Around The A Podcast - Season 2 Episode 20 - The Season Finale with AHL President and CEO Scott Howson. - Around The A Podcast - Covering the AHL, the American Hockey League

Episode Transcript
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(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 Boot
and Patrick Williams on the Sports PodcastingNetwork. It is our season finale of
Around the A, episode twenty ofseason two. Glad to have you along

(00:29):
as we have perhaps our biggest episodeof the season. You can put it
up in lights on the Marquee.Scott Housen, president and CEO of the
American Hockey League, will be withus to unpack everything from the last well
year and a half really since thepandemic began, and we'll give our thoughts
as well on the season that was. It was a short season, pat

(00:50):
but a whole lot that we wereable to jam into it. And it's
kind of wild here that we're atthe end of another season. It is
pick your adjective to describe this seasonbeing historic, unique, certainly weird,
definitely learning experience. I think that'sfair to say educational. There are a

(01:11):
lot of different ways to frame thisseason in a better way than to get
the perspective of somebody who lived atdate in day out from the executive suite
at the American Rockey League Headquarters.Scott Heilson, what a first year for
him to go through this, tocome into this job, to inherit a
mess. Quite frankly, that wascertainly not of the leads making. But

(01:34):
you know the old adage, it'snot your problem that you created, but
it's your job to fix it.That was the what awaited Scott Heilson.
And there's a lot to unpack fromthis season. There's also a lot to
unpack for the future and how doesthe league emerge from this and come out
stronger down the road. We're gonnaget into all of that with Scott Housen

(01:57):
in just a few minutes, Butfirst we've been recapping the league awards that
are handed out at the end ofevery season, and the last one of
the year that is handed out thisyear is the Yannick to Pray Memorial Award.
Now, this is typically handed outto the AHL's Man of the Year,
the guy who is perhaps most involvedin his community and making a big

(02:19):
impact off the ice. Every teamtypically nominates somebody or a player is selected
from each team to be in therunning for this, but a bit of
an unprecedented move pat as the leaguegoes way off course and awards this instead
to all of the trainers from eachof the individual clubs around the league for
their work in getting the season upand running and completed and brilliant idea and

(02:44):
an outstanding way I think to recognizethe work of all of those folks around
the league. Yeah, a uniqueaward, you know, in terms of
winner this year for unique season andusually you know, I spoke to every
team the league at different points inthe year, and time and time again
you heard the trainers, all thosepeople behind the scenes, which was already

(03:07):
a very demanding job, you know, in the best of times, they
took on this entire additional component tothe job, which was managing navigating the
teams and the players through this COVIDnineteen season. So that and testing,
monitoring, deal with all the variousprotocols that we heard time and time again,
players had to go through the effecton them, but there had to

(03:29):
be somebody in the first place toimplement them and to organize the logistics of
it to get everyone through that,you know, I was, I was
honestly surprised, relatively speaking, howwell teams came through it this season.
When you consider that the season startedin February, but in January, you

(03:51):
know, and certainly in both theUS and Canada the numbers were raging in
terms of case numbers in society ingeneral. That's that was what teams stepped
into. And they had to taketwenty eight clubs through this season and get
them into the season and then moreportly out of the season in a good

(04:13):
place. And you look at thedaily testing for a lot of teams.
You travel protocols that had to bein place, dining, just logistically with
interesting rooms, keeping groups, theplayers, separate practice, all the things
to go into that. They hadto actually go through a point by point

(04:35):
and figure out a plan and thenon top of that, implement that plan
and execute it and keep it.Employees for what was almost up to four
months really, you know, fromstart to finish. So well, credit
to them, I mean, andI thought it was in the very very
first class gester in part of theleague to select these people who are very

(04:58):
much behind the scenes you know mostof the time, you know, typically
hear about trainers, you know,typically see them at the forefront. For
them to get that uh, notorietyto that acknowledgement for what they did this
year, I thought was the excellentdecision on the alf of the league.
Yeah, and of course, honorablementions, if you will, to all

(05:19):
those other uh team personnel who workedbehind the scenes, the equipment managers,
uh, you know, the frontoffice staff, who in many cases had
to take on multiple roles that theywould never have even likely dreamed of having
to do over the course of theircareer. Um. And I mean we've
we've said on this show throughout thecourse of the last four months that uh,

(05:40):
you know, so much credit goesto the off ice people around the
league that that made this thing actuallyhappen. Um, you know, let
alone what the players went through toto actually get the games on the ice.
So an extremely classy moved by theleague and um again fitting honor for
those aff that that worked so hardand you know, for many of them

(06:03):
were away from their families all seasonlong, depending on where their team was
based out of. Uh. Youknow, players would come and go from
the rink, arrived for practice ingames, and things would be set up
and ready, and these staff memberswere tasked with making things as normal as
possible for the players. And everythingwe've heard from those players is, you

(06:24):
know, that's exactly what happened.So um, you know, they did
their job to the best of theirabilities, and without them, this season
wouldn't have happened at all. Yeah. And the thing to remember too with
with front office people or the hockeystaff behind the scenes is HL teams they've
run lean operations. There's not allthere's not a lot of extraneous staff.

(06:46):
And that was even more so thisseason when a lot of teams really had
to scale down or people moved onto their jobs. There were people taking
on all sorts of different responsibilities farbeyond what would be in their typical job
description. And they had to dothat, not only take on that after
we're produce. So with this wholeCOVID nineteen cloud hovered over them. So

(07:11):
the fact that the year will didn'tdo that, I mean a lot of
people, I think this year we'reable to add a lot more in the
skills section of their resume from whatthey did this season. And you know,
it's one of the themes we've beenreally harping on is how how you
can take a positive from this season? How can you take some best practices,

(07:33):
some learning experiences, some different lessons. However you want to describe it
and apply them going in the futureon lots of lessons learned around the league
this year, and we're going tofind out some of those lessons from the
top. Scott House and the PresidentCEO of the AHL, is our feature
guest this week. What are youlooking forward to hearing from him? We're

(07:55):
asking him here Pat in this upcominginterview. I think just what was what
was this experience like from him fromhis personal standpoint, And we saw things
from the outside. We saw helpplayers handle it, and coaches handle it,
teams handle it. But what's itlike to be the guy at the
head of the table, especially youknow in any new job you think of,
like in regular life, if youstart a new job, there's that

(08:18):
there's an injustment period. Even moreso if you're taking on one of the
top jobs really in the entire hockeybusiness, a job that I know that
there was no shortage of highly qualifiedcandidates and demand people that were interested in
that job. So you're the guythat comes out with that job in the
first place. That's going to bea major transition. Coming from where he

