with the larger budgets and,
(05:29):
like I said, the envy of the leagues, and that's
just not the case. And I think sometimes we still
have that target on our back, but I'm kind of
wondering why, because the wins certainly haven't been there for
our two cities, which I think is kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
But anyway, I will give you my top five.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
I love what the NHL is doing this year with
the Center Ice logos. Like I said, I'm lockstep with
you on La and Detroit, a couple you didn't mention
that I thought were really fantastic. First of all, Las Vegas. Now,
I know gold is not totally unique, with the Penguins
kind of have a similar look, but I just love
the shield that they have working the entire center circle
(06:05):
there is going to be filled with gold. I think
it's really going to pop on TV. And I think
they did a fantastic job.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Seattle.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I do like, but I don't have it in my
top five. Montreal it is kind of basic, but I
think it's fantastic, and I am partial to their logo,
to their colors. I think there's something about the Bell
Center in general that everything just feels very important. I
would say it's the mecha of the sport, and their
Center Ice logo this year certainly keeps them on that
(06:34):
kind of pedestal utah like you said, and maybe we
are a little bit biased being the affiliate, but the
Mammoth logo at Center Ice is really terrific, So that
would be that would be my top five. We have
a couple of agreements. The two that I'm bringing in
that are different would be Vegas and and Montreal.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Honorable mention Florida copying Las Vegas after they won the
Cup with the top of the Stanley Cup design. You
know what I mean when I say that, like, it
looks really good behind the panther shield. And then the
one we didn't mention that I was hoping you might
have brought up was the Knuck's logo. I really like that.
I don't know if it's a whale. I guess it's
a canuck would be the best way to describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, one, that's fantastic, one of my favorite logos.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They did a really job of kind of filling that
in it. It makes it, I don't know, it makes
it really pop. What I think is funny is you
didn't mention the Rangers. No.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I think the Rangers is very good, and all of
those original six teams have some sort of whether it's
one hundred or some denotion that they've been around for
a while. But I just think there are some better ones,
and the Rangers look at certainly iconic, and I don't
think they did a bad job, but I think there
are others that are that are really terrific. I was
wondering if you had a least favorite, because I do.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Are we in agreement that it's Philadelphia's.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
We're not in agreement Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm not a fan, but I found one that filled
out is just kind of basic right to me.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Little flyer logo, it's just not doesn't click anymore.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
No, I don't like I don't like the way that
they situated it kind of it's horizontal there.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Mine is Winnipeg, and I just it's not working for me.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
I recognize, you know, the fifteen years thing, but I
don't like the logo cut off by the center line.
It's just not working. I mainly it's the logo being
I don't like the split, but even the fifteen years,
let's be honest, You've got a couple other teams that
are posting one hundred years and you have fifteen there.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I just am not impressed.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
It's like the twenty five years for Minnesota in the
Blue Jackets, Like, I like what the Blue Jackets did,
the twenty five in the outline of the state of
Ohio with the Blue Jackets logo. That's a sharp looking
center ice if I've ever seen one, and that's coming
from a Michigan fan who can't stand much of what Ohio.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Does, especially Columbus Michigan and Ohio great.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Definitely up there on the list. I do want to
take a second to mention the Blackhawks centennial jerseys, though
very old style chief Blackhawk on the center of them.
There's a lot of really good looking commemorative stuff happening
this season, and we have not been given the clearance
to talk about this, so strike it from the record,
but rumor has it there's some new jerseys for the
(09:15):
Tucson Roadrunners brewing that's right. I've heard, I've heard similar,
I've heard I've heard the same. It's been. It's been
a lot of fun to see them, and they're very pretty.
Those come out obviously October second, but nonetheless very looking
forward to that. The Roadrunners have a good looking center
ice this year with the tenth anniversary badging being slapped down.
Some of the AHL teams also getting in on some
of that anniversary fund like the Springfield Thunderbirds, who I
(09:37):
don't know if you saw theirs, if you looked at theirs, well,
first of all, Grand Rapids. The thirty is a clean
look with the griffin in the middle of it with
the black under banners. Really pretty. But personally, the Springfield
Thunderbirds knocked this out of the park for me. The
solid navy blue in their circle with the gold ten
and then the words Springfield in gold with the blue
(10:00):
background than the word Thunderbirds and a gold outline with
a blue and field. It's a really pretty looking center ice,
if I do say so myself. I have to admit
Rochester seventieth anniversary ones also really pretty looking in the AHL.
