Niagara IceDogs pivot again with Organizational Changes - Dog Pound Podcast - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
This is Rod Mahood, your in game voice of the
Niagara Ice Dogs, and you're listening to the Dog Pound
Podcast on the Armchair GM Sports Network, your podcast source
for all game analysis, team interviews, and up to date
news regarding the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Over Time, Ice Dogs Wind the person Peace Off.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
What's also Kenya? It's a power playing gold Ely Ice Dogs.
Pley Scar host say first goal as an Ice Dog,
drop stop Shipley, Gritty Star gets into a kill. Thomas
Thomas has the ankle coming in Basto.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Welcome into the Dog Pound Podcast, the official podcast of
your niag or Ice Dogs. Proudly you brought to by
Global Pet Foods, where pets are unaniaibily part of the
family and all four of their Great Niagara Region locations.
We're here for a impromptu episode here. We're still gonna
be doing our big season finale episode coming on here.
We're gonna discuss the changes that were made recently for
the niag or Ice Dogs with the head coaching change

(01:44):
and in the front office as well. Please to welcome
on calin Ward from the Ohl on sixty podcast and
the Dogcast on the Bulldogs Audio Network. He's doing great
stuff with us for our OHL playoff coverage. Colin, thanks
a lot for joining me for this impromptu episode here
London Nights are practicing before Game two at the time
of recording this with the Oway Show finals going on.

(02:05):
But definitely some stuff to talk about the news that
we heard last week.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
So thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, no problem, Brandon, thanks for having me on. The
review finally happened. All the results of the review finally happened.
I mean, there was definitely a roller coaster turnam events
of what this process was like. And I know, Brandon,
for yourself, you guys had a persevere I mean being
there all the time. I felt bad for like yourself,
Brandon New every day you give it.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
You're all there. So I had to be on, had
to be on for this episode for you, and you
guys had a heck of a year. I think that
everything that you had to endure, everything you went through.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Off the ice even I mean props to yourself for Brandon,
you do great work, and thank you for having me.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
Yeah, I appreciate that calling.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
And it's it's just you know, the Ice Dogs made
the playoffs for the first time since the twenty eighteen
nineteen season, So there were positives that went on, and
obviously there was some stuff behind the scenes, as you
mentioned the cultural review in the second half of the
year with the league liaison that was basically chaperoning being
around the team for the day to day operations on

(03:12):
the road with the team. And we'll get into the
determination of that. If you're expecting this to be a
hit piece on either the coaching staff, the ownership, or
anybody else involved or the league, this is not gonna
be the place for that. We're gonna try to talk
about this, you know, subject that as best we can
in an objective and fair way for.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
All parties involved. So before eaving forward, I just wanted
to address that.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I mean, for myself, Brandon, I grew up around the owner,
Darren and ad Abler, So I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna trash the guy.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
I mean, obviously, the situation is what the situation is,
and things that.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Have happened and have happened, and I know Darren and
guys like that would be the first one to admit
their fault and admit their strength.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
So yeah, I'm not here to bash anybody either, so we're.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Gonna get in to and try to to make sense
of what happened here, Colin, And again we do have
a little bit of clarification from the league at the
time of recording this. Obviously, the ny Or Ice Dogs
relieved head coach Ben Boudreau of his head coaching duties,
as well as assistant coaches Mark Slawson and Daniel Paie
who their contracts were expiring, so they just were not renewed,

(04:21):
but head coach Ben Boudreau did have some term left
on his contract. This was a direct result of the
cultural review that the Ontario Hockey League, as I mentioned before,
had been investigating with the Ice Dogs the second half
of the season, and in their their words, this is
a result of the league's cultural review investigation, it was

(04:42):
determined that changes in this area would be required for
the club to move forward, and they came to that
determination together with the liaison and and everybody else involved
with that was going through this investigation. They did interviews
with people involved and things like that, as well as
general manager West Consorti has now been moved to executive

(05:02):
liaison so he will now report to owner Darren to
Dobbler and be somewhat you know, of a of a
bridge between him and the business staff they as well,
you know, the operational leadership that is going on on
the business side as well as the new hockey operation
staff member that's going to be brought on here, So

(05:24):
when you look at that as well, Colin, you know,
the league also said that a general manager and head
coach will be hired collaboratively with the league's cooperation. So
not necessarily the league has to you know, make the
decision themselves, but they're gonna be watching.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
To see what the ice dogs do with this situation.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Owner Darren de Dobbler as well is going to be
off of the day to day operations of the hockey club.
He can still be the owner on the business side
and make business decisions, but as far as anything regarding
hockey that has to be left up to and anything
you want to discuss there has to go through Wes
and then a trickle down effect to the hockey operations

(06:05):
and general manager, head coaching staff whoever that may be.
So calling a lot a lot there, but what are
your takeaways from it?

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, there's a lot to unfold, for sure.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
I mean, before we went on air, we had multiple
we have multiple articles open from the team obviously from
your Twitter account as well, Brandon going.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Over what we see on the on this there's a
lot to take in.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
To be honest, when when I thought this ownership first
bought the team brand and I really wanted it to
be okay, ownership, look out for the day to day
business side, but get some get a veteran general manager
and a veteran coach and let them, let them do
their thing, and then hey, watch your watch your money
come in as an owner.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
And I mean, that's it.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
That's that's an easy that's an easy way, right, That's it.
You see that a lot of times with the owners
around the league. For me personally with the Bulldogs seeing before.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Mike with Micha land Lauer, Micha lan Lauer was not
involved in anything hockey related. It was all Matt Turk
then the Jamie Kee head coach. That's how That's how
it was. That's how it is.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's how it was, and I think that that's how
you have to be successful. I think that this is
a good opportunity for the Ice Dogs in a way.
Obviously it's a sore thumb with what happened. But I
think here's the opportunity being led slash guided. I mean
the Ohl kind of hand in hand right, holding the
hand to the Ice Dogs a little bit to help
you out here in this process, which is nice, which