(08:41):
came from his backgrounds and an NHLgrontal manager, player operator or player development
guy. Now you're you're you're takingon a very different job, and you're
doing so in the context of apandemic, and you're taking over from Dave
Andrews, who you know is Idon't think it's I perbebtly to say his
legend in this league and UM isyou know, uh, he's going to

(09:05):
hl Hall of Fame and he's he'sthose are big shoes, shoes to fill
in the best of times. Andnow you're trying to come in and you
know, it's almost like a pitcherin baseball coming in the bases or moted
no else and uh, you gotto get the team out of the jam.
And so you know what, sowhat, Yeah, what was it
like for Scott Helston? How didhe grow from it? How did he

(09:28):
come through this? How does hethink he'll be a better UM executive after
having gone through this? And thenI think the second part of that is
just what can we bet going forward? None of us want to, I
think necessarily dwell too much on thisseason, but we certainly want to look
back on what we can take goingforward, and you know, to what

(09:50):
we hope is a return to normalcyvery soon. And along with that we
were able to mix in some fanssubmitted questions as well as we try to
get as much as we can outof what can be an elusive figure at
times, given how busy he is, especially over the course of this season,
and we're looking forward to hearing whathe has to say. Scott Housing

(10:11):
coming up next on this season finaleof season two of Around the Air.
Interact with us on social media,give us your thoughts using the hashtag around
the A and follow us at aroundthe apod. You're listening to the season

(10:33):
finale of Around the A on theSports Podcasting Network, and we are so
pleased to be joined by the Presidentand CEO of the American Hockey League.
Scott Housing is with us a secondappearance on the show. But it's been
quite a while since we had youon last and a whole lot has changed.
As we appreciate you taking some timeto kind of wrap up the season
with us. Yeah, well,thanks for having me. It's great to

(10:56):
be here with you both, andI'm just really pleased that, uh we
made it to the end of theseason and we made it fairly, uh
fairly safely, so that was abig accomplishment. Yeah, absolutely, and
I think kudos has to go toto yourself, to everybody really around the
league that that managed to pull thisthing off and like you say, do

(11:16):
it as safely as possible. Um, what was this experience like for you
coming into to the brand new job? You take over from Dave Andrews And
we talked a little bit about thetransition back in October, But um,
what did it end up being likedfor you? Dealing with the pandemic and
getting to this point now? Well, it it was. It was difficult,

(11:37):
but you know it was difficult foreverybody. Everybody had faced all these
challenges. U. The HLU wasno different. Um, you know,
it kept it kept. You keptwaiting for things to change, and they
changed for the worst. Uh.You when we when I got the job
officially started with the league in May, you know you think, well,

(11:58):
I got we got five months tothe before the season starts, Surely we're
going to figure something out. Andthen and then we looked a little better
in the summer, and then itjust got worse and worse. So,
um, you know, it wasjust really going day by day, week
by week. I don't think anybodyknew what you know. The next day
was going to look like let alonethe next week or the next month.
And as we developed, you know, as we went through the summer,

(12:20):
we we developed a plan to youknow, figure out when we were going
to start, and then that keptgetting delayed. So it was really just
being flexible, adapting to what wascoming at you, just like everybody else
in the world. And uh.And then finally we got to the point
where it was going to be Februaryfifth or likely nothing. I think we

(12:41):
could have started later than February fifthif we were really pushed and maybe had
a season starting early March. Februaryfive was getting, you know, towards
the end. And uh, andit was great to finally drop the puck.
I remember distinctly dropping the puck Providencebridgeboard on one o'clock on a Friday

(13:01):
afternoon, I think it was,and the way we went, so that
was a good day. Yeah,And obviously things were quite different. You
had teams playing out of practice rank, so you had teams moving from their
their home arenas to play in theirNHL buildings up here in Canada. Logistically
speaking, I mean, that musthave been quite the mess to need to
work out, but it almost seemedto happen pretty flawlessly. Well, you

(13:26):
know, it's funny you mentioned Canada. In the US, it was almost
like having two different leagues this year. The rules were quite different in Canada
for our teams, and I givethose Canadian teams a lot of credit because
there's no way they were playing unlessthey followed NHL protocols to a t.
And that was obviously the everyday testing, but the travel, the hotel stays,

(13:50):
having the right support group around theteam on a daily basis, that
was really quite an accomplishment and itcosts a lot of money for them to
do that, and you know,it just shows the commitment that those teams
wanted to play and they were readyto do it. Let alone. To
travel, we had, you know, stocked and moved to Calgary at the
last last minute, and that increasedto travel for everybody too. So the

(14:11):
States was a little different. Itwas a little more relaxed, and our
protocols weren't quite as stringent. Nowhaving said that, a lot of our
teams just said we're doing NHL protocols. Teams like Los Angeles or San Jose,
teams that were sharing buildings with theirNHL partners, they just said,
there's no way we're going to takethe chance of of of having relaxed standards

(14:33):
for our HL team with our NHLteam being in the same building. So
a lot of our teams did that, and uh and and that's how we
managed to get through. It wasit was, you know, a lot
of work, a lot of diligenceand h and making sure we were following
the right protocols in this job.You know, it was true for Dave,
and it was I imagine true foryou. It's always you're trying to

(14:54):
go between between the NHL what theyneed from a player development standpoint and what
American Hockey League owners, especially theindependently owned clubs need from a business standpoint.
How did you try to navigate thosecompeting demands, and especially doing so
when there was no playbook to workfrom. Yeah, well we we sort

(15:15):
of we established a formula pretty earlyon for the you know, the NHL
teams, and as you guys know, we have twenty teams that are owned
by NHL partners right now or inincluding Seattle, and the NHL teams was
fairly easy because that was just goingto are we going to pay the costs
or not? It got a lotmore complicated with the independently owned teams who

(15:39):
just you know, there wasn't muchupside for them. You couldn't make a
business case for playing. We weren'tgoing to have any meaningful revenue from fans,
so it was going to be outof pocket costs. And each one
of them has a different and uniquerelationship with their parent, And we established
a formula sort of as a startingbase for teams to work from in terms
of what should happen with respect totesting and even the affiliation payments and uh

(16:03):
and each of our you know,teams that ended up playing. We had
three independent teams that just couldn't couldn'tmake it work, and through no fallow
of their own and no, no, no fallo of the NHL partner,
it just didn't make sense for thosegroups. But everyone else, the other
the other teams decided that there wasa way to do this, and that's
what happened. You had the Returnto Play task force kind of a mix

(16:26):
of NHL general managers, HL businessexecutives. Uh, yourself, Dave,
how how did that experience go foryou and how instrumental was that and eventually
getting the season on track well earlyon, it was very instrumental because they
were meeting regularly even when you know, we were still months and months away

