Dump & Chase Podcast
Since 2019, the Dump & Chase Podcast has been the Unofficial Fan Podcast of the 2023 USHL Clark Cup Champion Youngstown Phantoms. Hosted by season ticket holders Sam Olmstead, Justin Irwin, and Dan Conley, the show gives weekly insight and analysis into Phantoms games, roster moves, and much more. The show also features interviews with Phantoms Staff, Coaches and Players. Check it out today!
Dump & Chase Podcast
Round Two: Idle No More
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Phantoms hockey is back after the bye week, and so are we. We recap all the Round 1 action with returning guest Joel Norman, then turn the page and break down what to expect in Round 2.
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This recording is the sole view of the members of the Dump & Chase Podcast. This is a non-commercial fan production. We are not affiliated with or compensated by the Youngstown Phantoms, the United States Hockey League, or any league, club, or team.
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Hello, Phantom fans, and welcome to season eight, episode 27 of the Dump and Chase podcast. Coming up in this episode, we look back at a quick and wild first round of the USHL playoffs. We'll also look ahead to the matchups in round two, and again, we welcome back to the show Voice of the Omaha Lancers, Joel Norman, to help us out with the Western Conference. And we'll dive into the Phantoms portion of the playoffs now that their series is set. My name is Sam Olmstead, and joining me as always is Dan Conley.
SPEAKER_0499 loof balloons floating in the summer sky.
SPEAKER_06And Justin Irwin. Haywood leads the league in most offensive categories, including nose hair. When this guy sneezes, he looks like a party favor.
SPEAKER_02Bringing out the major league. Wow.
SPEAKER_06Ah, gotta gotta bring out the Harry Doyle every once in a while.
SPEAKER_02All right, so it is now time for the Dumpin' Chase for podcast first star of the week, and that goes to our own Justin Irwin.
SPEAKER_05First star of the week. He's the only person outside of Madison that gave the Capitols a chance to win the series against Green Bay.
SPEAKER_06I did not see that one being a sweep. I I will say that.
SPEAKER_05Everybody else did, but the other one did exactly.
SPEAKER_06No, I mean, I I think there's just something. I I mean, I thought Madison was was due theirs.
SPEAKER_02And Caleb Heil playing lights out. And after uh that game ended on Saturday, to all the people that texted me to remind me who I picked. Um, my disdain for you depends on the order of which I got these messages. Uh so but so by the time number five came around, you you probably got a pretty rough response there. My my good humor was uh quickly dropping as those messages came in.
SPEAKER_05Their humor was on point, though, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02Uh no, not all of them. And you know who you are, and you should be ashamed of yourself. Uh so not really a ton to go into here uh before getting into this episode. Uh, it was announced today that uh Tobiash Trayball is one of the three finalists for uh rookie of the year.
SPEAKER_05I don't think that's a big surprise. The only thing it'll be surprising is if he doesn't get it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean we've we've been here before.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, we've been here circuit.
SPEAKER_02We've been here way too many times before.
SPEAKER_06There's politics involved. I get it.
SPEAKER_05The league loves youngstown. What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02I I think we're getting a little more love than that. I think it's a little I think it's a little better than it used to be, but well, it couldn't have gotten much worse.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, it couldn't have. No, you're absolutely right. It could not have. So yeah, now with the first uh round of the playoffs over, I I thought I would uh do it do a little thing here for the uh eliminated teams. Uh kind of sort of maybe wrote some uh eulogies out for the uh fans of our uh dearly departed teams from the USHL 2026 playoffs. Uh starting out with uh the Des Moines Buccaneers. I mean it was an up and down season for sure, but I mean, hey, you made it to the playoffs. If I could offer some advice, if your goaltender is gonna go skate shooting to celebrate a win, uh do not do it in isolated of Rocky Russo.
SPEAKER_05All they had to do was put his hand a little bit higher.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say. Cedar Rapids, uh, what happened? I I thought you were the best team in the world after beating Youngstown in the last game of the season. But hey, you know what? You had a great end to the regular season, and that is definitely what you will be remembered for for a few more days. And Green Bay. But seriously, I have no I have no doubt that you'll be back better and stronger next season. And I have no doubt that we will be having this exact same conversation after next season's round one as well. Amen. They ain't listening to us. I came out firing.
SPEAKER_06Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
SPEAKER_02All right. Um, so we we needed what we needed one little bit, little bit more of a time killer here. Uh so your guys' favorite segment, because I know every time I bring it up, just your smiles and your smiles and the joy that you radiate. Uh just it it envelops me and overwhelms me. And I'm I'm really looking forward to this as always.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you mean the same smile uh the deer has on its face when it pops up in your headlights.
SPEAKER_05Why is he drawing me closer?
SPEAKER_02All right. So the name of this game is plus minus. So now typically in hockey, a plus, you know, anything, you know, the higher your plus is, you know, the better. Now the purpose of this game is that you actually want to be as close to zero as possible.
SPEAKER_04Without going over?
SPEAKER_02Ooh. So going going over, going under. You want to be as close to zero as possible. So I have five questions for you here that are all stats related.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02So you will give an answer. The answer will be a number, and then however many over or under will count against you. And at the end, when it's all added up, and thank God for editing, so it won't take as long when you listen to this as it will when I'm doing it in real time. Whoever's closest closest to zero wins the game. Are you guys ready?
SPEAKER_05No. I'm ready. Justin, I'll get you there.
SPEAKER_02Alrighty. Uh how many assists did Cooper Simpson have this season?
SPEAKER_0544.
SPEAKER_0238. Cooper had 40. So Dan, you're four uh four over. Justin, you're two under. Okay, how many wins did Toby Ash Trayball have this season?
SPEAKER_0524.
SPEAKER_0227. Toby had 30. Wow. What was led the league? What was Toby Ash Trayball's goals against average?