(07:28):
is a good thing, but it's kind of a minor
flint situation with that. But I feel that if you
can hire a veteran general manager, someone with actual hockey pedigree,
if you can do that, I think it changes your
whole culture. It changes everything, It changes your team, it
changes your identity. And let the GM be the GM,
let the coach be the coach.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
If you can do that, man, this Ice Dog team
doesn't lose ten fifteen games in a row this year.
I think, I really think that this could possibly be
a good case.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
If owners own the business side gmgm's coach's coach.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
I think this could be a really good thing, honestly
for the Ice Dogs and the.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
Reason we're in this situation. Colin.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
As far as with West CONSORTI being named the general
manager was because back on May fifth of twenty thirteen,
it was announced that the Niagara Ice Dog's owner, Darren
de Dobbler, would be suspended of his duties as GM
of the team until June first of twenty twenty five,
which obviously is up in less than twenty days, so

(08:35):
he's not going to be and now with these new
newest sanctions, he's not going to be taking over the
day to day operations as general manager once again. But
over the last two years he appointed then interim slash
executor assistant general manager West Consorti to be the general
manager the last two years as that result, so that's
why we were in that scenario with Wes as the GM,

(08:57):
which may have not been in their plans when they
had originally bought the team Colin, when they bought the
team from the Berks, it seemed like it was going
to be Darren bringing in all of his guys that
he trusted, you know, from his days with the ninety
nine ers when they were a team, and it seemed
like over that time he you know, was comfortable with
certain guys and brought in his own people, which happens everywhere,
and you're seeing that in Branford as well with the

(09:17):
Bulldogs right calling us when we see kind of what's
happened over the last two years and the amount of
coaching changes from head coach Daniel Fitzgerald, to interim head
coach Jefangelitis, then to Ryan Kuabara, and then last last
season Kuwabara being relieved of his duties in November and
Ben Boudreau taking over just as a as a first

(09:38):
time associate coach at junior hockey after coming over from
Fort Wayne in the ECHL, where he won a Kelly
Kelly Cup championship as well. Over the last four years,
so there's been some turnover calling that you don't usually
see at the OHL level and something that the management
staff and even owner Darren de Dobbler would say that
they've had to kind of work through and go through

(09:59):
all of this.

Speaker 5 (09:59):
But again, this is all.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Sort of background as to how we've gotten to this
situation in the last three or four years.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
One hundred percent brand and that's why I think this situation, honestly,
it could be a good situation.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
I mean, it sucks that the league's involved.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
That's obviously you don't want that on your that's a
sore thumb to your team, to your franchise man personally,
but I feel that this is a good opportunity to
have a GM be a GM and a coach, be
a coach. I I hope, I don't know. I don't know,
but I hope that this this is a hands off approach.
I hope last season wasn't hands on. From what I hear,

(10:32):
it sounds like it, but I hope not. I hope
it's more. I hope this case is more of an
opportunity to have a GM be a GM, be a coach,
be a coach and really get a plan here, get
a system in place, get a plan in place, and
see what happens. I know, I know personally right like
dealing with Frank Cuabara and Branford, what he's done.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
Great coach. I think all the coaches have been great coaches.
It's just not the time.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
And it's it sucks out of the rip you happens
right in with Ben, it seemed like you had your
guy there and that's and that's that's.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
The part that sucks. That's the part that hurts you.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
It felt like you were getting places right, You're in
first place or half the season, like in the Eastern Conference,
like it felt like, okay, things are turning them around.
You know, you beat London and then like a week later,
there's a culture of you released from the league and
it's like, well, you know, it felt like you never
could get your footing on the season and nothing when
you had positive it felt like two negatives came.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
So I feel like this is a good opportunity here.
You get up clean splight.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
It's probably your last chance to be honest to the
ownership group, like you mean, before the league really steps in,
because they're not stepping in now, but they are stepped
in at the same time.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
But I think this is your this is beyond your
last chance here. You got to get it figured out.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
And I think the general manager, head coaching staff, I
think that this is a good opportunity.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
To let them have their roles and let it be.
Let it be, don't control it too much, and see
what happens.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
I mean more opinions like that, if you trust your
guidance on your hires, if you trust them that you
put your opinion in that you let them use your
use their opinion in their roles, and good things should happen.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
So I'm excited to see what can happen.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
And I will say, while we're on that subject about
head coach Ben Bouda, I will say there was nobody
that was more passionate and wanting to bring a winner
to Niagara, To you fans that are listening, Ben being
from the area, Dan Pie being from the area, Ben
Boudreau raising his kids here. He really wanted to get
this thing turned around and was able to help them
get to their first playoff, as we mentioned, for the

(12:31):
first time since twenty eighteen nineteen season twenty nine wins
this year after only twenty nine combined the last two years.
So do want to say thank you to head coach
Ben Boudreau. He was always great to us with our
content and everything that we did with our interviews, and
was always fair and respectful to us with our content.
So you know, from the human side of it, that's
the part that's hard, right Colin, because you have to

(12:53):
make business decisions, you have to build relationships, and for
us on the show, it's been four different coaches in
that time, and then five you count the one year
with the Burks before they sold the team. But again,
there is that human element to it, and and these
are guys that that have families and now we'll have
to figure out what's next for them. But I did
want to say, you know, thank you to head coach

