Around the A Podcast - Season 2 Episode 15 with Ben Lypka of the Abbotsford News

This week we recap the recent AHL board of governors meeting, run down the playoff format for the Pacific Division and take a look at the Vancouver Canucks' move to relocate their AHL affiliate to Abbotsford, BC.

We're joined by Ben Lypka of the Abbotsford News.

On the fly this week we check in with:
- Manitoba Moose forward C.J. Suess,
- Belleville Senators head coach Troy Mann
- Hershey Bears bench boss Spencer Carbery
- Syracuse Crunch GM Stacy Roest
- Chicago Wolves head coach Ryan Warsofsky.

All that and more, this week, on Around The A on the Sports Podcasting Network.

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David Foot can be heard on CJBQ 800 in Belleville, the radio home of the Belleville Senators. He is also the voice of the Wellington Dukes and has OHL experience with the Belleville Bulls and the Peterborough Petes. You can find him on Twitter at @FootyOnTheAir.

Patrick Williams covers the NHL's top developmental league for NHL.com and EP Rinkside, a division of Elite Prospects, and can be heard regularly on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He has nearly a decade of experience at NHL.com, first covering the Winnipeg Jets before shifting to the AHL beat, and also has experience in the ECHL and OHL. You can find him on Twitter at @pwilliamsAHL.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
This is Around the A, aweekly look at the top stories, news
and interviews from the NHL's top developmentalleague with your hosts David Foot and Patrick
Williams on the Sports Podcasting Network.A whole lot to discuss on this fifteen
episode of season two of Around theA along with Patrick Williams. David Foot

(00:28):
here, glad to have you withus. As so we get into a
more relocation news and update on theUtica to Abbotsford an update on Binghamton to
Utica. We'll also recap the Boardof Governors meeting last week because there was
a lot of news out of that. The playoffs are around the corner in
the Pacific Division, and a wholelot more coming up this week. Pat

(00:48):
Again, another busy week as weget into the stretch run here. Yeah,
we don't. We don't seem tohave any more slow weeks. Just
when you think of this, you'regoing to slow down. There's something else
that ups up. This past weekwas the not only the Board of Governor's
meeting was two different affiliation relocations.I guess you could call it and continue

(01:11):
to keep us on our tolls andhaving an officially gotten too the the abbreviated
playoff that we're going to have startingnext week as well. Well, let's
get into the Board of Governors meeting, and of course, as happened last
week, as soon as we postedthe show, more news broke and we
talked last week about what we thoughtwe might hear at the meeting. How

(01:34):
did what we did hear match upto what we were expecting? Well,
we I think for the most part, it went relatively according to what we
thought. Abbots heard. Obviously becameofficial the Binghamton Devil's moved to year ago,
which was something that had long beensuspected that became official. What we
did not get yet was a debitalformat for NAS season, So that was

(01:57):
a little bit of a surprise.Was speaking with one front office person with
the team, they had mentioned thatthere was just still a little bit of
disagreement I guess if that's the rightword on how exactly to align next season.
I think one issue still is thatboarder issue still hang over everybody's head.
If the border is still shut orrestricted in some way, that will

(02:23):
obviously have a large impact on divisionalalignments and how teams are able to move
around during the season. Certainly howthe schedules is drawn up. But it's
getting late early and next season arenot only about five months away, so
there's a lot of work to do, and teams are really now kind of
getting into the full speed mota ifthey haven't been already, because with the

(02:46):
regular season wraps up this weekend formost teams, it's full speed into next
year, planning, hiring, introducingthemselves to fans who've been away for the
better part of the past year,and competing everything out track for next season
because we said the league needs abig year come next dot work. We'll

(03:07):
get some more insight on this finalstretch of games and what to expect in
the offseason. In our on thefly segment coming up a little bit later
on, we'll hear from CJCS inManitoba, a head coach is Spencer Carberry
and Hershey Ryan Rosofsky in Chicago,and Troy Man in Belleville. We'll also
hear from Stacy Roost, the generalmanager of the Syracuse Crunch and a former

(03:28):
guest on an earlier episode of Aroundthe A, which, of course you
can find to add the Sports PodcastingNetwork dot Com or wherever you get your
podcasts, and while we're on that, we'll remind you to subscribe to the
pod and throw us a rating anda review as well if you like what
you hear. So, yeah,not a whole lot of surprises out of

(03:49):
the Board of Governors meeting. Andas you say, we did get the
official approval of the Abbotsford relocation.We're going to talk a bit more about
that later on in the show.Ben Lipka from the abbots for News is
going to give us some insight fromthe ground floor of that move to Abbotsford.
But what was the reaction like aroundthe table at the Board of Governors

(04:11):
meeting. We had talked during ourshow last week about how there wasn't going
to be much opposition to it.Nobody's gonna tell anybody how to run their
franchise. But I mean, fromwhat we've discussed, this seems like a
perfect fit. Do folks around theleague seem to feel the same way early
on? Yeah, that's the impressionI got that it was pretty much a
rubber stamp type of deal. Onething I do know is that there was

(04:33):
no mechanism for teams to oppose themove. Vancouver had had a clause and
I don't have the full details ofthat, but because it basically allowed them
to bring that franchise west. Sothat was one issue. Not like we
said, generally teams aren't in thebusiness of interfering with other teams business so

(04:56):
long as it doesn't have a nettiveimpact on someone's team, right, So
that's the first issue. The secondissue though, is just that it makes
a lot of sense everybody certaining inthe past number of years, the trend
has been to bring your your farmteam as close to home as possible,
both for salary, cap logistic developmentpurposes. But what have you when you've

(05:19):
shuffled the lead around as much asteams have in the last five or six
two years. I don't think itwould sit well with anybody if all you
said to Vancouver, well, youcan't do that after, you know,
you had one off season which theywere eleven franchise or affiliation changes back in
twenty fifteen. So not much,not much opposition or any really from what

(05:43):
I've been able to determine coming outof that meeting, I think I think
people understand why Vancouver is making thatmove, and the main thing is that
they were happy that you Unica wasable to be kept in the league and
get a new affiliation again. Moreon the Abbotsford move coming up with Ben
Lipka from the Abbotsford News in alittle bit here on around the A.