So it's not just an NHL thing this season. We've
gotten a lot of really good looking center rices in general. David,
(10:21):
I'm curious to know top three all time NHL uniforms.
I've talked about NHL center ice is give me your
top three all time NHL uniforms.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, well, look, I think again, I'm tipping my hand here,
and I don't know if this is universally recognized, but
I have this very strange bias to Montreal. I think
that I like the colors, I like the uniform. It's
to me, it's a really good example of classic, simple
but really great. You think kind of like football reminds
(10:51):
me of the Packers, where there's nothing exceptional about it,
but it's iconic and there's no mistaking who they are.
And so Montreal for me is in my top three.
I'm not just saying this because we're on the same
show here and gonna be working together all season. But
the Chicago black Hawks have terrific uniforms. I think, you know,
the color combination really really works, the logo is terrific,
(11:14):
and they're just a sharp looking team every time they
take the ice. And then one more for me, and
this is not popular at all, and I recognize that,
but I'm a sucker for green, and I just happen
to you know. Sometimes I'd be watching, you say, the
Rangers on early and it's like, Okay, you know this
(11:34):
is over, but I want to watch a little bit
more hockey, and a team that would be on about
three hours later would be the Dallas Stars. And there
was just something about when they're playing at home, they've
got the green on green that it's attroactive to me
and I watch their game and usually they're putting on
a good performance. It's been a very good product down
in Dallas for quite a while. But there's something about
the green uniforms, James that that works for me. And
(11:56):
I've got in my top.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Three personally to know, are you a big fan of
the black and highlighter uniforms that they wore a couple
of years ago?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
See my problem with black and this is every sport
is too many teams are doing it. Everybody has a
black uniform now it seems like there's no nuance, there's
it's not genuine and so no, I'm not a fan.
I like it when teams stick to what they have
at least look within the logo and try to find
something and don't just say, oh, well we need a
black uniform, so here we go.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
That's fair. How about you personally in my top three,
not just because we're working on the same broadcast, The
Rangers in no particular order. The Rangers, the word Ranger
across the chest, that word mark I think is really sharp.
Number two cemented number two, I'm gonna have to go
with the red wings jersey. I like the I like
(12:45):
the winged we all like the way it looks. Red
is a bright color. It sticks out on ice. Personal
favorite in that one. And then my number one Oh goodness,
my number one. I'm between the Blue Jackets and in logos,
the cannon jersey and then also the King's new black
(13:06):
jerseys with that old badge on the front. Two of
my personal favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Now that's different because the Kings are black.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
So that's fine, right when I'm talking about a team
that has no history wearing black uniforms, it's not on
their logo, and they just pull it out of the sky.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Right, kind of like ASU did against TCU this pass.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's a fair point.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Nonetheless, when we come back here on Runners Happy Hour,
myself and Kim Coda robla sit down with head coach
Steve Potvan. We talk about the postseason or last postseason.
We talk about the offseason, we talk about his expectations
for the upcoming season. We come back here on Welcome
Back to the Roadrunners Happy Hour. I'm James Mackie, She's Kimcodo,
Rob Lace and joining us on the podcast. Today's head
(13:44):
coach Steve Potvan. Steve, how is your summer? What did
you do? How'd you spend it? It was a great summer.