(13:13):
Ben Boudreau because I do think his heart was definitely
in the right place. I'm not saying everybody in the
situation was perfect obviously with the result of it, but
do want to, you know, say that it was tough
because you really thought that he was going to be
the guy in play, especially with Bruce Boudreau is his
dad being a senior advisor as well.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
With the team.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
You know, obviously there was some sort of disconnect at
times between coaching staff and management. But you just feel
for those in that situation that had to have their
name attached to not being a part of the organization anymore.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
One hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
It's tough, right You build relationships, you have relationships, I
have relationships.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
It's tough.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's tough with your represent with your organization. For me
personally too, but my organization in Branford, I mean it's tough.
It's tough when you see people move on. I mean, heck,
we originally have a Matt Turk. That that was a
real tough move Personally, I mean, you build relationships. You
you know, you're with people for years. I mean there's
a Matt Turk for four seasons and uh, and you know,

(14:14):
it's you learn a lot and that's and it's tough,
it's and it you know, and it goes.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
It's weird when you go back to camp. When camp opens.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Up, it's weird because it's like, oh, where are they?
You know, like, hey, he'suld just walk into the office,
but you're not.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
You're not there. So it's just interesting.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
You have a building relationships and it's starting fresh for everybody,
and that can be a good thing.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
At the same point, Brandon.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
And again when you have just so many, so much turnover,
and I think that's where the ice Dogs need that stability.
You look at the top teams in the league that
have the stability. I'm here in London right now. I mean,
I know it's a little bit different with the Hunters
and the program they run compared to everybody else, but
they've been the same group, even with Rob Simpson as
the assistant gm uh. You know, they've been together for
the last ten twelve years. And when you go through

(14:59):
four different coaches is in just over two seasons. It's
hard to keep steering the boat in a different direction,
especially for the players, because you have to think of
them at the same time about all these different things
that have gone on, and then they you've got the
off ice ish issues that went on about you know,
possibly some stuff going on, you know at the movie
theater and things like that, while the culture review was underway,

(15:22):
and it's just the leadership keeps changing and then guys
have a lack of direction. So you want to bring
somebody in there that you know is going to be
there for the foreseeable future so that these young players
can develop and as men as well, because again we're
developing young men at the same time as not just
great young hockey players. And I think that's where this
culture review comes in. And again, you know, we can

(15:45):
talk about moves that were made during the season, whether
they were good or bad, if it changed the culture
or not. Obviously Gavin Bryant was a fantastic captain when
he was moved out of that room. With the OA situation,
you know, you guys have talked about that, We've talked
about that at Asia as well. Sometimes you know, it's
about the player, but about the person as well, And
it just seems like Niagara has to get things sorted

(16:08):
out from top to bottom so that it's a trickle
down effect to the players, from the management, from the
coaching staff to make sure everybody is on the same
page about what the expectation of what the standard is.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Absolutely and you know, you got to get that in place.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
I can't, but I thought, honestly, from what I saw
from afar on, like with your interviews, Brandon, you always
saw Ben talk about that the standards.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
So that's a tough replacement for.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Someone like Ben Boudrou who really was in That was
a big emphasis on it, you know, the standard, the culture,
how you want, how you how he wants guys to
play right, how you're supposed to play the right way,
stuff like that. It was I felt like it was
very demanding from Ben on that standpoint. And I think
for a player's aspect, you're real you're very intrigued now
with everything that goes on in the hockey world with
the NCAA agreement stuff, and players want to know who

(16:54):
the coach is.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
I I think if I was a player, I'd want
to know who the coach is.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Probably before June, I'd want I just want to know
before the cops done, Memorial cops done.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
You know, you want to know.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
You want to get ready for next season and you
know you want to. You gotta make You gotta have
decisions to make before.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
The draft as well.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
It'd be nice to have a coach in place in
the general manager for that point if you can swing it.
But it would be nice to have those guys in
place right before before June, before middle of June July.
Because you got the import draft. It gives you a
month before the import draft to have a hiring get
in place.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
So I hope it. I hope that that's done before
the mem Cup.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
The hires because if I'm a player, I want to know, man,
I want to know what's going on. I want to
know what I got to prepare for for system because
I tell you right now, and if it was me,
first thing I do when a coach gets hired to
call them up and I say, hey, what can we talk?
Can we go over systems? Can we go over things?
Especially to be a leader. I won't comment too much

(17:58):
about the Gavin Bryant situation. That Gavin's a good friend
of mine, and I'll just leave it at that. I mean,
we said what we said on the Ohl Show. He
h He's a good friend of mine, So I think
there's no better person though in the entire hockey league

(18:19):
there was no better captain personal character wise than Gavin Bryant.
And I mean for me personally, I thought it was
sad seeing the culture review and stuff go on, because
I know that doesn't happen.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
And that's why I on the OHL at sixty show.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
For those who listen, thank you, But that's why I
checking the sad approach, just because if I don't know
for a fact, if Gavin Bryant's.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
There, that doesn't happen.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
And I know that this summer of the process without
with the team bringing the group together. He saw it
last training camp and how close the group was. It
just felt different. And that's something that comes with Gavin's
aspect of that. That's the way he is personally. That's
what makes him such a good human.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
But you mentioned the commitment, and I think that's that's
a big point too, because first round pick at the
time of recording this, Ryerson Edgar still has not committed
to Niagra and Niger's done a good job of being
able to get their first round picks here you look
at Wasslyn, Zada, Roadbrick all those guys now. But again
with the new NIL deal, with the NC Double A
and the agreement and the ruling, you're going to have

(19:23):
to do a good job of recruiting and then as
well retaining players I think is going to be the
biggest thing for these clubs moving forward now. And you
see guys going into their third year, second third year,
they've got options now going into either their NHL draftyere
or their Draft plus one year where they can choose
to go to the NC Double A. And that's really
gonna change the landscape here, Colin. I know you guys

(19:44):
talked about it on this week's HL and sixty podcast
about sort of the ripple down effect of that, whether
it's gonna be good or bad for the league. But yeah,
from the Ice Dogs perspective, you want to get through
these sorts of things because this is gonna These are
things gonna that are gonna be roadblocks that you're gonna
have to get pas if you don't want to have
players in the future be able to commit. And that's
why you want to have stable, stable coaching staff and

(20:07):
stable management as well to go along with Darren the doubler,
who's obviously a passionate owner. And as you know, it
will be the first to say he's made some mistakes,
but that's gonna be big for the players coming in
now and in the future.