(06:05):
And Yeah, that was one ofthe things we talked about last week about
how successful Utica has been as afranchise in this league for many, many
years now, and I don't thinkit's much of a surprise to see how
quickly their new deal came together asthe new Jersey Devils officially announced that they
will move to Utica. And Ithink the big thing I took out of

(06:27):
that agreement pad is that it's aten year deal and that certainly speaks,
I think, to the work doneby Robert esh and his group in Utica
over the years, you know,to make that city a prime market for
the American Hockey League. And asmany have said, all that that rink
the Adirondack Bank Center needs really isa code of paint and a change of

(06:49):
colors, and they should be ableto make this move rather seamlessly. Yeah,
they already have the front office structurein place, they have the Van
Pa base. Obviously, the haveum good media coverage, so there they
check all the bosses, good corporatesupport locally. UM. So yeah,

(07:09):
you're right. I mean, there'sobviously some of those logistical changes in terms
of the color schemes and things likethat, but UM, and the grand
grand scheme of things, that's prettyminor. And I took I had the
same reaction to go. I sawthe ten year deal and I was I
was pretty impressed for Utica to getthat kind of commitment. UM. Frankly,

(07:31):
I think the New Jersey Devils arethe prime beneficiary UM in this agreement
because they have struggled for years tofind a long term solution for their affiliations.
They bounced from Albany too Low backto Albany now Banhampton, uh,
and finally to Utica. So it'sbeen it's been a long haul ever since

(07:54):
they left Utica twenty nine years ago. They had some success in Albany for
a number of years before that marketstarted to uh struggle a little bit.
UH. And the Devils have alwayshad a hard time putting winning teams,
UH, you know, really goingyou know, since the nineties when they
had that that good run, bothwinning and developments. It's it's been a

(08:18):
real struggle now and that's when youlook at really, you know, uh,
the last time there was a reallygood New Jersey Devils team, aside
from a few teams in the midthousand and tens, you really had to
go back mostly to the you know, to the nineteen nineties, to the
days of Patrick Elliott and uh youknow, uh the Halls and even further

(08:41):
back march Ambroder with the Yuka Devilsand Stone and so forth. So that's
almost a whole generation. Really,it's twenty five plus years in some cases,
so it's been all it's been along difficult battle for the New Jersey
Devils to to really put together botha winning and strong development package together.

(09:03):
Now I really don't need they haveany excuses. They left bingham In which
I thought was a good situation.They're going into Utica, which is top
notch market, and frankly, there'sreally no excuses now for New Jersey.
They're going to get excellent fan support, They're going to have good facilities and
infrastructure there, you know that Uticaprovides. The geography is pretty good.

(09:26):
It's a little bit further for themthan Binghamton was, but still within driving
distance, so there's no excuses Nowfor New Jersey, it's kind of put
up or shut up, both interms of developing players and also creating a
winning environment for those young prospects.Utica kind of in that situation that Binghamton
was in when the Senators left forBelleville, the Sins moved out of town

(09:48):
and the Devils swooped right in andtook the spot. And now that's happening
in Utica where the Canucks are pullingtheir franchise. The comments are going to
stay, but it's New Jersey's affiliatenow, and again just a fresh coat
of paint is all that's really needed, and some new uniforms, which I'll
be excited to see out in Uticaas the Devils will move there. What

(10:11):
does this mean that before we moveon for Binghamton, there had been some
rumors floating around about a Federal Leagueteam or an ECHL team perhaps, And
you know, I think from thefans perspective, we hope that Binghamton does
get a team to to satisfy thathunger for hockey that is in that market.
But do we know much about youknow, who might might fill that

(10:31):
hole at the Floyd L Mains veteransMemorial Arena. Yeah, it looks like
the Federal Professional Hockey League, whichis uh, I guess you say,
it's a notch below the ec Hlum, they're going to move into Binghamton.
We don't know a whole lot morebeyond that. They will be known as

(10:52):
the Black Bears. Uh So umit's uh, you know, it's at
least the market does keep a spotin the hockey world. I think long
term they would like to get intothe ec HL. Was the nature of
things this year was it was toolate to make that happen. But um,

(11:13):
I think they would be an idealfit for the for the HLUM in
some ways, I think it mightbe better suited because ec HL you have
a little bit more control over yourteam uh players, Um, a little
bit more I think accessible in someways. Um. And it's a little
bit more of a kind of therough and tumue game that an old time,

(11:35):
old school market like Bennet and gravitatingstowards. So, I think geographically
would work great for the c HL. You have the Writing Royals about two
hours south, you have at anBack about two hours north Bluster, you
have Maine. So it's a prettynice set up in that regard, Band
and I think long term to getinto the ECHL, and I see no

(12:00):
reason why the would not at somepoint jump at that opportunity if it does
come about, because it's proven establishedhockey markets been at it for close to
fifty years. And just before wekind of closed the book on Benhams and
I just want to point out whata huge market they've been for this league.

(12:20):
Really, you've gone all the wayback to nineteen seventy seven, with
the exception of about five years thelate nineties early two thousands, they had
the American Hockey League there and theywere one of the first teams that came
in at a time when at theHL was barely treading water. In the
mid seventies, they were down tosixteens. It was looking jak that they

(12:41):
would even be able to keep sixteams. Benimon in that following year started
to solidify the market and the restof his history, and eventually HL got
back on its feet and Benhamton camealong that ride all these years and they've
sent a lot of players on theonto the NHL, and they've had some

(13:03):
uston downs during UH certainly during theBinghamton devils of era, but also even
going back to the Senators era.But they did win that called up in
twenty eleven, big moment for fansthere who had wanted to see that moment
come for so long and it finallydid happen. So it's a great hockey
market. It's really kind of anold school throwback markets in the league now

(13:24):
where you have so many large cities, you know, San Diego, Austin,
Chicago, Toronto, so on.It really just kind of harkens back
to the roost of the league whereit was, or of a tumble,
small town type of league that's reallyfor a lot of years did a great
job. Yeah, and difficult newsagain for the AHL fans in Binghamton,

(13:46):
but at least they've got something tofill the gap for now with the hope
of the ECHL being right around thecorner perhaps for the twenty twenty two twenty
three season out there again more relocationtalk as we hone in on Abbot spurred
coming up in a few minutes withBen Lipt of the Abbots for news here
on episode fifteen of season two ofAround the Eight we'll move along here not

(14:09):
to a relocation but somewhat of arebrand as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers haven't rebooted
as the Bridgeport Islanders this week,picking up the name of their parent club
and perhaps trying to draw a strongerconnection to the New York Islanders. I
think this move caught a lot ofpeople by surprise. Pat, Yeah,
I think it did. For youknow, I had got wind of it

(14:33):
me week or so before that,that's what they were leaning forward. But
yeah, when it actually didn't cometo pass, I think there were a
lot of surprise. The Sound Tigersname goes all the way back to two
thousand and one when they came intothe league, had that local tie in
to obviously the geography of that city, but also history there with the PT

(14:56):
Barnum circus. So it was aname that you know a lot of people
had some some affection for. Butthey are going to go to the Oleanders.
Uh, you know, so welose the Devil's name this lead,
but we gain another NHL name comingin with the Islanders. So yeah,
it's a It's an interesting move anda time where teams generally like to keep

