IceDogs Chasing Consistency so far in November - Dog Pound Podcast - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
This is Rod Mahood, your in game voice of the
Niagara Ice Dogs, and you're listening to the dog Pound Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
On the Armchair GM Sports.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Network, your podcast hourse for all game analysis, team interviews,
and up to date news regarding the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
Over Time, Ice Dogs, Wind the Brush a Pace, also.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Jima, It's a.

Speaker 5 (00:59):
Power play gol Many Ice Dogs.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Heady Scar host seg for school as an ice Dog,
Trump Stop Shipley, Gritchie.

Speaker 6 (01:07):
Scar gets it to a kill.

Speaker 7 (01:09):
Thomas Thomas has the ankle coming, Get batop.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And Welcome into another episode of the dog Pound Podcast,
the official podcast of your nag Or Ice Dogs, probably
brought to by Global Pet Foods, where pets are unnipily
part of the family and they're three great nag Or
region locations. Thank you those that are tuned in on
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Hit subscribe, smash that Bell's stay up to date with
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(01:40):
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Speaker 3 (01:52):
You can also give us a follow.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
On Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by searching the ar I'm
sure GM Sports Network for all of our short reels
and content. Christian Simmons and Brandon Kuda are with you
to discuss the Ice Dogs weekend up in Ottawa and
Kingston that did not farewell, as Christians already shaking his
head not results, Christian. The snow came and gone down

(02:14):
here in Nagar, which was a good thing. We thought
we were gonna get winter wonderland and lasted a couple
of days and then the rain kind of took it away.
I don't know what the Ice Dogs went up to
in the northeastern Ontario. I guess you can call it
in the nation's capital. But you know, two results that
we'll get into. Will also hear about Chris Barch's comments
on the weekend as well via our friend and colleague

(02:36):
of Bill Potters from BPSN. He was able to speak
with him earlier today. This comes out on the Monday,
so Christian as there's anything else you want to mention
before we get going here.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
We got a lot to discuss for the Ice Dogs.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
And you know, we're gonna be as objective as possible,
but not the November that they'd want to.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
I guess start off half the month.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
With here, no for sure, and we're gonna get into it,
like you said, we'll talk about it. There's a lot
of stuff that's just not ideal. And I think for
you know, a team that you know, a month ago
was sitting at the top of the power rankings in
the Ontario Hockey League with all these expectations like, oh boy,

(03:17):
look at this team, the Ice Jugs are gonna be
like it was. It was, you know, such a high
to start the season. And I think that's why, you know,
at this point there's a little bit of a slump there.
There's there's a negative feeling that has started to waft
over you know, that dark cloud you know, has has
kind of found a home, you know, over the Meridian

(03:38):
Center over the last couple of weeks. But you know,
like like anything else, there's still positives and we're gonna
take them.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
But yeah, I will mention.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
That the Bills won on Sunday, so you know, if
we're looking for positives.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
We'll take that.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
But yeah, like it's it's it's part of hockey, and
and we'll break it down. There's definitely some things that
I don't like, and that's putting it mildly. There's definitely
some gaping holes. You know, we've gone very slowly from
a cheddar to a Swiss cheese over the last couple

(04:13):
of weeks. There's some pretty significant holes in different spots
that you know, this team really needs to find a
gap for.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Or find a fill, you know what I mean. Like,
and we'll break them down. But it's.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
It's unfortunate because you know, there was a five game
winning streak and now it's a four game losing streak,
and it's like, you know, yeah, it's it's like when
you have the best cake of your life and then like,
you know, the first taste is amazing, and then that
aftertaste just comes around the corner and it's like, oh boy,
like like that's kind of where we're at.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Like for me, it's like, you know.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
We had the appetizer was great, you know, half of
the entree was great, and then the dessert sucked like
it was the worst dessert. So that's kind of where
I'm at. You know, I'm a little bit stung. You know,
I'm kind of hurting after the last couple of weeks.
But you know, we'll work through through those feelings. We're
gonna recap both of the games today, so we'll get

(05:09):
into some highlights. We'll get into you know, who played well,
kind of what's happening statistically. But yeah, just just a
kind of a bad taste in your mouth after two
weeks of ice dogs hockey.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, and a bad taste in my mouth after my
Falcons lost back to back games and overtime the last
two weeks.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
And yeah, you know what, you just you gotta stop
cheering for bad teams Buffalo Atlanta. You know what, I
can't say anything because the leaves suck, you know what
I mean? You want to roll back there? You both
and too, Well, that's you know what, that's fair. You

(05:48):
guys are going to be thirty first though, and the
Leaves will be thirtieth, so at least we won't be last.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
We won't be last. But yes, the leaves.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
Are awful, but that's not that's for sports Net has
podcast Sun Leave Stock, so we won't.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
We're not gonna go to That's the.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Most credit they deserve on this show. But that's it
airs it. But yeah, I mean when you look at November,
Christian and we're a fourth into the season now basically,
and yeah, it's been a really tough month of November.
Like they haven't won since that Brampton game, which was
back in October, and again October thirty first was their
last win. And you mentioned like that five game heater

(06:24):
they were on you were feeling really high and again,
this is part of a sixty eight game season in
junior hockey where you got to you gotta be able
to fight through funks like this, and now you've got
you go five and oh in your first five, oh
and five in your next five. One of them, you know,
you most likely should have got to win against Ottawa
and let that one sort of slip away late.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
You got a point.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
You also got a point in Kingston as well, But
when you look at it, you know, picking up two
of ten points, especially with the way that some of
your the teams are playing within your division and you
kind of wanted to have.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
That buffer with the good start that you had.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Now Barry is technically head of Niagara by by two
points within the division. So you look at it, North
Bay is also tied with Niagara, even though Niagara has
a game in hand. So when you look at it,
you knew it wasn't gonna be a cakewalk in the Central.
And we know Branford and what they're doing, but again
they're in the East Division, which is still the same conference.
But again when you look at it, Barry's seven oh

(07:21):
one and one in their last ten, seven to one,
one and one. Excuse me, so the guicce Doug's got
to start getting playing better hockey really soon.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah no, And like, let's go back to that last
ten graphic for a second, Brandon, if you want to
flip it back for viewers on YouTube here, if you
are listening to the audio podcast, we appreciate your listenership,
but we're gonna walk through this graphic here. This is
you know what I noted, Like, that's a five game
winning streak. But who are you playing? Like you play