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
It was both resourceful, it was RESTful, and there was
a lot of reflection, And I think it's reallytant to
be able to have that reflection time, step away and
just analyze what you can do better as a person,
as a coach, and you know where we can really
make improvements as a team. So I honestly thought it
(14:12):
was a great summer from all standpoints. You got to
spend time with my family, but I you know, I
spend time trying to do what I could to improve
and make sure that I'm doing what I can to
give and offer our players, you know, the best chance
for success.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Do you ever fully step away from it, even in
the summertime, Do you ever just kind of unplug and
let go and just be Steve Potvin, not the coach?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Well, you know what, I don't know. I don't I
wouldn't say that I am the coach. I think it's
just something that you love doing, you know, and I
think you're It's the first thing you kind of think
about when you wake up, it's the last thing you
think about when you go to bed. You know, the
time in between you appreciate with your family so much,
but you know you're always trying to refine yourself, refine
(14:59):
you know, ways that we can you know, we can
improve our structure and how we deal with players, how
we communicate. So you know, all of those things, they're
not just for hockey. You know, you make improvements. They
can help with your family life and I think it
helps your kids. And you know, we talked a lot
about last year how we communicate with each other well,
(15:20):
dictate how well we perform under pressure. And you know,
I think that was one thing this this summer we
tried to do is just learn more about communication and
the art of persuasion and you know, how how can
we you know, create more buy in. Maybe it's through
visual data and you know, we just tried to find
(15:43):
little little edges where we can improve. But you know, communication,
I would say, is very helpful for anyone. So you know,
you can pass that down to your family and they
may they may be able to use it.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Okay, Well, speaking to a family, how is everybody? What's
everybody got going on right now? Where is Where in
the world is the apartment? Family?
Speaker 5 (16:06):
That is the that is the best question. We're always
we're never in the same place at the same time.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Boys in BC.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
My daughter's in volleyball, she's in California. My wife's trying
to you know, spread herself then between the two of
them and my son, my middle son. Now she's graduated
from Electrician school, I have to say with honors. Yes,
he's very proud of that. And yeah, so that's the family.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Wow, Holy smokes, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It's a lot.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
And you're living out of a suitcase right now.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Well, right now, we're living out of a suitcase. And
I think during the season, it's it's pretty much like that.
And there's an old saying. I think you guys are
probably well aware of it. You know, we interrupt this
marriage for the hockey season. It's fair and thankfully we've
we've got a lot of experience. It's been twenty seven years,
twenty six years, so I think where she's my wife,
(17:02):
Nada's you know, ready to interrupt the season with you know,
interrupt our marriage with the season where.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
This is completely not related. Well it is a little
bit related, but it was something I was thinking about
when I was coming here, because I was thinking about Nada.
When was the last time you took her out on
a date?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
And where y'all go, Oh, that's great.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Uh. So we went on our anniversary, we went to
how many years twenty seven years.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, so so she she knew she was signing up
for hockey interrupting the marriage. Oh yeah, okay, all right.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Oh yeah, all right, that's hockey came before her.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I don't say that.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
I'm not saying it does now, I'm just saying it
did once.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
All right, that's fair exactly.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Uh okay, So twenty seven year anniversary date night, you
went to Olive and I oh in Scotts. Okay, Oh nice?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Well just once a year? Right?
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Yeah? Nice?
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Did you save up save up enough for once a
year dinner? Wait?
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Did you actually eat a meal with like a million
calories and like indulge.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Or I don't think I went to a million, but
I went to half a million.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Oh okay, so I was proud.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
That's awesome.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Dedicated a pretty good portion of the summer trying to
stay fit, so it was a nice reward.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Where at the end of the summer, kind of walk
us through UTA's camp. You made a couple of media
appearances after coaching a couple of the preseason games. Walk
us through kind of what UTA's camp was like, and
there are any major changes you witnessed this year comparative
to last year.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Well, you know what, you go into camp, and of course,
once the puck drops and you play in rookie tournament,
you want to win. And when you actually step back,
we didn't get an opportunity to win. But when you
get to step back, you understand that it's a necessary
part of the process to evaluate exactly where we are
and what we need to make improvements. And so sometimes
(18:56):
it can be very misleading, you know, it could set
false expectations sometimes, and you know, I thought it was
very valuable that there's a lot of work to do
and in the areas that we're trying to refine are
very important, and then it just you know, creates a
little sense of urgency when you get to camp here.
So I thought that was a real valuable part of
(19:19):
our camp is being with the younger players, understanding exactly
where they're at and the type of work that's necessary
for them to be able to take the next step
and help us win a Stanley Cup at some point.
So you know, you're just really doing all that you
can to gather as much information and it was really
really so valuable. And the other part of being being
(19:44):
at camp with the NHL coaches is the fact that
you get to kind of learn from each other, and
especially when we're trying to mimic the exact same style
of play, you get to hear the insights and you
get to prepare the players that we're going to currently
have for an opportunity for a call up. So we
(20:06):
want to try to do what we can to use
the same language and obviously the same system. So to
be able to hear it and then apply it here
means a lot to the young players and to our team.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Was there anybody at camp from last year's roadrunning his
team or even the guys that you had coming into
this year that you kind of looked at and watched,
you know, play and practice. In those situations, you're like,
I think this guy's going to be really good for
us this season, or this guy took a step forward
in the off season.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
I really thought Zuber Max Max had a really good
summer and he put the time and you could see
that he was checking forward and he was doing a
lot of the things that we were asking him to do.