(15:18):
that that tie in with the NHLclub in terms of colors in Jersey,
but also kind of go with theirown name, you know, for merchandiseeing
purposes and that sort of thing.But we do know the Devils are i
should say, the Islanders run byLou Lamarrello. That's been sort of the

(15:41):
remo for a number of years,going back to a lull Albany as well,
where you like to have that NHLnamed tieing and uh, it's their
team, so they're going to dowhat they want. Yeah, And Chris
Lamarrello, general manager there and thesystem GMA in New York, did say
that having the Islanders name is sodwith Bridgeport creates a stronger tie between the

(16:02):
NHL team and its top developmental team, and again that's really the key and
what a lot of organizations are goingfor. So it has received mixed reactions
if we're being honest, and ifI'm being honest, not my favorite and
I was a fan of the SoundTiger's logo and name and everything else.
But I can see the reasons formaking the decision, and the Bridgeport Sound

(16:23):
Tigers are now the Islanders, Sowhen they come to Belleville, I'll just
have to try to remember to getthe name right. If they visit the
b sends in the upcoming season,because again we don't know about border and
we didn't hear much about schedule atthe Board of Governors meeting last week.
We did hear about playoff schedules,though for the Loan Division that's going to

(16:44):
hold a playoff. About a weekfrom the recording of this show is when
the Pacific Division playoffs will begin,and I think that's going to be exciting
pat for AHL fans around the leagueto keep an eye on some sort of
tournament style hockey. Yeah, ina year where playoff hockey's obviously at a
premium, we at least are gettingthe Pacific Division to have what is a

(17:07):
very modified playoffs. So the topthree teams in the standings at the end
of the season will automatically qualify forthe playoffs, and remaining four teams we'll
have to do a single elimination playin starting next week in Irvine, California,
home at least for this season forthe San Diego Goals. So they'll

(17:29):
do that and then they move intoa best of three semi final followed by
best of three final ball wrap upby May twenty ninth. So that's the
plan. It would be interesting tosee how how it goes. I mean,
I think the nature of such ashort tournament best of three certainly throw
a little bit of a rinkball intoit. But NHL teams, especially some

(17:51):
of those teams like Anaheim and LosAngeles and San Jose who did not make
the Stanley Cup playoffs, will nothave opportunity to send some players back to
the AL a little bit additional playingtime. If it's not exactually the playoffs,
at least something that's somewhat approximate it. And so that's the goal for
those clubs, and that's why wehave playoffs out on the West Coast.

(18:14):
May eighteenth, the Pacific Division playoffsbegin. We can tell you that since
our last show, the Providence Bruinsdid clinch the three team Atlantic Division title,
of course, to Laval Rocket wonthe Canadian Division. Now a couple
of weeks ago, they've been prettyfree and clear, and the North Division
and Central Division still to be decided, but it is likely going to be

(18:36):
the Chicago Wolves in the Central andthe Hershey Bears in the North if things
don't change too much over the lasthandful of games in the regular season.
So we will keep an eye onthat as well. And again, hey,
playoff hockey Patch just gives us moreto follow as we finish off the
season here. Yeah, you know, I never going to object to additional

(18:57):
hockey ten days or so of itwith some really exciting teams out there.
Henderson plays such an uptimical style.San Diego the same thing. The entire
ring are just a real great story. They started off with that terrible one
and then I believe two and Ostart been just on a roll ever since.

(19:21):
They've gotten about fifteen and eighth sincethen. Very dangerous team. They
went into Colorado a couple of weeksago and swept the three ding series from
the Eagles there. So yeah,it's a they're exciting group of teams.
There's a little bit of everything.There's kind of a feisty division as well,

(19:42):
even in a more typical season.So excited to see how those teams
match up, especially in such ashort format like that. Yeah, it's
gonna be fun to watch it,and we'll have some thoughts from Belvill Senators
coach Troy Man about why he wouldhave liked to have a playoff in the
Canadian Division coming up in our onthe Fly segment. Later on in the

(20:03):
show, again, you'll want tostay tuned. We'll also hear from cjc
so the Manitoba Moose, Spencer Carberryfrom the Hershey Bears, Stacy Roost from
the Syracuse Crunch, and Ryan Worsofskifrom the Chicago Wolves. And we'll finish
off our opening segment this week withour typical Player of the Week chatter and
this week staying out west from theOntario Rain. Alex Turcott is the ccm

(20:26):
AHL Player of the Week for theweek that ended May ninth. Pretty good
triple of games for him. Threegoals, three assists in three games last
week, including his first pro hattricks, So big kudos go out to
him. Yeah, overall pick bythe LA King's twenty nineteen come in as
rookie this year early on, battledand injury, battled day, lack of

(20:48):
goal production. John Blusky, thehead coach of the Ontario Rain, very
familiar with Turcott from their time together. It's a US program, has been
working very patiently with Turcott getting themthrough those difficult times and now it's starting
to pay off. Is about twentyone points and thirty one games. Decent
numbers, uh you know, giventhe circumstances, it's a very young team

(21:12):
there. They had nine players nineteenyears older younger. At the start of
the year, they went through somerough times, Turcott included, but now
you're starting to see that that wholedevelopment curves start to pay off, both
for Turcott end for the LA games, and it's it's produced in both obviously
goals and production that way, butalso wins and just a better two way

(21:37):
game all around. And you cansort of see the relief come off young
player like that. So when theythey've been struggling for so long, especially
a player, it was so customsthey coming to this league and they hit
a wall and they had to getover it. And now you're starting to
see that that that that light goeson and everything starts to make sense more

(22:00):
for that player. So great forTurcott and certainly if you're the LA King's
yard to be very encouraged both withhim, Quinn Bifeld, Rasmus Pard,
so on, and so forth withthat Ontario team. This season, just
a ton of success and a lotof i think optimism, a head for
the LA teams and a crowning achievementthis week for Alex Turcott, the CCMAHL

(22:22):
Player of the Week from the OntarioRain. Let's get to our feature guests
this week as we shift the focusback to Abbotsburd Utica comets are moving to
Abbotsford that they will be renamed.We will get some thoughts on what that
name might be and what the reactionslike on the ground that ian Abbotsburd Ben
Lift the Abbotsburd News joins us nexton the episode fifteen of season two of

(22:47):
Around the End. Interact with uson social media, give us your thoughts
using the hashtag around the A andfollow us that around the apod. This
was obviously big news and we hadheard rumblings about it for I think a
few weeks at least before it wasofficially announced. What was the reaction like