(07:51):
Brampton twice, you got three times. You play Brampton three
times and you play Kingston, which is a tough game,
which they won, and that was a close one. You
know they scored that, you know, two goals in the
third period, know that one is kind of a toss up,
and then they beat Eerie. It's like, and you know what,
for me, like watching some of those games, I don't

(08:13):
feel that you know, the Ice Dogs have been dominant
over that stretch, Like you know, they they won games
on the scoreboard, and you know on the score sheet,
but like there's other things that need to be cleaned up.
They weren't dominant wins by any stretch. And then you know,
over the last five you got North Bay Ottawa Erie,
which you know that's a kind of a you know,

(08:36):
a bullet to the head, and then Kingston and Ottawa again,
so you know, the last five you got tough, tougher opponents,
and then you know the previous five you know a
little bit of a weaker schedule, and you find a
way to pull them out. But like I said, not convincingly,
Like there's a case here that you know, their last
ten games haven't been fantastic. You know, it's it seems
to be kind of a reoccurring thing. They get out shot,

(08:59):
they get out work, the fore check, isn't there. The
defensive yes, they don't score the first goal. The defensive accountability,
the responsibility in your own zone, in and around your net,
it's not there. So you know, those those things are
are are you know, they're burning, they hurt. At what
point do you stop doing the same thing? It's you know,

(09:23):
how many times are you going to put your hand
on the stove, you know, without putting on.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
The the oven bands.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
You know, you learn at a young age you don't
do things that hurt that you know, as you grow up,
you you you identify, Okay, you know what, I'm not
going to walk into oncoming traffic because that's probably gonna
hurt if I get smoked by a car. So, you know,
and that's supposed to be an analogy. Maybe it's a
really bad one, but I feel like the Ice Dogs

(09:51):
are are not making adjustments. You know, I see the
same mistakes and I see them night and night out,
and you know, again, there's a new coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
But how long are those excuses going to you know.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Hold water? How long can we say it's early in
the season. We talked about this last show, like we're
twenty games into the season. Guys, We're twenty games in.
It's not the beginning of the year. It's not early anymore, right, Like,
so here we go again, tangent Christian negative, tangent.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Time, I guess, but that's where I'm at.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
I think there's gonna be a lot of people that
are going to agree with me, maybe some people that don't.
But it's time to make adjustments. Let's learn from our mistakes.
You know, there's forty eight games left. Forty yeah, forty
eight games left, you know, where we need to start
changing some of these things. And you know, it's it's interesting,

(10:54):
you know, we talked a little bit about, you know,
the kind of the separation that's happening in the central now.
You know, like Barry is over taking them, North Bay
is now overtaking them. You know, they're losing spots in
the East. Like you know, we've talked a lot about this,
you know, in previous shows. Liam Spencer talked about it.
You know, like it's it's good to be getting monkeys
off your back at this stage when you know the
hockey is less important, you know, as opposed to when

(11:15):
you're playing in March, but the hockey is still important now,
Like you give up ten points over the last five games.
That's a huge margin. You know, that's a huge margin
in the standing. So I think, you know it's time
to you know, start taking accountability. You know, there's we

(11:36):
can't be saying anymore that you know it's still early
because it's not.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, you know, third of the season's gone.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
We're gonna start playing some of these highlights again from
the Kingston game first and again for you guys listening
in audio, we're sort of just going over the game
highlights from the Kingston front and acs and the Ottawa
sixty sevens games. But we can continue to sort of
just talk in general, Christian while we watched this through
and again when when you looked at that Kingston game
and just a bad start again, the Ice Dogs don't

(12:02):
get the first goal, they give up a rebound, Kingston
gets the first goal. When you look at it here,
Jacob Bataglia takes a shot, gets his own rebound, and
like again like it's just like guys just sort of
not really knowing the defensive assignment on that play.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, where are you? Where?

Speaker 8 (12:19):
Where?

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Where is the coverage? Right? Like, and where's the positioning?

Speaker 1 (12:23):
I do have to say though, these Kingston Remembrance State
jerseys were phenomenal, sick just sick jersey. Here was nice
goal for the Ice Dogs. Here this was the Noah
Reid goal.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yeah, and Edgar makes a great play. Yeah, steps to
the right.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
First first weekend back after winning gold for a team
Team Redd at the U seventeen Challenge, So you can
tell he had a little bit of you know, jump
in his step. Your Malanco started both games, by the way,
but we'll get into the Ottawa game didn't really go
his way, but he was fantastic in this game for
the Ice Dogs. Here was Sebastian delo Chase first career goal. Again,
I'm sure that's when Gavin betsa want back, but for

(13:00):
del Cha really nice. Uh, you know, your Malca makes
the save there and then the Ice Dogs go down
the other end and you know, delj just takes a
shot here, gets a nice pass there I think from
Roebrick and it's able to go five hole on Bets.
So really nice for him to get his first goal.
And they just need more contributions from the back end.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, no, for sure, like what we can get into it.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
And we talked about this prior to you know, recording
this show that you know that there seems to be
like this confusion on the back end, like who's actually
supposed to be scoring? Like the offensive guys don't have points,
the defensive guys do have points, and it's like.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
What roles are you supposed to be filling?

Speaker 1 (13:40):
Like it was a goal late that the Ice Dogs
gave up, like just a weird angle shot literally as
a second period was expiring, when they had a two
to one lead.

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Just again, that's okay, now we're watching this goal, like
I will this is something that I wrote down in
my notes for today's show, like.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
I can I think that's I can go back to
it here. No, it's okay.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
And I mean even that one really as an illustrate,
you know, kind of my point, because that's that's a
goal that you know your MO probably wants back, like
it just gets behind him right, like there's nothing at.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
That periods expiring. You think you're gonna go in the
room with a two to one lead.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
And you know what, like there's three. Yeah, Like that's
a tough one. And I apologize for those that are
listening in the audio version of the podcast, because this
is the this is the time of the podcast where
you guys kind of get left to hang hung out
to dry a little bit.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
But we're what we're we're looking at is a goal.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
Three ice dogs come back right, they're on the back check.
There's one Kingston guy and somehow he's able to poke
the puck in behind your malenco late stages of the game.
Of course, that's a killer. But before we move on,
I did write something down on my notes. We'll see
it more in the Ottawa pack as well when we
go through those highlights. So many battles were lost net

