Around the A Podcast - Season 2 Episode 19 with Matt Boldy, 1st Round Drfat Pick of the Minnesota Wild

We speak with Minnesota Wild first-round pick Matt Boldy on his adjustment to the AHL with the Iowa Wild. Then, On The Fly, we check in with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Colorado Eagles, and San Diego Gulls.

We have all that and more on Around The A for 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 and
Patrick Williams on the Sports Podcasting Network, the penultimate episode of season two of

(00:26):
Around the A. It's my favoritetime of year. I get to say
penultimate, a whole lot, secondlast show of our season. Here David
Foot and Patrick Williams with you,and even though the games are done,
there's a whole lot happening off theice. We've got some more awards stand
out, We've got some news onnext year's schedule, which I know a
lot of people have been waiting for, and a few other headlines to touch

(00:48):
Over the course of the next littlebit, will also go in depth with
the Iowa wild rookie Matt Boldy abouthis first season or part season anyway in
the American Hockey League. And thenon the lie later on, we'll be
in Lehigh Valley, Colorado and SanDiego with some coaching news and more coming
up on the show this week.Um again, things will start to die

(01:11):
down, I think that over inthe next few weeks. But another busy
one here over the last seven days. Yeah, you know, right from
the frame pan, you know,into you know, the offseason, you
know, so you go for theplayoffs, which we're pretty exciting, and
then, you know, last weekyou think to scrubbing a little quiet,
and then schedule development comes up andthe division all overalignment of some sort.

(01:36):
Yeah, there's always something and uh, you know, typically June is one
of the busiest months there is inthe hockey count there. This year is
a little bit different because of thedraft being pushed back, free agency so
on and so forth. No callor caught for for example, But there's
still plenty to discuss, plenty totalk about, and a lot you know

(01:57):
that will I guess shape the nextcouple of seas in the American Arco League.
And the big news this week wasthat the league approved its schedule for
this season and even looked ahead tonext season, which I think for everybody
who's you know, been trudging throughthe pandemic the last year, it's it's
welcome news that we're a going tobe pretty well as normal as can be

(02:19):
come October, and that be lookinginto the twenty two twenty three season,
there's going to be some interesting changesthat I think fans will be excited about,
and teams will be excited about aswell. So let's break some of
that stuff down first. The Boardof Governors approving teams to play at least
seventy two games this year, ifnot seventy six, and hoping to move

(02:43):
to a unified seventy two game schedulenext season, and that is something that
I think a lot of watchers ofthis league have been calling for for years.
So let's maybe start with this season. Why not just started at seventy
two games this year? Why givesome clubs the option to play four more
games? Well, there's two thingsto that. One is the Pacific Division

(03:05):
still wants to only play sixty eight, and they will. The other thing
is a lot of team they maderevenue projections based on seventy six games,
So you can kind of tell whowas on board with this who wasn't based
on if they're playing seventy six orseventy two this season. Take, for
example, the Hershey Bears. Theyaverage eighty five hundred to nine thousand and

(03:29):
night sometimes over ten on a Saturdaynight, for example, So even two
games, if you lop that offtheir schedule, that's a lot of revenue
that they're leaving on the table.As we've talked how many times this season,
teams are a star for revenue afteressentially going really about the last fifteen
months with no meaningful revenue other thanyou know, a little bit hair there.

(03:53):
Hershey for example, was able tohave you know, around a thousand
fans a game, so you're,you know, you're selling some tickets or
selling merchandise, but your your revenueis still it's a fraction of what it
would have been otherwise. So inorder to get everybody on board, everybody
had to give a little bit.And I think really the bigger sacrifice is

(04:15):
by those teams that will have tocut from seventy six down to seventy two
starting in twenty twenty two twenty three. It's been a contentious issue really since
twenty fifteen when that whole West Coastcontingent came in and they insisted on playing
sixty eight games. The league agreedto that. It's been kind of a

(04:41):
throne in the side, I knowfor Dave Andrews for a lot of his
tenure, something that a lot offans gets pretty riled up about, which
I don't completely understand because you know, I would hear from people in Eastern
Conference complaining that, well, youknow, the Pacific Division is only playing
sixty eight and Michael, you don'tthey played them anyway during the regular season
to start with, and quite frankly, it didn't seem to make any effect,

(05:05):
you know, laid into the playoffs, you know, even into the
Carter Cup final, because if youlook at the last five Cup champions it
was Charlotte's Toronto Grand Rapids in Cleveland. It really hasn't made a big difference.
And then obviously twenty twenty there wasnobody in twenty twenty one, no
one, So you know, certainlyit's not as if those Pacific Division teams

(05:26):
benefited that much or if at all, by only playing Sir Stade games.
But in any event, this getseverybody out of the same page. Eventually.
Now the pain will come this seasonwhere you have a mix of teams
playing anywhere from sixty eight to seventysix games, which means the dreaded point
percentage is returning. I was gonnasay, yeah, we'll have to determine

(05:47):
the standings based on points percentage,which is something they did at the end
of the twenty nineteen twenty season.And of course this year because everybody played
a different amount of games. Yeah, and you know, this season,
I guess I didn't focus on ittoo much since, you know, for
the most part of the playoffs otherthan in the Pacific Division. But it

(06:09):
really does get pretty cumbersome when you'rein that March April stretch and you know
you're no longer looking at well,is this a two point game? Instead
it's well, this is a pointone three game or or something to that
effect, and you know, it'sjust gets it gets messy trying to figure

(06:30):
out, you know, the differentpossibilities. I know, you know pr
Czar of the American AUCA League,Jason chamovic Um, you know, who
does fantastic job with everything he putsout the you know, these daily breakdowns
towards the end of the season,and uh, you know, with the
different possibilities and different number of configurations, and I mean, the thing,

(06:55):
I feel like I'm whole, likeback in in mattch class. You know,
it's you know, I was toldthere would be no math of this
job, and obviously you know,so just that I you know, that's
just trying to read it, nevermind trying to put the thing together as
Jason asked to So that part's notideal, I don't think, but it
will eventually get us to that seventytwo across the board, which I think

(07:18):
will be very welcome. They'll finallyget everybody on the same page. No
more point percentage, you know,more complaining about to all this team plays
more games or fewer games. Everybody'son the same footing, and I think
it's about time, both for financialreasons as I mentioned, also for player
development reasons. The West Coast teamsare have been very insistent that they didn't

(07:39):
want to play more than sixteen.So finally everybody kind of gave in a
little bit and got us to thepoint where everybody can more or less eventually
be on the same page. Well, and I mean, to me,
it makes sense to have everybody playthe same number of games. And I
understand that some of those teams thatdo bring in a little bit more attendance
wise be upset about losing, youknow, some gate if they have to

(08:03):
play less games, But I mean, it's all in the best interests of
the league at the end of theday, is it not. Yeah,
you know this is you know,it's one of those things where the league
would kind of take I think,you know, some shots from people you
know, both in the HL worldand you know, really beyond, you
know, for for having a midgeschedule. You know, anything I think

(08:24):
you can do to avoid that sortof criticism and frankly, the level of
confusion at times where you know,the casual fans trying to make sense of
the standings and you know, wondering, you know, it's a week to
go in the season, why isthis group of teams playing eight fewer games?
Right? So I think anything youcan do is simplify it and keep

(08:46):
it real. Basically, let's behonest, most fans in this league are
more towards the casual side and arenot following everything you know on a day
to day basis. They kind ofwant to just pop in, look at
the standings, make sense it realquickly, and move on with their day.
So this will get it there.But it's been a fight. I
know that Dave Andrews had a really, really difficult time trying to get these

(09:11):
teams on the same page. Imean when you're talking like you said that
that loss of gate revenue, andthen also the NHL teams who are kind
of pulling the streams on the WestCoast, not wanting the players to play
more. Dave Andrews was always kindof the guy in the middle of trying
to pull everyone in the same directionand get everybody in agreement, and that

(09:33):
was difficult. Scott House and didmake it happen. Finally, I think
to some understand I think maybe thisseason, the way the schedule was so
lopsided and different, it did showthat you really do kind of need some
uniformity across to the league. Andyou know, if you can get get
it to that point, you know, even if it's not this coming season,

(09:54):
all the better. But yeah,this has been This has been one
of the one of the real issuesthat was kind of just hanging around every
year which came up. Coaches didn'tlike it. Certain a teams that you
know, missed a playoff spot forexample, I mean, I think back
I think it was twenty fifteen sixteen, Texas and San Antonio were in that

(10:16):
Pacific Division, but they played seventysix that year. They actually had more
points and missed out. I thinkof San Antonio that missed out in the
playoffs that year, and they werenot happy obviously, because you know,
these teams that had played fewer gamesand had fewer points ended up getting ahead
of them based on point percentage,and that didn't sit well with them.