(23:10):
out in Abbotsford when this news kindof came down. Are people excited about
it? Yeah? I mean alot of excitement and a little bit with
a little bit of caution too,just because of everything that happened with the
heat, especially for you know,people in the past that may have been
burned by the heat. Pardon thepond, but you know, one thing

(23:32):
with Abbousford, a lot of somany people have moved to obvious heard in
the Fraser Valley and its surrounding areasfrom Vcouver in the time since the heat
left, and I think a lotof those people, I'm one of them,
and I think a lot of thosepeople have kind of forgotten about the
heat and the bad taste that theheat left in a lot of people's mouth.
But yeah, so it's kind ofthere's a lot of excitement, but

(23:53):
it's also a little bit cautious justbecause how how badly the city was was
kind of left hanging with the heatin back in twenty fourteen. Yeah,
it makes sense. I think yousee that in a lot of markets where
they've had to go through this situationbefore. I know, even here in
Bellville where we lost our junior teamjust before the AHL team came in,

(24:15):
and some folks still haven't gotten overthat despite you know, the success of
the AHL team. Do you thinkthe affiliation is going to make a big
difference, because I feel like,you know, again, not being there
were connected to the situation. Tome, that seems like a no brainer
that that it's going to help.Yeah, that's huge, and that's one
of the big things that the reasonwhy I think the heat. The heat

(24:36):
failed. So if you think backwhen the Heat originally arrived at ZO nine,
the Canucks actually had an excellent teamaround that time. Cannucks Mania was
running wild back then. We werealso that was kind of during the economic
downturn, so people were kind ofyou know, struggling as far as that
goes. And yeah, I meanjust the amount of Canucks fan since then,

(24:56):
it's kind of their success may nothave been as much, but I
think, like especially interesting, theirprospects has grown a ton. There's tone
a ton of people kind of interestedin the Commets and yeah, just that
affiliation with the Canucks as opposed tothe Flames. So the Flames, that's
another issue. People in Vancouver don'tlike people in It's a it's a rivalry.

(25:18):
In fact, that's probably one ofour If you think about the Canucks
top rivals, i'd say Calgaries probablynumber one or at least high up there.
So the fact that the Calgary hadtheir prospects in Abbotsford. Uh,
nobody from Vancouver is gonna want todrive and see Calgary prospects and with Vancouver
prospects, And that's kind of theother thing. That's the reason why I

(25:41):
think there's a ton of buzz anda ton of interest. Is people from
Vancouver are definitely going to make thedrive to Abbotsford's about an hour away,
very easily accessible by highway. Thearena is just off off the highway.
So you have all these people inthe phrase allity, which has been kind
of underserved as far as hockey goes, Like, we have about three hundred
thousand people here if you take allthe surrounding communities, and then you have

(26:03):
Surrey, which is a big community. Vancouver is a big community. So
it's like when you when you're addingall those people and a lot of them
are Canucks. Five as long aregonna want to make the trip? I
think. Then I've been out toabbots Heard a couple of times, but
it's been a long time obviously forpeople who haven't been there. How would
you describe the market at the FraserValley in general as as a city and

(26:26):
really just as a as a fanbase. Yeah, well, population wise,
like we have one hundred and sixtythousand just in Abbotsford, and then
nearby Chilliwack is another growing just tothe east of US has about eighty thousand
people. Missions a big kind ofa growing community as well hockey wise,
Like since I've been here, soI've been here since twenty fifteen, and

(26:48):
that was just after the heat left. So throughout the entire time I've been
here, we've only added Junior Bteam. There's no Junior A team.
Chili Waka has a Junior eighteam.The Vancouver Giants actually moved to Langley,
which is kind of nearby, butum, yeah, I mean a Junior
B team and they only draw maybea few hundred fans to games. And

(27:10):
you know, as far as ahockey town goes, I think Abbotsford it's
huge. Like we have we havethe Yale Hockey Academy, which is which
has produced a lot of a lotof talent over the years, and just
the Abbosurd minor hockey is pretty strong, so there's a huge interest as far
as hockey goes then, and thehighest level, like I said that I've
seen here is just a Junior B. So as far as like professional hockey

(27:33):
or even higher level junior hockey,abbots Word specifically, I think it's been
really underserved the past few years.How would you describe the Abbotsford Center?
I mean I remember being there.I remember thought it was one of the
better ranges in the league at thattime, but more buildings to have come
online since then. How would howwould you to sum it up? Yeah,
well, it's actually a supermodern arena, like seven thousand seats. It's

(27:56):
only been around since two thousand andnine, was built specifically for the heat.
So yeah, I mean, everyevery time I've gone to an event
there, I've covered all sorts ofevents there. You feel like you're a
you're in a big league arena,Like you feel like you feel like it's
an NHL rink. And I thinkthat's partially what sort of led to this
all this happening right now is theCanucks did host an exhibition game here an

(28:18):
Oppositord in twenty nineteen. They stillsold out the crowd like it was a
sellout crowd. And throughout that processthey had to upgrade everything as far as
it to make an NHL ready,So they had to get the better ice,
the better boards, and I thinkfrom what I'm told, the Canucks
brass was pretty impressed by what theysaw, like it's definitely it's definitely good

(28:41):
enough for an NHL arena, anduh yeah, I know it's a it's
a fun place to wash a game, like, there isn't really a bad
seat in the arena. Parking mightbe an issue, and that might be
something in a face. The othernegative is there's not really any transit nearby
transit and opposode. It's pretty poor. But as far as the actual arena
was, yeah, it's it's asolid arena. I think it's it's a

(29:02):
it's a fun place to to watcha game or go to an event.
Definitely. Has there been much buzzfrom the surrounding corporate corporations businesses in terms
of support from that that segment,Um, I haven't really heard a whole
lot yet. UM. I thinksort of when everything gets finalized, I
think then we're gonna hear a lotmore of the corporations kind of getting on

(29:26):
board. But um, we dohave a basketball team that plays out of
the Abbotsford Center, the Fraser Valleybandits UM, and as far as their
corporate support, they're doing really well, Like they're one of the more successful
UM teams in that league. Theirattendance was was quite good, So I
think there's definitely enough corporate support there. But it kind of feels like,

(29:48):
you know, this all just happenedlast week, so it feels like maybe
they're kind of waiting until everything's finalizedas far as announcing partnerships. But yeah,
I'd say that's not going to bean issue. The support's definitely there.
Chatting with Ben Lipka from the AbbotsfordNews about the Utica Comets relocation to
Abbotsford for the upcoming American Hockey Leagueseason. You did a piece last week

(30:08):
kind of on the initial I supposeagreement or the preliminary deal between the Canucks
and the city. What does thatlook like from what you know now as
far as who's going to operate,what and how things might work from the
early stages here. Yeah, thatwas a classicum. That was kind of
a fun little scoop. So oneof my colleagues actually, he there's a