(14:57):
front this weekend. We taught we saw thetular Patagulia goal.
You know, he got his own rebound. There was a
couple of goals in Ottawa similar situations like coverage was
lapsed out front, you know not you know the passing
lanes aren't being taken away. For me, that was a
big one this weekend. You know, we're not gonna harp
on it too much. I just wanted to put it
out there. I noticed NetFront was an issue this weekend.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
The assignments, Like I just I don't know if ever,
if people were didn't know exactly where their assignment was
supposed to be but again, when you're playing teams like
Kingston and Ottawa that have pro style systems, this is
sort of the things that happened. And again, this was
really the turning point in the game for you listening
in audio. I'm narrating it for you. The Ice Dogs
are up three to two, four minutes left, they're on
the power play. They are on the power play with

(15:42):
a chance to extend the lead, and again just you know,
getting lazy with the puck here in the neutral zone
and then they end up giving it away. Kingston goes
in on a breakaway short handed in scores to even
the game up. You know, just that can't happen. The
Ice Dog's power play is just again it's something that
the really trying to work through. But again, to give
up a shorthanded goal when you have the lead late,

(16:04):
that's not going to do it. And then in three
on three overtime, Kingston ends up getting the winner here
on a cross ice feed. And again, your Malnka was
fantastic in this game. Felt really bad for him because
I think he deserved a better fate in this game, Christian.
But again Kingston wins four to three over the Niagara
Ice Dogs. In a game that you know, you really
thought that after they had so much confidence beating Kingston

(16:25):
down here in Niagara a couple of weeks ago, that
they were going to be able to come away with
a win. And again they get a point. But that's
not a point where you feel like, wow, we really
earned that point tonight. It was almost you know, we
lost that second point.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah, like you you lost the second point. That's very well,
said Brandon. That's exactly how I would put it. If
this game goes to overtime because the Ice Dogs scored
four unanswered goals and tied it up in the third period, Fine,
I'll take that.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
That is a hard fought point.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
You know, they they had a balance it overtime, as
we've talked about over time, is overtime? Yeah, some king
welt Sorry, Oh our auto A sixty sevens broadcast crew,
which I will say does a great job. You know,
they get a nice crew there. So but yeah, this

(17:15):
is uh, we'll taking a look at these packs again.
But yeah, like it's it's you know when you lose
that way and and and overtime, and it's just not
a good feeling.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Is here you go again? Giving up the first goal.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Again, we're watching highlights here, so for if you're listening
on the audio, it's you're not You're not seeing this stuff.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
But you can just look up the Ice Dougs highlight
packs from YouTube over the last two weeks and follow
along with us if you really, uh, we're that confused.
But again, Outawa opens the scoring, they get that second one,
and that's where Chris Bartch makes the decision to pull
your Malenko. Two goals on three shots. He went to
them back to back after the game in Kingston, and
that's really tough to do, especially coming off a night

(17:54):
game into an afternoon game. So again he just felt
like you needed to to make that change there. So
for the Ice Dogs, you know, to be down two
nothing early in the first period against a team like
Ottawa just very hard to overcome. And well, we're gonna
kind of talk about it, but they got into a
lot of penalty trouble in this game. They didn't do
themselves any favors discipline wise. They had Ottawa had three

(18:16):
five on threes in this game at different times in
the game. One of them was for a complete two
minutes where the Ice Dogs took two penalties on the
same shift and again they just they they really let
this one, you know, get away from them, and if
they had any chance of coming back, because there really
wasn't enough five on five sustained action here. It was
so and especially the third period felt like a basketball game.
That was a nice goal there, Noah Reid being able

(18:38):
to get his second goal of the weekend. But you know,
like the third period just dragged on because there were
so many whistles, so many penalties. There's a two man
advantage goal for Ottawa like we're gonna go through it,
but they lost this game six to two Christians.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Yeah, and it's like, again, where's the accountability? Like, I
get it. This weekend was hard on I can understand that.
Like we talked about it last show.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
There's there's the network right, like look at that.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
Again and there you go that that's my point. Who's
covering that guy? Zada's late on the back check. He's
wide open out front. You know it's a missed coverage.
That's a late backcheck.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
There's got Charlie Robertson's got no chance on that, Like
he made the initial save, like he played great in
this game. And relief by the way, like he stopped
thirty of thirty three, but the team in front of
him just did not, uh, you know, really give him
an opportunity. Here again, the Ice Dogs are down four
to one and we're facing Dave Cameron. You might as
well start the bus, because you know, he knows how

(19:37):
to how to lock it down and get his players
to play a certain way to really just smother and
not allow the Ice Dogs to get many opportunities in
this game, you know, after you're down four to one
and then continue to get into penalty trouble, like you'll
hear Chris Barts talk about a little bit later Christian.
But you know, we're we're kind of beating a dead
horse here. But it's uh yeah, we watching the highlights
right like it's.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
But I mean, like there's no horses to ride, so
we're gonna beat the dead horse. There's nothing else, uh,
you know, for us to talk about besides.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Great and then here like.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
This is what I'm talking about, like the guy and
then where where is anybody? Where's anybody on this play?
Robo makes the first one? That's his job. Second one
not his job. Who's covering that guy out front? How
is he that wide open you know, so you know, again,
we'll stop beating the dead horse. You know, I'll put
the you know, I'll put the boxing gloves down. H

(20:35):
But I think it's you know, we talked about this
last show. I know I talked about this last show.
We were mentioning that, you know, these kind of weekends
are they test your character? You know, what what kind
of team are you? You know, are are you going
to play hard competitive hockey for twelve hours on a
back to back in Ottawa and Kingston in one of

(20:57):
the most difficult road trips.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Are you going to be able to do that?

Speaker 4 (21:00):
The Ice Dogs didn't playing, and simply put, they were
not able to do that. And and I think for
me that that's a little bit concerning that. It was,
you know, one of those weekends where it could have been,
you know, the the coming together of a unit. You know,
you break that three game losing shriek. We had some

(21:24):
success on the road. Now we're gonna come home over
the next few you know, you got the home stand
coming up here at the end of November into December.
They got you know, home games for four or five weeks.
It's you know, these are you know, the points that
you really want to get not just for the standings
and you know, the statistical side of things, but also
for the character of your team, you know, the chemistry
and the group. Like you go out on road trips

(21:45):
like that, you know, in tough times, you know, to
find difficult wins is always you know, a boost, you know,
for your team. And they weren't able to take advantage.
And this is the second time, you know, on a
road trip like that. They did it in winsor in Sarnia,
and now they did it again Ottawa and Kingston. They
weren't able to find victories on those long, difficult road trips.
And I don't know if that's something to be concerned about, Like,

(22:08):
you know, we would have to look at the schedule
to say, you know, how many more times is this
gonna happen where they're gonna go on the.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Road and get get smoked.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I will say, before we get to our interview, which
I'm sure is next, or we'll take a break, we're going.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
To go over our weekly statistics before we do that.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
And you know this this is a good segue because
it's also statistics. So in the last week, you know,
we'll go we'll take a look at this. The Nygriis
Dogs have given up let's let's go the last two weeks,
they've given up.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Fifteen goals in three games. That's not good enough, yeap,
that is not good enough.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
Like, and are we gonna really sit here and say
that that's your Malenco and Robertson, are we?

