Onto the OHL Offseason. CHL or NCAA? - Episode 190: Season Finale - The OHL In 60 Podcast - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The London nights are twoenty twenty five Memorial Cup champions.
The Man Cup stays in the Ohl saganaw Last year London,
this year in London.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Back to back OHL champions as well.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Thanks so much for tuning into the season finale of
the OHL in sixty podcas cast. My name is Rees
Dumania has always joined by colin Ward. The hiatus is over.
Took a break, took a little vacation out east, but
we're back. Kind of made sense, kind of grouped the
mem Cup in the OHL Championship Series together because there

(01:15):
really wasn't much of an OHL Championship Series only five games
this year, longer than four the year before. But we've
got a ton of stuff to get to because headlines
are making the rounds around social media US. I guess
our text chat you could say, Yeah, a lot of
a lot to discuss other than the Memorial Cup in
the Ohl Championship Series. So we're gonna get right into it,

(01:37):
and we're gonna start with the Ohl Championship Series. We
know it was a week and a half two weeks ago,
but you know, obviously going on vacation didn't help and
I was unavailable. So five games, the London Nights defeat
the Oshawa Generals, and we're not gonna spend too much
time on it because it is a little bit late.
But you know, other than game one, Colin and we

(01:59):
kind of talked out this on the arm Chair GM
Sports Network as part of the Real Round Table, the
postgame posse where we had like four people on.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
A on a round table. So that is a round table, Yeah,
it is, Yeah, I think more than two. I guess.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I guess we could have a table that was square,
but we're kind of in a circle for me, I
don't know anyways.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
But real round two round table on the HL and
sixty pod.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, like the puck demonstration there you go, well back.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
To episode one.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
But but we we had kind of chatted about it
and and you know, as much as we thought I
think you had the series going seven, I had it
going six, we both had London winning, you know in
five games.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Were we shocked a little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
But at the same time, the way London was rolling,
not really saw four or five or we could have
saw six to seven exactly. So so again, well, touching
on it, quickly, Colin, what did you make of that
five game series where the Knights lost the first one
but then one four street.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
London just played their game.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Their stars are stars and that's what happens when when
London wants it, just like a the Memorial Cup final
that we saw on Sunday night, when London wants a game,
when they play their structure, when they play their system,
the London Night way, there'll be any team in the country.
They just showed that.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
What a performance.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
So I mean going to Sunday Night's game in the
in the final, where have we saw a Memorial Cup
final where Gavin McKenna, who's an exceptional player, a very
good player, one of the best players in the CHL,
future top pick in the NHL. Yep, you look when
you look at his game on Sunday night in the

(03:41):
Memorial Cup final, where was he?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
But where was Sidney Crosby in two thousand and five?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
It was so similar to the performance when London hosts
the mem Cup in that five team.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
How good they were that that.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Performance and when London wants it and then tie you
into the HL finals, when you look at what London
defensive core can do when you look at the structure.
They play that man on man system in the D zone,
no doubt. I mean, what a performance when when London
has dialed into the system, when they play their game,
nobody can beat them and they've shown that. They showed that,

(04:16):
and I mean, what a group. But it felt like
this was destined, right. It felt like it felt like
when they won the j Rossteries, it felt like the
celebration was not It felt like they want the conference. Yeah, yeah,
I feel like it wasn't a big celebration. They felt like, Okay,
we know, we know Ramuski in June first is the
day we want to play our last game on, so
this means nothing. That's kind of what it felt like

(04:38):
watching their celebration. It was quiet, there was nothing going on. Yeah,
and well I was gonna ask you that because and
it was awesome. They did it on home ice. We
talked about how long it had been since the Nights
won a championship on home ice. Yeah, so I mean
that's that's one thing. Of course, that kind of adds
to it. But you're right, it kind of seemed like, Okay,
we did this last year, Yeah, we want the other one.

(04:59):
So you know, and not to say that was the case.
I'm sure fireworks were going off on the ice with
the London Knights players and staff and all of that.
We're not saying that, you know, they weren't just okay,
it's an HL championship, it's still an OHL championship. But
but but you're right, Yeah, their sites were set on
remose that for sure. And and you know, as the
season went on and you saw this Knight's team developed,

(05:21):
and you know develop, We've kind of watched them develop
over the last three years. But to push towards this
and Mike Stubbs call, We'll just give a huge jet
at the Mike Stubbs does a phenomenal job along with
Jimmy Van Horn. They do a phenomenal job on Holy
Gully London Nights Hockey on nine eighty cfpl Uh love
that line. Love hearing that line now that that was

(05:43):
an awesome call and it kind of summed up the
last three years for the London Knights. You know, you
he gets so close against the Peterborough Petez and that
Pete's team was stacked. They had a bunch of a
bunch of names, to say the least, London did too,
but that Peterborough Pets team was was very very good.
So you get to that point, it's like, oh crap,
all right, go back next year. What's the goal? Ohl Championship?

Speaker 3 (06:04):
All right? So they get that, they get.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
To the Memorial Cup final following the seventy seconds to
the to the Saganaw Spirits, and then it's like, oh crap, Okay,
we made it to a finals, lost, We won the
Ohl Championship, made it to the.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Mem Cup finals but lost.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, there's only one thing to do now, win the
Memorial Cup and and it finishes off a very nice
story for one of the best cores where we're gonna
see in our lifetimes. Colin, I know we were a
little young for the five team for the London Nights.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
We've seen that my first year of actually know knowing hockey.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, yeah, we you know, we've seen the dynasty of
the Winter Spitfires and nine and twenty ten. How good
that corps was. Obviously they won back to back Memorial Cups.
You know, we've we've seen a couple Juggernauts that have
been one off champions where they've won and then it's
been a complete rebuild the next year, which is the
more common way of doing things instead of going back

(06:59):
to back. But about when yeah, there's it's like in moneyball.
It's like in moneyball, there's a Yankees, a London Knights,
and there's mediocre.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Then there's fifty.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Feet of crap and then there's the Oakland A's, the
Sacramento as Hey. By the way, I called them Oakland
all weekend so any o, yeahs when the Jay's played
in this weekend, I was called, oh the Jays Wayne Oakland,
this weekend team. I feel so bad for I think
broadcasters do it. I think I think they with themselves
on purpose. So and I feel I feel so bad.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
For Oakland fans. I know I get off topic, but
like the Raiders, I mean, yeah, they are bron team,
the London Knights, Oakland A's green. Like, I just feel
bad for Oakland fans.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Golden State becomes good, they become relevant, they move across
the Bay.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's like the Raiders lead. That's okay, the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Suck anyway, Gobronos then athletics is a hurt. That one
sounds like like they had so many good teams. Dennis accurs,
like they had the Bash Brothers I mean Ricky Headerson,
like they were so good that we never even got
to see that those days. Oakland A's like we only
saw moneyball air really in our like yeah, memory, but

(08:12):
it's too bad.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
But uh no, the London Knights, I mean did the
model of consistency for winning, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, And where do you? Where do you rank them?
And I want to point people to the Ohl website
because there's a really good article that was posted on
the twenty sixth of May. If you haven't seen it,
go go check it out. I'll just give you the
headline how the Knight's twenty twenty one COVID nineteen draft
class became a dynasty corps. I thought they did a
really nice job of summing that up. But but where

(08:41):
do you rank this team? And I think it's a
little much to put them up with the five club.
You could maybe we could have that discussion one day
down the road, but are we looking at a team
that was like the O nine to ten winsor Spitfires?
You know, Sue Saint Marie was good for a lot
of years. Eerie was good for a lot of years

(09:02):
back in the McDavid to brink it strom a Radish era. Obviously,
the Knight's winning more OHL championships than that Erie Otters
team or the Oshawa Generals team back in the mid
twenty tens. But can we start to have that conversation
do you think or is it a little bit too early?
Are they already up there and we it's like, okay,
we're not even gonna touch it. They're they're up there,

(09:24):
Like where where do you? Where do you rank this
this club right now? Man? I think the team it's early.
I think they're right there with Windsor twenty ten. Obviously
when you got that winsor team, they were loaded. I'm
going over right now. How many players are over a
point of game on that Winter team?

Speaker 3 (09:40):
One? Two?