Speaker 6 (20:20):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Absolutely, you want to know. You want to know, and
I mean with disagreement. Canadians now can get an il.
There is a calloopol. I went through it the other day,
Brandon and are we attacked with thus and now I forget.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
All how it went. I got raid in depth on it.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
I went right through the athletic department, leaving an Ohio
State Buckeye fan for well, any sport of Ohio State
I like.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
But I won't talk about the hockey.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
But anyway, I think I looked at it to the
athletic department with how being a Canadian, how could I
receive it an il if I went and played there?
Or how could my athlete go there? And yet an
I l there is a way. I just I just
forget the bits and pieces right now. Off the top
of my head, I have it all written out and
all viatacks, but I I'm drawing a blank now on

(21:07):
how it goes. But it's a different kind. It's a
different type of visa. To put it simply, it's more
of how it's more of a way you can get
off your brand, so your brand sponsorships and stuff that,
so you can get paid, but you can't get off
your name. But that's the same thing as brand, so
you would eventually it's just a different oritage.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
But it's the end. I I'm not a fan of
the agreement. I'm more worried about it.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
I think we're gonna get a lot of good players
in the league, but they also think we're gonna get
We're gonna lose a lot of good players with potential.
My biggest concern is we're gonna become a U eighteen league,
and then eighteen and up are all that aren't signed.

Speaker 4 (21:46):
You're all gonna go to the NC Double A. That's
my concern with this agreement.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
I mean I heard a number the other day, Brandon
from a player that just committed to the Way or
committed to the NC Double A two hundred and fifty
thousand American, which is nil package. I mean, if you're
getting that just straight up pocket change rate just to
commit right like, that's tough to compete with. That means

(22:10):
the CHL's got to have to spend a lot more
on funding and a lot more on scholarship funds. So
I mean, and that's a talk for another day, but
I'm worried about it.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
But we'll see. I think with the ice dog standpoint,
you just got to hire somebody. You got to get
somebody in, Get somebody.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Who can who can write the ship, get a system
in place, get structure, get create a culture, create a culture,
get the players excited to come back.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
It's just, quite frankly right, the way it ended. Brandon.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
I don't know what the relationship was like between the
office is and by offices I mean coaching staff, front
office with the general manager ownership, compared to even in
the room. I don't know what the relationship was like
between the players and all those groups in those parties.
I don't know, And I feel that it didn't end pretty.
When you have a culture review and you have everything

(23:03):
come about that did I feel that you have to
you really have to create a structure. You get the
players excited to come back to Niagara. Get them excited,
because last year when it was over, they weren't excited.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
I don't think that's a vibe. I God, they weren't excited.
And I think that when you lose that excitement and
we And that's probably been the problem in Niagara for
the last six seven years, Brandon, where it feels like
in Niagara you have success, but then there's ripple down
effects that are negatives behind, and it just it gets
on you.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
It eats at you right and then all of a sudden,
you don't you don't love to play the game anymore,
and you don't love what it means to be an
ice Dog. And I'm not saying that's the case, but
that's a vibe I got.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
And I'm very excited because I would create I would
want to create an atmosphere to where the players want
to come to Niagara, come to Saint Catharine's, come to
the region and won't be excited, love the game, the
game of hockey. How you can do that? I mean,
and I mean it is a good It is a
good job to inherit.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
If you're a general manager on the free agent market
and you want to be the general manager of the
Ice Dogs, a good job to inherit. But the problem
is the tough part is you're gonna have to build
a culture. You're gonna have to build something that's strong.
But you have you have picks in place, you have
a core in place from the last couple of drafts.
I don't I don't think it's a bad job to
take in taking the egg ice dives GM.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
I would love to do it. I think I look,
you look at the challenges that it presents.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
And you look at what there is. I think there's
been harder situations elsewhere. You're not going into a rebuild.
This year coming, I think should be an exciting year
on the ice. You have Roebrick in his draft here,
you have me Denzata after his draft year, hopefully being
drafted this year he probably will be. You have excitement,
You have a lot of excitement in the community. You
have a good opportunity if this is a heck of

(24:55):
a job for a general manager head coach to take Brandon.
I honestly, I'd be chopping at the bit by the
free agent. If you let the GM be the GM.
There's a great opportunity there because there's really not a
lot of moods you'd have to make. You have a
core in place, and you had you have young goaltending.
Maybe you want to pick up a veteran. Maybe after

(25:15):
seeing some of the deals around UH the League of
the deadline. You look at you look at glass Pieter Branton, right,
I think it was a third and fififth. That's a
deal that you can make that and then all of
a sudden you're in the mix. I think that that's
I think it would be a great job to take
on in Niagara.

Speaker 4 (25:29):
I really do.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
But the big part is you got to create a
culture and you got to create a positive environment and
get players excited to come to the rank every day.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
How do you do that?