(16:48):
from playing, and throwing out ideasand uh and make really making sure that
everybody was communicating well, everybody knewwhat the possibilities were. And so it
was very instrumental early on. Andthen as we got down to the short
strokes, they came up with,you know, the really the basis of
the plan that would work for NHLgms. We had I think five NHL

(17:11):
gms and one NHL owner on thecall, So they came up with that
plan, and UH and and andand our HL partners obviously were weighed in,
and so that far in the basisof the plan that we got to
the board level, we had totweak it a little bit, uh,
based on you know, some ofthe people that were maybe closer to the
ground, But it certainly was instrumentalin finding a way to make this season

(17:33):
happen. Chatting with the AHL PresidentCEO, Scott housen Um, you mentioned
how expensive it was for a lotof these teams to play this season and
to not get any revenue coming fromfans and advertising and whatever else they would
typically make money from. How bigof an impact is that going to have

(17:53):
kind of moving forward and and howdo you maybe help those teams to recover
from that aspect of this whole thing. Yeah, and that's that's that's the
big challenge in front of us.We just don't know, um, what's
going to happen in the fall.We think we're going to be a near
capacity and most markets, at leastin the United States, but we really

(18:15):
don't know what the challenges are goingto be. I think I'm seeing a
lot of pent up demand. Wecertainly see that at the NHL level.
UM, so we're hoping that that'sgoing to translate into into into our cities
and markets. And you know,we're just we're here to support. We
have a tremendous department here at theHL called the Team Business Services Department,

(18:36):
and that's really their job is toservice the teams and give them ideas and
share best practices and what's working hereand what's working there, and and uh,
we're in the middle of doing that. We're having a summer series right
now that's going on every day forthree weeks, um and uh and really
just giving people ideas on how tocome out of this and uh, and
what's going to work and what's what'sworth trying And as you guys know,

(19:00):
each of our markets is different,but we're all very similar and UH,
and I you know, I think, I think it's going to be a
lot of hard work. I don'texpect that we're going to come out of
this one hundred percent right away.When we when we stopped, we were
on track for record revenues corporately,tickets, everything. So hopefully we can.
The goal will be to get backto that track very quickly. And

(19:22):
it's going to take a lot ofhard work. And it's given our teams
a chance to sort of really thinkabout their structures and what how they want
their arc charts to work. Andmaybe you know it's it's allowed them to
cut some expenses and still remain asefficient as they were. So lots of
work ahead of us, UM,but we're all going to dig in and

(19:45):
roll up our sleeves and help eachother. Sometimes when you go through,
uh, you know, something negativelike this, and especially for as extended
as the pandemic has been, youcan learn a lot from from how you
have to pivot and adapt to thingswere there any lessons learned over the course
of the last year and a half. Yeah, I think there were a
lot of lessons. I think beingflexible is one, and I think I

(20:07):
think the one thing that I takeout of this past year is, you
know, the mentality of one dayat a time, and really that's what
we did, and uh, andsometimes we lose that. I think we
don't. We don't live in themoment enough. And uh, you know,
we had teams that would have theircapacity change two days before a game,

(20:30):
so somebody might have gone from tenpercent to fifteen percent and wow,
you know, we want to tryand get that fifteen percent in here,
and what does that mean for ourpods, our seating arrangements. Everything had
to be changed on the fly.And so I just think, you know,
I'm not saying long term planning isn'tisn't what people should be doing,
because I really believe in long termplanning, but don't forget the day to

(20:52):
day and how you can make eachday better. So I would say one
day at a time is one thingthat I learned, and I just the
other thing that I really was proudof was the collective will of our group
coming together and finding a way tohave this season happened. It was a
collective. It was a collective effortfrom NHL partners, to h L owners,

(21:15):
to staff here, staff on theground, and with the teams.
I mean I went into one buildingand I think the ticket the director of
ticket sales was the PA announcer.Yeah, so you know, it's just
you know that that was great tosee, like everybody's chipping in and we've
got this collective way to try andmake this happen. When you think about

(21:37):
where the season started it was apractice rank on a Friday afternoon in Massachusetts,
and where it ended Saturday night inLas Vegas set me four hundred fans
in the building. Was that kindof a I guess the word would be
validation of all the work that wentinto it and that four months journey that

(21:59):
you took that eventually and got youto that point. Yeah, I think
it was partly. I mean,you know what really stuck out for me
was because there was, as youguys know, there was a there was
a big debate about whether the playerswere going to play in that in that
Pacific Division. They were the onlygroup that was going to play playoffs,
and and some of the players weren'tweren't all that enthused about it, um

(22:22):
and and we had our you know, we had our our we had to
find a path to making that happen. We did. But what really stuck
out for me was how much theplayers competed. Right from day one.
I mean, you know, everybodywas pretty sure we weren't going to have
a call their Cup playoff, andso this was really a season about development.
But I mean, you guys sawthe games and and and you could

(22:45):
not tell me anyways there was anydifference in how how how much these players
competed, how much they cared,how much they love scoring goals and doing
the things that they loved doing.And then when I saw Vegas and or
Henderson and h and Bakersfield playing thosethree games, I mean the competition was
high. And uh you've probably seenthe video of the Bakersfield players on the

(23:08):
bus celebrating. I mean, that'swhat really made it worth for me to
see that joy in that, youknow, the competition, you know around
about way, you know, itseemed like there were a lot of suspensions
that that came down, and youknow, not that you want that,
but it was a sign that,and I can tell you watching Hershey Wokesbury
several times. I mean those werealmost playoff style games throughout the season.

(23:33):
That intensity was there. And didthat surprise at all or is that what
you did expect from your players?I'm not sure I expected to the level
that I saw it. I knowthat when you put h these types of
athletes into an arena and they're competingfor something, they're going to compete and
they're going to compete hard. MBut for that to the extent we saw

(23:55):
it was really remarkable and my myhack goes off to them and and it
was just great to see that levelof competitive competitiveness and pride in what they
were doing. I mean, weall seek to be proud of what we're
doing and do the best we can, and our players certainly did that this
year. When I think back toJanuary twenty twenty in Ontario at the Old
Star dam Dave was very bullish onthe future of the league. This was

(24:19):
only six tweeks or so before thepandemic started. But are you still equally
as bullish as he was at thatpoint? Yeah? I think I am.
I mean, I think there's goingto be some hurdles here to overcome
and to get our feet underneath us. But long term, absolutely, this
is just a it's a great product, it's an affordable product. It's it

(24:41):
seems to be a league that generatesmore and more interests sort of on a
daily basis. I think fans arebecoming more savvy about what's what's coming in
terms of a prospect base. Imean, I remember, you know,
fifteen twenty years ago, you fansdidn't really know who was who is coming.