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Six players over a point of game? I mean like
Ryan Allens is a defenseman too. By the way, that
year sixty one points in forty eight games. That team,
I mean that wins your team. You're looking at some
of the names right now on that twenty ten wins
your team. Austin Watson was a rookie on that team.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Then we go.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Richard panic, panic, panic, however you want to pronounce it.
It was always panic in Windsor. Then the NHL w
the lea he.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Got famous, so it's panic. It's kind of so.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Used to tell this to me every day. He hated
Kevin Plar, by the way, and I know you're a
Blue Jays fan. All he could do field, I don't
know why people wanted to pay him a hundred million dollars.
He couldn't hit a beach ball. My dad listening this
is gonna love this. He hates Kevin bar. But my
Papa used to always say, well, you know, his real
name's Pillar, right, I go, what do you mean. He's like, well,
he's in the big leagues now it's Polar. But but

(10:39):
when he was, you know, an amateur, it was just Pillar.
Kind of that thing. Obviously that's probably not the case,
but it's kind of the same thing. It's like, oh,
he got to the NHL and now it's Panic, where
it was Panic in junior. It's like, hmm okay, but yeah,
that's a that's a funny story for all you Blue
Jay fans that did not like Kevin Pilar.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
So I cannot stand Kevin Plar.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
When they give away those capes and stuff, and I'm thinking, guys,
he catches the ball and then dives. It's like, okay, cool,
like all right, But that's the way Toronto sports fans are.
Blue Jay Baseball Baseball blue Jay fans are different than
Leaf blue Jay fans. That's a dangerous breed, but that

(11:19):
wins your team. In twenty ten, I'm going from bottom
to the top. Philip Grubauer and net obviously with so
going through the team, Zach Cassian, Austin Watson, Richard Ponnick
cam Fowler, Eric Wellwood. There's a name we had a

(11:40):
good pro career, had a good pro career, Adam Henry,
Justin Shug, Taylor Hall.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
I mean that team was loaded. Yep.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
This is where we can play the fun game right now,
this London team. Cowen's gonna play for the Leafs next year.
Sam Dickinson is gonna play for San Jose.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
And by the way, we talked about that COVID for
Santos eight next year. They need they need.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Maybe contract situations, you never know. We saw that with
the Red Wings with Sandy and Pellica this year, Like justin,
do they want Dickinson and Halton in to have those
extensions come up at the same time? Halton in if
he's not in the NHL. There's some issues. Yeah, there's
another one. But we talked about that COVID draft. Eh,
think about the second COVID draft with Sam Dickinson.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean not even drafted by the Night. I'm
not bashing the Niagara Ice Dogs, but you think about
what Sam Dickinson avoided over winning every single season that
he did in London. He avoided a captain.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Suspension, a culture review, a GM suspension, donors suspension, a
coach suspension, like he avoided all that to win, to
go to the OHL Finals year one and play big
minutes as a sixteen year old, the OHL Finals year two,
win the OHL, go to the Memorial Cup, year three,
win the OHL title, winning World Cup, all in three

(13:01):
years of the junior hockey. But he avoided to what
he got. I mean, that's pretty incredible. But the London
Knight's just draft well. And as we were mentioning the
players on London who are gonna play the NHL, I
mean Collen Bonk Halton and as you mentioned Dickinson, as
I mentioned Denver Barkie. I think Barkie's gonna be a

(13:22):
guy two years from the now the NHL with where
Philly's forwards are you look at their guys that they
had that all came up that they're around that same
age group. They're a little bit older than Barkie with
the Foresters and the Tippets, like that whole.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Group where I feel like they got one more crack.
I know they're there right now. And Forrest are just resigned.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Barkie probably a year in the AHL, but maybe next
ye at the end of the season he gets an
NHL time. Who knows, but he's gonna be a good
pro player. Denver Barkie for sure. You look at their team,
I mean, Jared Woolly Jared woolly Man, that's kind of
underrated one because you see you see what Dickinson and
Bunk do up at the top, and they're the sexy
names on the back end.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
But then you look at there's the next two. Henry Brestevitch, who, by.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
The way, the Branford Prospects game this year, in the
OHL Prospects game that we covered, how good did he
look like? How big is that kid like? Henry Prestovitch,
I mean, is gonna be a heck of a player.
I think it's body types an NHL player when you
look at him, him and Jared Woolly both.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
You look at those two guys and I'm.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Thinking LA with Willy just screams Western Conference player. Like
you look at the Stanley Cup playoffs right now and
you look at the Dallas Stars at their big defense score.
I mean, Jared Willie on La Man, that's gonna be
a nice pick for LA. That's a nice prospect to have.
I think he's gonna play NHL games. I think he's
gonna be a really good fourth to sixth. I think
he's gonna be only Mada. I think Jared Woolly's going

(14:43):
to be a physical only Mata at the next level.
Uh to a t not a lot of points, but
they're gonna be a really good defensive player in the
National Hockey League. There's another NHL player, So absolutely maybe
that when we look at this, why not. I mean
the way he played in the Memorial Cup and the
record and no records with goaltenders, this speature itself. But

(15:07):
looking at it from Afar and I know it's a
lot of way. I know it's a long ways away.
I think stone cold Austin Elliot will play NHL games.
I mean poise, he has a body.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I mean Elliott, I mean Medvedev as well. With the
body type that he has, We'll have to see more
of a workload. But I've been fighting at this all season.
I think Medvedev has the body type and he he
has a better potential to be an NHL star before
Jack ivan Kovic does.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
And I think Jack ivan Kovic is gonna be a
really good player.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
But I just think looking at it with Medvedev and
the body type and the when the workload goes up,
which is gonna get this upcoming season, the London Nights
are gonna have a workload for him for sure. That
we saw Brett Broch, you have. But you look at Medvedev.
He has size, he has structure to his game, he
has the numbers. I mean, I think that everything, and
plus he plays in London.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
He's our guy for the next two years minimum. Yeah,
And like there's so much potential to this roster.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Where we looked at Windsor and we named a few
names from Windsor, but you look at this London team,
absolutely it might be better. It might be right below
that five team. When you look at the five NHL
players on that London team, the stars that they had
I mean you look at they look at this Knight's team,
an eighteen that wins a mem Cup, You're at least
gonna see three to four guys in the.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
National Hockey League minimum. Yeah. I mean, I don't even
mention samu o'reiley.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Like Sam o'riley' the first round pick to the Edmonton Oiler,
so he's gonna play the NHL.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
It's the first round pick.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Like that's That's how talented this team has been. Their
structure was incredible. The difference between last year and this
year was was you could notice the difference this year.
It felt like the team was on a mission since
day one. It felt like if they didn't win the
Memorial Cup, it was a failed core and it started

(16:50):
from management. When we heard Mark Connor when they won
the OHL title, all you mentioned was this team, we
need to win a Memorial Cup bad. This car needs
to win a Morenal Cup. They've won everything but Mortal Cup.
They've now done that. Dale Hunter with the process, with
the with the hard work, winning gets you to the

(17:10):
NHL scouts like winning all the post games in the postseason.
We heard scouts like winning. They like winners that like,
I just think we saw a group of players, a
core group, and it's the most public this London Knights
team has been in the postseason, like most vocal Elendon
Night Corps has been as well. Like I know the

(17:33):
sixteen team was really good when they had to Chuck
Marner Devorak and to Chuck he was out there, Max
Jones up behind there and read to play on that team.
And you look at what they had on that core.
But this team, the public, the public, the publicity that
this team got in the public for positivity was incredible

(17:55):
for what they had to endoor throughout the season. But
you look at the you look at this team and
when you look at Oliver Bonk and this is the
first Perton Easton Cowen as well. Eastern Cowen did a
heck of a job because in the morning a Cup final,
because it wasn't the I'm gonna cry because I'm not
getting the poker, I'm gonna curse out my teammates on

(18:17):
a bench in a game seven, I'm not even sweating
like Mitch Marner.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
That wasn't the case. Man. He took the game over.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
You managed the game and like we're last year, London
only had two shots halfway through the game like they
had eleven shots after one, like they managed the puck
better in Oliver Bonk. Oliver Bonk deserves to be defenseman
of the playoffs. And I know Sam Dickinson was a
hell of a player.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
He's a star. Sam Dickinson is the best defenseman in
the Atario hockey.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
You watch him play and you're thinking, man, this kid's
got pois like, this kid's this kid's a star. But
when you look at Oliver Bonk accepting a defensive role, Okay,
I'm gonna lose ten to fifteen more points on the season,
but I'm gonna block three to four more shots in
a game, and we're gonna get probably two to three
more wins. And now I'm gonna be more ready to