(10:39):
So this this essentially just just evensthings out, takes away one more headache
for the lead, one more sourceof angst around the lead. And like
I said, it's been a difficult, difficult battle, probably one of the
tougher battles that Dave Andrews had toface during his tenure. And then you

(11:01):
know, as we said, ScottHolsky came in, he inherited a pandemic.
So I don't know, maybe theyfelt bad or what, but everybody
finally finally gave in a little bitand sacrifice, like you said, for
the betterment of the league. Soagain, seventy two games across the board
next season. Here are the teamsthat will play seventy two this season.

(11:24):
Belleville, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Hartford, Iowa, Laval, Manitoba, Providence,
Rockford, Texas, Toronto, Utica. The lower end of the spectrum
that sixty eight game is pretty muchthe entire Pacific Division. The new club
out in Abbotsford, Bakersfield, Colorado, Henderson, Ontario, San Diego,
San Jose, Stockton, and Tucson, and then everybody else will play seventy

(11:46):
six, Chicago, Cleveland, GrandRapids, Hershey, Lehigh Valley, Milwaukee,
Rochester, Springfield, Syracuse, Wilkesbury, Scranton. The real interesting thing,
and I'm not sure if you canshed some more light on on it,
for us, was the kind oflittle teaser that they want to change
the number of teams perhaps to qualifyfor the playoffs next season. Nothing else

(12:07):
other than that was said publicly,but they just kind of they snuck it
into that release that oh, bythe way, next season, more teams
are going to qualify. If wedon't know, I guess the details specifically,
do we know a little bit aboutwhy this came up? I think
a few things. One is NHLclubs are very They're very big at having

(12:31):
their players get some sort of playoffexperience, and we saw that this season
with the Pacific Division, how theywere very insistent on making that happen.
They wanted those players, even it'sonly a handful of games, to have
that experience, have that pressure,higher level of play that comes with the
pollseason. So that's one thing.I think. The second thing is you
know, and this is sort ofbased on what I've heard from some people

(12:54):
around the league and just kind ofputting different pieces of that together. Is
this is a little bit of asweetener. I think for some of those
clubs that maybe we'll be losing somerevenue, this gives them a chance possibly
if they were, you know,right on that playoff line, slip into
the playoffs, they gets get achance, then that too will potentially you

(13:20):
go on a playoff run. Imean, even if you sneak in,
you still have that opportunity and makeup some of that revenue. Now.
Now playoffs are a little bit differentin that sense because for teams it's a
it's a tougher cell generally speaking,because you don't have time to do advanced
sales, group sales, that sortof thing. It's kind of very much
on the fly. And but asyou go further into the playoffs and you're

(13:45):
generally able to start really getting morefans in the buildings. So potentially you
can add you know, a numberof additional home dates and then if you
get OFFSETA and you get in theCarter Cup final, you're probably looking at
close to sell out crowds, ifnot sold out, So this opens at
group of currently sixteen teams, probablyuntil at least twenty this season, maybe

(14:07):
twenty four WISH beyond that. Ithink that's still to be determined. But
it's read that press release carefully.It says, quote additionally, there will
be an increase in the number ofteams qualifying for their Carter Cup playoffs each
year, emphasis on each year.But I don't think this season coming up

(14:30):
is necessarily the end of that.I think maybe you'll see twenty and then
twenty four WISH for twenty two twentythree. And they did say at the
end of this release as well thatthe playing schedule and postseason format for twenty
one twenty two will be announced thissummer, so that certainly does leave the
door open for maybe more teams toget in this year as well. Yeah,

(14:52):
so yeah, right now you havefour divisions. Potentially, let's say
if you go to you bump itup from sixteen to twenty this year,
that would potentially give you a battlefor fourth place. Let's say, so
a fourth place team hosts the fifthplace team in a given division. Maybe

(15:13):
they play a best of three,maybe it's even the best of one,
like a wildcard sort of thing wildcardlike kind of like almost like Major League
Baseball though to a playing type game. Um, you know, one and
done. Either you're in or you'reout, and you know that's you know,
so that could be one way todo it. Um, that's that

(15:33):
would be interesting. It's certainly away to generate a little bit of buzz
um. And then and then obviouslyif you're bumped up to twenty four teams,
now you're looking at six per division. So then what do you do
there? Maybe you do a buyfor the first place team. Maybe you
could do a kind of a littlebit of an expanded play in. Um,

(15:56):
I don't know, I mean,you could different different possibilities, but
you would serving led itself just tofirst and foremost getting more players, more
prospects into pole season play, andalso getting like I said, more teams
able to generate a little bit ofextra playoff revenue, which, let's be
honest, coming off this season,the teams really have had their revenue cut

(16:19):
almost across the board. I reallylittle bit will help and if you can
get your you know, another homedate or two at the very least,
you'll be that much better off asyou try to make up some of those
financial losses that you endured this year. Well, and I'm all for more
teams getting in, but it alsodoes seem strange to say, like six

(16:41):
teams out of each division might getin, but say, you know,
the North Division only has seven teamsin it, so that you know,
it's kind of like, just don'tbe last. And I feel like when
you start letting that many teams in, it almost defeats the purpose of the
regular season and playing for seatings.Hopefully they expanded, but maybe you know

(17:02):
not to that point, or there'ssome sort of weird divisional crossover. Who
knows what they're gonna do. They'regoing to announce all that later on this
summer. So well, just onething on that you could right now,
the divisions are a little bit lopsided, right, so yeah, just a
little bit, just a little bit, although not as bad as this season
where you had the infamous three teamdivision. Yes, so I guess everything

(17:25):
now looks a little bit better bycomparison. But I know what you're saying.
If you have a seventeen division andlet's say six make it, it
does I think sort of take someof the year out of the regular season.
But if you realign and do fourdivisions, eight teams of peace six
out of eight, I think that'smore reasonable. Now, the question is,

(17:48):
you have Palm Springs coming in nextseason, right, so obviously they're
a natural fifth for the Pacific Division. That's gonna bump that division up to
ten teams unless you move some money. But who do you move when all
of those teams are fairly west inthe country. Yes, that's where it
gets messy now. I think theobvious choice would be Colorado since they're They're

(18:11):
a flight away no matter what.Yeah, so either you're flying out of
Denver to the West coast, oryou're flying out of Denver to let's say,
Chicago and bussing from there. Idon't think it makes much of a
difference either way. It gets alittle bit trickier there when you have Henderson
and you have Tucson, who arein the West but not in California as

(18:33):
we saw for example though with theNHL they bumped the Arizon Coyotes into the
Central Division. That's obviously that divisionis enormous now at this point, it
goes from Arizona up to Winnipeg,east to Nashville and then South down to
Dallas. So that's a big division. But if you bumped Colorado and Tucson

(18:56):
and Tucsons a team that kind ofhalf bus is half flies depending on the
situation. You know, they canbust to San Diego. I think they
bust to Ontario, they can bustto Henderson. They do fly to stock
and they fly up to uh SanJose. They'll be flying up the abbots
for now. So you can makethe case that you could bump Tucson and

(19:18):
Colorado to the Central Division then,but then that opens up the canna worn't
or then you have to bump somebodyout of the Central Division. Apps would
be the natural choice. But GranderActins is kind of fur removed from the
teams in the North Division. Soyou know, it's one of the saints

(19:38):
where you solve one problem and youcreate another problem in bumping teams around.
So and then obviously, you know, certain teams are comfortable where they are
um and don't want to be moved, so then that gets messy. But
I think, yeah, there's somedifferent things to you could kick around that
would probably be the you know,in a per the world where there are

(20:00):
no political considerations, that would bethe most obvious fixed for that alignment.
Yeah, then you have a night'seven thirty two teams, four divisions,
eight teams apiece, six teams makeit, and you're done, and you
call today and you have a nice, perfectly balanced lead, which really has
been the goal ever since Dave Andrewstook over control back in nineteen ninety four.