SPEAKER_052.15. Sorry. 2.19.
SPEAKER_06Justin? 2.15? No, I'm playing it conservatively, like like the price was right.
SPEAKER_02Well, Dan, you would have been better off with your first answer. He was 2.12. God dang. So you you you would have been better off with your first answer there. All right. Phantoms finished the season with a team record 91 points. Through four seasons behind the bench, what is Ryan Ward's average points per season?
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna say it's 74. I was gonna say No, I'll say 80.
SPEAKER_0278. It was actually 83.5. Wow. Damn.
SPEAKER_04Pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Ryan Rusinski after this season is the third leading scorer in Phantom's history with 118 points. Evan Jardine is fourth in team history. How many points does Evan trail Ryan?
SPEAKER_05Um hundred. Just say 99 so I have a chance, please.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna say seven.
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna say Damn, I was gonna say that too. I'll just say, oh, I gotta get I gotta swing here. I'll say 11.
SPEAKER_02Evan Jardine trails Ryan Rusinski by two points. God damn it. Ryan finished with 118 points. Evan has 116.
SPEAKER_05Sam, you don't have to do too much editing here. I think I know who won this one.
SPEAKER_06What is the final score though?
SPEAKER_02Well, this is the point, this is the point where it's gonna take me a second, but again, the people who are listening, they're gonna get this answer right away. Not bringing up the calculator.
SPEAKER_04I'm so disappointed in myself right now.
SPEAKER_02Dan, you finished 10 and a half over. Justin, you finished two and a half under. And you were worried. And you were how many of these games does he win at beforehand? He's like, oh no.
SPEAKER_05Stan has my heater.
SPEAKER_02Alright, I I did I did have a tiebreaker just in case. Do you want the tiebreaker? Sure.
SPEAKER_05Redemption, please.
SPEAKER_02Okay. The Phantoms beat Muskegon in the school day game this season. How many school day games played at Cavelli have the Phantoms won in team history?
SPEAKER_05Oh, it's just a goddamn guess here.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna say 10.
SPEAKER_05However, money they've had, I don't know. I'll say 12. I have no main. I have no idea how many they've had.
SPEAKER_02Uh Dan, go ahead and give Justin your lunch money. It's 10. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_06And I bit at every one of them. Not that I remember.
SPEAKER_02And with that, uh, let's take a look at how the uh first round shook out.
SPEAKER_08It's the wicked rec.
SPEAKER_02All right, so we'll start it off in the Western Conference starting with uh Tri-City and Sioux City. I know I know you guys said you didn't watch a ton of these. You you did see uh kind of the atmosphere, you did see long enough the uh atmosphere of what uh these games took place in.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I have seen some clips from the game. Kind of kind of kind of gave me like old ice zone memories when they had the uh second the NHL sheet.
SPEAKER_05That's a very good reference.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I think it was lit, I think it was lit a little better than that second sheeted ice zone was, but I think you're right.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I I'd say it was um i if this was a concert venue, it would be an intimate environment.
SPEAKER_02Which I don't, I mean, it you know, for a hockey game, it you know, for the the players it might be kind of cool, but yeah, the the all the almost like on-ice camera angle, the old like 1950 scoreboard up in the corner.
SPEAKER_05They still somehow managed to keep a uh a better angle than Cedar Rapids did two two weeks ago when they're zooming in so close.
SPEAKER_06I was gonna say it sounds what like what Des Moines played in like two or three years ago. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I I mean I will say, I mean, Tri-City actually did put up a hell of a fight in game one. I mean, at one point they were down three to one. Uh, was able to come back and tie it and get it to overtime. And uh that game tying goal was by uh our our old friend Brecken Smith.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Uh Brecken going over that open up some opportunities for him. He had a very good year. Um, he's a good good kid. This is the least surprising uh result of the weekend. You know, it's easy to say that when it's the number six versus number three, but uh Tri-City picked the worst time of the year to play the worst hockey.
SPEAKER_02So yeah.
SPEAKER_05And Sioux City uh definitely took advantage of that in the second game.
SPEAKER_02Um, unfortunately, that was pretty much as close as they got uh for the rest of the series. Uh they went down four to nothing. Tri-City goes down four to nothing in game two. They got it back to four to two. They pulled their goaltender with like five minutes left in the third period. Sioux City put in two empty netters uh to get a sick, get a 6-2 final in that one.
SPEAKER_05Uh interestingly enough, you know, Harable, who was their Red Wings draft pick, got pulled in the first game in game one. I don't know if he's hurt or what's going on, but he got pulled and he wasn't even on the depth chart the second in game two. He was a scratch. So if something was going on, if he was hurt.
SPEAKER_02Like who was it that drafted him?
SPEAKER_05Detroit.
SPEAKER_02Or somebody called and was like, get him out of there. We're done with this, get him out of there. Evak, evak.
SPEAKER_07Oh, it's funny.
SPEAKER_02Where's the eject button? Where's the eject button? Send in snake pliskin. Um, so Sioux City will be moving on to play Fargo, uh, the two seed in round two. Lincoln and Des Moines. This was an interesting one. Uh, Des Moines uh winning game one, uh losing games two and three. Um, honestly, game one. I actually watched this entire game. Des Moines played a great game in game one.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Des Moines did not give up much of anything in this game.
SPEAKER_02They uh the the stars are just look completely lost in this game.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they they stymied that top lineup. Yeah, Pelleteer, I don't think he did much of anything in this game. They did a great job of just bottlenecking that uh that top line power they have.
SPEAKER_02Des Moines goal talent goaltender, um Alan Lendak, um, for a uh celebratory gesture after the game, you know, decided on the old five-finger bottle rocket, uncorking his wine bottle, sprinkling fairy dust on Wendy Darling, whatever you want to call it.