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Well, you're gonna have You're honestly, it's not gonna be
sunny and roses, sunshine and roses every single day. There's
gonna be hard conversations we had. There's going to be
situations where you're gonna be on adversity times. You're gonna
lose games that you want to win. You're gonna lose.
You're gonna lose a game five nothing, it happened. Every
team gets blown out once a year. It's gonna happened.

(26:00):
How do you overcome that? And that's what that's the
excitement part about this. It's a great opportunity with a
great core, and you got to talk to your veterans
and you gotta you gotta get into buy in and
you can do that. Man, What an exciting time it
could be. To be honest, like, I think it could
be a great job to take on. If like I said,
I think it's not it's definitely not off the ice. Yeah,

(26:22):
there's some rumbles, but on the ice, man, and there
could be a great that could be a great task
to take on. I think it would be incredible. I
think the opportunity there would be incredible. It's not that
I don't think it's as hard as it looks.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
We're gonna take quick commercial break, we're gonna come back,
and You've got a couple other points that I want
to make, and we also have a little bit from
Darren de Dobbler himself about the about this decision as well.

Speaker 5 (26:45):
So stare it here be right.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
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Speaker 4 (29:29):
This is alex Asidoran. It's Ryan Robert, this is Ivan galianof,
this is Matthew Joe. My name is Jack Brody. And
this is the Dog Pound Podcast, the official podcast of
the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Welcome back to part two of today's Dog Pound Podcast episode,
the official podcast of your niag Or Ice Dogs, right
here on the arm Here Sports Network, probably brought to
by Global pet Foods or Petter unhappily part of the
family and all of the great niag Or Regent locations
that get everybody that's tuned in on your favorite on
demand audio platform. Today, Brandon Kputo and guest co host
Colin Ward from the Ohl and sixty podcast and the

(30:15):
Doodcast and the Bulldogs Audio Network joins us to continue
to talk about the recent organizational changes for the niag
Or Ice Dogs that were made most recently with head
coach Ben Boudreau being relieved of as duties, as well
as both the assistant coaches Dan Pie and Mark Slawson,
as well as West Consorti being moved to executive liaison
role with the team searching for a new general manager

(30:37):
with Darren Dedobbler now off of day to day operations
with the club. So, Colin, as we move forward here,
there's a couple more things I want to touch on
on today's episode, and one of them is you mentioned,
you know, as far as getting the team to want
to play the right way and get them to be
excited to be Ice Dogs.

Speaker 5 (30:57):
You look at this team.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
They made the playoff for the first time, as we
mentioned in many years, and the fan base only got
two home games, but they were chopping at the bit
to see what this team could look like. And in
those five games they played against the Barry Colts, they
could have won three of them. They did end up
winning one of the games and the other game was
that incredible sanction that was put on them about having

(31:19):
to sit. Every player had to sit for a certain
period during the series. But they got it they got
it through it and when one game, which was Game two,
they ended up having a massive third period comeback and
then lost late. But when you look at what they
were able to do in the playoffs, that's what makes
it so I guess disheartening to see sort of what's
been gone on, because if it weren't for some self

(31:42):
inflicted wounds and some decisions that they made, you know,
on their end, maybe they even have a chance to
take Barry to six or seven games in that series.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
One hundred percent they did.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
I would have been pretty upset about that postgame. I
know we had to hurt conversations about that game Brandon
afterwards off air. You know, I thought that I would
have been upset if I was a veteran player of
that of the nag Rice Dougs in that situation happened.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
I mean, I don't think I wouldn't have let it happen,
but it would have.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Been very upsetting because if if what happened happened didn't happen,
you probably win that game six to two. Like the
way the third period was, when everyone played, look at
the look at what the outcome was, look at the
score in the third period.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
The opportunity there it was there was no opportunity and
that and and I think that's the part that sucks.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Right, You get up every day and you love the
new opportunities that life creates, and I mean that's something
that you always look forward to every morning when you
get up.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
You want to do something new. And that would have been.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Something that they could have had a great that would
have been incredible to go through. But having what happened,
that's that was devastating.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
You would have won that game. I say that one
hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I said that on the Ohl at sixty podcast this
week that the Barry series would have went seven games,
seven games. I didn't think Barry really had a good
playoff game. They didn't win a road game in round two. Yep,
they got swept by Oshawa. Like, I think that there
would have very well been a really good chance. If
it wasn't for that, there's a win. Then we're looking

(33:16):
at six games, three games it could have won. You
get the seven You never know, anything can happen. You
go to seven games, the heck, you'd take that as
the seventh seed. Like yeah, Like I think that there
was a lot left off the table. I think that's
a sour taste. I think that that was very tough.
I think that'd be very tough, very tough offseason, and

(33:36):
then it'd be upsetting it and I hope it makes
players hungry. That's why I really hope a general manager
and a coach come in who get the players excited.
That's gonna be the biggest part about the job. You
gotta get them excited. You gotta create new life.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
You gotta be positive to them.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
And I think that's in there's a situation here that
I think it's a great time. I think it would
be a great job to inherit. I mean, you gotta
get the players excited to come to the rink. I
know it would be a very hard offseason after going
through that. I think that would be incredibly hard. I
mean I'd be so upset about that, right, Like the
opportunities that were there. Now you're gonna think about it

(34:11):
all summer. Use that as fuel, Use that as fuel.
Come into this training camp, man, and be ready to go,
and be ready to go. You know, learn from your mistakes. Yeah,
you get screwed up.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Now it's over with. Let's go. You know, like have
some excitement here, like that's over with, and.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
That's where the accountability and the leadership from top to
bottom I think is something that's going to be changed
for the better here with everybody being on the same page, hopefully,
because when there's that disconnect, it trickles down to the players.
And we saw the result of that first half of
the year calling they were on the CHL top ten
power rankings for two weeks, which was incredible to think about.
They were first placed in the East for the first half.