He really advanced his game during the summertime. You know,
it's it's amazing what happens when you get it. We
call it getting out of the wheel. You know, when
you're during the season, you're in this wheel and you
(20:54):
don't really have enough time to really reflect and make
the improvements. You're kind of trying to make the improvements
on the goal. So you have to really take advantage
of your summertime in the gym on the ice and
you're just you know, trying to find those little refinement
pieces to elevate your game. And I thought he did
that this summer.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
So going back to sorry, some of the younger guys
that you were talking about, I want to say, like
probably people across industries run into the issue of being
able to talk to different generations. Right we have some
really young guys on this team right now. How do
you bridge the gap from I'm going to out you
(21:35):
a little bit from gen X.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
We have birth here, so we can go back and forth.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Well, but it can be difficult like talking to you know,
talking to young kids and getting things to land and
speaking in their skibbity language is like how do you so,
how do you as a coach. I know you you
have very high emotional intelligence, but like ya, how do
you bridge that gap communicationally, especially to keep in line
(22:07):
with the top.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Lub I think it helps having kids of your own,
of that age group, so that does help. You know,
you can test a lot of what you're saying to
them and see how they respond to it. And you know,
I think that's a natural thing. You have to be
able to be aware of people's responses and players' responses.
I mean, you can't keep doing, you know, the same
(22:31):
thing over and over again and expect a different result.
Everybody knows you know that quote, but you know, I'm
a firm believer that you have to have the awareness
of how it's received. And you know, we ask a
lot of questions, and I think if you have the
intention of learning and trying to really understand what gets
(22:53):
the player going, then you're going to ask the right
questions and you're going to collect the right information.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And that's how we treat it.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And I think that's how we respond is based on
a lot of our experience and dealing with the younger players.
And then, you know what, I think there there is
coming a time now where I feel that the younger generation,
the clearer, the better, and the five second touches, you know,
(23:23):
the quick hits, you know, bumping into each other and
you know, giving that quick dialogue. They're they're used to
that now, that's that's what they want. They want the
information quickly. They want to direct and that makes them efficient.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Kim mentioned the skibbity language. So if you if you
allow me to borrow a term here, is there any
words you've been taught by some of the jen A guys,
I guess if you will that you you now know
the meaning of or some of the memes you're hip
with from TikToker. Yeah, I love Mattie Vallalta.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
I think we all do because he's he's got them,
you know, like feeling mossy and come on now, and
you're kind of like, well, when do you use come
on now? Does that mean like let's get going or
it's like come on now, let's have a great day.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
So I've learned over time to appreciate and understand his language.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
He definitely speaks a language all on his own, he does,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, kind of adds to that. Goalies are characters, vibe
you get a lot of the time, totally tends to happen.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yeah, Maddie, Maddie is definitely a beauty. But there is
a lot of depth in him, and he is a smart,
intellectual human that has a lot of self reflection and
he tries to do what he can to really make
the best of his day.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
You gotta love him for that. Is there anybody you
saw in today's camp that you're you really are are
kind of It's only day one of a nice right
Is there anybody you saw or anything you saw in
today's camp where you're kind of like, you know what
this is? This is something I feel like we could
build on, whether it be you know, the way Matika
uses his speed in his body size, or the way
he was battling with on Yabuci at times, Like is
(24:59):
there anything that you saw that where you're like, I'm
looking forward to seeing this. I really like the spirit
of our guys.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
You know, I don't know if it's just one player
or on one play, but I think that's the importance
and the value of being in front of NHL coaches
NHL players. You're constantly in the heat of the moment
and you're observing and you you really build on the
awareness of what it takes to play at the next level.