SPEAKER_06Wow. Um I I think I think we seen um uh Phantom's goaltender suspended for similar gestures.
SPEAKER_02We won't say exactly what he did. Uh the video is you it it's not hard to find. Let's just say let's just say he finished the game and then himself. Symbolically. Symbolically. Probably would have been more of a one-game suspension if it was literal, but symbolically.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_02Um, so again, uh, don't do those things within eye shot of uh the camera or Rocky Russo. Uh ended up with a one-game suspension for obscene gesture. Oh, and then shot of Rocky Russo. Um, and then yeah, get yeah, game two, Lincoln wins eight to four without Alan Lendak in gold. But I mean he's back in game three and Lincoln wins six to three.
SPEAKER_05Right. Both of these games, I think the scoreboard, there was some empty netters that were scored in both games, so it kind of made it look like they pulled away a little more than it did. But I I I wonder, you know, Lendak was a fantastic older this year. He'll be thinking about that for a long time to come.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, he won't have to think, he won't have to think about it. It's on video. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I mean, uh the these are the small things in a playoff series that go a long way. I mean, I'm sure Lincoln watched that video more than any other city. Uh, they were fired up.
SPEAKER_02I'll all of the hockey game, no matter at what level, all of the hockey games that you watch on television, streaming, whatever, what what would you say the percentage is that when as soon as the game ends, the camera immediately goes to the goaltender? The the winning goaltender. What would you say the percentage of that is? Uh at least 80%.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If not much higher. Very good point. I I would have gone mid-90s. I I I think that's I think that may have been a little bit of a fault in media training there.
SPEAKER_05It's almost a default position for the camera to go right to the goal.
SPEAKER_06Unless there's something else going on on the ice.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, everything to be seen was at was in that goal.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, Lincoln um as the five seed moving on, they will be taking on Sioux Falls. Uh, you know, we're gonna talk about this later with Joel Norman, but I I I don't see a path for Lincoln here.
SPEAKER_05No, uh, besides an epic collapse. No, I uh yeah, just I don't want to say they shot their wad, but you know, each team has a ceiling.
SPEAKER_02Well, Alan Lendak did, but yeah, Lendak did.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, each team has a ceiling of what they can play to, and I think Sioux Falls' ceiling was much higher than Lincoln's.
SPEAKER_06I I think the only one who can beat Sioux Falls at this point is Sioux Falls.
SPEAKER_02So moving over to the Eastern Conference, Muskegon and uh Cedar Rapids, the uh five seed and the four seed here. Uh Muskegon winning both of these games three to two and five to two. Of the four series, this was not my favorite to watch. This was Cedar Rapids was flat, and honestly, Muskegon was barely better.
SPEAKER_05This is a typical Muskegon playoff performance where they just they're big, rough, they play the game heavy, and they slowed the game way down.
SPEAKER_06And it's yeah, just slugged it down. We've gotten we've gotten caught in that more times than I can imagine in the playoffs.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and and it was it just completely seed rapids could not get comfortable, they couldn't get their game down, they couldn't do that quick transition. They've been doing really well. And Muskegon just it's like they threw mud on the ice and said, Go ahead and uh yeah, yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I I like I tried to watch some of this, just I couldn't do it. Um, so yeah, Muskegon moving on, they will be taking on the two seed Dubuque in the second round, and finally ending up here, Madison and Green Bay. Whole buddy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If if Madison was gonna win these games, these were the type of games they had to be. Just I mean, just about almost as low scoring as you could get beyond a one-nothing game. Playoff hockey, baby. It's Madison's not gonna get in a shootout with anybody. You're not you're not gonna have the you're not gonna have these giant high-scoring games with Madison. It's you gotta if you get on them quick, you're good to go. If it gets dragged down into a slog and it's these low-scoring games, that's kind of where their wheelhouse is. Now you look at their season record and everything else, they're the sixth seed, it didn't always work out for them. But they were it they were able to get Green Bay on this one.
SPEAKER_06I I mean, sometimes that's how you play playoff hockey. So, I mean, that's what it is. Um, we're gonna see how that transitions against Youngstown. I don't think that works in their favor.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, I mean, I mean, game one, especially. Madison was struggling to get pucks on net. They just they scored just enough. Absolutely, I mean, absolutely 100% Caleb Hale stole this series from Madison.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and the question is, how long can he keep that up?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so hockey's about the only sport you can say where you run into a player who's playing at another level, and if it's the other team's goalie, you're gonna lose. I can't think of another sport that just has one player when they do that, other than like Michael Jordan in his prime or something like that. But it it's not comparing those two either. But um Madison, like you said, Sam, if they're gonna win a game, the magic number is three. You gotta score three, and you're pretty much guaranteed to beat Madison. Not 100%, but pretty much guaranteed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06I'm almost I'm almost going to to two in this series. Yeah. Um, two and a half.
SPEAKER_05You know what this series almost remains makes me think of a little bit uh Cedar Rapids 22-23. Yeah, I'm not saying um whether the fans won the cup. It's one of those like Madison does things right. They are a very physical team, they're a big team, they're physical. That's one of those things where if you when you get if you're gonna beat them, it's gonna you're gonna feel it after the series is all done. But you know, they just play such a certain style of game, it just slows the game down. And it it you gotta figure out ways to tilt the ice in your favor. And Madison is very good at doing that. Again, though, um, I think it's gonna be, I think Youngstown's good enough to get past that.
SPEAKER_02Um, no, kind of the odd the odd thing to me in this series with Green Bay was that they kind of had they had like this frantic energy.
SPEAKER_07Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02And it was like they were they were trying to get, I mean, they were getting shots on goal, but they were it was almost like low percentage spots. Like never at any point in these two games did they try to like settle down and like run their offense. And honestly, I felt like that was more on Green Bay than it was anything Madison did.