(25:02):
They might have heard a name orwhatever. But now fans, because
of people like you and the Internetand social media, people know who's coming.
And I just I think, Ithink we're just going to keep generating
that type of interests and that's goingto translate into great growth for our league.
Continuing our season year and review episodehere with Scott House and the president's

(25:25):
CEO of the American Hockey League,Obviously there's a lot to do in kind
of a shortened offseason this year,with the way that the schedule played out.
What are some of the priorities forthe league this summer. Well,
the first priorities to get a scheduledone and a playoff plan approved, and
we're well on our way. Youguys might might imagine that some buildings have

(25:48):
more difficult time getting US States becauseof whether they're sharing with an NHL team
or whatnot. But we're well onthe way of creating that schedule. So
hopefully that's going to be done inshort order so that our teams have some
certainty about what the schedule is goingto look like. And we still have
to finalize our playoff plan. There'sgoing to be more teams in the playoffs,
so those are the two main priorities. And then it's just I mean,

(26:10):
there's a whole list and task ofthings to do that just that I
didn't really get to experience except ona very expedited basis for thirty days really
last year in January before we startedthat. So it's going to be good
for me to go through a normalloss season of planning. And there's all
kinds of things that we have todo to make sure that the league gets

(26:33):
off and running in October. Andyou mentioned scheduling. The other week,
the announcement came out that the goalis to have everybody play unified schedule seventy
two games next season. How importantis that for the league? To get
everybody on the same page. Andat the same time, I suppose how
important was it to give teams kindof that choice this year to maybe ease

(26:53):
that transition a little bit. Yeah, And I think, you know,
a lot of these things are abouttiming. We've tried to I know,
Dave tried to get to a unifiedschedule for the last four or five years
and it wasn't wasn't able to doit. And finally we got you know,
the circumstances were right and we gotto the right place, and there

(27:14):
was I spoke of collective will earlier. There was a collective will to try
and get there, and some teamssacrificed a lot to give the league the
opportunity to get to seventy two gamesfor everybody. And I think it's great.
I think it's fair. I thinkit's uh, it's right for the
players. I just I didn't likewhen some players would have to pay sixty

(27:36):
eight play sixty eight games, somehad to play seventy six games. Um,
so you're you know, you're takingaway from something as simple as league
awards. There's advantages to goal scoringor point getting u for the teams to
play more games. There's the playersthat played more games would reach their veteran
status earlier. It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, and I think

(27:59):
it's a big step for the leagueto get that uniform looking. And you
know, we talked about a twoyear when to at one point to get
there, and a lot of ourteams just said, yeah, I'd rather
have two years, but for thegood of the league, we should just
have this one transition year to leteverybody set themselves. Teams had already started
selling seventy six games or sixty eightgames, so um, we got everybody
set themselves and u and transition andeducate the fans and it'll be a one

(28:23):
year transition this. Uh, thisschedule unification issue has kind of been on
the backburn or it's been in thebackground for really since twenty fifteen when the
West Coast emerged. Why do youthink it was able to finally come together?
Was it in part due to whateveryone went through this season, learning
to adapt and learning to be moreflexible. I think part of it.

(28:45):
I think there's a lot of factorsthat played into it. Uh. I
think I think this past year taughtus a lot about compassion, and thinking
about more than ourselves for sure.Um. And I think I think there
was a little bit of an unintendedconsequence with the Pacific Division that they saw
their their their division growing. It'snow nine teams and it's going to be

(29:07):
ten when when Abbotsford transferred, itbecame nine, and they were sort of
thinking, well, we don't reallywant four playoff teams out of nine,
so we should, uh, weshould come to the table here and think
about maybe, uh, you know, more teams in the playoffs. And
if they wanted more teams in theplayoffs then uh, then maybe you know,

(29:27):
they'd think about uh coming off thesixty eight games. And really that's
those were that That's what really happenedwas everybody decided it was time to compromise.
And and I think everybody, youknow, you're never we have thirty
one teams, you're never going toplease all thirty one markets. But um,
everybody came together for the good ofthe league. And like I said

(29:48):
before, some teams sacrifice a lot, some teams really like seventy six and
uh and now now you're taking revenueaway from some teams by losing two home
games that they aren't going to beable to make up too easily, at
least right away. So so Ithink I think those factors really played in
it, and the overall, theoverall commitment to the league was tremendous and

(30:10):
let's do this. It's the rightthing for US, Abbotts heard coming in
next season. They started their firsttime around with Calgary obviously not natural fit
there right outside Vancouver. What doyou expect from that market with the Vancouver
Canucks coming in as their affiliated.Yeah, I think it's going to be
a lot different this year. Thistime around. I think it's it's the
right affiliate. It's right in theCanucks heartland. They've had They've already had

(30:33):
tremendous success selling season ticket deposits.Not that that's a guarantee that's going to
translate into season tickets, but Ijust think that it's different now. It's
the right team. The markets changeda little bit, and and I just
think it's going to be an assetfor the league and it's going to be
a lot different for US and better. Obviously the last couple of years,
the schedules come out around somewhere aroundJune tenth June fifteenth, do you expect

(30:56):
it in that range for this summer, or will be a little bit delayed
given everything else going on. Definitelydelayed, definitely delayed into July, I
would say right now, and uh, we're going to get it out as
soon as we can. Um,we're you know, we we we've had
a good start at it, butum we're in a little bit of a
delay right now because we don't havedates. Uh, but well those dates

(31:19):
are coming. I think they're comingtoday. So we'll get back at it.
And Melissa and Ali who do that, Um, they spend day and
night doing it, so they're goingto get it turned around as soon as
they can. And there's there isa process to fall and h and uh,
well we'll get it down. I'mhoping. I'm hoping early to mid
July, h All Star Classic andLaval. Um. You know where does

(31:41):
that stand right now? Is that'sstill on track for next season after being
delayed from this past year. Yeah, we just met on that today.
I got an update from our groupand the meetings are ramping up and everybody
thinks it's going to be a goal. It was certainly nice to see uh,
even small capacity at the Canadians gamesat the end of the last series.