(34:48):
I know that you mentioned earlier that you know they
didn't want to give away any of their young pieces,
which was a smart thing.

Speaker 5 (34:53):
For management to do.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
No.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
I gave their windows good line, knowing that their windows
open the next two years. We know that the possibility
of the twenty twenty seven Memorial Cup bid is still
there with them and Kitchener as well, that are going
to be too already the vying for that. So you
want to be able to keep your window open for that.
The hard thing to do was nothing, and that's what
they did, knowing that they have the great young core
with the Roebricks, azad As, the Washlan's, the Creets, everybody there.

(35:15):
You mentioned defense and goaltending, might have to be tweaked
a little bit, but you have your your future stars
there that will be your future the next two years
upcoming and the season after the trade deadline is obviously
when they lost thirteen straight before beating the London Nights
with Hayden Jeffery you' junior b goaltender in net, which
was you know, the story of the year. But again
they tailed off in the second half of the year.
Then goal they're starting goaltender row In Flores and quite

(35:38):
frankly team MVP. If it wasn't Rowan Flores, they probably
win half the games that they did. And now with
him graduating on, they're gonna have to figure some things
out and no e Van Vleid on the back end
as well. But you look at the positives and just
seeing that, you know, the hard thing to do was nothing,
and that's what they did. But now the plan has
to be put in place and whatever general manager comes

(35:59):
into this. You said, yeah, it's an it's an intriguing job,
but it's also one with great responsibility. Knowing that you
have a team here ready to go, ready to win
the next two years. If you make three or four
really good moves here that you could have a contending
team here, but you need to be able to one
have the ability to do so and to be able
to to implement a plan one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
You need to plan any structure. Got to create a
positive environment. You have to do it the only way
to make it a successful time with the current ownership.
With everything you gotta make you got to create a
positive front office. Got to create a positive relationship here
in the room.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
New coaching staff going well coming in. It's that new
coaching staff coming in as.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Well, ohndred percent, And that's a part of it. That's
part of it you gotta create. It's a great challenge
for a coaching staff pack. You know, like when the
going gets tough. Every team goes through adversity throughout the year,
every team, how.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Do you get over it? Do you when you go
when you lose a tough game, do you does a
room turn on each other?

Speaker 6 (37:03):
You know?

Speaker 4 (37:04):
Or is it just another game?

Speaker 6 (37:05):
You know?

Speaker 4 (37:06):
How do you? How do you handle a loss? And
you're gonna lose games?

Speaker 3 (37:10):
No team's going sixty eight No, I mean like you're
gonna you're gonna lose games. You gotta learn how to
react to those and you gotta come to the rink
the next day, and you gotta be excited. Still, you
gotta love the game. You gotta love the game of hockey.
That's the biggest part. A lot of guys in our league,
I don't think love the game.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
I always ask this on the Bulldogs standpoint random with
our guys here in Branford. I always ask like, how
much do you love the game?

Speaker 7 (37:33):
Like?

Speaker 3 (37:33):
How much do you love the game of hockey? Because
if you don't love the game, you're gonna when you lose.
When you lose a couple of games in a row
in January, every team does. Or when you play a
three and three and you lose two out of three
of them, every team does that. How how do you
react to it?

Speaker 4 (37:51):
You still love the game? Then? Right? Like what is it?
How do you come to how do you get fuel
for the next day?

Speaker 3 (37:56):
Right?

Speaker 4 (37:57):
And I'm excited.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
I really think this opportunity And I know it might
sound like a broken record, but like, you gotta come
into the positive culture. You gotta be upbeat, you gotta
be energetic, you gotta be ready to go. And I
think that there would be a great opportunity there. I
think if they can make the right higher. I hope
it's not an old school higher Brandon, like an old
school higher. I hope it's a younger higher.

Speaker 6 (38:19):
Like I know.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
I don't want to mention too any guys around the league,
but I look at Brad Malone in Oshawa. But he's
doing right now. The Generals are excited to go through
the playoffs for their head coach. Yeah, they made some hiring,
but it was always Brad and Malone. The guys in
that Oshawa room love Brad Malone and you look at
the way he conducts himself, Brandon, as you see on
the day today right now in the Ohl finals and
the conference finals and drove the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Oshawa's excited to play for Brad Malone. You know he's young,
he's energetic. That's what you want. I go back at
twenty twenty two with Mark Savard, Mark's Savard and Windsor Man.
There's not much more energy than that. I mean, he
was there for the guys. That room was close, He
had a voice in the media for his team. Energetic.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
You know when you want to run through a wall
for that guy. You want the energy. You need that energy.
You need a positive environment. And that's how you're gonna
do it. You need a young, hungry coach with an
actual system in place.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
That's big.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
You got to play the game, but you got to
have some opportunity there to get guys excited to come
to the game, come to the games, come to the
arena every day for practice, come for school, everything. What
it means to be an ice dog and that I
think that honestly, And I know I've said this a lot,
but I think that that's where it all starts.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
It all stems down the coaching staff, general manager.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
What an opportunity, what an opportunity they have there to
change a culture.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
You know how cool that.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
Would be to go in there and you know, get guys,
get a player to love the game. And then you know,
you have a get talk with your captains, with your
older players and you and you just have a talk.
And I think and that's the best way about the game.
I mean, man, I remember losing games, thank like I
don't know, like how we're gonna come back the next day.
But then when you know, you sit down with your

(40:06):
teammates and you're talking and you have a gate and
you just figure it out. It's over with and I
think that's why I'm very excited to see this team
come around. I hope that there's some guys there in
place in the dressing room right now that are players
who are sending a message with guys.