SPEAKER_05I I think Madison just took certain areas of the ice away. And you know, Green Bay, you you could see just by watching the game, five minutes, you can see the speed and skill difference that that Green Bay had over Madison. But Madison just said, You can have all this ice over here, we're gonna take this, and good luck trying to get it past you, trying to get it past us. I think you said Sam, I can't remember if you said it when we were talking between segments or not, but Green Bay did get a lot of shots on goal, but they didn't get a lot of high percentage chances on goal.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And the little bit they did, Hale was there to you know the stuff it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so of course, Madison moving on um as the sixth seed, they will be uh coming to Youngstown this weekend. The funny thing is, if this was going by the old playoff seeding system, we would be playing Muskegon this weekend. Dubuque would be playing Madison. Now, granted, it's not too often where you're gonna see the sixth seed beat the three seed, but the way this was set up before, you would have had the two seed. Seed playing the low seed. If this was the old system. So again, ever grateful that they finally made that change.
SPEAKER_06You know, say what you want, but this definitely favors us. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Alrighty. Uh, you know what? So with that, we're gonna go ahead and step aside for a short break. Uh, the Western Conference round two preview with voice of the Omaha Lancers, Joel Norman, is coming up next right here on the Dumpin' Chase podcast.
SPEAKER_00Are you tired of switching in app just to catch your favorite shows in live events? Say hello to the iMedia One Network now. One step destination for streaming everything that matters. Now all in one place, anytime, anywhere. Download the free iMedium One network and one iOS and Android. Unlock the future of Port Audio on your name.
SPEAKER_02And we are back with the Dump and Chase podcast. So to take a look at the matchups in round two in the Western Conference, we welcome back to the show the voice of the Omaha Lancers. And with his third appearance on the show, we can now call friend of the show Joel Norman. Joel, welcome back. It's an honor to achieve this new title and add that to the resume, guys. Thanks for having me. That was good. I almost believed you on that one. Um, so right away, um I mean, not I I don't I don't know. Would you call it shocks with the first round from what you saw out in the West? Or I mean Sioux City pretty much took care of business. Uh when you have a four-five, I don't know if you can call it an upset, but uh Lincoln uh, you know, dropping that first one in Des Moines and then taking the next two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't think I don't think you can say I'm shocked. You know, we talked last week and I told you guys I think that's going three, and I think Des Moines still gets it, but I also said I wasn't going to be shocked if Lincoln got there because if Lincoln was gonna win, they needed to get what they had. It's their star players showing up. Yeah, Pelletier in game three, Loomer in game two, and we talked about that last week. You know, they've been dealing with injuries and illness problems with Loomer, but it was clear not a hundred percent, but you know, just having him on the ice was far better than not having him, even if he was maybe 70% out there, and it sure showed. But I mean, I th the biggest what if of that series to me is gonna be, you know, if Alan Lendiac plays game two, what happens? Does Des Moines roll? Do they build off of the momentum of the night before, or does the same thing happen? Because he did play game number three and they lost that game. So I think if you're a Star Wan, to that you hear that argument I make and you say it doesn't matter. He played game three, they had a chance, they lost. But to me, I do wonder sometimes if he was there game two, do they sweep the series? They had a lot of momentum after game one, but it and that's just it's a lesson to players, I think, of this age, and this level, you know, you can enjoy the emotions of a victory, but you gotta be careful to what extent you enjoy those, because it I it was very clear that that was a difference in the series, and credit to Lincoln for seizing the momentum.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, if you're gonna do that, at least wait like three seconds after the buzzer goes before you do it when the camera pants and the camera's not pointing right at you.
SPEAKER_01Wait till you win the series, you know, Leon, wait till you win the car cup, right? Like there's a time and a place that was game one, right? It was a chippy game, I get it, but you know, like you got sometimes you you gotta act like you've been there before. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right. Um, so starting this off, uh now uh coming up on round two this weekend, uh, we'll start with uh Fargo and Sioux City. Uh these guys, I mean, split their season series uh four four. Yeah, and and I always say you can't put a ton of stock into like regular season special teams when it comes to the playoffs because the the way penalties are called and everything else, it's such a different animal. But like between these two teams, I mean, there was next to nothing as far as production on the power play. This was everything they did this everything they did against each other this season was five on five.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm gonna be interested in what happens there. Uh Shane Gould was one of the best defensemen in the league all year, at least off probably the best offensively in a lot of ways with the work that he did. I was so impressed by him. And I don't think I I'm blanking right now, I don't even think he was a finalist for the defenseman of the year. But just again, in terms of his offensive production, he's a difference maker no matter what. I really like that pickup of Ashton Schultz. When they picked him up, that was a really good move, and that helped shore up some depth issues that I thought they had this year. And frankly, in the last couple of years, that's been my the last two seasons, that's been my question with Sioux City is where's their depth? Can their depth get them deep enough in the playoffs? And obviously, it was there a few seasons ago when they made that run and nearly beat Fargo the year that Fargo won the Cr Cup, but I'm not sure if Sioux City has enough depth here this season. Well, again, that's a good team. And there's a reason why they're in round number two, but I just feel like I don't think Fargo's going beyond the conference finals, but they're gonna win this series, is the way I would say it. This is a team for Fargo that it is nowhere near where they were those bank-to-bank years. They won the Anderson Cups, just in terms of their utter dominance. Both of those years, you could have argued, and really they did in many ways, have the best defensemen in the league. They would roll two or three lines every single night, and that the year they won the Clark Cup, they basically rolled four lines. Their fourth line was a lot of teams would have been their first line. But I think right now, this is one of those years where they're retooling in a way, even after last year, where they also were kind of retooling. But some of these franchises, even in those off years, they're still really, really good. And sometimes an off-year is still making the conference finals after having a first round bye. So I'm going Fargo in four games here. It's hard to predict sweeps, especially in a best of five. So I'm I'm going Fargo's gonna win this one in four games.