(32:01):
So, um, I guess theonly issue that that you wonder about
is the Canadian border and when whenthat's going to Um, when that's going
to be opened up, because youknow, at some point we're gonna have
to make a decision that it's ago, and hopefully we're gonna get that
news fairly, fairly early in thesummer or towards the later summer and that'll

(32:22):
be fine. And they're ramping up, so it's right now it's looking trending
really positively. Take a few moreminutes here, What'scott House in the president
CEO of the American Hockey League.We mentioned obviously Abbotsford coming in. You
lose Binghamton in in that shuffle.Um, how tough of a loss is
that for the league? Given Binghamton'shistory in the American Hockey League? Yeah,

(32:45):
long long standing member. Um.Really tough for the people uh in
Binghamton and tough for Tom Mitchell andhis group. Um. Um, you
know it's right smack in the middleof our geography. Teams loved having Binghamton
it as I said it, thetravel is great. So it's a loss.
It's a loss. But as youguys have seen over the last and

(33:08):
I forget what the number was withDave over his career. I think it
was over well over two hundred transfersor new cities. So it's just a
fact of life in the American League. And and we'll move on. And
you know what, you never saynever, you know, maybe maybe the
American League comes back to Binghamton becauseit's got a lot to offer. At
the same time you lose Binghamton,you gain Abbotsford and then Palm Springs is

(33:31):
set to come into the league heresoon as well. How much of a
fit do you think that's going tobe once they get up and running,
And how much more difficult I supposehas it been to kind of transition them
in given everything we've been through overthe last year. Yeah, the only
difficult transition part for them has beenthe delay in their building starting. They

(33:52):
ran into a problem on their originalplan and had to adjust and start a
new plan, so that delayed thebuilding. But otherwise I think it's going
to be. It's right in ourgeography. Um, we're excited to have
it. It's a it's a it'sa great, a great market. It's
going to be ten thousand seat facility. So I think it's going to be

(34:13):
really good. I'm excited to haveit. I've just you know, I've
just want to make sure that thebuilding is going to be ready on time,
and H and H Seattle's going touh have their prospects because it's perfect
timing for Seattle. As you guysknow, the first year, they're probably
not going to have a lot ofyoung guys in the American League because of
the draft. They're going to drafta bunch of kids that maybe not you

(34:35):
know, maybe there'll be one ortwo of those kids that would play in
the American League, but most goback to junior or stay in college,
or stay in Europe. So bythe time we roll around the next year,
they'll have a pipeline of two draftsnow. So I think it's perfect
timing for them. With palm Strangecoming in, divisional alignment might get a
little more tricky. We know itfor this season, but you know,

(34:57):
twenty two, twenty three, doyou expect that somebody may have to move
out, you know, so thatdivision doesn't get unwieldy. That's not the
plan right now, but um,you know, we just like we didn't
know Abbotsford was going to come inthis year, so you have to be
ready to change and and and andbe flexible about your plans. But right
now, UM, I'm not anticipating. If if things stay status quo,

(35:21):
we'll just add pomp Springs to thatdivision and uh and make sure they have
enough playoff spots that equal representation ona percentage basis on playoff spots and then
uh and then go from there.Um. We we had a chance now
this season, given the circumstances withthe HL to see eighteen nineteen year old
a lot of first round picks comein. You've been a general manager,

(35:44):
Uh, so you're kind of seeingthis from different angles. What did you
what was your thoughts on this alsoin experiment and where do you see that
potentially going in the natch couple ofyears. That's a prickly issue. Yeah,
I mean it was great for ourleague. I mean it's terrific for
our league. I think, um, certainly our teams. I know,

(36:07):
you know, talking to the NHLassistant general managers and some general managers,
they were thrilled they could get theireighteen or nineteen year old kid and play
in the league. And there's abig learning curve in pro hockey and and
and some of these junior kids haveto go through that and so so so
for some of these junior players toexperience that as an eighteen year old,

(36:29):
I think is just tremendous value.But I mean, you also have to
be respectful of the CHL, andyou can't. You know, it's not
fair that you'd pluck all their eighteenor nineteen year olds, because I'm sure
our NHL teams would pluck a lotof eighteen and nineteen year olds out of
there and put them in the AmericanLeague if they could. And and that'll
be decided between the NHL and CHL. But I think this is likely a

(36:52):
one off, and maybe they cancarve out an exception for the odd player.
I don't know, but that's that'sgoing to be something that's decided by,
uh, the NHL and the CHL. One thing I'm hearing from a
lot of players contacting me asking they'regetting anxious now we're in the free agency
in the next month or so.Um, they want to kind of know
what the market looks like for forveteran guys, guys twenty five to thirty

(37:15):
range. Yeah, as a formerto GM. Where do you see the
market potentially being this year, giveneverything that's happened in the past year.
Yeah, I really don't know,Patrick, It's it's a great question.
Um, we all know the valueof those players, um you uh,
you know, whatever, whatever youpay them. I mean I looked at

(37:37):
the Bakersfield team that just won thatPacific Division playoff, and you know,
I looked at Adam Cracknell and andBugsy Malone and Kevin Graval and Ryan Stanton
and just invaluable. In valuable youcould tell, you could tell how much
impact they had on their team.So I think there's always going to be

(38:00):
a place for them. I can'ttell you if the market's gonna, you
know, drop a percentage or so. I really don't know. I know
some of those players are signed,um so and and some have recently signed,
So I just I don't know wherethe market's going to be. I
can tell you without a doubt thatthe NHL teams spent a lot of money
this year, and uh it coststhem a lot of money not only for

(38:22):
the HL but for the NHL justto play without fans. So, um,
you know that's going to be acase by case basis what you know
coming out of this now that you'llhave a chance to start to implement your
vision. One, what we're yourwhat is sort of the outline of your
vision for the next maybe three tofive years. And number two, what
are some business initiatives that fans mightsee in the in the coming seasons.

(38:46):
Yeah, well, well, youknow, obviously we have a great brand,
and I'm I'm very protective of ourbrand. I think it's it's got
a really important and prominent place inthe hockey world. Um. You know,
the primary and really the only developmentleague of the NHL, and I
want to make sure we enhance thatbrand, we protect that brand and uh

(39:07):
and and I think that that willbe really valuable for the league and help
us grow and help us grow revenues. Obviously, I'm in his job because
we want to we want to keepdoing what Dave was doing for twenty five
years and that's year over year overyear over year growth. UM. I
want to protect our relationship with theNHL and make sure that we're doing the

(39:30):
things that they need to have done. Um because you know that's where our
that's where that's a side that ourbread's buttered on and we've got to make
sure that we're in sync with them, and we are and we are and
uh, and then I think there'san overall obligation for us to grow the
sport. UM, you know,be diverse and inclusive and making sure that

(39:52):
we're trying to bring the sport toUH. We're in a lot of markets,
non traditional markets, UM, andbring the sport to people that otherwise
wouldn't touch it. So UM,as far as business initiatives, We're just
going to put our heads together.I know there's opportunities out there. UM,
Like who would have ever thought that, you know, ten years ago

(40:13):
gambling was going to be a bigrevenue driver for the for the for the
NHL, and it is now forus. We have a gambling partner.
So UM, just be ready totake take take advantage of those opportunities and
be nimble and be looking out.And I know there's some coming down the
line, and we'll just have tobe ready to help our teams and if

(40:34):
the league, if there's an opportunityfor the league as well with that gambling
issue. One of the issues youknow with that is that, uh,
you need to have more information outthere, maybe statistically or what have you
would the potentially will the league releasemore information maybe time and ice, various
different stats, you know, tohelp further that that move into into gaming.