(20:25):
Yeah, so that's all, youknow, prognosticating, if you will,
what's going to happen a full seasonfrom now. We're gonna again get
to seventy two to seventy six games, maybe sixty eight, depending on where
you are in the league this year. And I think we can all agree
that as audits as it is tohave teams play, you know, different

(20:45):
numbers of games, it's nice tohave full schedules back. It's nice to
have a lot of chatter about teamsreturning home and travel being normal, and
the border eventually opening and things likethat. So I think we'll leave the
guessing for maybe later in next seasonand getting twenty two at twenty three,
and for now we'll just enjoy thefact that things are getting pretty well back

(21:08):
to normal. Yeah, and justone day on that point, you know,
what I maybe took away from thismost was, you know, because
there was some real concern even amonth or so ago with the border,
that that border was still looking likeit was going to be sealed tight going
into the fall, you really hadto think about the possibility even the Canadian

(21:29):
division. And you know that obviously, like I mean, if the border
shut, you can't have a division, for example, like the North where
you have Belleville, Toronto, volIn there with the New York clubs.
Well, it looks like the borderis softening. We're not there yet,
but it's getting there, and Ithink they're this signals optimism that by this

(21:52):
October the border should be open orat least close to open. And then
perhaps what you do with the scheduleis you keep the cross border games,
push them back a little bit intomaybe December, and then back hold of
them on the end of the schedule. That way, so there's different possibilities,
but I mean, dan result isit looks promising, especially now with
the NHL getting that exemption, thatand obviously improving case numbers, improving vaccination

(22:17):
numbers that we're getting closer. Youknow, It's obviously it's been a slog
but we're getting there, and Ithink this is a sign of some real
optimism on behalf of the league,because let's be honest, if you know,
if this this format now that you'reobviously kind of tied it to the
schedule, and the last thing youwant to do is have to rip up
the schedule in September and come upwith something all new at that point.

(22:40):
So fingers crossed, I guess,but I think we're getting there. For
sure. We are, And Imean you mentioned the exemption for those who
might not be aware of the Canadiangovernment gave the ok essentially for NHL teams
to fly back and forth across theCanada US border for the final two rounds
of the Stanley Cup playoff because theCanadian division is done there and it's actually

(23:03):
got a lot of other sports teamsin Canada in this country. A little
bit hot under the caller that theNHL teams are getting a little bit of
special treatment, but I'm not sureif it's special treatment as much as it
is right place right time. TheNHL's just getting to that point in its
playoffs where it needs to come acrossthe border, and things are getting to
that point on the COVID case andvaccination front that it's easier to allow.

(23:26):
I mean, they're going to berestricted, they're gonna have to fly private
jets to get over, they won'tbecoming commuter flights. They're going to be
in modified bubbles in hotels so theywon't be out and about in the community.
And at the end of the day, it's it's just a nice test
run I think for what other teamsand perhaps the American Hockey League may have
to do moving forward. But ourhope again is that to everything is back

(23:49):
to normal or as close as possibleby October. If more information or I
should say when more information on theplayoff format and the schedule for next season
comes out. We will break inthrough the off season with our off season
updates here and there. Next weekon our season finale, the president and
CEO of the American Hockey League,Scott Housing, is going to be with

(24:10):
us his second appearance on the show. And can't wait to chat with him
and to wrap up and finally startto look forward. So you know,
lots coming up here on around theA through the summer. So you know,
given the fact that we're not goingto weekly shows through the summer.
They might be every couple of weeks, every three weeks more so, depending
on when the news breaks. Moreimportant than ever to hit that subscribe button.

(24:33):
Make sure you don't miss an episode. Follow us on social media at
around the apod and be sure thatyou're up to date throughout the course of
the summer on the latest happenings aroundthe league. Our feature guests this week
we'll get to in a minute.It's going to be a bit of a
different format with Matt Boldy. We'regonna dissect an interview that he had with
Pat last week. Matt Boldi therookie from the Iowa wild who made a

(24:56):
pretty quick impression after turning prout ofBoston College eighteen points in fourteen games,
So we will hear more about hisadjustment to pro before we do that.
Pad a couple more awards to handout and another key retirement, a veteran
leaving the game. Let's start though, with the Less Cunningham Award, the
league's most valuable player, and thisyear it's awarded to t J. Tynan

(25:19):
of the Colorado Eagles after an outstandingshortened campaign for him to saw him put
up thirty five points in just twentyseven games. Yeah. Well, his
head coach, Great Cronin with theColorado Eagles said that, you know,
for his money, Tynan's the bestplayer in the league. I can't really
disagree with that. He's one ofthose players. He's a small guy,

(25:45):
but he gets around the ice reallywell. Great puck distributor, hard worker,
certainly a player that's a winner.I want to call her cup back
in twenty sixteen with Well then LakeErie Monster. He went to another final
back in twenty nineteen. Um,he's one of those guys that's been hovering
on the fringe of the NHL forfor a long time. Frankly surprised he

(26:10):
hasn't gotten a better opportunity, umto really showcase, because I think he
would fit in perfectly in a lotof the NHL teams lineup. He plays
that that modern day game you know, speed skating, UM, you know
skill UM. So you know,maybe fifteen years ago he would have been

(26:30):
a more likely choice to be UMkind of buried in the American Hockley.
But a guy like him, UM, I've never done a great answer for
why he's not in the NHL quitefrankly, Um, but down I mean
down in the American LaDue. He'sall he's over a point per game guy.
Um, he's just a kind ofplayer that that every team is looking

(26:53):
for, both at the NHL andthe HL level in terms of, UH,
someone to guide their prospects. Who'scaptain with the with the Eagles on
the team that frankly had a lotof candidates, Um to be a captain,
he won that captain c And Um, you know when you're playing I'll
explain real simple, when you're playingfor Great Cronan, Um, as a

(27:17):
captain, you have a lot ofbrokering to do between the head coaching and
uh and the players. Great Cronanis very demanding, UM, very very
good coach. UM. And butthat's where you kind of need that that
that captain who's well respected who cankind of balance out that message UM and

(27:41):
uh you know, make make andsell it basically to the players. I
mean that's a challenge for a lotof head coaches these days to sell that
message. And UM, you needsomebody who's a well respected player, UH,
who's who's done it, who's beenin the NHL a little bit,
uh to help sell that manage Soum, Tynan is going to be free

(28:03):
agent this summer, twenty nine yearsold. He's going to get paid.
There's no question that he's going toget an excellent contract, even in a
market that might be a little tougherthan normal. Um, he's he's certainly
earned it. He's coming off oftwo seasons with the Colorado Avalanche system.
UM. I think he needs toprobably go somewhere else, Um, somewhere

(28:27):
where the NHL club is in thewind now mode and completely you know,
stacked, you know at the forwarduh, you know lineup. So you
know, I think if he could, uh, he could find another home
somewhere, he can definitely make apush for an NHL job. I'm sure
he's like, you know, fiveeight one sixty five, and you know

(28:47):
that that that's always held against players. But you know, as we've seen
across the NHL, now size neednot be an impediment for for a for
a player, especially with that levelof skill. So, UM, I
want to see what he can do, but I do think he probably needs
to find a new situation somewhere elsein the NHL and regardless of what the

(29:07):
offseason holds for him. Congratulations goto TJ Tynan. The less Cunningham Award
winner, the American Hockey League's MostValuable Player, is voted by coaches,
players and media members across the league. And yeah, be a nice fit
for any team that's looking to adda little bit of veteran depth and scoring
to their roster. We go froma veteran guy who wins the MVP to

(29:30):
a brand new player to the leaguewho wins the Dudley Red Garrett Memorial Award
for Rookie of the Year, andthat's Riley Damianni from the Texas Stars.
Boy, what a season for thiskid. Pat All Rookie team and a
Central Division All Star. He ledall rookies and scoring, tied for third
in the overall scoring race, andwas the Rookie of the Month back in

(29:52):
March after putting up fifteen points inten games. He got off to a
flying start in his first campaign andhe did not look back throughout the course
of the season. Fifth round picktwenty eighteen, What a rise for him.
I mean, you know, he'sanother guy. He's on the smaller
side, but he plays a realkind of like thought on a bone type
game. He's always around the puck. Uh. He plays way bigger than

(30:15):
five, ten, one seventy five. He told me I spoken to him
at the end of the season.He wants to get up a round take
one eighty m that you know thatthat's that kind of magic number where he
can be you know, stronger,but not you know, take anything away
from his speed or made some goodright now. So um, young young

(30:37):
guy just turned twenty one this pastI think march Um came right in,
played on the first line with AdamMasher and Baptiste and they were steady all
season long. And I mean bigpart of that was Riley Damy Anny just
a guy that does a lot ofthings, well, maybe nothing great.