SPEAKER_02All right, and then we have uh Sioux Falls and Lincoln, uh, Sioux Falls winning the season series five to one. You know, how you talked about before with uh as far as depth and everything else, and obvious, you know, and obviously we know just how deadly that top line is for Lincoln. Is this where like the depth question with them, you know, is that gonna hurt them going up against Sioux Falls? No doubt about it.
SPEAKER_01No doubt about it. And I don't know if you could argue there were two chippier teams in the Western Conference this year when they played head to head. Just some of those games that Sioux Falls and Lincoln had. I mean, yeah, Sioux dominated that season series as they did a lot of the teams that they played. So that's that's a really good team. And I don't think anyone should be shocked that I'm picking them to go to the conference finals because I think it's been pretty clear this year they've been the best team in the Western Conference. But I think Lincoln gets a game, and maybe that's a hot take in a way, but I think Lincoln gets a game, and I think it's in Sioux Falls. I think it's this coming weekend, they'll get one of the two games there, and the series will be 1-1 going back to Lincoln, but I think Sioux Falls wins twice there. That's my prediction. The thing that is gonna help Sioux Falls a lot, no goaltender played more than Leonard Svelbergs did this year. And they rolled that guy in a lot of games where I even against us when we were they were playing the Lancers, and I kind of went, Really? You know, you're going with him tonight again that he just played last night, or he just played a couple days ago, and you're going with him again? Like, not that there's ever a game, you never you never take a game off. You never say, Oh, this is you know, we're gonna win this one for sure. But there's sometimes certain matchups, I think, in the schedule where you say, hey, this is a good opportunity to get our backup and let's get in, let's get winning. Whelan Ash is a is a really good goaltender, too. So it's not like he is just a, oh, this is some schmuck backup we have. They had two really competent goalies there, and they were they played Felbergs even more than I anticipated, but him having that first round bye is going to be gigantic because with how much they played him in the regular season, I think the only way Whalen Ash is playing in the postseason is if there's you know an injury to Felbergs.
SPEAKER_05You know, something that was surprising that Lincoln did. They kind of split that top lineup towards the end of the year, trying to get a little bit more scoring. In my mind, I don't know. Like if you have your first line be like an A plus line and your second line being like a B minus line, and splitting them up, making them both like a B, is that better than having an A plus and a you know C plus? Or I I don't think it's different.
SPEAKER_01I think so in the playoffs, and you know, just from what I saw in three years when I was working for Lincoln with Rocky there as the head coach, Rocky Russo loved at times, where if anything ever felt stale, he would rather make the change than hope that they would get out of it. Because at this age, bad habits can you know tend to snowball a little bit with players if things are getting stale, and you don't want that to become commonplace. So I always thought he did a really good job of anticipating that stuff, maybe even before it got to that point. So I think in this type of case, he saw that maybe where, okay, hey, maybe there was this was the right game where those three players, Loomer, Kohansky, and Pelletier, maybe they had a game or two where they struggled. Let's switch it up, let's try some new guys in there. And one of the things he would always say, um, I always would ask him about that in my first year, I'd say, hey, you know, you brought this line back together. And he would always say, you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? You know, it's gonna make you want to play with those guys again in a lot of ways. So sometimes that's you'll see that happen. But I also think this year down the stretch, what I was so used to seeing they would roll Pelleteer uh with multiple different linemates because it was like we have to get the best player in the league on the ice. And he had coached against a lot of teams where they had done that in previous years. Uh Tri-City would notoriously have Trevor Connolly be their leading man on ice in terms of minutes in a given game night when he was with the storm. But I think for Lincoln, it's gonna be you need the depth because they haven't proven it this year. Again, they they scored a lot of goals the last two games, so they've shown some depth there. But as a whole, as an entire slate this season, they haven't shown that they've gotten consistent depth. So until that happens, you're gonna have to try to spread things out. But I think one thing is just true. You're gonna see Loomer and Bellatir together, unless Loomer is hurt because their chemistry is so good. But with some of the additions that they made late in the season, some of those pieces that they added into that group, you're not exactly losing a whole lot by putting Kohansky on a different line because first off, he's fantastic at face-off, so he's already gonna be setting up his line mates for success just right there. But also, again, like some of the guys they had that Colt Brownhausen was really solid down the stretch. He was playing a lot with Pellatier, a kid coming right off of playing the Minnesota High School tournament, and he's immediately getting, you know, actually the best player in the USHL. So it's not necessarily them weakening things by putting someone else in with Pellatier and Loomer, more as it is you're I think you're adding to your depth in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_02All right. So since we learned our lesson the hard way last week, uh looking at Green Bay and Madison and being like, well, this is a no-doubter. And pretty much the only people right in that entire scenario were anybody who lives in Madison and Justin. Um so I'll I'll throw a little bit of a hardball at you for this one. What would it take for what would it have to take for Lincoln to win this series?
SPEAKER_07Gosh. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Sioux Falls is so deep, first off, that there probably needs to be some combination of multiple injuries and or suspensions, in my opinion. I don't mean that as a dis any disrespect to Lincoln, but I'm just saying that Sioux Falls's depth is there that if you lose if you lose Thomas Soko for a game or two, you can survive that. But you know, but if you lose Thomas Soko, Brent Solomon, I'm blanking on names because it's been a couple weeks since I've seen them, but if you lose another guy, you know, you lose three pieces, then we're talking about the playing field being you know leveled a little bit. But losing simply just Brent Solomon isn't gonna be enough. You know, if he gets if he's out for an injury or suspension, but losing him, Zoko, and someone else is really gonna hurt you. Or Matthew Grimes, like defensively. You lose three of those guys, then we're having a conversation about the momentum has shifted a little bit.