Speaker 3 (22:57):
I don't think. I don't think you and I could
collectively agree on that.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
I don't think any of the fans could agree that
this is a goaltending situation, you know. So for me,
that was another thing that stood up. You know, they're
giving up too many goals, they're not defensively accountable.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, and it's it's been a struggle.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
And we got our fan poll later in segment two
where we're kind of going to kind of go over
sort of, I guess all the stems leading to what's
happened up to their lack of success over the month
of November. But you saw in the last bit of
the highlight pack, if you were watching on a video,
that the Ice Dogs pulled the goalie and did get
a goal technically with a man advantage, but it was

(23:32):
with an empty net. So again that doesn't count as
a power play goal. But it was a nice play
by Zada downlow to find you know, Riley Patterson cutting
in back door, and like you'd love the Ice Dogs
to be able to do that with more regularity. So
again we're gonna go over the weekly statistics here and
again they're brought to you by J and O Flooring.
And when you go, when you look at it, I've
got a graphic up on the screen for you guys,

(23:53):
if not all narrate it for you guys in the
audio version for you to follow along. The Ice Dogs
had sixty three shots for seventy three against. They were
zero for seven on the power play that we'll get into.
I'm sure they were nine of eleven on the penalty kill,
fifty face off wins to fifty seven losses. They lost
four to three in Kingston and six to two in Ottawa.
Your Malenko stopped thirty three of thirty nine shots, Robertson

(24:17):
thirty of thirty three. And then the player statistics. Riley
Patterson had a goal, he had five danger scoring chances
on ten shots as well seven of twenty five on
the faceoff dot. So again I'm sure he'd like to
be better on the dot this week than seven to
twenty five, which we've seen him be real good there
this year. Noah Reed, as mentioned, scored two goals. He
had three danger scoring chances on four shots. Ryan Robrick

(24:39):
had a goal and assist with four danger scoring chances.
Sebastian del l j got a goal and assist two
danger scoring chances. Ethan Zada a pair of assist Ryerson
and you're a pair of assists in his return as well.
He actually led the team with six dangerous scoring chances
in the in the two games was ethan Zada he
was twenty one of forty six on the faceoff dot.

(25:00):
Then no Or Hayden Reid excuse me, had a couple
of dangerous scoring chances as well. Ryan Roebrick had an
eight game point shriek up until it was snapped against
the Ottawa sixty seven. So again good to see him
sort of find some success offensively Christian. But anything that
of note that you want to bring up there, even
though again they went they only one got one to

(25:21):
four points overall as a team.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
Yeah, I'll just quickly say before we move on that
they lost in every single team statistic category this week.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
There's not a single one that they won.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Shots on goal, lost, power play, lost, penalty kill, they lost.
They did not win more face offs than their opponents,
which is shocking consider their considering their personnel.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know, that's usually a strong point for this team.
And you know the statistics are great.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
You know, delj you know, gets his first and you know,
I thought Noah Reid scored a couple of beautiful goals.
I guess you know he's the new sniper of his team.
He's scored a couple off the rush. I have to say,
no Reid good looking shot so far since the trade,
so it's nice to see him get on the board.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
But yeah, just.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
You know, you look at those numbers from a team perspective,
it's just yeah, it's it's not please.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
I do want to mention Christian No Kevin he this week.
He was out with an illness the entire weekend. So
missing out in your captain that dynamic speed he has,
I'm sure you know wasn't easy as well. But the
Ice Dogs have the guys to be able to step in.
But no number eleven in the lineup definitely made a
you could tell it made a difference for sure.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
And you sent me a text about this.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
You know, during I think one of the games, like
when you when you take a guy with that kind
of speed out of the lineup, it changes the way
that your team approaches, It changes the way that your
team breaks out and enters the zone, you know, the
neutral zone play, all of it changes, you know, when
you don't have a guy like Kevin He with that
kind of speed. So it's absolutely a factor. Is it

(26:59):
Does it make fifteen goals over three games and a
five game losing streak excusable?

Speaker 3 (27:05):
No, but it's absolutely a factor.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
And you know when he comes back, then it's you know, okay,
well what excuse are we going to turn to now?

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Right?

Speaker 4 (27:14):
You know, I think you know this team is starting
to come back together. You know, Ryerson Edgar comes back
from the U seventeen World Challenge. You know, once you
get Kevin he back, you know, then it's you know,
now Blake Barnes is signed. If guys are starting to
come you know, if the team is starting to come together,
you know, we're starting to see what it's going to
look like for the rest of the year. And as

(27:35):
Brandon is pulled up here, it doesn't get any easier.
It gets harder, you know, you know, the next couple
of games are this is about as about as difficult
as a stretch aside from putting Winsor in there.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
You know, if you're playing Winsor instead of Peterborough.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
That that could be the most difficult four game stretch,
both in division and out of conference and in conference games.
You know, as we take a look here at the
twentieth you got Brantford, then we got Barry, then you
see Kitchener. That's that's gonna be you know, probably your
toughest matchup. And you know a team that's you know,

(28:13):
vying for Memorial Cup. Those are two teams who a
mining vying for a Memorial Cup and an OHL Championship.
And then the Barry Colts are the leaders of the
Central Division as of today. And then Peterborough game that
you should win. Kind of a nice little a game
for Ryerson Edgar and away that's the first overall draft
pick in his class. Katie McGregor on Ryerson Edgar. So

(28:35):
an interesting matchup there, but those three so.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
If they don't come out, you know, Peterborough can take
can really you know, outwork some of these teams because
they they know They're a young team and they know
they they're not gonna gonna be the the most skilled
team comparatively to some of these other teams. So the
Ice Dogs can't come out with another you know, tough start.
But again, when you're playing Branford and Barry and Kitchener,
like these are these are the teams that again, these
are the the the results are really gonna matter in