(41:00):
Good question. I mean we've we'vehad some time on ice will be
a topic of discussion this summer.The problem with our time on ice is
it's uh, it's been hasn't beenaccurate. Yeah, and uh and that's
a problem. So you're you're givinga stat that hasn't traditionally been one hundred
percent accurate. I mean, it'sa tough stat to get to be one

(41:20):
hundred percent accurate if it's from uhyou know, if if if humans are
doing it by looking at people fromthe stands. I think the video companies
that we have a partnership with,um, they do they can do a
better job of it because you know, they've they've got the technology to do
it. So um Obviously, themore information out there, i'd like and

(41:42):
we'd like, but we've got tomake sure it's accurate. So uh so
we'll we'll just keep working on thatand seeing if there's opportunities for us to
give more information. But time onice will be a topic of conversation.
And lastly, Scott, just aswe wrap up here. Um, first
off, how much are you lookingforward to a semi normal season after everything
we've been through here? And whatare you hoping to see on October fifteenth

(42:06):
when the AHL opens the twenty twentyone twenty two season. Well, I'm
really looking forward to the uh,you know, the normalcy that hopefully we're
going to come across here starting inOctober. Um. It's uh, it's
something that we're all striving for anduh and you know it's not in the
bank yet, but it's trending theright way. So that'll be a big,

(42:30):
big relief to to start that.And and as I think about me
getting this job, you know,my plan for the first year was to
get to every market and meet everybodyand and sort of get to know each
team and their staff and and whatthe markets about, what the arenas about.
I've been in a lot of arenas, but so I'll get to do
that this year, hopefully for thefirst time time, and start start learning

(42:52):
more and more about this league.I know when I first when I first
took the job, I knew thatyou know, you don't know what the
job is until you get in andyou live it, and I've lived it
now for almost a year, butI've led in very extraordinary circumstances. So
I'm looking for really looking forward toliving it in the normalcy that hopefully is

(43:13):
coming up. And when you doget to travel around and make it up
to Belleville, We'll look forward toseeing you here as well. I'll come
knock on your door data perfect.Scott Housing is the president CEO of the
American Hockey League. Thank you againso much for your time. We really
appreciate it. Thanks driving. Interactwith us on social media, give us
your thoughts using the hashtag Around theA and follow us at Around the apod

(43:42):
into our last segment of the season. Here on Around the A and no
typical on the fly segment this week, I believe it or not, there
wasn't much audience to be had fromaround the AHL. Teams have packed up,
they've gone home and begun their offseason, and we're set to do
the same thing. Before we go, pat we we have to maybe dissect
that interview a little bit with theScott housen Um. You know, obviously

(44:07):
a whole pile of work for himstill to do, and a lot,
as he said, for him tolearn moving forward. But the theme that
I kind of took out of outof that conversation was that all of the
member clubs in the league, theteam staff, the players, nobody was
really selfish when it came to gettingthis season done. The the for the

(44:28):
good of the league mandate or mantraif you will, kind of seem to
ride high above everything else. You'reright that that was a very big theme
of Scott Holsten's comments to us.We went on almost forty five minutes.
He broke down a lot for us, a lot of questions. Like you
said, fans have questions, Wehave questions. I mean, there's a

(44:50):
lot of snow button gossip that wehear on that theme of what's best for
the league. I come right backto the schedule unification that that's been a
major, major issue for the leaguegoing all the way back to twenty fifteen.
Dave Andrews wasn't able to get everybodyon the same page. I know,

(45:12):
no lack of trying on his part. Something both sides really felt strongly
about the sixty eight game club.They felt very strong from a player development
perspective that that was the right number. Seventy six game group, a lot
of independently owned clubs in that group, they felt much differently obviously when you
think take for the Hershe the HersheyBears, for example, lopping two games

(45:36):
off of their schedule when they're puttingin eight, nine, ten thousand fans
a night. It's a lot ofmoney that they're leaving on the table by
having to do this. So Ithink it was an interesting point that Scott
made about how the pandemic and theexperience that everybody went through the past fifteen
plus months did perhaps soften some positions, did make everybody willing to come off

(46:02):
their demands a little bit, andeventually somehow me somewhere closer in the middle.
And I think it's great news forthe league to have that schedule unification.
On the way it's been it's been, it's been an issue for for
a lot of people, not theleast of which was coaches. A lot
of them really didn't like it.They I know, for example, and

(46:24):
we talked about this last week,Texas in San Antonio. In that first
season in the Pacific Division, theyplayed seventi six everybody else was playing sixty
eight, and they were not happywith it. And they felt it was
a big disadvantage for them, andum, so to finally get everybody on
that same page coming in and youhave Palm Sprange coming in twenty twenty two,

(46:44):
that's a huge boost for the leagueto get that market in there so
you can get a unified schedule.Seventy two is a good round number,
it's very divisible, It worked witha lot different schedule formats, So I
think that that's a big, bigtakeaway, you know, from what Scott

(47:07):
had to say during our interview withhim. And he also again kind of
teased that they're already looking at playoffexpansion, and I think a lot of
that has to do with the divisionalignments. Like he said, it's odd
to have nine teams in one divisionand only have four of them make the
playoffs. So they're gonna have tofind, you know, creative ways to

(47:27):
get more teams involved in the postseason. But yeah, I thought, you
know, his tone overall was fairlyoptimistic. Um obviously still a lot of
questions to be answered as far asthe border and what the schedule looks like
in things like that, and uh, you know, we will, of
course, even though we're wrapping upour season here have all of the latest
info. When it drops, you'llhave it on your Twitter at Pee williams

(47:51):
Ahl and we'll have it on oursocial media at around the Apot as well.
And um, should there be significantnews that comes throughout the course of
the summer, we'll jump in withthe podcast here and there with our off
season update format, because yeah,the season's over, but the news is
going to keep coming here over thenext few months. We're gonna have free

(48:12):
agency news, The schedule is goingto hopefully be out in mid July.
We'll have more on Abbotsford and howthey're settling in out West and getting set
for the season, and of coursehow teams are rebounding and recovering now from
the pandemic. So still a wholelot of stuff that we'll be able to
pass along to the listeners throughout thecourse of the summer. Your hockey's really