(19:06):
play a winner go home Memorial Cup final game because
Oliver Bumk's been playing game, has been playing June first,
Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening Memorial Cup Finals for the
last four or five months in London. Like the way
he's changed his game the postseason man for the better.
I mean, he's always gonna be a point guy. He's
always gonna be a point guy. But when you look

(19:26):
at what he did to change his game for the
betterment of the team. I mean that was incredible Oliver
BoNT to limit your points, to be the guy that's
got a block shots. I mean the NHL Finals that
we mentioned before, remember the block shots he had on
back at Senecon in the power OSWA power play late
in the game, like in the elimination game.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Like that, Like that's huge. That's how you win a
Mortal Cup.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
And those are the things maybe you didn't see last
year with this London team and even last year's team,
there was limited holes to the London team, but this
year there was zero holes. I remember a Wednesday evening
game and they came into Branford for us of the Bulldogs,
they came into Branford and absolutely walked us and all

(20:09):
all three of us will mention Brian as well from
the Bramford Expositor. We all mentioned there's nobody being this
London team. There are fourth line players where Dogs on
parks like their fourth line players look like second line guys.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
And Noah Reid like one.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
And I think we had mentioned it on the last
show that we did before the OHL Finals got underway.
Like in the Eastern Conference, there were talented teams, like
you're playing for Bobby or trophy, Like, yeah, nobody really
had a good I feel pretty confident in saying nobody

(20:45):
really had a good chance to beat London just the
way the Knights were, how how built they were from
top to bottom. The Eastern Conference is playing for a
Bobby your trophy and that banner to hang from the rafters.
That that's that's it.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
You know, we're generals.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
How good they were, The Branford Bulldogs, how good they were,
the Arry Colts their lineup, Brampton steel Heads, you know,
the Kings and front n Acts. Those top five teams,
very talented, really didn't have much of a chance to
beat to London Knights. They were playing for Bobby or
trophy and to hang that in the rafters of their building.
And not many years we say that you can see

(21:23):
very dominant teams, whether it be the Knights, We've seen
very dominant ranger team, spitfire teams, whatever the case might be.
This was the true first year that I'm like, okay,
the top of the mountain for the Eastern Conferences Bobby
or trophy, and they'll be happier than a pig and
crap to get that trophy, but they're not winning the
Jay Ross because of how good London was, So it's

(21:44):
it's it's gonna be a fun debate. I think we
could do this in five years time and that'll be
the appropriate time to start really diving into the deeper
numbers between these London Knights teams and the nine twenty
ten Spitfires team and potentially getting to the five London
Knights team. So congratulations to them on a Memorial Cup championship,

(22:04):
another Ohl championship. One more thing I wanted to touch
on before we move on to some more Ohl stuff.
Why the hell is there a big M on the
left shoulder of the London Knights.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Where's the Memorial Cup patch? I know where it is, behind, Like,
what the hell? Who some respect? Man?

Speaker 2 (22:27):
I understand Motorola is probably giving you a lot of money.
Who has a Motorola phone? I thought those were extinct,
That's the.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Thing I know. I thought that was Motorola is my
first phone.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
It was a touch screen with a keyboard, and I'm like,
holy crap, this is bigger than an iPhone and it wasn't.
But like, come on, why why is the Men Cup
logo not there?

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Like, come ons. That pissed me off a lot, especially.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
When it's on the behind like they put it. No
one can see it. If you're like if if jersey's
partially tucked.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
In, you can't even see it. I I cannot get
again again. I get it. Oh, we're getting a bunch
of money.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
I get that, but come on, like, yeah, how much
history does this tournament have put it? Show it to medicine,
had coach Willy dejarn and wearing the poppy for the final.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
I love that, and having the military memories lead them
off the Boston onto the ice and that's it so cool,
Like we need like that's what our tournament is. I
miss Like I said, I don't. Whenever corporations get involved
on things.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
It sucks.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
I would rather have the electric board ads or whatever
the digital board ads then have then have a logo
over the mem Cup logo on a jersey. So and
if I'm not mistaken, let me go back and look
up some photos from the one hundredth Memorial Cup in Regina,
because there was that extra patch all season long that

(24:00):
the hundredth Memorial Cup, but teams still found a way
to fit them on the jersey, like I'm looking at
the Acaity Batters t Tall jerseys and specifically their captain
that year. So you've got the QMGHL logo on the
one shoulder, you've got the CCM logo on the other
back before they had changed the designs a little bit.
He's got the C above the CCM. But then you've

(24:21):
got that one hundredth Memorial Cup logo under the I
believe it's under the QMGHL logo. And then you've got
the Memorial Cup one hundred Regina twenty eighteen MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Of course I miss that too.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
On the other side, they found a way to fit
that on. We couldn't have found a way to fit
on the Memorial Cup patch on the front of the
uniforms because they're.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Paying to get it off, which is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
That Yeah, I mean again, apologies for the language. I
thought it was bullshit, yep, Like come on, yeah, I
know it is. It's it sucks like you said, like, yeah, anyways,
I was already complaining in the in the Ohl finals
when Oshawa didn't have it on, when both teams didn't
have it.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
On, Like I miss those days too. Yeah, I did.
I just I love the logo on the ice. I
love the logo on the ice that they did in
the OHL.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
You like the change, I don't know. I still kind
of liked the long one. I don't know the way
your trophy looked nice. I like when it's the long.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
I like the length.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
I do like the length, but I liked how it
had the logo, like the graphic. Okay, so I'd be
down to have it maybe the graphic a little smaller
and have it more and wider across it fills out
a little in between, little hybrid action. But I think that,
like I, I really wish the logo was on there,
more dominant on there. But all in all, she did
a really good job hosting the tournament Colone Colona. Next

(25:49):
year's got big shoes to fill, I thought also too,
I was complaining in the OHL finals, how if you
watch the games on TSN, the advertisements for the Memorial
Cup were in twenty twenty six for next year already
and none for Yeah. Yeah, I thought that that was
really weird unless unless like you literally couldn't get seats
for anything and there was nothing to promote.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Okay, but ye, like before it.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Even started like yeah, unless again, Colonna could have said,
here's a bunch of money, do you want to start
playing commercials about Colona. Which if that's the case, man,
I'm pumped they're gonna put that much money into which
they already have. I mean they are when we see
the amount of money that they spent on commercials in
the Memorial Company in the HL the HL playoffs. Man,
I'm pumped. Colowna is a good market too. But that's

(26:35):
gonna be a heck of a mem Cup spot with
the amount of money. It's a great spot too long
where it is in BC, that's gonna be really cool.
Good organization too. Yeah, but Madison had to have a chance.
Next year, they'll have a chance. You got the best
player in the league in the I mean yeah, it'll
be cool. Well, continue the Jersey conversation because the new

(26:59):
partnership has begun with under Armour being the new new
Jersey partner for the Canadian Hockey League and Bower being
the new equipment supplier of the Canadian Hockey League. You've
seen teams around the OHL have their fire sales like hey,
come get cheap stuff for for your beer leagues or whatever.

(27:19):
We got jerseys, we've got equipment. I know in Niagara
they were selling off bikes workout bikes, so maybe they're
getting a whole new gym in Niagara.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
That'd be sweet.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
We're gonna get to them in just a second here.
But but we saw Ramouski kind of show off what
the new jerseys will look like, at least for their colors,
with the under armour and the Bower equipment. Always I'm
always been a fan of Bauer. I've liked CCM, I've
used their stuff too, but I think the Bower look
is really sharp. And then I remember on our on

(27:49):
one show we were looking up under armour jerseys around
just anywhere, and we saw a bunch of ncuable A
schools with the under armour jerseys and we're like, hey,
has a real shot to be to be pretty cool.
And and first of all, the under armour logo is
going to be right on the neck on that on
that neck line, right in front of the right at
the front of the jersey. So I guess that leaves

(28:10):
a little bit of extra space on the jersey for
a Memorial Cup patch next year. But but what do
you think Colin first look at least just Muski. We're
waiting to see what the Ohl jerseys will look like
if there are any changes to some of the team's designs,
which we think there will be.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
What do you think, man, I like it. I think it's.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
I think that it looks cleaner. I love I'm a
big fan of under Armour. I mean they're undershirts armor,
I mean and goalieast I love the dry fits out
of under Armour because you're so light and even baseball
to it. The undershirts. I like the lightness to him.
But and then it's not like it's not like balky
on you. So I used to like those jerseys look clean.