(30:30):
website called BIGBC which kind of outlinescorporate deals or government deals, and yeah,
we were just he was looking atit one day and slapped this piece
of paper on my desk, Hey, what do you think about this?
And it was it was the noticeof intent toward a contract and it kind
of laid out the offer that Abbotsford, the City of Abbasers made to the
Aquiline Investing Group, and they ownedthe Canucks and a bunch of other restaurants

(30:55):
and other big properties. But yeah, initially anyway, it looks like it's
going to be a five year deal, so that's what they're offering to start
with. So the City of Apisodeis going to be charging them a manager
a management fee of seven hundred andfifty thousand dollars per year. Now,
the interesting part about that is,ever since the Oppisode Center has been a
money loser since since it's been around. The Heat years were obviously we're the

(31:21):
big money losers. They lost abouttwelve million million or so when the team
was there over the those five years. But even when the Heat left,
the City of Appisode was aiming toget a subsidy of about a million a
year, So basically they're covering thecosts of the center, like an optimistic
year or a good year will bea million. So the way that this

(31:44):
kind of lays out, they're onlythey're only gonna be paid seven hundred fifty
thousand dollars, so they're actually gonnabe It sounds like it's kind of a
not a great deal for the city, but they're actually ahead of the game
as far as what they've done inpast years based on this subsidy. And
yeah, I guess there's other optionsto extend it, but that's kind of

(32:04):
the way it's. It's late outright now. The deadline is Monday at
three pm if anyone wants to objectto this contract, So we'll see if
anything happens as far as that goes. Probably, I don't think anything's going
to happen as far as anyone objecting, so money at three pm will probably
it'll probably finalize and maybe we'll geta few steps forward. But yeah,
the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollarsfee is kind of a big deal just

(32:27):
because that's a lot better than whatAbbit's were been having to pay since when
the heat were here and since theyleft. It sounds like a lot of
money, but it's actually better thanprevious years, so it's actually kind of
a good deal for both parties inmy opinion. Yeah, it seems pretty
fair. I mean again, Ijust compared to what we went through here
in Bellville four years ago, wherethe city paid twenty million dollars to renovate

(32:51):
the arena. Here, the teampaid none of that. They've been rent
free in the rink here for threeyears, and it's pissed a lot of
people off, to be honest,but that seems like, you say,
a fairly fair deal and it doesn'tseem like the city has to give up
too much to get that franchise there. Yeah, and originally, and this
was a lot quite a bit beforemy time, but the arena was sixteen
million dollars to build originally, sothere are still a lot of bitter feelings

(33:15):
about that, like and like,you know, what have we gotten without
sixteen million dollars. There wasn't ananchor tenant for so many years, so
it kind of feels like getting ananchor tenant or a team in there is
kind of hopefully it made good forall these all kind of the screw ups
early on. Maybe how much separationis there between the Abbots Heard and Vancouver

(33:37):
markets And I asked that because sometimesyou get cities that are right nearby the
big city and they just want tofollow the major league team and the minor
league team kind of gets forgotten.Is that a potential concern? And Abbots
Heard, Yeah, you know,that's an interesting question You've never really had.
Like I think Vancouver as a sportson in general has been kind of

(33:57):
underserved, like we don't even havewe have like a really low level baseball
team. We have a CFL team, and then you know, that's basically
about it. I don't really thinkthat matters. Like people from Abbotsford go
into Vancouver to watch the Canucks,they go to watch the Lions. It
kind of does like Abbaster is actuallyconsidered part of the lower main Line,
so it's all kind of like onebig giant area really spread out. But

(34:22):
when the heat we're here, alot of people were kind of like not
that excited to drive all the wayto Abotsford just to see Calgaries prospects.
But I think it's a whole differentstory when it's when it's Vancouver's prospects.
There's so many passionate Canucks fans,Like, I don't really think it's it's
going to be that big of anobstacle to get people to drive an hour
to see Canucks prospects. And thenas far as a name, there's been

(34:45):
some different ones bandied about. Butwhat have you been hearing kind of on
the ground locally, Yeah, well, we've actually had a few local graphic
artists submit some ideas. I haven'treally heard anything that's really been that spectacular,
Like we've heard Abbasterary aviators for theAbbotsford Air Force was kind of interesting
one. The Advosard Air Show isa big deal out here. It's every

(35:06):
summer, so that could be away. That kind of a route they
go with the name. We dohave the Absurd Pilots, which is the
junior team. Another route which Ihaven't seen a lot of people talk about
is they could go the Fraser Valleyname as well, which is what the
basketball team did. And Fraser Valley, like I said, it covers a
lot more area. It covers Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, Surrey and these

(35:27):
are all big, really big populations, so I could see I could see
them going the Fraser Valley route.That wouldn't surprise me personally. I think
that's the Knucks are pretty conservative,so I think it's probably gonna be not
that extending a name. But I'dlove I would love something wacky. I'd
love I'd love like the Fraser Valleycattle or the Fraser Valley cow, Like
can you imagine like a cow awhite and black cow jersey. I would

(35:52):
like I would love that but it'llprobably be something pretty conservative and safe,
similar to what the Canucks have.I've also heard a lot of people talk
about the Obtsford Lumberjocks because I knowthe Canucks want to utilize that Johnny Canuck
logo. No I like that.I think, like the Johnny Canuck logo
is fantastic, so what, AndI'm a big fan of when the the

(36:13):
AHL team does something unique but stillties back to what the parent club is
doing. So like, I thinkthat's a perfect way to use something that
the NHL club doesn't use all thatoften and give it a whole bunch of
use as a primary load. That'sa great idea. And the Fraser Valley
naming is seems crucial to me too, because I think, again, I
hate to keep coming back to Bellville, but the situations are so similar,

(36:37):
like they went with Bellville Senators andI went, yeah, you know,
like and don't get me wrong,it's great to have the team here and
I love working with them and everythingelse, but I feel like there was
when when you're in such an areathat that like the Fraser Valley, that
draws on people from around the wholeregion. I think there's something to be
said for incorporating everybody in the name. Yeah, and you know, I

(37:00):
would hate it if they called itjust the Obbosford Canucks. Like I think,
you want this team to have yourown identity. People from Habbitsford don't
necessarily like they're not necessarily the biggestfans of people from Vancouver and the way
people from Vancouver think and all that. So I'd love I would want a
different identity for the team, adifferent name. I wouldn't just want the
Canucks. And I think, uhyeah, Fraser Valley I think would be

(37:22):
would be a good route to goas well. Yeah, before we let
you go, m is there anythingthat that you're specifically looking forward to with
this team coming to town. It'sgonna be a quick turnaround now with you
know only what four or five monthsuntil the next season starts. But what
are you most excited about with thisnews? Yeah? Well, selfishly,
I'm just excited to cover a team. Like I said, we've had we've