(29:00):
the end because these are the types of playoff teams
that you'd be playing if you want.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
To go deep.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, and this is what we said on the last show.
It's like, this is the worst time to be on
a five game losing streak because now you gotta beat
Brantford to hold it to sold it to five, and
then you got Barry and Kitchener. It's like there's no
breaks like this is you know what I mean. I
feel like we're we're tumbling down a double black diamond.
Nobody's gonna catch you. I don't know if you've ever

(29:27):
been in that situation, Brandon, do you go skiing, If
you start falling down a ski hill, no one's stopping you. Yeah,
You're gonna keep going like it's it's downhill from there.
And I feel like we just caught an edge at
the top of a triple black, because you know we're
gonna fall here. That's that's like you got Brantford, Kitchener

(29:50):
and Barry I see tumbling in the near future.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Well, maybe you can play up to your opponents. And
I think the Ice Dogs, after what they just left,
what they just went through, I think that they're gonna
be motivated to really come out and you know, they
need to have strong efforts because if you if you
play bad against these teams, it can get out of
hand real quick.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
You're gonna get punished.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
But I do think you know, when Ken he comes
back again, the team is still there's still positives. You know,
Roebrick is scoring, Kevin he is scoring at an incredible pace.
You know, Edgar continues to have, you know, a great
rookie season, and Grayson Tiller on the back end leads
you know, defenseman and scoring. Like there's lots of positives here.
Then the goaltending. I thought Robertson played great this weekend.

(30:32):
Your Malenko had a solid first half of the weekend
as well, So there's positives.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Find a way to put him together. It's like building
a puzzle.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yep, for sure, Kevin. He will be back by the
way for the game in Branford. You'll hear from Chris
BArch in segment two talk about you know, life without
their captain this weekend. But we're gonna take quick break
on today's show're gonna come back. We're gonna get your
guys's thoughts with the fan poll that we put up.
As well, we'll hear from Mice Doug's head coach Chris
BArch and discuss a few other things from the weekend
as well, and a recent trade for the ice Dog.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
So stare here.

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Speaker 11 (34:49):
To the dog Pound Podcast, the official podcast of the
Niagara Ice Dogs.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
And welcome back to part two of today's Dog Pound
Podcast episode right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network,
the official podcast of your nag or Ice Dogs. Make
sure you give us a follow on x at dog
Pound Podcast in update with all of our Ice Dogs coverage,
as well as on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok by searching
ther Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank you those that are
tuned in on our video version, make sure to like
get subscribed, smash that bell, and thank you to our

(35:29):
loyal audio listeners and whatever audio platform you choose to
listen to us today. It'll be nice to be back
there at the rink. We'll be doing our pregame videos
and pregame hits with Christian as well, maybe some bench
interviews for the pregame as well. But again, when we're
at the rink, we try to bring you guys different
types of content. Our next postgame show though, won't be
until that following Sunday against the Peterborough Pete, so look

(35:52):
forward to giving you guys our live postgame shows once
again with different types of coverage that we bring you
here on the network, and maybe some other things that
we're sort of in the works to trying to come
up with as well. But Christian, let's let's start with
our fan pole because I think that's a that's a
good place to start, and let's do it. Let's let's
start with the fan poll because we love hearing what
you guys have to say. And again I actually have

(36:13):
a comment that will read off.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
As well with the fan pull.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
So whether the Ice Dogs need to work on most
to break out of the current funk that they're in
as a team. The four options providing wor power play efficiency, discipline,
offense from the back end, and getting the first goal,
it was a tie between power play efficiency and discipline definitely.
You know, when you take eleven minors in Ottawa as
you're not going to do yourself any favors. And again,
the power play as of now is ranked last in

(36:37):
the Ontario Hockey League, Christians, So does that that really
surprise you there?

Speaker 4 (36:41):
No, not really, I think you know the fans are
spot on with this one. You know, power play efficiency
is an issue you know, when you have the worst
power play in the league, you got to score on
some of those. You know, It's it's not a good
feeling to to struggle to produce offense on a power
play when you you're given those chances. So I can

(37:02):
agree with this to an extent. I do think the
power play needs to get better. Do I think it's
the reason the Ice Dogs are not winning hockey games
right now? No, that is, in my opinion, not the
X factor. I do think that the power play would help,
you know, again, to kind of go back to some
words that I've chosen over the last few weeks. You know,

(37:23):
if you score two or three goals in a game
on the power play, like, that's absolutely gonna help. But
you got to keep the puck out of your own net.
You have to be responsible in the defensive zone. You know,
you need to get the first goal. I think that's
another big one on here that probably could have also
taken the cake as something that's you know, can be
attributed to their current funk. I do think offense for

(37:43):
them back end is of course going to be you know,
good for a team that has such a strong, you know,
forward group if they can find some complimentary scoring, that'd
be great. But I think discipline on here is a
big one. And I don't mean just discipline when we're
talking about taking pen I'm talking about positional discipline, right, you.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Know, character discipline.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
Being disciplined doesn't just mean, you know, not tripping a
guy in the neutral zone.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
I mean, you know, as you mentioned in segment one.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yes, let's start being disciplined in the sense that we're professionals.
You know, to be a professional, it means you every
day you do the same things, you play the same way.
You give sixty minutes of hockey every night. There's no
periods off, no shifts off. So I think discipline for
me would be the more important important one. But not

(38:37):
just you know, for you know, giving up power plays.
I mean disciplined as a whole, you know, in the
truest sense of the word disciplined. Be a disciplined hockey
team that shows up every shift every night. Doesn't matter
where you are, back to back or not, You're showing
up ready to play. And for me, I think the
discipline is.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
A big one.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
It's almost like all four of these can be correlated,
because the discipline leads into not getting getting off to
a good start, they give up the first goal. They
they get some power plays, they take some penalties, they
don't capitalize on the power plays. The penalty kill has
been really good, but again you don't want to have
to be penalized eleven times in two games, because again
you're you're not playing five on five and your penalty

(39:18):
killers are getting gassed. And again John Juty's done a
really good job with that that penalty kill unit, and
credit to those guys on the unit, but again it's
just that you're not allowing the game to be in
a good flow for you to be able to roll
your four lines. You know, Chris bart just has to
throw out, you know, maybe some of his better players
to try to get some short handed opportunities, and especially