(25:27):
When you're in the NHL camp, it is fast, there's urgency,
and you can see that everybody's trying to pick up
the dialogue, pick up the drill. They want to make
sure that they're on point. And so I really like
the spirit of our practice today and seeing guys want
to be on point. And it's day one, but I
love that they're wanting to fight for positions and they're
(25:49):
trying to do what they can to be a pro
hockey player. And it's great when the spirit is high
like that. The spirit isn't high, then you're you know,
you've got a lot of work to do. And so
day one, I really appreciated their attention to detail and
their their capacity to want to go hard.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I was curious, Steve, so.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Some of the changes that we saw happen over the
summer were Travis Barron and Hunter Drew going to the
different teams, and those are two kind of not enforcers,
but they definitely could step into that role if they
need to. But also high scorers, guys who got the
team going, who are you looking to this season to
(26:32):
kind of fill that if there is a gap there
to fill that gap?
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Again, that's going
to have to come from the collective. You know, we
we're going to have to play within one every team,
every year, every season, try to do what they can
to form a team and play us one. But it's
going to be a major emphasis that there is nobody
there to bail you out. You're the person that's that
we're relying on. So, you know, the one thing about leadership,
(27:00):
you have to be able to take care of yourself first.
And if everybody takes care of their their little entity,
they're a little spot on the ice. There there are
moments on the ice, they're five feet around them. We're
gonna be fine, and we're gonna have to do it collectively.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Obviously, new facilities out in you saw the new practice
building and everything. What is it like to be back
at home? Right, Let's let's let's look at it that way.
You're here, you're back into so on your back on
your home ice. I'm sure it was a lot of
fun to be there. But what is it like to
be back at the TCC somewhere where you're comfortable and
can kind of you know, you get your coach's room
back and you know, maybe if there's a couch in
(27:39):
there somewhere where you're lounging around. What's it like to
be back home?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
You know, well, it's fantastic to be home, because the
entire time you're there, you know you're there for one
reason is to collect, trying to collect as much as
you can. And then you get to a point where
you've collected a lot and now you want to be
able to execute a plan, and that that makes really
fun to get back. And then when you when you
(28:03):
come back to this type of environment, you're like, this
is this is an environment of work and our process.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I'm very proud of our program.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
We've got extra ice touches, we've got extra skills coaches,
we've got guys that are are very passionate about not
guys I would say, we have a staff that is
very passionate about growth. And they did the same thing
as we did as coaches. They went and spent their
summer trying to refine their game and add to the
(28:33):
program so they can benefit the players. And so coming
home now we're able to try to execute our plan
and try to execute what we've learned, and we're so
looking forward to that.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
So you just had a birthday about a month ago.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Oh jeez, you're killing.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
We're here for.
Speaker 6 (28:57):
So you're a Libra. And I don't know if you
know this, but this, when I was writing down the
characteristics of a Libra, I was like, oh, this, this
is you one thousand percent.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Have you ever heard this?
Speaker 6 (29:09):
That you have a desire for balance, charm and ability
to compromise and you focus on creativity and harmony.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Ah.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Man, that sounds like a person I want to be.
I'm not sure I'm quite that person.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I think there's there's places in my life where I
I like balance, but I you know, and I look
at my routines and what I value.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I don't know if I'm I don't. I don't have
much balance there, you know.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
I think I there's certain ways and certain things I
really believe in, and I think that's the line I
like to walk.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
And I think it might have to do with having
a uh what's the my My father is born in May, Okay.
So he's uh, I don't know, you don't know.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
In front of me, Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
So he's very stubborn, very stubborn, very there's no gray.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
So I've kind of grown up with that, you know
in my Oh yeah, with the little wind in my back,
I would say, so, I think he eliminated and helped
me eliminate a lot of gray.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
Okay, interesting that you carry that with you and that
you don't see yourself in this way because one of
my questions also was going to be if you weren't
doing this, what job do you think that you would
be doing? And I already have an answer for I
have to, I have to. You'll have to let me know.