(48:34):
now it's eleven and twelve month businessfor the year. There's really no extended
downtime anymore, and I think especiallythis season. I mean we're in a
little bit of a quiet period rightnow in June. But once still my
hits, once NHL Stanley Cup playoffsare wrapped, up that you're going to
go into overdrive. You're gonna havea expansion draft, an NHL draft,

(49:00):
your draft, free agency open andthen you're gonna be well into August when
that starts to slow down. Beforeyou know, you'll be in September.
We're waiting here on rookie camp,waiting here on tour, rookie tournament plans
from teams. I think everybody's hedgingtheir bets with that, and then you'll
be right into the heart of NHLtraining campaign. Before you know, it'll

(49:20):
be October fifteenth, opening night inthe American Hockey League. And what Ron
Hollison holds is a big splash,a paper turn. I know a lot
of teams are really gearing up forthat, really trying to make that a
special night, special weekend in somecases. So, um yeah, there's
no slow period really anymore. Andthere's a lot for us to keep track

(49:42):
of. And um, I thinkfrom your standpoint, you you're obviously on
the news side a lot, soyou're really following Canada and the dates that
you know, the vaccines really seemto be taking hold, both in terms
of the population taking them and thentheir effectiveness. Uh, the numbers in
the US have plummeted. They wereat I think forty five this past Sunday.

(50:07):
With the daily number, it's oneof the smallest numbers you know,
really over a year. So that'svery encouraging. With the vaccines have been
able to do now as the Canadianvaccine rates really start to ramp up as
well the second doses, I mean, that's really encouraging. So I think
there's a lot more optimism now thatwe actually can have normalcy return, and

(50:30):
it's not a normalcy with an asterisknext to it. It's actually real normal
twenty nineteen style normalcy such as itwas, and uh, you know,
we can have full buildings and wecan have fans and you don't have to
have all the the bloom and doomand the masks and everything else that goals
with that. So um, Ithink, you know, we asked him

(50:52):
point blank, are you bullish fromthe future of the league, And obviously
he's he's the presidency of the league. I mean, he's not going to
come out and say he's not.But I think he was pretty h he
was pretty adamant. That was somethingI took away from that that he didn't
had his bets on that that youknow, well, you know, we
think that Dada, No, hesaid, yeah, I'm bullish on this

(51:12):
league and the future of it.And and really there's a good reason to
be because when you look it backat January twenty twenty, I use that
as a benchmark. I mean,it was really one of the shortest news
conferences Dave Andrews had ever had duringhis tenure. There was just not a
lot to discuss. The league wasin a really good place, Things were
pretty quiet, pretty slottled down,and um, it was all systems go.

(51:35):
And then this pandemic hit obviously,and you know it took us all,
you know, you know, forfor quite a ride. But um,
now that the sense that it isstarting to wind down, that we
are getting in the upper hand inthis fight, and um that when we
come out of it once and forall, that we really can't get back
to a much better place and comeback, come out of it armed with

(51:59):
the new ideas, new practices thatcan really make things even stronger than they
were going into it. Yeah,lots of reasons to be positive. I
think you just look at the qualityof play in this league, the amount
of prospects that are that are graduatingto the American Hockey League and then from
the American Hockey League. There's somuch to look forward to from a hockey

(52:20):
operations standpoint, from a fans perspective, you know, we'll see how these
teams kind of adapt to needing toconnect with their fans again, and what
kind of new initiatives are coming in. Scott House and talked about gambling and
being able to bet on the AmericanHockey League. So there's so much to
come. And again, you know, despite the fact that we're wrapping up
our season, we'll have all thatnews throughout the course of the summer and

(52:45):
heading into the twenty twenty one twentytwo campaign as well, when we'll return
for an official third season of Aroundthe Ah. We'd be remiss. I
think if we ended without thanking everyonewho's been on the show over the course
of this sea and and our offseasonupdates. You know, before the shortened
season began, Uh, people wereso generous with their time for us,

(53:07):
and generous with their information and andjust making themselves open to talk about the
league and what's happening in their markets. And of course I think we've got
to you know, take a lotof fair amount of credit here ourselves.
And I'm not saying it to beuh, you know, a pompous or
anything, but the amount of workthat goes into putting this show together.

(53:29):
Like I like to say, atthe end of every TV broadcast season,
it doesn't just appear on your TVscreen. It doesn't just show up on
your Apple podcast list. Um.You know, Pat is grinding throughout the
course of the season to get thescoops and to get the information and anybody
who follows you on Twitter knows that. And uh, yeah, I gotta

(53:50):
put out a big thank you toyou man for all the work that you
do in in uh, in makingthe show what it is. We we'd
have nothing without the informations. Soit's been a hell of a year.
It's been a lot of fun againto uh to dive deep into the league
and to learn as much as I'mable to over the course of the season.
So I appreciate the hard work well. And I have to sorry,

(54:12):
I have to go likewise with you. I mean, it's not for you
putting the show together. Doing thistechnical standpoint of em me rambling on probably
for three hours and you know,I know it would sound good an execical
standpoint, I probably sound like Iwas, you know, calling you know,
from a phone booth or something.U. So you've been a huge

(54:32):
help in that regard and getting upto part you know, a technical standpoint,
helping me with the presentation standpoint.Uh. You know, obviously my
background is not on air in anyway. I'm a guy behind the scenes
writing, so um, you know, uh, since it's not my forte
for sure, a little bit likesometimes like a forward playing back on sometimes

(55:00):
uh, looking a little bit likea fish on the water. But um,
I want to definitely put some thanksout there, first and foremost to
the League office that they're a hugehelp. Jason jabvic um helps coordinating.
He certainly helped with this Scott Helsoninterview, for example, Dave Andrew's interviews
in the past. Um, youknow, without that, we'd we'd be

(55:23):
in a tough spot for sure,and certainly all all thirty one clubs.
They're different PR staffs, uh,those uh men and women that do that
job. It's a thankless job ina lot of ways. It's juggling a
lot of different responsibilities. They doit. They make it look easy,
They make it look flawless. Iknow it's not UM certainly all the players,

(55:45):
the coaches, management that we're sogenerous with their time, UM,
you know, helping us. We'retrying to bring news and information to a
league second best linked in the world. That's UH at times, doesn't I
don't think the attention that it deserves. UM. And you know, fans

(56:07):
at this level or every bit aspassionate as NHL fans, and they want
to know about their teams and theirplayers, and they want to know that
the gods have been the scuttle butall the all the stuff that makes sports
fun to discuss, and UH,it's a huge part of being a fan
of any sport is having not juston the ice or the field or what
have you. It's it's everything elsethat go around. And it's it's that