(31:00):
He worked just butt off every shift, really made a strong impression on the
Dallas Stars and Texas head coach NeilGraham with what he was able to do
this season. And you know,he's a guy. Yeah he's fifth round
pick, but that's no longer afactor. He's he played like a first
round pick coming in DH all thisseason. And I think the most striking

(31:22):
thing for him is in a yearwhere you had so many top top eighteen
nineteen year old first round picks,here's the guy, the fifth round pick
who comes out and wins the Rookieof the Year, So full credit to
him. He'll go home this summer, hope a big summer. You know,
he works his butt off in thegym. He'll come back and I
think has an excellent shot to competefor a job now with the Dallas Stars

(31:45):
this wall. And I mean,you look at the guys who won that
award. Perhaps you know, justin the last couple of seasons at least
Josh Norris with the Senators, AlexBarry Boulet with the Crunch and the Lightning,
and Mason Appleton out Winnipeg way,you would think that based yeah,

(32:05):
the list goes on and on,right, you would think that he's he's
pretty close, just based on winningthat award and the performance he put up
this season. And always nice tosee a guy who goes a little bit
later in the draft find that typeof success in their first season. And
we'll see if he's able to keepthat up heading into next season. So
again, Riley Damianni from Texas yourDudley Red Garrett Memorial Award winner the AHL's

(32:30):
Most Outstanding Rookie for twenty twenty one. Last headline here is a retirement and
it's coming out of the crease,as Brad Teason announces that he will retire
after a twelve year pro career wherehe played mainly in the American Hockey League,
most recently with the Cleveland Monsters.How big of a loss is this
for the Cleveland Monsters and maybe forthe league as well. It's big.

(32:53):
He's been a real consistent pitcher reallyin Cleveland for a long time time,
and he's always that guy that he'sthat perfect kind of backup goalie that is
good enough to push the starter,but is also the type of player who
could put his ego to the sideand put the team first and not make

(33:15):
waves. So um, he's beenthere really. I mean he came in
to Cleveland back in twenty fifteen andhe actually was a guy at that point
where he was looking like his careermight be over and he managed put together
another six seasons in the American HockeyLeague. A guy that's everywhere he played,

(33:37):
he was highly highly respected one goaliein the year back in I think
twenty eleven with the Wilsberry Strand Penguins. He really high level goal at this
you know, at the American HockeyLeague level one o'clot or cut back in
twenty sixteen with Lady here and helpedbring bring along some goalies over the years,

(33:57):
you know, played with Unite CorporateSalo Anton Forsberg came through there.
There have been some pretty good goaliesthat have come through that Cleveland pipeline over
the years, and he's been abig part of it. And a guy,
like I said, who can youknow, play that team first role,
but also when he when he's calledupon, step in the crease and

(34:20):
not a beat, and you know, I think he has a good future
in this game. I would besurprised to see him become a goalie coach.
I think he can perfect fit forthat role. A guy who's very
supportive, guy who can work wellwith the young players. Obviously very recently
out of the game, so he'svery familiar with with the current the current
standard and the current league and everythingin that regard. So a guy that's

(34:44):
tremendously respected around the league. Andyeah, it's a real loss, you
know, for the Cleveland Monsters,for the Columbus Blue Jackets and for the
American Hockey League. But on theother hands, full march to him on
a fantastic career coming out not drafted, made a career for him, saw
for a long time in this league, going all the way back to two
thousand and nine, and just aremarkable career and has a lot to be

(35:06):
proud of. Yeah. It leavesthe American Hockey League in ninth place in
the all time shutout list with twentyeight. He won the IOA American Specialty
Man of the Year Award as wellfor Cleveland for his work in the community.
So a role model to say theleast. Leaving the Cleveland Monsters and
heading off to the next chapter asBrad Teason announces his retirement, we'll move

(35:30):
straight to our feature guest this week, a broken down interview with Matt Boldy
from the Iowa Wild former Boston Collegeplayer. He was in the running for
the Hobie Baker Award, and we'llhear from him next on the season two
episode nineteen of Around the Year.Interact with us on social media, give
us our thoughts using the hashtag Aroundthe A and follow us at around the

(35:53):
apot you're listening to Around the Aon the Sports Podcasting Network. Another reminder
to a subscribe to the pod whereveryou're listening. Give us a rating and
a review, and don't forget youcan send us any feedback suggestions, so
whatever. At around the apod atgmail dot com, we'd love to hear

(36:15):
from you. Got a good chanceto hear from one of the up and
comers in the American Hockey League thisyear, Matt Boldy from the Iowa Wild
pat You were able to chat withhim last week, and boy, what
a season he had to He wasonly there for eighteen games, but certainly
made the sorry fourteen games, certainlymade an impact though, with eighteen points.

(36:37):
The twelfth overall pick in twenty nineteen, coming out of a good program
at Boston College and played with somegood players there, as we will hear,
but seemed to make that transition fairlyeasily, which it seems to be
a little bit of a pattern.I think a lot of these top prospects
have been coming out of college andjumping into the American Hockey League like it

(36:57):
ain't no thing. Yeah, it'skind of amazing when I think about it,
Like you know, when I thinkback maybe ten years ago, like
um, when guys were coming inthat was a huge jump in and they
felt it um. And now itseems like these these kids, they come
in and it's like they need aweekend to adjust and then they're off.

(37:19):
When you look at Alex Newhook playedwith Boldi on the same line at Boston
College. Um, he's now inthe lineup for the Colorado Avalanche second round
of the playoffs. Um, youknow, making a contribution. Uh,
not just not just kind of therefor the you know, along for the
ride, but actually a part ofum part of the team and part of

(37:40):
the lineup and being asked to makeum ya, like I said, makes
some real contributions that it's just you'reyou look at and your I think even
coaches are a little surprised, Um, how well these players adjusted. And
Matt Boldi, when you look atwhat this season could have been for a
player like him, uh what itis looking like. You know, last

(38:01):
September there was a real possibility thathe was not gonna be able to play
at all this season. Instead,he was able to play at Boston College,
get a good amount of games inthere, playing the World Junior Championship
when a gold medal doing that,come to the American Hockey League for fourteen

(38:22):
games, get a taste of thepro game, and then he wrapped up
by going up to the Minnesota Wildfor a couple of weeks as a Black
Ace and going along for that playoffrun. So really, I mean,
if you're him, you have tobe happy with all things considered how the
season unfolded for him and really sendshim into the summer down a good note.

(38:43):
So a good young player, Atwelfth overall pick. I know sometimes
players like that that could be alittle bit of a controversial spot. You're
not necessarily the most obvious pick interms of, you know, like a
top five pick. But I lovedwhat I saw from him. He adjusted
the pro game really well. Iknow Head coached him, Army was really

(39:06):
really happy with him. Um,and Green's a great shot, gets around
the ice well, uh, youknow, that's sort of the knock on
him, and it's a lot ofyoung players, but he makes it work.
And I think I won't be surprisedto see him in the Minnesota lineup
come back Seaton and that you askedhim this week about that adjustment to the
American hockey leave. Like I said, guys are just overall everyone's a better

(39:30):
hockey player. I think, Um, like you said, I was playing
really high in college college talking itwas it was hard and it was unbelievable.
But you get to this level andguys are just a little bit better.
Um, feed are quicker, sticksare better, and um, they're
just a little bit more anticipating ofwhat you're gonna do. Um Like getting
out of corners and trying to spinoff guys. It's definitely harder. They're

(39:53):
they're a little bit quicker. Itcan recover faster, and even when you
have some guys beat, they're stillgood enough to they'll take it from me.
I'm preventing you from getting to whereyou want to be. But yeah,
I think I think guys guys thinkthe game a little bit better,
and they're they're able to to solvetheir problems a little bit quicker than it
was in college, which which makesthings harder for sure. And I'm just

(40:15):
curious when you look at these guysthat are making easy adjustments to the AHL
as opposed to like you said,maybe ten years ago, do you think
it has anything to do with thefact that the league is getting significantly younger
as a whole, Like it's alot of young guys in the league,
not to say they're not skilled ortalented, but there's I think something to

(40:36):
be said when you're jumping in witha lot more twenty to twenty five year
old rather than you know, thechunk of thirty year old grizzled bets that
this league used to be made upof. That's part of it, for
sure. I think the college programsare a lot better now, speaking with
coaches who've worked at both levels,so that's a big part of it.