(28:53):
Muskies look very similar to what they are like to
what their normal ones are, which is which is fine,
Which is fine.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
I know there's gonna be a lot of.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Teams that are you know, you're gonna definitely gonna be
able to notice a difference when they come out here shortly.
For other teams around the CHL and specifically in the Ohl,
there's a lot of there's a lot of pros and
constant to some of the team's new ones. But I
think that with what we saw publicly with Ramouskis, they're
nice and and under Armor is a clean brand. I

(29:21):
mean I think it goes well with a bower. Yeah,
better than Fanatics, so that's a win. The CHL once
again has better jersey quality than the NHL, so congratulations.
At least four more years of having better jersey qualities
and a professional hockey team or a professional.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Hockey league goe to make a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
But hey, they save money because they're getting the seven
billion dollar TV deals. They're robbing sports Net and Rogers
because Amazon TV is a thing.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Apple TV is gonna be a thing in the NHL.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Which which I hope it's good. I don't like MLB's
Apple TV coverage. I hate MLB's Apple TV terrible. But
also it gets away from listening to Buck Martinez. For
me as a Blue Jay fan, that's good.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
That short stop.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, but we got Jason Bennetti and World Series champion
Dan Petrie in Detroit.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
I hate it. It's horrible.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
That's like you get the clowns on ESPN replacing Ken
and Mick.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah. It range is the hardest. Wings is the hardest.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
It's like on TSN not being able to uh well,
I mean again, hey, I turned on the radio I wish,
I wish so there was marselmcast because Mike Stubbs, like
you mentioned the call last night, Man, it was as
if Mike Stubbs rehearsed that call a million times. But hey,
it's his third time calling Memorial Cup final. By the way,
He's not a big deal. It's just another trip. It's

(30:41):
just another June first broadcast for Mike. But and we
talked about this before, how Mike Stubbs doesn't lose his voice?

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Man?

Speaker 2 (30:50):
How how like how does he not lose his voice? Mike,
if you're listening to this, what do you do? Like
is it a lot of hauls? But like, even if
it was, like, what is it like.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
I don't even think soup on the road with him?

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Like, man, I don't even think like I just think
it's Mike Stubbs was born to call games. He was
born to do what he does. And I think that, like,
I don't even think he does anything like, Man, I'll
never forget that the first time when our first game
there in Niagara and Mike walks in right and you
can hear the voice Holly Gully Knights Hockey. Yeah, like

(31:25):
in that broadcast is one of the hardest radio broadcasts
in the league because of the advertising.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Names that they have. It's riddles. It's like it's like.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
They take extra breaks, Like there's the two TV timeouts
for OHL. But you I remember when there used to
be one. They did three I think a period they
did the one, one official one, and then they did
two smaller ones. They would run one commercial after like
an offside or an icing, so the time you get
back and then it's like right into the play. Yeah,
but man, I couldn't like the like it's as if

(31:59):
he rehearsed.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
The hall, but we know he didn't. But it was
that was incredible. The winner.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
That was cool And like CA say, with what with
what Mike's gotten to call in his career, I can't
wait to have another story time with Mike and talk
about this year from more on a cup because I'm
sure there's gonna be a lot of stories we hear
about Evan bou Shard and like when they were the
Scratches in Yeah, which in which by the way, Scratches
dressed for celebration photos. Now for the one person on

(32:27):
social media that had no idea about that, Yeah, that's
the thing now, So.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
Yeah, man, that's been a thing since twenty sixteen. Yep.
I'm not sure where.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
He's been living, but must not see him anyways. All right,
let's uh maybe some more serious topics here.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
Now.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
The Niagara Ice Dogs have a new general manager, and
they had made it clear they're gonna wait till the
Memorial Cup is over to it make the announcement. I
kind of liked that move. Other people did, but I
kind of liked it. But it was a huge tease
for a lot of Ice Tags fans. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely,
as they thought it was gonna be.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
You know who, but it wasn't.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah yeah, uh so. So Frank Ivola leaves the windsor
spit Fires organization and comes to Niagara to be the
general manager. And we had a small discussion before we
started calling about what we think should happen. Now we
are sitting here on a Monday afternoon recording a podcast

(33:30):
and Frank will be the one on the ground getting
all the work done in Niagara. Do they tear down
and start over? They've got guys. Do they tear down
and start over? Because Robrick is a good enough player
that people will come to watch the game just for him,

(33:50):
Ethan Zadas got that potential. He'll be drafted this year.
You know Kevin he I expect him to come back.
You know new Man management. I don't expect their captain
to be traded again. You know they've got guys, they
need a goaltender. Who knows who their goaltender is going
to be. But but what do they do? Do they

(34:11):
tear it down?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Do they start over with a new guy at the helm?
Obviously still have to wait for coaching staff to be announced.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
But what do they do? What do you think? It's
a tough It's a tough ask. It's a tough, tough
core because they the age group is for this year.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
But I don't know if the picks are there to
compete with some of the teams in the Eastern Conference.
But it depends what other teams do in the Eastern Conference,
what directions they go they have the picks. I it's
it's tough with goaltending. We say you got to win
from the back out goaltending. They they don't have what

(34:53):
it takes. They don't defense. I don't like their defense.
They have guys there that will put up points this year,
but don't think they're gonna win the playoffs. I don't
think there's a I don't think I think they lack
certain maturities on the back end.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Grease, you and I both know who we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
And into uh specifics up front.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
They have all the potential in the world.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Max Cree, Brady Wastlin, two young rookies that had really
good seasons. Are they how do they take the step
up to this year? Ryan Robrick in his draft year,
that's a big one for Niagara. They need to hit
on that. They need Ryan Robrick to be what everyone
in the media talks about Ryan Robrick because I think

(35:37):
that's a ticket sales driver for the Ice Dogs. But
that'll only work for a little bit and at the
beginning of the year. Then you get us at winning
to get people into the arena.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
It's tough.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
It depends on who they have coach and also who
want what players want to be a part of a
new front office. Again, every offseason for this court, for Kevin,
he every single offseason he's had change. Yep, every offseason
of his alway Chel career he has had change. So
does he even want to be a part of it again?

(36:08):
That's something that's that's something that is in question. I mean,
we see it all the time when there's a change
like that, you see trade requests, you see a down spike,
and then it's like a rebuild. I'm not saying anything
behind that, I don't know, but realistically, when you look
at the way how the hockey world works nowadays, and
I mean with everything going on with the NC Douable agreement,
who knows what Kevin He's gonna do. We'll see, but

(36:32):
I think that with where they are in Niagara, they
would need to pick up a goaltender, a legit number
one in a in a stud defenseman to have a chance.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
That's all big asks. For the amount of.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Picks they have, they can only do one or the
other without And then if they want to get a
goaltender or a stud defense when you're looking to trade
as that, you're looking to trade a.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
Rowbrick, and I don't think you can do that or
a wastling.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
But I mean we heard the rumors last year, right
Jet Lachenko, if Lachenko was going to go to Niagara,
and I don't think there was any chance in that
except I don't think there was a chance on Lachenko
accepting a trade in Niagara.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
I'll just say that.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
But I don't think that Niagara was getting ready to
part ways with a guy like Brady Watlin, and I
think that's the right decision.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
They weren't winning. That would have been dumb if the
Ice Ducks would have bought last year.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
I I know, I'm going back and forth and it's tough,
like it's really hard because there's a lot of pros
and there's a lot of cons. I wondered if with
this hire they want to set themselves up the host
of m Cup in twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
With Evola.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
I I could see them doing this, trying to do
it maybe what Saganaw did and like we say, Frank Vola,
by the way, really get higher with the Vola that
I'm really excited to see in Niagara. That's similar to Winsor.
Remember Winds are going from last to first in just
a year. Was a big part of that. So you