(37:44):
had, We've had Junior b Hock, You've had it for five years.
It's fine, it's nice, butyou have an actual professional team is going
to be just a ton of fun. And I think that's that's the outdue
of a lot of people. Um, but yeah, and just you mentioned
the Obbosford earlier, what you've heardabout it, and just the opportunity for
that building to finally get a littlebit of shine because it's been it's been

(38:07):
seeing dormant not doing a whole lotfor five years or six years. So
I think, yeah, that buildingand just our area in general getting a
little bit of a little bit moreattention. I think it's going to be
really nice. Yeah, it is. It's super exciting to get another team
in Canada as well. And thismove, of all the moves that happened
around this league, it just seemsto make sense. So hopefully all of

(38:29):
that falls in line. Ben Lipkeis a reporter for the Abbots for News.
Thanks so much, man, reallyappreciate your insight. Thanks again.
Any time interact with us on socialmedia, give us you our thoughts using
the hashtag around the A and followus at around the apod you're listening to

(38:51):
Around the A on the Sports podcastingnetwork. A big thanks to Ben Lipka
from the Abbots for News for hisinput. You can find him on Twitter
at Ben Lipka l y p kA And I'm sure we will check in
with him again as things continue todevelop out in the Fraser Valley. Time
for on the Fly, where wetake a trip around the league and check
in with various teams and get somesound bites. This week, a few

(39:15):
stops to make on this trip onthe Fly, and we'll start pat in
Manitoba, where the Moose are finishingthe season strong. They're currently on a
ten O, O and two run, picking up points all over the place,
and that includes a string of winsagainst Stockton, sweep of Toronto,
and a shootout loss in Belleville tostart their last series, if you will,

(39:39):
of the season. They're peaking atthe right time. If there was
playoffs on the other side, that'sthe cash. But I'm still encouraging if
you're the minute to the Moose.Winnipeg Jets h Patient, who I think
is still gone one of the topcandidates for a coaching job at some point,

(39:59):
but the longest search streak in theour point streak in the league this
season, which is no small feat. It's a shame that there is a
playoff because I think they would havegiven a good run for their money if
fan met at some point in theplayoffs. But the situation is what it
is. Nevertheless, really strong teamuh coldber Petty is going to go off

(40:21):
and play in the World Championship forCanada after some strong season as its head
overall pick, so that he wasmore than capable of coming to the pro
team and doing a great job.But plays a good team game first and
foremost, and that's that's their homemark. The season around the A was able
to catch up with CJ CAS toget some insight on what's being contributing to

(40:44):
that ten oh and two runs.Pat said, the best point streak in
the American Hockey League this season fourchecking game and um, I think we
stay on the opponent, and um, I think we really kind of wear
them down with our tenacity, andultimately I think we have the ability to
make plays as well. So Ithink it's a culmination of those things while

(41:05):
playing smart in the Bison that reallyhelp us out some pretty basic keys to
success, I think, Pat.But obviously it's working. And as you
say, for the Winnipeg Jets tobe able to look down at their affiliate
and see this type of success,it's got to be encouraging. Yeah,
you know, it's one of thosethings It's basic, but easier said than
done getting players to buy into thatsystem and that structure night in the night

(41:30):
out and developed players, but alsostill win games along the way. So
they just like every other team thisseason, they've they've had their considerable roster
shifts different points of the year,but through it all, they've they've just
at the right point if there wasa playoff. But that is what it
is. Nonetheless, like I said, if you're the Winnipeg Jets, sortingly

(41:52):
have to be happy with what you'reseeing from some of your key young prospects
this year. We're going to geta couple of thoughts here in a moment
on a topic that we've been focusingon a lot in recent weeks, and
that is, uh, you know, keeping the focus and the energy and
the intensity through the final weeks ofthe season when there are no playoffs.
But we've been talking to folks aroundthe league about if they would like to

(42:14):
have playoffs or would have liked tohave them. And we both were on
a call with Troy Mann this weekas the b sends finish off their schedule,
and we asked him straight up,would you have liked to see a
playoff? Is you from a coachingperspective, you know, just taking everything
out of the mix. Absolutely,you know, I know there was a

(42:36):
rumor of proposal, you know,a very like a rookie tournament style of
playoff for our division in Toronto,but you know, all five teams had
had to be on board, andobviously that didn't come to fruition, but
it would have been nice to,you know, for all five teams to
get together for you know, somethingtowards that where you can finally you know,

(43:00):
crown a you know, a truedivision champion with a playoff. But
you know, I certainly understand whyfour the five divisions aren't doing it,
but certainly disappointing from a coach's perspective, right because at the end of the
day, you're going to coach thirtyfive games and you want to coach more,
right, And it doesn't matter thatit's you know, May seventh for

(43:22):
us right now, it's we missedenough time. And you know, obviously
disappointing from our perspective because of howthe year ended last year with such a
good team and a team that Ifelt I could contend for the Calder Cup
so um and and I do feelthat this team is slowly and every week

(43:44):
just getting better and better with thenumber of young players. I think we
had eleven rookies in the lineup tonight. If you can out mound it leasy,
it was backing up. So Ijust feel that, you know,
you want to keep playing because youknow they're getting We're getting better and better
as a team as we move forward. And I think paddle of coaches would
agree with what Troy had to say. You know, from that standpoint,

(44:04):
you know, it's nice to playthirty five games, but at that point
you're kind of just getting into thegroove, right, I mean, and
that's what we're seeing with Manitoba.They're just getting into the groove thirty or
so games in in a typical year, Yeah, about thirty games, twenty
five thirty Uh, Somewhere in December, you start to really see teams start
to gel. Remember there's so muchturnover in this league in a given season,

(44:28):
so that's that's the first issue forcoaches. And then you have a
lot of youth, so getting thema customer to the ProTeam, it takes
a good solid two months. Mostof the time. Some teams never quite
get it down. But and It'sone of the shame shames of this season
that just as many teams are gettingthere their footing under them and starting to

(44:49):
really figure out roles and systems andeverything else, that season touched down.
But as we've said so many times, that's all they can do just to
get the season in the way theydid. So you take what you can
get from the season and try toroll it forward to the next year,
and that's where a lot of thefocus is starting to shift to next year
as well. I had a nicethread from Troy Mana on my Twitter feed

(45:14):
at Footing on the Air about nextseason and what he expects from the Senator's
organization as a whole bit more specifically, a young core in Belleville that has
been able to develop in you know, some some pretty uncharacteristic, let's say,
situations for young players this year,so that's certainly been a plus.
Of course. You can find Paton Twitter at pee williams Ahl really focusing