(40:58):
I think players are just more sadin general. There's so much more exposure
and coverage and players aren't coming inquite as you know, wide eyed anymore
like they used to. And Ithink part of it too is the change
in style. I mean, let'sbe honest, ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago, this league was thiswas a hard league in terms of the

(41:19):
physicality, in terms of the braceof style. I mean, it was
not an easy lead for young playersto come into. You know, it
was a lead with a lot ofa lot of tough guys, and that's
obviously changed a lot in the lastnumber of years. So it's a little
bit I think of an easier atmosphere, a little style game. I guess

(41:39):
it's a way to put it.To come into so I think all those
factors rolling rolled in make it suchthat young player like Matt Bowley can come
in and find his footing more quickly, and you know, as leader has
just I think fine tuned the developmentthroughout the years. That's been a big

(42:00):
part of it for him. Man. You remember for a lot of gun
players well, and one thing thatcan make the adjustment a little bit easier
is the guys that you play with. Um well, first here from from
Matt Boldy on his linemates at BostonCollege. We mentioned new Hook already,
but um he had pretty much aperfect trio I think to play with that

(42:21):
allowed him to develop his skills andyou know, become exactly the type of
player that he is, which Ithink in turn helped his his adjustment to
the league as we hear here inthis club. For me, I was
pretty lucky playing in college. Iwas playing with Alex Newlok and Mike Hartman,
who well of them played NHL gamesalready. So I think for me

(42:45):
the adjustment made it. Playing withthose guys made it easier going to this
level. And and because I wasplaying with those guys that are so good
at BC, Sharon the puck wasn'tan issue. And when you get to
this level, there's there's no reallykeeping it yourself. You gotta be able
to give it and get in thespots to get it back. So Jasmin
definitely made it easier. But Yeah, like I've been saying, guy guys

(43:07):
are great. The guys that Iwas lucky enough to play with made my
life pretty easy. And then ashe made that jump into league, Pat
played with some pretty good guys inhis first pro season as well in Iowa.
Yeah, Jerry Mayhew, Mason Shaw, Jerry may who obviously we had
him on the show last season.Pure sniper at this level has played some

(43:29):
NHL. So you know, yougo from playing with Alex new Hook in
college UM to now coming in andyou're playing with a guy like Jerry Mayhew
made that transition a lot easier,even despite the higher level of competition.
Yeah, I think I was prettylucky I got I got to play with
a few different guys, but playingwith guys like Mason Shaw and Jerry Mayhew,

(43:52):
and I was with them for themajority of it. Just, Uh,
I think the way I play,I think I can I can compliment
different types of games. Uh,not really a one dimensional player. I
can play without the puck and canprotect it, can make plays. So
being able to play with those guysthat they're so smart and they can score,
they can make plays, I thinkthat was the biggest thing. Um,

(44:14):
all of us can play different ways. It wasn't it wasn't a one
dimensional type play where where I wasdoing all this one thing and someone else
is doing all side of thing.Like having guys that can can play different
styles within themselves makes makes playing onlineso easy and that's very success, really
kind of fun. The other bigthing that to any young player has to
adjust to is a new coach.And Tim Army is uh, you know,

(44:38):
a tough guy to play for attimes. I'm sure the guys love
him and um, you know,obviously they'll play for him, and he's
manages to find success. But there'salways a bit of culture shock, right
when you leave a program that you'refamiliar with, you make the jump to
pro hockey and you get to Iwon't say stuck, but slotted in playing
for a guy like that, Yeah, and you're coming in there a lot

(45:00):
of pressure your first round pick.I mean a lot of people are counting
on you. The Minnesota fans andmanagement are certainly keeping an eye on what
you're doing in Iowa, and um, you're all of nineteen years old,
and you have to kind of getthat all on track real quickly. You're
you're obviously dealing with just a majorchange in your personal life. You're going
from that college world where you're kindof insulated in that little bubble, and

(45:23):
now you're you're dealing with men.You're dealing with thirty five year olds like
Cody McLeod, and you're you're invery much and add all type of world,
and um, you have to adjustquickly. And this we're having a
good head coach like Tim Army reallyhelps ease that transition for a young player.

(45:44):
The biggest thing talking to him beforeI even started playing was just to
go out there and play hockey theway that that I always have. Um,
I think that was the biggest thinghe did for me, just instead
of making me feel nervous or feellike I had to follow the system to
the perfect tea and if I messedup that it was going to be the
end of me playing. Um,he was just he was big on me

(46:05):
going out there and playing with confidenceand playing the way I know how to
play. For me, hearing thatfrom a coach makes you makes you feel
so much better that you know youcan go out there and play and you
can try to make plays rather thanjust go out there and fire it into
the zone and go for a checkand and trying to oversimplify your game.
So he was awesome to me,and just the big that was the biggest

(46:27):
thing, just him having confidence tome to go out there and play the
way I wanted to. So clearly, Pat Boldy was able to you know,
settle in under Team Army, absorbbut a lot of what he had
to pass along this season and findsome success early in his AHL career.
It was a great year for sure. A lot a lot of different different

(46:50):
movements and a lot of different hotelsthat I've been in this year for sure,
but it's been awesome, especially withthe year he fat with COVID and
everything. Um, I'm not reallysure to expect coming into it. It's
been a great year. Had agreat year at BC unbelievable team tough loss
and in the regional finals of thetournament, but stuff like that happens,

(47:12):
and then World Juniors unbelievable again.Always wanted to play in there and being
able to win gold with the groupwe had um growing up with those guys
and playing with them at the developmentprogram made that even more special. To
finally get that gold medal and obviouslyjump to HL and everything like that was
awesome, just another step towards theultimate goal and and being able to really

(47:35):
see see what my games like atthat level made it made it awesome,
gave me a definitely gave me someconfidence and and some to work towards the
summer rather than I'm taking the easyroute and not making that jump at the
end of this year. So it'sdefinitely nice that I got that experience and
can really use that to help methe summer. And now you can kind
of focus on on the off season. And I think that first summer as

(48:00):
a pro is always an interesting onebecause you don't have that kind of I
guess, you know, excitement oror anticipation or anxiety maybe of having to
make that jump. Now you've madethe jump and your your feet or wet
or in his case, his wholebody's wet because he dove in head first
and found lots of success. Butwhat do you see a typical summer like

(48:20):
for a kid like this who nowhas to try to, uh, now
that he's established that basin foundation,make the next step towards getting to the
NHL. Well, yeah, nowyou have a you have an idea of
what what you're up again, rightyou You've you've got your your feet wet,
like you said, really dope infull you know, full body.

(48:44):
So, um, that's part ofit. So you have that going for
you. On the other hands,UM, you also now know what you're
up against and in terms of whatworked for you in college or junior or
what have you won't cut it eitherat the American Hockey League level or starting

(49:04):
at the NHL level. And fora guy like Baldi, for example,
you know the quote unquote he's abad skater. I actually talked to Tim
Army about that a pretty pretty hin depth. Um, he disagreed with
that notion that he's a bad skater. He thinks Allie's a better skater than
than he gets credit for. Uh. And more importantly, he knows how
to make it work for him,how how to get to different parts of

(49:27):
the ice where he can, forexample, you know, really use that
shot that that is a strong stuardof his um most effectively. So um.
Nevertheless, like skating still going tobe an issue as it is for
a lot of young players, Let'sbe honest like that. That's one of
the biggest parts of the American HockeyLeague is players who are working on their
skating and all the little tiny detailsthat go into that, the edge,

(49:50):
where to bounce, everything. Andfor a guy like him, now he
knows what he has to do.Um. These players they get a very
extensive um off season program, bothin terms of fitness and UM and that
aspect, and then on ice aswell, what they really want you to
kee and on I mean, someplayers will just stay in town, um