(38:02):
gotta you have to think that there's a little you
would hope there's optimism, but we've saw so many gms,
We've saw so many coaches go through Niagara and this
ownership and in the previous ownership, well not coaches or gms,
because previous ownership it was all in one. But in
this current ownership, we've saw so many changes where you

(38:25):
gotta let the GM be a GM here and they
gotta get win an Evola, it's a tough ask.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
You need a culture center one thousand percent. I think
that's a big thing. You're gonna have to have a
lot of talks.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Like I said, there's a few guys in the back
end I would trade a thousand percent I would trade.
I think there's immaturities to their game. Not saying who
who players are. We don't name players on that, but
there's certain immaturities to players games where I would be
one thousand percent moving them.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
And because we.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Need to have a good environment, and it's a great challenge,
it's a really good challenge to come in to be
a general manager a head coach.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
But that's a big thing.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Depends on who the head coach is in Windsor or
in Niagara. It depends on who Evola brings in. But
it's a great opportunity to change a culture because you
have a young player, you have a young core there
and Robrick has probably one more year after the after
his draft year. I don't like you say, it's a

(39:22):
long ways away, but he has one more year where
he could be back. I think if there was an
offer from a team like the London Knights, but they
don't have the picks, but if there was a team
like the London Knights, they would make that work. That
London would make that work. We've seen the trades before
with those two clubs. I know, a different brass now,

(39:43):
but same ownership group, a different general manager now with Evola.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
But other than that, man, I can't see it because
you have guys.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Who are gonna be around and I don't know, Like
you say, it depends on how how hard and uh,
how hands on ownership is.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
It depends, like I don't think. I hope they're not. Obviously,
the Ohl had a little bit had a little bit
of saying this. From what I've.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Heard was that the Ohl was approached by this Niagara
brass of six names, and then it was the Ohl
had to say, but not the same. Niagara had the
final say, but it had to be approved by by
the Entario Hockey League. And that's and I think it's

(40:26):
a great hire with Evola, and it's a great opportunity
to come in and really be a culture center, because
that's what they need. They need to They had a
culture review, like they need someone that comes in with
a positive culture. They need to get rid of the
old culture.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
Where have we.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Said this before, reached a couple of seasons ago. If
guys don't want to be here, we're gonna move them out.
The exact same thing is a couple of years ago
you have to do. So in that case, I guess
we are rebuilding because if guys don't want to be there,
you gotta move them out.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
But it's gonna be on Evola. So I hope the
head coach is good. I really do. I hope the
head coach.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Honestly, I know Malone now going to Wilkespari. By the way,
congrats to Brad Malone now former that's.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Where we were going next.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
So a guy like Brad Malone would have been perfect
Niagara because you need a young guy that's good with
the culture. Ryan Ulahan, Jammickey, you need a good good
you need a good coach. It just gets junior hockey.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
But Fitzgerald, if he was an assistant for the first
three years, Yeah, yeah, like they need somebody. They need
somebody man with a good call. They need somebody.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
They had a damn culture review, like they treat their
captains like it doesn't mean anything with their last two captains.
So they need somebody to come in. They need somebody
to come in and put their foot down. They need
someone that comes in and it's like I own the room,
Like this is our team. This is the way it's
gonna go. It's a good environment. We're not having date

(41:45):
nights in the movie theater, eat knights in the movie sessions,
watching and having pizza, having pizza with the guys, with
the team. It's a good team building. That's what we're
gonna have. And I hope I hope that happens. I
really do, because their fan base deserves it.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
They're begging. The fans in Niagara are dying. They're begging
for a competent team. Just competence, not.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Where they win eight nine games in a row and
then they lose ten in a row. They're in first
place at Christmas and all of a sudden, what do
they do finish seventh? Like you know, like just give
them some competence, And like anyone in the front office
listening to this. Give your fans competent, give them excitement,
give them something to be excited excited for. And this

(42:31):
isn't gonna be an easy fix. Don't expect the Meridian
Center to have three thousand fans in it every single
night throughout this whole season. This they have lost so
much trust in the fans there that this window and
this is why you could rebuild it. You're not gonna
have fans come back to what we saw getting the
sixteen team, like when the Ice Dogs were humming at

(42:52):
Meridian Center. We're not gonna see that type of attendance
until two years from now because you gotta get their
trust back, like they have to get their trust back,
and how it starts with you gotta get a GM
and Evola.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Who I like the decision. I love that that comes
in with a positive culture, which is number one.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
They had a damn culture of you. It's just an embarrassment.
So you fix the culture. You build a team that
wants to be there. However, we said that before about
Niagara last general manager change. We need a culture shift.
We need people. That's what they need. That's what they need.
They need people that want to come in there a
positive environment every single day. They want to come to

(43:32):
the game. They want to come to the arena, and
it's exciting to come to the arena. You want your
players to love to come to the arena, and I
don't think they liked it. I don't think that group
was closed by any means last year from what we heard,
I don't think that was a great group. I don't
think their room was good. And I hope that that's
the number one priority for their new hires and their

(43:54):
head coach. What an opportunity you can change it around. Man,
That's that's incredible. That would be incredible to be able
to change that. It's such an opportunity. But all in all,
I hope that they get somebody that with confidence because
the fans are begging in Niagara to have a team that's.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
I'm just gonna say it. They want a team that
the with the front office, it isn't dumb, like make
good decisions other than your trade dead that I'm making
no moves. They haven't done anything right this year, which
is a problem.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
They were in first place at Christmas and they were
still messing up off the ice, like what are we doing?
Like you tell a captain you tell a captain that
he's not going anywhere, you're part of your season, and
then twenty.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
Four hours later he's traded without even knowing where he's going.
All right, So I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Please get some confidence, So give some fans some confidence,
please Niagara so.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Believe it or not. And I had to pick up
my mic for this because we're getting serious here. Believe
it or not.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
That is probablyrobably not the most fired up Colin Ward
is going to be in this show, because we have
a topic in about five minutes for the last ten
minutes of our show that will probably get them fired
up even more. Right to the weddings, we went to, Eh,
this is like the appet This is like cocktail hour.
Get ready for the app get ready for the meal
and the speeches coming up.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Oh, my wedding had a Mexican bar. It was awesome.
Not my wedding, my cousin's wedding. Mexican. It was it
was fire. Yes there. Late night snack was by the way,
I was nachos and cheese. We had poutine bar. Horrible,
horrible idea, Man, I love it, I love poutine. Was
that horrible?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
I mean, I was in Montreal and we didn't have poutine.
I'd be't gonna say in Quebec poutine like did you know? No, No,
I know, poutine sucks. I hate it. It's a terrible,
stupid idea, and I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
Man.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
We went to Schwartz's in uh in Montreal, the best
Montreal you're ever gonna have.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Oh it was so good. I've heard it. Like it.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
It's got the same feel if you've ever been to
National Coney Island in Detroit or is it or is
it Lafayette Cony. I don't know one or the other.
It's got that small feel where it's like maybe a
hall of Ways size, like like speaking of Niagara, you
know how small their concourse is. It's probably that wide.

(46:22):
And you either have the option to sit at a
table where you're cramped because they try to fit as
many in there as possible, or you sit at the bar.
We sat at the bar, not an actual bar. There's
no booze, I don't think, but like, but like you said,
at stools and it's like, oh, it was the best
smoked Beef's cool. My brother was a clown, doesn't like beef,
so he had Turkey, but the country all smoked meat

(46:46):
at Schwartz's.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Oh my god, it was awesome. That was better than
anything I had at the wedding, minus adress. There was
a good beer Goose Island. I p a. It was good.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
But yeah, the Montreal smoked meat. If you're in Montreal,
all go to schwartz Is. It's it's so good. We'll
give him a free ad here. But it was. It
was so good. But uh yeah, No, poutine sucks and
I am gonna live on that train. I'm gonna die
on that train. It all right, let's get.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Does poutine suck?