(45:37):
this week. Pat On again thatgrind of the final few weeks of the
season with no playoffs on the line, and you were able to catch up
with a few people to get somethoughts on that. Yeah, Ryan Worsofsky,
head coach of the Chicago Wolves,Spencer Carbury, head coach of the
Hershey Bears, and a pair ofteams that we mentioned earlier in this season

(45:59):
in the show that are in thebrink of capturing division title, but they've
been Hershey's case, for example,they've an interesting situation. They last played
this past Saturday, they're offer andin their week before they play again this
coming Saturday at home. So that'sa lot of time for players to kind

(46:19):
of be sitting around. You don'thave that playoff character to the intensity up
now. In Hershey's case, theydo have the Washington Capitals playoff season ahead,
so you have to start thinking,we're already are thinking about taxi squads
and black cases and that sort ofthing. But for a lot of other
players that are just kind of sittingaround this week, Spencer Carberry had a

(46:43):
pretty good challenge ahead of him.How do you how do you structure a
productive week when it's almost in someways like the last week of the school
year. The ideas, because we'rethat's what we're brainstorm and we're going to
give the guys a couple days offhere just to recharge the batteries after the

(47:06):
three and four and then we're gonnaget creative. I'll I can tell you
that with how we structure the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but
it is it is definitely on theforefront and right at the front of our
minds of what can we do tokeep the guys in this thing because there's
a lot of different balls in playhere with games to be played where we

(47:30):
want to be sharp. Guys needto stay focused that potentially could be going
to the Taxi squad, could potentiallyplay in the Stanley Cup playoffs. You
know, keep keeping spirits up andkeeping guys you know, excited to come
to the rink. That's always somethingthat we take into into account. Soil
that well, we'll let you knowwhen we decide what we will be getting

(47:52):
creative. We've all been there thatfinal week of school. The weather is
getting better and it's tougher to concentrateon your studies. But I feel like
if Spencer Carberry was my teacher,he'd probably have me pretty well in line
for the final week. And itseems like the Hershey Bears will be as
well. And I think a lotof teams Patter are obviously in the same

(48:13):
boat. And uh, and we'llbe taking the same approach heading into the
offseason. Yeah, certainly. Andyou look out in Chicago with Ryan Worsofsky
and Chicago had a pretty, uh, pretty difficult past few games. They
lost, I believe three in arow. They managed to pull out a
win to open the week against Rockford, but they had a four one lead

(48:36):
in that game. Then they managedto have to hold on by their finger
nails when at six to five.Not certainly a game that made Ryan Warsofsky
completely happy with that. They havea busy schedule to run out the week,
so three and four for them tofinished the week. So he's he's

(48:57):
been stretching this message now for severalweeks. Just the intensity level has stay
up. Players may forget at timesthat they are being watched, even if
you are playing in a practice rinkas he's in on a Monday afternoon and
two o'clock Carolina Hurricanes front office,the Nashville Predators front office is not going
to make an allowance for that.Players are still expected to produce and perform,

(49:22):
and if they don't, it's certainlygonna hold them back this summer when
they go through every players shift,the shifts on video and then really critically
analyzes this player future NHL player orno. Yeah, I mean it's a
challenge like that. It's not Iknow, like, hey, we're trying

(49:42):
to win every game, but itis a challenge. We're not playing playoffs.
These guys know it. We're goinghome at the end of the week.
You know, it's very it's verychallenging. It's been a topic of
our with our coaches. But atthe end of the day, you're being
watched. You're being watched. There'sscouts in the building today, there's scouts
watching online. Management is gonna beetat the end of the year and they're

(50:06):
gonna we're gonna sit in a roomand we're gonna watch David Cotton shifts and
we'renna say, Okay, how closeis David Cotton to be in the National
Hockey League? Do we need tosign a free agent? Do we need
to make a draft pick. There'sa lot of decisions that go in and
a lot of weight that is onthese games. And you know, Donny
Woodell is not going to sit andsay oh, just because they're in a
practice drink at two o'clock on aMonday. You know that's a pass.

(50:27):
That's not a pass. And theway Carolina Hurrikins especially, you know,
the culture that Rody's built is wework and you can see it right now.
They've clinched the playoff spot for twoweeks. And he talked about the
competitive consistency and that's what they's preaching. And that's not just in the National
Hock League. That's in his AmericanLeague team, because it's what I believe
in too. And whether you're playingon a Monday here in Hospital States or

(50:51):
you're playing a pickup game at thehotel on an off day in Cleveland,
you want to win that hockey gamewhere you want to win that basketball you
want competitors that want to win.And I think that's something that we've really
talked about a lot, and we'restruggling with it, but it's it's something
that I just don't want players tolook back ten fifteen years from now and
say, man, I just didn'tdidn't grasp back quick enough, couldn't grasp

(51:15):
that a little bit quicker. Sothat's kind of something that we've really been
really been harping on and it's aworker progress as I've done a good job,
but we need to continue it andstuffing myself to continue to teach that
and preach it well. I waskind of surprised that he used the word
challenging, because you know, Ithink a lot of the coaches and players

(51:37):
that we've talked to have kind ofsaid the opposite that it hasn't really been
tough. You know. Spencer Carber, he said that you have to kind
of find a way to deal withwhat is an unfamiliar situation. But I
mean we talked to Parker Kelly fromthe b Sends recently and he said,
it's it's not difficult. You know, guys are playing for a look in
the NHL and here he is makinghis NHL day View and Ottawa's finale this

(52:00):
week. So I was a littlecaught off to to hear him talk about
it being challenging to keep guys ontrack. But perhaps it's more just coming
up with ways to to keep themfocused rather than them actually being challenged to
be focused, if that makes sense. Yes, I know what you're saying,

(52:21):
and I think part of the challengetoo is you know, players may
know that you know, in theback of their head and have long term
know it, but that short termmemory maybe doesn't always duell that message home
for them, and or you havein some cases, you know, with
Nashville and Carolina supplying players or somereally high end prospects there. And not

(52:44):
to pitch on anyone layer, butif you're a prospect, maybe you're a
little bit less concerned about contracts andthings like that. Yeah, it's a
challenge. I mean everything this yearis upside down. But yeah, with
a guy like Warsovski, he's intense, youngest head coach in the league.
The guy is wired, I thinkis a fair way to say. And

(53:07):
I think those players are getting thatmessage day in and day out that they
have to bring in every single nightor day as the case may be.
Yeah, the season winding down,the focus is still on the remaining games
for most of the players and coaches, but for some of the upper level
management, the general managers are alreadylooking well ahead, I would imagine to

(53:30):
next season. Our last guest onon the Fly this week is Stacy Roost,
the GM of the Syracuse Crunch,the assistant GM of the Tampa Bay
Lightning, and we've got a coupleof clips from him. First, pat
on the unique season that the SyracuseCrunch have gone through, and then on
the free agent market and what thatmight look like moving forward. But you

(53:51):
know, the word unique has beenthrown around a lot, and every team
has been in a different situation thisyear, but it's been almost a little
more unique for Syracuse. Who UMhad to deal with a lot of COVID
issues first of all, both youknow, with themselves and in the division,
and uh you know, playing againstsome different opponents than they typically would.