(39:38):
when you're down by so many goals.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
So again the Ice Dogs are just doing themselves. No
favors here.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Again, they have four goals from the back end, but
sort of lack that really top end powerplay quarterback that
they still try to work through. They don't have, like
necessarily a guy that can be a game breaker defensively,
you know, like you've seen in the league before, like
Matt Schaeffer, and Zane Perrek where you know, they really
control the game from the back end. And that's not
to say that the Ice Dogs Decorp. Doesn't have good

(40:03):
players on it, That's not what we're saying. They're just
not those types of offensively skilled, gifted players where they're
able to really control the game.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
They play a solid two way game.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
But when you look at their six guys back there
right now, and again, Blake Barnes is in out of
the lineup, he sort of comes in and plays a
power play role when he plays, but he's only played
five games, so that collective unit leads to the lack
of efficiency on the power play. We saw them try
five forwards that didn't work. So I just think that
you know that this team has a lot of things

(40:34):
that they need to work through. Again a quarter into
the season. Now, as you mentioned, it's not the beginning
of the year anymore. But when you break it off
into segments, Chris BArch has some work to do with
this unit. And you know, this is a really big
character building, you know, last couple of weeks for them,
because how are they going to respond from this now
and how are they going to go into a tough
stretch against three really good opponents, because this is really

(40:56):
going to showcase and show you sort of where they
stack up within the the Ontario Hockey League standings, right,
because now you go from second to fifth and then
all of a sudden, what happens next.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
Right, that's not a hill that you want to have
to climb, you know, going from fifth back up to
second and then you know, hopefully not sliding further down
the lineup. But yeah, I agree, I completely agree with you, Brandon.
I think all four of these are pretty well correlated.
You know, discipline keeps you off the penalty kill, getting
the first goal also a result of starting on time,

(41:29):
offense from the back end would help with the power
play efficiency, and the power play efficiency would help with
offense from the back end. If your power play scoring,
whoever's on the blue line is probably getting points. So
you know, I think it's a little bit of a
kind of a circular motion there. So I'm good for
the fan poll. I think, you know, we kind of
covered it just you know, discipline for sure, we got

(41:50):
you gotta be playing sixty minutes.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
I do want to read a comment from Dan Cacato,
loyal listener. He said, right now, the Dogs power plan
is the biggest issue. I don't know that they keep
the stats, but I'm sure that they're one of the
worst teams for giving up short handed goals. That's part
and parcel with the fact that they have a hard
time maintaining the ozone on the power play. Their discipline
is getting a bit better and when they stay out
of the box, they play good hockey Ottawa one, Kingston

(42:13):
one and two. But when they're giving up double on
the powerplay, chances, even at eighty five percent PK isn't
going to be enough to prevent giving up one to
two goals a game. So thank you Dan for your
continued listenership to our show as well, and again we're
always looking for fan engagement as well, get your voices
heard for our shows here. And you know, again the

(42:33):
Ice Dogs, you know, have a lot that they can
look at here and a lot that they can you know,
try to work through. But I think it's a good
time right now to go to Ice Dog's head coach
Chris Barsch for his wrap up thoughts on the weekend.
And again that is as always, inside the Coaches Room
is brought to you by the Nagar Employment Health Center
helping people find work in Nagresince nineteen eighty three. Check
out their up to date job board at EHD dot

(42:55):
on dot to find your next work opportunity Today. Here's
what Chris Barsch had to say with our colleague Bill
pot A BPSN following the weekend roachrip up in Ottawa
and Kingston.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
I know, you guys are things aren't going exactly the
way you want right now. But is there something you
know that you could put your finger on and all
the games that is not going the right way or
is it just like you know, a couple like different
things that are different nights type thing.

Speaker 7 (43:17):
I would say that, like I would say number one,
every team goes through some sort of little stretch there
that that it's not exactly how.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
You want it, right.

Speaker 7 (43:27):
I do look at I don't really look at stretches.
I'm more I look at games as individual stories. Okay,
you know it's a reset after everyone. If I look
at a couple of takeaways things that we've done well,
I am very satisfied with the fair performance of Ryan
Roebrick and how he's moved along since the beginning of
the year. And I think he got our team in
turnovers last night, he's his work ethic back on pucks,

(43:51):
his work ethic driving towards nets. He's just not relying
on a shot. He's just not a score. He's doing
other things for us. So for me, from some of
those personal development pieces or have been real positives. I
think even Sebastian dell Elch great contest over the last three,
you've got to Liam Spencer, who's really come on, you know,
as a as a real big force for us back

(44:13):
on their decoor. I do look at, you know, Wiley Patterson,
what he's brought to the group. I see a lot,
you know, even your Lanco and Robertson, you know, they've
done real solid things first in the back end. So
for me, you know, I look at these contests as
its own story. I think maybe some patterns. I think discipline,
but I think we we you know, when you're last

(44:34):
night we're killing three five on three's that's not a
recipe for things. Now, I will say, I question, you
know some of these decisions, why are we five on
three you know, in the first ten minutes of a
hockey game, And why is the same calls are moved
towards us not not given to the other team in
probably worse situations. You know, there's a cross check on

(44:56):
Edgar at the end of a period.

Speaker 5 (44:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's just a okay.

Speaker 7 (45:00):
So so for me, it's it's it's we've got to
be more disciplined. Yes, we can't let the lack of
consistency and calls create that emotional reaction. So we've got
to control that. So I think discipline is maybe a
pattern that we've got to move from. I think again,
you know, we did pull our goalie on a five
on foard to create a five on four last night.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
I think that was a positive.

Speaker 7 (45:22):
They score on it, right, But we do need more
consistency and effectiveness from a power play.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
And then I think just we need to do a
better job.

Speaker 7 (45:30):
Defending in our degel I think and I would want,
you know, outside of some of these performances from the
d man I've I've talked about, I think Ressnecker's you
know how a real so so you know, elements of performance.
I need more from some of my vents at that
back and my deform. You know, I think just we need,
we need progression, we need we need a little bit

(45:52):
more from from.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
That side of things.

Speaker 7 (45:54):
Again, each each contest is its own stories. So for me,
there's different things different night I look at Kingston, you know,
I would want to expect that we walk away with
two points on nine on ten nights. Outside of that one,
I thought our performance was very solid. I thought we
did a great job dictating play, creating scoring chances, defending

(46:16):
in zone and off the rush.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
You know, auto why I gotta give out.