Speaker 2 (47:16):
All right, we're gonna put it up there at the
Ohl and sixty podcast Buck Market. We're gonna do it.
Does poutine suck? I'm on the yes train. A lot
of people tell the now on the no train. So
we've got now, we got onto the poutine thing. We've
got three minutes to talk about the Oshwa Generals and
their search for another head coach. Brad Malone is off

(47:38):
to the American Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.
He was listed, of course, as the interim head coach,
so his future wasn't decided with the Oshawa Generals. You know,
I'm I'm curious if bringing in Mario Puoliot down this
stretch had anything to do with this, you know, if
they really did have full trust in Black Brad Malone

(47:58):
moving forward and they were gonna remove that interim tag,
I'm really curious what that move had to do with it.
But two straight Bobby Orth trophies for the Aushawa Generals.
Looking at their draft cupboard, we've already done it. We're
not gonna list the picks. It's empty, to say the least,
it is empty. Calum Ritchie, if he's back, the Islanders
organization has a bunch of problems. If Beckett Seneca's back,

(48:22):
the Anaheim Duck's organization has a bunch of problems. Third overall,
and he's not on your team within two years. Hmm, okay, Hey,
congratulations to Brad Malone. I'm sure anybody who gets a
call from a National Hockey League organization to be a
part of a part of a coaching staff, whether it's
at the NHL level, AHL level, you're obviously gonna take it,

(48:43):
I would assume. So congratulations to Brad Malone. I'm just
from where I am. If there wasn't full trust from
the AUSTA. If there was full trust from the Austra
General sorry, I'd maybe want to be the head coach
of the Generals and maybe do that for a couple
of seasons and then move up moving a kind of
like what was he really the guy? Or was he

(49:04):
you know interim? Was he just a band aid solution
to this team for this year?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
What's the what's the Pulia situation?

Speaker 2 (49:15):
I like, I say, I don't know. We've heard things
when the hiring first happened. We've heard things right from
Oshwa that you know the English, you know, like I hope,
like can what's your relationship like with a coach to players?
I mean that's number one when you hire a coach, right,
like the communication.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
So we'll see interesting.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Then all of a sudden, the job hunt starts in
the off season with head coaching job, you would you
pick Niagara or Oshawa? Oshwa the organization right now you're
probably leaning toward but that'll be a fun discussion coming up.
But I think the Niagara not being in Toronto, I'd
say that's a big one. That's nice driving well, sometimes
the Niagara can suck the drive, But I Uh. I

(50:01):
just think with Oswall, I mean I felt like this
was coming, but I the players all like Brad Malone. Yeah,
players like Malone. That's why you got That's why he
came in. That's why he got the head coaching job.
I mean earlier on three quarters or a quarter into
the season.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Yeah, that's why he got that opportunity. So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
I wonder if there was a trust loss there that's
why they hired Puoliott And I mean maybe Malone didn't
like that, maybe that many there, maybe that didn't help
their relationship between the two, with the team and the coach.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
And again, like as talented as a team could be, Like,
there are a list of five teams we could have
seen in the Ohl Championship series, and I've already listed them.
We're not going to go through them again. But there
were five teams you could have easily seen in the
Ohl Championship and.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
Again, none of them were beating London.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
So so you really look at like, what do you like,
is there a loss of trust because you didn't win
the division or he didn't win the Ohl Championship, Like, yeah,
that seems like a little bit of a stretch for me,
Like I thought Brad Malone was going to be the guy.
I thought he was going to be the guy next year.
To be honest, I thought he would spend a year
as an advisor, as a development person, assistant, whatever the
case might be, and then move into the role maybe

(51:12):
next year, maybe the year after whatever. I thought he'd
be with the organization longer than this. Again, congratulations to
Brad joining the Penguins organization. I think that's going to
be a phenomenal higher for them in their development throughout
their system. But the generals will look for another head
coach for this upcoming season. Now, last ten minutes of

(51:34):
the show NCAA versus the CHL. I'm not saying that's
the situation right now because there have been a lot
of players that have committed to CHL clubs since this,
since the announcement was made, since the agreement was you know,

(51:56):
completed what and and we're not going to overreact. We've
seen people overreacting and there are there have been way
more people, can way more guys commit to the CCHL
than we've seen commit to NC double A do And
I brought this point up that should they have maybe

(52:18):
put in place the same rules for the American Hockey League,
as in, you're eligible for college when you're eligible for
the AHL for your overage season, so you have to
play a minimum four years in the Ontario Hockey League,
Western Hockey League, Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, and then
if you don't want to be annoy in the in
junior you can try to be a pro, you can

(52:38):
go to NCUBA, whatever the case might be. That's what
I would have done instead of getting two years and oh,
okay bye, I'm not a fan of that.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
No turns into U league.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
Yeah, And and obviously you get first second round talent
that signed contracts within the first two three months of
being drafted. Obviously you're not NC double A eligible because
you've signed a pro contract. So so there is that. However,
you start to lose those third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh
round NHL picks to school a little bit earlier because

(53:11):
they won't get signed for well more than likely they
won't get signed for a year or two.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
And then and then at the NC double A also
puts in the roole for college kids to get an
extra year before starving to sign.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
YEP, So are people overreacting about the names we've seen.
We've seen Spence commit, Ivan Covid has committed not for
this upcoming season, but for the season after to the
University of Michigan hashtag go Blue.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
You know, we've heard.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Rumors of McKenna going to Michigan State University, which is
I hope that's not the case for the Western Hockey League.
I mean, I'd love to watch them for another season.
And draft year man was draft year one hundred percent.
You know, we've heard rumors that Roebrick is interested in
going to the NC Double A, especially after all the

(53:56):
to be one, all the crap that happened in Niagara
this season. You know, you're hearing rumors of guys Mesas
off to Penn State. Does Michael Mesa follow his brother
to Nitney? Lions Martone?

Speaker 3 (54:10):
What? What are your thoughts on this?

Speaker 2 (54:12):
And we've talked about it in the past, but now
that bigger names are starting to go and always, I
think you're different. Let me clarify before you get into
this calling Always, I'm perfectly fine if you don't want
to be in OA, in the OHL or the Canadian
Hockey Thin. I completely understand going to school. I probably
would too. That helps if you can't see a path

(54:35):
forward as an O way to a pro contract or
whatever whatever goal you want to hit. I'm perfectly okay
with that, but it's really gonna suck when you see
high profile guys gone after year three or year two.
That's where I'm starting to have an issue with this.
And it's not really an issue. We haven't seen hundreds
of players flock to the NC double A. Really isn't
an issue or making it bigger than it is right now.

(54:59):
But I'm just I'm curious what happens as we continue
to move forward in a year two of this agreement,
year three, four, five, whatever. So so what are your
thoughts on this? I mean there's a lot, there's pros
and cons to it. My biggest concern is I don't
want the CHL to become a U eighteen league. I
don't want to be the USHL. I don't want it
to be a where guy's coming here for a year

(55:19):
or two and then bounce. I really don't want that
to be a I really hope that's not the case.
Like I said, that's my biggest fear. I mean, you
look at the teams that one. You look at some
of the players around the league, kats and going to
GWELF was a big one for GWELF, Chase Reed and
Susan Marie, Jack Pridham and Kitchener. I mean yeah, you

(55:43):
look at the guys that came to the Interariot Hockey
League and you look around and it's like, well, those
guys wouldn't have been here, and these guys wouldn't have
even been in the Atarot Hockey League this year if
it wasn't for the case, if this wasn't the case.
So the guys it it is a two way street.
We knew we were gonna lose guys in the Atario
Hockey League. We've talked to OHL members of the OHL

(56:03):
and we've talked about that at length before that they
know they're gonna lose guys, we know for a fact, but.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
You're gonna get guys.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
The concern to me, like I said, I don't want
to be U eighteen league. My concern is that when
a kid becomes eighteen, in the entire hockey and this
is why I don't want players to leave. I want
them to play three years, almost like a three year
entry double contract in the national hockey league. I want
to be three years. You got to play in the
Intiroo Hockey League before you can go. I want that

(56:35):
to be a thing because so you get your two
years up to the draft, and then the year after
your draft year, so then we can see stars play
in our league. I don't want to see a guy
that gets drafted in the third round. And I'll just
say it like, and I know he signed. It's a
different person, it's a different thing. But let's say if

(56:57):
someone like Nick Lartis, who wasn't if if he wasn't
signed by the Blackhawks, and this is all hypothetical, but
if he wasn't signed by the Blackhawks this past season,
we wouldn't assess seventy goal season. He could have went
to the NCAA for three to four hundred thousand dollars American.
Now with the nil thing, that sucks, with the visas,

(57:17):
that really sucks.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
But I think.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
That that's why I want to see at least three
years where you have to play at least three years
in the entire hockey league. I don't want a guy
to be here at sixteen seventeen then all of a sudden,
the prime of your ohl career, you're gone. How do
general managers build their rosters? Like, how do you build
your team?