SPEAKER_06I think the only way Sioux Falls loses is if uh Sioux Falls beats themselves.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that could be again, we've seen the animosity between those two teams. You guys have seen the collisions with the goaltenders that's happened between those two teams. If Sioux Falls gets overly emotional, if Felberg gets run in a game and they lose their minds, more than justifiably so, then that could be a problem. Again, maybe that's a suspension. Maybe that's a couple, you know, major penalties in over the course of a game. So I think it's gonna be that kind of a simple thing. I will say this though. Sioux Falls, you know, one of their Achilles heals this year was weirdly overtime. I mean, they played the Lancers and the Stampede played eight times this year. Three of those games, yeah, three of them went to overtime. Omaha won all three of them. And I remember thinking, I was like, you know, pound for pound, they've got more guys who could just take the puck and dance through all three of our defenders and go score a goal if they want, but they didn't. So I would be interested to see how that would go. Grant, of course, it's gonna be five on five overtime in the playoffs, but it's still it's still a flip of a coin in a lot of ways. And it makes me wonder if maybe if you're getting Sioux Falls to overtime, maybe you've got them right where you want them if you're Lincoln.
SPEAKER_02All right, Joel. Well, now with the uh now how uh these remaining series all have like Clark uh Clark Cup final scheduling to them. So hopefully, hopefully uh Youngstown keeps it going here. We'll have you back in a couple weeks because if if Youngstown drops out of this, we're not doing this anymore.
SPEAKER_01Uh I would be shocked, but I was also pretty shocked at Madison advanced. Credit to them, you know, sweeping at that. Um I think the Muskegon Cedar Rapids one, it wasn't necessarily as much of a surprise. We talked about this last week. I just feel like Muskegon gets like it's almost like they were waiting all year, right? They were waiting, okay. Now it's the playoffs. Now we kick in the gear. We've got the veteran players, we have the star power. And you see that with teams in different levels of sports where sometimes the regular season is almost like an exhibition for them. I feel like now Muskegon is waking up. So maybe we'll see Muskegon in Youngstown when we talk about them and on the next show.
SPEAKER_02All right, Joel. Well, uh, thank you for coming back on again. Uh, hopefully we'll be able to uh get you back here in a couple weeks. That's been fun. Thank you guys very much. All right, thank you. So we're gonna take one more break. The Eastern Conference preview is up next, right here on the Dumpin' Chase podcast.
SPEAKER_03I'm Tim, and I'm Dan and Chris. This is Pitchmen, the Steel Valley Soccer Podcast. We cover all things high school soccer in the Pony Valley. Catch our episodes on Spotify or visit our website for the skill and the back in the net. The team's pitching with the shit.
SPEAKER_08And the soundboard.com.
SPEAKER_02And welcome back to the Dumpin' Chase podcast. So, gentlemen, we've finally got Phantom's hockey to talk about. Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_07We're almost done.
SPEAKER_02I didn't really have the opportunity to play that last week. I kind of missed it.
SPEAKER_04I enjoy that too.
SPEAKER_02All right, uh, so Eastern Conference round two. Uh we'll kick this off. The two-seed Dubuque Fighting Saints taking on the five-seed Buskegan Lumberjacks. These teams split their season series, uh, six games total, each team winning three. Kind of like a little oddball thing here. Only one of these games in six games was a one-goal game. The average margin of victory in these six games was three. That's not happening in the playoffs. And that's that's both ways. Yeah. Muskegon, we talked about, you know, Muskegon was one of these teams that was, you know, great start to this, you know, good start to the season. You know, was was battling for like one of the top spots, like going into the Christmas break. Kind of started falling apart. I mean, this was a 500 hockey team after the new year. They, you know, once the calendar flipped, they went 15, 16, 1 and 1. God, I can't remember his name. What's his name that left?
SPEAKER_04Tiny Lawrence.
SPEAKER_02I I I think you can kind of point to what you know one affecting the other, certainly. Um, that uh, you know, that was a big blow for Muskegon. A lot of their I mean, and a lot of their offense was built around them. I I learned my lesson last week. I'm not making predictions on this one. To me, Dubuque is the better of these two teams, but the fact of the matter, uh, a Dubuque Muskegon series, everything goes out the window.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, this is gonna be a crazy, interesting series. And I'm not gonna say who predict who's gonna win, but I'm gonna it's either gonna be a three-game sweep or it's gonna be a five, five-game knock-emout, drag them out thing. And I think the best analogy I can make between these two teams is Dabuke is like a car that's got a like a newer car that's got a whole bunch of options. And Muskegon's like uh a 1990s car that has like windows that you roll down by hand and just an AMFM radio. So there's a lot of things that Debut plays a complicated game, but they have a lot of things that can go wrong. Yeah, a lot of different things that can happen. Muskegon, on the other hand, they just play the basic, like I said before, just heavy built for the postseason game. And there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with that. Now, if Debute comes out and plays and use their the things that they have, their skill-wise, their speed, everything else that they have over Muskegon, they're gonna win. But if Muskegon's able to just pull, kind of do what they did um the Cedar Rapids, who the hell knows what's gonna happen. But at the same time, these two teams do not like each other at all. And they are going this is gonna be a obviously we'll be watching Youngstown Madison, but I'm gonna keep a very close eye on this game here because this gets this series here because it's gonna be an interesting one.
SPEAKER_06I I believe the word I've been using is a bloodbath.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um and I I am so looking forward to that. I I hope we're both right here on that, um, because that that benefits Youngstown in the end.