Speaker 4 (40:21):
This is a sour taste from last year.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
You know, the opportunity we had in that series against Barry,
we kind of left it up short here, like we
have we could eat like you know, we're better than this.
And I think that would be so cool to see
a veteran player step up like that right now. And really,
I mean, change the team, change the organization, because it's
a beautiful time right now to be a nice dugus.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
You can change the culture. It's a great job for
general manager, head coach. You can change the culture. I
just hope it's a new school higher that's all.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
And you've got to beat nineteen other teams calling, and
that's that's the most important thing, is that there are
nineteen other teams are trying to be in.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
This league and meet your rivals.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, start with and you know they finished seventh in
the conference, which going into the season we said that
that would be a win. They just happened to play
really well and change their expectations in the first half
and then took a nose dive in the second half
to basically be where we thought that they would be
coming into the year, and they got that playoff experience,
although it was only five games. But yeah, the fan
base and and and everybody around the team is excited about,

(41:25):
you know, the prospects of what the next two years hold.
With that, said Collin, before we sort of get out here,
because we know that there are three sides to every story.
We know that there's both sides and then the middle
of where the reality actually is. But we do have
just some quick comments from Darren to Dobbler. We're gonna
try to get them on for our season finale episode
about you know, where are they going from here? Maybe

(41:45):
we have an announcement about the coach and the general
manager by then. But when speaking with Bill Podgers from
BPSN earlier this week for a quick reactionary article, Darren
Dedabbler said, I've put Tracy Finley as the office manager
and created a role for West CONSORTI as a liaison.
West will report to me as I've never really done

(42:07):
day to day. I trust Tracy to manage and then
the last part, which is, you know, for the crowd
out there that wants this owner to sell, you might
as well save your breath because Darren de Doabbler says
that he wants this team to stay within his family
for the very long term. He wants to be the
owner here with the Ice Dogs, and he's doing a

(42:27):
lot of things on the business side to be able
to to make it better as well with some of
the initiatives that they've done this year within the community
as well as around the rank and other partnerships. So
it sounds like Darren de Dobbler is staying and not selling.
He wants to be a part of the solution and
wants to see this thing turn for the better. But
that was directly from Darren de Doabbler himself earlier this week.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
One hundred percent, I mean higher. He changed the culture.
Change the culture. It will change the fan base, his opinion.
Fans have their opinion. They rightly so they're paying to
go to the games, they're invested, they're invested into the team,
and you respect that.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
Change the culture. How do you do that? Have a
hire someone who knows who gets the league.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
As a general manager, who can make it decisions, hire
a coach, is energetic, create an exciting buzz around the team,
around the players, and change it.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
That's how you change the culture.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
And you can cut corners with anything with from top
to bottom exactly.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
And if you do that, if you do that, those
opinions will go away. Like I say, I don't, I
don't usually go after fans. I think that the lifeline
of the team. I think the fans they're everything to
the team. They work their butts off to work to
make their hard earned money to come to the games
in niagarat Meridian Center, go to road games, see ice

(43:48):
dog fans and road games.

Speaker 4 (43:50):
They work their butts off.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
I think that if you're the front office, you've got
to give it back to them right now. They want
it so badly, they just want it. And I think
that the opportunity here. You gotta how do you change
the culture. Get get some young energetic, Get get people
that is get the game, that get relationships, that get life.
If you can do that, you're gonna change the culture.

(44:14):
You're going to change the culture. I I I think
it's a great challenge.

Speaker 4 (44:18):
I really do. I think it's a great opportunity. If
anyone from the Ice Dogs listen to this.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
I'd love to sit in on a meeting and go
over this hiring process because it'd be incredible to see
about the energy literally energy, anyone with energy and that buzz,
that's what you need, and I think it would be
a great, great situation to go into if you can
change it.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
I mean, it's a tough task and.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
The pressure is gonna be on, but you have a
good roster to deal with, and I think if you
can win games, the fans are gonna start coming back.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
It takes time, Heck, you might you might not get.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
Fans this year until you go to the Ohl finals,
possibly to the conference finals next season.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
You know, you don't you don't know. You gotta win,
really got to earn it. You gotta double down.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
And I think that the opportunity there could be very
successful for the Ice Dodge if they can do that.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
I think it was a good learning experience for everybody
involved and hopefully they come out the better side of this,
from top to bottom, you know, management, coaching staff, players,
because like you said, you do feel for the fan base.
They've tried, they've given what they could the last five years,
and everybody that listens to our show day in and
or you know, whenever we record from the start in
August until the end of May. Here those are that

(45:30):
are invested and give their time to the organization. You know,
we we understand your frustration and we feel for you know,
what you guys do to be able to sacrifice to
come to these games. And you know, again, whether it's
a new owner, a new management, new coaching staff, new players,
you know, you still want to show up and have
a positive attitude towards it. And and that's been the

(45:51):
tough thing over five years.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
Oh absolutely, like you think. And I'll just say one
thing too, Brandon.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
I know, I don't want to speak too much for you,
but I know for yourself, for camp, you guys want
to go to games, and you guys don't want to
deal with this. You guys think you got like fans
like these guys don't want to deal with culture reviews.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
I don't want to cover that. You know, they want
to cover winners.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
I know, Brandon, you look around in the league and
you see other organizations and you see them have success,
and it's like, man, I want to cover that, right
and when there's success and and you know, a culture
review comes out.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
You know, that's not fun, that's not that's not that's
not what you guys want to do.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
So to propts to you guys as well, I mean,
stuck by it day in and day out, right, And
I think that that's kind of I think that's a
testament to you got your guys character. And like how
I started with the show with your introduction, prompts you
guys as well. You know it's not it's always hard
to cover positive in a negative situation a lot, especially

(46:47):
speaking on this review, I and I thought you guys
did a bang up job about that.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
I really did.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
Wait, it's hard to say what you can say and
what you can't say. I did with the same thing
with Branford. You know, there's situations that you have to
say the truth, but then there's situations that you just
can't say anything.