Speaker 3 (57:39):
You know?

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Like that's the part that I have questioning for. I
want to I just want the Interiro Hockey to be
the best league it can be. Is it?

Speaker 3 (57:47):
It's a better league when Malcolm Spence is in the league.
It's a better league, right, Like I hope I hope
for I hope for this sake that you know, there's
an honor system you know where you're but it's a
lot of money getting passed out there too.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Yeah, Like, as you say the honor system, I hope
there's still some pride in wanting to play for the
Memorial Cup. As we just finished the Memorial Cup tournament.
I hope, I hope there's still guys like that's their
dream to play for the Memorial Cup. You can play
for an NCAA championship, you can want to do that.
That's a big accomplishment to win a Nasty nat to
win a Natty.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
But it's not as a.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Canadian kid like to win the Memorial Cup. I would
hope that would be at the top of the list
until you get to the National Hockey League and then
obviously it's a Stanley exactly, but I would hope as
a sixteen year old, you want to win the Memorial
Cup one day and that's goal number one, no matter what.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Exactly, one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
I just think that when I when I watched the
Memorial Cup on Sunday night, and I'm thinking, man, when
I look on the social media, and I'm not going
to say the page because everyone knows where it goes,
but I'm looking on social media and I see people
talking about Gavin McKenna going here and going there a day,
the day or the day before his team in medicine

(59:03):
hats about to go for a Mortal Cup title game,
and we have to see all that for a league
as Canadians we should care.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
We care about that's that's the part that sucks. That hurts.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
I think that's why fans have every right to be
upset about it and be defensive about it. Absolutely, we
don't want to see our best players go to the States.
What a kind of joke is that?

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Like you know, like.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Again, that's where it's like, oh, sorry, you can't play
on the World Junior team.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
Sucks to suck. That's where I wish that was a thing.
That's where I wish that was a thing so badly.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
But you know, everyone's told by Canadian, right, we're all Canadian.
But then why why is it when we're eighteen years old,
we're going to play college in the States, When when
you're in the Antario Hockey League, that's a Canadian league.
I don't understand that. I will never understand that, and
that's just the way it's gonna be. But I wish,
I really hope that players still take pride and I

(59:57):
hope that they're locked in on the Interio Hockey League,
not thinking about, Okay, I'm just gonna go here that
when I'm eighteen, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go to
this university, I'm gonna go to play in Minnesota or something.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
You know. I hope that's not the case. I really
did and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
That because that would hurt, you know, and then it
turns into U eighteen league, it turns into USHL.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
One thing though, I would like to say is I'd
like to bring this up and I and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
I forget where I heard it on Jeff Merrick's podcast
first on the sheet, but really really good point. When
do we allow our players in the chl to get
local sponsorships. Obviously, teams are teams. But we witness a
sixty and a seventy goal scorer this year in the
Entario Hockey League. How much we're talking Michael Meason his

(01:00:45):
draft year?

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
How much?

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
How much is Matthew is Matthew Schaefer? How much is
he worth? How much is Michael Miso worth?

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
In the draftyears?

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Nick Lard has scored seventy goals? How much is he worth?
In his community in Branford? When do we allow players
to get sponsorships to play in the OHL and in
my sponsorships, it's endorsements, and obviously that's how when we
got Bauer and under Armour now coming in so jerseys
and gloves. It's not like the National Hockey League where
you have a stick sponsor. You see Matthew to check

(01:01:16):
with Sheerwood all the time. But we see it all
the time with nil and football in the States. I mean, heck,
you got.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
Jeremiah Smith with a Rolls Royce at eighteen years old.
It must be nice.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
But like I just think that when do we and
it won't be at that level, but when do we
allow players on their social even like advertise, yeah, or
even like you know, you get a cut of somebody
just bought a Michael Mesa jersey.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Yeah, here's ten for your name, like ndred percent. When
does that happen? Because that's what's changed the college sports landscape.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
But started with football and now obviously it's going into hockey,
but like, well, the only issue in that And I
just thought about this now because I've heard this also
brought up when when I was back on TSN and
the Canadian Football League. Because nobody stays on one team forever,
or it doesn't seem like it is. People are more

(01:02:13):
driven to buying blank jerseys because you know, if they
buy a player jersey, okay, what, it'll be fifty bucks
more with customization. But they're only there for if you're
really really really really really really good. You're only there
for two years obviously with the potential for five. But
that's the one flaw probably in the merch is well

(01:02:34):
they're only there for a few seasons.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
I've heard people say they're more drawn to buying blank
shirt blank jerseys because they are there. But but still,
like I think there's something to be you know, it
is still your name, you know, as as much as
the teams do profit off of your name and they're
in the business of yeah, exactly like you you're owning

(01:02:58):
an OHL team as a business. At the grand scheme
of things, it's players who play, the coaches coach them
and all of that. But there is you know, if
I'm Michael Mesa, it would be nice to get ten
percent from somebody that buys a Mesa jersey or or
you know, uh an Eastern Cowen who would get some
some deals. There's a ton of Eastern Callen jerseys out there.

(01:03:18):
Just ten percent from each Eastern Collend jersey, you know,
that'd be that There's that's a little thing that I
think can help keep players in Canada and make it
more intriguing to play in the Canadian Hockey League.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
And it won't be as much as the NC Doublea's offerings.
The ncble A. They got PA money there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Yeah, Like, and that's why I always say football schools
in the Eastern area that if they start to spend
on hockey, it's it's gonna be tough over But yeah,
but I just think that, like when I watched the
Interior hockey and I see it and I hear all
this about an I L and all that stuff with
the visas, and I think, well, can we create something

(01:03:57):
here in Canada like their own, like our like our
own little recognition like it won't be a big pot,
but it'll be a big enough pot to pay for
extra schooling. Right, and you already get an education package,
but that's not competing with three hundred thousand dollars American
minimum for some of these players, Like I feel like

(01:04:18):
you need to have an ability to create something to
keep the players happy and make them feel like they
have a brand. And could you imagine if we lose
Gavin McKenna in the CHL in his draft year and
the next elite superstar out of Canada because Canada has
Canada is the hockey country with the superstars in North America.

(01:04:41):
The US superstars are not at the Canadian superstars. They
don't have the McDavid, They don't have the Crosby, they
didn't have the Gratz Ski, they didn't have the Bobby
or they didn't have the Gordy how they didn't have.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
The ski Beeichman.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Well, and that's the thing, and you can look at
it coast to coast. People give a rats ass about Crosby,
they give a rats ass about McKinnon, they give a
rats ass about especially now being in the Stanley Cup Final.
You can't name one person who lives in southern Montana
that gives a rats ass about Matthew Kachuck. And no

(01:05:13):
disrespect to the ka Chucks. They're really good hockey players.
Matthew's going for a second straight Stanley Cup, yep. But
you can't tell me that the average person in Montana
a knows who he is and cheers for him, whereas
the superstars in Canada coast to coast, they're cheering for
the Crosby's, McKinnon's, McDavid's, you know, all those Canadian superstars.