Number one, I could see you being a diplomat.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Okay, you said that when he was on his way
up here.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Yeah, he's so, so incredibly diplomatic. But I can also
see you being like a therapist, psychologist, somebody who listens
to people and like like helps you know, helps them
find their way.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
My wife would love for me to listen.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
I'm sure rewife in time Adam Fandem like would love
for a husband to listen more.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
But you know, I think that you have to.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
From a coaching standpoint, I think it's hard to find
reason with the player if they're emotional, because when they're emotional,
they won't respond to reason. So I think that's maybe
the diplomatic part, where you have to have some empathy
for a for you to be able to get your
(31:29):
point across, but you can't mix emotion with logic. And
so maybe that's, you know, part of our communication tactic,
which probably gets to the part where you're a little
bit more diplomatic or you know, psychiatrist type. But you know,
we're again just trying to do what we can to
understand the player so that we can put them in
(31:49):
the best position. And we do find in today's environment,
everybody wants to be told the truth. You know, if
you asked somebody, hey, how would you like somebody to
tell you what you need to do? You would say, yes,
I want them to be very honest with me. But
then when you deliver the information, you're always kind of
(32:12):
sensitive about their emotions or their their feelings. So I
think today's world people want the information to be direct,
and I don't think it needs to be harsh, but
it needs to be clear and it needs to be truthful.
So I think we're trying to follow that model a
little bit more. And you know, listen, today everybody gets
(32:37):
information so quickly, we have to be able to be
efficient with it, and so I think that's where we're
going to be able to kind of meet in the
middle balance that you used before, where we're going to
get more out of the guys being more truthful, a
little bit clear, and more direct.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
At any point this season you find yourself asking a
guy how that made them feel. Just remember it came
go to roblaz Is, the one who said you would
be a psychiatrist. That's right.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Well, I hate to say it, but that's part of coaching, right,
Like you have to learn how to speak with the players,
communicate with them. You got to learn what what's going
to motivate them, and you know, we do what we can.
We have a program out there that we learn their
personality so that we can best communicate with them.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
So it's it is part of our process.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Wait, so what's your answer.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
What's my answer of what I would be? I don't know.
I can't. I always thought I could be part of
the military or part of the army, you know the army. Yeah,
definitely a Navy person.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
Yeah, I think discipline and you know, trying to Yeah,
working with others, being part of a team.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
That's a good answer. I hate to reopen a wound.
The end of last season, you take Abbotsford to the
brink in the first round, right three games, really good
team in Abbotsford. You're here, now, what are some things
you're hoping to pull from that series against Abbitsford, your
three plus consecutive postseason berths. What are you hoping to
(34:21):
pull from that and try and build a deeper run
this season. That's that's a good question.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
I thought that they were able to elevate their game,
you know, and so we want to in the first
couple of weeks here. We want to establish a foundation
and where the ground is right, but there has to
be more from that foundation. You have to be able
to elevate your game, and we were able to do
that in Game two and we couldn't find that next
(34:50):
level in Game three. So you know, when when our
guys are in the middle part of the year, we
have to find that we have to narrow the storming
phase and then really start to find another level in
our game. So I think the quicker we can bond
as a team early, get over the storming phase because
(35:11):
it happens in every season, quicker than we did in
the past, to start elevating our game, so that that
becomes our new foundation.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
I talked to our PR guy Chase about this before
ninetieth year, the AHL two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
the City of Tucson, tant anniversary of the Tucson Roadrunners,
and your fifth year head coaching here. How does that
make this year more special for you? And what do
you what do you kind of get a take from
this year in regards to those anniversaris.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Well, I hope that kind of you know, maybe it's
a it's one of those special years that we're able
to get past the first round, but I honestly, it
just every year just offers that that excitement again because
every year you're with new players, and every year the
year that passed, you've learned so much and you can
not wait to get back into the grind and then
(36:03):
to be able to do it in front of the
people that you've been with for the last ten years.
I've been the head coach for five, but I was here,
you know, from the start, and so to kind of
go through that will not kind of to go through
that experience with the fans and with you guys and
understanding the history of it, it's definitely special. It means
a lot. I mean, this is what you know, you
(36:26):
hate to bring your family into it, but they go
through the sacrifice of being away from you for ten years,
and of course it means a lot when you're able
to sit here when you're sacrificing time went away from
your family and your kids, et cetera. So yeah, it's
it's another special year that you a get to do
this and be you get to do with the people
that you've started it with.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
I have one more question. Do we have time for one?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, you've got plenty of.
Speaker 6 (36:50):
You do have a very silky smooth radio voice.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Stee, we're not getting I am not singing.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
There's no chance I am singing.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
I saying, but I was going to ask you to
do your best. Please welcome to the ice. Your Tucson
road Runner.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Is welcome to the ice.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Your twoson road Runners. That was amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I would be worried for your job.