SPEAKER_02Like I the the closest thing I'm gonna make to a prediction is I think this series is gonna go five games. Who's gonna win it? I don't know. I I agree with like and and this this isn't even me saying I'm not gonna make a prediction. Like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_06I I agree with Dan, it'll either be three or five. I I don't see four.
SPEAKER_02It's just yeah, to me, it comes down to each night which Dubuque shows up, which Muskegan shows up. Um, you know, and you know, Dubuque kind of made it a habit of being a little streaky this season. They they did enough to get the two seed, they held off Green Bay, they held off Cedar Rapids and was able to get that two seed. They had a good little stretch run there at the end of the season, but I mean Dubuque has had points where they're hot and cold this season. And it's and it's just which which which team uh which version of Dubuque and which version of Muskegon shows up each night. And like I said, just looking at that alone, I I think it goes five. Who ends up taking it? I have no idea.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, I do wonder with the playoff format taking longer in between series and longer of like time in a series. I wonder if that's gonna kind of kill the momentum a little bit. You know, Muskegon coming out with a sweeping seat of rapids, and is that gonna kill it a little bit? Wait now much longer?
SPEAKER_06I I I think it gives teams a lot longer to make adjustments. Uh you can watch a lot more tape, analyze things a lot more, and I mean I I think that's gonna make it very interesting. And that's also where I agree with Sam. I I tend to swing towards this is gonna be a five-game series.
SPEAKER_02Um I mean, I will say with uh the the way they're doing the scheduling, I'm liking it so far because other than uh uh game two with like Sioux City and Tri-City, I think we saw a much more competitive first round than we I mean, even though three of these series ended in sweeps, I think we saw a much more competitive you know, first round than we've ever seen.
SPEAKER_06I mean, unless you see all four um teams that get the buy knocked out because you know they had an extended break, I I think overall people are gonna be pleased with the changes that were made.
SPEAKER_05The only thing that's weird is that the potential of 11 game series for for a five you know, five games series played in in 11 games. 11 days, sorry. Jeez, words are hard sometimes. That's a bit weird to me. Yeah, normally they like kind of like allow for like a day of rest, a day of travel, and then you play. But this one was like five days in between when they get switched sites. There's like five days in between games.
SPEAKER_02And it's like I said before, it at the end of the day, I honestly think I'd prefer it that uh when it comes down to it, it's the best team one and it's not the best rested team one.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah, again, I I'm sure there's gonna be at least one of the uh teams that got a bye knocked out that are gonna be like, well, you know, we had two weeks off, blah. I mean, that's stuff you have to deal with. That's stuff you can deal with. Whereas as opposed to what we've seen before, where you get a three-game series, uh a game off and you know, hop into a five-game series.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I'm I do wonder if other teams kind of did what the Phantoms did in this time off.
SPEAKER_06I mean, if if you have a uh null air quote affiliate, um yeah, you can do stuff like that. I don't know as the rest of the league has that. Advantage Youngstown.
SPEAKER_02All right. Uh so something we haven't got to do in a couple weeks. We can now preview an upcoming Youngstown series.
SPEAKER_06I have a feeling we've already kind of started.
SPEAKER_02I feel like we've talked more about the rest of the league in the past two episodes than we have all season.
SPEAKER_05We're not taking Questions from the uh audience because it remember the beginning of the year we were getting a lot of questions about the Western Conference. We really didn't cover them, but now we're covering them. Well, we're not we're we're not covering them.
SPEAKER_02That's all we have Joel for. I was gonna say, and we had somebody who could have actually answered those questions. All right. So the one seed Youngstown Phantoms will be taking on the sixth seed Madison Capitals. Uh Madison did win this season series three to two. Uh, although by virtue of uh overtime shootout, uh they did tie in points, uh, but Madison took it in wins three to two. Um, actually, funny, funny enough, uh, through these five games, Caleb Hale only played twice against Youngstown. Uh, that one one what the uh three-game series in Youngstown, the one was a four-two loss, and then uh he was the uh goaltender of record in a three-two shootout win.
SPEAKER_06I have a feeling we're gonna see him at least that many times.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. However many games the series is, that's how many times we're gonna see Caleb Hale.
SPEAKER_02So to me, it it boils down to the big question for Madison is gonna be who like who's gonna score for them? That is a very good question. You're talking about, you know, a Madison team that was towards the bottom of the league and goals scored. And then not only that, like, you know, towards the bottom of the league, and obviously, you know, Caleb Hill being a big part of this, I think their goal differential this season was only a plus seven. So I mean, score, I mean, and it's a lot of what we talked about scoring, you know, just as much as they're giving up. Sam Capell uh from Madison, if that's how you say it, led the team with 23 goals. The next highest after that was uh Max Ryder with 16. Yeah, Sam Capell and Gustav, uh Gustav's Grieva led the team with 36 points. You know, their their high score on the team was 36 points. How many, I mean, just in comparison, how many players did Youngstown have this year with over 50?
SPEAKER_06Uh I mean, would you put it that way, but I mean, this is the playoffs. Yeah, yeah, it's a different beast.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I I get that, but at the same time, it's you're not you it's not you're not gonna score goals all season and then just turn into a juggernaut in the playoffs.