(01:05:37):
That's the difference to playing in Canada versus the US.
And I'm not gonna trip the USHL by any means.
It's it's good hockey, it's you're right, it is kind
of U eighteen hockey. But it's hard to find this
even close to the same amount of interest in that

(01:05:57):
league as there is to the Canadian Hockey League. And
you know, I saw something the other day that there
was a report that the U s HL has interest
in expanding to Canada. If hockey Canada allows that. No,
it's gonna be an hour long yelling at Hockey Canada. Yeah,
because that'll just straight piss me off. It'll pay piss

(01:06:18):
a bunch of people off, it'll piss you off, Colin.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
We're told, we're told, Canadian the States. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
So so to me, that argument still has a lot
of merit, whereas, oh, Canada, you know, I haven't won
a Stanley Cup in a while. It's like, clearly don't
watch hockey, so shut up. And it's really fiery season
finale the HL and sixty podcast here. But but to me,

(01:06:47):
that's that's the argument you have to use. And I'm
gonna list them out here. You're playing for the Memorial Cup.
A kid who grew up in London dreams to play
for the.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
London Nights Adam Dennis. Yeah, a kid that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
Grew up in Sudbury dreams to play for the Subbury
Wolves one day. So same with the other eighteen markets
in the Ontario Hockey League. You're windsor more you want
to play for Windsor you're in Kitchener, you want to
play at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium? Are you kidding me?
Be unreal and they're gonna get it renovations. Now, oh
all right, we haven't. Like you look at the Canadian superstars,

(01:07:24):
and I'm pretty sure everybody in Canada may be minus
a few markets are gonna be Edmonton Oilers fans for
the next two weeks because hey, we want to see
McDavid win. Dry Sidle one of the best players on
the planet. You want to see him win. You want
to see the Stanley Cup back in Canada, and you
want to tell that idiot.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
In Washington to go.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
I'm not even gonna say it on here for his
stupid comments about the Americans winning everything.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Yeah, had the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
World Cup of hot or hey, world hockey or the
Four Nations work out, you dummy. Those are the arguments
you need to focus on. A. If you're Hoky Canada,
if you're the Canadian Hockey League, even Canadian universities can
use that argument. Now, it's good hockey. I wouldn't say
it's as good as ncuablea hockey. I've watched both. I

(01:08:10):
think the competition is a little bit better. Seth of
the border in school, but you gotta start using those
arguments because I think, and and again we're not overreacting
it's your one isn't even started yet, it doesn't start
to lougist, no, But I think if you continue down
the path of not really giving a shit, I don't

(01:08:32):
know if that's the best way to put it, man,
then we could be in for trouble. Like you said,
it could potentially turn into U eighteen league. But I
think also number one priority is if you're a Canadian.
I think there has to be a some some level
of pride to playing in Canada, whether you're getting paid,
especially dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
Or not, especially with everything going on in the world
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
And not to sound like Captain knuck here or anything,
but I think you have to have a certain level
of national pride to to want to see yourself succeed
as a Canadian hockey player, because that's when everybody grows
up dreaming of, is playing in the NHL, playing on
Canada's World junior team, playing on Canada's Olympic team.

Speaker 3 (01:09:11):
Even though Gary Bettman had to ruin that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
Can you imagine if if the league you imagine if
the Ontario Hockey League wouldn't have had Like if Connor
McDavid would have went to college, yike, Like I wanted
to rank it as an American could have gone to college,
but he changed theary otters and put up ridiculous numbers
three years in a row. Like, Man, I just wish,
like I wish, like the ticket sales they would the

(01:09:36):
league have this year? Remember every point two three point
in playoffs. I was actually gonna bring that up as
a headline, but it kind of works. Three point two
million spectators regular season in.

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
Buildings, So three point two million fans, which is a
new record from fifteen to sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Yeah, is is there a record if the best players
are going to play in the States, you know, like
that's the part that sucks, like and like you mentioned
everything going on in the world right now, like why
like why like the money other than the money. So

(01:10:14):
I'll compare this to I'm kind of try and put
a bow on it here, mm hmm for any Matthew
Shaeffer fans out there, US included, Yep, he didn't play
half the season that he's probably gonna be the number
one overall pick in the NHL draft this year. That's
essentially what it kind of feels like, is you're getting
robbed of a player like that now down in the States,

(01:10:37):
And yeah, we might never see him playing in the
NHL again, which really sucks, really sucks, But that that's
essentially what it could be. It's not like that now,
but it could be like that moving forward. So yeah,
well we'll see. Again, hasn't even started. It doesn't start
to August, or doesn't come into effect to August. We
can see commitments all we want, but nothing is official

(01:11:00):
until August, which is when most programs I would assume
start anyways. But yeah, we'll we'll, we'll see where it goes.
And and I hope it didn't sound like we were overreacting,
overreacting at all, But I think it's just something that
we get pretty fired up about because the Canadian Hockey League, again,
it takes a certain level what it takes a certain
level of pride to play in this league, and and

(01:11:21):
as a Canadian, I hope young kids want to continue
to play in the Canadian Hockey League and kind of
phase out the dollar signs. So we'll, we'll see, we'll
see how it goes. But that essentially puts a rap
on us for the summer. We're gonna take a few
months off, a few more like a couple I guess,
take a couple of months off, we will head back

(01:11:42):
to regular scheduled programming, probably mid August, I would assume
Colin as we get ready for reframing camps and everything.
But uh, do you have a social media name bracket
throughout the summer? We just post a name throughout the
summer and at the end that then we come back
when the name brackets ober.

Speaker 3 (01:12:04):
Hmmm, not a bad idea.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
Yeah, yeah, then we come back the last week the
name bracket. We announced winner live on our on our
returning episode. Yeah, let's do it all right, stry it
next week. Yeah, at the Ohl and sixty podcast, we'll
have those polls up for you. And again, does poutine suck?

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
Yes or no?

Speaker 2 (01:12:24):
That'll be up there as well. So fans, we again,
we can't do this without you. As much as we
talk about wanting players to stick around in the Canadian
Hockey League, it really doesn't make a difference whether they're
here or not if nobody's there to watch them. So
so we appreciate them. Niagara fans going up the dig
it and swings for you. I went I showed up

(01:12:45):
to the plate today for Niagara. I went up. I
went up looking to hit first pitch fastballs over the
fence in.

Speaker 3 (01:12:53):
Power oh man.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
But yeah, we we we really appreciated every single year.
I know we go over minutes quite a bit, but
I hope you enjoy the extra content, the extra banter,
the extra rants, the extra sentimental crap. I don't know,
I like to call it crap because I'm not really
a big sentimental guy. But yeah, it's it's It's been

(01:13:16):
a fun ride this season again to watch what the
London Nights did all year long. And I'm sure whether
you're a fan of their rival Kitchener Rangers, whether you're
a fan of the Ottawa sixty seven sitting in the
nation's capital looking all the way down to London to
see what they're doing, I think there's a special appreciation
and what we saw them do this season. Watching Michael
Meeson potentially his final junior hockey year, the amount of

(01:13:41):
points he put up, the seventy goal scorer, and Nick lartis,
will we ever see that again or will we see
it within the next decade? That was something to take,
you know, take a real hard look at and appreciate.

Speaker 3 (01:13:54):
And and you know, the Knight's.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
Joining an exclusive club of having three memorial Cups in
the span of the last quarter century. You look at
the Colona Rockets, you look at the windsor Spitfires, who
have all done it as well. So for all three
point two million fans that attended games throughout this season,
I'm sure the OHL shares this sentiment, but we say
thank you as well. Those sold out barns on Friday

(01:14:17):
and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, the Thursday nights as well,
the odd Tuesday and Kitchener those are the Wednesday night
and yeah, yeah, absolutely, the Monday Family Day games, those
are those are always a treat to watch. So uh yeah,
I guess thank you is the best way to put it.
Thank you for supporting us for another season. We're not
going anywhere. We'll be back at uh at the beginning

(01:14:40):
of training camp or just before training camp with with
some more stuff. And you know, we've got some stuff
playing throughout the summer as well to work on for
next season. I should say, we've got some man stuff
in the works, so possibly a more in viewing parties
for games.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
We're gonna do it for the finals. But just scheduling
it was too hard. Honestly, it was too short.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Notice I think we need more time to prep it,
but possibly doing a live stream for games would.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Be pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
So hopefully the listeners would want to watch a game
with us on YouTube or wherever we could do it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:12):
It would be fun to watch a game with us.
Maybe we'll get a sponsor with a hopefully with a
brewery or something to have a couple of pops watch
the game.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
And hey, so I'll add this before we go. The
Maritimes brewery industry is top notch. Has got to step
up their game really for specific software. The Maritimes brewery
industry is uh is can't it can't wait to hear

(01:15:42):
about it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
But thank you to all the listeners who have listened
throughout the year. Appreciate it, and uh yeah it was
a fun year. Yeah it really was.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
So for Colin Ward, I'm Reice Domani again, thank you
to everybody who's tuned in throughout this entire season, and
we will chat again before we get underway in twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network

All Episodes

Onto the OHL Offseason. CHL or NCAA? - Episode 190: Season Finale - The OHL In 60 Podcast

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

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

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Onto the OHL Offseason. CHL or NCAA? - Episode 190: Season Finale - The OHL In 60 Podcast