(54:13):
But they still managed to put togetheran over five hundred record. They're
among the top ten in the leaguein goals scored, and with all the
adversity the that team had to faceand the breaks that they had in their
schedule. From where we sit,I think they put a respectable campaign together.
Yeah. The strange thing for Syracusewas as of this past Tuesday,

(54:36):
they were they had not had onesingle case, and yet they had missed
some substantial gaps in their schedule becauseRochester and Unica there they're two opponents h
had about uh COVID nineteen cases,so UM obviously in Unitus case they were
they were out for a month andthat had a repel fact, right,

(55:00):
into the Syracuse schedule. Syracuse only, like you said, played three teams,
Uh, Syracuse, or I shouldsay Rochester, You're going Wilf Barry
Scratton. So it was a veryredundant schedule, as it was for many
teams. But Stacy Roost that Tampamentality never saged, even bringing in a

(55:24):
dual Philly and situation with the FloridaPanthers. It was very much a still
a Tampa Bay Lightning operation and paidoff. They're very happy with how that
season went there in Syracuse, andas we hear from Stacy Roost, the
GM of the Crunch, more praisefor everyone who was responsible for making this

(55:46):
season of success. Well from wherewe where we started with not sure in
a PHL I was gonna play,and not sure if the Crunch we're gonna
play, and um, for me, it was a huge success. I
mean, the staff a great jobof of, you know, making sure
everything happened to be able to allowus to play, and all the protocols

(56:07):
and and all the testing, andthe players they bought in I was saying
saying earlier they bought in. TheyI know. It was a little bit
of a frustrating season for them withnot being able to do much off the
ice and away from the rank.But most importantly, we uh had a
lot of practice time, a lotof individual development, and then ultimately,
um, you know, our bestplayers and our our best prospects that you

(56:29):
know, for a couple of yearsmaybe didn't get as much ice time.
I thought this year, you know, played the most and we're our best
players every night, so I'd sayit was a huge success. We also
got a clip from Stacy Roost onthe off season ahead because the free agent
market this passed off season and thatreally was October to December when the season

(56:52):
started, was extremely strange our ourgms hoping for a more normal off season
and trying to actually build teams thatwill contend for a Calder Cup this summer.
Yes, absolutely, uh you know, come next next brain if it
all goes well. Of the firsttime in three years that they had out

(57:13):
the Corner Cup means there's been along time for teams to go without that
chase, and um, the thingto remember, James are excited, but
I think players even more so.There was such a tough market for players
this past fall and even into thewinter, and but three teams will be
coming back, you know, fromthe twenty eight teams that play this year

(57:37):
up to thirty one plus you'll havethe Seattle Cracking coming in who won't have
their own affiliate, but they willhave at least some spots for players at
the HL level. So uh,Stacy Breust trying to put his forecast on
the player market for players at theNHL HL bow level veteran guys, the

(57:57):
death guys, and what what thatmeans for players to sent. Yeah,
that's another good question. It's gonnabe uh. I mean, you still
need your your your obviously your depthplayers and your call up players and your
leaders. Um. You know,if you look at a lot of the
teams, there's gonna be a lotof teams that are gonna need players,
uh from this year now. Areyou're going to sign your your same players

(58:21):
back that you had on your taxisquads and your your your players that had
here you know here Obviously there's afew teams that, like us, we
had dual affiliates. So there's gonnabe a lot of teams that are looking
for, you know, for fora lot of players once they once they
go back to their their normal hthey're normal regular HL City. So I
think, uh yeah, for theplayers, it's gonna be I guess a

(58:43):
little bit of the unknown to seewhat see what happens once free agency starts,
and see see where all the playersare and see who needs players.
So yeah, plans being made forthe upcoming off season, and again,
I really hope it has a littlebit more of a normal feel than what
we've been through over the last whatfifteen or so months now as as we
prepare for next season. Again,if you want to learn more about how

(59:07):
Stacy Roost runs his operation in Syracuse, head over to Sports Podcasting Network dot
com check out our older episodes.You can do that wherever you get your
pods as well. And he wasa fantastic guest that we had a little
while back now, so you don'twant to miss that chatter for sure.
Let's preview I guess the week tocome, Pat, we had a whole

(59:28):
lot of news this week. Iwould imagine that we'll have a lot of
locker clean out stuff in the nextweek or so. Teams are going to
wrap up their schedules and we'll almosthave I guess a season wrap playoff preview
for the Pacific Division coming up nextweek. Yeah, we will. It's
a strange year because like for example, the can Heat have been done since

(59:50):
Table twenty nine, and the playoffswill be starting in the Pacific Division,
but you'll still Haverley's playing a fewgames left over, a weird structure to
everything but us in keeping with thetheme of this season. But for the
most part, most teams will beheading home after this weekend, so we
will start to get that break upday audio interviews you know, and such

(01:00:16):
with not only players but coaches andgeneral managers. So it's always a good
time to take take the pulse ofdifferent teams and get the sense of what
they thought of this year with theylengd what they didn't like. So there's
a lot a lot ahead. Imean, the season is supposed to be
done May twenty ninth, but there'sstill gonna be a lot packed in up

(01:00:37):
until that point. And if there'ssomething you'd like to hear about or a
team you'd like us to reach outto for some content, to send us
an email around the Apot at gmaildot com or find us on the social
media at around the apod end thatwe will be sure to do our best
to get those guests for you aswe head towards the end of the shortened

(01:00:58):
AHL season here in the midst ofthe COVID nineteen pandemic. Heading to the
end of this episode of Around theA, so we will once again thank
our feature guest, Ben Lipta fromthe Abbotsford News. You can find him
on Twitter at ben Lipta. That'slyp k A. Thanks again to the
folks in Manitoba, Hershey, Syracused, Chicago and Belleville for getting us in

(01:01:19):
on the media calls this week,and thanks to you as always for listening.
We hope you enjoyed the show andwe hope you'll join us again next
week on Around the Air. Thanksfor listening to Around the A. Be
sure to tune in again next week. Find Around the A on the Sports

(01:01:42):
podcasting network, i T, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.
Interact with us on social media,give us your thoughts using the hashtag Around
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