SPEAKER_06No, no, but uh the question is, you know, I guess more for the Phantoms, will your goal scores um step up? I don't know. Yeah, and yeah, I you know, obviously this is the playoffs, goals are at a premium. We have to worry more about our goal scores than theirs.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Madison, their their best goal goal scorer, you know, the their best offensive weapon. Titan Burgesson came here from came to them via Warhead State, Moorhead State, Warhead High after the high school season was over. And uh, yeah, he's their best offensive weapon. He was you know, he he scored some goals before he left. He's he's been scoring when he came back. I think he had the primary assist on the on the game winner for Madison in the overtime game that sealed the series. And um the way that Madison plays, you know, I can't remember when I talked about this, but you know, their margin of error is so slim because they don't have the scoring that they have to play a certain way in order to win. And that they played that way against the Phantoms when they played us, when they played the Phantoms at home earlier towards the end of the season. Granted, the Phantoms played horribly that that series there. I don't think that's ever gonna happen again, at least I hope not. But you know, like I said, it's we talked about it earlier. It's it's to me, if you score three goals against Madison, your chances of winning are very, very good. If you limit their chances, like I said, they're gonna give you chances, or they kind of do this thing where they can kind of lull you into the offensive zone but take away everything dangerous. But uh, you know, the skill that Youngstown has, the experience that Youngstown has, and this ability all season just to push through the because we've seen all year they've they've come out many games where they wouldn't have taken a point all year, where they come out with get a point just you know in overtime where they somehow squeak out a win. This team's battle tested. A lot of these top, you know, the lot of the players that are our top players are returning from last year, and they remember the feeling of losing against Muskegon last year. So they're gonna draw on all sorts of experience, and I think that's really gonna shine through in a series against Madison when a team like Madison just tries to make it everything just money that waters down as much as they can. I think this the cream for youngstown is really gonna rise here.
SPEAKER_06And I I I think we're gonna be looking at a goaltender battle between Trey Ball and Heil.
SPEAKER_05That's gonna be a good one too.
SPEAKER_06And yeah, uh, we talk about you know which which team is gonna show up, you know, for Caleb Heil, which Heil is gonna show up.
SPEAKER_05He's gonna make saves, he's gonna make saves for sure. They've got to keep Youngstown's gotta keep doing the uh the dory thing, just keep shooting. Just keep shooting.
SPEAKER_02I mean by all accounts, I mean Caleb Heil had a great season, but it's either he had great games or he had terrible games. There was not much middle ground.
SPEAKER_06And which which one shows up?
SPEAKER_02I mean Yeah, to uh to me, I think like Youngstown needs to come out early, they need to set the pace, they need to dictate play early, they can't fall it like Dan, like you said, like they can't fall into that Madison style because uh because this team is too fast and too skilled to And we have to generate opportunities on on net. It's like I you know, it's just you you you gotta hit them hard, you gotta hit them early. You know, Caleb Hale very well could keep him in it in the early going, but I just think you have to wear them down.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Madison makes you work to score against them, and you know what Youngstown's done all year? They've worked.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I think that's a that's a recipe that I think it's gonna work out very well.
SPEAKER_02Madison doesn't play a speed game. They, you know, they definitely do not play a speed game. It's just you just gotta wear them down.
SPEAKER_05Take the glimmer of hope out of their eyes, roll early each game.
SPEAKER_02All right, Justin. So you're gonna go two for two? You're gonna pick Madison in this series? Go ahead.
SPEAKER_06I am definitely not picking Madison in this series. Yeah. I I'm not gonna say it's gonna be a uh um a sweep, but I I don't see this going to five. Um, Youngstown definitely has the advantage in this one.
SPEAKER_02All right, so finally, hockey back at the Cavelli Center this weekend. Games on Friday and Saturday. The game on Friday is a 705 puck drop, and the game on Saturday is a 605 puck drop. Tickets are available for these games. You can call the Phantoms box office at 330-747-puck. That is 330-747-7825. The video stream of this game, if you cannot make it, will be available on Flow Sports, and the audio stream will be available on the iMedia One Network app and Facebook page with voice of the Phantoms and friend of the show, Matt Lipsack. So, gentlemen, that is about all we got for this episode. Anderson Cup back in uh Youngstown.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and you something that's interesting is uh I got a bunch of friends that are coming to the game on Saturday, and it's the same group that came to the to the same game when the fans got shut out 2-0. I talked them up the entire game, and then they just you know laid an egg. So if I'm hoping they kind of redeem themselves, they're all coming because it's my wife's birthday. So I'll come up for that and gonna go out after. But if the fans get shut out Tuesday, I am never gonna bring that group of friends to a game ever, ever, ever again.
SPEAKER_02I I would get a whole new I would get a whole new group of friends. And you know what? And a new wife. We can't leave anything to chance here, Dan.
SPEAKER_05Sam, I have keep going.
SPEAKER_06Sam, we're gonna we're probably gonna need a new host after that.
SPEAKER_02All right, so it's weird to say in the in the playoffs next week's episode. Um next week, of course, we will be recapping games one and two, and we will be previewing games three and four if necessary. We'll see how it works out. So you can catch this show uh wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts on Apple, Spotify, wherever that may be. You can find us on social media on Facebook and Instagram. So before we get out of here, to my co-host Dan Conley and Justin Irwin, any final thoughts?
SPEAKER_06I mean, it's playoff hockey. What better thing do you have to do than come watch some of the best uh players upcoming battle for the Clark Cup?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's such a this feels like such a distant memory of the first games being held at Cranberry. And um here we are, the fans getting a bye in the first round and getting ready to host the first two games of round two. It seems like a blink, but it also seems like it's been forever ago. It's such a weird time's such a weird construct.
SPEAKER_06For me, this one's uh I mean, this season is just like zip by.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Time fly as we haven't fun.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. I know Phantoms haven't played a playoff game yet, and we're on episode 27. Wow, believe me, I am feeling the length of this season.
SPEAKER_05Uh Justin, Sam says he's feeling the length.
SPEAKER_02Oh my. Anyways, as always, hockey is a sport played on ice with sticks and a puck, and our podcast is a thing you just listened to. See ya. Justin, did you get like a new Cialis prescription? Like, what is going on with you these last couple weeks?
SPEAKER_06Well, better Cialis than Viagra.
SPEAKER_02As long as you got somewhere to hang your hat.
SPEAKER_08Welcome to the potential.