(50:13):
Bold. He's actually back home inMassachusetts now. But that's obviously a great
place to be for a young player. You're gonna have plenty of opportunity to
just skate with other pros, otherhigh end players. Uh so, um
it's a real hockey hot dead obviously. So um. Yeah. He takes
all this information now that he gatheredin the past two months playing for the

(50:34):
Iowa Wild, takes it home andputs it to work this summer or that,
so that when you come back inSeptember to Minnesota you're ready to hit
the ground running and compete for anNHL job. And um, you know,
certainly, you know in this leagueif you're a young player, and
you're going to have an advantage,especially as a first round pick, um
where you can come in on anH level deal and make a real contribution

(50:55):
or off the bat. So UM, he knows what he what he has
to do. UM. Certainly aguy like Tim Army is doesn't leave any
gray area or any you know areais unknown. Um, and he'll be,
he'll be, will work on anall start. Now. It's a
little bit different obviously this this yearbecause of the offseason being a little bit

(51:16):
more compressed with the season having stretchedin the middle of May. But um,
all the same, he can hecan really tackle it. And he
has three months now to uh tomake that difference and hopefully for his sake,
compete for a job in next season. I think, uh, I
think scating something that it's a prettyeasy answer for everyone, but especially watching

(51:39):
those playoff games and watching games everyone'ssuch a good scater. You need to
be able to hold your own outthere. And I think I'm a I'm
a pretty good skater, and uh, there's obviously parts of it that I
can get better, which is somethingthat that I want to work on.
But other than that, I thinkjust being able to continue to possess the
puck and create stuff from from stuffthat some people don't see us anything,

(52:01):
but that just comes kind of protectingthe pocket. They able to shoot in
different positions and shoot to certain spots, you know, to change the angle
and stuff. With how big bulliesare now, but I think there's there's
a good amount of stuff that thatI can work on just to tighten some
things up and it makes me feelbetter out there for sure. That's twenty

(52:21):
year old Matt Boldy from the IowaWild. Again one an incredible season for
him. Patton did outlined a littlebit earlier on, but he has a
solid shortened campaign with Boston College thirtyone points in twenty two games. He
puts up eighteen points in fourteen gamesin the American Hockey League. He puts
up seven points in seven games withTeam USA on route to a gold medal

(52:44):
at the World Juniors and gets theNHL call up, although he didn't see
any action there with the Minnesota Wildand thanks to him for his time in
chatting with Patton around the A andsafe to say, you know, based
on those accomplishments and the scouting reportson him being a big winger with size
and you know, good hands andgood vision, it seems like the sky's

(53:08):
the limit for him and it maynot be long before we see him up
in Minnesota full time. Yeah,this is one of the real advantages now
with young players either being able toplay in the American Hockey League this season
because of the Canadian Hockey League situation, or a young player like Matt Poley
who was able to come in atthe end of his college year and get

(53:30):
way more playing time than he wouldhave normally because of the HL season having
extended into May. He was ableto get a good run, kind of
gets settled in, become a realkey part of that lineup, and actually
get more than just a copper coffee. So I think, all things considered,
just his entire season real huge successwith the different levels he was able
to play at, and you know, even getting that that time at the

(53:52):
end as Black aids with Minnesota beingpart of a big playoff run team with
the Game seven in the first round. Yeah, this has to be you
know what a thrill if you're ayoung kid nineteen twenty years old to be
able to get that level of hockeyeducation this season, especially when, like
I said earlier last fall, itwasn't looking great that you were going to

(54:14):
be able to maybe get any hockeyin this season, and now instead you've
got all this experience that really setyourself up well for success next season.
Yeah, Matt Boldie certainly one ofthe guys to watch moving in through this
short offseason and into the full seasonahead that starts in October. As we
discussed in our opening segment on thisweek's show, we'll head into our on

(54:37):
the fly segment next, we're headof the Lehigh Valley where there is a
new coach in charge. We willhear from Ian Laperriere. Will also hear
from Philadelphia general manager Chuck Fletcher onthe balancing of development and winning between the
NHL and the AHL. Greg Crona. The head goes to Colorado Regal for
we will don't do well, aswill Kevin Demean from the sev A Golf

(55:00):
Interact with us on social media,give us our thoughts using the hashtag around
the A and follow us at aroundthe apod time for on the Fly on
the episode nineteen of our second seasCome around the a David Flip and Patrick
Williams here with you. Thanks againto Matt Boldy for his time this week

(55:22):
as he wraps up an excellent debutseason in the American Hockey League. Time
to check in with a few teamsaround the league here, Lehigh Valley,
Colorado, San Diego. All comingup here on the Fly and we'll start
in Lee High Valley, pat wherethe big news this week was a new
coach, Ian Leperierira, named asthe new bench boss of the Phantoms.

(55:45):
We'll have a clip in a momentfrom GM Chuck Fletcher and a little bit
of sound from the coach himself.But what did you think of this announcement
made by Lehigh Valley and this choiceto develop the prospects for the Flyers.
Well, first off, not asurprise. You know, he was the
anticipated choice by Philadelphia. He hadbeen well, he was with the Flyers

(56:07):
for eight seasons as an assistant coach, one season as a player development person.
So the guy who brings over athousand games of NHL experience, and
I think more importantly was a guythat had to really work, worked his
way to that NHL level so thathe did not come in back and back
and when he was the young guyas a as a top prospect, so

(56:29):
made a career for himself for along time playing that role. Very very
popular within the Philadelphia franchise and justin terms of what he brings personality wise
and standards wise. So first headcoaching change of the American Hockey League season
with stock Gordon going after six seasonsleaving the Phantoms. Now you bring in

(56:53):
a guy with a lot of NHLexperience, a little bit on the under
side than stock Ord's way, thathas a pretty lethy resume and pedigree to
bring to the job. But Ithink most interesting lead with him really has
never been at the American Hockey Leaguelevel. He only played a handful of
games as a player at the HLlevel and that was way back in ninety

(57:14):
ninety six and ever since then wasat the NHL level. So this will
be an adjustment for him. Headmitted as much um that he'll have to
learn the league to learn his ownplayers for sure, and learned that adjustment
going from assistant to head coach.You you know, as he gets his
feet wet at this level. Yeah, we'll hear from Ian Laperier in just

(57:36):
a moment. First, the generalmanager though of the Philadelphia Flyers, Chuck
Fletcher, on really what Laperier's jobis going to be, and that is
to develop the next wave of Flyersprospects into stars, and a little bit
on how you balance the development withwinning and why that's so important. Yeah,
they're strongly linked. I don't thinkyou can properly developed players unless you

(58:00):
have a winning environment. Obviously,you need a mix of players at this
level to be successful, from youngplayers working their way into the middle group
players coming out of their entry leveldeals to to the right cast of veteran
players to surround that younger mix,and that'll be on you know, Brent
Flair and our pro scouts and needto make sure we have the right mix

(58:21):
of players for him. But youknow our message, you know, to
Lap it was clear we want towin, and maybe it's not win at
all costs, and by that Imean you got to win by playing your
young players. But there's a wayto do that. Other teams have done
that. We've done that here successfullyfor many, many years, predating me.
The phantoms have always been a verycompetitive team, and we've always developed

(58:44):
developed players well and we're going tocontinue to do val and the importance of
winning and that balance is something that'swe talk about all the time on this
show. So at nice to hearit reinforced by a guy like Chuck Fletcher.
Oh yeah, absolutely, a guywho's trying to rebuild the Flyers who've
had their own issues obviously at theNHL level, and Stark Gordon did a

(59:07):
fantastic job and the Flyers and Fletcherwent to great lengths to make that point.
So a guy like Laparier, Ithink certainly was somebody that really wanted
for this position. And one ofthe big issues, and this was discussed
during the press conference, was gettingthe system on the same page between the

(59:27):
NHL level and the HL level.So the greatest instent possible, you want
your players on the same system,learning that system so that when they do
come up to the NHL team,it says seamless as possible. And you
know, obviously you have to makea little adjustments here they're based on personnel,
but you want to really really haveas tight end as well as as
possible, So that will be somethingthe Laperrier has to do in le High
Valley, They've always had pretty solidclubs, been able to win some develop

(59:49):
them and that's a big part ofthe mandate that Ian Laperia will have there.
And as we'll hear from Ian Laperier, he seems like a man with
a plan despite still having a fairbit to learn about the American Hockey League
and dealing with players at this stageof their food. Yeah, it's it's
one thing I'm going to learn.You know, I'll like you. I