Speaker 7 (46:19):
A lot of credit. They play a very structured discipline
game and I think a lot of those elements that
we saw against in odd was what we need to
bring on a consistent basis.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
To our group.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
Now, when the team is kind of, you know, maybe
not where you want to be, how do you deal
with that?

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Christy?

Speaker 5 (46:36):
Do you bring the hammer down more or is it
more teaching or does it kind of depend on the situation,
because sometimes that team could get a little bit fragile
when things are going quite the way they want to
you know.

Speaker 7 (46:46):
Yeah, yeah, Well I think a number one, you want
to you're positive, you know there are elements for that.
You see, you've spoken the hammer, But I think you
know this generation and I think just in the LS
in general, you know, you build people more through positive
than negative. So you think that's a mindset of just

(47:08):
you know, make sure you're building building individuals. We want
to build individuals with respect to their skill set. We
want to build individuals and in respect to their their mindset,
and we want to build individuals.

Speaker 10 (47:19):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (47:20):
With respect to the confidence, I think players that don't
have confidence. You know, you look at you know, do
you want to win Gretzky at a corn of confidence
or do you want you know, a third liner aut
one hundred percent confidence. I think sometimes the third liner
out one hundred percent confidence is more effective than an
elite player with with with.

Speaker 5 (47:36):
You know, little Kevin, he how close is he to
coming back in back in the illness?

Speaker 7 (47:42):
Okay? Yeah, I think just number one getting him healthy
and then number two this time of year, keeping our
team healthy.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
There was Ice Doug's head coach, Chris BArch On inside
the coaches room. Christian, what were your takeaways from what
the head coach had to say with our colleague Bill Potters.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
I think it's just it's great because his takeaways were.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Similar to mine.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
You know, play play a defensively responsible game like you know,
take away passing lanes, be harder, to score against, and
you know he targeted some of his veteran guys on
the back end.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
He said, you know what, like we got to be better.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
You know there's positives, of course, and you know he
harped on some of those positives, like we all know
there's positives.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
There's lots of positives, one hundred percent. It's a good team.
There's gonna be lots of positives.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
The job for us, people like me and for people
like Chris BArch is to identify the negatives. What can
be better? Defensively? This team can be better, can be better.
They can absolutely be more disciplined. We talked about that.
He talked about that, you know, show up ready to play.
Don't let the ups and downs of the game get

(48:47):
to you. Be a disciplined professional hockey team who gives
one hundred percent sixty minutes regardless of what happens.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
We just play. You know.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
It's it's something that Mike Sullivan said to his Stanley
Cup winning team in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Doesn't matter what happens up or down, just play.

Speaker 4 (49:05):
Just play hockey the way you know how to play.
And I think this Ice Dog's teams needs a need
a little bit of Mike Sullivan. They need some of
that preaching in the locker room. You got to believe
in the skill set that you have. You got to
be disciplined and absolutely have to clean some things up
in the defensive zone. But for me, that's about it.
I do like him giving Ryan Robrick a bit of credit. Yep,

(49:27):
Like we talked about, he did play a great stretch
of hockey. The eight game point street comes to an end.
But it's more than that, you know, the defensive responsibility,
it's maturity of his game, you know, really building that
two hundred foot profile and resume. You know, for some
of these NHL scouts, the work ethic is there. You
see him going to the greasy areas, you know, so
those are really positive things and encouraging. And then you

(49:49):
know for Veriesenecker, you know to see him producing and
you know, finding his way in the Ontario Hockey League
as well. So just a couple of takeaways for me,
I would say discipline being the big one. That's kind
of the narrative for me. This this whole episode for me,
just you know, they need to be more disciplined.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
And I liked when Bill asked them about you know
about teams getting fragile going through tough stretches right when
things aren't going well, you keep your head down or
do you keep your head up? And Chris Bartsch just
said that we need to reiterate the positives with you know,
the newer generation.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Building them up is the way to go.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
So, you know, I think that was a really good
question by Bill just to ask sort of, you know,
the fragie if a team can go fragile during these stretches,
and how you navigate really, you know, do you really
want to harp on x's and o's when you're going
through a tough stretch or do you really need the
showcase here's what we're doing well and here's how we
can do more of that in these other areas, because
it's just such a fine line, you know, coaching, especially

(50:38):
in today's day and age.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
Yeah, and I think it's a good point, you know,
that that Bill makes and and that Chris spoke on,
is that you know, you have to kind of know,
you know, what kind of team you have and what
they're going to respond to. And obviously Chris knows how
to communicate with his guys. And I have no issues
believing that he'll you know, do what's best for his

(51:03):
team and what's best for the coaching staff. And you know,
they're going to figure it out here. We've we've talked
about this. It's a talented team. There's no reason why
this team doesn't find success. There's no reason why you know,
we're you know, competing for a Central Division title, you
know what I mean at the end of this the

(51:23):
regular season, so it's gonna come. But for me, main
takeaways just the discipline and and I think that some
of that discipline is you know, can also be applied
to the coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
You know.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
I think you know, when when you're coaching a young team,
you know, discipline is tough, right and and they obviously
are are doing everything that they can and you know,
but I do think that you know, once you know,
the coach gets more.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
Familiar with the group.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
You know, again we've talked about how you know, early
in the season, it's more of an excuse. We're kind
of getting deeper it now. But you know, the longer
Chris part spends, you know with some of these guys,
you know, the more he's gonna understand who they are,
the easier.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
It's going to get to communicate.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
The more fluid things are going to be resolved on
the bench and off. So I think, you know, again,
it's a work in progress, you know, and to Chris
Barch's point, you know, don't get too hung up on
the negatives. The positives are there, and just keep improving,
you know, every day, get better.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
And yep, I think this team is going to do
just that.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
Yeah, defending in their their end zone that you mentioned
a lot in the show is something that the he
definitely is gonna work on at practice. I think you'll
see a different team up there when they play Branford
on Thursday. But he did mention for you know, those
conspiracy theorists out there about Kevin he he's fine, the
captain's fine. It'll be back in the lineup on Thursday.
Everybody goes through an illness. He wasn't in healthy scratch,

(52:48):
he wasn't a trade. Everybody can just put their their
their tinfoil hats away. Okay, Kevin he was ill and
he'll be back in the lineup on Thursday. So if
you go to the game, you can expect to hear
Rod Mahood announcing Kevin he back in the lineup for
the Niagre Ice Dog. So yeah, before we get out
of here, Christian, I just want to get a quick
bit of news out here, because we did have a