(56:30):
discussion that makes UH sports sports andnot just you know, a bunch of
liquid athletes you know on the ice. So UM, it's a huge part
of that. I just want togo through our list of guests real quick,
you know, a kind of ourheadliners, if you will, UH
this season that made UM we hada really I think good group, a
really very group you know, everythingfrom players too, you know, people

(56:52):
that make things run from a businessside. So we also start last week's
guests first round pick Matt Boldie andthe Iowa while Brent Rossie presidents are President
of Business Operations for the Bridgeport Islanders. I must say now Henderson Silver Knight's
Boys, Brian McCormack. Um uh, you know Comics president Robert esh Ben

(57:17):
Lipka from the Abbots for news andgave us the lowdown on that situation.
UM. Todd Crocker, the voiceof the Toronto Marley's Um uh you know
taking us through that, you know, unique season for the Marley's going through
that long COVID pause. Um.It was not an easy situation for them

(57:37):
obviously, Um to go through that, and you know he was there and
kind of gave was the lowdown onthat everything that that came with that.
Um uh So yeah, you cango through it down through the list.
We had, would like I said, a really unique group. We had
Tara Black from the Charlotte Checkers,kind of a business personage short an air

(58:00):
Nina's Um, you know the perspectivefrom from a front office standpoint, um,
you know, and what they gothrough, um, Tim Army Head
coach of the Iowa Wild Fantastic BradSmith at TSN twelve hundred with the Belleville
Senators. Rob Lapoulos the voice ofthe now former being up the Devils.
UH Andrew Dagustini who had that thatmeteoric rives with the Marley's early on in

(58:24):
the season. Um, you know, going really from a guy who you
know didn't have a background in theAmerican Hockey League to somebody that really you
know, stood on his head fora month and got the Marley's who a
really difficult period early on, sucha unique story, you know, you
know, his career just an examplepersistence. Jerry Cantlin, kind of the

(58:47):
dean of the HL media from Hartfordwho always has a lot to say and
uses a lot of perspective. BradPascal, assistant GM of the Calgary Flame
Stock and eat GM, so wegot the that perspective. Larry Landon for
the PHPA A great best given.The player's perspective. Eric tan Grady m

(59:13):
former player. Now he's retired,he's moved into the real estate business.
But you know the player's perspective,A veteran guy going through that long offseason.
You know what that was like TerryBroadhurst, another player in a similar
boatum, Bill Bill senitors head coachTory Mann. So just a unique group,
a fun group. Everybody was verygenerous both with their time and their

(59:37):
insight. We never had somebody comeon and kind of going through the motions
and give you know, stock answers. Everybody put a lot of thought into
what they had to say, andum, I mean I think for really
interesting interviews and perspectives that helped yeta lot of hockey fans through a long
ten month off season and shed lighton what this past see and was likely

(01:00:00):
from the inside. Yeah, itwas an incredible guest list and we hope
to have more of that coming nextseason. And as we've said throughout the
course of this year, if you'relistening to show and you've got feedback,
thoughts, ideas for us, we'dlove to hear them, send us an
email around the apod at gmail dotcom. We got some big things planned

(01:00:22):
for next season, a lot ofstuff we're going to work on throughout the
course of the summer to make theshow better and and you know, any
way that you know, the listenersthink we can improve, we'd love to
hear it. We need that feedbackto make the show better. And you
know, while we're talking about feedback, please subscribe to the pod, give
us a rating and a review aswell, make sure you don't miss anything

(01:00:44):
else through the summer. And yeah, looking forward to a normal season hopefully
come October. Yeah, well,we had our opening season, which was
twenty nineteen twenty and that was abbreviateand we were chuggling alone, and then
we had our off season to usa long ten month period. I will
admit there were some mean weeks therewhere we were like, what are we

(01:01:07):
going to talk about? You know, it's just another week of the COVID
nineteen pandemic and there's not a wholelot of report, and yet we always
seemed to find something. And that'sthe great thing about hockey is there's there's
always a different angle that you haven'texplored yet. So that was fun.
And then just you know, thekind of a sprint through this season that's

(01:01:29):
it was only really a not evena full four months, but the lead
packed a lot into that. Wevegot like the little mini playoff that was
fun. And you know, ifyou had told me on February fifth that
you were gonna be able to wrapup the season right off the strip in
Vegas with the Henderson Silver Nights goingto battle with the Bakersfield Condors and a

(01:01:49):
little mini playoff. I think hewould take that. I mean that,
you know, given what the circumstanceswere were really for a while didn't look
like there might even be a seasonfinished that, you know, with fans
in the building, I think itwas really encouraging and it was a chance
really to vault the league into thesummer and then more importantly into the next
fall when we all hope that wehave full buildings, normalcy and everything else

(01:02:16):
that comes with that. And soyeah, for us, we're looking forward
to actually have a full season nextyear and not having interrupted. I'm looking
forward to seeing the Caller Cup awardedagain. We haven't seen that since twenty
nineteen, so Charlotte Cheers were stillholding onto that trophy that they won back
then they had a different affiliate evenso, just yeah, we've all been

(01:02:37):
through. I don't even know howyou would describe this. I mean I've
at different times wondered, you know, when we look back in twenty years,
what are we going to say aboutthis? I mean, what this
was like, you know, likeeverything else through time gets a little bit
more embellished to like, you know, you know, things teak on an
even you know, bigger life oftheir own. But you know, I
don't think really you could have bellishjust when this one was. This was

(01:03:01):
a unique past fift two months,so some ways we're all changed by it,
but hopefully we'll also passed it aswell. Yeah, it was unique,
it was strange, It was weird. At the end of the day,
though, a whole lot of funto be able to be here and
cover the American Hockey League. Andyeah, I can't wait till a Calder

(01:03:23):
Top gets awarded around this time nextyear, but maybe more so can't wait
till October fifteenth, in the nextAHL season, where we are hopefully back
to normal once more. We'll thankeverybody involved in the show this year for
making it what it was. We'llremind you again to subscribe to the podcast
so when we do throw up aoffseason update or two throughout the course of

(01:03:45):
the summer, you're not gonna missit, and we'll talk to you when
we talk to you next on Aroundthe end. Thanks for listening to Around
the A. Be sure to tunein again next week. Find Around the

(01:04:05):
A on the Sports Podcasting network,I tune, Spotify, or wherever you
get your podcast. Interact with uson social media, give us your thoughts
using the hashtag around the A,and follow us at Around the apart

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Around The A Podcast - Season 2 Episode 20 - The Season Finale with AHL President and CEO Scott Howson.

Episode Transcript

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.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Around The A Podcast - Season 2 Episode 20 - The Season Finale with AHL President and CEO Scott Howson.