Speaker 6 (37:16):
Yeah, that was I'm glad that you're busy when I'm working.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
I have no formal training. I just gotta said.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
That was very natural, even it didn't even really try.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Just now I know what you did this.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Don't lie to the people. We set up here for
twenty minutes before we started recording. I do that. You're right,
you know that coach, Bob Van. I appreciate your time.
It was nice to meet you for the first time.
Hopefully I didn't taint your image of me by asking
you about the playoffs from last season. Not at all.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
It's not a wound at this point where we learned
and we're trying to find the next level in our game,
so I no no worries at all.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Appreciate it so much. One is great meeting you as well.
Back for the normal Tuesday night activities here on Roadrunners
Happy Hour, James alongside my color commentator for the season,
David Meridian. David, let's take a second to talk about
a pot Van. His third season at the helm of
this Roadrunners team. Fifth season. I'm sorry, third consecutive year
they've had a postseason birth. He kind of really beautifully
(38:13):
sets the stage for what he's looking forward to a
lot of fun up at the Big Camp. I will say.
I talked to Miko Matik on Sunday and I asked him,
I said, Miko, what was your favorite part about Big Camp?
And he said, just getting to play hockey again. He
said he had one goal and one assist with Utah.
He's looking forward to quote scoring goals was what he
(38:34):
told me when I asked him what he was most
looking forward to this season with the Roadrunners. So I
guess you could say there's a lot of excited hockey
coming our way here in the desert when things get
kicked off and started on October the eighteenth against Calgary.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Yeah, So what I've been hearing, and it's a lot
of good things, is energy, I think is going to
be there. There's going to be energy, enthusiasm, passion, effort,
all that. I think that that's been a constant on
a coach Povin and you know that you need that there,
there's no question about that. But there's always that kind
of striking a balance between energy, too much energy, harnessing that.
(39:09):
So the road Runners, James, they were one of the
more penalized teams last year, over one thousand minutes, one
thousand and seventy five minutes in the penalty box, three
players over one hundred penalty minutes. So, yes, we have
all this pent up energy. Guys are excited to go
out there and play hockey, but it's going to be
important to allocate all of that energy and resources in
the right way, right do we don't want to be
(39:31):
kind of sloppy or you know, doing things that are
going to put you behind the eight ball, so to speak.
So definitely want that passion for the game, be excited
to go out there and play, but harness it in
the right way.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to see how
these teams pick up from how this team picks up
from where they were last year. We know already one
big bring back is Montagne and Yabuci. I'm looking forward
to watching him play really big body guy that they use.
Curtis Douglas rumor has it might be coming back to
us again this year. So it's going be very fun
to see what this year is gonna bring. Uh. And
(40:06):
really the fan base that we had Sunday at at
the the fan fest was just tremendous. I mean there
was not a minute that the ice was not full
of people skating from two o'clock till four o'clock when
we stopped. Uh. The Raffle turnouts were huge, The garage
Shale turnout was huge. It was just cool to see
(40:26):
how many people were in the building for that and
how many people are excited for Roadrunners Hockey David, This
this team really brings this town of Tucson together, and
I hate to admit it, I really love to see
Tucson banned around something as beautiful as hockey. Being from
the Valley of the Sun. Of course I have some
I leaned towards ASU a little bit, but you as
(40:48):
campus is beautiful. Tucson's a beautiful town, and they banned
very well around this, this Roadrunners team. It's I'm excited
to do it, David. You and I have talked a
lot about it, and uh, it really hit us Sunday.
But now the ball has started and were in motion.
I hope you're as ready for it as I am.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Yeah, I am ready, and you're absolutely correct about this community.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
They know what they have.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
They have a high level hockey program here in the AHL,
a direct affiliate with an NHL team, and they also
have a university that brings respectable programs across the board football, basketball, baseball,
even those other sports that aren't as popular. And when
it comes to supporting those two different teams, you have
the road Runners obviously hockey in a minor league capacity
and you of a Division one. This city they support
(41:31):
these teams. They have terrific fan bases. They're very passionate
about sports, and I think the players really appreciate the
support that they get from Tucson, whether it be the
college athletes or even the guys that we were talking
to yesterday. They see the engagement, like you said, at FanFest,
constantly with solid attendance in the Tucson arena, and it's
(41:53):
really exciting to be a part of that environment that's
so passionate about sports and recognizes what they have here.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
And we're excited to get things rolling. Let's take a
second now to look forward as to what's coming up.