Speaker 4 (47:08):
And I think that you guys do a really good
job on that. And I think that Niagara fans, you
guys are lucky to have guys like Brandon and Camp
to cover the team.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
Brandon, you're there all the time, You're right on, You're
right on the pulse the team. I think that that's
that's a testament to what you do. The effort that
you give in is incredible, and I think that the
fans are really lucky to have you in this in
Niagara with the Ice Dogs. I think that the fans
you have every right to be upset. It's always unfortunately.
I think the hard part about being a fan of
a hockey team is or any sports team. The hard

(47:39):
part is knowing that you don't have control that and
everybody wants to win different ways.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
This regime, this ownership, they want to win.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Maybe they don't think they can win though the same
way you think they can win, right, And that's the thing.
When people want to win different ways, they're right answers,
there are wrong answers. And I think that there's an
opportunity right now for the fans to come together get
behind the team. And you know you have no choice,
so you just gotta get together, get on their backs,
support the team, create a positive environment and see what happens.

(48:12):
Like I said, you might not You might not sell
out Radian Center until the last game this season, of
game seven of a playoff game. You never know, like,
but just this, this might take multiple years to get people.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Back in the arena.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
But when it comes, it's it's gonna be well earned,
and I think to earn that you're gonna it's gonna
create with a culture and I'm very excited to see
what can happen there.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
It's a great challenge.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
It really is only one team gets to raise the
trophy at the end of the year. Calling, and what you.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Want to be you want to see you want to
be there in the dance. You want to make it
there and see what happens and give yourself a chance
year in a year out. I know when the cycle
of junior hockey you might go through a couple of
rebuilds if you're not the London Nights.

Speaker 5 (48:54):
But uh, it's difficult to do. But again, people have
to differentiate.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
This is differ and pro hockey, and you know, they're
very passionate about what they watch and what they do
and invest their time into these players in this team.
So again, just thank you to the fans that have
have stuck around and when you you know, as we
kind of wrap up here, Calling, this is not an
episode that I really look forward to doing, but it
was one that I think that we had to at
least talk about and bring up. So I appreciate the

(49:23):
fans that we're asking about our opinion on this. And again,
like you said, there are certain things that you can
that you can say with certain and there are some
things that are still here say and or speculation, and
you don't want to start and you don't want to
start getting into that rabbit hole because then the legality
of things and until we get the real story and
the real facts of every single thing that went on,

(49:43):
you know, this is basically all we're going to talk
about this. I don't want to talk about this again.
Like you mentioned, this is not something that we want
to happen during the season and cover. So this is
just something that we had to come on and just discuss.
We had a couple of things to give you here
about what we know and give our opinions for being
around the team most season long and sort of you
know where they kind of go from here. But Colin

(50:04):
really appreciate you being able to come on and help
me with this because this was not something that I've
wanted to do solo.

Speaker 4 (50:10):
Hey, no problem anytime, Brandon.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
And it's like I said, anything like this, you know,
and Branford's side of things, I'm right on the cusps,
but I'm on the pulse of it. So I mean
with the with the Bulldogs, there's things that we don't
release at all, trade deadline, I mean, some of the
questions you get, I mean, we can't release it the
playoffs this year, we're crazy. But you know, I respect
what you do, Brandon. I think that it was a

(50:32):
tough year. It was a lot of positive there's a
lot of negatives. I mean ups and downs, but you
overcame and I think that's an exciting part. I think
that kind of makes you that. I think it kind
of makes it rewarding after a while or two when
you overcome that. And I think it's on the bigger
and better things here in Niagara. I think the ice dougs.
I think it's not move on time, and it's time
for something great to happen. It's time to create a

(50:53):
culture in place, a positive culture for everyone, the fans,
the media, the players, everyone. It's time to create a
positive culture and let's move on from it and let's
get excited for the season. Get the players excited, get
the guys excited. That's what it's all about.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Absolutely, So that's gonna do it. We'll be back with
one more episode before we wrap up for our summer break.
Hopefully maybe we have a head coach and general manager
in place to be able to discuss and maybe we'll
have some some thoughts from owner Darren to Dobbler as
well about kind of where he's thinking of this going
into the future and the offseason and where they're gonna go.
As you mentioned, the import draft is going to be

(51:30):
early July as well, with the three imports, is definitely
gonna be interesting and gonna change things in the league
as well, So we'll have to see how that all
on folds. We have an entire offseason to look forward
to with the Ice Dogs as far as what kind
of moves they're gonna make, and the people in charge
are gonna be making the move. So that's gonna wrap
it up for this special episode of The Dog Pound Podcast,
the official podcast of your niag Or Ice Dogs, probably

(51:52):
brought to by Global Pet Foods, where pets are unnaily
part of the family and all for the Great nag
Or region locations. Make sure you give us a follow
on x at dog Pound pod Cast update with all
of our Ice Dogs coverage, as well as on Facebook, Instagram,
and TikTok by searching the arm.

Speaker 5 (52:05):
Heare GM Sports Network.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
So for my special guest co Hos Colin war from
the Ohl and sixty podcast. My name is Brandon Caputo.
We'll talk to you again very soon for a season
wrap up episode. And that's it for the Dog Pound Podcast.
We'll talk to you next time.

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Niagara IceDogs pivot again with Organizational Changes - 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;}Niagara IceDogs pivot again with Organizational Changes - Dog Pound Podcast