(53:09):
trade that came through after we had recorded last weekend.
This almost a week later, but again with the timing
of recording and everything, the Ice Dogs did trade a
young goaltender, Matthew Humphries to the Oshawa Generals, along with
a twenty twenty sixth seventh round pick. In return, they
get Branford's fourth and twenty twenty sixth and sues seventh
in twenty twenty eight, so they swap seventh with a

(53:29):
two year gap there, and they get a fourth round
pick for Matthew Humphries, the guy that was a third
round pick for the Ice Dogs in the twenty twenty
four draft, and again down with the Aura Tigers getting
some seasoning, but sounds like he wants more of an
opportunity and maybe we'll get it with a young Oshawa
team that's going through a massive rebuild there, maybe he
competes for at least the backup job. But as well
as Robertson and your Malenko have played this year, Christian,

(53:51):
as much as we didn't, you know, we didn't want
to see Humphries go in his limited action. We've seen,
you know, some really strong potential from him. It just
seems like the writing was on the wall with what
robertson your Malanco have given them.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
Yeah, no, I think this is a move that had
to happen for both camps. I think for the Ice Dogs,
you know, that's a guy that you know wants ice time.
He's in a stage of his development where you know
he's looking to play, you know, he wants to play
in HL games, whether that be as a starter as
a backup. So for Matt Humphries, a great opportunity for him.
You know, I know Oshawa was having some goaltending issues

(54:23):
right now. You know their backup is certainly in question.
So I think for him, you know, continuing to play
in the OJHL to get you know, more reps and
then at some point, you know, get into some games
with the Joshua Generals will be really great for him.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
And then for Niagara we get some picks back.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
I think if Frankivola was very aggressive with some of
his draft picks earlier in the season, so it's kind
of nice to recoup some draft stock over the next
couple of years.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
Always a good thing.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
And of course for Matt Humphries, nothing but good things
to say about him. Fantastic guy, you know off the ice,
you know, with my limited interaction with him, him as
a media guy, you know, just chatting with him, you know,
outside the locker room and around the concourse during warm ups.
You know, just a great, great young man. Uh and
and a really really funny guy. You know'll give him

(55:11):
a lot of credit. He's wasn't a great goalie, very
very charismatic and very colorful, big smile on his face
ear to ear.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Uh. So to you, Matt.

Speaker 4 (55:26):
It was great to have you in our presence and
around the rinks, and we wish you nothing but the best,
you know, in Oshaua and Aurora, and to your family
as well, you know, thank you for being you know,
loyal listeners. We know that you know, Matthew's father is
a big fan of the show. So h to you
as well. You know, I guess congratulations on uh, you know,

(55:48):
having a fantastic young hockey player like Matt, and good
luck kind of the rest of the way. But I
do think, uh, this was a trade that was necessary
for both sides.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Yeah, it's almost like a really good by low trade
for the Oshawa generals. They can really you know, turn
Matt Humphries into a solid goaltender. It's his draftyear as well,
see if that possibly.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Comes up as well.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
But again with the Ice Dogs, I think that their
vote of confidence is in Charlie Robertson and Vladoslavia Malenko.

Speaker 8 (56:14):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
And they've they've shown that with a trading a very
promising young goaltender here. So that's it, Christian, I don't
know if you want to if there's anything else you
want to mention, We'll be back for another show next week,
you know, recapping hopefully, you know, some stronger results against
some two two really good teams that the Ice Dogs
are chasing now in Barry and Branford.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
But I'll give you final thoughts.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
Yeah no, I think uh no real final final remarks
or closing thoughts. I think I'm I'm just I'm excited
for the week to come. I think the Branford game
is massive, so uh, it's gonna be a doggy dog game.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Some pun in there.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
So hopefully the Ice Dogs can be the bigger dog
with the bigger stick and let's let's go out there,
let's get it done. Like you said, this is a
really import in a couple of weeks. My extension of that,
you know, really important month, you know, a nice home
stand coming up in December. So I think, you know,
let's you really want to take care of business, you

(57:13):
know on home ice, you know on Thursday, you really
want to put yourself in a good spot to continue
to you know, make waves in the Eastern Conference, climb
back up the power rankings and try to challenge Barry
at the top of the Central And I think it
all starts this weekend. You got two important games, go
out there and go get them done.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
And have Ryan Robrick you know, finish off strong before
he leaves us for going out to the USA CCHL
Prospects Challenge in Leftbridge and Calgary. So this I believe
this will be his final week before he goes out there,
so they'll be without him for that little last bit
of November. But again I'm gonna have some have to
have some guys step up and step in for big
contributions without number twenty five, but should be there this weekend.

(57:54):
And again for you guys listening, just to your aware.
If the Ice Dogs do win either of these games,
the next day, you can go to any of the
three of our great Niagara Region location Global Pet Food
Stores and fun Hill Niagara Falls and Scott Street and
Saint Catharine's and you get your dog a free dog
treat and hopefully they don't run into a net like
our Bones did.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
But regular Bones is back.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
I heard the backup bones is in concussion protocol still,
but you know, regular Bones is back after what was
a very viral moment for the Ice Dog's mascot. But again,
well we always, you know, love the the lighter stuff
on this show as well. When we can not always
just analyzing, you know what, what can be somewhat not
the easiest thing to do sometimes.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
Yeah, no, And again I will provide the disclaimer that
I feel like is necessary. These guys are incredible hockey players. Okay,
so I will say this, and I will say that, and.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
I will be my typical critical.

Speaker 4 (58:58):
And pessimistic self. But that's me trying to create good
content as a media guy and trying to analyze these games.
But that doesn't mean that the Ice Dogs are not
a good team with a lot of fantastic positives and
a lot of fantastic hockey players.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
So I will put that out there and that's it
for us.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
So that's gonna wrap up another episode of the Dog
Pound Podcast, the official podcast the Year niag or Ice Dogs.
Probably you brought up by Global Pet Foods where pets
are undaniapily part of the family and they're three great
Niagara region locations. Thank you those that watched us on
the video version on YouTube, make sure to hit like it,
subscribe and smash that bells you see right on the
screen there, and thank you to those that shows to
listen to us in your favorite on demand audio platform.
For Christian Simmons, my name is Branick Puto. That's gonna

(59:37):
be it and we'll talk to you guys next week
following the games against Barry and Branford.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

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IceDogs Chasing Consistency so far in November - Dog Pound Podcast

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}IceDogs Chasing Consistency so far in November - Dog Pound Podcast