October fourth, David and I take you through preseason opening
action between the two Son Roadrunners and the Henderson silver
Knights from Henderson, Nevada. That at six pm here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifteen in the iHeart Radio app and
then Sunday to fifth, it's a two o'clock start between
(42:20):
those two teams as well. That'll be a lot of
fun preseason hockey. We back training camp starts here relatively soon.
We're looking forward to that, and then don't miss it
the home opener October eighteenth at Versus Calgary at seven pm.
We have a tailgate kicking off at four pm. Red
carpet at four thirty, But before that, October the sixteenth,
it's a faceoff gala. Free for Dusty's Force members, fifty
(42:42):
dollars for season ticket holders and sixty dollars for general mission.
The team's going to be there. We're going to be there,
the players are going to be there. It's gonna be
a lot of fun to have that. It's gonna be
another environment where we get to really see how fans
interact with the team, and the excitement team introduction and
player introductions with fans, so everybody knows who they're looking
for this year. We're gonna get to see those beautiful
(43:04):
new jerseys in person on the ice before that, obviously,
but when you get to really sit there and look
at him in person on the guys wearing them at
the gala, that'll be a lot of fun. Be sure
to visit Tucson Roadrunners dot com for information on those
events coming up. Come out to the TCC and join
us for opening night. David, we were there yesterday again Sunday,
I mean and again. Beautiful arena. Can you imagine that
(43:27):
place pack to the gills. The goal is to sell
it out. We pack that place full of Roadrunners fans
and it is going to be electrifying.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Yeah, there's nothing like it, James, and I'm sure you'll
appreciate this when you have an arena that's full. And
not only that, but you hear the anticipation, the ooz,
the ohs every time there's a big hit or you
see somebody you know kind of streak across the center
that's about to be somebody that gets laid up and
the whole crowd kind of goes quiet. There's a gasp
and then a roar once it happens, or the same
(43:58):
with a developing play, maybe it's a breakaway on one.
You have that slow build up and then you know
the encapsulation. So you can only have that when the
arena is full. And that's one of the beautiful things
about hockey is you always can hear it. I know
from a few times I've been to Madison Square Garden
for Rangers games. It just has that unique sound where
everybody is watching, they're paying attention, and in Unison it's
(44:21):
almost like a chorus or a musical with the background.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
You just have it.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
It's the third element of the game is the crowd
reaction and so much accentuated when it's packed.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
It's gonna be a lot of fun to really see
this community in action. I mean again, it's one thing
when you watch it on AHL TV and when you're
listening on the radio. It's another to be in person
at the arena. That is October the eighteenth, seven pm
puck drop between Calgary and Tucson. Again. The tailgate starts
at four pm, with the red carpet at four thirty
(44:55):
as the players walk into the game. If you can't
join us in person, be sure to tune in on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty the Heart Radio app in hl
TV by Flow Hockey. This season the second year Flow
is going to be in charge of the HLTV and
we had a lot of fun with it last year,
a lot of really good broadcasts happening there. So super
excited to get it rolling and see where we kind
(45:16):
of build the culture in the broadcast booth together. David,
I have to admit we may not see eye to
eye because I believe you're about an inch taller than
I am, but I can guarantee you there will either
be a milk rate or something for me to stand
on in the broadcast booth when we're shoulders shoulder.
Speaker 4 (45:33):
I don't know if you saw the NFL broadcasting team
of Iron Eagle and JJ Watt. Luckily, we're not working
with any kind of discrepancy like that where I think
JJ Watt is at least a full foot taller than
Iron Eagle, so we're not, you know, we're only dealing
with maybe an inch difference. That's a foot, so I
think we'll be able to overcome that.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
I think we should be able to as well. I
have to admit Iron Eagles standing next to JJ Watt hilarious. Yeah,
that was probably one of the funniest moments of the
NFL season. Nonetheless, that's enough about us. We appreciate you
for taking the time out of your Tuesday evening to
sit here with us. For our producer Michael Goodrich, Kim
Coda Roblace, and my play by play partner David Moridi,
(46:13):
and I'm James Mackie. We say so long, Thank you
very much,
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