(01:00:10):
don't know much about the American League. I know, you know by watching
it and you know being around peoplethat coach here and play there. But
there is a fine line for sure, Like at the end of the day,
like it's going to go back tothe way I want the team to
play, and they're back into thestructure. I'm gonna have those kids buy
in into that structure and if theydo get better, it will be like

(01:00:31):
a free ride. Like you know, if they keep making the same not
mistake, but if they don't playin the structure, they won't play.
I go back to my The onlything I control, it's the ice tem
One of the big things I control. It's the ice tem and it's part
of being a pro you know,if you do the right thing, If
the coach is asking you to dothis and you don't, well, there's

(01:00:51):
consequences, and you know it comeswith If we have more guys doing it,
we will win more games than losegames. But we'll see what kind
of team we're gonna have next yearon paper. But it doesn't matter what
team I get. I'm gonna haveto make them better. And it's gonna
even if they're a flyer's prospect orthey're not. If you were a phantom's
jersey, I'm gonna help you bebetter as an individual. If and if

(01:01:14):
I do, and we do asa staff a good job, you know
we have will win more game thanlose. For sure. It's going to
be an adjustment for me and forthe players around me. But at the
end of the day, like I'llbe myself. You know, it's taking
me that far in life, I'mnot planning on changing. There's one thing
I do have control of the icetein That's the thing I'd ever control before

(01:01:35):
and players have to know that.And again I want to bring like a
way to you know, the waywe're going to play. It's a style
of the player. I'm going tobring in a structure that me and maybe
are talking about. You know,there's a lot of stuff that won't be
negotiable in the system, and ifplayers don't do players will make mistakes,
coaches will make mistakes that I canlive with. Or you have to stick

(01:01:58):
with the system with a structure thatwe're going to talk about and hard work.
And I mentioned it upstairs. I'mI'm a big believer in fitness and
players that are going to play forme are gonna have to be in shape
or I'll get them in shape.And they know that. Guys that know
me and the guys I coached withthe Flyers that will play for me next
year here dy know that. AndI'm sure the words going to be sped

(01:02:21):
around and and for me to bea pro, you gotta be a pro
twenty four hours a day at sendthe rink and away from the r goes
from nutrition, the way you actaround town. You represent the logo and
I'm a big believer in that,and that's my job to make sure everybody
is on the same page. Whenyou look at a guy who's played over
a thousand games in NHL, andit means he's gonna have a lot of

(01:02:45):
clout, a lot of leverage inhis player relationships. UM certainly not something
where players can roll their eyes oror ask themselves, well, who's this
guy telling me what to do?I mean, what could just say?
Look me up on on the internet, look up my stats. I played
a thousand games. I know whatI'm talking about. I've worked as an

(01:03:06):
assistant coach for eight seasons in theNHL, so I'm very familiar with things
on that end. So if you'rea young player in the Philadelphia system learning
trying to break through to the Flyersor really to any other NHL team,
it really does work in your bestinterest to listen to this guy because he
obviously knows what he's talking about.Well, my favorite part about that clip

(01:03:28):
was him saying, I want myguys to be in shape, and if
you're not going to be in shape, I'm gonna get you in shape.
So a guy who commands respect,you know, based on the number of
games he played, the type ofplayer he was in the NHL, and
obviously just the pedigree that he hasfrom being around the organization as long as
he has, I think that's anexcellent choice and excited to see how he

(01:03:52):
involved in his head coaching position herewith Lehigh Valley. Yeah. And on
that point, physical fitness has beena thing with the Philadelphia Flyers. I
mean they were one of the firstteams really in the NHL to ever really
even start to pack that back inthe nineteen seventies with Fred Shiro. Um,
but that was like not even heardof. Right, you showed up

(01:04:15):
to training camp to get in shape, and you know you smoked, you
smoke cigarettes between periods, and youknow, fred Shiro was bringing in exercise
bikes and that. And they continuedwell into you know, the two thousands.
They've heard players that played in thissystem. There a lot of times
they were reported, they were askedand not really asked. You know,

(01:04:36):
I asked in quotation marks to reportin August for a lot of dry land
training, a lot of running lapsand um, working out outdoors in the
in the Philadelphia heat and humidity.Um to be in tip top shape.
I mean so um now that thataga, he continues of the guilot club

(01:05:00):
berrier who's not real fitness fanatic,so I can destroy you. If nothing
else, they don't win an entiregame all season, the Lee I batt
Valley Fantoms at the very least,will probably be one of the top condition
teams the entire American that's sure.Yeah, one of the many stories to
watch when things get back underway againin October. We talked earlier on in

(01:05:24):
the program about how the league islooking to evolve itself again heading into next
season. We'll have a standard seventytwo games schedule for the entire league,
the first time that's happened. We'llsee some expansion of the playoff teams,
potentially this year, maybe more sonext year. And UM, you know,
the thing with the minor leagues isthat they seem to change quite a

(01:05:47):
bit compared to their parent leagues,if you will. That's the same in
Major League Baseball, It's the samein the lower tiers of let's say,
international soccer overseas, and it isthe same in the American League. This
league has come a very long wayin its history. And um, in
order to talk a little bit moreabout that, you approached to Greg Cronin,

(01:06:09):
the head coach of the Colorado Eagles, who needless to say, has
just a little bit of experience aroundthis league. And I picked him for
that very reason that he's old school. I mean to the boom, I
mean, you talk to me,he's he's a fantastic interview and he's a
kind of guy. We actually hadlike a two hour chat. He was
driving back to Boston from Colorado withthirty four hour drive, so he had

(01:06:33):
all the time of the world totalk to me. He told me that,
you know, you know, talkingto me, you know, made
the trip go buy faster, whichI'm happy to provide that service, just
like listening to around the a inthe car exactly right. Um, you

(01:06:57):
you'll never have the year of acoach or so that when he's in a
car driving for thirty four hours.So we had a really good chat,
and one of the things I reallywanted to ask him about all was how
does an old school guy like him, a guy that came up in the
eighties and nineties through the coaching ranks, how does he handle today's player And
just how's the American Hockey League changedfrom what he's seen. He's coached at

(01:07:21):
the nc DOUBA A level. He'sbeen in the NHLs an assistant coach for
a long time with the New YorkIslanders and the Toronto apelifs, so he's
seen things at all different perspectives.Now he's back in the American Hockey League
after a long time away, andI wanted to get his sense of what
had changed in that time while hewas away from the early two thousands into

(01:07:45):
the league in two thousand and tens, now into the two thousand and twenties,
and we get those thoughts from thehead coach of the Colorado Eagles,
Greg Cronin on around yere. Imean, think about coach in the American
League back in two thousand and three, three to five with Ridge Point,
and it was a vastly different league. Back then. You still had you

(01:08:06):
had a lot of teams that werewere privately owned, that was stock and
played with the seventh I think itwas seventh Bet back then or sixth and
an exception of so there was athere was so much different dynamic to it,
and player development was not like atthe forefront of those franchise. It
was almost like it was a placefor guys to play and then try to

(01:08:29):
win. Almost more emphasis on winningbecause of the private ownership and less on
development depending on what franchise you werewith and so so then I. Then
I went away, and then Iwent back. When I came back to
the NHL, which was the twothou eleven um. You know, I
didn't really dip into the HL theset. I watched a little bit when
I was in Draw though, andthey had a good teams that I was

(01:08:49):
a cooper with then north Folk andLavaca was coaching Themali. So that's where
you could start to see these onthe one side, get the Couch Drogs
and and She's a Plant and theJohnson. Those guys are ball running through
the HL. So that that waslike you could see that coming right,
that young count was coming, particularlyin that series. I can't remember who

(01:09:12):
we had in Toronto, but andthen so I didn't really see much of
it New York. So when Iwhen I took the job, I had
heard story because you know, yousee a homework goes both ways. To
do the homework on you, youdo the homework on them. I had
heard stories that the Avalanche had,you know, over like a decade,
not had a lot of quality keptin their minor league systems, but that

(01:09:35):
didn't that was just a statement.But I couldn't do surgery on that because
I don't know what it meant,so I didn't know how to I didn't
know how to like translate that.I just was very confident and the message
that was being she had with meby Joe's back and Chris mcfiland and Craig
Billing that they were going to reallyinvest in the minor league. So when

(01:10:00):
I heard that, and I didn'tknow if get draft picks were what they
were got to transplates. So Iwas like, Okay, I'm all in
that. But I that's one ofmy biggest strengths. I think his player
development and working with young kids alwaysnice to get that kind of insight,
and for him to spend that muchtime chatting with you, Pat, that
says a lot I think about whatwe bring here on around the A as

(01:10:24):
far as our relationships with people inthe game. It also says that,
you know, when you have acaptive audience, like a guy in a
car for thirty four hours, he'shappy to talk to anybody. That's a
fair point, even me, becausethere are plenty of nights after games in
the season where he was not happyto speak with me. Sure, you

(01:10:44):
know, and it was great crowden. I mean, he doesn't he doesn't
pull any punches, he doesn't hidehis emotions. He's one of those guys,
where's his emotions runt of his face? And um, you know,
I know there were sometimes, especiallyafter some bad losses this year, where
you know, the last person hewanted to speak with me. So it
was nice to actually have him,you know, a little bit more of

(01:11:06):
a relaxed setting. Please. Ashe described it, there was tough,
nothing but tumble weed to look at. So as he even went across I
think he was in Nebraska at thetime. Um, so, uh,
yeah, that was a good chatwe had. He's a fun guy.
He's he's a real character. Oncethat wall comes down a little bit with

(01:11:30):
him, I find that, youknow, he's one of the most open,
honest, um people you'll speak toreally and all all of hockey.
So yeah, we had a funchat. Um. They was going to
leave on that note after some youknow, very abbreviated chats, I guess
you'd say throughout the season. Yeah, and we do appreciate his time,
whether in the car or not,over the course of the season chatting with

(01:11:54):
us here on around the YEA anotherguy that we really appreciate the time of
that we talked to with few timesthis season. Is Kevin Denin from the
San Diego goals and our last onthe fly clip this week, maybe we'll
be our last. Well, itwon't be our last ever COVID related to
question because we have Scott Housing comingon next week and I'm sure we'll talk
a lot about have the league weatheredthe pandemic? But um, more thoughts

(01:12:17):
from yet another coach on uh,you know how players handled the safety measures
and guidelines that were in place thisseason. Yeah, it was. It
was a tough tough year for players, and you know, demanding guy like
Kevin Deneen, um, who doesn'tdull up praise cheaply. Um, he

(01:12:40):
was pretty generous with it as well. Here from him. Well, I'm
gonna start a little bit less aboutperformance and about the execution of our staff
when when we're talking about that,you know, just the equipment guys,
Well, the amount of logistics gettingour equipment, you know, from the

(01:13:00):
San Diego area up into Irvine andoutfitting a full locker room up there in
a fabulous facility, but a lotof moving parts. Obviously, our medical
staff having to the challenge of dealingwith testing every single day and making sure
that we worked in a really healthyenvironment, and to follow that up by
our management group just kind of holdingall the pieces together. So you know

(01:13:26):
what, I think every team cantell that story. I read an article
on the barracouta season, and youknow that's Roy. I have to give
Roy a lot of credit. Bythe sounds of it, we had it
pretty easy compared to the way thingsrolled for them, So I think all
of us had that. I thinkwe stayed flexible throughout the year and we

(01:13:50):
tried to just make it an enjoyable, healthy environment for everybody to come and
play, and I think we hadsuccess on that area. To start things
off more high praise for the playersand for the staff and getting through it,
And we've been saying that all seasonlong, Pat, you can't credit

(01:14:11):
everybody involved in the American Hockey League, from the players to the training staff
and medical staff and coaches and uhyou know front office people that made this
whole thing happen over the last handfulof months when a lot of people looking
back six months figured it wouldn't happen. So I don't think you can you
can put enough praise on folks aroundthe league for their efforts and getting through

(01:14:33):
this campaign. Yeah, when youthink about the trainers and the doctors and
the contact point people who had tojust you know, just the logistics of
keeping it all organizing straight. Playerscomplied, they were there no complaints and
you know, if anybody's ever beenthrough that test, it's not a fun

(01:14:54):
test to get, at least ofall getting it three four times a week,
if every day of the week,as some teams had to do.
So, you know, for theplayers to go through that and just really
spoke to how much they wanted toplay and how much they want to make
the season work in the face ofa lot of odds that we're working against
them. And again, we thankeverybody around the league for their efforts and

(01:15:17):
those folks who took the time totalk with us, perhaps more than you
know, normally in a typical seasonbecause we had that kind of access,
and we hope that that kind ofaccess will continue, you know, if
not every night virtually, then perhapsonce a week or something like that.
We will maybe touch on that withScott House in next week. It will

(01:15:38):
be our final show of the season. Next week. We did mention off
the top that we're going to moveto our offseason update format, which will
be not and every week show necessarily, but a when there is news show.
So make sure to subscribe to Aroundthe A wherever you're listening, follow
us on social media at around theapod, and you won't miss any of

(01:15:59):
the news and notes throughout the courseof the summer. I'm really looking forward
to chatting to Scott House and hewas in such a different place when we
talked to him back last year,not long after taking over the job.
We had so many questions for himabout what the season and at that point
the offseason would look like, wherethings were going, what his plans were
for the league, and at thattime it was so hard for him to

(01:16:23):
answer any questions at all really aboutthat stuff. So I'm really looking forward
to getting him back on the showand talk about, you know, where
he sees the league moving past COVIDnineteen, because we're also ready to be
over it, let's be honest.Yeah, fifteen or fifteen months of COVID
nineteen I think has been just aboutenough for all of us, you know.

(01:16:45):
And yeah, that's a great pointwith Halson, like we had him
on, but quite frankly, hecouldn't tell us a whole lot because there
wasn't a whole lot to tell becausenobody at that time really knew where things
were going. As it turned out, things you know, case number wise

(01:17:06):
around Canada and the United States actuallyended up getting quite worse. And yet
the HL was able to still makeit work. Um still make a season
all things considered. That wasn't quitetraditional to say the least. But they
got games in. They they accomplishedwhat they wanted to accomplish. Now that's

(01:17:29):
now the real I think the realjob begins now for Stott House, that
first year taking over for Dave Andrews, that was just damage control. You're
just trying to get the lead throughthis as unscathed as possible. Now now
you take it. Now you canstart to shape the league now. I

(01:17:50):
mean, as we saw, forexample, with the seventy two game scheduled
unification plan. That's that's a majorstep forward. Now we'll see what he
has in store beyond that. I'vealready had a couple of franchise affiliation shifts.
That's something that anybody leading the AmericanHockey League is heavily involved in helping

(01:18:11):
broker those deals. So that's that'ssomething he had to handle. Now he
gets to really we'll see what hislong term vision is. But where does
he see this league three years out, five years out? I Mean we
kind of knew where Dave Andrews wason a lot of things. But Scott
Helson is a little bit of amystery still because even though he's been in

(01:18:31):
this job now for almost a fullyear, in a way he hasn't because
he hasn't really been able to puthis stamp on anything, because this past
year was just survival and getting theleague, you know, through it and
out of it in one piece.Now now we can actually see what what

(01:18:53):
he wants its league to become.How will he be different from Dave Andrews,
How will he be similar? Whatare the challenges ahead for him?
I mean sometimes yeah, as wesaw, I mean, nobody had this
on their card early twenty twenty thatanybody leading the American hockey be it Dave
Andrews or Scott Helson, would haveto navigate the lead through a pandemic.

(01:19:15):
So the job challenges can come atyou're pretty fast. Hopefully we're through that
knocked on wood. But now theirtest turns to okay, how do we
did this lead to the next step? You know that getting the business side
of things even strong's a big priority. Can the lead and you know,

(01:19:36):
because you're kind of coming out ofthe pandemic, some teams are going to
need more help than others. Howdo you get everybody all thirty two teams
now strong on solid footing. We'llsee, We'll see what he has to
tell us. We will again thatnext week on the season finale of season
two of Around the A, thepresident and CEO of the league, Scott

(01:19:59):
Housen, will be with us,so hope you will stay with us for
that show next week. Hope youenjoyed this week's show as well, and
we'll talk to you next time onAround the Thanks for listening to Around the

(01:20:19):
A. Be sure to tune inagain next week. Find Around the A
on the sports podcasting network, IT, Spotify, or wherever you get
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